May 4th and it is snowing...

We have had the mildest winter. A warmer than usual February and March. April had the snow all gone and the golf course even open. Last night we had our monthly ladies ministry meeting and Ray was playing golf in his golf league...the wind was so cold when we came out of our meeting that I was wondering what was up.... snow. It is very cold and windy today and I need to put some socks on my feet as they are freezing!

Since our Luke visited us we have been quite busy. This week is a bit of a blur since our little Roger passed away early Saturday morning. He was diagnosed with his brain tumor on October 10th and died on his dad's birthday, May 1st. Roger was 10 years old. Ray will have his service at church on Thursday and there will be a memorial service at the school on Friday. Our ladies are busy preparing for the lunch for the people who attend the service.

Ray had his 65th birthday on Sunday and we had TWO lovely meals out with friends with a service at the longterm care in between. I am always telling Ray to "GET OVER IT" if he complains about anything....so I found a card that had a little cowboy sitting on the floor crying and all the card said was GET OVER IT. I could not pass that up!

We are having our first "Girls to Grandmas Tea" this coming Saturday so it has proven to be a very full week. We hope to honor women of all ages whether they are moms or not. I will keep you posted on how it turns out.

Ray heard from his brother Terry for his birthday and we will be great aunties or uncles again with Tyler and Amy. Carrie is expecting her and Mike's baby this month. All so very exciting!

Patty Ford had a new grandson, Grant Wesley who arrived 3 weeks early on April 30th.... congrats to Jared & Kelley.

We are so excited about Max's new job - I hope his new company realizes what an awesome man they have hired! God is such a great provider - in every way.

Talked to sister this am and we are getting a little concerned about the OIL SPILL in the gulf as it is a month from tomorrow that we are due to check into a beach house in Pensacola Beach. We just want warm weather and sand for our toes and visiting with family. I don't think I would like a black beach (unless it is the one on Maui or the Big Island). That spill is such a mess and then you have all the earthquakes and other STUFF going on all over the world - is God trying to let us know it is time for Him to return? Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Ray is at prayer time with some of the area pastors. They meet on Tuesday mornings and it has been an encouraging time for Ray. The house is quiet when he is here since he studies so much of the time and of course when he is gone it is really quiet. I have to talk to myself. Ray is trying to get me to not talk so much and God has agreed with him that it would be a very good idea to listen more. I will definitely work on that.... you can pray with me about God using my ears to minister.

We filled out papers and looked at permanent residency but after learning the cost we felt it would be better to just go to the border and get extensions and much cheaper. Even after you are granted permanent residency you still have to apply for new cards ever so often. Paperwork is not fun you know. We had to list every place we had worked since we were 18... now that was a challenge for me - Ray did not have it too hard. We also had to list every place we lived from the time we were 18. Just a lot of information that somehow is hazy in my memory...now, I can remember every word of "Run Around Sue"... go figure.

On April 23rd four of us ladies from church went to Edmonton (I drove the whole way down and back!) for a Vacation Bible School clinic. Another lady met us there since she was in Edmonton with her husband. Two of us led sessions at the clinic. We went down on a Friday morning very early so we could shop on Friday and then the clinic was on Saturday from 8:00-1:30. Ray asked me why we were going so early - I said duh we are going to shop in the city. Ladies, food, shopping, talking and of course singing.... that is how I knew I could remember the songs! Frank Ford had put some oldies on CD for our drive to Canada back in 2006 so we pulled those out and it is amazing what the brain can remember.... we may forget all the important stuff but we can sing oldies!!

We got the word yesterday that we have 14 of the best folks in the state of Georgia coming to help with our VBS. We will have several that are returning guests but also some new faces. We are so very thankful for these dear ones who take time away from families, raise their own money, and travel to a foreign place to minister to kids for a week. GOD BLESS Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church. Thank you to Ricky for leading the group this year. Pray for pastor Danny as he holds the fort down while all of them are away. Pray for VBS July 19-23 and for our director, Lora Casselman.

