Step Three: It's Just You and Me.

Liefde.

These are my grandparents. This portrait was taken on their wedding day in April 1942. She was barely 22, posing with borrowed flowers, mortified that she wasn't wearing her hat. He was almost 30, dapper even then in his 3-piece suit, the son of a farmer determined to be more, do more. The Nazis had invaded two years before, and Holland wouldn't be liberated for another three. In those years, their first-born son died in infancy, a daughter came soon after, and they were forced to move several times as their homes were either destroyed or used as headquarters. My grandfather was arrested by - and escaped from - the Germans. When the war ended, the village where our family has lived for nearly 700 years was decimated, and my grandfather rebuilt it with his own two hands. Together, they built their life. Five children, 12 grandchildren, and as of this writing, 9 great-grandchildren. They were married for 53 1/2 years. My grandmother still lives in the house my grandfather built.

I am incredibly proud to be theirs.


I've loved this portrait since I was a little girl. I can see my Dad, my aunts & uncles, my brothers & sisters,  my nieces & nephews, and myself in their faces. A few years ago, my cousin was sweet enough to have a duplicate printed for me. This weekend, I finally (I mentioned before that I'm a procrastinator extraordinaire, didn't I?) went to Hobby Lobby in search of a frame that would do it justice. I didn't have any luck. And then I met Gordon. He helped me select the perfect mat and this gorgeous silver frame, and then did the most beautiful job framing it...it is so much more than I could have possibly hoped to do myself. When he came out of the back room with it, I got choked up...I really did.

Prachtig.

It's now the "some kind of something or other up on the wall." Isn't it something?

My reading nook isn't done by a long shot, but I couldn't have started it any better. Step 3...check! What do you think?

-Mrs. K