Happy Birthday Tim!

Hey Tim, cool shorts!
But then, he's just an all-round cool guy!
Have a great day.

My Sunflower's Bloomimg!

I planted sunflowers in an inside pot and they are blooming. All I need now is some bees to pollinate them!

As you can see, we still have snow outside. The forecast is for above zero temperatures this week , so hopefully we'll lose a fair bit of it.

Only 6 more weeks and I can plant sunflowers outside!

Almost done!

We started painting Mal's office on Monday. I was tired and grouchy so he tried to cheer me up. It worked!

Today he began to install the floor. It's a product called "Allure". Easier to install than laminate. Not quite finished, but close.

Once the floor is in there's just the trim left to do. Can hardly wait!

Mary Slessor and Twins

I was doing some research for a Church History Course we will be teaching when I came across the story of Mary Slessor (1848-1915). Fascinating story! But what really caught my attention was her involvement in saving the lives of twins.

She was a 5 ft. tall, blue-eyed redheaded Scottish woman who went to Nigeria as a missionary when she was 28 years old. At the time, Nigeria was full of superstition and witchcraft. She became known for her love of children and unwanted babies would show up at her doorstep. She discovered that twins were thought to bring a curse on the whole village and were ritually sacrificed or thrown into the forest. Apparently she saved hundreds of twins, as well as other children. Hence the statue in this picture. She hired local girls to care for them.

Apart from her ministry with children, she ws an incredible missionary who had amazing adventures and showed great courage in many terrifying situations. She was known both as the White Ma of Africa and as the White Queen of Calabar. She was asked to sit on the local court and was buried in Nigeria with a full state funeral.

Jason and Tenessa's wedding

The wedding was held in a beautiful Lutherean Church, and the little candles are sitting on the communion rail.

Carol did a beautiful job of the wedding cake.

The colors were black, white and silver, the decorations were beautiful, and the food was awesome!

There are more wedding pics on Juanita's blog.

A Tribute to Mom

We've just returned from a trip to B.C. We had been sceduled to go for a wedding, but went early for a funeral- Mal's Mother. I've decided I'll have to blog the experiences in increments because they were so different and so intense. In just under 2 weeks we had the funeral, the wedding, the good news of Darrell and Jess's referral of Mary and Martha, sad news, bad roads, good roads, changed locations 6 times, saw old friends, and just had a host of varied experiences and emotions. I'll start with a tribute to Mal's Mom.


She married at 18, had her first baby within a year, and went on to have 17 in about 23 years. (No twins!) She had grown up as a younger child in her family and had not felt wanted, so she determined all of her children would feel loved. At the time, she never knew what a challenge would lie ahead! However, at her funeral there was a lot of joking by different siblings about how they knew that they were really Mom's favorite. It appears Mom succeeded in making each of her children feel wanted.

The sharing at the funeral home on the night before the funeral was awesome. There were many stories - as many stories as there were children! One common memory was the great bread mom baked - every day! They all loved to eat a piece of the dough. When they came to Mom asking for a bite she had them quote a Scripture verse before they got their bite.

One of Mal's memories was when he was a teenager and they lived in a large old house with trampled lawns. Mal complained to his mom about the sad state of their lawn and she replied, "We're raising kids, not grass!"

One of my favorite memories of Mom was in her later years in Saskatoon when she needed cataract surgery. Her eye became infected and she had to be hospitalized for several days. When I'd go to visit her it wasn't unusual for there to be a nurse or two in her room chatting with her. When I went to pick her up to take her home and she was saying good-bye to the nurses she said, "Thank you, I had a lovely time!" She had a continually positive attitude in often very trying circumstances.

The funeral service was awesome. Brother-in-law Ken led the music and spoke. Nine siblings gave a eulogy. Mal led the service. The singing raised the roof, the eulogies were all great, and the message was passionate and meaningful. Many said afterwards it was the best service they'd attended. Mom was well-loved in the nursing home and 8 or 10 of the residents attended plus some care aids.
She was a woman who lived in poverty with endless work, almost no support, and marital stress. She did little in her life other than raise children. But she managed to love them, feed and clothe them with next to nothing, and still be able to smile and care for them.
It was evident that she was well-loved.
I couldn't help but think of the verse, "The meek will inherit the earth."

A collage of memories