Trouble with Mud

 This is what our road looked like the last few days. I was simply trying to go to town to buy groceries and do errands on my day off and I got stuck in the road. I ran back barefoot (I didn't want to ruin my shoes with mud, crazy what you're mind thinks up when you freak out.) I got stuck about 1 kilometer (or 1/2 mile) from our house. I ran home and got David to get me unstuck. He did get me out...but then ended up getting really stuck.

 Stuck in the middle of the road in fact. I felt like I was in Africa, getting stuck on our own road.

 We actually had to get TOWED out of our own road, out of the middle of the road!! The snow melted so quickly and the frost came out because the weather suddenly went up to 20+*C (75-80*F). Our neighbors said that they've never seen the road get this bad. I sure hope not! I'm really hoping that this isn't an annual occasion.

 This is is my footprint. I came back in my "classy" winter boots.

 I stuck this stick down into the deep ruts and it still sunk to the lowest part where my fingers are...so it was 12-18 in. deep of mud.

I ended up eating my lunch while we waited for the tow truck.

If the earth were a golf ball...

 A few months ago David watched a teaching dvd by Louie Giglio. He was struck by the statement that "if the earth was the size of a golf ball, the sun would be the size of a 13 foot ball". Our great God just spoke this all into being! What an amazing Creator God we have!

Most people would hear this statement and think about it, imagine it for a few seconds and then forget about it. Not my creative husband. Instead he began to ponder..."could I make a 13 foot ball?" I'll admit I was rather doubtful when he decided to try it with just house wrap and tuck tape. He modeled it after a baseball and got our friend Dwane to come over for two days and they worked away to cut and tape and form a giant ball. I remember talking to my mom while they were working on it and telling her what they were up to. "Do you think it will work?" she asked me."I don't know, but somehow David always figures out a way to make his inventions work," I told her.

The time came that they could finally try it out. They started out in the basement just to see if the air would hold. They were like two little boys grinning from ear to ear as they watched the thing inflate with the shopvac. It reached the 8 ft. ceiling, so they decided to take it outside.

 I had no idea how big 13 feet around actually is!!

 David made it because he wanted to use it as an object lesson at March Break Camp to share how great our Creator God is, the same God that wants to be our Heavenly Father.

David is holding a golf ball in his hand to compare how big our earth is next to the sun. During Senior Camp we were able to let the kids actually go inside the ball. It is a pretty amazing experience. What a marvelous God we have!

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