Camping

Dad always drove the station wagon towing the tent trailer on our epic cross-country camping trips. We'd be gone for so long that home looked different when we got back.  My favorite memories of these trips were some of the things we did to entertain ourselves in the evenings, accompanied by the hiss of the Coleman lantern in our home-away-from-home.  We liked to play blackjack using clothespins as chips.  Sometimes Mom would read us a story.  One time Mom did a shadow show on the curtain in the lantern light.  Then we'd fold the table down and break out all the sleeping bags.  We used every available space for sleeping all six of us.  Last of all, we'd watch the lantern go down, whisper and giggle for a while, and drift off to the sound of crickets, wind, silence.

Jan and her husband Frank were long time partners with us in building God's Kingdom in Mozambique.  They are some of those unsung heroes of the faith.

-Phil DuBert

How to save 10 cents

Every day after sports practice, my siblings and I had a way of using the phone system to ask Mom to come and pick us up at Village.  But we always got our dime back.  The method is described in haiku:
Haiku Hive
Who thought of this, anyway?

--David De Haan

Sack lunches

David and I went to Village together for 13 years. We were in the same Kindergarten class. I don't remember Mrs. DeHaan being one of those smothering mothers, but I can picture her perfectly as if she was at school often. Maybe she wasn't. Somehow she made an impression on me. Two things: She packed David's lunches in sugar sacks. I always thought that was so neat. The other? She seemed to be a person with a peaceful, quiet strength (which I recognize now as from the Lord). 

Mrs. DeHaan probably didn't even know who I was, but she left an imprint on my mind. What a blessing she must have been to those who knew her well.

-- Michelle (Zavala) Storm 

Many years of friendship

We remember when our daughter Marie babysat the older De Haan children. Much later Florence remembers enjoying teaching pre-school with David and Duane attending. So our families span many years of meaningful friendship with Jan. Her passing saddens us but we have firm confidence in her present joy seeing our Lord face to face.

--Florence & Harold Lappinga

Camping

Our family moved to California  in 1975 and started going to Bethel Church.  It was there that my mom and dad became friends with Mr. and Mrs. De Haan.  We started seeing them at their house after church and they came to ours.  We spent  some time on holidays together.  Every summer we went camping and the De Haan family went, too.  Mt. Pinos, Balch Park, Anza Borrego, Joshua Tree ...

My mom and Mrs. De Haan became good friends.  My mom took it real hard when Mrs. De Haan passed away.

--Peter De Jong

When I moved to Sun Valley

Upon a Sunday afternoon,
when the scent of flowers fills the air,
in a home that’s bathed in soft sunshine,
where from the kitchen, with a warm smile
the visitor is welcomed,
with a voice that resonates with kindness.
A family gathers at the table,
to eat, share, and remember.
In this meal, in this place,
there is genuine acceptance.
Would you like a sandwich?

--Keith Sanford