The Great White North...

It's been a long week and we're starting another weekend. Last weekend we left the boys behind with Grandma and Grandpa Lawrence and headed up to the Great White North. Fortunately, it's spring, and not quite so white, though we did see snow. After an overnight in Huntsville with Jenn's relatives, we arrived in St. Joe's Island to be treated to an island tradition by Tom and Jan Gurnick, of the pancakes at the Gilbertson's Pancake House during maple syrup season. The Pancake House is only open 6 weeks a year, at which time islander's congregate there regularly. Sunday, we shared with their Sunday school and then in the morning service.
Monday we returned to Val Caron on the outskirts of Sudbury, to meet with Gary and Marg Landers. We shared a 'potlove' dinner with their congregation Tuesday night, followed by a Nigerien dress up and presentation. It was good to reconnect with Gary and Randy, a member there,who had visited us with Dan Sheffield our first year in Niger.

Meanwhile back at the ranch...
Cole and Ben travelled to Kingston for the weekend to visit with their cousins while Grandma and Grandpa assisted at some meetings. We would have brought them along with us except Cole had to have his casts replaced Tuesday while we were still North. Ben was not about to be left out of the fun in Kingston so we travelled alone. Wednesday we returned in time to pick the boys up from school, after a short detour to Hamilton to find a replacement student card at Mac Div
Jennifer, throughout our journeys, has been studying feverishly for her final exam at Brock University. It seems to have paid off last night, when she completed it with confidence in a little over an hour. Also in the background, has been preparations for renting our townhouse. The Friday before our northern trip, and then yesterday also we had showings, with another one possibly on Monday.
Today we are connecting at the regional gathering in Wesley Chapel, Scarborough and then moving on to Harrowsmith to share with the congregation their on Sunday. (The guy at the car rental thought we were going to an Aerosmith concert.)
Please pray for us this coming week, as I have my Hebrew final exam on Friday, and Jennifer will be sharing at a ladies retreat this weekend in Kingston. Tuesday will be the end of Cole's casts and we're hoping that the new flexibility gained will remain.

Rejected...What a good thing!

I think for the first time in my life this week I was rejected and quite happy about it! I was asked to report for jury duty this week and when I got there and waited for a very long time. When they called us into the courtroom they read the charges against the accused of murder to the surprise of everyone (including the defense, because it was supposed to be second degree murder). They warned us that if chosen we could expect the trial to last up to four weeks. So you can imagine that it was a relief to hear the crown reject me.

But between spending two days going through the jury selection process and trying to get my house ready for the real estate agent to take perspective rentors through it has been an incredibly busy week--with no end in sight. Dave and I head to St. Joseph Island tomorrow and then to Val Caron on the way home on Tuesday. Then I get a day or two at home to recover and do laundry before we hed to the regional gathering at Wesley Chapel and on to Harrowsmith.

Please pray for safe and dry roads and that the Lord would sustain us and minister through us. You can also pray that I can study on the road because I have an exam on April 20 for my course at Brock. Sorry that I don't have any pictures this week. I'll make up for it next week!

What a week!

Wow what a week! It was a week ago Friday that a friend of ours came to finish the floor in our bathroom (you may recognize the picture of Ron A.). That night was the beginning of an incredibly busy weekend and even busier week. That was Cole’s 8th birthday and we celebrated with Dave’s family in Brampton and everyone was able to be there but Grandma and Grandpa—we missed them a lot. The next day Dave and his brother went to Brantford to write their final exam for the ethics course that they have been taking at MacMaster University (he was somewhat grateful and somewhat frustrated to have the major Hebrew test that he was expecting Friday afternoon cancelled). Meanwhile, I got to drive the boys to Mississauga for their last French class. Sunday morning Dave preached at Grapeview for Palm Sunday (the first time that he had been speaking on something other than Niger for awhile, and I think he was feeling a bit rusty or maybe just really tired from all the studying). The rest of the week seems to be a blurr of activity as we tried to get our townhouse ready for the real estate agent to list it for rent and as we welcomed Grandma and Grandpa Lawrence back home from Florida.
On Good Friday we had the opportunity to get involved in a joint service with Dunnville, Caistor Centre and St.Catharines. It was a great time celebrating what God has done for us. I received my Ministerial Candidate certificate in the service, but now I’m not sure that I am really ready for pastoral work. You see I was once told that as pastor you had to be ready to “preach, pray or die at a moments notice”, but I found out that you need to add to that “sing…” You see, part way through the service Dave and Raymond H. the pastor at Caistor Centre were called to the front to form a quartet with two others without any warning or preparation. I must say that they both graciously rose to the occasion and did a really good job. I’m just not sure that I am ready for that!
Tomorrow we will be participating in the Easter service at Caistor Centre. Dave is preparing a children’s moments and I will be doing a bible reading. That is if all things go well. Ben has been up in the night the last two nights making deposits in the toilet of the digestive kind and so I don’t know if I will be making it to church tomorrow or staying home with him. We’ll see how he does tonight and how he is feeling in the morning. You can pray for him.
This coming week is especially busy with travel. We are going to St.Joe’s Island FMC next Sunday to present (It’s a ten hour drive) and then we will traveling from there to Val Caron for a Tuesday evening service. We will be getting home late on Wednesday and then going to Harrowsmith FMC the following weekend. Please pray for our safety as we travel and good road conditions. You can also pray for the boys as they will be staying with Grandma and Grandpa while we are traveling up north.

One other thing, we got our prayer cards back from the printers this week so they should be arriving at friendly neighbourhood FM churches near you soon. The only trick is that we need to know that your church wants them in order to send them to you!