Another Trip to Africa...

At the end of February, I went to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to facilitate a training for a number of Central African countries on a software program developed by the Department of Statistics at the World Centre. After the training I had the privilege of attending an institutional meeting in Kinshasa where friends from all over the Congo gathered to consult on the new Five Year Plan. So Menchie and Enna-Marie were husband-and-daddy-less for a week. It was a wonderful trip, and it was wonderful to meet so many new friends.

Some of the wonderful friends I met were Susan and Jason Sheper, who have been pioneers in the Congo for over twenty years, Ali and Sylvie Sereshghi and their two daughters of seven and four years old Karen and Yasmine (I stayed with them for the duration of the trip), Mrs. Behin Newport from Congo Brazzaville, with whose son Navid I used to live for a couple of months in Akka (back in the days) and Gity Raoufi from Lubumbashi, who also stayed at Sylvie and Ali's place, and some of the friends who were singing in the Congo choir during the May 2001 Inauguration of the Terraces on Mount Carmel (Menchie was singing in the Bahá'í World Centre Choir at the time and knows some of these friends as well).


The first picture is of the Area Teaching Committee of the Salman cluster in Kinshasa, a cluster which will launch an intensive programme of growth on the 19th of March.

The second picture was taken at the statistics training in the National Office in Kinshasa. With so many laptops around, this office had never looked more high-tech than during this meeting :)

Group picture with the friends participating in the training, coming from virtually every province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as from Central African Republic, Cameroon and Congo Brazzaville.

Playing a game with Ali (who took the picture), Karen and Yasmine during one of the relaxing evenings at home...

In the garden of Ali and Sylvie's home in Kinshasa, with, from left to right, Gity, Sylvie, Mrs. Behin Newport and myself...

An ad-hoc choir, that performed during one of the breaks of the institutional meeting...

A group of friends performing an improvised dance during another break...

Colourful display when friends from the Kinshasa community gathered at the end of the meeting....

With Mrs. Ndegwa and a member of the National Spiritual Assembly...



Ali enjoying the afternoon program of the institutional meeting...

Susan and Jason having a conversation...
And this is a typical scene on Kinshasa's busy roads :)

A r c TTRACTIONS...

Maarten and I would like to share with you our ArcTTRACTIONS project, which was our contribution to the Annual Arts and Crafts Show that is held every year in February at the Bahá'í World Centre. The Arts and Crafts Show provides an opportunity for the staff here to share their artistic talents with the rest of the World Centre community. Many friends submit paintings, photographs, and other crafts such as ceramics, leather prayer book cases, home-made soaps, bookmarks, greeting cards, jewelries, etc. Some of these are just on display, while others are for sale. The proceeds of the sale all go to the Bahá'í International Fund. Our project consists of a collection of detailed photos we took in and around the buildings and gardens on the Arc here at the World Centre. Maarten also contributed a home-made cheesecake for the Bake Sale this year... Enjoy!

Detailed pictures of objects around the Arc...














Bookmarks & cards...














Registering the items two days before the Show...














The day of the Show...














Display of cards, bookmarks and miscellaneous items...














...And babies in the Arts Café...

Reunion with our Childbirth Classmates...

Well over three months after our child-birth class with Wendy Blumfield ended, we were invited to her house, this time to show the results of all the hard labour:)! It was wonderful to see everyone again, without rounded tummies this time, but with all our healthy baby-daughters!

Enna-Marie's Talking, Smiling, and Thumb Sucking...

Our daughter started giving us her big smiles, as well as making sounds as if she is responding to us when we talk to her, and has discovered the art of thumb sucking... she has become so active and very alert as the weeks pass.

At Week 7:



















At Week 8:




















At Week 9:

Maarten's Birthday

Maarten has just turned 34 on 6 February, first birthday being a daddy so it was special. He celebrated it in 3 different places. Here are some pictures:

At our friends Minoo and Roger's place, this was Roger's birthday party but Minoo, May and Menchie wanted to surprise Martijn and Maarten as well. Roger's birthday was on the 4th, and Martijn's on the 7th, so it was a celebration altogether for the three of them.





















