Do It Yourself Messiah Concert

On Saturday, Kathryn, Tara and Annette took the train to downtown Chicago for our fifth annual visit to the "Do It Yourself Messiah" concert at the Civic Opera House.

This is the inside of the opera house. It's a bad photo taken with my cell phone but you get the idea.  It's huge!

Every year for the last 32 years the LaSalle Bank (now the Bank of America) has provided the concert free of charge to anyone who wants to attend (you have to have tickets but they're free). The orchestra is all volunteer and they hire in professional soloists for the Messiah solos.

For those of you who don't know Handel's Messiah, it's a beautiful oratorio that takes about 3 hours to get through - it has many choir sections as well as solos for soprano, alto, tenor and bass. The people attending the concert in the audience are the choir, so every time the conductor comes to a choir piece, he turns around to us, makes us stand up and directs us as a choir. 7,000 voices! It's pretty nice!

We took the train from Crystal Lake at 11:00 a.m. and arrived in Chicago about 12:30 for the 2:00 p.m. concert. Most of the families from our church go and we reserve a private car on the train, bring along our lunch and have a blast the whole day. After the concert we went out for Chicago Pizza and walked around the VERY busy city. Things were hopping in Chicago on Saturday night! Wow!

I'll upload some pictures to this post later but for now you can listen to the encore of the Hallelujia chorus which I recorded on my cell phone.

CLICK HERE to listen

The quality isn't that great but what can you expect for a phone?

Anyway, it was a lot of fun and we'll start practicing again for next year right away. The girls love the music so much we keep the CDs in our car all the time.

Anyway, just thought I'd share a family tradition of the Yen family.

News from Elja and Martin

Even een levensteken van ons,  als de email aankomt..............
Op maandag 3 december werd ik 's ochtends wakker en rook een brandlucht , ging naar beneden en toen ik de keukendeur open deed zag ik geen hand meer voor ogen een dikke zwarte rook zat in het hele huis.... Snel de kinderen wakker gemaakt en iets warms aangetrokken de deur uit de buren wakkergemaakt en de brandweer gebeld en dan sta je half zeven in de ochtend buiten in je pyama... De brandweer was er heel snel en de brand snel geblust

het brandje was erg klein, Ik had de dag ervoor een nieuwe vloer in de olie gezet en de poetsdoek in het washokgelegd. Martin was die ochtend vroeg weg en rook de olielucht en deed het raampje open voor ventilatie er was toen nog geen rook etc,de poetsdoek is  zelf gaan ontbranden en heeft een wasmand en een tennistas verbrand. was zo geblust.Maar ons hele huis was vol met rook en roet tot in de nok. Kortom alles is nu uit ons huis de hele inboedel en de plafonds gaan eruit om te vervangen. Wij hebben een week inen hotel gezeten en hebben nu een huis vlakbij wat leeg stond . we hebben alleen maar geshopt om nieuwe dingen te kopen van onderbroekies tot was machines en met de kerst zitten we dus hier. Het hele dorp leeft met ons mee en we krijgen vanalles aangeboden heel lief

Maar we hebben dus ook geen telefoon meer alleen mobiel Nu dus net weer een computer met internet en als klap op de vuurpijl vloog er afgelopen week een helikopter tegen een electriciteirsmast waardoor we 2 dagen geen stroom hadden.... erg koud... maar nu een noodvoorziening en we hopen dat het met kerst niet gaat waaien want anders zitten we weer zonder. Kortom eem hectische en chaotische tijd dus wij sturen geen kaartjes etc

Bij deze alle goeds en liefs en zodra we weer een beetje alles op de rails hebben stuur ik foto's etc

Kun je het doorgegven aan de anderen of evt op de website zetten..

Thanks take  care en hele fijne dagen
liefs Martin en Elja

A short note from us.

Monday Dec.3 I woke up smelling smoke. I went down and when I opened the kitchen door I could not see a thing because of the black smoke in the whole house.

I woke the kids right away put some clothes on fast, woke the neighbors, called the fire department end there we were, at 7 o'clock in the morning in our pj's outside.

The fire department came real fast and the fire was extinguished fast too. It was only a small fire (but lots of smoke damage). The day before I had oiled the new floor and threw the oily rag in the laundry room.

