Friday, March 13th, after 12 days in hospital Maurits came home again. It really was a festive occasion so we decorated the livingroom for his homecoming. A nasty bacteria caused this long stay in a hospital with highs and lows. He still has a long way of medication ahead of him, but we’re very grateful how he, his parents and other siblings are coping with the situation. All praise be to God.

We’re very proud of our sons family, their flexibility and creativity to take care of the needs of their three kids and each other. Dining as a family in Maurits hospitalroom,Carina and Yannick visiting the new railway building in Delft with their mom, who just left Maurits with his dad after 24 hours watch, and going to a restaurant afterwards. Using the energy that is left to make the day of two of your children!

Marco had the opportunity to talk to Walt Jackson, one of the first missionaries for the Wajana’s through Skype. It is very special to hear the stories from so long ago. Some of the names mentioned in those stories are also known to us and those people are still living at Lawa ’till this very day.

Using Skype for long distant calls is one of the things we’re enjoying very much. Marco had conference calls with colleagues in Asia, Latin America and Canada in these past months. Very convenient when you’re part of World Team Transitional Leadership Team. We’ll see how communication will go in the Amazon jungle of Suriname. Probably by phone.

The coming week and a half we’ll be saying goodbye to family and friends. We’re leaving springtime in Holland for the warmth of Suriname. Despite the sad reason for our stay in Holland, we’ve been really blessed these past few months. Being able to take care of household chores, babysit and enjoying familylife has been very rewarding for us. We left the Netherlands for the missionfield when our two youngest grandsons were only a couple of months old. Now they are three years of age and enjoying grandma and grandpa very much. Probably we enjoyed the relationship with our grandchildren even more.

The baby that was flown into Paramaribo at Christmas, returned healthy from the hospital to Apetina two weeks ago. We’re very thankfull for that.

Thank you all for your prayers on our behalf.