Home, Safe and Cold in Canada

I am so thankful that I got to go and spend some time with Philip, Joia, Keenan and Moriah. It was a short trip but one that was well worth making. We had many good times together, Keenan and I build several things with his mega blocks, Moriah spent a lot of time sleeping with me. Just couldn't hardly get her to stay awake, but I don't mind holding sleeping babies too. Philip, Joia and I played Frisbee Golf together which was a lot of fun even though it was very busy on the course.

Keenan finding more sticks to add to his collection.

Here we have a little Frisbee Golf action.

The Dooley family, Moriah is riding on the front of Philip

Philip is showing us how to clear the water with the Frisbee, it is really bad if you don't. None of us had that unfortunate experience happen to us.

"Someone quick catch him before he runs in." I was actually just finishing throwing the Frisbee.

Three for three folks all clearing the water. We didn't let Keenan throw from this tee.

I was just squinting to see where my Frisbee went and all of a sudden the ground dropped out from under me, can you believe it??

One of the few times she was actually awake for me.

Cool glasses dude

Who can resist when a girl has that written on her shirt. I mean when that little girl is my niece of course.

I left Sunday just before noon to fly home. My flight all went well again, I had a close connection in Atlanta but I made it.

There was pretty well a cloud cover all the way from Florida to Toronto.

At one time I looked out the window and there was a KLM plane just off our wing. Well it looked closer then it was it was probably a mile off or so.

If you look closely you can see Niagara Falls. I don't normally fly into Toronto so I got to see many things that I hadn't seen before from this perspective.

Here is the big city of Toronto.

A little different angle.

I am home now and plenty to do before I leave. Lord willing I will be on a flight one week from today to Mozambique.

Warm Greetings from Florida

Well work hasn't been very busy this week. I put in a full day Wednesday and then just a few hours on Thursday. It was OK though because I still have many things to get done before I leave. Thursday afternoon I went to London and did some shopping. Mark and Rebekah invited me out to supper with them at Swiss Chalet, because they were taking Elias, a friend of theirs out for supper as well. Mark and Rebekah also blessed me with a new camera. My other camera was just so big for traveling with and I really feel like tourist with a big camera hanging around my neck. They bought me a nice compact canon.

Power Shot SD770 IS

The first picture I took with my new camera was of them.

Mark & Rebekah

Later on that evening I went home packed, sent a few emails and then got five hours of sleep before I got up at 4am. Mom drove me to the airport in Toronto and we were there by 6.

I think this is the lightest I have ever flown before. I didn't check any bags. Well yes I am only gone for two day and a lot of the stuff I had was for Philip, Joia, Keenan and Moriah.

My flights all went well. It was neat some friends of ours from Norwich were on the same flight as I was from Toronto to Atlanta. They were on their way to Costa Rica. We were about 40 minutes late leaving Toronto but I still had plenty of time to make my connection in Atlanta. I arrived in Fort Walton Beach at 11:30am. Joia picked me up and we went to Sonic for lunch and then went and did a little shopping.

When we got back to the house I played with Keenan building with his blocks for a while and then held Moriah some, before I took a nap. When I got up Philip was home and Joia had a delicious smalling spare rib supper in the oven. It taste just as good or better then it smelled.

Moriah

Here we have the house/ garage/ castle that Keenan and I built.

Keenan thought my shoes were his size.

With here little belly full she had no reason to stay awake.

Moriah and I

This morning I have been reading the manual for my camera and trying to figure out all the features on it. I think I am getting there. Thankfully it works very similarly to my other camera.

Now That is Snow

Here are a few pictures a friend sent in an email of Snow in Orillia, Onatrio about four hours north of where we live. Thought you might enjoy looking at these while you sip some hot chocolate. You know you have a lot of snow when you have to shovel your roof off.