Martin had left early in the morning, smelled the oil and opened the window, but at that time there was no smoke yet. but it must have been a case of instant combustion and the cloth started on fire all by itself.

It burned up the laundry basket and tennisbag. It was extinguised almost right away. But the whole house was full of oily smoke from top to bottom, so to make a long story short everything in the house has to be replaced including the ceilings! We went into a hotel for a week and now are able to stay in a house close by that was empty.

We went shopping to replace a lot of things from clothes to washing machines  and a computer. So Christmas days we'll be here.

The whole village is helping us which is so nice and very much appreciated. We don't have regular phone service right now, just a mobile. On top of eveything, we just got a computer to internet and then the other day a helicopter flew into a power line tower and knocked out all electricity, so now we're in the cold too!

We have some small heaters and are just hoping it won't be too windy, so that'll be turned off too.

All in all very hectic and chaotic and we won't be sending out Chr.cards. So hereby everyone good wishes for Christmas and the New Year. We'll get in contact when we're back to being settled.

Love Martin and Elja

From Bert and Truus

Greetje's Website

Dad asked me to post the link to Greetje's (wife of Paul Diepeveen) website so you all can see.

Click on the pictures to go to her site:

8 Fast Facts About Vera

Happy Thanksgiving! Not being with our families at the holidays/special occasions is probably the only drawback of living in New York. We're thinking of you.

I was tagged by Tante Truus, so here's my list.

1. I married my one and only boyfriend (Jack) 25 years ago. I was lucky to find the right person.
2. I'm proud of my two sons, Kevin & Sean; they've become responsible young adults.
3. I enjoy puzzles -- crossword, soduku, logic problems, brain teasers -- and usually do at least one each night before going to sleep. I like to think it keeps my mind stimulated.
4. Hiking is one of my favorite actitivities. I can commune with nature and get exercise at the same time.
5. I like to travel. I've been fortunate to visit other countries and see how others live. I usually come away realizing how good we have it here in the US and most of us don't realize it. My three favorite vacations were Cambodia/Vietnam, Rwanda/Uganda/Kenya, and Holland (w/Mom, Dad, Jack, Kevin & Sean).
6. I work too much. My husband thinks I must be an inefficient worker because I can't seem to get it all done the allotted eight hours per day. I disagree with that assessment; I just have a lot to do.
7. I belong to the local Woman's Club so I can keep in touch with what's happening in the community, serving most recently as President and Treasurer before that. In the spring I'll take on a new role at as NY district director.
8. I wish my two cats were lap cats. Although they're usually nearby, neither likes to be held. Every night, however, they sit and look at me, waiting for me to give them their Pounce treats. I keep thinking that someday they'll do what I want.

Belated birthday greetings for Mary and best wishes go out to Annette.

8 things about me - Albert or Bert Diepeveen

I am tagged by Michelle and my wife. (does that mean 16 things?)

I have been married almost 50 years to a wonderful lady, she is the best!!

I promise to grow up next year!!

I am the baby of the family.

I teach seminars (Biblical Principles) to business owners.

I like good music (organ (pipe) is my favorite)

Do not like the cold anymore, so I love to go to Florida in the winter.

I like being on the computer.

I like rauwe andivie and hachee!!

I tag the Dutch niece and nephews: Dick, Henk, Frits, Elja and Paul. ........Kom op jongens!!

Dieps in USA in 1965

pictures of Opa

pictures of Opa

some pictures of Opa in Loosduinen

Penguin Proposal

I thought I would post the penguin proposal so that everyone who didnt know the story could read it! (By the way this is Michelle Madderom)

Ben and I went to the Newport Aquarium in Newport,KY for our two year anniversary. We spent the days walking around the aquarium and it was a blast! I was most excited for the tickets that we had later for the day...a Penguin Encounter. In this encounter you go back into this little room and three penguins greet you! You get to play with the penguins and pet them and it is so fun!! When we got back there, we were the only ones in the tour (I found out later that Ben rented the whole tour just for us!) We played with the penguins for about 10 minutes and then the guide who was in the room with us said, "Michelle I think that the penguin has something for you." I looked up to see Paula, one of the penguins waddling towards me. She walked right up to me like she had been trained and stopped right in front of me. I looked down to see she had an envelope in her beak. I took the envelope out of her beak and looked at Ben and said, "ARE YOU SERIOUS?" I opened the envelope and found the ring! Ben took the ring, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!! It was the greatest proposal ever!!

