Rambles about Boston, Passion and Maine

Sitting here in the computer room of the Hambletts in East-Boothbay. Just thought I would drop y'all a little note.
Right now I'm trying to figure out what I want to write down. My best ideas come when I'm asleep. I had all these things I wanted to write you but I have no clue what I want to write now. I arrived in Boothbay on Tuesday. After spending two days in Freeport (the home of LL Bean) and a couple of days in York, Maine and of course not to forget Boston.

Boston was just amazing! I arrived in Boston on Thursday night. Kate and I picked Jen up (a friend from Minnesota) from the airport and headed to Beverly to have a sleepover at Kate's friend house. That evening started quite interesting because one of the neighbors had some problems with her fire alarm so at some point we had about 3 firetrucks in our little street. Interesting!

Jen, Kate and I talked for quite some time and I think we went to bed at 2am. The next morning we had to get up at 4.30am because we had to move our stuff into the Sheraton hotel. Normally I'm not a morning person but because of the time difference and maybe because of the fact that I had been looking forward to this day for a long time I was full of energy and talked as much as I could. I think I drove them nuts.

We checked into the hotel at around 5-ish. Got our stuff into the room, met Christine and got settled for a bit. Then at 7-ish we had to leave for the Agganis Arena. Christine and Kate are older than 25 so they were volunteers. Jen and I decided to go with them because we thought we would be lost if we had to go there by ourself. After we dropped Christine and Kate off, Jen and I decided to see some sightseeings. I thought I knew the route but I think Jen didn't really trusted me, lol. But it turned out that I knew where we were going. Although the map was really helpful. We visited Trinity church, Boston Common and did a part of the Freedom Trail walk. It was great to be back in Boston.

That evening Passion started! WOW! I was super excited, couldn't believe that I was actually at Passion! I had to pinch myself the whole time. It was like I was watching Louie Giglio on one of his dvd's. But wow what a great night that was. Amazing to be in Boston with so many other Christians my age. That was just incredible. The next day, Saturday, was even more amazing! Steve Fee's song says it all: " We shine, we shine in the light of God and when we speak, we speak with words of love and when we dance we make it a little wild because we are the people of God, yeah the people of God." " We worship the King with everything that we are cause we are the people of God, yeah the people of God" A little wild isn't the description, it was WILD. And all for God. And the best thing was that at some point people were so into God that they forgot that Charlie, Steve or Chris was leading worship. It was so special to be part of the Passion regional in Boston. I don't want to sound like a dork but it really was. The holy spirit was sweeping the place. I never ever experienced something like this. I thought worship gatherings in Holland were amazing but this one gave me the chills. I can continue to write about Passion but there are no words to describe it. You should experience it yourself. Go to one of the worldtour dates in Europe: Stockholm, Paris or London.

So yes Passion was over and I was a bit sad about it but now I can look back to an amazing time! It was great meeting new people and seeing the people I already knew...It was great to meet Mr. Giglio and the rest of the Passion staff.



On Sunday I left York, Maine for Freeport Maine. I had to say goodbye to Hannah, sniff but was going to stay with Kate for a couple of nights, so that was kind of cool too. In Freeport I did some shopping. Kate invited me to one of her Mary Kay meetings, so i got a make-over. It looked really good on me. And then on Tuesday I left for Boothbay.

So right now I'm at the Hambletts. It has been interesting till so far. Andy Hamblett is the director of the YMCA in Boothbay. I've known him and his wife for a couple of years... They have 4 kids: Peter, Lincoln, Helen and Chris. The two girls Lincoln and Helen are just amazing. They keep on talking, dancing, jumping, singing. Oh and there's something about a tv show here called Hannah Montana...or something like that. Yeah well....I think I can sing every Hannah Montana song now. They even have Hannah Montana costumes for Halloween...crazy!

Boothbay is my second home. It's just an amazing place and the people are great! It's so cool to see all those familiar faces again. Hang out with the people I know. I found out that I attract animals. Every dog is all over me...I love dogs, would love to have one again. But it's so funny...from the 3 days I've been in Boothbay I've had Marley (a golden retriever), a black lab, a schnauzer, a chocolate lab called Hogan and the dog of the Hambletts: Maddie. Today I'm going to stay with The Woods, and they have three dogs: Bartie, Kate and Kobe. Dogs everywhere, but I love them. So most of my clothes look like fur. They smell, but I don't care...perfume is working for me at this point.

Yesterday I had dinner with the Hambletts and they kept pouring wine into my glass...so you can imagine that at some point I was a bit tipsy....The thing with wine is: I fall asleep...so I almost fell asleep on the couch when we were watching Grey's Anatomy.

That's the other thing about people here, everybody loves Grey's anatomy, The Practice, Ugly Betty etc...

Oh and I'm addicted to (don't laugh) CMT!! I just love country music...

Hope

A lot of you people know that my family is going through some very hard circumstances at this moment. But in the midst of all the darkness I find strenght in this verse:

“Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”- Romans 5:3-4

Less of me. More of Him.

Sometimes I feel that I draw every attention to myself...even in a way that people expect me to do certain things or think that I have this interesting and cool life.
I don't!
I pray that my life will be more and more in Jesus' footsteps.

"He must increase, but I must decrease" John. 3:30

Less of me.
More of Him.

And there it was....my college

Look closely (click on the picture) my college is listed too :-) : Christelijke Hogeschool Ede