Born on Aug 24, 1988; the exact date he was due! His
birth was not as normal as anticipated...he came into the world upside down!
The stress of his birth created some anxiety when he didn't start breathing on
his own, and his little blue body was whisked away for some special care by the doctors and nurses, but our God was gracious and Drew was soon welcomed by his
overjoyed and thankful parents and family.
Drew was always an easy, happy baby, very content to sit
and play for hours. His playpen became his favorite corner..... We would leave
one side down and he would crawl in and amuse himself or just simply fall
asleep!
Did I say crawl? Um yes... That's what he did, as a
matter of fact that's all he did until he was 18 months old! Then he finally
decided to try out his legs.
As a matter of fact he was into encyclopedias before he
started walking... And as he grew up he used our encyclopedias as entertainment
for hours at a time. Many a morning he'd be sitting in the hall outside our
bedroom door with an encyclopedia open on his lap. And they were always with
him in the bathroom, he'd read them every time he'd sit on the toilet!
Drew, I'd love to pass those books on to you, I just
don't want to pay for shipping!
At 3 years old he showed some interest in our computer. His
Dad bought him a game for the computer, which consisted of a floppy disk that
had to be put into disk drive. Then it had to be prompted by
several DOS commands, c:\, and then typing the name of the game. His dad bought
the game the night before and Drew had only seen him start it one time.
Next morning he asked his Mom to start up his new game, but Mom couldn't figure
it out. She went back to her vacuuming
and when she turned around, he had figured it out all by himself, after seeing
his Dad do it only once.
Well, as you can all see, Drew has grown up to be a fine
young man, who we are very proud of! We have watched how God has directed his
ambitions and desires in a way of service to the Lord. Drew, we appreciate your
sincere desire to be walking as the Lord teaches us to do in His Word. We have
seen your integrity and humility, from
the way you chose your friends, to your work ethics and the activities you
chose to be engaged in. We are thankful for your love for the church, and the
years you helped our home church by running the sound system and assisting in
the sermonaudio distribution.
We knew that Drew was praying for a special girl to
become his wife... He was not interested in just any girl. And in Gods
remarkable providence that girl was the one and only Johanna de Haan! We do
regret that this means your future life will most likely be spent in Ontario,
and wish you could be much closer. But we know that the God you both love, is
everywhere and He will never leave you or forsake you if you cleave to Him and
commit your life in His Hands.
On this day our thoughts go back to April 5, the day that
you were in Calgary and in Gods divine providence, you were able to visit Opa
Slingerland on his deathbed... Your Opa was also praying for both of you and
rejoicing in your future together, he rejoiced in God's choice for your wife,
but he knew he would not physically be here.
We want to welcome Johanna into our family; thank you
Johanna, for taking on this responsibility of becoming Drew's helpmeet! We're
very happy that Drew probably won't have to eat Sidekicks 4 or 5 times a week
anymore!
May God bless you both, and may you have many safe
journeys to the West Coast! We love you!
Dad, Mom, and all your brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews of the Den Hertog clan!
