Wednesday, March 19, 2008

one of my favorite things


lynn, over at a mother's journal, has posted a call for your favorite things, so i have decided to play along! this is one of my favorite things, a miniature porcelain clock which i bought as a souvenir in haarlem, netherlands. (it is cleverly photographed with many more of my favorite things: books!)


and of course, behind the souvenir is a wonderful memory...i was young, single, out of college but in between any serious job, and i was looking for adventure! i decided to blow my entire savings back-packing through europe. it was a summer to remember. i visited a friend living in madrid, some missionaries in vienna, and l'abri in switzerland. i traveled through 7 countries in all. but one of my most memorable stops was in haarlem, just outside of amsterdam. it was here that corrie ten boom lived with her family during world war II. it was in this family's clock shop and home that they hid jews behind a secret panel in an upstairs bedroom, risking everything including their very lives to stand up for what is right. i took a tour of the ten boom home and heard the stories of God's faithfulness in the midst of unspeakable horrors. i had read the book, The Hiding Place, but to stand in the room where it all took place was very moving. i bought the clock in the shop where the ten booms once did business, thankful to find a treasure that would fit in my backpack. thank you, lynn, for bringing to mind those memories. i just might dust off my copy of The Hiding Place and read it to my kids.

2 comments:

Lynn Hasty said...

Oh, Stacy, it gives me chills to think of a family being brave enough to do that!! The clock is so beautiful. I love it. It looks so delicate. I cannot believe it rode in a backpack, and I cannot get over that you went on such a trip. I am envious!

Thank you for sharing!

Lynn

Amy said...

I love this post and this idea!! And certainly I love your treasure and the story behind it. I will have to do this post as well, but I'll need time to think of my favorite thing!!