Here are some pictures of the Taber's house, animals, yard, Kelsey and Keera, Joey&Noah&the famous still intact monkey.

Joey had this monkey when he was little, and it was one of the only things I remember of him. So it was real need to see that He still has got it! We saw some pictures in an album my mum made for Tina. Pictures of me and Joey when Jim and Tina went to Paris, and Joey stayed with us. Little joey&merel eating at our old table, on the 'wipwop' outside in our street, at Dolfinarium, under the shower, on the potty and so on. Very funny to see since it has been 17 years!

The convention was great, I'll try to post the pictures now or either tomorrow or next week, this computer isn't that fast so it takes a while. And since I still have to upload the pictures of the house it'll take more than a while;)

I won't tell more about the district convention (huge annual meeting of Jehovah's witnesses) since there are so many brothers and sisters that don't want to know all the new things yet. They'll hear it at their own convention right? This year's convention is entitled : 'Follow the Christ', the talks teach about his way of teaching, his personality and especially how we can follow him, and when we follow him, how we can follow his footsteps even closer. When we follow the Christ it enables us to draw closer to Jehovah God (James 4:8), which gives us extra motivation to do so.

Today the convention was attended by over 9500 people!

The drama (a play based on an event described in the bible)was really interesting. The lesson was that we must be careful not to be haughty and show humility. It had also humor in it, I made some pictures that I'll post later on.

One of the brothers of the governing body had a couple of talks on the convention. The governing body is a small group of annointed christians who take the lead over the earthly organization of Jehovah. In Matthew chapter 24 the faithful and discreet slave is mentioned, he would be appointed over all the belongings of the Christ (Matthew 24:47). The Governent body are the brothers who provide the spiritual food, like the monthly magazines as the Watchtower and Awake.

One of the Symposiums on the convention was about the Sermon on the Mount (which can be found in Luke chapter 6) entitled: Precious Gems from the Sermon on the Mount. It discussed the background and setting, the kind of happiness Jesus spoke of, his note on first making peace with your brother before doing an act of worship, what it meant to tear your eye out when it makes you stumble, that when we keep on asking that it will be given to us, and last but not least the thing most people will think of when they think of the Sermon on the Mount: ''Practice giving and people will give to you.'' (treat others the way you would like to be treated)

The Public talk on Sunday was about recognizing the real followers of the Christ. It had a good reasoning in it. Some people will say that the bible is an old book and that it has changed during the ages. The brother asked: Can Jehovah God make a book? Yes of course he can, he created the universe, the earth, everything so he definately could make a book. Then, could he preserve a book? Jehovah God is powerful, of course he could do that. So has the bible changed over the years? (Matthew 17:17)

And it discussed several things true followers of the Christ should be recognized by. The most important one was that they would be known by something: They would be called by God's name, Jehovah. (John 17: 6 -> Jesus made God's name known on earth) (Acts 15:14-17 -> A people for my name.) (Isiah 43:10 -> 'You are my witnesses, is the utterance of Jehovah')

And to many the most important day of their lives: The baptism. There were 90 persons who dedicated their lives to Jehovah. 56 new sisters and 44 new brothers, the youngest was 10 and the oldest 70 years old. The baptism is always a highlight for our assemblies, as you all know, because these persons dedicate their life to Jehovah, to serve him 'till time indefinite.

But I won't tell you guys too much (would you cry if I did????) about it because lots of you want to be surprised by all the information once they attend their own convention.

Love merel