Snow Days and Other Surprises

You know God is so good! Last Tuesday I decided that the boys had had enough and that they needed a break so I booked tickets to go see my parents for the Reading Week that I have from Brock as a surprise. That afternoon Cole said to me, “It’s not fair. We never get a day off. On Saturdays we have French school and on Sundays we always have to go to different churches and travel around”. That night and the next morning we got a really good snow storm that basically shut down St.Catharines where we live. So, I told the boys the next day that God sometimes answers the prayers that we don’t even pray because He gave them a day off school. (As part of our fun with a day off Ben proved that chicken noodle soup was not only his favourite food, but makes a good toy too!) The other part of the surprise they won’t find out about until tonight!

We had another busy but good weekend this past weekend. On Friday was the not-so Valentines night out in Caistor Centre where we had dinner with 40 or so friends from Caistor. Then on Saturday I (Jenn) went for my Ministerial Candidate interview in Niagara Falls while the boys and Dave went to French classes in Mississauga. We regrouped in St.Catharines and then headed for Picton. We had the pleasure of meeting the lastest addition to the Cylka family (Mary Rose Grace Cylka born on Feb. 8) as well as so many others at the Prince Edward County Free Methodist Church on Sunday. Thanks for such a warm welcome.After the service we went to meet my sister's family in a Tim Horton's in Napanee and were surprised to run into some of the youth from Whitby it sounds like Echo Lake was a happening place this past weekend as well!

The boys and I fly to Florida to visit Grandma and Grandpa this coming Tuesday and return the following Tuesday. So, please pray for Dave as he stays behind to work on school work and to visit the folks at Pineview FMC in Cloyne. I'm somewhat sorry that I am going to miss this Sunday because I had done some practice teaching in Cloyne a long time ago and was wondering if I would run into anyone that I knew.

Ben's Birthday

I realized that tonight I am feeling a lot like my address book. My address book didn’t enjoy the heat in Niger and the glue on the binding kind of disintegrated…
I don’t know whether it is the head aches and stomach aches that I have had over the past few weeks or just the fact that I spent the evening partying with 8 5-6 year olds and one almost 8 year old. Please note that these were “all boys” in every sense of the term and they were pretty excited to be having a birthday party at MacDonald’s. I was pretty happy that my house didn’t have to contain that energy!
This past weekend we spent at Madoc Wesleyan/Free Methodist Church. We really enjoyed the warm welcome we received there and the fellowship. We had the added bonus of staying with the Redcliffe family at their “castle” and their son took the boys for a chariot ride on the four wheeler. Hopefully we were as much of a blessing as we were blessed.
We are looking forward to visiting with friends at the “not-so Valentines” take your family out for dinner event this Friday in Caistor Centre. Then on Saturday while the boys and Dave go to French classes, I will be in an all day interview to become a Ministerial Candidate with the Free Methodist Church.
Please pray for us as we travel to Prince Edward County this weekend, the boys are finding all the travel and change hard even though they get the perks of chariot rides! Pray especially for Cole. He is feeling like his friends don’t want to play with him at school and we aren’t sure whether that is just his perception or the reality of the situation. Thanks so much! Hopefully we’ll see some of you this week!

February School Blues

Wild chill of -30 degrees this past week, can you believe it!

Schooling has been pressing in and yet we seem to be able to move forward. Jennifer finished her paper for this week, and my readings for the anthropology course seem to be moving steadily ahead. For all that, I think they’re taking their toll. Cole seems to have felt neglected this past weekend as we traveled from classes to churches. He and Ben went with Jennifer to their weekly French class Saturday morning in Mississauga, while I trekked off to Brantford with my brother Jim to our all day ethics class. We finally met up in Hamilton at the Ikea store to travel onto Peterborough for the night. Though the weather had been rather threatening with snow, we arrived at our destination without incident. Sunday morning we participated in both morning services at the Free Methodist Church there, followed by a potluck. Then it was on to Mount Albert for an evening missions service with more food after the meeting. It was nearly eleven when finally arrived home once more. Cole expressed the concern that we thought the churches were more important than him. With all the traveling we did this weekend I’m not surprised, though I think Mom and Dad’s preoccupation with school work the week before may have had something to do with it as well. This week we’ve tried to make sure we’re available to the boys when they’re home in the evening, playing family games and reading books together. Hopefully the investment will help to offset some of the other pressures he may be feeling right now. Please pray that he will sense our love and care and that we will find ways to be sensitive to his needs.

Please pray for our ministry this week in Madoc, ON.