The John Perrys have not dropped off the face of the earth, although Nashville sometimes feels that far away. We are all well. Rachel is counting down the days until junior high is over-- 13 more days. She's telling us she'll become a catholic in the Fall, as she'll be attending Father Ryan High School (the Fighting Irish)! Here's a picture of her last tournament in Chattanooga where they won it all. (If you click on the picture it gets bigger and she's #9--the trophies were iTunes certificates). Friday we'll be traveling to Atlanta for the last tournament of the year. The spring is more glorious than ever with our dogwood tree singing. Although John's allergies are in full bloom as well. We're all busy with our new church. It's a family affair-- John is the treasurer, Rachel organized an effort to help persecuted Christians in Afghanistan. She's talked the last three sundays and the whole congregation took part. I'm working part-time (yeah, right) pulling things together. We're happy to be pioneers in more ways than one. Here's our website if you want to pay a visit-- www.ImmanuelNashville.com Life is good! We love and miss you all. Thanks, Joan for the updates!

Weekend Guests

Andy, Kristin, Brody and Hadley came to Camp Nelson this weekend. It's the first time Kristin has been here in 2 years (with pregnancy/nursing, she can't take her allergy meds and she's allergic to planet earth) and neither of the little ones have ever been here. Grandpa Gene was really anxious to take Brody fishing, turkey hunting, tractor driving and horse riding. Due to the weather, the only thing they did, was tractor driving and I think Brody thought that was pretty cool. We took them to the barn and just as we came in the door, Lawrence (pictured here) cleared his nasal passages which scared the daylights out of Brody! After that, he was mighty leary of the big horse. No way, Grandpa Gene was getting him on top of that! And Brody loves Maggie; he practically lays on top of her. Every chance he gets, he's sitting on the floor next to her, with his arms around her neck. You got to love a lab for patience. And how pretty is baby Hadley? Both kids have Gene's blue eyes, and Hadley has the sweetest little rosebud mouth.

All is all, a good time was had by all. The dogs are tired out, Bella came too so Birdie and Maggie had a playmate. I'm wiping little fingerprints off of everything 3 feet and under and Grandpa Gene is napping.

I hope y'all had a good weekend and we send lots of love, hugs and kisses.

Joan

ENCORE!

I've had a request for more photos, so these are all taken in Jenna's home. Gene is preparing the floor for some repair work. The spiral staircase was moved and left 2 holes in the hardwood floor. He loves a project... Then, this is the guest room. The tiny side table is up against a wall, on the right, and you can see the orange wall on the left. That's how big the room is. Jenna does plan to repaint... Below is the view from Jenna's bedroom windows on the second floor. Big, floor to ceiling windows, all along the wall. Lovely. And then finally, this is the downstairs. I'm standing where the dining room table should be (it was waiting to be picked up and since Jennna doesn't have a car, she was waiting for a friend with a truck to help), the windows to the sidewalk/street/canal are at my back and I'm looking through the length of her home. Dining area, TV area, kitchen and bath at the far right. Not a lot of space, but that's how they live. We didn't see any big houses. The Dutch also leave their draperies open all day and into the evening. They are saying "my house is clean and we have nothing to hide". You better hope so! Well, now that I've given you a glimpse of a Dutch home, I'm going to bed. We're expecting severe weather tonight, which means no sleep for me...crazy dogs lose their minds and keep me up. Of course, Gene sleeps through it all... Later, I'll post some more. Take care and have a good weekend. Hugs and kisses to all.

Love, Joan

Back in the USA

Well, we got home Sunday night around 9:00pm, which was 3:00am for our head/body. A really long travel day. The dogs were very happy to see us, I thought Birdie was going to wiggle right out of her skin! And there's nothing better than climbing into your own bed!

I finally got my pictures downloaded, so I'll share a few with you...let's see how this goes...This is Jenna and Gene in Amsterdam. Next...these tulips are in the flower market in Amsterdam, and the price of 10 Euros for 50 tulips is about $15. What a deal! And there's Gene and I outside a windmill in Leiden.

I have no idea how to control where these pictures wind up on the page! Help Melinda! Let's try one more and see where it shows up...oh great...up top now. Anyway, that's in Leiden also. If you live in town, you live on a canal. Did I mention, we didn't see any obese people in Holland? I guess since everyone either rides a bike or walks, they stay in good shape.

I'll publish this now and see how it comes out. Hope everyone is well, and we're glad to be back home.

Love, Joan

A Wee Bit of Ireland

We just returned to our hotel from a day of sightseeing in Dublin. First, getting here...we took the bus and then a train from Jenna's house to the airport in Amsterdam. First, you stand in a line to get your boarding pass, then another to check your bags (which by the way, they charge you for), then a line for passport control and finally one last line for security. I got frisked/felt-up as my knee set off the metal detector. Good thing the security guard was a woman or I may have really felt violated! On Aer Lingus, the Irish airline, you pay $3 for a cup of instant coffee. Unbelievable! Oh, did I mention that gasoline in Holland costs $9/gallon? So we Americans should quit belly-aching about the price of petrol. Here in Ireland, it's even more expensive. So anyway, we land in Dublin fine and take a bus to our hotel. Nice hotel, but in the middle of the night, it sounded like there was a riot going on, outside our window. The front desk clerk said it was just the Friday night crowd from the pub. He promises tonight will be quieter. I hope!

