Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Vern and Titus enjoyed a fun date together going to a Blue Jays game. Someone here on camp had some tickets they couldn't use and so Vern and Titus were able to enjoy them. I would have loved to go but had a commitment I couldn't get out of. It was a very nice father and son time together. Since we are two hours away from Toronto it does end up being an all day event. It was a beautiful day and so the dome was open. The tickets were really good seats. If we ever go to a game it is in the nose bleed section so it was neat to be so close to the field. It also ended up being free hat day to the first 10,000 people who came. Don't Vern and Titus look good in their new hats! (smile)

School Days

This week I have been helping out in the academy here on the campus. The 3rd & 4th grade teacher is away for the week. I have had a good time getting to know the children in the class and interacting with them. I try to come up with ideas to make learning fun. Yesterday I bought in some pull apart licorice. We pulled apart strips of licorice and then the children spelled out their spelling words with the licorice. It sure seemed to bring some life into spelling class but I think they had the most fun eating their spelling words when we were finished spelling them out. (smile)

Happy 25th Anniversary Bill & Gay!

Happy 25th Anniversary Bill & Gay! Congratulations on hitting this milestone. We hope you have a very special day. May you have many, many, more wonderful years together.

Happy Birthday Brenda!

Tonight we had a birthday supper with Wes and Brenda to celebrate Brenda's birthday. Brenda is a very special lady and it was nice to be able to help her celebrate her special day. (Ruth tried a new cake recipe and it turned out great!) We also have another Dyck sister-in-law who shares the same birthday. We were thinking of you Susan. We would have loved to be able to have you here too but it was great talking to you on the phone. And we look forward to seeing you soon.

Airport Run

It was off to the airport again this afternoon. With it being such a beautiful day it seemed like everyone was out and about on the roads. All went very smoothly at the airport. Zachary's flight actually arrived a half an hour early. (That sure doesn't happen too often.) It worked out that Caleb and Seth were able to pick Zachary up in Chicago when he arrived. After Vern and I dropped Zachary off at the airport we took different route home so we could enjoy a different view of all the fall colors. Vern was just dreaming of being on his bike instead of the van. (smile)

Baker's Corner

We haven't been able to send care packages to our kids as it would cost a lot to send and then going across the border can take awhile therefore any baked goods would not be too fresh by the time it would get to them. So Ruth and I did some baking for all our kids in the states. We made Golden Brownies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies, and Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies. Zachary only came with a backpack so we had to find a suitcase for him to put all the care packages in. We ended up baking 21 pounds of cookies for the kids. It was a lot of fun to be able to send some goodies back with them. Titus wasn't as thrilled as I was to package up all the goodies and send them with Zachary. I wonder why?

A Snap Shot of the Weekend

Well the 2 1/2 days that Zachary was home with us went by way too fast. It was so nice to have him home again. Zachary seems to have a hollow leg so we tried to keep him well feed while he was home. Ruth was pretty busy all weekend with work and then driver's ed so she wasn't able to hang with her brother as much as she would have liked. Thanks for the visit Zachary we enjoyed having you home!

Young Drivers

Ruth has had her driver's permit since January. And although she has been able to get behind the wheel and drive it has not worked out for her to take a driver's education course. Well, that has now changed and today she had her first "Young Drivers Class". The course here is 25 hours of classroom instruction and then 10 driving lessons. In the States many places offer it to teens free of charge. Unfortunately it is not like that here. Ruth is paying a nice chunk of money for the "Young Driver's" course. However, it does end up making our insurance a lot cheaper once she gets her full driver's license.

AA 564

Last night after Cubbies Vern and I took off to pick up Zachary from the Toronto airport. He flew in for medical reasons and will be here for a few days. His plane landed around 11:00 p.m. therefore we arrived back home here at 1:45 a.m. Zachary was at the clinic this morning and now we will enjoy spending a couple of days together before his return flight Sunday afternoon. I have already been busy cooking and baking some of his favorite meals as we know the weekend will go by too quickly.

Awana Kickoff

Last night was our first night of Cubbies for the new school year. I am once again heading up the Cubbies program. We have an addition to our team. Titus is now finished with the Awana program so he is a helper and we sure appreciated his help. Ruth is a leader again this year and she does a fantastic job. Teresa is also a leader again this year although last night she was sick and couldn't make it. We had 13 Cubbies and we have four children on the waiting list to get in. We will need another leader before we can take more children in our group. It looks like it will be another good year and the children were excited for club to be starting up. I got saved through the Awana program and so it is some thing I am really enjoy being involved in as I know what a difference it made in my life.

Fruit Cake Anyone

No, I haven't been baking or eating fruit cake. We have however been very blessed to have LOTS of fruit to eat. Each September someone donates MANY, MANY bushels of peaches, nectarines, and pears to the campus here. The fruit comes from several hours away and so we all pitch in to cover the gas to go and pick it up. What a HUGE blessing it has been again this year. We are really enjoying so much fresh fruit to eat. And although I have NO desire to make or eat fruitcake I have been going through all sorts of recipes: peach cobbler, caramel Peach Upside-Down cake, fresh peach muffins with pecan crumb topping.

Kids Connection

During the summer I usually take a break from the children's ministries at church. Today was the first week of the new school year for our children's ministry. I had been teaching the second grade class for a couple of years, and last year I did fourth grade. This year I am teaching the third grade class. I had ten third graders show up this morning. I have a nice Sunday school room however, ten children and a teacher pretty much packs out the room. A few of my students I know from when I was working in the Awana Sparks program, however, quite a few of the students I don't know at all. I am looking forward to getting to know them better and helping them to get to know our Lord and Savior and developing a relationship with Him.

Up On the Roof Top, Click, Click,, Click

In the afternoon our students are busy with Practical Training Class. This course helps to prepare people for some of the physical work they will need to do on the field. We also hope that the students will learn a few new skills that would be a help to them on the mission field. Most of our first year students have been on a roofing project this past week. They have been replacing the roof on one of the student housing building. We did experience at least one day where it was threatening to rain. The guys did an awesome job in working together on this project.

Class Update

Here at the Training Center classes are in full swing. Vern just finished teaching a module on the introduction to cross culture church planting. Peter is now teaching a module on Animism. Barry is also teaching "Foundations for Living".

Across the Miles

Both of Vern's parents come from large families, therefore, Vern has MANY aunts and uncles spread over several Provinces. On Monday and Tuesday Uncle Art and Aunt Carol were here for a visit. They live on the West coast and were here visiting Aunt Carol's family. They will be spending two weeks here in Ontario and it was a treat for them to travel a couple of hours out of their way to come and visit us and Wes & Brenda.