A few of my favourite things...

I'm still in shock that our trip to Minnesota is already over. After two years of anticipation, it was gone in a blink!

Somehow instead of making the ache of missing my neices and nephew better, it seems to have made it worse. They're growing up so quickly and both David and I miss being there to see that. The oldest two started Kindergarten this year! They are all at such fun ages too- 6, 5, 4, 3 and 1 1/2.

Some of my favourite things that we got to do in the two weeks was: have a picnic and tea party with the kids.


See Uncle Andy do cool science experiments.













Make Ginger Bread houses with the four older kids.

































 Read together.












Go to Mall of America and Legoland.













Legoland... complete with a lego Woody.


















Dad read the Christmas Story from the Bible to remind us of what Christmas is all about...Jesus,









and all the little people act it out with the nativity figures that my brother, sister and I use to act it out with.























See my oldest niece get so excited about giving gifts to others that she and her brother were able to buy at the dollar store after "working" for several weeks before.












 Do crafts and activities with the kids, like bend-a-roos and colouring.








(The bunny and it's maker.)




































Have some of the girls over for a sleeper over at Grandmas & Grandpa's (where we were staying).

And eat Mickey Mouse pancakes that Uncle David made while all of us girls were in our footy pajamas.

I sure do miss those kids!

God's Incredible, Undeserved Blessings

This last week we were asked to share about missions with our Sunday School kids, along with some other people. We showed them a map with our "area" marked on it and when it came to pray, the kids realized the need to pray for safety on the roads. We are so thankful for the safety that God has granted us these last few years. 

We have put on a LOT of miles on our car since we moved here 3 1/2 years ago. About a year ago knew that the car wasn't going to a lot longer and we began to pray that God would graciously spare it until we finished building our house. As we got closer to finishing the house, the worse our car got. David is our resident mechanic, who does quite a good job (and saves us hundreds thousands of dollars). However, the body of the car was rusting out and the parts alone to fix the cars' immediate issues were going to be $1500-2000.

Old Bessy, hauling firewood

Then God did something incredibly amazing that we never expected to happen to us. Something that you hear about happening to "other missionaries" in far away places. God gave us a van! David felt like we needed a van because of all the stuff we are constantly hauling to events, the kids and teens we transport, and it would be heavy enough to get down the last bit of our road that usually gets plowed last (last year he got stuck in it with the car). So for no reason that we deserve, God has given us this insanely amazing gift in the form of a 2003 Dodge Caravan!

Our new, unnamed vehicle

 Honestly, I wasn't very excited about getting a mini-van. As Go Fish put it so well in their song "It's Hard To Be Cool In A Mini-Van"
"...It’s hard to be cool when you’re behind the wheel
Of an eight passenger automobile
In a big bubble, cruisin’ down the street..."*

 So I thought it was pretty funny that the industry is trying hard to combat this thinking and so they stuck "Sport" on the back. I'm not sure I'm convinced it's a very sporty vehicle but I don't care so much anymore. It is glorious to get in to a vehicle that I don't have to curl my toes under while I'm driving because it won't make it up the hill. Imagine a vehicle that works! How cool is that!

So even though we've had Thanksgiving dinner 5 times now (3 Canadian and 2 American)...we are still thankful for God's good and generous gifts through His people!

*I just figured out when I looked up this song that Tony Villanueva co-wrote this song. After some digging I've deduced that it IS the Tony that we know and went to CMI with!! That is so crazy!

Twin Cities '12

 Even though I'm not living in Minnesota anymore, my heart is still close to see those children reached! This is an exciting opportunity that is coming for those that are in Minnesota and want to reach the children for Jesus! Thanks Mom for drawing my attention to this.