Winter Wonderland

This past week I haven't worked to hard. Monday was just half a day. Tuesday my boss and I spent all day at his house putting a couple extra floor joists in the floor of his house. There was a load bearing wall that wasn't supported properly. Wednesday and Thursday we took the old vinyl flooring out of his kitchen and put in new oak hardwood flooring. We had to take out all the cupboards that we on the floor so that we could lay the flooring underneath them all. It was a big job but got it all down in two days. I went then for a couple hours Friday morning and put the trim back on and a few other little things. It's wasn't a full work week but thankfully I was able to get some other things done as well.

It has been very cold since I got home, but I have been enjoying just how nice the snow covered trees and fields look.

A Sunrise Monday morning on my way to work.

Friday evening Mark & Rebekah and Rob & Ada came over to celebrate a belated birthday for Dad. We had a good evening together and we watched Prince Caspian the second movie of the Narnia series.

Happy 56th Dad

I have been looking forward to getting to go skiing again ever since I went for my first time last year. Yesterday we got a group of eight together, we left at 7am and drove up to Collingwood. About 3 hours north of where I live. It is about the best place to go skiing in Ontario but the hills are not very big in comparison to the Rockies or something like that. We still had a great time though.

John Clifford getting is boarding boots on.

Matthew and Albert ready to hit the slopes.

John Winkels and myself all dressed up hoping we won't freeze.

Here we are on top of the hill and it is a mild -20 C.

Matthew, Albert, John, Me, John, Annette, Benj

After a few hours of skiing we needed to get warmed up and refueled.

John, Matthew, Ben, Albert, Me Annette, Benj and John

Matthew, John and I chillin in the snow bank.

On the way home the weather wasn't the best. There was blowing snow and quite a bit of snow on the roads, but we made it home safely and we are thankful that none of us hurt ourselves skiing.

Back in Canada for a Little While

Wednesday morning we drove to Puerto Vallarta. We went down town and walked through the market and along the water front. We drove over on Wednesday so we wouldn't have to leave crazy early from Santiago on Thursday morning to make it to the airport. The Alves a missionary family in PV said that we could stay at their house. They we all gone except for there one son. They have a nice home and we were very blessed to be able to stay there.

Looking at part of PV across the bay.

Natalia looking cute, she can't help it.

Andrew chillin on the wall.

After spending sometime down town and on the water we took a trip over to Costco. We had a little shopping to do.

We put the boys in the cart and Simon said that he didn't want to sit in the big part by himself so I said I would sit in there with him. Just for the picture.

Natalia seemed to have endless energy and she just love pushing this cart. She pushed it well over 2,000 ft all around the store. She got herself very dirty in the meantime.

She is pushing it all by herself, but getting quite tired by this time.

Keeping an eye on the stuff.

I just loved this bug and I think I might have coveted it just a little.

Thursday morning James took Albert and I to the airport for our 8 o'clock flight. We had a good flight to Phoenix. We looked for the most gourmet place to eat and decided on Burger King for lunch. Albert's flight to Detroit left at about 12:45 and then I caught my flight to Toronto at about 1. Albert got to Detroit at 6:30pm and I got in just after 7. My boss once again was very kind and came and picked me up at the airport. I was home by 9:30 and Albert was in by about 10:30.

Friday I slept in till 9 I can't remember the last time I did that but it is nice once and a while. Then I went into town and mailed a few things and I went to a travel agent to see about some ticket prices to fly to Mozambique but their prices were about $700.00 more then I was finding online. I guess they have to make their cut. I came how and figured I had better book my tickets before it gets any later, because it is only three weeks away. I had been looking to book tickets out of Toronto but in the last week prices jumped so I ended up booking them out of Buffalo, NY. Lord willing I will leave Feb 2 and return May 29th, unless I need to stay longer.

