“It is not possible”

My dear brother in law and sister were told that the chances were next to impossible for them to become pregnant.

After two years of processing this difficult news and loads of prayer a miracle from God happened. In the middle of the process to become foster parents, my sister did get pregnant. The timing and the rare chance of this happening, had the doctors stunned.

It was going to happen!

This past Friday May 29, little Jolijn, which means ‘God is Gracious’, was born to my brother in-law and sister! We are beyond excited and wanted to share this story with you.

As a way celebrate her arrival we created a cute and little, delicious pastry! This pastry does not come close to the joy this little girl brings. However, on this side of the ocean its our way to enjoy Jolijn. The Almond Jolijn has an almond and custard bottom, and fresh whipcream, topped with a fresh strawberry.

Although it’s not possible for me to visit the Netherlands to see my cutest little niece, we

are finding new ways to show her love until…

It is possible.

May I introduce you to Niall?

Niall is like me in many ways. He is similar in age, has a young family, and immigrated to Canada almost like me.
In a recent toastmaster speech he expressed liking and needing security.
Coming to Edmonton from abroad on a colder fall day, having no income, and not knowing anybody in this new home town was as far from familiar as he could be. He mentioned working hard to establish some security.

Most of the things we experience from day to day are so little in comparison to the insecurity of the change he went through. And I agree with him that this is not an evil event, there is nothing bad about this – but everything is unknown. There is no comfortable feeling in those first days, if not weeks.
In our day to day activities we can have similar feelings of insecurity where even just little things can cause us discomfort or anxiety. But is this bad?

Niall went on to describe how being uncomfortable means that you are in a period of growth. The trick is to get comfortable in that stage, because this is where the growth occurs. So right away I flip this idea, and ask my self the following question: are you too comfortable now? Could that mean that you are not growing?

Let that sink in. Where are you at? Are you uncomfortable?

Niall mentioned a quote, which said something along the lines of, “if you are where you were last year – you haven’t grown enough”.

That was so good – and yet so hard to hear. Nobody likes change, except a wet baby.

But if you really analyze it, change is good. Just think of a young child learning how to ride a bicycle. At some point in the learning process there are sure to be fears and tears, yet once they know how to ride, those fears are replaced with pride and confidence at not needing those training wheels anymore!

I so appreciated the encouragement and the examples that Niall gave us. I hope that you also can let go of your current training wheels, and get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Really? …just because you’re a baker you have cake for breakfast?

We have a ‘cake’ that we eat with morning coffee, it is actually called breakfast cake. With just a lick of butter, its good to go! In big families like the one I grew up in, we even had it on bread: its filling and cheap!

Although it is sweet, the whole baking process is so much different than bread, or cake for that matter. Rye flour gets BOILED with honey for example! my take away was that its actually healthier than you think! And to my big surprise, which i learned at the bakery school, that the taste from “koek” comes from the speculaas spice that gets added.

Then of course my oma bought the one with added ginger, where i loved the one with the pearl sugar.

So you do not have to be a baker, just Dutch: ’cause when my mom wasn’t watching I added chocolate hail to the breakfast cake! Yummie.