The end of March Ray spoke at a youth retreat in Worsley on Saturday and then Cesar Parra who led the youth came to our house for a "Action 52" event on Sunday. It was from 3-6 and we had almost 100 folks attend. He presented information about the Evangecube and how to share your faith 52 weeks of the year using seeds as reminders. We had several churches that participated and it has been fun to see the ways folks are sharing their faith. I was in charge of the childcare so the folks could participate. We had 4 classes of kids and I want to thank Priscilla Hale, Jennifer Hammerschmidt, Ember Selnes and Tristin Kaiser for giving up their Sunday afternoon. I was in the room with 3 babies and two of my special girls from Sunday School (Dallas & Taya). They proved to be a big help to me with the babies.

Paul & Laura both had birthdays in April and Matt & Heather had their anniversary. I sure miss being in town for their special events. JONI (my sister-in-law in Pennsylvania) will have her birthday on the 20th and it would be fun to surprise her with a visit too.

I hope everyone knows that Ray and I are here in Fairview because God gave us the word to be here. It is our prayer that HE will use us to help many come to a faith in the one true God and we will enjoy eternity with them. We would also like to help them grow in their faith and see God use them in this community. Let us not grow weary in well doing...... Hope

For Sunday May 9th - Happy Mother's Day to all you who have been blessed to be a Mom. What a privilege and responsibility to shape a life! Let God lead you with this undertaking.

Pictures above of our relaxing day with Mel & Lisa Lubeck on their land and the wonderful Trumpeter Swans.

Pictures from Luke's Visit

Olympic rings in ice on Lake Louise (top picture)

Left - Luke at sign for Banff Hot Springs

3rd - Luke & Papa at Bow Falls below Banff Springs Hotel

4th - Luke & Nanny at Bow Falls

5th Right - Luke in wheel of Columbia Ice Field Bus

6th Left - Luke at one of entrances to Banff

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.....

A Warm February

Wooden Puzzle (top left)

Snowboarder on chair lift (rail not down)

Worsley chair lift (third right)

Hope turns 63 (4th right)

Delimber in the bush (bottom left)

It sure has not seemed like February in Northern Alberta! It has stayed pretty consistently at -5C to 0C. As I was watching the Olympics (I am hooked on Curling) last night after the college/singles had left (oh, by the way sorry to all our Canadian friends about beating your boys in hockey) and noticed that it is supposed to be above freezing for the rest of this week!! Just can't imagine that. There were 17 of us last night as we kicked off a new session of Sunday night Bible study. We are using the H2O material which we think is excellent. We even had a young man from BRAZIL who is up here working at the Worsley Ski Hill. (Ray and I took a trip to the ski hill about a week ago and were very impressed with the wonderful provisions for the skiers in the small town of Worsley - see picturesand check out your maps about the location and size of this town.) I cannot fathom how you go from an island off the coast of southern Brazil to living/working in Worsley, Alberta, Canada. It is just too much to comprehend. Check it out on your atlas! We had two new guys that attend GPRC that had visited church yesterday and we quickly invited them to our study time. Dale and Jayden are great additions.

We had a very good worship time yesterday even with the worship leader (Zenon) having a lot of congestion with a bad cold. We had almost 130 folks with us as Ray preached his third sermon in the Malachi series which was out of the 3rd chapter and was on stewardship of our life. We had an annual meeting after worship time to keep in alignment with our constitution and by-laws.

We kicked off the two ladies Bible studies this week with Mona leading the Tuesday night group (Me, Myself & Lies by Jennifer Rothschild) and me leading the Wednesday daytime group (Pursuing More of Jesus by Anne Graham Lotz). The men are a little over half way through their "Fathered By God" series. They have had up to 22 men in their Wednesday night study.

Ray had an opportunity to ride to "the bush" with Lawrence Smithson on Wednesday during the day to see what all goes on in the local logging industry. I will attach a picture that he took on his trip.

We made two trips to Grande Prairie last week to be with folks who were having surgery and tomorrow we will again head south to be with another one. They have done away with clergy parking and it is quite the HIKE to visit someone who is having surgery. Not too bad when it is warmer weather.

