I am leaving for El Centro tomorrow and arriving in Palm Springs in the evening where Tamara will pick me up and then head for their place in El Centro. I will keep you up-to-date on what is happening in the warm part of the country. Big snowstorm here today and lots of snow to shovel on the driveway. Looking forward to some sun and to hugging my kids and little Chela! I just hope that I can get my two big suitcases into the airport which are full of stuff for the kids. I will be coming back with empty bags!!! Hopefully all will go well with my travels tomorrow. Excited to see the kids but not excited about the traveling!
Nettie… Thursday, Jun 28 2007
Jerry’s oldest sister Nettie passed away today in Penticton from cancer. Please pray for her husband David, and her four sons, Rick, Doug, Dan and Ian, and her 3 grandchildren…sad day for this family.
Father’s Day Sunday, Jun 17 2007
Family and Holidays and Spiritual Development 9:16 pm
When Father’s Day comes around my thoughts always reflect back on the dad in my life. In my young years of growing up, I didn’t much appreciate who he was and what he stood for, but as I have moved along in my maturity and age I am embracing more and more of what he was so much a part of. As I have been doing alot of reading on “kingdom work” and being “missional” in how we live, I realize how blessed I am to have been raised in an environment where this was actually just the way my dad lived, and I can look back and see a picture of what kingdom and missional living is all about, as I have a living example to relate to. Dad’s spirituality was how he lived and was interwoven into everything he did. I realize that as I teach and speak to people, so much of my theology was developed from what dad taught at the breakfast table every morning, and the Sunday School classes he taught for years, and which I attended. I never thought it out of the ordinary that dad never used a book to follow when he taught, it just came out of him. I can remember him sitting with his open Bible on Sunday mornings, and sitting with his eyes closed, and now I know he was reflecting on Scripture and what it would mean for each of us in a practical way in our lives. He would talk about a Scriptural principle and then he would say, “Now how do we live?” Good question…how does this relate to our ordinary life that we live every day. Now if dad was reading this, he would probably be somewhat embarrassed by my words, but that is the influence he has been on my life. He continues to mentor me and I ponder over and over the many things I learned from him over the years, and only now I am beginning to understand them and make them part of my life. As you can see, I am a slow learner. Hopefully somehow along the way these same principles are being passed on to the people around me. My dad had no idea how his life would influence the people around him, he just lived his life the best way he knew how, loving God, loving his family…not perfectly but still loving them…loving his neighbour…and hopefully loving himself and embracing the person God created him to be…thanks dad…your influence continues to change me.
Jesika’s Kenya Blog… Sunday, Jun 17 2007
Family and Matt & Jesika 2:04 am
For those of you who are interested, Jesika is blogging on her and Matt’s experiences in Kenya this summer. Just link to her name at the side of my blog and you will get into her blog. She is an amazing writer and is very entertaining in recapturing their experiences. They are settling into their life in Kakamega…very different from the Calgary culture. Enjoy reading their escapades!
Facebook Friday, Jun 15 2007
Family and Interesting Links and Life Update and Matt & Jesika and Tamara 6:19 am
Well I just registered on Facebook…not sure that will do anything amazing to my life. I guess we will just have to wait and see. Life is good! Busy with our grandpuppies…keeping them happy and occupied. Matt and Jesika are settling into their little mud house in Kakamega, Kenya…starting their internships on Monday. Tamara is busy teaching English in Kaihsoing for a few weeks, hopefully coming home for a couple of weeks in August before returning to Japan. Our life is global trying to keep connected to our kids.
Kids… Monday, May 28 2007
Family and Life Update and Matt & Jesika and Tamara 4:22 am
Tamara has arrived in Taiwan safe and sound; Matt and Jesika have arrived in Nairobi safe and sound…we are so thankful. Tamara went off for the weekend with her friend Liz and Matt and Jesika are off to feed baby elephants and go to a baby animal orphanage!! We are happy watching the grandpuppies…Niki had his first taste of gramps wrath when he dumped three plants that we had just completed planting with new plants…apparently he likes the bonemeal we put into the dirt for the roots to grow…oh niki…I don’t think he will eat plant dirt again. I am sure he will be happy as a lark when Jerry takes them for their run in the open fields around Saskatoon in the morning!
Matt’s 27th birthday… Friday, May 11 2007
Family and Matt & Jesika 6:41 am
Matt completed 27 years today! We celebrated with dinner tonight with some of his friends from Saskatoon. Great evening with turkey, bison, farmer sausage burgers; greek salad; and fruit salad; with a scrumptious birthday cake baked by Brooke. Great evening with lots of laughs. So good to celebrate with Matt and to have his friends Brett and Rob join us. Great fun!