8 things about me - Michelle Madderom

I was tagged by Oma, so here is my list!

1. I am getting married in May of 2009 to the love of my life- ps. if you have not heard the penguin proposal story let me know! Its great! :)

2. I am in my third year at Ball State University and I am going to be a teacher!

3. I LOVE THE COLTS!

4. I love to scrapbook and be creative

5. Ice cream is my favorite food in the entire world...next comes my mom's chicken salad sandwiches and mashed potatoes!

6. Cats are my favorite animal, and I cant wait to have one of my own!

7. I really like to bake because I have the biggest sweet tooth ever!

8. I am a building manager at the student center on campus! I get to carry around a walkie talkie and a bunch of keys :)

I tag my dad (Glenn Madderom), Annette Yen, Lauren Diepeveen, Dave Yen and Opa!

Tagged! (by Truus Diepeveen)

This is Truus, trijntje, theresa, wife, mother ,m.in law,tante etc.etc.

I got tagged by Tara, had no idea what that is but she explained it and basically you have to write 8 things about yourself and then tag 8 others to do the same. So here goes:

1. I'm in love with(and have been for over 50 years) a guy named Albert or Bert or Dad, Opa, Uncle, Oom, etc.etc.

2. I like to stamp, paint(watercolor) and draw(if someone would have told me that when I was young( a looooooong time ago!) I would have said they're crazy, because I could not draw a stick figure then :-)

3. I do not like to knit, which I learned in grade school and hated even then.

4. I exercise in nice warm water

5, I love to listen to classical music: esp.large orchestras and choirs or soft and mellow flute and violin or piano music.

6. I play some piano, but only for myself since I make too many mistakes.

7. I love to read and if you'd let me I would finish a book in one sitting.(I did that even when I was young-remember: a loooooong...............)

8. I loooooooove tea and biscuits..........

You are tagged: Bertje my love, Ricky D. , Paul D,Vera Grady-Dam-, Daniel D. Ineke Madderom, Michelle Madderom, Kerry Madderom,

I'll write you all an individual email, bye.... Truus

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You can read Tara's "About Me" when you click HERE on the Yen Family Blog.

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hello

Ah...another site, this one seems easy, and that's what you need when you get ooooooooooooooooooooold like me!! Thanks Annette and come on everyone, let's share some history(it doesn't have to be ancient!) or news about yourself. Have a good weekend,

Truus/trijntje/theresa, mom, oma, tante Truus, what's her name?

Opa Dirk Photo

Here is a photo of Opa Dirk that Vera uploaded to the other site:

Post your current family photos here

If you have photographs of your family now, or the recent past, please post them in the "Family Photos" category.  Give your title a catchy name that shows what type of family photo it is, etc., too!

Post your family history photos here

When posting your photographs with more of a history feel to them - old shots of Oma and Opa, other pictures from the far past, etc., please choose the category in the Labels field below with "Family History Photos."  That way when someone wants to just see that "folder" of photos, they can click on that category on the main page and see all the posts within that category.

Some Photos from the 2007 Family Reunion

Here are some photos of the reunion in October 2007:

Opa and Oma Diepeveen's Brief History

Opa Dirk Diepeveen was born May 4, 1902 in Korte Waarde, The Netherlands.­ His parents were Dirk Diepeveen and Klaartje Boot.­
Opa Dirk married Oma Fetje van den Bosch on July 27, 1927 in Mildam, Friesland in the Netherlands.­
Oma's parents were Broer van Bosch and Aaltje Smit.­
Opa Dirk and Oma Fetje were both in nursing.­ That is how they met.­ They had 4 children: Broer Dirk, born May 18, 1928, Dirk born July 25, 1929, Klara Aaltje born December 8, 1931 and Albert born July 7, 1936.

Hoi Diepeveens - Again!!!

Well, things over at the other website were not quite working out as planned so here we are at plan B!  Watch your email and this page for more information on how to access the site, add your information, load pictures and more!

It's gonna be fun... really!