Christmas News 2006


Christiaan loves his job at church and the challenges it brings. This past year he had to replace a lot of his great staff members, so things were very busy for a while. But he has hired and is expecting a few great new staff members at Cornerstone. Any spare time he fills with doing a lot of reading, volunteering at Mariana's school, watching television, playing with the kids or tinkering with computers. He really enjoys leading the Bible Study we have here in Castro Valley.
One of the highlights of his day is praying with Mariana in the car on the way to school. She has such a sweet heart and prays the most... interesting prayers. You should ask him about those sometime.

Kristina continues to live a busy life! Her biggest joys are being Christiaan's wife and Mariana and Jack's mom. She stays very busy taking the kids to and and from school, helping them with homework and house projects, and having fun. She still teaches piano students three days a week and loves it! She continues to be involved with music and leading worship with the women at church, also a joy. It is so amazing to be used by God, doing the things you love!

Mariana just turned 7 on December 4! She is in first grade this year at Valley Christian Elementary School, and is doing excellent. Learning to read has been a thrill and she also especially enjoys math. She continues to love doing all kinds of arts and crafts and is learning how to clean up after herself (not as fun!). Mariana got her first “real” Bible for her birthday and is busy reading Luke 2 every night (they are memorizing it in her class). She loves going to church and she loves Jesus. Mariana is such a joy and it is a privilege to watch her grow into the girl that God intended her to be! Two classic "close, but not quite" sayings by Mariana are: "Maebe (our dog), get a lot of this!" as she showed off her bicycle skills, and, "Mister Steve, you're a piece of wall!" Funny.

Jack turned 5 in August and you know what that means: he gets to chew gum, a major milestone in the lives of VandenHeuvel kids! Last spring he finished at Kids' Kingdom Preschool and even prayed at the graduation ceremony! This fall he started at Redwood Forest Preschool in the Pre-Kindergarten class. He has (finally) decided that he is right-handed, though he eats with his left hand, and this has caused quite a change in his seat work! Now he goes around the house coping anything he can find, including labels on wipes containers, cereal boxes, etc. It's so exciting to watch. Jack continues to crack us up with his sense of humor and wit. He is getting so big and is a real kid now. One way we know he's getting ready for Kindergarten is that he has started to spell everything, and he wants to know how to spell words. Not only will he come up to us to ask "What does UQRDT spell?" But he also asked Christiaan the other day about one of his favorite movies: "Papa, how do you spell ET?" When Christiaan told him he got so mad! He was finally told to drop the question with the promise that it'll all become clear to him in Kindergarten.

Family Highlights:

- two camping trips – one with family, one with friends
- a visit from Opa in October!

We pray that this season of Christmas would bring you closer to the truth and love of Jesus, our Savior!
He is and has been so faithful to us this past year, sustaining us through easy and difficult times. He provides for us in unexpected ways, and lavishes His love on us. We continue to seek His will and purpose for our family as we desire and hope for another child, maybe even in 2007!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Love,

Christiaan, Kristina, Mariana and Jack

Mariana's Birthday

We started her birthday on her birthday eve. She enjoyed opening presents from Opa and Oma, Ome Paul and Tante Jacoline. They sent a box FULL of presents! Then she was all ready to talk to them first thing in the morning.

Reading the card

All the loot!

Talking with Oma

Mariana and her 1st grade class at Valley Christian. We celebrated the December birthdays - Mariana's and Tyler Doyle's.



Later, we had her birthday dinner with Grandpa and Grandma, Christina (our neighbor), and Uncle James and Auntie Rosalyn. We had chicken soup - Mariana's request - and bread, with butter, of course (Mar REALLY enjoys the butter -- the bread is just the vehicle to be able to eat the butter!)






New clothes from mom and dad and an amazing craft kit from Grandpa and Grandma - good for hours of crafting!












Jack was the big gift helper. Feel the sibling love!










So, our girl is officially seven years old! We can hardly believe. We are so proud of her and so thankful that she is our daughter.

Mariana's Beach Party!

Mariana's birthday is in December - every year. This year she really wanted a beach party. So, on December 8th, with houses aglow with Christmas lights and decorations, and with rain pouring down, we turned our house into a beach paradise! We had six girls - some from school, some from church, and had a great time!







HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARIANA!!!













The girls dressed up with leis and flower barrettes, made flower pens, ate pizza and fruit kabobs, and had makeovers! What fun! Rachel, Jamie, and Christina (Rachel's friend) did the girls' faces and toenails!

THANKSGIVING

After Disneyland, the Bakker clan (minus Karen and family) shared a wonderful day together. We had our traditional feast, complete with Grandma's stuffing, turkey, mashed potatoes, etc. Crystal set a beautiful table!

The most special part of the day was going around the table and sharing the things we were thankful for. Crystal had kept our thankfulness cards from last year, and it was so cool to read things from a year ago, and to think about God's goodness to us. It's exciting that the kids are old enough now to participate, and such a blessing to hear them share the things they are thankful for. Jordan and Erin had us all crying. A year ago they were struggling with infertility and their deep desire for a baby. And this year, they have a baby girl due in January!!! God answered their prayer! He is so good!

Mariana kept Owen happy in the swing. She's such a good big cousin!

Dog pile on Uncle Jordan!

Monkeying around!














Later in the evening, we celebrated Christmas together, since none of us will be together then. This, of course, meant presents!!














Andrew is so adorable! He said, carefully and slowly when he opened this gift from Grandma (it's Crayola marker), "It's...........Pens!!"









I thank God for my wonderful family. I praise Him for His provision. For Hope. For health. For salvation. For my kids. For my husband. For our church. For our friends. For His kindness and grace.