Let It Snow

OK - so February was warm - March has been too - until Saturday (20th) and it turned cooler and then Monday it started to snow and has been snowing ever since. Now Luke has come and gone and there was hardly any snow here for him....but come back Luke - you could snowboard for sure.
It has been a busy March with three trips to Calgary. The 28th of February (Happy 14th birthday CALEB) Ray and I drove to Cochrane (Canadian National Baptist Convention) and were a part of 3 days of FOCUS meetings. We met with our SHARE group twice and had a full day of Coaching 101. When I grow up I want to be able to coach....I have so much to learn!
We drove home on Thursday the 4th and on the 5th Aaron & Alicia and little Titus arrived from Cochrane to stay with us until Monday. Aaron preached for us as part of SEMINARY DAY. It was different having a baby in the house.
JAKE turned 16 on the 6th and we looked at video of when he was little...where does the time go?
We drove back to Calgary on the 11th to pick up Luke at the airport. I was so glad to see him walk out to us! I thought we would go to the gate to meet him but was I wrong....they had extra security in place because of the Olympics and no one got through security that was not flying. The people at American Airlines were very helpful and walked us through the whole process. We spent the night at the Missions House at the Convention office as he did not come in until almost 10:00pm. The next morning we traveled to Canmore for breakfast and then on to Banff where we rode the Gondola up Sulphur Mt. and then Luke & Papa got in the Hot Springs. Since I was at the end of antibiotics for a viral and bacterial infection Ray did not think I should indulge. I sat in the car and read a book while the boys played. We then drove to Lake Louise where they had an actual ICE castle on the lake along with the olympic rings carved in ice. We took pictures - it was snowing very hard. We started our drive toward Jasper at the other end of the Icefields Parkway where we planned to spend the night...after driving for about 30 or more minutes Ray said he did not feel it safe to continue and we very carefully turned around and headed back through the Banff National Park, back to Cochrane and on to Fairview - where we arrived at a little after 1:30am! Luke had a LONG first day in Canada.
On Saturday the 13th we went ice fishing - the ice was about 2-1/2 feet thick (love that power auger). We had gotten Luke a Skidoo (for sledding) at Costco when we found out he was coming and he used it to slid down several hills at Figure Eight Lake. We went 5 pin bowling that evening. (It will keep you active having a 12 year old in the house)
Luke helped me in my Sunday School class on Sunday where he entertained 9 little girls and 1 little boy. After lunch he and Papa watched some curling and basketball until the college/singles arrived for Bible study that evening. After feeding the kids Luke and I went downstairs and watching curling until Ray finished the study time with the kids. Then Luke put on his snow goggles so he could hide his eyes while he and the group played BLUFF.

Monday we had a busy day of ice fishing at Cummings Lake, riding quads at Mr. Mel's and Miss Lisa's house and Luke and Papa having a bowling rematch. Tuesday we drove back to Cochrane where we spent the night....Luke found a basketball and shot some hoops. He could not believe the way the Rockies were just out there to look at from the Mission House. His flight went back to TX on Wednesday at 2:30 and we needed to be there by 1:00....so we went on into Calgary and Luke got a tour of the Olympic site from the 1988 venue. He is an Oakley guy and had fun looking at the STUFF in the gift shop. When we got to the airport and said our good byes .... we waited, and waited, and waited. We did not and could not leave until his airplane took off. There was some kind of mechanical issue that the mechanic HAD TO sign off on before they would let his plane leave. Once he was safely in the air we again got in that faithful car and headed back north....but lonely for our Luke.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TERRY SHANNON on the 20th of March.....
On the 21st of March we had our Sunday School, church and college/singles Bible study. The kids had a mad game of Sequence and another group was working on a 1500 piece puzzle... no, they did not stay to see it finished! I am still working on it.
We had the opportunity last night to help out our friends Zenon and Mona - Mona leads the Tuesday night Bible study and Zenon was working late so we headed over to eat some yummy vegetable beef soup and watch her three munchkins... now Amber who is two decided she liked Pastor Ray...it was the cutest thing. Poor Zenon did not get home until 10:00 and looked much too old to be so young... long day for sure for him.
I am off to sell daffodils for the Cancer Society at the local IGA store.... so I will put on my snow boots and plunge into the white stuff knowing all the time that God is in control of our lives and our circumstances...what security He offers us who trust in him.

Ray has a busy weekend ahead with a youth retreat in Worsley to speak at and the Action 52 (Evangelistic training) being held at our church this Sunday. We have 5 churches that will participate in the class and I will be responsible for child care - so please pray for Ray and his time with the youth and the right folks to fill in some gaps with the little ones..... thanks for holding up our arms (Exodus 17:12) Hope Pictures coming later.....