This next Sunday we will leave for Cochrane and a 3 day "Coaching Clinic". Since Ray is attending they asked me to come along and participate as well. It is a very Biblical concept and I am enjoying reading the book.

Guess what I did? Cindy said she would teach us to make a rag quilt...so I signed up. She said, "Do you have a sewing machine"? I said "NO". She said, "Do you know how to sew"? I said, "NO". She was just looking at me and said, "Why did you sign up for this class"? I told her it did not say anything about sewing - just if you wanted to learn to make a rag quilt. I bought all my materials and was ready to learn. Cindy was a trooper. She rounded up a sewing machine for me and we spent one evening cutting out all the squares. Then on Friday from 11:00am to around 8:00pm I sewed the pieces together that I had cut out. (one of the ladies commented on the fact that it did not make much sense to cut them and then put them back together). Now I am in the process of cutting again to make the fringe on the back of the quilt. I will try to send you a picture. They say you better not wash and dry it in your machine because of all the flannel strings that will clog your washing machine. So I still have more work to do before it is a finished product!

Matt & Heather sent us a wooden jigsaw puzzle and it was quite the little challenge to fit all the theme related pieces into the Mississippi plantation home. The hanging moss and the beautiful home sitting by the river was a remembrance of places we have seen in our time in the south.
Thank you for the winter diversion.

During this month I celebrated my 63rd birthday! I just cannot imagine being 63 - but guess what - that does not change the fact. Several of the ladies at church had a surprise TEA party which was quite nice and of course there was a lot of good food. Thank you Hester for hosting and thanks to Shelley for the beautiful birthday cake which she made just for me.

The Super Bowl seems like a lifetime ago but maybe that is because it was not my favorite outcome. I know my sister-in-law, Joni, was very excited to see HER Saints standing victorious.

We have been working to secure airline tickets and lodging for a vacation/holiday in June to Pensacola Beach. Toes in the sand and surf....it will be great.

Our greatest excitement at the present time is that Luke, our grandson who just turned 12, will be flying up to be with us over his spring break. We will drive to Calgary again on the 11th of March to pick him up. We have so many plan for him to experience the snow/cold experience. We will let you know how it all goes.

......2010

The last day of 2009 is going out with a vengence... it was -31C this am but the sun is shinning so brightly that you would not think it was COLD outside... don't believe it!

We are having a married couples party and game night starting at 7:00pm tonight and that should be fun.

December 11th was our Christmas banquet and the food was so delicious and the fellowship center was decorated so beautifully. Thanks to the ladies who worked sooooooooooo hard to make the evening special for us.

December 13th was the Christmas concert during the morning worship time. Betty Hale did such a good job leading a team of ladies. Our program was entitled "The Indescribable Gift". Our Kindergarten and Grade One children did the welcome and sang two songs and then it moved into scene one of the manger with children dressed as Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels, cows, sheep and a donkey. This scene was about The gift of JESUS. The next scene was of Jesus as a child at his home in Nazareth and the arrival of the Magi with GIFTS of their own for Jesus. There was even a STAR (with Ashley inside) showing them the way to the house. Ray then spoke on the GIFT of Christmas and several of the youth and young marrieds came out carrying their specific gifts for Jesus (like a cardboard testimony). Two of the youth were dressed as presents beside the Christmas tree. My class finished with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and handed out candycanes. My class is made up of 2-4 year olds and trying to corral them through the entire presentation was a job in itself! (Nine of them)

On December 18th Ray and I had our 43rd wedding anniversary. We traveled to Grande Prairie and saw a great movie that we would recommend to you: "The Blind Side" which is based on a true story. GO SEE IT. Then we went to The Keg and had the absolute best dinner and reminisced about our years together. He is a keeper for sure! Having two wonderful sons, two beautiful daughter-in-laws and five precious grandsons is a large portion of our memories and future. We have peace knowing that God has us in Canada for a season and we pray that many will come to truly know our Almighty God.

