Thankful Thursday: Part of the Team

We just got back from bible camp yesterday, and the resounding thought in my mind, is how thankful I am to be part of the team.  In fact, it's even better than a team, it's more like a family.  God has blessed us so much in the last year, and one of my favorite blessings is the family he's given us here. I had so many long, heart to heart chats this past week, and each and every friendship grew.  I was sad when the time was over, and also brimming with excitement and joy. God is good, and so are his people!  I heard such amazing stories, from around the world. I cried, and laughed, and cried some more.  I'm very thankful to be home, safe and sound, and I know I'll sleep well tonight, in my own bed. But if they planned another bible camp for tomorrow, I'd be on the road lickety-split!

Campfire, at sunset, beautiful!

And to just add icing and a big fat cherry on top, BOTH of my children happily went to their classes, while we were in meetings.  We had a lovely family volunteer to watch our kids this past week, they taught our kids bible stories, and songs, and did such an amazing job all around.  So, so thankful, for them, and for all the many hours that went into planning our week.

The view from our room

Have no fear, there will be tons of pictures from camp and our drive home, in my Friday post. :)

Wordy Wednesday: Access

We've been at bible camp, and every session, I have a new blog idea for Wordy Wednesday.  But I'm terrible at keeping up with all of them. I've been scratching out notes, but sometimes, I look back at them and I can't remember what I was thinking at the time.

I almost filled an entire notebook, in just 4 days!

And all of this made me feel a little guilty, we have such easy access to God's word, fellow believers, uplifting music, and challenging sermons.  So many people are persecuted, in the minority, and have little to no access to biblical information, or like minded people.

So instead of filling this post with all that God has taught me in the last week, I thought I'd just ask you all to take a moment to pray for all the believers around the world, who are struggling in their faith, feeling alone, and scared.  Pray that God would surround them, encourage them, and give them peace.  And pray for the millions upon millions that are still searching for the ONE thing that will give them hope.  They need what we take for granted.  Let's pray together, that those who have never heard the name of Jesus, will soon gain access to the truth that sets us free.

I pray that we will each feel burdened for the lost around the world, and the lost right in front of us.  That we would each ask God to show us how we can be a part of sharing HIS love and redemption with the world.

Taco Tuesday: Canadian Coffee Surprise

Week #13: Canadian Coffee Surprise

This is kind of silly, and it's not really Canadian.  And I bet other people have done this before, but I thought it was fun, and blog-worthy.

When we were in Canada, Coley (Steve) introduced us to "ice cream in coffee".  He used a maple flavored ice cream, which was super yummy!  But you could get creative with flavors.  One nice thing about putting ice cream in your coffee, is that it automatically makes it a really nice temperature for drinking.

Try it, you'll like it. :)

Manic Monday: Edible Art

Week #: Edible Paint (Sweetened Condensed Milk)

When we were still living in Thailand, Kees and I put food coloring in sweetened condensed milk, and painted popcorn with clean paintbrushes (they were new, but I'd use ones I KNEW were thoroughly cleaned).  You can get creative, paint on nilla wafers, or giant marshmallows.

Another fun way to paint with food, is using pudding!  It's thicker and works as a finger paint.  Or you could use yogurt, a couple different flavors, or plain, and use fruit as the "paint brush".  Strawberries have a tip on them, or you could put a sheet of paper in rimmed box, and roll grapes through yogurt.  Or banana slices could work to make circle prints.

Kids always want to play with food, and these ideas give them the chance to explore!

Flashback Friday: Poutine, Pierogis, and Tim Horton's, OH MY!

Friday:

Kees is scoping something out.  We had a welcome lunch at the GoodSeed office, so we were cooking potatoes and getting ready in the morning.

We made salt crusted potatoes.  It was different, I thought it was too salty, but Doug thought they were okay if you had plenty of toppings on them.  They were pretty!

 Potato bar, courtesy of Sandy, my new best friend!  If I'm being honest, everyone's my best friend, but I do love Sandy.

After we got home, the kids hung out on the balcony for a little while.

We had dinner at our pastor's house.  I guess he's not technically "ours" since we'd only visited the church once at this point.  But, they're from Texas.  They fed us lasagna and had Dr. Pepper, sweet tea, and chocolate pie.

Saturday:

The church was having a softball game in the park on Saturday, so we decided to cheer them on.  Kora also decided to start a new fashion trend, she used my belt, sort of like suspenders.  I thought it looked cute and surprisingly, she kept it on the whole time we were there.

Kees really wanted it to rain!

Victory dance, rain!!

Cheering.

Kora is playing with H's Snoopy.  (H is one of the pastor's boys, but I don't post other people's kids pictures, as much as possible, unless I know their parents wouldn't mind. And I don't use their names either)

On our way home, we stopped at the new Jack in the Box and tried a shake and a donut.

Kees is licking his lips, cause he loves donuts.

Kees fell asleep on the couch, then he woke up, stumbled around, mumbled, went over to the bar sipped his drink, and laid down in the bar stool.  Silly, sweet boy, sleep walking like Doug did when he was little.

Sunday:

We went back to the same church, again. This time, I picked up a clipboard for Kees that they have in a big tub in the back.  The ziplock bag had crayons and a sucker. How cool is that?! What a great way to make families feel welcome.

Kees ate the sucker, then fell asleep.

We met my friend at the park.  I visited with her while the kids played.  Such cuties.

Monday:

I spent all day cleaning and packing, getting ready for our trip to Canada.  The kids did a great job entertaining themselves.

Tuesday:

On the road to Canada!

At the border, notice the tree line?

Lunch and a playground

  Almost there.  This is a truck that got turned over, there was a fire truck too!

Getting poutine and perogies at Smitty's. We realized too late, that this WASN'T the best place to get poutine.  FYI: Poutine is french fries, with cheese curds and gravy on top.

Our guest suite.  We had such a great time, with the BEST hosts! There were all kind of toys for the kids and great company.

Wednesday:

More hospitality.  Lunch at the office, watching a movie with friends.

Hanging out.

Dinner, Kees had already excused himself, so he could go take a nap, and Kora fell asleep eating.

Thursday:

Another office lunch, the food was so good. They are amazing at hosting people up in Canada.  Trying to figure out how I can get invited back.

Steve brought me a french vanilla, it was so yummy!  I felt like royalty.

The backyard was hours of fun!

These are the last of the pictures from Thursday, Friday we traveled down to bible camp. Stay tuned, more pictures coming your way, hopefully actually ON Friday this time. :)