I didn't have to work but in the afternoon my boss just wanted me to come into Woodstock to look at a job we want to start on Monday. Then I went and got an International Drivers Licence which I need for Mozambique. On my way home I stopped in at our neighbours the Wester's and had a 2 hour visit with them. I slipped away from there just in time to pick up Dad and drive over to Rob and Ada's (my brother and sister in law) place for supper. Mark and Rebekah were there as well. We had a some delicious pizza for supper and some ice cream cake for desert. After supper we spent a few ours playing Apples to Apples. A fun gave that is kind of hard to describe. Dad and I got home around mid night. I went on line and booked some more tickets to fly down to Joia and Philips place in Fort Walton Beach, FL on the weekend of the 24th. I want to see little Moriah before I leave, they are planning to come up here in March but Lord willing I will be gone then. I figured she would be all grown up by the time I get back from Moz. Just so you know, I don't just have lots of money to be flying places for a weekend here and there. I have done a lot of flying so I have some banked air miles, so I was able to use my air miles to cover this flight.

Today I went and transferred the ownership over on the car that my Brother Mark and his wife Rebekah gave us. Thanks so much Mark & Rebekah. Then I spent the rest of the morning cleaning the company vehicle that I am blessed to be able to use. My boss doesn't usually use it while I am gone but the tires were bad on his truck so he had been using it quite a bit. He doesn't like to take time to clean vehicles so I had quite a bit of cleaning to do. The truck is only 2 years old and I want to try to keep it looking new as long as possible, I have to remember though that it is for work and it won't stay looking new forever.

I need to go and unpack my bags which I haven't done yet. Maybe I should just leave them packed, but then again maybe not.

Just the Boys

Well our day with the little boys didn't go bad at all. We had a good time. First thing in the morning I had to feed the little girl that was here with us boys, the goat. Nelly usually gives here a bottle four times a day and she wanted to eat while Nelly was gone, so I try to make sure she didn't starve.

Simon is supervising making sure Uncle Andrew is doing it right.

Albert and I were quite busy most of the day installing the bathroom vanity cupboards. We put all the doors and drawers on and the tile counter top. Doesn't sound like much work for one day but it was. About supper time I took the boys to the Hamburger stand for supper. Albert had a headache so he stayed at home. When we got back from having our burgers I made a wooden stool for Simon to sit on. He needed to move out of his high chair because Natalia is getting big enough that she needs one now. After that I was sitting in the living room downing somethings on my computer and the boys were watching a little Tom & Jerry on you tube. Andrew got bord of Tom & Jerry and came and sat on me. He was sitting there for a while then I started to feel something quite wet on my legs. I asked Andrew if he had a dirty diaper and he said "Yes you need to change me." I was like well why didn't you just tell me. His shorts were all soaked, so after I got him all cleaned up then I had to get myself cleaned up. It's all good, I guess this is part of the job I volunteered for. James and Nelly got back at about 10pm from Guadalajara.

During the night Levi came and knocked at my door at about 2:30am. Andrew was crying I went into see what was wrong. He wanted some water and his cup was empty. i went got him some water and then he was happy. I went back to bed five minutes later Levi is at my door again, this time he wants water. I took him down and got him a drink. I went back to bed 15 minutes later Levi is at my door. He wants another drink downstairs we go again and get him a drink. We return to bed, about an hour passes and Andrew starts to cry I go in and he is crying because he wants to sleep with Levi in his bed, Levi said he could so I put him in with Levi and I went back to bed and I wasn't woken anymore. It was fine I really didn't mind.

Today Albert and I made the little cedar edge around the counter top and the back splash. James sprayed the varnish on it all and we sanded and varnished a cradle that he made a few years ago but never got the varnish on. The bathroom vanity is officially done now.

Here we have the back splash clamped on while it is being glued to the wall.

Tomorrow morning we will be driving to Puerto Vallarta and spending the day there and then Thursday morning Albert and I will fly home. My time here in Mexico is almost over it has gone by so fast again. I am so thankful for James and Nelly inviting me down here and hope that they just might let me come back sometime. James told me today that I don't have to leave I can stay longer if I want. I really do need to get home because God is opening up another opportunity for me to got to Mozambique. I thought that I might go in March but it seems now that i will probably be leaving the beginning of February, so that means i will be home for about three weeks again before I leave. I am not sure how long I am going for and I would appreciate prayer for this that I would know the Lord's will in this and that I would know how long I should go for because I need to book my tickets soon. I will probably blog next from freezing cold Ontario, hope I don't freeze.