Dashing through the snow...

I love this! The Amish live al around my parents and thought they looked so pretty!

Deck the Halls!

Our first day home was spent relaxing...and laughing. My mom waited for us to put the Christmas tree up...I'm so glad she did. My sister Shelly came over and helped. We had to rearrange the living room and then we began...What a nice tree and great memories!

A little detour...

We left Durham around 1:oo p.m. on Friday and took a little detour. We were able to drop off a second year student, Leah, at the Toronto airport. Then just before we crossed the big bridge to the border the gas light came on so we took the exit before the bridge and ended up in Niagara Falls. We finally arrived at my parents at 9:00. Ready for a much needed sleep! We had great weather all the way home. Praise the Lord!!!

See you next year...

We left our classmates Friday after our morning class and a time together. Here is our complete class ready for a break. What a group! Merry Christmas to the best class ever!

We'll be home for Christmas!

We are getting ready to head to New York for our Christmas Break. We hear that the weather back in the states is quite blustery so please pray for us as we travel. It looks like we will be leaving Friday around noontime. We have morning classes and then the class will hang out for awhile before we all go our separate ways. I ask that you please pray for all those who will traveling from here and especially for those who are unable to go home for Christmas.

This little piggy...went to our freezer!

A local farmer donated 6 large pigs! We were able to skin them and cut them up...what fun!

Party!

Holly and her daughter Ruth wanted to have a girl's get together..if Ruth and Holly are involved it's a party! They had great food, a chocolate fountain and several goodies to dip into the chocolate, fun games and a good movie! Thanks Holly and Ruth for a great night together!

Winter Wonderland!

We are really enjoying the snow here...it's beautiful! I spoke to my mom and they have a dusting there in N.Y.. I am posting a new picture album. You will see a creek and a bridge and then a pipe coming out of a box in the creek...that is where we get our fresh spring water from. I went down today and got some and thought you would enjoy the walk with me.

Happy Thanksgiving

We were quite busy getting ready for our BIG Thanksgiving Feast away from home! This was our first...yes first Thanksgiving away from our families. This year we had dinner with 44 members of our new family! What a great time we had together. A second year student, Liz, and I planned for our dinner that would take place at 6 pm Thanksgiving Evening. We had classes as usual because in Canada it was just another day. I started baking and cooking at Noon and along with everyone bringing food we had quite a feast. What a wonderful evening we had and so thankful for the relationships that we are able to build. Oh, we ate...turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, green beans, cranberry sauce and bread...and lots and lots and lots of dessert! YUM!

Did someone say SNOW?

We were all quite excited to wake up Monday morning to our first snow fall. It stayed around all day and snowed a little on and off all week. It's Thursday and snowing once again...someone put a shovel on the porch but there are no instructions! UM! I guess we will be using it sooner than we thought. Thank God for His perfect timing in the change of seasons, just as He is faithful to change the seasons He is faithful to care for us.

Surprise!

We surprised our family and friends last weekend! Bill wanted to get some hunting in and it was neat to see Jen's dad, he just celebrated his 80th birthday on Oct. 31...Happy Birthday Dad! We enjoyed a fun pizza party at Jen's brother's house and Bill shot a deer...with the camera!

SUNSETS & SNOW!

What a beautiful sunset we had this past week. Doesn't it look like the woods are on fire? It was just breath taking! God loves to leave us speechless! Last Sunday it was 70 and this Sunday {10/28} it was in the 30's when we got up. We were quite excited to get a picture of our first snow in Canada.

Sunday Drive!

What a beautiful day for a Sunday drive. The weather was sunny and the countryside is always picture perfect. As we were leaving church today we went on a tour of the church and are looking forward to having Garrett and Jake get involved with their youth group Wednesday evenings and all of us getting into Sunday School. What a blessing the service was, today we knew every song, {up until today we didn't recognize any worship songs in the churches we visited} and there was a visiting missionary from West Africa. How exciting to hear how the Lord is building His church there. I have posted another photo album below of the pictures I took today as we drove around...I hope you enjoy them!

Canoe Trip, Visit to New York, & a Festival!

So much goes on here in a week that it's hard to keep up! Wednesday the 3rd we went on a canoe trip down the Saugeen River. It was a beautiful trip and lots of fun.
Then on Friday the 5th we packed a suitcase and headed to New York where we we be staying with my {Jen} parents. We had a three day weekend where we packed every second of it, believe it or not it was very relaxing and a lot of fun. We were able to spend time with family and friends. Bill & the boys were able to get an afternoon of paintball in while I shopped and spent time with my mom and sister, Shelly. Saturday evening had us all relaxing and catching up with close friends, Pastor Len, Hope and the Rector family. Sunday we were up and at our home church where we were able to share briefly of our time in Canada and see our dear friends at Seneca Community. Sunday afternoon Bill's mother cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner for us seeing we won't be home for our traditional Thanksgiving in November. What a great time we had with his family, sharing and catching up. Monday we started packing up to head home! My mom and brother, Bob gave us generously from their gardens. {some was fresh, canned, and frozen}, a dear lady from church sent us home with two boxes of food, and another family sent us on our way with a cooler full of "treats". There are somethings that we were going to learn to live without and beef and butter were on the list...thank you to all who blessed us "above and beyond."
We made it back after a long wait getting to the border...2 miles took 2 1/2 hours. God is so good to us...He blessed us with an amazing weekend, safety in travel, and being with our loved ones. We were ready to get back to our training and lives here. We had a Festival on Friday, the 12th. We ate hot dogs, enjoyed some games and laughing with our classmates and teachers.
There are pictures of the canoe trip, our trip to NY and the festival...Enjoy!

New Tribes Mission History

We have the privilege this week to listen to one of New Tribes first missionaries. Les & Lorraine have been with New Tribes since 1942 when they started. Listening to the history and God's faithfulness throughout the years is truly a blessing. Les shared that there were seven men who stepped out in faith and organized what we know today as New Tribes Mission...one of these men is 96 years old and continues to have a vision to reach the lost and a desire to go. Yes, I said go. He still wants to go back to Indonesia! God Bless him! We want to thank you all for your prayers last week as we went through some special training, it all went very well and we are grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of it.

What a Week!

We had a very productive week! We were able to get pears for $4 a bushel. We bought 2 bushel. That is a lot of pears!!! I canned 31 quarts, made 1 very large pan of Pear Crisp, and made of a large bowl of Pearsauce {made just like smooth applesauce} it is very yummy. I also got a 20 lb bag of potatoes for $2, so I was able to can 15 qt. of potatoes. It was a lot of work but worth every moment.
Check back often and hopefully we will have updates throughout the week. We get very busy around here and we would love to keep everyone posted.