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September 2004 We had an ok summer, though the weather was not that great. It was the coldest, wettest summer I've ever had. We did go to church camp in July and Bethany got the Holy Ghost!!! We went camping during the long weekend, but didn't go far due to the high gas prices. We also went to visit my parents one weekend as we hadn't been home since Christmas! Bethany got baptized in Jesus name. It was such a precious service. She came out of the water with her hands upraised and tears streaming down her cheeks, as she worshipped her Jesus. We've been busy at church, Wendy sings on the praise team and Brian is involved in pulpit ministry. The kids are adjusting and making friends. We are so happy there. God is good. The kids are all back to school now. It's so hard to believe Brianna is in grade 5!!! And Benjamin started kindergarten. He LOVES it. Wendy is still babysitting a couple extra kiddos, and Brian is working night shift again and lots of OT. So that's about all for now folks! May 2004 Well, the biggest news here for us is that we've transferred to a new church. For some time we've felt like God was calling us to leave Emmanuel but didn't know where we were sposed to go... Through several confirmations we felt we were to go to Truth Tabernacle It is an on fire growing church where the need for workers is great. We like the Spirit of God that we feel and the freedom to worship. We still love and miss Emmanuel and our previous pastor and his wife are very dear to us. We hope to visit there occasionally so we don't lose touch :) Other news on the homefront... we traded in our gold truck for a black beauty... a 2004 F150 Heritage truck with 4x4....the important stuff... it has command start and a CD player. March 2004 Wow, I can't believe it's already March! January was a truly brutal month and it took all of our energy just to get through it! Ben turned 5 though and we all went to Adventure City to celebrate it! February cruised by so fast I hardly remember it! Not much new here, though the girls just got AWESOME report cards. I'm still busy babysitting and baking all our family's bread, buns and cookies (as well as a few other families I think!! I like to share a lot, especially with our favorite "E" family) Anyhow, we're just sitting tight, waiting for spring! December 2003, Not much new here, though we have been very busy. The kids took this season off swimming and Benjamin enjoyed going to mini soccer. He was quite good at it too. He also enjoys preschool, especially snack time. <grin> The girls are doing awesome in school! Brianna turned 9 and lost her two front teeth! We celebrated her birthday by renting a room at a hotel with waterslides. TOOO much fun! September, 2003 The girls started school. Other than a few "first day" butterlies, they've settled right in and are enjoying it so much. Bethany is such a big girls going to school all day. She loves taking her new lunch bag full of Mom's mystery surprises! (Obviously the homeschooling idea is on hold right now for those whom I've discussed that plan) Look what I got for my birthday! August 2003 We just got back from our camping trip! We all had so much fun hiking, biking, exploring, swimming, wading, building sand castles, shopping, roasting marshmallows, playing games, and just hanging out. See our pictures here! July 2003 Well we've had a busy summer thus far! We enjoyed church camp so much. It was so much fun this year and easier with the kids being older. The kid enjoyed children's church, crafts, games, kids choir and we all enjoyed visiting with friends and family...God poured out His Spirit in such a mighty way. None of us went home the same! We're thinking of homeschooling our children in the fall! (it's not for sure, and we may wait another year so that we're more prepared.....but we're excited about all the research we've been doing and so we're praying to see if that is the direction God is leading us... Pray for us to make wise choices for our family's sake! Bethany just turned 6, so we celebrated by going to Tinkertown and having a BBQ and cake after with friends.. We're looking forward to the rest of our summer even though Wendy is still doing daycare, we do have some time off to enjoy our camper! Can't wait! More about that later... June 2003 Benjamin got chicken pox too... :-( Bethany learned to ride her two wheeler bike with NO training wheels! Check out our Father's Day portraits! I'm just so excited about them! lol..June was full of "end of school year" stuff, including a sleepover party in the back yard camper for Brianna and friends.. The girls both got excellent reports and are already missing their friends and teachers. May 2003... We got a new baby!!! Mitzi joined our family at 8 weeks of age. She's a tabby and looks quite a bit like Tigger but has more white on her tummy, and some reddish orange patches on her beautiful furry face! We named her Mitzi because she has four little white "mittens" on her paws! I have never ever seen the girls as obsessed about anything as they are about Mitzi.......Click to see pics! On another note........ Bethany has the chicken pox! April 2003... Spring is here! Yaaay... The end of Spring break brought several changes to our home. Wendy began babysitting her manager (and dear friend, Michelle's)children so she could return to work after her maternity leave, so we have two extra children hanging out at house four days a week, a little girl, 5 years, and a boy 11 months. Needless to say, Wendy no longer has time to offer herself to volunteer work at the school. Wendy also quit her job at Sears as she found it too much to do both babysitting and working the weekends. It's been fun but an adjustment nonetheless. It seems to be working out better than expected and we're enjoying having weekends free for family time! March, 2003... Wow it's been awhile since I've updated our news...We've all just had a busy winter, nothing much new...but keeping up with work and school activities. Brianna turned 8 in November. Instead of the usual party we all stayed in a children's theme room in a hotel. We had so much fun we just might do it on a regular basis! Why didn't anyone ever tell me waterslides were so much fun?! Brianna got baptized December 1! That was a wonderful night for her! We had a very nice Christmas break with Wendy's family, sharing lots of laughs. Wendy is glad that things at work have slowed down to a normal pace! Ben turned 4 in January. We had a simple family celebration for him with cake and gifts...We've all had our share of sickness since January...we just seem to keep passing the bug around! Both girls just had excellant reports from their teachers. We are very proud of them! Wendy is proud to be maintaining her weight loss of 60lbs!! (Click the link to read that story!) Oct, 2002.......We had a very busy summer. We went camping in Riding Mountain and at Rushing River. We all enjoyed the many activities, biking, swimming, pedal boats, relaxing by the campfires! School started and Bethany is now in kindergarten! She loves it and her new friends. Brianna is doing well in grade 3. Both girls take swimming and Brianna takes piano and German lessons as well. Benjamin loves his preschool and so does Mommy! Wendy is still working as a photographer but has given up a lot of her hours to be more available to volunteer at the children's school. She does writing groups in kindergarten, buddy reading with K and Gr. 1 and a variety of things in Ben's preschool programs... July, 2002.....Well June was such a busy month that I didn't have time to update our news page! We went to Wendy's ABI 10 year reunion in St. Paul/MN and that was a lot of fun. We went to the Mall of America as well as attended the ABI events. We never knew our children would travel so well! Brianna finished off her piano and both girls swimming for the season. Brianna is now entering grade 3..... Bethany will be starting kindergarten. How is it possible they've grown so quickly? We just got home from Bible camp and we are so excited that Brianna received the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speakingin other tongues as the Bible teaches in the book of Acts. She will soon be baptized in that wonderful name of Jesus! May, 2002 Mommy enjoyed a nice but short getaway at Ladies Retreat. She also gave her notice at work. Call it stress leave. lol.... She might go back and help them out in the fall for Christmas.... We'll see. Brianna had to get glasses! <sniff sniff> April, 2002 We have been enjoying some good weather, and are hoping that spring won't totally forget us! Benjamin was very ill in March and had to stay in the hospital for 4 days on IV antibiotics. He had a very bad infection in the tissues in the back of his throat and the swelling from that could have potentially closed his airways so they took it pretty serious. He's totally fine now though. Even more hyper than usual! lol... The girls have started back into their swimming lessons. Though Bethany was quite dismayed (to put it mildly) to have a "boy" teacher the first lesson, as the normal teacher was ill.... after some words with Mommy she got in the pool and did just fine. The kids all enjoyed Easter with a trip to Nana and Papa's and an indoor egg hunt. The kids didn't think Papa looked much like an Easter bunny though...lol.. Feb 6, 2002 Bethany & Benjamin have finally started their preschool program! It's once week, Tuesday mornings and Mommies can stay to help. They have fun painting, doing crafts, singing and having stories.... and of course making new friends! Benjamin celebrated his 3rd birthday with us at Adventure City. Jan 1,2002 After an extremely busy fall we all enjoyed the Christmas break. We spent Christmas morning together as a family and then during the afternoon we went to Brian's folks for dinner, fellowship and more gifts. Then we drove four hours to Wendy's family and spent four days there. The kids are all spoiled rotten this year and hardly know what toys to play with! The girls got a 4 foot doll house for their Barbies and Ben got his Talking Woody and Buzz Lightyear.... :-) amongst other things! November 30, 2001 Brianna celebrated her 7th birthday with a sleepover party! Yikes! Those girls didn't sleep much! lol.... but they sure had fun! Nov 