“After all," Anne had said to Marilla once, "I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.” ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea
I chose the quote above because the essence of the words spurs the same emotions I felt upon seeing the girls from our living room window, as I took their picture below. The camera was in hand because I heard them coming before they even arrived, as I wanted to save a moment in this beautiful Spring day to savour for years to come.
 |
| A carefree Spring 2013 morning of the girls, taken Saturday, 4th of May/11:03 from our living room window. They were on their way towards the front door after walking around our neighbourhood |
Four months passed since we had to evacuate our first home in Holland because of a sad incident. A traumatic end to the year 2012 and uncertain beginning to the year 2013.
A day after Valentine's day, we received the keys for a new house. A house, we dreamed of collectively as a family. A house to create for us to call our home. We have been hoping to have a house since we moved from Germany to the Netherlands but we were unable to acquire one because of different circumstances.
 |
| A day after Valentine's Day 2013, we received the keys to the new house. |
 |
| Photo courtesy of R-TV Nord-Holland - the morning of the 31st December, 2012 - the firemen almost done putting out the fire. Our flat was directly below the home of the perpetrator, at the corner (right) of the apartment complex. |
It was a tragic event - a disturbed man, who lost his mind, set his own home on fire, and in the process made our family homeless - that precipitated the fulfillment of our wish for a new house, a new home. It was love that held the family together through the challenging Winter towards the new beginnings in Spring.
 |
my first half-marathon in The Hague (CPC Loop Den Haag), 10th of March, 2013 - the day we moved in to the new house.
|
 |
A busy April with the motto: onward, forward!
Together as a family, we will remain strong. |
We moved in to our new house, which still needed a lot of time to be completely renovated inside before one could comfortably live in it . Time we did not have.
 |
28.02.13 - an image of the day our moving boxes, which has been in storage for 2 months arrived in the new house . This picture was first shared online in the album 365: TRIO for 2013.
Originally #TRIOof2013 was meant to be a documentation of a running year; it became in part a documentation of an unexpected transition in our family's life |
 |
| 03.03.13 an image from the master's bedroom in the new house after the walls were painted white and the floor was prepared for the laminat/ 365: TRIO for 2013 |
There were many things to be done to make it a home we dreamed of, and there were always many things to do to keep the daily life as normal as possible after a series of major changes.
 |
| 27.04.13 - a much awaited day! The gardener finally arrived to put some order to our front garden. :) |
 |
| playdate 23.04.13 |
 |
| playdate 25.04.14 |
It is in times of crisis that the words: home is where the heart is, rings a stronger sweeter sound in the heart and in the mind.
 |
| 17.04.13 - girl's/family's to- do board |
 |
| 17.04.13 - it is always fun to make work a creative process :) |
 |
| 19.04.13 - the family loves birds! |
 |
27.04.13 - a family movie night on the couch!
floor still work in progress |
The house might not be completely finished to be comfortably lived in but we are very much at home. :)
Until we "open" our doors to everyone again, we wish everyone a beautiful Spring!
