My father (1932 - 2004) had no idea that his granddaughter would become a Christian Reformed pastor in 2017 or that he had generations of 'dominees' in his family, as far back as the Dutch Reformation. But recent work with My Heritage has uncovered five centuries of faithfulness and a

It was a privilege for me to delve deeply into the lives of ‘Opa and Oma’ van der Laan in 2019, while editing and assembling the various writings and photos for the book "The van der Laan Venture" -- memoirs of my grandfather, but also of his wife and several

Laura's repost in Reformed Journal: Perhaps my father was lucky. There is a place in the world that he called his own. It's a wonderful place that he could visit and remember and which never lost its essence throughout his own variegated life. That place is Terschelling

Perhaps my father was lucky. There is a place in the world that he called his own. It's a wonderful place that he could visit and remember and which never lost its essence throughout his own variegated life. That place is Terschelling

Forty years is a long time, by any stretch. For us, particularly, these back forty have felt like a lifetime, with two bookends - our trips to Europe in 1983 and 2023 (still to come).

In the summer of 2023, Wendy and Henry explored parts of Holland and Europe as well, before and after the van der Laan extended family reunion in Stadskanaal.