The Water Lily

When Anneke married Romke, she had concerns because Romke was from a province in the Netherlands that practiced trial marriage. If the wife hasn't conceived in the first year of marriage, the marriage is annulled. During this time, no child was born, but Romke's love for Anneke overrules his mother's insistence that Anneke leave.During Anneke's parents' visit to the Veenhuizen farm, her younger sister Kea becomes close friends with Romke's brother Anton who is crippled and confined to a wheelchair. Kea wanted to impress Anton with how she could ride a pig she called Percy. Things go well until Percy decides to run though Mrs. Veenhuizen's rose garden, uprooting the bushes. That ended Kea's stay at the Veenhuizens. As Kea leaves, she and Anton promise to write each other.When Anton discovered his talent for drawing, Anneke encourages Anton to sell his drawings at the weekly market in town. There he meets Dr. Wagenaar who commissions Anton to do a series of family portraits. While working on the portraits, Dr. Wagenaar suggested that surgery could correct Anton's crippled legs.This encourages Anton to save his money until the day has arrived for his surgery, only to find the money is stolen.This is a story how Romke's faith in God's goodness helps Anton to overcome his disabilities and Anneke's Godly faith helps her until the day she becomes a mother. Read more