Chill'n Out

This afternoon all of us first year student and staff ladies went out to a 50's Diner. It is a cute cafe which serves burgers, fries, speciality coffees, chocolates, and ice cream. It was a bit chilly for ice cream but anyone who knows me knows I can eat ice cream any time. There were too many flavors to choose from. (After a weekend of traveling and eating way too much, I had decided I was going to refocus on my diet plan. An as you can see, that didn't go too well. I guess I will have to try my refocus efforts tomorrow. SIGH) It was a nice relaxing afternoon in which we enjoyed some girl time.

A Walk In Grace

Our trip down to Grace was a very quick trip and it was a bit of a whirlwind. We had a tour of the campus, had several meetings with different department heads, met together with the Financial Aid Office, and then Zachary had a time on the soccer field. We had a very nice time walking through Grace. They have a lovely campus and a really neat staff. Their heart to see their students walk with the Lord and make a difference in this world came through loud and clear. It was a bit unfortunate that it was pouring rain for the soccer try out. I didn't want to get the camera wet so I don't have pictures of that. We would appreciate your prayers for Zachary and his future. Right now it seems like there is a pretty big mountain that needs to be moved in order for him to be able to attend Grace in the fall. However, we know that God Is Able to move that mountain if He wants Zachary at Grace in the fall.

Campus Visit

We are taking off in a few minutes to take Zachary on a campus visit to Grace college in IN. Tomorrow we will have a tour of the campus , and meet together with the financial aid office as well as meet some of the staff in some of the areas he is interested in studying. Then in the afternoon Zachary will also be trying out for the soccer team. He has been excepted to attend Grace in the fall however, we are still working through all the financial issues in making it possible to go there. He is trying out for the team in hopes that he might be able to get some sort of soccer scholarship to help with financing his schooling. If you think of him tomorrow he would appreciate your prayers as he plays with the team and is evaluated. Go Zachary!

Bake Sale

It is that time of the year where our children's school has a lot of fund raisers. The school does a good job of keeping the cost of tuition as low as possible. The fund raisers help raise funds for field trips and things like that. Today the school put on an indoor yard sale. They were also having a bake sale, which my children reminded me of. So I spent the morning doing the "mom thing" in baking for the bake sale. I made up three different batches of bread. Making the bread was the easy part, washing the stack of dishes seemed to be the biggest task. However, Ruth did an awesome job of helping with the clean up. In the up coming weeks there will be a bike-a-thon, and a dessert auction yet.

Home Again

Vern made it hone from his trip to England. It was a long day of traveling and this morning he was feeling a bit of jet lag since he was off this morning to a seminar our church is holding. He didn't bring back any souvenirs, however, he did bring us some "Fine Chocolate". And since are are chocoholics we will all enjoy the treat. It is good to have him home again. We enjoyed connecting as a family as we sat around last night as each shared highlights of our week and Vern filled us in on all the cultural things he did and saw while he was in England.

RUGBY RULES

This afternoon I was introduced to the game of Rugby. I had absolutely no idea what to expect, what the rules are, and how the game is played. Ruth has a friend who is on her school's Rugby team and she really wanted Ruth to make it to one of her games. It was quite interesting to say the least. Being a mom of a teen girl, I think those girls definitely needed more equipment. There were several girls that got hurt early on in the game. Rugby was a lot like football and I felt sorry for any girl on the bottom of the pile when everyone was fighting for the ball. We did enjoy learning about the game and cheering for Char. It was fun to become more educated to the sport of Rugby. And Char's team won 20 to nothing! YEA!!!!

Spring Has Arrived

We have been here in Ontario going on six years now and unfortunately many times we miss out on "spring". It just seems like the winter just drags on and on. But I am happy to report that we have been enjoying some incredible weather. We have even been enjoying some flowers already and I have never had any flowers blooming in April. YEA SPRING!!!!!

Having a Licking

We just finished doing a prayer letter so I spent many hours over the weekend addressing and stuffing envelopes. I sure missed my hubby who always has a very important part in this process. That is licking all the envelopes. After licking 260 envelopes my tongue is still feeling a bit weird. I tried several techniques in getting the job done as fast and efficiently as possible. However, I still ended up with many paper cuts on my tongue. (ouch)And I am wondering, "Why was it that I didn't buy those neat envelopes that you can just peel off and there is not licking involved? I don't know if they make flavored envelopes to lick but it was sounding like a pretty good idea to me.

Crossing the Atlantic

I just got home from taking Vern and two of our coworkers to the Toronto airport as they are on their way to England for a conference. It will be a full week of meetings for them, however, they will be taking in a soccer game while they are there. That will be a cool cultural event since soccer is quite a bit more popular over there then it is in North America.

Please Pray

In a few minutes we will be leaving for Awana. We only have two club nights left for the year. I would appreciate your prayers as I have only two Bible lessons left with our Cubbies. I am using "The Lamb" book which explains the gospel in a beautiful way for young children to understand. These last two weeks I will be recapping every thing we have learned and presenting the gospel to them. Pray for these little ones that they will understand this precious message. Some of the children are understanding but some have lots of questions yet.

A Sigh of Relief

Early Saturday morning Ruth arrived at a Christian High School a couple hours away to take her ACT test. She was pretty nervous about it, so when we got to our hotel room we tried to have a very relaxing evening. We waxed our hands and soaked our feet in my foot spa and enjoyed chilling together. Then we were up early and out the door for her to take the test. She had her number 2 pencils, an eraser, her calculator and was good to go. The test was over at 1:00 p.m. so we headed to a restaurant for a well deserved lunch.

