Church Camp Out

This weekend we had our church camp out. We held it at the group campsite at Ojibway Park. We set up Friday afternoon and finished today with lunch. The weather was beautiful all weekend, which was an extra blessing.

It was a very relaxing weekend. We ate, went fishing, ate some more, took hikes and had some good times of visiting with those who attended.

Joe Ice came out Saturday on his wheelchair. He had a wonderful time. He even got to try out his new fishing rod. He had bought it a month ago and has been wanting to use it. It works kind of like a pump shotgun. You pump it and then the spring loaded action shoots the lure and bobber about 30 feet out into the water. Unfortunately, he didn't catch any fish.

Dallas had a friend, Cherokee, come out with him for the weekend. That gave him someone to play with throughout the weekend.

Here we are setting up on Friday evening.

This is Dallas splitting wood.

Here is Dallas with his friend Cherokee.

When we went for a hike Dallas got his foot stuck in the swamp.

Here is Joe with his new fishing rod.

Men's Retreat

We had our annual men's retreat at the end of this past week. We went by canoe down a river and camped on an island. We fished for walleye at the bottom of a rapids. The Island was beautiful. The weather was great. The fishing was good. The fellowship and blessing of being with other Godly men was beyond value.

We had some great times of sharing and discussion around the campfire. We came very close to solving the world's problems, at least at the theory level. It was a close to ideal setting. I feel so blessed to have fellow workers who are sincere about their walk with Christ. They attempt to love others well and reach out to the unloved in our society.

I thought a few times about the contrast between our men's retreat and the dozens of groups of fishermen across Northwestern Ontario who were in a similar setting and involved in similar activities. One big difference is that many of these other groups of men had carried cases and cases of beer into the bush with them and alcohol was a big part of their event. For our group of men, we heard from each other at a heart level. We could pray for one another and deal with life as it is, without needing to bury our troubles with alcohol. We were and are, real men, living real lives, in a real world and standing by one another as brothers in the process. It doesn't get much better than that!

Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Cabin Siding

Here is a picture of the cabin with siding now. I am really pleased with the way it turned out. Now I have to put the sealer on it. I have the sealer ordered, but it won't be in until next week.

July joys and griefs

I want to more regularly take the time to chronicle what is happening in my life. I decided one way to do that would be to monthly write about the highs and lows that I feel would be appropriate to share.

A soul refresher this past month has been the new "patio/porch" furniture we got for our screened in sun room. We moved here two years ago, but never used the screened in area much--except for our cat. He uses it for his torture chambers. He brings mice and chipmunks in, and since it's enclosed, they can't get away. In the morning I sometimes find the parts he didn't want to eat and have to clean up after him. But that part is NOT the joy giver.

For Merle's and my June birthday gifts and Father's Day gifts, we decided to buy the furniture. I'm amazed how much more we use the room now. Most mornings we sit out in it to have our Bible reading and prayer together. We hear the birds much more and feel wind, sun and dew of God's out of doors. That enhances worship.

We've had company use it a lot too. Last week some of the VBS Teachers ate lunch in it the days they were here. Yesterday Rhoda Kakegamic and Rose Buck and I sat out in it and chatted while Zach and Albert, Rose's nephews, jumped on the trampoline.

Even when we're not using it, when I look out the dining room sliding doors that enter into the screened in area, I feel peaceful seeing those wicker chairs waiting.

Sometimes it's hard to know whether to spend money on nonessentials when so many people have so many needs. I struggled with that a bit when we talked of buying this furniture. We decided to also give more to a specific need.

That leads into the next Joy giver. Merle has done some research and been involved in meetings with people who do micro-lending in poor countries. Seeing his excitement and passion for it is a joy giver to me too.

Elaine was at camp last week. Dallas is this week. Seeing them thrive when they are away from us also gives me joy.

Grief givers--the biggest one is dealing with the consequences of failed marriages. Merle and I have had three couples very close to us, whose marriages have been deeply wounded because of adultery discovered when the couples were in their sixties. That has happened over a period of years. This past month we were impacted by some of the results of that again.

We are in our 50s. It gives us courage, joy, and hope to see couples older than us who are faithful to each other and obviously enjoying eachother and life. As Steve Green sings,"Let all who come behind us find us faithful!" Edith

Annual Medical

I (Merle) went for my annual medical exam today. One of my favourite doctors was Dr. Mutrie in Dryden. He would look at me and say, "Hmmmmmmmm...well, you look healthy, you feel well, I don't think you have high cholesterol". Once when I pressed him for a check of my cholesterol, he wanted to know why I wanted it checked. I told him that my father had suffered several heart attacks and he had quite a few brothers who died from heart attacks. He said, "That doesn't mean you will have a heart attack. The susceptibility might be there but there needs to be an aggravating factor. Did your father and uncles smoke?". "No". "Did they drink excessive amounts of alcohol?" "No". "Were they overweight?" "Yes." "Well, there you have it. If they would not have been overweight they would not have been very likely to have a heart attack. Basically, if you do not smoke, drink alcohol, you are not overweight, and you wear your seatbelt, you are going to live forever!" I thought those four things sounded manageable. I liked Dr. Mutrie.

