I think all parties were very relieved when we were finally finished. My power nap was 'only' two hours long :) Thankfully I'm done now for a whole year. And next year? I'll probably make a list of all these things, but I must say that I don't plan to greatly decrease the donations.
Today I went to the tax helpers, to get help with my tax announcement ('belasting opgave') (that's pretty much the only translation I could come up with). I went with Nora, this lady who comes once a week and helps with these things. (fortunately) We went bright and early so we could get helped before 12.30 pm, a time dangerously close to my power nap. To no avail. We were led to some chairs where we could wait till 12.30. When my name was called out around this time, I jumped up and followed the tax announcement helper to a little office. And we started the long, boring list. A partner in 2016? Children born after 1991? Bought a house? Relatively easy questions. But then. THEN... We got to the deduction posts ('aftrekposten'). If you've given money to charity, it's less tax that you have to pay. But my tax announcement helper was slightly shocked at the amount I was giving and the number of organizations I was supporting. She wanted proof that I had actually done this and wasn't just sucking it out of my thumb. It took absolutely ages, maybe an hour, and my increasingly exhausted body thought wistfully about her power nap. Plus my tax announcement helper was increasingly less humored. I tried to save the situation by saying that “the poorer I am, the more I give!” but alas. God is my absolute first allegiance, NOT the Dutch government. When I feel poor, when the Dutch government makes my life (financially) difficult, I want to force myself to remember that I have an enormous amount to be thankful for. Compared to many, many others in poorer countries... compared to those with finances but no social network... compared to people in general without hope. With my own eyes I have seen people in other countries who are not sure how to ever pay school money for their kids next year, or buy the right medicine. Convert my social welfare to Tanzanian shillings?... and I'd be a millionaire there. In these countries you see it: people with the least wealth are the most generous. Their hearts are not so attached to the menacing money monster. I too am so richly blessed. And I want a spirit of giving to be my hallmark; a spirit of open hands which are free to receive from God and which pass the goodness on to others.
I think all parties were very relieved when we were finally finished. My power nap was 'only' two hours long :) Thankfully I'm done now for a whole year. And next year? I'll probably make a list of all these things, but I must say that I don't plan to greatly decrease the donations.
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Mattanja OosterhuisHaving grown up in diverse places on earth, I suppose I've learned to make the best of what comes my way. Such as a hemorrhage. After this bleeding in my head occurred in dec. 2010, my life has come to look different. On my blog I write about some of this. Archives
March 2018
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