With his officemates and friends...
















And at a reunion with our marriage group at the World Centre, with 3 brand new babies: Rocco, Shiori and Enna-Marie...(we started the class with only one child and that was Aliyah, the daughter of Negeen and Victor).

Enna-Marie at Five-and-a-half Weeks

At exactly one month we took Enna-Marie to the Tipat Halav, which is the Israeli version of the immunization bureau, for her second immunization (the first one was given right after birth). Although she definitely didn't like getting the shot, she also was over it quite quickly :)

Her height and weight were measured at 55 cm and 4.6 kg respectively, which means she is above average and growing and developing well!

She is now five-and-a-half weeks old, and here are some pictures of her that were taken in the last few days. Enjoy!

Slideshow

Updated on 23 January with a few more pictures...

Flash Slideshow

Oma comes, Lola goes...

It's been a while since we last updated our blog with pictures! That is because we are enjoying Enna-Marie so much, that we don't have time for anything else :)

Monday night Maarten went to the airport to pick up Oma Ineke, who is now with us and will stay for just under three weeks. It is wonderful to see her again and spend some quality time together. It was also wonderful for Enna-Marie to have the luxury of having both Oma and Lola with her at the same time!! Too bad she was not conscious of this precious bounty :(

Yesterday was a sad day for us, as Lola Ping's six and a half week visit had come to an end. In the days leading up to her departure we visited the Shrines a few more times, took some pictures with her in Akko, and just enjoyed the fact that she was still here with us. It has been so wonderful to have her with us in the days leading up to Enna-Marie's birth, during the birth, and then in the weeks after. We miss her already, but know that later this year, when we visit the Philippines, we will see her and Lolo Max again :)!

Here are some pictures of Lola Ping's last week in Haifa. The first picture is of a gathering of some Filipino friends, the second one of her in front of the House of Abbud, and the third of Menchie and Lola Ping in front of the Most Great Prison in Akko.

















The next few pictures are of Oma Ineke and Lola Ping during the last few days...

Enna-Marie's First Visit to the Shrine

On Sunday afternoon, January 1st, we took Enna-Marie for her first visit to the Shrine of the Báb. It was a quiet day, there were not many visitors, and so chances of us disturbing others in their prayers were minimal. It was a very special moment for us as parents to take Enna-Marie to the Threshold and say a few prayers for her spiritual and physical growth! We only stayed inside for a few minutes, as we were not sure how long she would be able to maintain the silence :)

Here are a few pictures taken that afternoon.

Fruitjoy - My Alltime Favourite Ad

I recently saw my favourite advertisement of all times again, and thought you might enjoy watching it as well! :) Just click play to start... and don't forget to turn up the sound for optimal effect!

Look Mommy!!, I can scream :)

Although the above picture surely shows you what Enna-Marie is already capable of, we have to say that she has been quite merciful to her parents so far. Now that Menchie and Enna-Marie have been home since Thursday, we have been able to start our life as a family in earnest.

The first night at home with Enna-Marie was a bit of a challenge for us, as it was still all new to us, and we hadn't really "prepared" her for night time. Consequently, we spent from 01.00 to 05.30 in the morning feeding her, rocking her to sleep, changing diapers and calming her down after she had woken up again after only a few minutes of light sleep.

The next evening we tried a different strategy. First of all we decided to feed her really well before sleeping, so that she would get off to a good rest and have no reason to stay awake. Second, we decided to have a little night-light in our bedroom, so that we could turn off the main light and let her get used to the dark of night, while we would still be able to see her and check on her every so often. Third, we changed her from the cradle to the crib. The cradle was swaying a little too much to our taste, and we were constantly worried that she might roll over and get herself caught. We have now placed her crib in our bedroom, and placed our bed against it, so that, while she still occupies her own space, she is close to us and can see us. So far, that has worked wonderfully well! During the three subsequent nights since, she has only woken us once every night for a feed, and then again in the morning when its time for Maarten to get up to go to work anyways.