Light in the Dark

The Lord is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1

This morning, John & I went to the prayer meeting for the Riverfest this afternoon. The theme this week is "Art in the Park", but as it is a dark, rainy day, we're going to have it in the Warehouse. We prayed this morning with Psalm 27 in mind.

A few years ago, I went to hear Diet Eman, author of the book Things We Couldn't Say, tell her stories of working with the Dutch Resistance in WWII. I will never forget her and how her faith motivated her during this time. When I asked her to sign the book, she wrote in letters that reminded me of my own Dutch Oma, "To Julia, With Psalm 27, Diet Eman." And now Psalm 27 reminds me of the terrible times the Dutch had to go through in WWII, but how their faith in God sustained them.

I think we shouldn't be afraid of a little rain today.

Flashback Friday 25

Oma, 1940's

Judy's Grandaughters

OBX, 2005 - Andrea, Me, Paula, Marianna

I don't know who started it, but in our family, indeed even my own children, will say, when I am taking a long time to frame a shot, "OKAY JUDY." This is said in reference to my dear grandmother who used to take pictures of us with such enthusiasm with her little Kodak 110 Instamatic that you just knew how very important you were. I remember hooting over her shots of the sky, the grass, and the carpet. I think John must have started this JUDY thing because my kids never knew her, but if they know this about her, that she liked to take pictures of the people she loved, then that's a good thing.

Bike Riding in the Netherlands

Late Saturday afternoon, Mom & Dad came up from Celeryville so we could scan over 40 pictures and send them to the person in the Netherlands who is producing a TV program about the family's immigration to the US. They are very interested in them because so few people had cameras back then. These pictures make me kind of sad for some reason, but I'm glad they are on my external hard drive now! :)

This is a good one that shows Oma riding her bike with Dad when he was a baby.

Remembering Oma

My sister Marianna reminded me that our dear Oma died 4 years ago today. I wrote about her in a post last year on what would have been her 90th birthday, but since we could never say enough about her, here's another one! We used to love to go visit her down in Florida where she would go to Publix every day to make sure we had enough mint chip ice cream or cheetos or donut holes or whatever.

Oma & I on the trip where she reminded John that I was only 1/2 Dutch, 1988. You can tell she loved me anyway. She was always after me to gain weight - but look! I am gigantic compared to her!


The church with the leaning tower in Bedum of the Netherlands where Oma used to run by as as a little girl because she thought it was going to fall over on her.


The cute little tile-roofed house in Bedum where she lived.