Our Christmas Eve service was attended by around 80 folks. Many of these were from our community and that was our intent when we began having the service in 2006. We lit the last of the Advent Candles on this night looking forward to the celebration of the birth of Christ the next day.

We celebrated the birth of our Savior at the Boshoff home with South African fare on the table and Tiaan & Ciska making a gingerbread house and trying to find WALDO. Lovely friendships is what makes the "body of Christ" so unique.

Ray has been busy with hospital visits and counseling as well as sermon preparations. He is at his computer a minimum of 8 hours a day - either reading, writing, or keeping in touch with folks. He writes a weekly article that goes out to a lot of pastors and friends all over the US and Canada. His Northern Exposure is very enjoyable for him. On the 27th we had our "turn" at the service at the retirement home and handed out candycanes to the folks there. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits and ready for another year to begin.

As we prepare ourselves for 2010 I am reminded of something that I read this week - Isaiah 43:14-21 Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? (v 19)

Becoming a new creation in Christ is a thorough, ongoing character reorientation. We have been conditioned by the religious, cultural, and social values of our time. Attitudes, reactions, goals, and thought patterns have been inadvertently ingrained into the fiber of our natures. When we become Christians, everything is suddenly exposed to Christ's scrutinizing renovation.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Identify the evidence of the new creation in YOU.

From God's Best for My Life by Lloyd John Ogilvie

As I go into and through 2010 I want to daily see the evidence that I have a new life in Christ. I want to look like Him and have His same attitude. Let's make that our goal.....

Until we all look like HIM..... Hope

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas!

More and more Christmas lights come on most every day but you have to understand! Our lights have to go up in September or October....you can't just go outside and climb up on your house with our temperatures and the snow. No putting it off until the week of Christmas where we live. We will present our Christmas "concert" or program this Sunday morning and our first REAL rehearsal was last Sunday....which we did not even get through....so we had another practice last night. This is a BIG deal with blackouts and costumes and even candycanes. My 3 wisemen are the biggest challenge - not just their heights - they just have too much fun!

In the midst of the stage being ready for the program - we had a memorial service today and lunch for all afterwards. The family did an excellent job with a slide show and as usual Ray did a great job with the scripture. Ray had a counseling appointment tonight so he is wiped out.

Tomorrow is our Christmas banquet. We will have it at church and I offered to help with the clean up...yep I did...what was I thinking - obviously NOT! We are also having a potluck after the program on Sunday and young married Bible study following that.

Heather sent us some of the pictures from Thanksgiving. (#1 above left to right is Paul, Caleb, Jacob, Laura and Luke. #2 L to R is Matt, Heather in back and Cole & Peyton in the front. #3 on the right above is Nanny & Papa with da boys.) We were so excited to get them....

I am going to put one from our College/single Bible study from last Sunday - we got the kids to work on a gingerbread house after their study on finances - they did a great job...a couple of them had to leave early so were not in our picture.

It is after midnight and Ray just turned in and I am freezing so will take a hot shower and turn in too. Good night and we will keep in touch.... pray for the upcoming events at church and our program especially. Thank you for holding our arms up. (See Exodus 17:8-14) Hope

A Texas Thanksgiving

As I mentioned in the last blog - we headed SOUTH to Texas for the US Thanksgiving on November 24th and returned the 3rd of December. We arrived in Grande Prairie last night and then drove home in snow. We had actually gotten more snow while we were out of town. I shoveled the driveway today and it had about 4-5 inches but there were some deeper drifts around the house and yard.

We stayed with Matt & Heather the first four days in Texas and Paul & Laura and boys joined us for Thanksgiving day. We had turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, ham, sweet potato souffle, green bean casserole and Mammaw's rolls (but they were not as good as hers). We had pumpkin pie, coconut pie, chocolate pie and pecan pie. Some of us drank eggnog and Laura, Heather and I drank coffee with peppermint whipping cream - YUM! Before we ate we headed off to the Old Alton Bridge in Corinth and took a million and one pictures.... ok, maybe not that many but poor Matt did not get a day off. I hope he sends us some real soon. Pictured above is Luke (11) , Peyton (7), Jacob (15), Cole (9) & Caleb (13) on the bridge. This was taken on Laura's camera and I emailed it to myself.

