I love what I do.  I really do.  But behind the scenes, there are very long days and very late nights working on everyone’s DNA/genealogy except my own.  I suffer from the “cobbler’s children” syndrome.

But every once in a while, fate is extremely kind to me and throws me a very big chocolate chip cookie.  I call those my “karmic cookies” and they inspire me in so many ways.

Remember in August when I had written about how to create a DNA Pedigree Chart and made what I thought was a throw away comment about my Dutch Genealogy being hopeless?  Yvette Hoitink responded that it wasn’t hopeless after all, and was she right.  I’d like to bring you along for the ride, or in this case, the walk, because this project is definitely going places.

I’ve hired Yvette as my own personal Dutch genealogist, so don’t get any ideas….you can’t have her just yet:)  Actually, I know I don’t keep her busy full time, but I do get dibs, OK???

My Ferverda/Camstra family is from Leeuwarden, in Friesland, in the Netherlands.  Yvette has been digging up all kinds of documents for me, but we reached the point where she needed to visit the local archives.

A couple days ago, she e-mailed me with the oddest coincidence.  Seems that the archives are located right on the land that my ancestors owned, where their “pleasure garden” was located.  Hmmm….now that is interesting.  She took her camera and promised to take photos.

Today, I received this exciting e-mail from Yvette.

“I just got home from a fabulous day at the Tresoar archives. I was able to photograph all of the priority 1 and 2 notarial records. I made over 400 photos in total.”

Ok, by now I was having heart palpitations.  In my mind, I hear the refrain from All I Want for Christmas…..but that wasn’t the best part, believe it or not.

“I also made two videos for you during my lunch break to show you what the area was like. As you can tell, I’m not a professional moviemaker but I thought it would be fun anyway!”

Oh, glory be, Merry Christmas to me!!!  There is no better gift for a genealogist.  And what a surprise.

So, come on, let’s go for a short walk with Yvette down the main street of old town Leeuwarden…

http://youtu.be/MW_nW-lK96k – Walking in Bauke Camstra’s shoes

http://youtu.be/JrRQN4gXTlc  – The fortifications/pleasure garden

Oant Sjen, (“see you later” in Frisian)

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