Cornerstone Christian School Auction

Here is the train Dallas and I are making this year.

This is the engine, coal car and tank car

This is the hopper car, box car, flat car and caboose.

The Cornerstone Christian School benefit auction is coming up on February 21. Last year it was held in January, but the town moved the Winter Festival off until February this year. Dallas and I have been making a train for the auction again this year. We are nearing completion now. The cutting, sanding and most of the painting is done. We are now varnishing and putting the pieces together. I think we learned some from experience last year, and this one should turn out a little better in some ways.

We also have an Acer Netbook computer that was donated by Wilson's Stationery and Office Supplies. The students are supposed to have the items they have received turned in by next Friday. It will be interesting to see what we have for the auction this year.

So, if you want to place a reserve bid on the train, let me know!

Firewood Finished

Today the woodcutters came to our house and cut and stacked our wood for next winter. It was wonderful! They arrived at about 8:15 in the morning and by the middle of the afternoon the firewood was all cut and stacked. This would have taken me days and days to do by myself. Needless to say I am very grateful for their help.

This is the guys working on the woodpile.

Here is everything cut and stacked in the wood shed.

Birthday

Dallas turned 14 on Friday. He has been eager for the day to arrive partly because I told him he could get his own e-mail address and a facebook account when he turns 14. It all happened as scheduled on Friday.

He invited four friends over for a party Friday evening. They stayed over night and went home Saturday just before lunch. The party went into the wee hours of the morning. After they woke up they had breakfast and then went snowmobiling for a bit before the four boys went home.

All in all, I think the day met expectations and was a success. And now he is 14. Only two more years until he will be driving!

Here he is blowing out his candles. He got them all out except for the one in the front right hand corner. The other boys were sure that it means that he has one girl friend. Sean blew it out for him which then meant that Sean will steal his girl friend. Life gets so complicated some times!

Later in the evening they played a game of Risk. I'm not really sure who won the game.

Firewood

I am so excited because I did actually get firewood delivered BEFORE the wood cutting crew arrived. I have been trying to get firewood since October and had not been able to do so until Tuesday of this week. The men who will be cutting the wood are arriving on Saturday, so it wasn't too soon.

We burn about 12 cords of firewood a year. The outdoor furnace heats both the shop and the house. Since the contractors here deliver eight cords in a load, one year I get eight cords and the next year I get sixteen. This is my year to get sixteen cords.

Next week we will cut and stack the wood and then be ready with firewood through the Fall of 2010.

This is the contractor unloading the wood and then the firewood pile after he finished unloading.


Last evening we had a family night at the church. Some of the men were playing Boggle. We had a good time of fellowship together.

Mission Emphasis Weekend

We spent the past weekend at Maranatha Bible School in Lansing, Minnesota. There were 69 students there for the term, and some visitors for the weekend. It was an enjoyable weekend for us as a family. The children enjoyed interacting with the students.

It was good to see Nolan Bylers and visit with their family again. We also knew many of the other staff as well.

The trip home was a bit grueling. The roads from Virginia, Minnesota North were icy in spots. It seemed like the road had warmed up enough to melt the snow and then it had frozen again. There was a skiff of new snow so it was hard to see the ice spots. It made the trip take an hour or so longer than we had anticipated. We were still home by 9:30 on Monday evening, so it wasn't too bad.

The bible school building has a new entrance since we were there last. It is really nice and has a lounge in the front by the office.

It was picture day and this was Nolan's family at their picture time.

Here are Edith and Clara visiting at Sophia's birthday party.

This was the row of young people from the Nolan Byler and Sam Troyer families. This was also at Sophia Byler's birthday party.

Maranatha Bible School

We are leaving today for Maranatha Bible School in Lansing, Minnesota. I am speaking at the Mission Emphasis Weekend there. We have a service Friday evening, Saturday evening, and Sunday morning and evening. We will be coming home on Monday.

This week has been a very cold week here in Sioux Lookout. It has been at least 30 below zero every morning. The highs in the afternoons have been from 10 below to 5 below zero. The wind chill factor has been from 40 to 46 below all week. The forecast for Sunday is for a high of 30 above zero. That should feel like a heat wave!

I have been trying to get firewood for several months. After many phone calls and pleading, I still haven't received any firewood. I was promised some last week, but the contractor forgot about me. Finally yesterday, after a few phone calls, I talked with him and he apologized and promised to bring me wood on Tuesday. We have a wood crew coming on January 26. I really need to have firewood here by then. It takes a lot of wood when the temperature inside the house is 100 degrees higher than the temperature outside!

IGo Board Meeting-Pennsylvania

I just returned from the IGo board meeting in Pennsylvania. We had a good time together as a board. Val Yoder, Darlene Stoner, and Collier Berkshire were also there. Dave Hostetler was feeling well enough between his chemo treatments to attend the meeting. We were grateful that he was feeling well enough to attend.

The ministries of IGo keep growing. They are starting an English teaching center at IGo in the Spring. We are also doing a Bible Institute three week term for Asian students. It looks like we have students registered from Korea, India, Thailand, and perhaps Vietnam.

Becky Stoltzfus continues to develop her ministries with former prostitutes. She has another lady joining her, and we are praying about more people to get involved in that ministry.

Craig and Rachel Miller will be joining the IGo staff team soon to work in a Lisu village. They will begin with language learning and relationship building.

Raymond Burkholder was in Mynamar this past week teaching in a conference there. He has five conferences scheduled for this year in five different countries in Asia.

Then there is the Institute itself. We are still receiving applications from students for the semester that begins in April. There is still room for more students. If you know anyone who would be a good student, let them know! Here is the current IGo board. From left to right: Jim Weaver, Lester Weiler, Marvin Miller, David Chupp, Merle Burkholder, Dale Ropp, Marvin Kauffman, and Dave Hostetler.

In Pennsylvania

I traveled to Pennsylvania today. It was about 15 below zero in Sioux Lookout when I left and above freezing and raining when my plane landed in Baltimore. My flight from Thunder Bay to Toronto was delayed for over two hours because of freezing rain in Toronto. I had a scheduled four hour layover in Toronto, so I still made my flight to Baltimore.

Tomorrow we have an Anabaptist Foundation Micro-Finance committee meeting in the afternoon. then in the evening we begin the IGo board meeting. Val Yoder and Collier Berkshire, who are both on staff with IGo in Thailand, will be at the meeting. It will be good to hear from some of the men that are on the field.

Maybe after the meeting, I'll post some of the exciting things that are happening with IGo.

New Year's Eve

Last night we had a New Year's Eve fellowship at the church. We started at 8:00 PM with some table games and snacks. I played UNO for most of the evening. Elizabeth, from community living, was there and she was playing UNO as well. She won six hands out of the game. I don't think anyone else took more than one hand. She always had her cards laying face up on the table. Her helper would show her which color she could lay. She would choose a card to lay. She was so pleased that she won the game! She doesn't say much, but she can certainly smile!

Some of the others were playing Scrabble, Blokus, and Boggle. I think everyone had a good time. At 11:30 we started a time of sharing. We had four candles lit. They were labelled, Peace, Love, Joy, and Hope. Each person then lit their individual candle from one of the four larger candles and shared with the group why they were choosing to light their candle from that particular candle. It was intended to be an indication of something we each felt a need for in 2009.

At Midnight we had a prayer and sang Amazing Grace. then we cleaned up and headed for home. We got home about 1:15 AM. Needless to say, it was pretty quiet around our house for most of the morning today!

Some of the men chose to play Blokus.

A few of the ladies worked their brains over finding words in Boggle.

This is a game of Scrabble in progress.