My muscles are very sore today from my gym workout yesterday. Will have to take it a little easier tomorrow. I guess I am to start slowly and work my way up gently. I always think if you are going to get it done, do it quickly and with all of your might! Not good when it comes to exercising your muscles!
Jerry turns 60… Thursday, Apr 5 2007
Family and Jerry and Life Update 4:13 am
We celebrated Jerry’s 60th birthday this evening together with Berke and Mel; and Kelly and Molly. We had Jerry’s favorite meal of ribs which were absolutely delicious. The phone has been ringing all evening with well wishes from family and friends. I am having a come and go birthday party fo Jerry on Friday evening between 7:30 pm and midnight…so if you are in the area please drop in for a piece of birthday cake and wish the birthday boy a “Happy Birthday”.
Day in the passport line in Victoria Tuesday, Feb 27 2007
Family and Matt & Jesika 5:34 am
This was written by our amazing daughter-in-law, Jesika, on her blog, and I wanted to share it…what a great perspective!
what i like about being on vancouver island is that i find people a wee bit more relaxed than in calgary. maybe its because over 50% of them are retired or because every time i’m here i’m on vacation therefor i feel relaxed, regardless, as i stood in line i could envision the same line in calgary…people “tsk”ing and looking dissapprovingly back and forth between their watches and the little paper number they were handed. “time is money and i’m wasting my time” would be the thought in most heads. most likely they would just hand a big wad of cash to someone at the front of the line in exchange for their spot. but not here. here in victoria people gathered from all over the island to have a good old time of fellowship and community as we slowly crept up the sidewalk for the next five hours. by 2:00pm i had heard tales of people’s previous adventures and at least ten more of upcomming adventures…nigeria for vibrant colored cloth to be used in a designers spring clothing line, a couple vegas trips one by a 22 year old with her girlfriends, the other by a 42 year old with her girlfriends. a pleasant grandmotherly type visiting family in england, a father who drove his daughter down from nanaimo as she is going to mexico this summer to visit her sister. the list goes on. and between exchanging stories and attempting to study i was also able to leave for a little shopping, a few cups of coffee and a good visit in the book store across the street as others held my place in line.
it was a great time of fellowship and community and reminded me of waiting outside our broken down bus in indonesia or hanging out waiting for a train to arrive in india, always accompanied by locals interested in your being. interested in eachothers being. there’s no “wasted time” when you travel. “wasted time” doesn’t even exist in many other cultures and yet that seems to be what spurs us north americans on. “efficiency, multi-tasking and getting the most for our money”. now i must admit that i am as guilty as any other when it comes to these things, but it was nice for a change to step out of that and just enjoy what life had handed me…a day in a line-up with a group of jovial strangers. so as we drove away after five hours of standing in that line i tried to think, “oh i should have come later as the line was shorter and i probably would’ve only had to wait three hours instead of five”, but i couldn’t. as much as i tried to force those “efficient” thoughts into my head, i had no regrets of my day in that line-up. i had shared many conversations, experienced many adventures through other’s tales, and i had relaxed for a day with nothing else i could do but stand in line and enjoy the rare moment of true community that comes when a bunch of people are thrown together and can do nothing about it.
so thank you passport canada, because with out the new regulations my day would’ve been filled with research and studying and i may have learned a few extra facts about soil ecosystems or the genetic make-up of the cheetah, but ultimately i would not have learned as much as i did that tuesday.
Life… Wednesday, Feb 21 2007
Family and Matt & Jesika 5:16 am
Matt arrived home with Niko and Griffin on Saturday afternoon. So good to have him home just hanging out, doing his projects and spending time with friends. We had a progressive supper on Sunday evening…it was amazing! We started out with appetizers at Berke and Mel’s at 5:00 pm. We enjoyed great appetizers and great conversation and didn’t head out to Brooke and Kelly’s for the main course until around 7:30 pm. Arriving at Brooke and Kelly’s we had an amazing meal of Taco Soup and cornbread…delicious! Some great beverages were served as well, which were really enjoyed by some! A little after 9:15 pm, Jerry and I headed to our place to set up for our dessert, which was a chocolate fondue and good wine! It was an absolutely hilarious evening with laughter until your sides ached! Jerry and I did head to bed around 2:30 am and I am not sure when the others left for home! All in all, a great time was had by all.
I am still hard into getting my reading completed for my class starting March 4th. Lots of material to cover, but very interesting and I am really resonating with what I am learning. Now, the big thing is to put it all into practice. There doesn’t seem enough hours in the day to get everything accomplished, especially when the desire is to make life simplier. Not sure how to make that all happen.
It is Ash Wednesday tomorrow, the beginning of the Lent Season. Am looking forward to it this year and hoping to add something significant to my life during this time. I am not sure I will be able to follow through all the time, but I believe the experience will be worth it.
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