Happy Mother's Day!

Mothers perhaps have one of the most demanding jobs in the world. They are on-call 24/7, in a line of work that hardly permits vacation, resignation, or retirement. There is no school for motherhood. All awards and diplomas become meaningless in the face of a child crying desolately, either over a broken toy or a broken heart. Yes motherhood is a field that a lifetime of schooling can never prepare you for, and you just have to rely on your guts, instinct, and the love you have for your child. This love is your inspiration that keeps you going in the darkness of uncertainty. A newborn child who had only a few moments in this world can already feel his/her mother's love. I am glad that I got this privilege of nurturing my own child. I hope I will be able to do this job until I am old...one year and five months of being a mother is indeed a great and beautiful experience.

Today is a day to pay tribute to all the mothers. This is the day to visit our moms, spend time with them, hold their hands and tell them we love them. Since both our moms are so far away, we want to especially greet them here in our blog: Happy Mother's Day Mama Ineke and Mommy Ping...we love you soo very much!!!

Here are pictures of Mama Ineke in her younger years...Will post Mommy Ping's photos later.

Visit to Tando play center...

Tando is a baby/child play center located in Veradiya area here in Haifa. I brought Enna-Marie here yesterday for the first time and quite impressed with the place, complete with all sorts of toys arranged in different sections. Enna-Marie enjoyed playing for an hour and was happy to see Layla and Ruben who happened to be there with Layla's mom Katharine. Although she was shy at first exploring the play area and was satisfied holding a toy cellphone with her, she went ahead checking other toys as well afterwards. I took lots of pictures...so enjoy!

lower area...







Hello papa, are you there??

what shall I cook??

so much concentration...

my little baby...it's feeding time now!

wow, these are soo cute!

children...be quiet mommy is talking on the phone!!!

with Layla

upper area...

hope papa will call me back...

This is interesting!

I am falling....

one, two, three...yay, I made it up here!

Trip to Akka and Bahji...

Last Wednesday, the 12th Day of Ridvan was a free day for everyone in our community as we didn't have a Holy Day programme. The Schoot family together with Oma Ineke did a short trip to Akka, afterwards we went to Bahji and visited the Shrine of Baha'u'llah. It was such a nice day, although it was windy for some parts, but it is already getting warmer in this country.

In Bahji, we met Susan and her family from Turkey who are here for pilgrimage. Enna-Marie met for the first time their daughter Mona, who is a very active and beautiful girl, she's 2 months older than her. I remember Susan who was serving as a frontdesk person at the Seat of the Universal House of Justice.

In front of the House of Abbud where we started our stroll...

archway in Akka

minaret of one of the mosques

We passed by Maarten's former flat when he served as a security guard in Bahji. Enna-Marie looks at the cat...

our baby is coping well with the heat...

signs and directions to places in Akka

at the market where we bought some fish...

Khan-al-Omdan

some souvenir shops

nice shot of the arch!













And some shots of Enna-Marie in Bahji (thanks to Lola Ping for her pink dress) :

Amelia's last Mother Goose Class

Our dear friend Amelia had her last 'Mother Goose on the Loose' class last week as she and her family are leaving the World Centre soon. She has been handling the class for quite some time now after Katharine, she is the 'goose' who leads the singing. We learned lots of nursery rhymes/songs in this class and I am thankful to her for that. These songs are amazing, very helpful in entertaining my dear daughter whether during feeding, changing diaper, toothbrushing, driving in the car with a crying baby...really they are means to avoid boredom in young toddlers. I took some photos of the class...enjoy!

tickeling Shiori

a song about monkeys jumping on the bed and one gets hurt

this one is about birds flying on the clouds, children learn the difference of the sounds being soft and loud.

Group photo(L-R: Sieni & Tara, Menchie & Enna-Marie, Amelia & Shiori, Vida & Zane, Tiffani & Brennan, Selvi & Lillian)

Two of the beautiful babies in our community

Blossoming Spring flowers...

It is the time of the year that flowers in our balcony are blossoming again, they are even multiplying. Enna-Marie is enjoying to be out, she plays there each day now. She likes to touch and smell the flowers, especially the roses. She is also attracted to the stones...and ants which she says 'mier', ant in Dutch...

Trip to Nazareth

at the Church of the Anunciation where angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she will conceive a baby



at the church entrance where you dip your fingers in the water and do the sign of the cross

the market area where we bought one of these containers

the Synagogue church