We envy mom and dad their bird feeder right on the deck where you can watch it while eating breakfast and for the many birds that come to it, including LOTS of colourful cardinals! A hawk arrived while we were there, which is most unusual, and all the birds scattered. The hawk sat around for a bit, then swooped down into a bush, but missed the bird that was still there, probably because it hadn't been able to escape when the hawk first arrived. I was lucky enough to catch the hawk swooping back up again empty handed!

We were able, for the first time in probably 10 or 12 years, to join dad's family for Christmas. Everyone was there except for Ralph and Anne and their family. That's Greg and Krista at the left alongside Tim and Carolyn. At the far right are Katie and her dad, Tom. The celebration was held at Jim and Gwen's house in Ionia and we were able to arrive by 3 p.m. on the Saturday before Christmas, shortly after the party started.

Joe is the focus of attention here as he opens what turns out to be Christmasy reindeer antlers. The idea was for everyone to bring "white elephants" to this part of the gift exchange. Dad tried for a Jenga game, but it was too popular, so he redirected his efforts and ended up with a singing fish, Bass Bill Bob! Melanie (on the right) is overcome with laughter at her nephew while Bob and Jean look on along with Katie and Tom again.

The other video is so much more wintry with the snow falling, but here we are digging out the next morning. Mom said to say that Dad did most of the actual shoveling, but someone had to be behind the camera!

We have never had such wintry weather in December in our memory. This weekend we had a major winter storm come through, forcing the cancellation of our candlelight services. In the 28 years we have lived here, I recall only one time that we ever canceled a worship service, and that was for an ice storm over 15 years ago. This short video shows you what you're missing, guys! (It's just someone around the corner on Victoria shoveling a driveway.)

This is the view we woke up to this Sunday morning! Winter seems to have arrived with a vengeance... and we wanted to post this for the sake of those living in Vancouver... and Malawi.... This is what you're missing!

Staff and council held a retreat this year, organized mainly by dad. He also took the picture of the group, using the time-delay feature on his camera. It was a marvelous weekend, considering that two weekends later we have winter!

We always take a photo of mom's class every year - one serious and one where they make weird faces. Guess which one this is!

The church has been changing almost daily! This is a view of the front of the church. They are working on the lobby wall, which rises to 24 feet high in the centre!


You can see the lobby in front of the lobby wall in this picture. The steel on the left will be the front of the centre tower.


Last week, they put up the trusses over the youth hall (foreground) and the office area (background). They brought in a crane and it took half a day to get the trusses up. That's Pastor John in the foreground.


Isn't it amazing how complex the web of trusses and supports that hold them together? This is a view of the roof over the office area.

Here is a view taken from inside the youth hall, standing on the mezzanine. The main floor will be two feet below the mezzanine.

Construction is moving ahead at our site. I got my own personalized work hat -- supervisor's white! One of the pictures is of work on forms for the footings for the wall between the lobby and the auditorium. The other shows a portion of the foundations for the same wall.

After the Adirondacks, we returned home to camp with Irene and her kids at our own Algonquin Park. We camped at the Lake of Two Rivers for three nights. We went swimming one day, but the rest of the time was very cold and we got soaked by a big thunderstorm on our last night. We hiked trails and the kids climbed on beaver dams (above) as well as on rocks. And Mya created a monster -- a chimpmunk that would climb up on everyone looking for food!

After Chris and Julee and Sam returned home, we went camping in the Adirondacks in New York State. We had a thoroughly relaxing time there. Mom took a picture of Dad getting the coals going for dinner and in the background is the new tent that we bought (for $79!) as a temporary solution until we get a new fly for our old tent (we hope). We hiked the Au Sable Chasm near Lake Champlain, a gorge with cliffs up to 200 feet high! We met a turtle, among other things, at the Wild Centre in Tupper Lake, a very interesting museum dedicated to the wild life and natural history of the Adirondacks. And we visited Howe Cavern, which isn't really part of the Adirondacks, being a bit farther south. It included a trip through an underground lake or river. Our guide -- Mr. Bill -- was a hoot! He was 75 years old and guides tours 3 times a day for the fun of it! He shamelessly makes up stories and terrible jokes about the cave.

