Reasonably Religious: believing in a secular world 
In a world where young people are increasingly under pressure, the family proves to be the most important place of comfort and support. What can we learn from the warnings of Christ and our prophets about the strength of the family – and how can we rediscover it in these difficult times?
This week has been a difficult trial for me. Since early June, I have been going to the hospital two to three times every week because my grandfather – who was also my godfather – was admitted in a hurry. After a few days of examination, it was clear that he had metastatic lung cancer. The first few days he still wanted to fight, but it was already in his brain, and when he realized that...
I firmly believe that this family will stay together forever, both here on this earth and in the life hereafter.
We took advantage of the beautiful weather and magnificent nature in Sweden to do a nice photoshoot. Thank you Mollie Herrey for capturing us so beautifully.
Mormons are always fanatically involved with genealogy. We do this because we find it important to know our ancestors and to be able to perform vicarious baptisms for them. Every month I spend several hours on online searches for branches in our family tree. More and more sources are becoming available online, which means you sometimes make nice discoveries in other family trees. One...
The past few weeks haven't always been the easiest. It started a few weeks ago while we were on vacation in Sweden. Laurens got sick and since he was going to be operated on the following week, we didn't want to take any risks and came home earlier. In vain, because his cold turned out to be pneumonia and the operation therefore had to be postponed. In itself that seems...
A bolt from the blue... Never before have I felt that proverb so intensely as today. Full of anticipation (sic) to the gynecologist today, happy to catch another glimpse of our little apple. And after two seconds that doctor says "I'm afraid I have bad news". And then you see it yourself: where you should see a small flickering light, you now see nothing. Very quietly you see...
Het Laatste Nieuws recently featured an article stating that dads play better with their children than they take care of them. That is certainly the case in our family and that is why, as a dad, I always want to buy the first toy, a cuddly toy, for our children. Since I was born in the year of the tiger, but also because it has always been my favorite animal as a child, I always look for something...
Meanwhile, family and friends already know, so I can say it publicly: I'm going to be a dad again. If all goes well, our new sprout will arrive around the third of September. I won't deny that I secretly hope for a daughter, but three boys should also be fun. In any case, it will be an exciting wait. We chose the code name "appelke": we were looking for...
Joy and sorrow can be so close to each other. Barely two weeks ago we knew that Isabel was pregnant again, last week we told family and friends and now we have already had to say goodbye to our baby. Last night there was already a sign, this morning something was clearly wrong and we rushed to the hospital, where the gynecologist after only a minute...
My grandmother passed away at 3 AM last night. She turned 86 years old.
She struggled with her health for the last year. A month ago, she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. We visited her in the hospital, and it was clear that her life was behind her.
It's better this way for her, but it will be hard for my godfather, who now has to continue alone.
Rest in peace Granny…
Reasonably Religious: believing in a secular world 