ACT TEST

Tomorrow Ruth will be taking the ACT test. Anyone who wants to go to college in the States needs to either take the SAT test or the ACT test. Depending on what your score is it will open up doors to colleges or programs you are hoping to get in to and it can also be a way of getting some scholarship money towards college. The closest place for Ruth to take this test is two hours away. Since the test starts at 8:00 a.m. we have decided to go this afternoon and spend the night. That way Ruth won't have to get up at 5:00 a.m. and be half asleep while she is taking the test. Although there some stress involved in taking this test we are hoping when the test is over we can enjoy some fun time together going out to eat and maybe even getting a bit of mall time in. (smile)

Pizza Party

Last night all the first year student and staff got together for a pizza party. We had quite a nice variety of pizza with some awesome dessert pizzas. (YUM!) After a great meal together a Wii was hooked up unto a large screen. Vern and I have never played Wii so it was a lot of fun to try it out but also to watch everyone else who had their try at it. I did a bowling game and at one point threw my bowl the opposite way into the crowd on the screen. (Good thing it wasn't an real game.) There were also games in another room for anyone who wanted to join in on that. It was a fun evening spent together.

Back to Work

Yesterday was Ruth's first day back at work in over two months. She still has some bad days and does not have her energy level back yet, however. she felt ready to regain some of her life back. We'll see how she does and Lord willing this won't be too much for her system. She did come back from work all bubbly as she enjoyed connecting with coworkers and her deli customers once again.

Heartbeat

Ruth gets to wear this cool "walk man" for the next couple of days. Since one of my sons and I both have a heart condition the doctor is just making sure that Ruth's heart is beating normally and that she does not have the same condition.

Our Welcome Dogs

I couldn't resist posting this picture of our "Welcome Dogs". There are actually times that our "Welcome Dog" scares Cuddles as she wonders what another dog is doing on our porch.

Home Stretch

At the end of last week the kids got their report cards so they only have eight more weeks of school left. The kids did well in their classes and we are proud of how hard they are working. Thanks so much for your prayers for Ruth. It was a hard quarter on her physically with her mono. However, she has pushed herself and is now caught up in all of her classes but one. She still has a long way to go on her recovery but we are thankful that she was able to return to school again. All that said, both the kids will be looking forward to the summer break.

Tax Time

Since it is April the date for getting Canadian Income Tax mailed in is approaching. Therefore, I took some time this afternoon to work on doing Ruth's income tax. It isn't too complicated and fairly easy to work through. The most complicated thing was trying to figure out how to work Ruth's new caliculator. It was stuck in a mode and that we couldn't get it out of. After spending some time reading through the users guide we finally figured out how to get it out of the mode it was in so I could use it. It is nice to have that done and ready to go in the mail.

Up and Running

We have had very little trouble with our computers through the years but Vern's laptop screen was not working. The laptop was still under warranty which was a BIG blessing but the closest licensed repair shop for his particular computer was over an hour away. Vern brought his laptop in five weeks ago. Originally he was told it would only be a few days for it to be in and out, that turned into a week and unfortunately dragged on and on. With the different programs and information he had on his computer, it has been difficult not to have his computer for such a long time. He also starts teaching a couple of modules on Monday and really needed his laptop up and running. So it was with GREAT joy Vern was able to pick up his computer today. (YEA!!!) Hopefully, his computer will last a long time before it will need to have any more repairs.

Having A Ball

I am continuing in my pursuit to exercise and get rid of excess body mass. I have been in many houses of like minded friends and many of them own "THE BALL". So a few days ago I figured maybe it was time for me to get "A BALL" and move my exercising to the next level. It has been of great interest to the whole family, maybe because it is now a piece of the furniture in our living room. It seemed like it was an ordeal just to pump the ball up to the right size. (A day after we blew up the ball we realized why that black tape measure was included and found out our ball needed more air.) Since I need directions in easy to read format trying to actually do the exercises suggested on the chart that came with the ball is easier said then done. (You almost need a degree in physical education to decipher the directions to each new exercise. ) I do have to say that even if this BALL does not help us to tone up our bodies it has brought many laughs into our home as each family member tries their hand at doing one of the recommended exercises. I think instead of finding the Exercise Ball in the fitness department they should have it in the family entertainment department. All in all we are "Having a Ball" with our ball. And it is pretty cheap family fun.

April Fools

For all of my faithful blog readers you may remember Ruth's April Fools' joke of last year. That's right, she called from the Deli she works at and told me to bring her medical card to the emergency room as she had an accident with the slicer at work. After that I decided she should not work again on April 1st. Since she is not back to work from her bout of mono I thought I was safe from an April Fools prank but I sure had my eye on her all day just in case. Well, I was in the middle of cooking and baking and had quite a few dishes stacked up. Therefore I worked on doing the dishes. I turned on the water and all of a sudden all this water came squirting out of the sprayer. It wasn't quite computing what was going on. I couldn't figure out how the sprayer could have gotten stuck since I hadn't touched it. I quickly turned everything off before I gave myself a shower. And as I turned around there was my sweet innocent daughter chuckling, "April Fools"! Please send me your ideas as next year it is my turn for me to do an April Fools joke on Ruth.