We figured that Chris and Julee wouldn't care to sleep in a bunk bed when they visited, so we decided it was time to turn the boys' bedroom into a guest room. We've included a photo of the bunk bed for nostalgia's sake. It went to a family related to the church and we are told that their son loves it, especially the light that Michael fixed to the underside of the top bunk!

We decided to base the room colours on a fabulous poster that we brought back from Bryce Canyon last year. We replaced the bunk bed with a double bed, got rid of the desk to make more room and reconfigured the two bookshelves into one larger bookshelf and flipped it to the opposite side of the room. The results can be seen above. We love the vibrant colours and seeing the poster of Bryce every time we come up the stairs!

Chris, Julee and Sam came to visit for 5 days after visiting with Julee's parents in Nova Scotia. It was really great to have them here, and especially, to get to know Sam -- and for him to get to know grandpa and oma -- and to watch him grow and develop. He got steadier on his feet all week long and even walked a few steps, probably by accident as he has not done that again! He has a great smile and takes a lot of interest in the world around him.

Excavation started on the work site for our new church -- it was exciting to see after literally years of preparation! At one point we had 10 trucks shuttling back and forth, removing fill and bringing back aggregate. We brought it to the level for footings, but have been unable to pour footings because we don't have a building permit yet, which has been delayed by issues over storm water management. We have reached agreement on that this week, though, and hope to receive the permit by the end of next week.

While Jane was here, we had some baptisms at the river after a profession of faith service. We baptized four adults and two children! Different people helped Pastor John to do the baptisms -- we arranged for each individual to have someone help who had played a role in their faith walk. Dave helped to baptize Henk.

My sister Jane made her annual visit. Here we are at one of our favourite places -- Bren's Place on the patio for coffee!

Evita took her class on a trip to Sandbanks in June. Here, she is showing her students what poison ivy looks like. We saw, as usual, lots of very beautiful lady slippers. We also saw a swan on a nest! That was exciting!

The whole school gathered to watch as Mom got busted at school, along with the principal. It was all part of a fund raising challenge, and Mom's Grade 1/2 class raised the most money and was able to have her "arrested." The police officer took them to the police station and put them in a holding cell before bringing them back to school.

Here are some spring wildflowers that we saw in May during our annual wildflower walks. Left to right: Trout Lily, Hypatica and White and Red Trilliums.

Jim and Gwen visited us on Good Friday with Gregory and Krista (centre with Gwen) and two of their friends, Amber and Brandon. They stayed overnight on their trip back home after visiting in Vermont and touring the Boston area as well. We had a great visit! Gregory, by the way, turned 13 on the Monday after Easter, but his father says he has been acting like a teenager already!

Cute little thing, isn't he! But he is also an escape artist. See the paper clip holding the cage door shut? Well, unless totally secured with paper clips on both sides of the door, he can get out -- and does routinely to Evita's disgust. He usually is found again in the blue box in the Grade 3/4 room. He must be attracted the small amounts of food and drink still clinging to containers and then can't get out again.

Dave's sister Jane happened to celebrate her 50th birthday with a party for family and friends. She didn't expect us to visit, but we were able to stop over on our way back home because of the timing -- that was a real bonus for us! Bob and Jim came without their wives and it was fun for Dave to see them being twins together! Tom and Mel also came and so did Mom and Dad and lots of her friends. We had a great time!

During Spring Break, we made a quick trip to visit mom and dad in Michigan. While there, Dave tried to get pictures of the cardinals, especially of the cardinals flying in to dad's bird feeder. This was the best he could do. They have a LOT of cardinals there -- very colourful! We had a good visit, including joining them in their mall walk.

Well, we finally got winter! On Saturday night, it snowed and snowed -- we got about 8 inches -- and then it got cold. This is Dave after going for his morning walk. The temperature was minus 20 (colder with wind chill) and Dave has icicles in his beard and moustache!

Evert and Sandy took us for dinner at the Queen's Landing in Niagara on the Lake on Saturday night -- the food was fabulous! Just before we left (Dave had to preach in the morning) we took a family photo. Everyone was there except for our Chris and Julee and Michael.