OliFantje, Exciting news?!

One day her parents told her that they were going to move, but where was not clear yet. The house was put up for sale, but OliFantje didn't think it was necessary to tell anyone yet. Everything went much faster than she expected. They had looked at houses in Drenthe (another province in the Netherlands), but that didn't work out. They also went to Belgium for a while to look at houses. There they found a beautiful house for a good price. OliFantje hated moving, but she thought it could have been worse. This place was close to people they knew, it had a big garden and she could go to a French school. Her parents decided to buy this house and they went back to the Netherlands, but in a strange way the purchase did not work out. In the meantime, their own house had already been sold. So they went camping on the farm of OliFantje's aunt and uncle.

Then OliFantje's parents decided to take a look around in Portugal. They had been on a holiday there the year before. Now they were going again. They had arranged to meet someone they knew from a long time ago. They were going to camp there and look around the area. Nothing else was planned. All necessary items were put in the car. So they started their 24-hour journey to central Portugal.

They had already arrived in Portugal and drove past the place where they had camped the year before. They got off the highway and took a quick break at the campground. They followed that road to the next village, and then another, and then another, and so on... There was no more access to the highway. So OliFantje and her family had to drive an extra two hours. When they were almost there it started to rain a little and the sun was shining too. OliFantje was a bit irritated and terribly tired when she remarked, "Isn't there a rainbow here in Portugal?!" Her family didn't respond and they drove on. They only had 10 more kilometers, 5 more... 1 more... "Turn right here," the phone indicated. OliFantje's mother, who was behind the wheel, stopped for a moment and looked to the right. "Is that a safe road?" she asked. "I think it's possible," OliFantje's father replied. Mother tried to start the car again, but it didn't work. Dad also tried, but he couldn't get the car to start either. After some thinking they decided to call Mr. View, the person they would be camping with. He soon came over from the road they were standing in front of. He told the family that his house was just down this road. So they gave the car, with Mr. View at the wheel, a push. Soon they arrived at their destination. There they met Mrs. View.

The family View lived in a very small house, and when mother made a comment about how cozy she found the house, OliFantje couldn't hold back her tears anymore. She could already picture it in her mind: she and her family in a house that was way too small, homeschooling every day and toiling in the garden, terrible! After crying, they started to unpack their things. Suddenly, mother tapped OliFantje at the shoulder and pointed to the sky. There God had, especially for her, painted a quadruple rainbow. OliFantje never forgot that during the two weeks they were in Portugal.

In the evening there was a Passover celebration at the family View and they were invited to join them for dinner. Then they met the family Tilia and Miss Grape. Father and mother explained why they were here and that they actually had no idea how to get a terrain. Immediately Miss Grape offered to help them. She had helped people with this before and knew some areas to look into. So Miss Grape came along all week to look around. The family liked the second terrain, but father was not immediately convinced. The second week of the holiday they were at another place where they also looked around. Ultimately, it was decided to purchase the second terrain. OliFantje could see things a little brighter again: beautiful terrain, lovely people, wonderful weather... and homeschooling is actually an endless holiday, isn't it?

On the day they were to go home again, a lot still had to be done. It wasn't all that easy, but they were finally able to start their way back late in the afternoon. If OliFantje had to be completely honest, she would have liked coming back here.