Mormon Prom - The Invite........

Mormon Prom! It's a rather big deal here. It's an alternative to the prom at the high school (a good alternative). It is put on by the church and includes three to five stakes. It includes dinner and the dance and the kids don't have to pay for anything!

Emotions are quite high the few weeks leading up to the prom. Will so and so ask me? What if this person asks me? He's asking her, but his friend is asking this person and one of two people might be asking me. If this person asks her and this person asks me, then we can all go in the same group. Mims needs to make me another dress - yes, plans for a new dress were under way before she was even asked to go to the dance!

And then......the invite comes! The doorbell rings, the door opens, and all that is on the front porch is a bouqet of balloons!........

Inside the balloons were pieces of paper that made up a puzzle asking Wendy to go to Mormon Prom. As you can tell by the photos, a fork is a far better tool for popping balloons than say a nail, a pin, or even a sharp knife!

I like the expression on Wendy's face in this one!

The anticipation and the excitement were almost too much to bear. Thank heavens the day finally arrived! Except, now the dilemma is how to respond? A simple 'yes' certainly would not suffice! The theme of balloons was followed - water balloons. An affirmative response was written on a piece of paper and 'sealed' with scotch tape and placed inside one of the water balloons. (We were outside filling water balloons as people were arriving for book club. A few people were extremely curious as to why we were filling up water balloons when we should be having book club. Most people just commented that we never have a dull moment at our house!) Wendy and entourage took the filled water balloons and put them on her date's front porch. He had to stomp on them to pop them until he found the note inside. A date was secured for the upcoming event! Now we can all rest easy for a few weeks!

Koninginnedag..............

Friday was koninginnedag in The Netherlands! On this day, things can get really crazy - REALLY crazy! Steve was fortunate enough to spend the day with his Uncle Mike and Aunt Lill (thanks to both of you!). Arrangements were made with the mission president in advance. Mike asked if it would be okay to invite Steve, and the president said yes! He wanted missionaries out of Amsterdam for the day. And, of course, the rest of the Stigter family was there as well! From the looks of the photos below, a great time was had by everyone.

Oma, Steve, Opa

Steve and cousin Thomas

Uncle Mischa, Uncle Mark, Steve, cousin Thomas, cousin Kevin, Uncle Mark, and Opa

Thanks again, Mike and Lill for including Steve in the days activities!