New Glasses

Yesterday after school we went to Dryden and picked up Elaine and Dallas' new glasses. They had chosen the new frames a few weeks ago after their eye examination. They went with the new dark heavy frames that seem to be popular these days.

It is interesting to me, because their glasses look very much like the ones I would have worn when I was in about grade 3 or 4. No one would have worn glasses with frames like these ten years ago. There were many years between when I was an adolescent and now when an adolescent or teenager would have been mortified if they would have been forced to wear glasses with dark heavy frames. But, now they are "sweet".

And me? Well, I am wearing some metal frame glasses that look surprising similar to what my grandparents would have worn when I was wearing dark heavy framed glasses.

I guess the lesson is that some things change so much that they actually come to the point that they haven't changed at all.

Snowshoeing

January can seem long here in the North. At this stage, Winter can seem unending, but if one tries new things, it helps. Last week one day, Frieda H. invited me to go snowshoeing with her. I never tried it before, but we do have a pair of snowshoes we bought from Dave and Ilva when they left the north. I accepted her invitation. It was easier to do than I expected. She had her camera along hoping to get a photo of me after I'd fallen. I was happy to not oblige her!
Thanks, Frieda, for inviting me along with you! ~Edith

Dallas' Birthday Party

This afternoon we had the birthday party for Dallas. He turned 13 on Wednesday. They had a half day of school at Cornerstone Christian School today because it was the last day of the second quarter. They had a winter picnic at school. Edith and I picked up the children at 1:00 at school. He invited the students from his classroom at school. There are six of them.

We went snowmobiling and sliding at the gravel pit near our place. We had a great time. Then around 4:00 we came back to the house, had a snack and played some games. Edith gave everybody supper and then we took them to their next activity. Some of the children went to an event New Life Assembly was putting on. Elaine and Dallas went to our church for a youth activity. Yes, Dallas gets to go to youth activities now that he is 13.

Here the group is playing a game that Edith planned for them.

+Here Carrie and Vania are watching Dallas open his gifts. As you can see gifts of cash are always welcome!

Here Dallas just opened his gift from Abby Hochstetler. It included a box of frozen applesauce, which made him VERY happy. Abby said that whenever he eats at their house, he always says, "could you pass the applesauce, please?". He was very happy with it!

This is the banner we had for the party. Edith did a "Blast-off into your teen years" theme for the party.

This is his birthday cake. It had a rocket in the center for blasting-off into his teen years. We used sparklers instead of candles. We hoped the little pieces flying off were not poisonous. We set off the smoke detector. All the boys ran out of the room when it went off, and someone was yelling, "ABANDON SHIP!".

More of Winter

I know that it has been cold in many parts of North America this week, so I don't expect much sympathy. Someone said that they don't have any sympathy for people who have chosen to be frozen!

We have had temperatures around minus 30 every morning this week. The wind chill has been around minus 40. It is very cold. However, if you dress for being outside it is still possible. One day this week Edith and I went for our two kilometer exercise walk. When we left the house just after noon the wind chill was minus 34. By the time we got back I was sweating. I also had frost all over the collar of my parka.

One thing about our cold snaps here is that the sun shines bright and clear. It really is beautiful, especially if you can stand inside your house and look out the window at the snow on the trees and the bright blue sky.

But, I have had about enough now. It can warm up any day. I am ready to concede that there are some drawbacks to cold weather. We are ready for a little more warmth whenever it comes.

Friday we are planning a birthday party for Dallas. We want to go snowmobiling and sliding with his friends. The forecast high for Friday is minus 11. That sounds a little more like it for me.

By the way, Dallas turned 13 today. We now have two teenagers in the house again. We were just talking about it at breakfast that in five years from now they will be 19 and 18. It would be interesting to be able to fast forward time for a few moments and see what things will be like by then.

Here is a view of the Sturgeon River on the South side of the bridge. It is all frozen over now, even where there is a rather strong current.

This is a view of the Sturgeon River on the North side of the bridge.

Here is a train approaching the Superior Junction crossing. Even a diesel engine puts out a lot of smoke on a morning a cold as this one.

School Auction

Last evening we had our school benefit auction. We felt really pleased with the way things went. I think we got good prices for most of the items we sold. We haven't heard a final tally of the income from the auction. Maybe today we will get the numbers.

The students had sold over 200 tickets for the spaghetti dinner. A lot of people stayed for the auction after the dinner.

Here I am auctioneering the items.

Here Elaine and some of her friends washing dishes after the dinner.

Here the students are serving spaghetti.

Here is a display of the items we had for sale.

