Quarantining the Van Vliet family.
23.03.2020
Yes, six weeks ago the thought never ever crossed our mind, but yes: we are now in self-quarantine. We thought it would be great to document this so you can see for yourself that we mean business :-). We’ve archived this post under ‘Everyday life’; eventually we’ll see if that was overly optimistic. Stay safe […]
Feedback?!
15.02.2020
Feedback helps to identify and resolve differences between what is understood and what was aimed for. It is easy to mistake it for criticism (which is ambiguous in nature as that can be understood to express disapproval based on perceived mistakes, or to be a judgment of both qualities and faults). Anyway, feedback is used […]
A merry, happy Christmas!
24.12.2019
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given … and He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Declaration of a world-changer
22.03.2019
TODAY, I will live honorably through my thoughts, actions and speech. I choose to be full of faith. I will serve before I demand, love instead of hate, and give before I take. TODAY, I choose to dedicate my life to prayer, and not only be a hearer, but also a doer of the word […]
Worship, parenting and church
10.01.2019
When I want to worship, I need to sing. Others, I’ve noticed, may wave flags, dance, create paintings, etc. But I feel I need to sing and my body agrees and supports this: even when I don’t feel like singing but I do so anyway, my body responds in a positive way. But one shall […]
Your work is important. But “what” isn’t nearly as important as “how”.
10.01.2019
When we get together to worship God, we are easily aware that we are not alone in that, and that easily results in a unified focus and a godly response to His greatness. Aka worship. We can also be aware of what other might think as we show emotions but this note is not about […]
Your friend is better than your idea of your friend
18.12.2018
Faces are like keys. If you know a face, you know the person who owns that face. Seeing or just thinking of that person unlocks many of the things you know about that person: some of the good, some of the not so good… but always related to what you are going through or where […]
To worship is to sing is to worship?
14.12.2018
I don’t believe the saying “Show me your bookcase and I’ll know who you are” is actually true. Your book collection does show who you want to be. In some cases it’s also a display of your aspirations. Your music collection on the other hand? Definitely tells a lot about who you are.
Sharing is caring
07.08.2018
Sharing is caring as the saying goes. Nifty ways to get small talk going can be found on more and more tables every day, and on a planetary scale this surely helps people create new relationships or add depth to existing ones.
Facebook-gruppe ( <- Norwegian title, I finally realized)
28.01.2018
We’ve come to realize that we don’t have enough time to experience all we do, then process and talk through things together, correcting and giving feedback, and then to also word it all in a nice blog post for the world – and you! – to see, enjoy and participate. That’s somewhat sad, because in […]
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
25.12.2017
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. If we bumped into you this past year, we hope to meet you again in the coming. If we didn’t, we sure hope we will soon!
Happy Christmas & A Merry New Year
21.12.2016
Seriously. We hope your Christmas time is a happy time. May you be merry throughout the entire 2017!
Fail! Fail?
01.12.2016
“Brother? Hey brother!” The woman calls me as I walk down Likana Lane. I hardly listen because I’m trying to find a parking spot for our car, and she’s clearly a person without a home – actually one without flipflops even.
Like a buddhist celebrating Christmas
29.11.2016
That’s what – I think – I felt like a bit, these last days. This is the second time we celebrated Thanksgiving in the US of A, and the depth of the event is evading me. Thankfulness is a great thing – I had to go look for it, this last Thursday, and I found […]
TGIF
11.03.2016
Today is Friday! But still school aww, but guess what tomorrow no school yay! I have a song about Friday here it goes: Its Friday Friday everyone upp on Friday everybody is looking for another napkin partyi’n party’in hey party’in party’in hey everybody’s looking for another napkiiiiinnnnnah.
How to play AJ
07.03.2016
How to play Animal Jam. Tips: best on ipad or tablet. 1. First go on app store and install Animal Jam 2. Go play it when its done. 3. First u are a guest jammer 4. Make an account. 5. Design yourself how u want. 6. Make friends. 7. Buy a den that costs real […]
En tidlig morgen
05.03.2016
Hi memo, ‘Sighs’ I really want to play with the kids but…….. I cant its still 06:55 and I woke up at 06:04 I think and started to play with my kitten and her name is gonna be mittens isn’t that cute for a kitten huh? I like the name mittens I always did its […]
Superpower
01.03.2016
Hei…… jeg gidde ikkje å sei Heia mer…… det e fordi eg lekte med jentene på daycare men når jeg fant boby min baby kylling da tok jeg ham og da kom alle på daycare det e syyyykt mange og eg var i et tre m boby på fanget men eg gikk ut av treet […]
The swimming pool
27.02.2016
Today me, my brother, mom, and my grandparents are gonna go to a HOTEL where it is a SWIMMING POOL and it is in GHANA! Im soo exited to go there. And the fiirst time we were there we just ate POPCORN! And we got an ice cream and we were swimming too!
