Familiar Faces (Home Assignment 2023 Indiana and Illinois)

Familiar. Well-known. Part of the family. All along this journey we will be meeting many people we have never met before. We stop at 4 of our supporting congregations where things have changed since we last were there four years ago. At the same time, we are getting the chance to see people we know very well and are or have become family. 

After Iowa, we drove across Illinois to drive into Indiana - specifically Indianapolis. This is not only where Stephan and Natalie live, but where Scott’s youngest brother, Mike, and his family live. So we were looking forward to plenty of family time with people we love but haven’t seen in quite some time. 

Unfortunately, we were not able to see Mike and Amy, Scott’s brother and sister-in-law, along with their boys and growing family. In the week that we arrived, several came down with a bug. So we settled on being able to hear one another’s voice over the phone, catching up on news about the kids. Mike is Scott’s youngest brother and his kids are younger than Scott’s. Just the same, they are starting to fly the nest as well and it was good to catch up on how things are changing. 

Our sons of course have been making their own nests for a few years now. We were welcomed by Stephan and Natalie on the evening we drove in with a meal at a nice restaurant to celebrate Mother’s Day and a walk along the Monon trail. We finally got to hug on Stephan and our daughter-in-love Natalie, whose healthy rounded form told its own story of life to come and a new face to get to know at some point. 

In the coming days we were treated to various familiar places and faces. We speak with Stephan almost every Tuesday - online. Now we could see many of the things we have heard him speak about. It was like stepping for a short time into their life and it became even more real, even though it was already familiar in a way. 

We all went out disc golfing in the afternoon at two different parks. A former colleague of Stephan’s came as well and Shirley walked along with the dogs (who usually would have come, attached to Stephan’s bag). We all got our walk in on that day and we ended it at a pub near Stephan’s house where he took part in a darts contest for his darts league. The next evening we also got to visit a favorite coffee place where Stephan and Natalie had spent time writing together (NaNoWriMo). 

On the Saturday we were over at the house and could see what we had thus far only seen through a screen. There was where Stephan sat as he talked to us. And there was the background in the office. Now we could see how the floors had come out. We had heard about all the work that went into fixing up the house. It was exciting to see them in their place. And we were also able to see more familiar faces as Natalie’s parents and her sister and brother-in-law came over for a cookout. 

Although we only get back to the US about every three years, we had been able to meet and get to know Natalie’s parents, Jay and Pauline, four times before. We had visited in 2012 (for the wedding), 2016 and 2019 and they had come over to Europe once as well with their middle daughter Hailey. Now we were able to share time again, this time out on a boat on a lake, while the boys (Stephan and his brother-in-law Brett) tried to catch fish. 

Earlier that day we had worshipped with the congregation at Green Valley in Nobles, Indiana. We had been here in the past and found them to be very much like the family in Maastricht. Walking in the door you are greeted by members of all ages asking if they can help, answering any questions you might have. Afterwards we stood drinking coffee and talking for about 30 minutes with people we had many unexpected connections with. We might have played soccer together in 1987 in Florence, Italy!

Our last evening in the city we drove over to Stephan and Natalie’s for a movie night (The Princess Bride). We first went to the store and splurged on some candy for the evening - many things we hadn’t seen since we were kids (see the picture of our stash). We were so thankful to have been able to share this time with our kids, share the baby shower gifts from church members in Minnesota, and see so many familiar faces. 

We drove out of Indianapolis on the last leg of our Midwest tour and headed to South Bend. Stef Bardoel (son of one of our members in Maastricht and long-time friend) is studying in Notre Dame and we wanted to see him again since we were in the area. He welcomed us to ‘his’ campus again (we had also been in 2016) and we shared a meal and plans for the future.

Driving on we braved the Chicago traffic to get to our last stop on this tour - visiting with Jimmy and Amy Schellekens and their kids. Scott has known Jimmy since Jimmy was 2 years-old. As an adult Jimmy also came on missions to Maastricht. Now he and his wife Amy live and work in the Chicago area and have two kids. So we once again saw familiar faces and met new faces that have come familiar. And family. 

The next day saw our last and longest Midwest drive as we took our road warrior car back to its owner. We were able to share some good and encouraging conversation on the driveway before being brought to a wonderful hotel room to rest before our trip the next day to Texas. We are so thankful for the opportunity to have seen so many family members so far and meet so many new family and church family members. Check out our pictures here

On Assignment - at home in Indiana

How often do you need to see people in order to retain a close relationship? This is something that has intrigued me almost my entire life. I grew up traveling all over. I had lived in six cities in three countries before the 6th grade. So family was always important, and making friends meant figuring it out quickly, or keeping things on the surface (I would not immediately call this superficial).

This continued when I went off to university, where I traveled all over the US, traveled to Europe and in the end spent two years in the Netherlands. My brothers and sisters also traveled. Three of my brothers were in the military and the other roamed off to Alaska. But we have always been able to re-connect. And we are still there for each other.

Our last leg of our Home Assignment brought us to Indianapolis where my ‘little’ brother, Mike and his family live. We keep and eye on how Mike and Amy and the four boys are doing through the wonder of modern communication – and I have always been very thankful for that. Since Indiana is not in the normal ‘loop’ of our travels on home assignment, the last time we visited was in 2007. Now we not only got to visit, we were blessed to spend Christmas together!

We arrived a day late so that Shirley could recover after the wedding. That left us two and a half days to enjoy the time together. And we were mixing several families as well. Marc and Wouter, who had traveled with Sean to New York city and then joined us for the wedding, were experiencing their first Christmas away from their rather large family back in Belgium. So it was good to share, to experience some local family traditions, and to just have fun.

And all along our travels we had expected snow but had seen barely a flake. Each time we left somewhere, they received a foot of snow after we left, but we were not burdened at all on our travels with snow-covered highways or backed-up traffic. Now, with a few days, we expereienced a blizzard, right in Indianapolis, for Christmas! And when it was time to leave, the roads were clear where we were headed.

Our last day was spent in Chicago with another blast from the past – Jimmy Schellekens is a young man that I knew when he was about 2 years-old in Schiedam. We spent time getting ready to leave, saw some of Chicago, had some great food (again) and even played a bit of football (the real kind). And we could relax the English or work on Dutch by speaking Dutch with Jimmy. We are so thankful that Jimmy and Amy were willing to share their apartment with us for that short visit on our way out.

After two months in the US we were now finally headed back … home. But we have been home all along the way, everywhere we stopped. You are why we can be home when we are with you. We are so thankful for the reality that wherever we are, if we are with God and his family, we are at home. Thank you!

Here is wher you can see pictures of our visit to Indiana and Illinois.