Amsterdam is experiencing its coldest, wettest summer since 1903.

I've been reminded of this fact on numerous occasions in the last week or two, and I've reminded others as well. Seriously, I bet this statistic comes up three or four times a day. We'll tsk our tongues and look up at the skies and say: "Well, you know, they say that this is the coldest, wettest summer since 1903." We say it to each other as we strip off sopping rain jackets and rain pants. We say it when we're waiting under the canopy at the bus stop. We say it when another downpour lets loose, just as we're checking out from the grocery store. "This is, you know, the coldest, wettest summer since 1903." We keep reminding ourselves of this almanackian wisdom in order to encourage ourselves that we are actually the privileged witnesses of history. A once-in-a-century sort of rainy season.

Yesterday, our annual church picnic fell victim to this coldest, wettest summer since 1903. Believe it or not, it was the first Vondel50 that we ever had to cancel (or, rather, relocate to the familiar environs of the H88) -- which, considering the general climate of Amsterdam, is really a pretty remarkable run, if you really think about it. But if any summer was going to create problems for us, of course it was going to be this one. Fortunately, we managed to pull together a fun indoor picnic after all -- and our spirits were none too dampened by the rain outside. The H88 Kids' Room, however, was significantly dampened. An extraordinary amount of rainfall in the morning, falling down on ground that was already quite saturated, caused the sewer system in the 17th Century canal house to be simply overwhelmed. It just couldn't handle all the water, so we had sewage back up into the lowest lying area of our building: the Kids Room. Yuck! I was grateful for some beautiful teamwork that helped to minimize material damages and mop up the mess. I'm really proud of the way the church rose to the occasion. By God's grace, we were able to get the situation under control again, at least for a little while. But then again, it's the coldest, wettest summer since 1903, right? We can only hope the rains will slacken enough to give the plumbers some time to address the structural issues.

We've been able to stay remarkably encouraged, here in Amsterdam, despite the soggy circumstances. Yesterday ended up being really fun and memorable, in its own unique ways. I can appreciate the beauty of the rains, especially knowing people in the Horn of Africa or in the American Southwest (like my brother in Texas) are experiencing terrible drought and heat. Still, I have to confess that it can be a little bit disheartening to realize that we're at the end of August now, with the window of opportunity for fair weather quickly closing. It's the coldest, wettest summer since 1903 -- but what happened in the fall and the winter of 1903? Perhaps unseasonable warmth? An extra-beautiful canopy of fall foliage? Here's hoping for some kind of upturn sometime between now and next May...