Christmas Lighting

A Little Frog

On Tuesday we went to a friends house and had a little get together so Matthan got to dress up again. I'll post those pictures. We are still waiting for the pictures from Ben.

Pumpkin Patch

Jaïr & I took Matthan to Lattins, a local pumpkin patch. He had a lot of fun walking through the patch and looking at all the pumpkins. Matthan was really a boy, boy...falling down and getting dirty and enjoying it, it was fun to see. At this particular patch they also have a lot of farm animals. After we chose our pumpkins we took him around to the animals, which he didn't really like as much. They kind of freaked him out.

This last weekend we had a progressive dinner party with our family and we all dressed up in costume. Matthan was a little frog. As soon as we get the pictures from Ben, we'll post them here too, so you can see how cute he looked and how ridiculous we looked!

It's been 4 months...

It's been about four months since we gave an update on our lives, and quite a few things have happened.

On July 4th we headed to Sea-Tac to board NW airlines and went to The Netherlands! Matthan did so well on the plane, we got all kinds of comments how he should get the best baby award. We were very thankful for how well he did. We had a great time visting with Jaïr's family and it was fun to see Matthan interact with his cousins.

Later that month on July 30th Matthan turned 1 year old! He did such a great job at making the classic mess of cake & frosting everywhere!

In August my oldest brother Ben was married to Anneka. Their wedding was beautiful! We were busy that month preparing for all of the wedding stuff.

September came, and it was the start of routines again. Jaïr started school taking one class in the evening a couple nights a week.

Now it's October, the leaves are changing and there are cold mornings and warm afternoons. We went to Leavenworth last weekend with my brother Chris and his girlfriend Renee. We checked out Oktoberfest. It was fun, but not what we expected. The weather was beautiful that day. And we enjoyed the little bit of Europe that is here in Washington.

The last bit of news is that just before we were leaving to go to The Netherlands, we found out that we are pregnant. The due date is March 7, 2007. We also just found out this week that it's a boy! It will be so fun for Matthan to have a little brother and they'll be close in age...about 20 months apart. We are excited for this addition to our family. We pray that the Lord will prepare us for what is ahead and how to deal with the addition.

Swinging & Friends

We took Matthan to the swing set at the school yesterday. I think he wasn't too sure of it and held on for dear life. But, he was super cute! The last couple of days were able to have another friend (Amy Moore) visit us from our time on the ship. Amy Moore & Amy Rae, missed our other Amy...Amy A. She's in Afghanistan. Anyhow, it was super fun to be with Amy M and to swing!

Four Year Anniversary

Today is our fourth year of being married!

Living By Faith

Don't you just wish that sometimes you could go back to being a child, not just the care-free part of life, but also the faith that you had in the people who were around you. What a profound phrase: childlike faith.

To live by faith is a stretch. You sometimes think you got it down, but then you realize you don't and again you need the Lord's help to trust Him and walk by faith. Faith by definition is belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. We, being logical creatures and desiring to see things first hand, think faith sometimes is nearly impossible. However, it's our desire to live by faith. In our times of living that way, really living it, the Lord has shown his faithfulness like never before. There were times when we were on the Anastasis that we weren't sure how we were going to pay our crew fees, or just before we left for the Anastasis, we weren't sure how we would raise support, pack our things and our house, buy airline tickets and get to the ship in three weeks. When we decided to try and buy a house, we by normal standards couldn't expect much, because we had no work history for even a year, but again the Lord was faithful and gave us an amazing house. And again He was faithful to our desires for a child, he gave us Matthan. But yet, here we are again knowing that it's right for me to raise our child, but struggling with finances and car problems, why is it so difficult to put our trust in Him right away? He is Jehovah-Jirah, my provider. He will take care of us, but it is not logical and I cannot see it. I have to choose to live by faith and my spirit cries out to have faith like a child. So, we wait and we pray to see our Lord and the way that He will continue to orchestrate our life.

New design

No, this is still the same blog, but after a little internal discussion, the blue and white needed to go. It now is officially the "Reitsma Family" blogsite vs. "Buck's Blog".

Friends

It is so fun to have friendships. While we were away to Mercy Ships we built many lasting friendships during that time. One of the greatest things now is when we are able to meet some of those people again. This week we have our friend Renee R visiting us. It's been so fun! There is such a unique bond with friends from the ship and it's exciting to see where our lives our now and how two worlds collide again.

Who?

This is us.

Sunday

Today is just the 2nd day of having my blogsite and I hope that many of you will find this site interesting and helpful. I have allowed anyone to post a comment, because I think the people that will access this site are mainly friends and relatives, so feel free and leave your comments any time! Thanks.

Almost walking...

Matthan is ready to walk!

Welcome

Welcome to my new blogsite. This blogsite is created to keep you informed on what is going on in our lives. Stay tuned!