Today, we saw most of the obligatory Dublin sights, that one should see if one only has a day in Dublin. Of course, our favorites were the Guiness Brewery and the Jameson Whiskey Distillery. Gene was chosen to be one of 5 whiskey tasters at the end of the tour. Of course, they had to drag him,, kicking and screaming to do that! They even gave him a diploma, suitable for framing. I'll never hear the end of that.

And it's been raining.

Tonight, we hope to walk to a pub for supper and traditional Irish music. If I can stay awake that long. And tomorrow, we head home! I'm missing my critters and my little cabin in the woods. I'll post my bes photos when I get home, sorry it didn't work out on the road.

Hope all is well with everyone; it's great to be an American!

Love, Joan

Still Here...

This is Thursday afternoon and our last full day in Holland. Tomorrow morning, we'll fly to Dublin, check it out and fly home Sunday morning.

I left off after our Leiden Loop on bikes...that night we went out for Indian food. Another of Jenna's favorite restaurants. Lots of new taste treats and with Prilosec beforehand, a lovely dinner. I was more than a little worried about the spice factor. Tuesday, Jenna felt puny, so we had a stay-at-home kinda day, which was fine, gave me a chance to do laundry and Gene continued fixing things around her house. Since Jenna wasn't feeling so whoopie, we stayed in for supper, with me making a vegetarian meal. Gene kept asking where the bacon was!? Wednesday was market day again, so Gene and I pedaled in and picked up some groceries, including a roasted chicken. He can't believe that one of his offspring is a vegetarian! Later in the afternoon, Gene and I took the train to Delft. Another really old town. Visited the big church, which houses the mausoleum of the Dutch Royal family and folks like William of Orange (local hero). I was interested in purchasing a small piece of the blue and white Delftware, but when I saw the prices, I settled for an imitation, Christmas tree ornament. Yesterday was also a busy day in Jenna's house, with the contractor, electrian and cabinet refinisher all here. Jenna said she's never had this many men in her house before! Hopefully, the marble countertop for her bathroom sink will be delivered today and the electrician will return to finish installing her new light fixtures. Right now, she's out shopping for a small sink to put in her bedroom. It's a very Dutch thing to do... Last night, we just had pizza delivered and drank red wine. Tonight I think is going to be Thai food. There really isn't such a thing as "Dutch food", it's very international eating. At least the snow has stopped, yesterday just had a few sprinkles and so far today is dry.

I'm not sure I'll have access to a computer in Dublin, so you may not hear from me until we return, but then I can post some pictures.

Hope everyone is well and I think of you all daily. Oh look, it's starting to rain...

Love, Joan

We're here!

Greetings from Holland! First of all, the trip...upon arrival at the KC airport, we were told that Chicago was getting snowed in and that we would be re-routed through Dallas. What we didn't know was that our business class tickets got bumped up to first class. Sweet! The seats are like pods and fold flat. You also get your own butler practically, who wines and dines you the entire time. They take really good care of you. So, we arrive in London, and sprint to make it to our connecting gate, in another terminal of course. We make the flight, but our luggage does not. It did arrive at Jenna's house, much later that night, so it wasn't too horrible. On Sunday, we took the train to Amsterdam with the idea that we would see the Anne Frank house and the Van Gogh Museum. The rest of the country seemed to have had the same idea. Instead of standing in the long lines, we walked around the city, had lunch, cruised the Red Light District (yikes!), enjoyed the flower market (did I mention that it was raining/snowing this whole time?) and trained it back home. The flower market was unbelievable! The quantity, variety and prices, just unbelievable! Then for supper, we went to a restaurant that only has one seating, so the table is yours for the night. It's a set menu, so everyone is eating the same thing, but it's about 12 different things! They bring 4-5 small plates of food at a time and we would munch on that, then after awhile, they'd come back with 4-5 more plates, and so forth. We ate fish, pork, veggies, pasta, mussels/clams/oysters, meatballs, prosciutto/melon/mozarella, it just went on and on! And of course, a lovely Chianti. Good thing we had to walk home! We ate for 3 hours; I was a very happy girl.

Today, we rode The Leiden Loop on bicycles. Jenna has 4, as everyone bikes. The Loop consists of 25 stops of historical importance. Leiden is a very old town and has lots of history. This is where they planted the first tulips in the west. In fact, one of the 2 tulip growing districts is here. Right now, the daffodils are blooming. Gene was a little concerned I think, about the whole bike thing, it's been quite awhile since he's ridden. But he managed without any wrecks or killing any pedestrians. Did I mention that it snowed while we were biking? If we can find an open restaurant, we'll go out again tonight, but since it's Easter Monday and a holiday, that may be harder than we think. Funny, businesses were open on Easter Sunday, but not on Monday. Go figure.

I haven't asked Jenna for a tutorial on downloading pictures onto her Mac yet, but I'll try eventually. So for now, that's what happening here. It's lovely and so unlike anything we've seen before. It's easy to see why Jenna loves it so.

I hope everyone is well, I wish you could be with us, it's a great adventure! Take care, more to come...

Love, Joan