That night Matt & Heather went to her parents and Paul & Laura went to the Marriott in Ft Worth and Ray and I had the grandboys all to ourselves. We got us all jammies and took more pictures - the boys were real troopers about the picture taking. We got a gingerbread kit with 5 small houses and each boy decorated one. Each house had its own personality. We watched Elf and had a discussion on families afterwards. Ray, Luke, Cole and Peyton played Monopoly and Jake & Caleb got into the electronic games. I was the banker. It was such a fun evening and I will remember it for a long time.

Saturday Matt drove us down to Arlington and he, Paul & Ray played golf. I shopped at Kohls (I did this several times while there) and rounded up some items for our Christmas program. I got the 3 gifts for the Wise Men to take to Jesus and then tried to figure out how to get them back to Canada!! (They all made it.) We ate dinner that evening at Red Lobster - yummy cheese biscuits and coconut shrimp. On Sunday we worshipped at LABC and got to see a lot of our friends. We enjoyed our time in Adult I Sunday School the most. It was great to visit with such sweet folks that we love. Sunday night we attended a 60th birthday party for Rick Hale and got to see a lot of our friends.

On Monday LaRue had made me a dental appointment and Dr. Wallace was kind enough to fix the little chips in one of my front teeth! I enjoyed working in his office prior to moving to Canada. After the appointment Laura, LaRue, Emily, Kathy and I had lunch at Fuzzy's (a new Mexican place).

We tried to take the boys to school as much as we could to be with them. It is fun to pray with them while driving to their schools. Jake & Caleb were about a foot taller than me which was a shock - just since we saw them in March!! Monday night we drove back to Corinth and surprized Cole & Peyton and ordered pizza. The look on their face when we rang the doorbell was priceless. We played Clue and watched Matt win both games! It was so good to say goodnight prayers with the boys. As we drove back to Arlington we listened to the Saints beat the Patriots - yeah.... I bet Joni (my sister-in-law) loved it! She is such a Saint fan.

Tuesday we picked up Janice & Max at the airport (usually they are picking us up but they celebrated Thanksgiving in California with one of their sons). We had been using one of their cars since they were gone.

Tuesday night we enjoyed a Braums sunday...I had a Pecan Caramel Cinnamon Crum Cake Sunday....

Wednesday we got to visit with Linda & Larry Carter for a while in their home. We would have loved to have seen others too but our time was so precious and we wanted to be with the family as much as possible. Caleb had a basketball game on Wednesday night and we were glad we could watch him play. We told them goodbye after the game and spent the night at the Grabers. It was soooooooooo hard to say bye - we do not know when we will see them again.

Max took us to the airport on Thursday morning and we got home around 8:30pm.

I am getting ready for the pastors/wives that will be in our home tomorrow evening. Ray has helped me clean some (mainly putting away all the costumes, etc for the Christmas program that were laying EVERYWHERE in the living room) and I made pralines, vinegar cookies and fudge. Also made a run to the catholic church to pick up a bread order, visited the dollar store and bargain store for last minute details for the party and the program and then went to the grocery store. You ALWAYS have to go to the grocery store after being gone on a trip. The roads were quite slippery.

Ray has a couple to baptize this Sunday and that will be an exciting time for us. Ron & Kim Hart have been a part of our church since we have been here. Ray performed their wedding on the 7th of November. We will practice for our Christmas program and then have college/singles on Sunday night ( I will prepare the 7 bean soup recipe but since one of the girls is a vegan I will leave the meat out of some of the soup). Off and running here we go. Can't wait to see what all God has in store for us and our church. He is so awesome and as we celebrate His birth I pray that each of us will make more room in our lives for Him to live through us. MERRY CHRISTMAS Hope