Important Announcement on Good News Across America 2012

by Good News Across America on Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 11:15am

Important Announcement about 2012 Good News Across America®  



For many weeks we have worked and prayed toward bringing Good News Across America to Washington, DC in 2012. The staff in DC, Beverly Carroll and Renee Walker, along with their local committee have worked to see this vision become a reality; however, as you know we have faced many obstacles along the way. Getting pastor appointments has been unusually challenging and this week we learned that our base of operations may not be available this summer. God has used these circumstances to redirect us for the summer of 2012. It appears that more time is needed for plowing and praying in DC. Our desire was, and is, to go to DC, but the Lord has redirected us just as He redirected Paul on one of his missionary journeys (Acts 16).  The plan now is to continue to work and pray toward having Good News Across America in Washington, DC in 2013. Planning trips will continue, and your continued prayers are much needed as we work in the nation's capital. God has redirected us to Minneapolis-St. Paul for 2012!   The event is called Twin Cities '12. We hope you will plan to join us from July 16 to 28 as we take the Gospel to the children and families of Minneapolis-St. Paul. Over the coming days and weeks would you help us spread the word and will you pray fervently for all the details to come together. Here are some practical ways you can help:  

• Please pray for good contacts in both Minneapolis-St. Paul and Washington, DC. The first trip to Minneapolis starts today. John Luck will be on the ground in the Twin Cities Tuesday through Thursday (November 8-10) and again Wednesday through Friday (November 16-18).   
• If you would like to suggest contacts in the Twin Cities, please send contact info to john.luck@cefonline.com.
• Please pray for the next trip into Washington, DC which is scheduled for December 5 and 6. This trip will include meetings with key pastors and Christian leaders and will help lay the groundwork for GNAA 2013.
• Please pray for our staff as we make a smooth and quick transition to the new destination for GNAA 2012.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact us.
 
Your servant,

Moises Esteves Vice President, USA Ministries

Power?

I realized more fully last weekend that I am living up north. Since there are lots and lots of trees and a lot of the ground is rock, all the power-lines are above ground. This is all fine and good until a storm comes and blows those trees around. That is what happened last Saturday. We had a sneaking suspicion when we started building on our property that we would get our fair share of power outages and would be some of the last to get it restored.

We had stopped the outdoor wood boiler the week before because of the wonderfully warm weather but had decided to re-start it because it was getting cool again. David had gone out and begun the long process of getting the fire started in the furnace and had success just when the power went off from wind and rain around 4 pm. (The only bummer thing about the furnace is that it needs electricity to run the water pumps to circulate the heat in the floors!) In the last few hours of daylight I gathered candles and found a good book, not knowing how long we'd be without power because we'd never remembered to actually buy a corded phone that will work without power.

Thankfully, it wasn't winter so we were able to layer clothes and use blankets and it wasn't that bad. (The only thing that does work in our house when there's no power are the thermostats because they're run by batteries...so you can always know how cold you are. =])

When there's no power you don't have the luxury of looking in your fridge very long, but I remembered the enchiladas I had made the night before. Cold enchiladas did not sound very appealing, neither did going out in the pouring rain to cook them over the grill. However, I was inspired by the candlebra we were using for light. We have a pan that we'd used camping so it has a blackened bottom already. Perfect! So after about a half hour of holding the pan over the candles, we had warm delicious enchiladas. Normally I would have eaten two but I suddenly wasn't all the hungry at the thought of standing another half an hour over the candles.

However...if you're ever desperate to heat up your food - try a candle, it just might work!

Our story didn't end there. The next morning we went to a church an hour away where David was to preach. When we arrived we were informed that this little country church was without power as well! Some of the surrounding people had power so they still came to church. They had a small propane stove that still worked, but without power the fan wouldn't work to push out the heat. We all circled up around it and carried on the service. It certainly was memorable!

We had been invited to lunch with the head elder and his wife who shared a wonderful hot meal! Later that day the power was restored to our house, totally about 24 hours without power. It was actually a really good practice run for winter's possible power outages which may not be so easily breezed through. We have since bought a corded phone, charged the batteries that can run the heat pumps for 36 hours and bought oil so the generator can be started. Hmm...anything else?

