March Break

We're still praying for 3 more guy counselors for March Break Camp. We have a lot of kids signing up, so we're trusting that the Lord will send us the rest of the counselors we need.

Fun with Food

I recently discovered that my camera has a really neat feature for taking pictures of food. I will dedicate this blog to random food pictures I have from the past few weeks.

 I was drafted to help with my sister-in-law's shower a few weeks ago and thought it would be a good chance to try out the cake decorating kit that my amazing sister gave me for my birthday/Christmas. Since it would have been a long commute for her to show me how to use them, I had to try them out.

 David enjoyed being the guinea pig and having the freedom to eat as many as he wanted.

It took me a long time but I had a lot of fun playing around. The ones for the shower turned out too. I didn't get any pictures of them though.

 Moving on we arrive at snack sample pictures for the Treasure Seekers theme. Can you tell what this is supposed to be? (A treasure chest.)

 Have you ever had a "sandy banana"? Simply dip a banana in Jell-o powder. It sounds strange, but somehow tasted sandy...but a good kind of sandy taste. 

 That night while washing potatoes for me to make mashed potatoes, David discovered a heart shaped potato. Isn't that sweet? At least it was until it got all mashed to bits.

This is the masterpiece of them all...the Valentine's dinner that David made for me: lobster tail with garlic butter, twice basked potato, shrimp appetizers and sugar snap peas! I sure am spoiled!

Snow Tunnel

 This past Sunday was our first "quiet Sunday afternoon at home after church" to spend together in 2 months so we wanted to do something together outside. The only problem was that I have cross-country skis and David doesn't...the snow shoes decided they wanted to retire after 40 some years of being on this earth... yet the snow was 3 feet deep. We walked in our snow boots down our road to a trail but discovered there was 3-4 feet of snow instead of a trail. As we walked back into our driveway somewhat disheartened at our lack of options, we both had the same idea. "How long has it been since you made a snow fort?!"

David then chose the biggest snow pile we have (thanks to our kind neighbor that plows part of our driveway once in a while...since the snowblower doesn't make good snow piles.) As I dug away at my little side with a shovel I realized what strength and perseverance David has! I started to think a snow cave would be just as good as a tunnel. =] I was also struck by the fact that I was living a kid's dream, digging a tunnel with someone that actually has the strength, knowledge, tools and perseverance to DIG the tunnel. My sister and I always wanted to make tunnels but I don't think we ever made it all the way through with our little kid hands in soggy, cold mittens.

A few days later as I was driving some kids home that we'd had over at our house and they noticed our tunnel. "Who made the tunnel?" they wanted to know. "David and I did", I replied. "Why?!" they wondered. "Just because we wanted to," I answered. They didn't seem to know what to think of that...two adults making a snow fort...just because.

Our tunnel that's at least 10 feet long

David climbing through

It's big enough for both of us!

Treasure Seekers

 The longer we're married, the more different David and I realize we are. One of those differences is that I love planning. I never knew before working with CEF how much I liked planning and that it could actually be a good thing. As strange as it is, one of my favourite times of the year is working with the group on planning the summer program.
Nine of us joined together from four provinces last week. Our theme is island/voyage related, focusing on some of the "I AMs" of Christ and how He is our greatest treasure. So many verses are popping out at me in my devotions now that connect...our precious faith...his great and precious promises...(2 Peter 1: 1-4). What a treasure it is to know Christ! We don't love him and live for him out of obligation. It's because of the joy that we have in knowing him and all that he has done in our lives and is still doing!

At the end of the planning time we get to see the first rough draft of a few of the skit days (what's done in the opening of club)...see below.

"John Paul" and "Butterfingers the pirate" travel by boat

"Butterfingers" and his parrot

Welcome Babies

David's family has had the joy of welcoming the first two grandbabies in the last few months! Both of his sister's had babies...Melissa had a boy October 12 and Leanne had a girl December 10! We're starting our recruitment now and hope that we'll have some good summer missionaries in 15 years.

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.