Friday: AJ and MC
12.02.2016
I have school today and I always need to write a blog on memo. And today its FRIDAY YAY. Tomorrow its no school at all YIPPY!!!! And after tomorrow its home chirch. And always when we are with our grandparents me and my brother Krister play together on the ipad cuz grandma has Samsung and […]
Best AJer eva
07.02.2016
The Animal Jam story begins or adveture begins… Hi Diary memo today ill tell u about Animal Jam its gonna be very fun! Ok lets start up with me. The first time I played AJ then I saw peck! Oh and I designed myself and a while after I saw a guest jammer and I […]
Herbert’s and Maria’s Instagram feed
31.01.2016
Here our latest Instagram moments. Every day life can contain adventure if you let it / look for it / want it. Does going places help? I don’t know… you’re already someplace right?
Happy New Year!
02.01.2016
Dear friends and family, we wish you a blessed, healthy and great 2016 full of love and joy!
Sad vs angry
28.07.2015
So here we were at the local supermarket. Maria and I had just paid for our stuff with our bank card and the guy at the counter laughed when I said out loud that the amount of 67,76 Euros was the same as our bank pin code. People do that; they laugh at silly jokes. Outside it rained […]
Jeg drar på ferie og tar med ..
18.05.2015
Som regel tar jeg med for mye, men ikke denne gangen. Det er masse plass i Bingel Am sin #barnehagebag som er kjempeflott som reisebag. Det er lett å ha den på ryggen, f.eks. Så nå har jeg til og med plass til overs, og da kan jeg snike med meg noen smågaver til ungene! […]
The power of repetition: a walk around the mountain
08.03.2015
Driving to a new place usually takes more time than driving back. So many new impressions and your mind has a lot to work with. Repeating the same route will initially bring confirmations “I’ve seen this before”, and eventually you’ll get bored bored bored. To the point where you don’t remember anything of the entire […]
A blessed Christmas!
24.12.2014
We celebrated Christmas 2013 in Palau, and it’s quite the contrast with this year’s celebration. Very different, on a number of levels. Since we got back to Norway, a few things have happened. In no particular order: Marthe finished 10th grade with an A+ in English and enjoys her new school and friends hugely Maria’s […]
Cockroaches the size of mice..
06.01.2014
Disclaimer: This story is not for the faint hearted! Or at least.. well, you know, it’s fun anyway, so go ahead, but put your smily-glasses on! :-D
It’s a new day, a new year.
06.01.2014
January first, 2014. A new year and we were among the first to experience it. Palau’s timezone is way ahead of Europe, and of Hawaii. Palauan local time 7 am meant it was still 2013 back home. Strange. Today, we were supposed to leave for a place called Choll, to pray over the land that […]
Lederskapsstil, gruppedynamikk
30.12.2013
Oppstarten her i Palau her ikke vist seg være veldig enkel. Såklart: endring er aldri lett, og krever tid. Jo mer brått og stor en endring er, jo vanskeligere. For meg fra vest Europa 2013 betyr faktisk ikke omstendighetene like mye som jeg ville forutsett, men vi har dusj (kald vann), vanlige toaletter som man […]
Belief Tree
14.11.2013
YWAM’s Belief Tree is a model that is currently being taught – and thought about – at some discipleship training schools. Let’s see if I can get down the basics of it in 5 minutes WITH you remembering something useful about it (let me know if that worked, by the way). Soil: your worldview Basically: […]
Parent-teacher meetings
31.10.2013
Today we had the parent-teacher meetings at the Foundation School, the kids’ school. We had all 4 in a row, so ‘ran’ from 1 to another. Here are the teacher’s comments: Bente: Strong-willed (oh, really?), but sooooo funny. Very social, playing with all kids, above average smart, will probably be a great leader when she […]
California
14.09.2013
Hello world! As some people maybe know, we are in California right now, and if you didn’t, then you know now! We came tuesday, and we are staying here about two weeks. I was very fancied by the size of things here, as it’s the first time! Everything is so huge!! Except the box of […]
Caninus Nervous Rex – aka Overconfidentii Vulgaris
14.09.2013
Spoiler alert! Coyotes win, rabbits loose.
Jesus and the stolen cup
11.07.2010
Yesterday Krister suddenly asked me: “Mom, when is Jesus coming back?” “Ehm… I don’t know darling. Why? Do you want Him to?” Krister: “Yes, we should give Him a call”. I then told him that he could talk to Jesus if he wants to, it’s called praying :-) The stolen cup is a different story: […]
Queen Beatrix visiting Norway
02.06.2010
The 2nd of June, during her 3 day visit to Norway, queen Beatrix of the Netherlands held a reception in Oslo for Dutch people living in Norway. Herbert and I were amongst the 300 Dutch people that were invited. Since my parents were visiting and said they could babysit, we decided to go to Oslo […]
Freeport Bahamas
13.03.2008
We have arrived safely in Freeport, Bahamas. We just haven’t had an internet connection until now, so that’s the reason for not having updated my blog. About Freeport…. well… it’s a harbour faaaaaaaar away from city, beach, shops or anything else. It’s just harbour with lots of containers and other ships. Quite boring actually. Since […]
Logos II – our story
10.02.2008
How did we get the idea of packing up all our stuff and do volunteer work on board a ship for 4 months with 4 kids age 0-10?? Most people think we’re crazy, we think we’re just blessed getting this oppurtunity! :-) Herbert is a board member of OM Norge, the Norwegian department of OM […]