Steve the Bear

 Once upon a time, at the home of David and Sarah, there was a black bear. For some reason, this bear didn't like David and Sarah's new house, so he decided to show them this by pulling of the trim box and breaking some siding.

 He also decided to bend their screen and rip a hole in it.

 One day, several weeks ago, Sarah was walking around the house and noticed this destruction. She was not pleased. David was not pleased when she showed him. At first they wondered if a person had tried to break into their house. This troubled Sarah very much.  Then Sarah talked to a neighbor and found out that a bear was making it's rounds each week among the neighbors: trying to climb in a swimming pool, knocking over an old fridge, etc.

David had to go away for a week and so Sarah had to stay in the house for a few days by herself for the first time. Many people prayed for Sarah to not be scared. The first night went by smoothly. The second night things were going well as Sarah stayed up working on things....until she looked down from the dining room to see a black bear  walking right under the window where she was working! Terrified, she froze. The bear moseyed along the house and off into the night. A few minutes later she heard a neighbors dogs start barking like crazy, knowing the bear had continued on to their house.

Only then did she realize that while her heart was pounding and her adrenaline was pumping, she had lived through one of her fears. She learned that day, that it's only when you look fear in the face and see it for what it is, can you give it to the Lord and move on.

Now that weather is getting colder, Sarah hopes that Steve the Bear has gone away to hibernate and will not come back to gnaw on their house.

The end.

*Steve was named through a conversation with Melissa on the phone a few day after the event. She didn't intend to name him, but she did. He now seems much friendlier since he has a name...as long as he really is a boy.

Dining Room & Kitchen

 To finalize the "finished" parts of our house tour we arrive at the dining room, which opens to the living room and kitchen. I didn't know if I would like the high table originally, but I've come to really like it. I feel like I'm eating a restaurant now. I feel like I'm eating in a restaurant now.

 Besides the food, my favourite thing about eating now is the amazing view from our ginormous window.

 Off to the left you'll notice some cupboards just sitting on the floor. Eventually...someday...we hope to put in a counter below with the cabinets above. David has to build the lower cabinets using the extra doors from other places in the kitchen, so it's not as easy as just installing it. It'll take some creativity.

 One of the things I really enjoy about my new kitchen is having a pantry to store all our food!! Yay for David making shelves for me! I was always disgusted at storing our food under our sink in our apartment...but no more! I even have a spot for cleaning supplies.

 Next to the pantry is the "door to nowhere". Eventually it will lead out to a deck.

I really like the tile and how David laid it in a cool pattern for me.

 We are currently using the dishwasher spot for our industrial sized garbage can. We just heard that a dishwasher is in the works from David's parents! Yay for having a dishwasher after 4 years without one!!! We will be so spoiled! Now we just have to get a proper garbage can to go under the sink.

 In case you're wondering, the green countertop that came with our kijiji.com kitchen is eventually going to be replaced (hopefully sooner than later) and David will finish off the corner cabinet. Until then, I just try not to push things over to far. There's so much more counter space as it is that I don't mind waiting a little while.

 Thanks to David's mom for the loan/gift (whichever it ends up to be =]), of their marble slab cutting board. It fits perfectly in the empty spot over our drawer. Now I don't have as many crumbs falling into the top drawer.

 The view from the kitchen sink. Now don't you want to come and do dishes at my house?!

Sadly, the leaves are already starting to go. Since I took the picture last week and got it posted today, all of these pretty leaves are gone. =[ I don't want winter to come. Please don't let it come. Please! (Stacy you can have it all, really, I won't mind.0

We are so blessed to live in such a wonderful home that God has provided for us! We do not deserve his Goodness! The changing of the leaves each year reminds me of His faithfulness- every year that passes He still remains the same.

Thank you Lord for providing friends and family to come and help with some of our house building! We wouldn't be in our house if it weren't for their help alongside of David.

