Building Updates

Here Karen, I've finally remembered to post a picture of David's latest project - a wood shed. I'm amazed by this crazy husband of mine, he made the posts of trees he cut down and he used his chainsaw to make the boards for the sides out of other logs. He also did this whole thing (it's 10 ft x 8 ft and 10 ft tall) all without a ladder!
** We can apply for our building permit tomorrow!!!

This is my project- I finally have a garden again! I really missed it the last 4-5 years! It was sort of a test this year to see if anything would actually grow in dirt that use to be a forest floor.  Yay for fresh, healthy vegetables soon!

We have grass growing!

New Tents!

CEF Ontario bought two 10 x10 tents for the Orillia area to use for the Fairs to replace the well used Good News Storyhouse trailer. I can't wait to see what the new banner looks like debuting the new name "Discovery Zone". Please pray for the volunteers that will run it for Canada Day, July 1 and Woodville Festival, July 10 and share the Gospel with kids through puppets, face painting and stories.

Time with God

I've been enjoying the beautiful mornings and the "pre-tourist" season with the chance to spend time with the Lord in the mornings in the most beautiful spot...Mary Lake! It's amazing how many times God does things so that the people might know "that I am the LORD" in Ezekiel. How do we live differently because He is the Lord?

Building

Who needs a house when you can have a swimming pool?

 

Thankfully most of the water has since been pumped out. When the hole for the foundation was dug, bedrock was discovered much higher than expected in parts. So...the last few weeks have been spent trying to figure out solutions and pursuing many different options. We are now hoping to do a walk-out basement, which means we can stick to our original house plans and still minorly adjust a few things to make the walk-out possible. The downside is that everything has been pushed back by about a month because of the delay. We are still seeking the Lord for His wisdom as we continue.

I love this spot now! It actually looks like a real house will look out onto it someday! This is part of our driveway and looking out to the septic bed. They filled it all in and placed the rocks there and seeded it...so grass has since started to grow! There was a little hill there before, but not any more! We'll actually have part of a yard!

A few more of the rocks that were uncovered during the excavating process. We may be able to use the top flat one for a step somewhere! The others will be useful for landscaping...whenever that happens.

Traveling

Yes, the train is really called "The Polar Bear Express" that goes from Cochrane to Moosonee!
I am so thankful for the Lord's trustworthiness throughout my trip. I was so blessed by the people I met and stayed with in Cochrane, Moosonee and Moose Factory! Most exciting is that we are able to send a team of Summer Missionaries to Moosonee this year too! We are also looking into a trip for January to do some training for parents, grandparents and children's ministry workers and maybe even do some children's outreaches further up the coast.

This is the street by the docks. Some interesting things I discovered:

• All the roads are dirt roads, except for a paved sidewalk in a few areas
• Everyone deals with dirt everywhere b/c of the roads, so you have indoor and outdoor shoes, even for church
• Nobody wears their seatbelt "there's no point and no laws about it" they say 

This is from Moosonee looking across to the island of Moose Factory. The only way across is by water taxi (or helicopter if you're trying to get to the hospital)

This is a water taxi! Nothing too fancy, but it worked. The ride is only about 7 min.

 This is the closest I've ever been to Polar Bears (in Cochrane)!

This was my big string of tickets to get from Cochrane to Port Sydney by bus. I left at 7:45 pm and got home at 4 am!!!

I don't want to leave!!!

David knew that I was terrified of going to Moosonee alone and we really didn't want to be apart for 6 days, so he was SO SWEET and made this incredibly amazing breakfast for me the day I had to leave.

On top of that, when we went out to the car I saw the other surprise he had made- a royal carriage ride in our grand pontiac...it felt grand with all the roses at least! =]

Arrival in Moosonee & Moose Factory

After staying overnight with the Gauchers (a French family) in Cochrane and getting acquainted with more of their family, I boarded the Polar Bear Express headed north to Moosonee. The ride was a little over 5 hours and quite bumpy as the frost is coming out of the ground now.

I was SO scared going into this trip- terrified to go alone, to find my way around, try to meet up with the right people, to know what to share in the Bible study I was asked to lead...the one good thing out of my fear is that I finally took it to the Lord and realized I couldn't do this on my own, it would only be in His strength! I am so amazed that He gave me peace before speaking last night. I had to laugh when I was introduced to the all Native church as "the little white lady".

It has been eye opening and heart breaking to see and hear about the problems that these communities face, especially the extremely high suicide rate. There are many young moms around too. I spent the day in Moose Factory with a pastor's family yesterday. Moose Factory is an island that you take a water taxi to and most everyone on the island is Native. I got to hear "How Great Thou Art" song in Cree yesterday! Very Cool!

Keep praying that God will open doors and the children will be eternally changed by Him!

Trillium Takeover

My friend Heather invited me over to see all the Trilliums behind their apartment. It was amazing!!! It was as far as you could see, almost like snow, all the beautiful Trilliums! Yay for the Ontario provincial flower! We were good and legal and didn't pick any either.

Drive-In

One week after the Lord allowed the road restrictions to be removed, excavation work was started on our land to create a drive-way!

This allowed for a monumental moment...this morning we DROVE onto our land for the first time!!!

Hole Punch, Anyone?

So...what do you do when you're preparing for a Sunday School lesson and realize that the single hole punch that you were sure was around when you moved a year and a half ago has gone missing? Why you get your handy husband to use his drill of course!

It ended up being way faster in the end and the kids had no idea that the holes for the yarn sewing of the paper robe for their lesson on Tabitha being raised from the dead were made with a drill bit! =]