9, 2001 Benjamin is potty trained! Well during the day anyway...but he's doing excellant! October 29, 2001 Well it's been a busy fall...Brianna is back in school. Both girls are taking swimming lessons, and Benjamin is well on his way to being potty trained. Wendy is working lots. It's the busy season for portraits...everyone wants pics for Christmas. Brian is working the evening shift until the end of March. Wendy is volunteering at the school when she can as well as babysitting three days a week. Brianna takes piano lessons, and does pretty well, (though I'm sure she'd do better if she'd practise more!!) Bethany goes to storytime at the library and will soon start nursery once a week... So we're all constantly on the go... :-) August 14, 2001 We just returned from 2 MORE weeks of vacation! The first week Brian and Wendy celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary by going on a 2nd honeymoon in Kakabeka Falls, Ontario. That was beautiful and relaxing until the van broke down....$600 and a new computer and we're back on track..... Then we spent a couple days with Wendy's parents and picked up the kids and set off for another week camping! Only we didn't get to where we'd planned. The van broke down AGAIN.....we still don't know what is wrong with it. We ended up trading it in for a 2001 F150 XLT 4x4 Gold/Beige Ford Truck....it's pretty well loaded but the main thing is it has a CD player and a backseat with plenty of kid room.... :-) The lumbar support seats are nice too! July 13, 2001 We just returned from two weeks vacation. The first week we spent at our annual church family camp. The kids enjoyed it immensely! Ben even played his "guitar" in the children's choir! lol... It was a lot of fun, fellowship and spiritual renewal.....The second week we went camping in our RV at Clear Water Lake in Riding Mtn. National Park. There was lots to do....swimming, fishing, peddle boats, boating, a cruise, shops, restaurants, parks, tennis, golf, mini-golf, even a little amusement park with a little roller coaster! We even rented one of those two people bikes and crammed all of us on there...lol..We all enjoyed it so much! June29/2001 Today is the last day of school! Yaay! Last night we celebrated Bethany's 4th birthday (early since we'll be on holidays) She had lots of fun, cake, presents....etc. The theme was Arthur..... June/2001 We have a new baby in the house....again. This time Brianna and Mommy fell in love with a kitten, now named Miss Tigger. She's grey with dark stripes all over, and is really cuddly and sweet! Much less work than a puppy, so she's here to stay...... :-) May/2001 We decided to sell Coco, our Pomeranian to an older retired couple who could take better care of him. He was simply more work than we bargained for in our already busy household.....We're happy he's getting spoiled rotten! We spent our first weekend this year in our RV....let's just say next time we'll make a list of stuff to bring! April 10, 2001 Wendy had a car accident. All three children were in the van with her. All are shook up but nobody was injured and we thank GOD for that. March 15, 2001 Well our house didn't sell so it looks like we'll be staying put for now anyway! We're at peace with that decision.... :-) February 9, 2001 We've put our house up for sale! We figured now just might be a good time to sell and find a larger home for our growing family. We just had new flooring, countertop, pedestal sink, light fixtures and painting done in the kitchen and bathroom. We've put a fleece before the Lord that if our house doesn't sell within one month we will accept that this is not HIS timing right now. We have very mixed feelings about leaving anyway. We just adore our neighbours and Brianna's settled in her school so nicely that it will be very difficult to move to a new neighbourhood, but it sure would be nice to have a bigger kitchen!!! So we'll se what happens.... January 17, 2001 Well we had a great Christmas! We all ate too many goodies, and got lots of wonderful gifts. We spent Christmas Day with the Wiebe's and the the Ward's all got together on the 27th. It was great to be together again! Benjamin just turned 2 yesterday! He's growing up so fast! He sleeps in a big boy bed now, and talks more everyday! November/2000 WE GOT A NEW BABY at our house.....Coco, our 4 month old Pomeranian! We just had a creation day party at church (in place of Halloween). We dressed up as the sun, moon and stars. The kids really enjoyed popping the balloon TREE that was full of candies!!! September 29/2000 Wendy got the job with Sears Portrait Studios. Although the training has been quite intense, she's enjoying it immensely! It's worked out well that Daddy can be home when Mommy works. We will never place our kids in daycare or with a sitter....Brianna's doing awesome at school, although she's tired by day's end. She's now taking piano and swimming lessons, so sh's a busy lady! Bethany just joined storytime at the library. September 5/2000 Brianna started school today! We spent another week in August camping with Sean & Rosanne & kids at Rushing River. We enjoyed it. Wendy had a job interview with Sear's