More of the House

 Our office! We finally have an office to work in and keep all of our CEF stuff in! This has been a huge highlight of our new house. It's so nice to keep all that stuff contained to one room...as long as I don't sneak work out to the kitchen table. We've made the main floor second bedroom into our office for now and will someday finish the "office" room downstairs. I'm getting spoiled since there's more room in our current spot, however.

 Here is our storage closet that David made shelves for. It's hard to believe that it is already packed with CEF stuff! Maybe someday we'll even have closet doors!

 Here is David's desk (that was given to us with the rest of our furniture!) We only have one office chair right now and since we only have high chairs, the seating thing still could use a little work.

 And here's my desk...next to the big window!

 This is my favourite light fixture in the whole house. David refused to have a chandelier or low light in the dining room because he always hits his head on them. I had one light fixture to buy and found this one on super clearance at Canadian Tire. I'm not sure why everyone that comes in considers it a "Sarah light". =] Thankfully David's head does clear under it, not by much, but it does clear it.

 This is the hallway from our office, with the bathroom on the right and our bedroom in front. Turn to the Left to get into the living room.

 Our living room!

 We are so blessed to have been given this wonderful furniture by our friends moving to the U.S.!

 This is the famous "crazy yellow chair" that some of you have wanted to see.

 I think it's so neat that the couch came with green cushions...the same green as a doormat I had and as some of my placemats and that matches my teapot.

And last of all the greeny coloured chair.

The Newsboys Concert

Most years we are at the International Plowing  Match over David's birthday, for the whole week so it's very hard to do much celebrating besides buying a poutine, so this year, since we weren't at the Plowing Match I got to pull off a few surprise celebrations. We were scheduled to be in Brantford doing a Teacher Training weekend, so it worked out perfectly when I discovered the Newsboys were having a concert in London after the training was finished. The Newsboys have been one David's favourite groups (although he confesses to being a  true DC Talk fan.) The concert included 8 other music groups.

 We arrived an hour early to get good seats...and ended up waiting in line 3 1/2 hours because two of the semi trucks with all the equipment got stuck at the border for 2 hours. So, Johnny Diaz came out a did a spontaneous performance and worship time about 15 feet from us. That was pretty cool.

 A fun part about the day was that we got to hang out with our "daughter", Belle. We were each planning to go to the concert without knowing the other was attending. It made our extra long wait fun because we got to visit with her.

 They certainly have some amazing props as the robotic arms move up and around with the guitar player and keyboard player.

So, besides getting to sleep far past our bedtime, we had a lot of fun. It was the first concert we've ever been to together...it took 4+ years to make it happen!

Prayer Card Photo Shoot

 One of the interesting things about being a missionary is the necessity of having a prayer card to give to people to help them remember to pray for us and the children, along with being able to get in touch with us or with CEF...which requires correct information. Since the CEF Ontario office moved last year and we moved this year, we knew that David's dreaded event awaited us...the prayer card photo shoot. I use to take pictures for fun with my friends when I was little, David did all he could to avoid a camera (and still does). I do admit there is something a little unnerving about knowing you're going to give this picture to a few hundred people to look at for the next few years.

So, since we're cheap and his sister Melissa has a good eye for photography and is willing to oblige us I asked her to help us out a couple weekends ago when we were visiting. She did a great job considering who she was working with and the weather.

 We were having trouble keeping our eyes open. I will spare you the 30 pictures where we alternated who closed their eyes because of the wind.

 We walked around a park by their condo which is by Lake Ontario trying a few different spots. We had a friend Daffy the sick duck that also wanted to join our pictures. We were rather disturbed to see his tongue stuck out of his mouth...maybe he licked a flag pole?!

 David likes to get in his thoughtful, pondering look.

 Another result of the wind blowing was the my hair would NOT stay in it's spot.

 Then the light wasn't bright enough...

And we saw a squirrel friend. (I still think black squirrels look strange after growing up in a solely gray squirreled world.)

However, in the end we did find a nice picture that worked and once we get the lettering finalized, we'll be mailing them out to you all to put on your fridge.. so I'll hold you in suspense until then.