Fun with J&B's kids

(This has been sitting in drafts for a while - oops!)

Mid Jan, J&B flew off to the West coast and their kids were divied up between us and C&M, M&R. They stayed with us 1st 1/2, then went for the real fun to their cousins.

Here's Josiah's all excited about his new little bed. Joanna was trying to crawl in with him.

They were eager little helpers - sometimes - and lots of fun to have around - most of the time

Some help was not really appreciated...

But some help was appreciated:

(Josiah's taking them out for Opa)

"Undecorating" the Christmas tree

(we left it up for them)

Notice her glee!

Snow Queen Sarah

And no winter blog about the kids being here would be complete without some sledding shots :)

Now its Oma who is the biggest sledding enthuisiast!

Joanna's first time down the hill - she looks a mite worried!
She preferred to be pulled up!


"Do you still know me?"

We were all thankful to have them back safe & sound!

bye Rich & Ange

Our missionaries and their family were here on furlough and left for the field early January.
They squeezed in a visit before leaving! Really nice!

Thanks for coming guys! Glad to hear that you're settled back into your home in Mexico and the work there! God's continued blessings!

January 1, 2009

Here are some pictures from Marguerite's birthday - a visit we all enjoyed! Congratulations, dear sister! :)

Top Ten of 2008

At the end of each year, I usually make a list of some of the resources that I particularily enjoyed or was challenged by that year and would recommend to others. This year was no exception. Here they are from 2008:

Top 10:

1. The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World—series of talks by different men, compiled into a book by John Piper & Justin Taylor—well worth the effort it requires to digest!


2. Dr. Oma, by Ethel Herr - easy reading yet inspiring!

3. George Muller—the Covenant homeschool group's excellent stage production and the book—excellent & encouraging to pray expectantly

4. Living The Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing by C.J.Mahaney (thanks B&L)

5. The Grand Weaver: How God Shapes Us Through the Events of Our Lives, by Ravi Zacharias

6. Breaking Free (from hinderances to satisfaction in God and enjoyment of Him) by Beth Moore

7. The Joy of Fearing God by Jerry Bridges – I'm not thru it yet, but its excellent so far

8. Matthew 11:38-40 – resting in Christ, taking His yoke - and Charles Swindoll's audio entitled: "It is Best to Rest" part of the series called "Jesus, the Greatest Life of all" on it (also the message "Resting in Christ" on John 15:1-11 - which was also part of our church's theme passage). The whole series or the individual CDs are available at: http://www.insightforliving.ca/index.php?page_id=2678

9. True Women 08 conference recordings – http://www.reviveourhearts.com/

10. Table Talk monthy magazines have good devotionals & articles. http://www.sola-scriptura.ca/

11. Yes, I know, I said 10 - but I have to add one more that was very special: In Another Language, piano recording of Heidi, cover designed by Lizzi - see January 2008 post entitled "January's Special Dates" for cover shots.

one snowy day in December

Yes, you guessed it =) It's The Making Of our Christmas Arrangements! As is tradition, Oma had her older granddaughters over to make Christmas arrangements a little before Christmas. We were all kept entertained by Rachel & Heidi, who did their utmost to "add color" and be original.

Rachel "adding interest" to her "Christmas Jungle" (I know that's not the correct title but I can't remember that many words in a row).

My arrangement, partway through

After our arrangements were finished, we did a little 'modeling' of Aunt Marguerite's bamboo clothes for her

Rachel was very excited... still doing her best to add color & interest to our lives!

(Yes, that's Rachel's tongue)

That was supposed to be a NICE picture Rachel!

Christmas with the girls

We had 2 of my sweet friends over for an extended Christmas celebration since they each live alone without any family here.

On Christmas eve we exchanged gifts and read the Christmas story and sang carols

Christmas day after church, and light lunch we bundled up and went out I introduced them to tobogganing - a new fun experience for them. They soon got the hang of it and perfected their skills while I took a nap :)

Neither Mom or I were feeling up to par, but the girls pitched in where they could, cleaning up after meals etc...

and we still had a grand Turkey dinner with all the trimmings! Delicious!

Emebet really put her energy and small size to good use here (had serious leaking so the door wouldn't close and had to empty it out after which she got in there and cleaned it!)

We also managed a visit to the newly weds in their lovely home

Lots of fun and giggles, Dad enjoyed his 2 new daughters!

Sunday after church they got a ride with a family from our church and so ended their special Christmas visit! Thankful that it worked out so well!