The Gathering Place

We have just spent three Sundays here at our home church in B.C. We have sure enjoyed being able to worship together again and connect with our church family here. We'll miss you! Thanks so much for your love and support!

Double Stuf

We have a lot of contact with both Canadians and Americans and there has been a debate going on about Oreo cookies. We have been told on a number of occasions that there is a difference in taste. When we were in the States we bought a package of Double Stuf Oreo cookies and we bought a package here. As I looked at the ingredients in each package I was surprised to find out that there are indeed different ingredients in each package. I therefore took my curiosity a step further to try out a taste test. Even though not all my participates were willing and eager to help out in this "hands on survey " they were all good sports and did help me out in my "research". I had two different plates of cookies. No one knew which cookie was which. Every person had a glass of water or milk so after they tasted the one cookie they could drink something to wash away the taste before they tried the next cookie. I wanted to blind fold each person to make it seem more of a mystery but as you can see some people closed their eyes. No one knew which cookie others were voting for so that they would not be influenced in their decision. In the end eight of of ten people surveyed preferred the U.S. brand of Double Stuf Oreo cookie over the Canadian. I hear that Coke in the States and Canada are quite different but we will save that research for another day. (smile)

Celebrate Good Time

A few nights ago Vern's parents took the Dyck Gang out to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. It was so nice that a few of us were together to celebrate. It would have been wonderful to have the whole Dyck family together but we were happy for everyone who was there. The food was great and the memories made were even better. THANKS Mom and Dad for the special celebration meal and for all your love, support, and prayers throughout the years!

Artic Plunge

Yesterday we spent the day with a VERY special couple, Marv and Val. This dear couple has been SUCH an encouragement to us. Marv is Vern's cousin. I met Marv and Val for the first time when we were moving to Ontario 24 1/2 years ago to enter missionary training. Marv and Val have been one of those of those couples who have dished lots of love and prayer into us. They have been such a part of our family and ministry. We were out at their house yesterday. They made us a great lunch and took us out on the lake. That of course was a real treat for us. It was actually a really cool day with a water temp. of 57 degrees F. It was definitely not your ideal day to be on the lake but since you only live once we did go out boating and tubing. Although all of us who went tubing got wet, only Vern and Titus tipped and got soaking wet. (BRRRR)

Tee Time

Right now we have two of our nieces, Katie and Hannah here visiting. We don’t live anywhere near any of our nieces or nephews so this has been a treat to have them here. We haven’t seen them for three years so it has been so good to reconnect with them and make some great memories together. Yesterday we decided to go golfing. Vern and Murray had their work cut out for them trying to give the rest of us lessons on how to golf. Several people had never been golfing before. This was my second time. The first time I went was 16 years ago. It was mostly par 3 with a few par 4’s. The score sheet said you could stop counting at 9 strokes which was good since one hole it took me 11 strokes. (sigh) However, we had a nice afternoon together and had a lot of good laughs together.

Spinning the Needle

When I grew up we didn’t have an eight track tape player, c.d.’s, an ipod or anything like that but my parents would enjoy listening to music on their record player. We were pretty high tech . At Christmas time my dad rigged it up to pipe music from our record player to the outside so all who passed by could not only look at our manager scene but enjoy some good Christmas music as well. For many a recorder player is a thing of the past as there are very few people that own a record player or any recorders. However each night Vern’s dad enjoys sitting down to listen to his records. He has a system so that he listens to one or two records every night and he rotates them so he goes through all of them and then starts over again. He has a fair size collection of them. Although my parents had quite a different selection of records, it has never the less brought back a flood of memories from my childhood. It’s a nice warm fuzzy feeling.

Behind Closed Doors

With the anticipation of a couple of her sons being around Vern’s Mom went on the hunt looking all over town for “Stinky Fish”. She had no luck in finding any so she went to the higher powers and talked to the head of the meat department at one of the local grocery stores. Mom asked him why they don’t offer this delicacy at the store. The manager said there was no demand for it and who would buy it if he sold it. Mom said that she would buy it. The manager checked into the matter and called Vern’s mom with the news that he could indeed order in the desired “Stinky Fish”. However he could only order it in a case and since he felt like there was no market for the stuff if she wanted it she was going to have to buy the whole case. Therefore, to the total joy and excitement of her sons she now has quite a supply of “Stinky Fish” in the freezer. Howard, another brother of Vern who is going to be coming here for a visit in August is quite excited about Mom’s win fall in acquiring a whole case of this fish; although he is a bit worried that Vern and Murray might finish it all off. Fat chance of that happening though as Vern, Murray, and Ruth have been eating the “Stinky Fish” several times a day and it seems as that they have hardly made a dent in the case. Murray shared a “Stinky Fish” story with us. When he was a kid and visiting his Grandfather, his grandfather would often share the treat of “stinky fish” dipped in vinegar. Vern’s grandmother could not stand the smell so they were banished from the kitchen only to set up shop in a closet, of all places. I was happy to hear I wasn’t the only woman who could not stomach the gross smell of “stinky fish” dipped in vinegar. Who knows what I could find lurking inside the closet the next time I open the door. It’s a scary thought!

I Hear That Train A Coming

On Thursday an old Canadian Pacific train pulled into town and was on display for people to come and look at it. There was a small museum on board that you could tour through. There was also a Newman & Wright Theatre group doing a live program. This train brought back many memories as Vern's mom used to ride a train just like this several times a week as she went from their rural town into the city for her music lessons. She said one time the conductor even held the train for her as he knew she was a "regular" on the train that day and he knew if she missed the train she would be stranded in the city for the night. They were giving out train whistles which are pretty cool and they sound just like a train whistle. I am of course VERY excited to have a train whistle as I am thinking of the endless possibilities of how I can put my train whistle to use.