The Hiding Place (my Review)

I think this book has seriously changed my life and perspective forever.   I have never read something that had so much insight to our relationship with the lord through so much strife than this book... well the scriptures do too and this book has given me the desire to read them more often because of what I have read...

I think about the scripture that states, with God all things are possible and then how some of us talk about how we would never be able to handle certain things because it would be too much.....   I have thought long and hard about this and I truly think if we allow ourselves during those times where we feel we cannot move or take a step forward do to fear, sorrow, pain or loss and really allow Jesus Christ into our hearts we will be able to conquer or push forward during those times.  This book is pure proof to that and Corrie's amazing sister Betsie and her relationship with the Lord.  I was brought to tears multiple times during this book, and not just due to my emotional hormones at the moment but having the book touch my spirit in such a way that I felt closer to the Lord.  The atonement and the resurrection was in my thoughts through the whole book.  I thought of so many different things during this book......  Like war, suffering, injustice, people sitting back and not doing anything when people are dying or being hurt around them.  I seriously hope when the time comes for me that I will Stand with Christ and do what needs to be done to help those around me and do my best to be on God's side even when it might cost my life.  That is all easy said I know but I sure hope I can be a true follower of Christ and a servant in his hands.
I thought it was pretty amazing to hear the story years after In 1959 when Corrie went with a group to Ravensbruck to honor her sister and the 96,000 other women who died there Corrie discovered that her release was a clerical "error" and a week later all the women her age went to the gas chambers.

There are so many passages in the book that I love and will probably look to for advice.  Now my goal is to fall in love with my scriptures like this and find out more about the people in the book of Mormon, Christs life and all the many things I can learn from and be strengthened by.

 When my kids are old enough this will become a family read.  I loved this book and recommend it to anyone old enough to carry such a load of a story.

It really was crazy and amazing to be where this all started.  I felt as if I really was on sacred ground because I knew the people who lived there at one town were sacred people.  As I drive through German villages and cities and here that they were 85% destroyed during the war and looking at them now.  Things can get really bad and ugly but in turn can turn better and beautiful again.  I just hope we learn from the past and move forward in a direction where we can do good to others all around us. 

    

Re-arranging and life as it is

So I moved one of the boys beds down to the garage and have their mattresses in the "play room" to sleep on for now  (I am changing their linens so that is why you see just mattress)

I am wanting to paint their bedroom and get it all set up for them to be in again and then we will work on the baby's room when we know if it is a boy or a girl.

In their bedroom I kept one of the futons where I eventually want a bunk bed to go and then I will put the futon in the baby's room for a guest bed.  

We put the TV in the boys closet and so that their play room and bedroom are combined and put one drawer full of cars and trains to play with on the rug in their bedroom.  

 I have the rest of their toys under the stairs in the "toy room" and I am trying to organize that for a nice functional area for them to play while being close to me.

Our back patio where we play and chill

My lettuce where I have already had 2 clippings from. Yum!

My peas are growing pretty good too.  Can't wait for them to have blossoms

So we celebrated Gideon's Birthday yesterday by blowing up balloons nad having a couple of the neighbor girls to come over and have ice cream, oreo crumbs and gummies for a "dirty" treat and we sang happy birthday and everyone got to blow out their own candles.  Gideon seemed to enjoy that and they all played in the tiny little sand box and ran around spraying eachother with the hose....I should of got pictures, I know.

Yesterday I actually got my house clean.  All last week I felt pretty sick almost everyday and had no energy or motive to clean.  Well with feeling a little better yesterday I used that to get some things done.

I am 8 1/2 weeks now and have felt just yucky but at least I haven't been throwing up..  I can start to feel a small bump in my lower abdomen for my sign of pregnancy.  So that is fun.  

I took my car in yesterday after looking around for a reasonable price and found out the problem was smaller than I expected.  I guess an electronic piece that goes with the transmission broke and was causing it to not shift at all.  So they will fix today or tomorrow and I will get it back....I just hope that is all.

Grandma's package for the boys birthday's came today and they got a stomp rocket which is a non stop entertainer!  They Love it!!  They love their clothes, cards, candy, games and everything.  Thank you mom!!

Shooting the rocket across the living room.  This thing is Awesome!!  They are having so much fun with it.

The boys are loving that they are older.  I can't believe I have a 3 and 5 year old.  

It is hard having Joseph away.  We miss him A LOT.  I am just so grateful for technology and Skype and how we are able to connect as a family, be there for each other and share our lives together even when we are apart.  I fall more in love with Joseph everyday and I am such a blessed girl to have him in my life.

The weather has been so dry here lately.  The pollen is the worst I have ever seen.  Every morning their is a new thick layer of gold dust over everything.  When you walk through the grass plumes of pollen puff up as you disturb it with your feet.  We have probably have had 1 week out of 2 months of actual rain.  The boys and I have coughs and dry throats from it too.  Today it sprinkled rain and we just hope there is more to wash it all away.  But we have been enjoying the sunshine.  It has been like summer already.  We play in our swimsuits in the back yard with the hose going.

So I am coming to IDAHO!!!!  I am so excited!!!  I signed up for space A which is space on C17 cargo planes that you can catch a ride on.  So we plan on coming at the end of May and staying till the end of June. I can't wait to see you all.  We will see if things go according to plan.  You compete for a place on the plane so I may or may not come when I would like but we shall see.   I would be flying into Mchord AFB in Washington near Seattle and then catch a ride from there to Boise.

So we have these bugs everywhere that apparently lay there eggs in your grass and the larvae eat your grass so we shall see how bad they really are.  The boys call them spider flies. 

Hope you all have a great week.  Love you all and I love the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am so grateful for the Easter season to remind us of Christ and that he does live and loves us very much.