Today I saw my doctor here in Sioux Lookout. He is very close to Dr. Mutrie in style, except that he does say Hmmmmmmmmm. He looked at me and asked if I am feeling well. He looked at my cholesterol test results from 2005. He commented, "These things don't change very much. You look healthy and your numbers in a new cholesterol test would probably be the same anyway, so we won't do that. Has anybody in your family ever had colon cancer?" I replied, "No". "Well, then you don't want your colon scoped then. We could do that but you shouldn't need to have that done until after you are at least 60. Let's see we could test your prostate but those tests often raise more anxiety in the patient than they reliably predict prostate cancer anyway. So, let's skip that. You look like you are doing better with obesity than I am so that is good. So basically here are the rules, don't smoke, don't drink alcohol, you are not overweight, wear your seatbelt, wear your bike helmet, and put on sunscreen. That should keep you living a long time. Oh, yes let me check your blood pressure. Oh, wow, 122 over 74 and a nice slow pulse rate. Do you have any stress in your life at all right now?" I told him I have almost zero stress in my life. He said, "Let's call that your annual checkup then. Probably every three years or so you should have an annual checkup like this".

I love my doctor! I wonder if I can schedule my annual birthday every three years too. Yeah, I have no stress in my life. My wife loves me, my children love me, I love my work, my co-workers are wonderful people, and I have a Shepherd who walks before me and leads me into green pastures and beside still waters, He restores my soul. I am a blessed man. I love life and enjoy health! All these are gifts from God.

Guest Cabin Siding

We have a guest cabin by our house. It is finished on the inside but was never finished on the outside. It has chipboard that was painted on the outside, but it is starting to get soft.

One of my projects this Summer was to put siding on the guest cabin. I am starting to work on it this week. I picked up the siding on Friday and got started with it on Saturday. I hope to be able to get it all on and put the sealer on it before Fall.

I am putting log siding on it. It is a 2 x 6 lodgepole pine with a rounded face on it. It looks like logs when it is installed. I am pretty pleased with the way it looks where I have it finished.

Below are some before pictures of the cabin. When it is done I will post some pictures so you can see the difference.

Foster Parent Picnic

Yesterday we attended the foster parent picnic at Ojibway Park. There were fun and games for the children. They provided knee-boarding, boat rides and fishing. There was also lots of good food for everyone.

In the evening Dallas and I went to Dryden. David Thompson was passing through and wanted some golf partners. We started our game about 7:00 PM. It was raining just as we started, but then cleared off and was real nice.

We had seen some foxes running around on the golf course just as we were beginning our game. We saw them again when we were at the 6th hole. We teed off on the 7th hole. Then Dallas said, "Hey, one of those foxes took my golf ball". I thought he was joking but then saw the fox with the golf ball in his mouth. He ran just inside the tree line and watched us. He would drop the ball, but if we made a move toward him he would pick it up and go deeper into the trees. I told Dallas to ignore him. After while he dropped the ball and walked about six feet away from it. I told Dallas I think he can charge him and get his ball back. He raised his club and ran at the fox. The fox ran away and he got his ball back.

Here are some of the children knee-boarding at the park

Here is a bee that was getting its own lunch.

Last evening we went to Ojibway Park for a picnic with the VBS teachers from both Hudson and Sioux Lookout. It was a beautiful evening. We are enjoying some great July weather. It has been warm and sunny most of the days this week.

The Bible school is now half finished. The first week went well. The teachers have done a great job with the classes.

Here are a few pictures from the park last evening.

Home for VBS

We arrived home safely on Tuesday evening. We only saw one moose between Fort Frances and Sioux Lookout. Our neighbours are gone to a family camp in Manitoba, so I am feeding their animals while they are gone.

VBS began at our church on Monday. We missed the first two mornings. The children were there yesterday and enjoyed it. Today Elaine is going to camp for a week. Our VBS is a community VBS. The have a church full of children. Most of them are not children who come to Sunday School or church. There is a devotional followed by two class periods with a break in between. Yesteday at the break we had a four way tug of war.

Slate Run, Pennsylvania

We were at Slate Run, PA over the weekend for the Stoltzfus family gathering. We had a wonderful time with everyone there. It is a huge event, with many of the children and grandchildren attending. We slept in our tent. It was actually quite cool at night.

Jennifer and Darren came over on Saturday afternoon, so we got to spend some time with them too.

We are now on our way home. We left the cabin yesterday about 3 PM. We are in Eastern Ohio and hope to get to Northern Wisconsin by this evening.