Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Plowing Match

 The new Noah's Ark display allowed the kids and their parents to walk through and hear the story of Noah from Mrs. Noah, Noah, and his sons (and sometimes their wives). Throughout the 10 min they also heard the message of salvation through Noah's story. 1525 kids/teens/parents came through last week.

 Beautiful murals were painted on both sides of Noah's ark.
Meet Mr. Noah (one of them). =]
 After going through the exhibit, the kids or teens could get their faces painted.
Be ware of the giant shark that might be lurking outside!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Thursday, September 16, 2010

A Floor, Walls and Other Wonders

If you're wondering why the picture is so dark it's because it WAS dark! Thanks to the cool invention of a generator and a string of light bulbs, work can happen even in the dark. It was freaky putting the plywood floor down in the dark though, I have to say. I was the chicken that made David and Andrew walk on the joists to get everything and lay it down while I stayed on the solid part.

I was excited when we came to this part because as I kid I learned how to screw down plywood floors when I helped with the gym construction at our church. Little did I know that one day I would be doing it for my own house!
A few days later the view has already changed! David and I put up the walls by ourselves. I didn't know such things were possible. Another scary experience was holding up the walls, hoping the wind doesn't pick up and push them over the edge before they were braced down. =]
 This will be the view from the kitchen window!
This shows an eventual window (middle) and double door (right), off the living room. The big window is where the dining room will be.
Now that the walls are all up, the next project is the trusses! Yikes! David was excited that each one only weighs 135 pounds.
Do you like our fancy dining table?
 How about the lovely kitchen?
 I was always terrified of the grill, but I have finally overcome my fear and learned how to BBQ!!! I have now "cooked" hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza and leftover casseroles. We got the neatest plate for a shower gift from Heather and Alex Walburg that you can use on the grill. I was waiting until we finally had a grill to try it out. It's amazing! We can expand our meals beyond hamburger and hot dogs now!
Here's a note we found on a board one day. What a cool guest book, eh?



Friday, September 10, 2010

Slingshot Saturday

Last May, the staff of CEFOntario was challenged to consider a new idea in reaching kids. The weekly Bible Clubs of "Good News Clubs" are an incredible discipleship ministry that Child Evangelism Fellowship has run for 70 years. However, in Ontario, Good News Clubs have been declining in number rather than growing over recent years. Yet it's so easy to go with what has worked in the past rather than working to develop something new that may work better.

That is what has led us to consider "Slingshot Saturday" a once a month "mini day of camp" that has been run effectively for several years by a staff member and his church in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). Consistently, once a month from 9:30 am to 2:00 pm games, Bible teaching, lunch and various activities are held. Also, once a year the kids have the opportunity to attend a week of CEF Ontario's Camp Good News. The goal is to reach kids that are not being reaching and may come from difficult home situations.

It's scary and exciting at the same time to think about re-working the way we are use to doing ministry. However, it is SO worth the work if it will effectively reach kids with the Gospel and develop relationships through which discipleship can happen.

Please pray with us as we consider launching some of these programmes. Please pray for:
  • Wisdom and Direction as to how the Lord would want this to look in our area
  • The right location(s)
  • Quality volunteers that love the Lord and love kids
  • Children that need to hear about the Lord and be loved
  • The Holy Spirit will bring understanding to the hearts of the kids

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Framing Party

What an encouragement it was to have a bunch of friends and family come over for a framing party! We were so thankful for everyone that was able to make it and sacrifice their Saturday. The rain was an annoying hindrance all day however so not as much was able to be done as we had hoped.
David's Uncle Chris drove over 1 1/2 hours to come and help!
By lunch time enough joists were put up that some plywood could be slapped over to make a dry spot to eat.
Elaina made such a cute picture sitting on a joist happily munching on her chips.
By the end of the day, half of the joists were up!
Elaina, the blanket burrito, was ready to go home with her mommy and brothers after picking up her daddy after lunch.
Leanne, Jen and I had fun stapling Typar on. We decided that we like staple hammer guns. They're very fun (as long as they're not jammed).
There's still light up there!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

House Progress

After the ICF was installed we painted it with green sticky goop and then put sticky blue sheets of "Blue Skin" all over the walls to waterproof it. Then pipes were laid down to direct the water and then back-filled. Notice the 6 foot wall from the footing to the top.
 
See any difference?! It's amazing to be able to walk around the edge and inside without being in water and in the midst of tons of frogs.


The back use to be over 6 feet deep! The only sad thing about the back filling was that our cool cement writing got mixed in with all the dirt.


When I saw the front wall go up I finally realized "We are building a house!" It really hasn't looked like one until this point. Do you like our double door and big windows?


Our friend Andrew came and worked with David for Thur and Fri to get things ready for the framing party. They put the knee wall up and the center beam. What an incredible blessing it was that Andrew gave up so much time to help!





Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Cool Concrete

Here's some pictures of the ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms)before they put it up last week and the concrete being poured today. The ICF makes up 6 feet of the foundation wall. It was so cool to watch! It's actually starting to look like a structure!
ICF up close
 

My fascination with cement trucks was renewed! I think they are so cool!
 The cement truck dumped into the pump truck which lifted it way up and a guy used a remote to control it and pour it in the middle of the ICF.
Pouring in the Cement.

The guys work more cement in the second time around. FYI: The reason the front wall is shorter is for the walk-out basement.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Footings!!!

The frame for the footings.
The footings are done!!
Up close to the footings. Progress is happening!

Summer Training Institute

Game Practice!
We made everyone eat with a random kitchen utensil...ahh the fun that comes from leading the meals.=]
Demo Club
 Security Checks on Canada Day. Anyone not wearing red and white or their nametag was required to do "community service" and do the dishes. Security was tight because Queen Elizabeth came to visit (aka Queen Elizabeth Kinney).
Debbie, another CEF staff worker that is American and married a Canadian found this flag so on the 4th of July, she and I, the "American Dignitaries" came to promote peace between our two nations. I finally got to celebrate the 4th of July after 3 years!!!!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

North Team 2010

Notice the name "North TEAM" given to our group this year- our kids insisted that this year's group could not call us mom and dad and could only be a team not a family. =] (Even though Grace is actually Daniel's sister...I'm not sure how that works out). Please pray for these 5 teens as they'll be teaching over the next 6 weeks. R & G will be together for 4 weeks, then R & R will teach for the last 2 weeks. We are delighted by the team we have.

This week the girls are in Whitefish and the boys in Port Sydney and Orillia. I'm driving kids from our Good News Club to the Port Sydney club so it's nice to be able to focus on discipline issues without having to teach. Please pray for these kids to come to be convicted of their sin and to come to know God personally and be changed by Him!

Please pray for the teaching teams as they're discovering "real" kids present many more challenges than the chairs and trees they practiced teaching at training.