Do the dishes or else...

Ok...so I didn't actually tie David up until he did the dishes, it just happened to be where he was practicing a rope trick that might possibly be used in the summer curriculum. He had to explain how to do it (on paper) for the students and had me take pictures of each step...but it sure does make me look like mean wife, eh? (Thankfully David is great at washing dishes, even when not threatened. =])

New House

Christmas Break gave time for David to help my Dad build an adorable doll house for my niece, Salomae. Many, many hours were spent to complete it. The joke was that this was a practice run in building a house before this spring...no joke...we are planning to begin building a house this spring! We feel so blessed that the Lord has provided this opportunity!!!

Learning to Ice Skate

Ever since summer when her mom bought her ice skates, Josie (my niece) has been begging to ice skate. What a perfect thing for her "Canadian Aunt and Uncle" to do with her while visiting. She was a determined 4 year old and did great. David helped her stand at first but then I put my skates on and we skated for real.

After an hour, Josie could stand up on her own; at least while she was leaning up the boards that is!

Rick-a-Rick got to experience an ice rink for the first time. It's fun even in boots!

Ginger Bread Houses

It was SO fun to be in Minnesota for Christmas and see family and friends. My neices and nephews are growing up! They are so fun and so cute! Here's My sister Rachel with our brother's daughter, Salomae (age 3 1/2). Rachel made the gingerbread and we got to help the kids put them together.

Josie (age 4), Rachel's daughter.

Lots of fun building and eating!

My mom (aka "Bumma" or "Grandma") with Christopher (aka Rick-a-Rick) age 2 1/2

Christmas Party Volunteers

We are praising the Lord for the 5 Christmas Parties that were held in the public schools in Orillia, plus the Christmas Party at our Good News Club. 8 children made confessions of salvation. It was so exciting because these children all clearly knew that they wanted to have their sins forgiven! Some of the volunteers are pictured here.

CYIA Retreat

It was neat to join the 19 young people that gathered from Friday to Sunday for the "CYIA" (Christian Youth in Action) Retreat. Once again I was so impressed and encouraged by the desire of these young people to love the Lord and praise Him even when it is tough.

One of the fun things that happened was a time of drama exercises. Some of them were quite hilarious. The picture shows a restaurant scene. They also acted out the Christmas story. It was really neat to see them get involved in personalizing it.

Montreal!

Arret (stop) sign to prove it was Quebec! It was so neat to be in the midst of a French speaking "country within a country". Although most of our time was spent in meetings, we did get to have fun and see a few things over the five days. The sad part was that David had to stay back at home to keep all the work going there, while Debbie and I got to represent Ontario.

Overview from Mont Royal over Montreal.

Sarah and Naomi (from Manitoba) sharing a dessert.

Summer Planning Meetings with 11 CEF workers from British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

Poppies

Something I'm still getting use to about Canadians is that in November they all start wearing poppies in honor of Remembrance Day that's November 11. That's why the American girl (me) thought a boy in our Sunday School class said he "got a puppy" and began asking about it. Thankfully, David (the Canadian) could whisper to me "He said he got a poppy not a puppy"! As I then noticed the 5 year old with a red flower straight pinned to his shirt.

I've discovered it's actually quite a neat thing as the poppy is in remembrance of those that have died in war. Everywhere you go, everyone has the red flowers pinned to their coat or shirt, or a box sitting on the counter of a store to sell them.

I tried pasting in the poem about Flander's Field that inspired all this, but it's not working for me. It's proudly placed on the back of the $10 bill. It was written by a Canadian Doctor in the Canadian Medical Army Corps in Belguim in 1915.

IOT 2

This was our class of six with our three instructors who taught the two week course on teaching teachers to disciple kids. This is the last official level of training in CEF that I can take.

Can you figure out who are the students and who are the teachers???

American Musings

While we were in New York I made a list of the things that I noticed after "returning to the motherland". I guess it shows how shallow I can be.

There is:
-Yoplait Yogurt (yummm!!)
-Cartoned Milk
-We could use the top numbers on our spedmeter, that was wierd to use mph again...the speed limits are actually a bit faster than in Canada
-the sizes are HUGE, a small drink in the US is about a large in Canada
-things seemed much sweeter, like actually too sweet, I couldn't believe it
-way more drug and medical commercials
-Bic Black Pens, my favorite, trusty and cheap pens
-Plan-Ahead Day Planners, the kind I like and can't find the same format in Canada and it's cheaper too
-they sell Bibles, good Bibles in Wal-mart, I forgot about that!
-Nabisco brand rather than Mr. Christy (yes, Oreos etc. are made by somebody else here, so wierd)
-Gas is much cheaper!
-Paper Towel in Washrooms rather than blow dryers