Early August... Summer had started so early that many people felt that summer should be coming to an end by now. Nothing was further from the truth. It was summer and it stayed summer!

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After Jacqueline's arrival, three more women joined her quite quickly. They recognized each other in their history, their pain, and without any problem accepted each other as temporary neighbors. In fact, after a few weeks they felt a real connection with each other. As friends, they supported each other, cried with each other, helped each other through difficult hours and shared their positive changes. Their sadness for and their joy at what was happening in the other was real. They began to live more and more!

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The court cases for these four women were also special again. Time after time, it surprised the attendees, how it went down in the same style as it did for Lisa. Perpetrators, families and friends were deeply touched. The sentences remained as low as ever, and no one seemed to have a problem with that. Everyone realized that longer prison sentences were completely pointless.

Journalists wrote about it, found it too miraculous for words, and were happy about it. Still, they sometimes speculated about the possibility that there was a trick behind it. But no matter how many times they watched the recordings, they didn't see or hear anything strange. They actually felt more and more involved in Johan and Ellen's court sessions. They felt that something special was going on, something they could not really grasp, something they still did not fully understand.

Finally, one of the journalists thought that it must be true what Johan and Ellen had told about it, that it must have something to do with working from their hearts. He took the plunge and called Johan. He shared his surprise and doubts, his joy and his questions regarding Johan's way of working. He requested an interview with Johan to learn more about this. After a thorough conversation he wrote an article about it, an article that travelled the world in several languages.

The result was that Johan got more and more mails and letters. He did not manage to answer all of them, and got more and more bogged down in it. He decided to discuss this with his colleagues in a general meeting, where since recently all employees were welcome. The different 'ranks' began to disappear in this court!

Together they decided to hire an extra employee for the front desk and the standard correspondence, someone who would completely replace Marianne. This allowed her to devote herself entirely to the correspondence that was generated by the reports of Johan's vice trials and the interview. She really had a week's work to do!

Marianne noticed that more and more messages came from court employees who began to share the desire to work from their hearts. Some sought contact with Johan to ask how he was doing this. On behalf of Johan, Marianne informed them that Johan did not follow a method. He had told them in the interview about living from the inside, and what it took to do that, that they would heal from their emotional wounds, and that they would be able to let go of their convictions more and more. The only advice she gave them was to get plenty of rest because the healing process took quite a lot of energy, and that the best thing they could do was to get into the habit of learning to listen to their inner voice and feelings.

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Learn to listen to yourself

Learn to feel what you really feel

follow your heart!

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That became the motto, which she put as a standard header above every email or letter.

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After a few weeks, some reports reached Marianne about changes experienced by judges and lawyers. Journalists also discovered changes and shared their experiences about it in news media.

One day, when Marianne told Johan about this, he looked beaming at her: "At the time of Lisa's trial, we threw a big stone into the ocean, and it made waves all over the world. And in fact everything we are doing now is another such stone, causing new waves. Now more and more court officials and journalists are starting to go along with it, throwing stones into the ocean as well. More and more people are causing waves! What I saw and heard back then, when Lisa was reporting, that people were changing, is continuing. We still have a way to go, but for now this is beautiful, isn't it?" he said, still beaming, with tears in his eyes.

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The four women in The Shelter felt strong enough to start looking for their own home. They sought help from Karel Mulder, the real estate agent through whom Huib had bought his shop. Lisa had urged them not to rush into it. The women had smiled happily and assured her that they longed for a place of their own. And Jacqueline had summed it up for them, "We've had it so good here, we'd like to keep living here. Really, we feel at home here. But we would even rather that these four houses become available for other women who also need it. That is a reason for us to do actively look for another home."

Despite knowing it was coming, it was a huge surprise to Sjaak and Lisa when the women told them they were moving.

"All at once?" asked Sjaak in surprise.

"Yes, we asked Karel to find us a house in which we could continue together. If one of us ever wants to live somewhere else, then we'll see. But for now, this seems like a nice solution. We get along well and we can help each other. Karel has found us a house to rent, on the other side of the village. Just a terraced house, but with a long garden. Everyone will have their own bedroom, and the rest together. We're totally looking forward to it!"

Lisa helped the women find what they needed in the thrift store. Meanwhile, Huib went to work, at Lisa’s request, making beds for them that were similar to the ones they were using now. Only the decoration on the footboard he expanded: a butterfly in the middle and open blossomed flowers on either side next to it. When he was done with all the parts, only having to put them together, he laid the four boards that would follow the footboard side by side on his workbench and, along with Lisa, collected the women. As soon as they entered his work shed, they realized immediately what his intention was, that he wanted to give them such a beautiful bed. That touched them enormously!

Huib picked up Alexander and together with him and Sjaak and Lisa he helped the ladies with the move.

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It did not take long before the shelter was filled with four new women...

To chapter 242. Rosalie finds her way

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