Train Completed

Here is a picture of the train that Dallas and I built now that it is all finished. We are planning to sell it at the Cornerstone Christian School benefit auction on Saturday. If you want to put in a bid on it, let me know.

Also, Edith did a painting for the auction as well. You could send a bid on that too if you are interested in buying it.

Winter As It Ought To Look

We arrived back home last night around 10:00. It is definitely January here. It was minus 23 degrees when we arrived and there had been about another 4 or 5 inches of snow while we were gone.

Today I attended the Pastoral Care Committee meeting at the hospital in the morning. Then in between phone calls, I cleared the snow from the driveway.

I thought some of you who have no snow might like to see what January is supposed to look like. Here are some pictures of our driveway. I also included a picture of our woodpile for next winter. I heard the woodcutting crew is coming the last week in February. I will have to do a lot of digging to get the snow off the woodpile for them.

On Our Way Home

Edith and I are in Toronto on our way back to Sioux Lookout. We have over 5 hours in the Toronto airport waiting for our flight to Thunder Bay. That is what happens when we fly on free tickets using my frequent flyer miles. We are scheduled to arrive in Sioux Lookout this evening at about 8:30.

We had a good weekend in Pennsylvania. There was snow in the forecast for this morning, but it never materialized. Someone from Indiana once told me that their weather service had forecast 12 of the last 6 snow storms. I guess that is what happened to this one. I think it just wound up being a few degrees warmer than they expected. It sounded like there was snow further North. Anyway, I didn't mind not having snow to contend with on our way to the Philadelphia airport this morning.

It was good to be with the IGo board again on Friday and Saturday. We had lunch with Darlene Stoner after the meeting on Saturday. She does the bookkeeping for IGo and so she had attended the board meeting too.

Then we were able to visit with family in the area Saturday evening and Sunday. We went to Shalom Mennonite Church Sunday morning. It was the first time we have been there since they moved into their new building.

This week we have a church family night on Wednesday evening. Edith and I are in charge of planning it. Then the big event for the week is the school benefit auction on Saturday. There is a spaghetti dinner at 5:00 and the auction begins at 6:30. I will be the auctioneer again this year.

I think we need to get ourselves ready for a weather change. It was about 40 degrees F in Philadelphia this morning. I just checked the weather in Sioux Lookout and it is minus 23 C.

Travel Day

Edith and I dropped two sleepy children off at Nate Hochstetler's house this morning at 7:00. They are staying there while we go to Pennsylvania for the Institute for Global Opportunities board meeting.

Our internet connection at home is not working, so we were able to access e-mail at the Thunder Bay Airport. We are hoping that our connection will be repaired by the time we get home again.

We travel to Philadelphia today and then the IGo board meeting begins tomorrow morning at 9:00 at the East District Mennonite Church near Watsontown, PA. I always enjoy being with the other men that are on the IGo board.

At this meeting we are looking at our ministry plans with IGo for 2008 and reviewing the proposed budget, along with other things as well. We have a few hour conjoint meeting with the board of Global Tribes Outreach (GTO) as well on Friday afternoon.

Generally, we have been very happy with the way the first year of IGo went. We had 24 students the first semester and 12 students the second semester. We are now receiving applications for 2008. There are several students that are planning to come back to Thailand and get involved in ministry. It is exciting to see a number of the students from last year getting involved in mission opportunities this year.

Edith will also be able to attend the funeral for Miriam Shertzer while we are in PA as well. This will help her to see many of her family and friends in the area.

Train

Here are some pictures of the train Dallas and I have been working on over Christmas break. He is planning to sell it at the Cornerstone Christian School Benefit auction on January 19. We spent a lot of hours cutting the pieces, sanding, gluing, painting and varnishing. We still need wheels. I have some wooden train wheels coming in the mail from Southern Ontario. We were hoping that they would arrive this week, but they didn't. Hopefully, Monday they will be in the mail. After we paint and varnish the wheels and axles then it should be finished.

Here is the entire train.

Here is the engine and the coal car.

Here is the flat car loaded with logs and the hopper car.

Here is the box car, the tank car and the caboose.

Another Christmas Dinner

Yesterday we had Dallas and Elaine's older brother, sister and niece here for a Christmas dinner. Patrick and Charlotte are now in their twenties. We had a good time with them. We played some games and had a wonderful lunch that Edith had prepared.

Charlotte had her daughter Angel with her. The children were glad to see her again. She is about 2 and 1/2 weeks old now.

Here are the five of them.

Here is Angel. I'm not sure why she looks so worried. It is about the only picture we have of her with her eyes open.