Diary, April 2000

 
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Saturday, April 1, 2000

Shopping

In the afternoon we went to the Intratuin garden centre in Enschede to buy some lime and fertilizer for the lawn. The fresh smell of young plants made me remember going to the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam. Of course, there was a section dedicated to eastern with lots of marble eggs. One of these marble eggs looked so nice, that I decided to buy it.

At one point we also came along an outdoor swing couch/bench made by a Swedish company called Hillerstorp. When we tried it, we were sold. We had been looking for some kind of swing for Andy, because we had hear that it could be benificial to children with the Kabuki Syndrome. After having arrived at home, we decided to buy it. So, I went back to the shop, but because it was close to closing time, and some things went wrong, I did pay for it, but were unable to take it with me.

Monday, April 3, 2000

Swing bench

Today, Li-Xia got the swing bench, and I spend the whole evening putting it together. We had to move around some furniture, and figure out which would be the best place to put it. Of course, we tried it out. It can swing without making any noise, and it swings very easy. It seems that lifting your shoulder is enough to keep it swinging. It is very relaxing to swing. I hope we will be the first in a new "swing bench" hype.

(follow-up, in and around the house)

Saturday, April 8, 2000

Recalibrating my visual cortex

Today, I got my pair of glasses, and although the strength remained the same, things in the corner of my glasses looked differently, probably because of the increased refraction index. This means that my visual cortex needs to be recalibrated. Luckily, this happens completely automatic, and only takes about a day.

(follow-up)

Saturday, April 15, 2000

Surprise Party

Last thursday, my mother became 70. She was the first to turn 70 among her 11 brothers and sisters. She was a little disappointed because hardly anybody came to celebrate her birthday. We knew the reason for this, because we had organized a surprise party for her. Around one o'clock one of my sisters went to catch her. She was very surprised and emotionally touched when she discovered what we had organized for her. Almost one hundred people (childeren included) came to the party, which lasted the whole afternoon.

(follow-up)

Rainbows

On the way home, we four times saw a rainbow. Two times a complete rainbow, and the last of these was a complete double rainbow, which we observed the last 15 km on the high way. We were just driving on the border line of the rain. On the right was the sun shining, on the left it was raining. Really amazing phenonema. At certain points there were three yellow bands visible in the primary rainbow. I can't remember having seen such a beautiful rainbow before. We tried to wake up Annabel, but she was too deep asleep. What a pity, that she missed it. Of course, we did not tell her afterwards.

(follow-up)

Sunday, April 16, 2000

Pen case

This morning, I by accident left my pen case in the church. And because my pen case is also the place where I keep my bank passes and such, I decided to go back to the church this evening, knowing that there was a prayer meeting. And because I felt a little strange walking away immediately, I decided to stay. It is a prayer meeting where some people from our church pray for a revival in our church. Although it was the first time I attended this, I did feel at home from the start. The prayer time lasted about two hours, but I would not have hesitated to stay, if they would have told me, that it would take another two hours. Of course, we also did some singing and sharing, but most of the time we prayed. We especially prayed for the young people (that is below 30 years), sensing that God wants to use them.

There are two ways of doing intercesion. One is some form of power praying. From the outside it seems quite impressive, but one thing it does for sure, is draining your energy. The other form is waiting. You step in the presence of God, by worshipping, and empty yourself. Then you take your time and wait for what God will bring to your mind. This way of praying for sure does not drain your energy, no just the opposite, it fills you. So, it does not make your tired at all. That is why I felt that these two hours were not too much.

Now I am quite sure that it was far from accidential that I forgot my pen case in the morning.

(follow-up)

Eastern Sunday, April 23, 2000

Movie about the life of Jesus

Because of Eastern, movies about the life of Jesus are shown on television. Yesterday evening, part of such a movie was shown on Dutch television, and today the second part was shown. I always watch these kinds of movies with mixed feelings. To what degree are they correct to what is written in the Holy Bible? But what is even more important: Is the image that is given about Jesus correct? It is not the physical appearance that I am worried about, but how His character and attitude are depicted. Some movies show him as a political figure, as a kind of liberation fighter. Others show him as a idealist, who was killed in the end. These movies usually end with the crusification. Some depict Him as being anti-hero, who only by accident was given the role that we now ascribe to him. There are even movies that depict Him as being mentally ill. But even, if a movie does not any of the above. Then still there are otherthings. Is He depicted as serious, easy-going, doubtful? Of course, this raises the question: What kind of person was He really? Can we answer such a question from the scriptures? (Many people dare to even think about these questions, afraid that they are to get a wrong picture of Him.)

But before I wander off too much. The movie I saw, did depicted Jesus as a man with emotions, sometimes doubting, but also going round smiling, especially when He performed a miracle. I found this a refreshing interpretation. As if He was living in another reality, where things impossible for us were normal for Him. On other hand, it did not once show praying in the early morning, as He used to do.

One thing became clear to me. If you would want to make a movie that would retell all the stories from the Bible, that would have to be a 10 hour movie at least.

(follow-up)

Eastern Monday, April 24, 2000

New plants

We went to the Intratuin garden centre in Enschede again. This time, just to look for some plants. After having looked around for some time, we bought two plants with the following names: Azalea japonica 'Schneeglanz' and Spiraea nipponica 'Snowmound'. After we came home, I planted them in our front garden.

(follow-up, in and around the house)

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