Portrait Studios. It looks very promising if we can work out the training schedule!! July/00 We have had a busy summer thus far. We spent the first week at our church camp. We slept in our camper. The kids did so well. It was a wonderful time of spiritual refreshing and fellowship. The last two weeks of July we were vacationing in Northern Ontario. We went camping at Rushing River. It was beautiful. The kids enjoyed swimming! Then we wnet to Wendy's parents for a visit and also to leave the kids for a couple of nights wheile we went to Duluth for our REAL vacation!! lol... June/00 We just bought a new camper trailer! Benjamin now says HI, SASHA, SHOES, (meaning let's go outside!!) BUM, (as in change me!) WHASIS? (translated, What's this?) TAYTOO (thank you) Brianna can really read now! She even reads my emails sometimes! And Bethany stories! I'm so proud of her! Wendy just started a babysitting job, looking after the neighbour's 6 month old baby for 1-3 hours/day. May/00 Well the last few weeks we have been busy redoing the girls room. As they've quickly passed the baby stages, it was time for some changes. Wendy painted sky, trees, flowers, and the border is of wto little girls having a tea party. The gilrs love it! We also purchased a bike trailer thingie to pull the kiddos around, so Wendy is having a blast biking around with the kids. Yikes, we forgot we had muscles there! April/ 00 Bethany is POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!!Yaaaaaay! We are so excited and proud of her. It happened in one day, and she's not had one accident! (It was the easter candy that did it! lol) March 15/00 Well Brian is back and recovered from China and jetlag. The kids were so happy to have daddy home! Sasha about went out her little doggy mind! He had a rough first week (fatigue, culture shock) but the second week he had a good time, and it was a productive trip-workwise. February 29/00 Benjamin is walking everywhere now! February 23/00 Okay, I know we women like to brag that men would never survive without us, but this is how it really is....While Brian's in China eating chicken feet, and pig's kidneys, this is what's happened to us.....So far we managed to get locked into the girl's bedroom upstairs. Luckily I had my cordless phone with me and was able to call 911. We did get out before the police arrived though! And we got stranded at Zellar's parking lot because our van (which I'd just picked up from getting fixed) broke down again. (Don't ever buy a Ford Windstar) Oh....and then the basement flooded.....! February 18/00 Brian left for China today! February 7/00 Benjamin peed in the potty twice now, and Bethany is so mad! Brian just found out last week that he will be travelling to China this month for two weeks! He will be training and inspecting some of the workers that his compan's subcontracted work to. What an exciting opportunity for him! January 16/00 Benjamin is one year old already! We had a family party and boy did he ever love cake! He still has to battle with his sisters over his presents as they won't let him play with them! Jan 1/00 We spent Christmas Day with Brian's family, and then Wendy's family came to our house on Dec 27th (due to Jeremy and Rachelle's baby girl, Emily's arrival on Dec. 17th) Rachelle was unable to travel, so everyone came here. Afterwards we went to Wendy's parents for a few days of R& R. Brianna also tried out her new skates for the first time. She did really well. Mom on the other hand was a wee bit out of practise! Grin! Dec 20/99 Benjamin got his two front teeth for Christmas! (Now maybe we'll start getting some sleep again!) Brianna sang a duet "Happy Birthday Jesus" with her friend Sarah at the church concert. Dec 1/99 Wendy is excited that she will be able to volunteer at Briannas's school, helping a group of kids learn their letters and sounds. Brianna scored 2nd highest in her class! Grin! Nov 15/99 Brian got us two deers, both does! He is pretty proud. Bethany PEEPEED in the potty! :) I know that may be no big deal to you but it really is a MAJOR breakthrough! Benjamin claps his hands and raises them up if we say Hallelujah! It is so cute! Nov 1/99 Benjamin just pulled himself up to a standing position! He is so proud of himself! We have finished our home projects for this year, (although Wendy is already itching to start in on the kitchen) Brian is now getting ready to go deer hunting. Oct/99 Wendy is currently recovering from several months of illness. The doctors cannot give us a definite diagnosis but it resembles Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. All tests have been normal. We would definitely appreciate your prayers for a complete recovery. Sep/99 Brian is adjusting to his new position at work as a supervisor. It is a challenge but he is enjoying the responsibilty. Brianna just started kindergarten. She is really enjoying it and loves her new teacher. Already it's "my teacher said this, and my teacher said that!" She told me that she made lots of friends already. I asked her what their names were. She said, "I'll have to ask them tomorrow!" Oh to be a kid again!! |
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