My Miracle

So we were in Haarlem, The Netherlands when my car started acting up.  We parked it and spent a few hours in the towns square and saw Corrie Ten Booms house and then it was back to the car.

 The car was not shifting out of 1st gear and so we didn't think we should drive it anywhere.  So we just drove to where we thought we could find help but no help was to be found.  So we ended up at the Mercedes Dealer who couldn't help us and we called the roadside service to come and look at it and check it out.  We waited for 4 hours and they never cam.  We called multiple times and they still didn't come.  We saw them pass by us twice but never stopped.  So a decision had to be made.......(So what was going on during the 4 hours of waiting)........We played with the boys on the grass, ate snacks from the car, standing by the road to waive down the roadside service people, cried like a baby frustrated and scared, sad that my husband wasn't there and praying to be helped.  I even prayed for Heavenly Father to just fix the car long enough for me to get home.  I think that was thinking too big.
So a decision had to be made.
It costs a lot to stay anywhere with 4 people and so I was not looking forward to that especially when I couldn't just get on the computer and find a good deal.
We tried getting help but our attempts failed and what were we left to do???
I had prayed for a miracle.  The thought came into to my mind of "What is the minimum speed you can go on the interstate here??"  So I asked a lady and she didn't know so I asked if 80klh would work and she said yes.  This is about 50mph.....my car was going 25mph......
So we decided to try it out and went to go get dinner.  We revved it up to 5,000 rpm's and watched as the thermometer went up.  This was bad.  How were we supposed to go home like this.  We were running out of options.
So we got dinner and then filled up the car and set out.  This is what I thought to pray about.
So we needed a miracle to get home.  I knew this and I also knew that it was possible for Heavenly Father to help with this.  I had the Faith enough to know Heavenly Father could help me.
I prayed that my husbands priesthood and also my Friends Meg's husbands priesthood would go into our car and that our faith would too and that we would not over heat or have anything else go wrong and we would make it home safely.
The Miracle happened~
After 6 and half hours of driving at 5,000 rpm's and going 50mph in first gear we made it home with out the thermometer moving at all.  It was amazing to witness the power of the priesthood and God helping our car.
We were blessed and we felt God's love for us.  A miracle did happen and I cannot deny that.  It was a hard, yet beautiful experience.  I have an appointment this next week to get the car looked at and fixed.  Wish me luck.
Remember with God all things are possible.  We learned that from Corrie's book the Hiding place and we exercised our faith and we were blessed for it.  
 

A miracle

A miracle happened to me yesterday that I hold close to my heart and would love to share with you all.  It is hard to put it down in words but I look forward to sharing it with you when I have the time to write it down.  For those of you who can talk to me via phone or skype, that is the way I would prefer to share it but if not check back here again tomorrow and I should have it down by then.
God is there for us if we have the faith to let him help.  I am so grateful for the love of Christ and the love of my Heavenly Father.  I can't wait to share more :)

Haarlem, Holland, The Netherlands

This was an amazing experience that I have grown spiritually in.  I loved the book "the Hiding place"  and even marked quite a few passages as I would scripture.  It was amazing the insight Casper Ten Boom had in all things.  I would recommend everyone when the time comes to read this book and grow from it's amazing story.  I am so grateful that there are good Christians out there during war that are the Lord's Angels who help in the cause of good everywhere.

The streets leading toward the Square of Haarlem

Ten Boom Residence.  There is still and always will be a watch shop for the store part of this building.  It has no affiliation with the museum or the family but they call themselves Ten Boom Watches.  

The Alley way door

Looking up from the alley

Waiting for the tour

The sign in the window to let the jews or those in the underground know that all was fine and good in the Ten Boom residence.  This is how they were able to capture so many on the day they arrested the Ten Booms.

Boys playing and racing in the alley way

I love my Boys!!

Some old scriptures from that time.  They had the fathers scriptures on display but I forgot to get a picture.

The living room or liberation room

The hiding place

They made a hole in the brick wall so you could better observe the hiding place which was the size of a small closet. 

The panel door that dropped down to it's spot just in time

Better view of the room.  Opposite of the cupboard was where Corrie's bed was

Some pictures handing that I hadn't seen before

The three bedrooms on top of the house used for the orfin children before the invasion and for the jews later on.

I am so amazed with the Ten Boom family.  I hope if I ever had a test like that I would be strong like them.

This was right outside Corries room and this is where she would hide the coupons for food rations

Looking out this window you could see the extra feet of Brick in Corrie's bedroom so it was a miracle, An act of god that they didn't look and guess about the hiding place.

The three Jewish men in the attic rooms

Saying farewell to the Ten Boom House

Haarlem's square and the huge cathedral there.

City hall where the Gestapo took over

The title used in "the hiding place" book to describe the square.  I was standing where they loaded trucks with the prisoners and the Ten booms.  Sacred Ground I felt despite the chaos of a farmers market day.

Isle of Kaag, Holland - Netherlands

Us crossing the ferry to get to the isle.  So cool! 4 euro~

Very Quaint town on the island.  We went and ate at a really fun restaurant that had really good food and decent prices. 

Bridger and Me

Meg and Gideon

My food!!  It was amazing!!  Noodles in a white sauce with the most tender white fish and yummy shrimp.  The salad had a dressing that I loved too.  Everything was Delicious!!

The boys food

Hotel Orion on Isle Kaag

This is where we stayed Friday night.  It was nice.  The Breakfast in the morning was very European and good.  I had toast with boiled egg and ham and a very yummy cheese that had such bold good flavor that I have never had before.  And then a bun with butter and jam.  My boys licked up their plates too.  Very Good.

Cute homes

The lake

 and the boats

I really enjoyed this island and would go back if we are in the area again.  It is right next to the town of Lisse in the Netherlands.