Retro: The Chocolate Presentation
Ten years ago today, first thing on a Monday morning, Shari went with Hannah to her school, where they both did a special presentation to the class about – chocolate!
Just click the photo to see a larger version…
Family
Holy Week Whirlwind
It’s been a whirlwind of activity around here – and it’s continuing, actually! But finally I decided I’d better write something here to update you all. 🙂
Holy week began with Palm Sunday, and I was preaching. It was very interesting, I’ve never specifically preached on a Palm Sunday theme, so I learned a lot. For example, do you remember that verse that talks about the people waving palm branches as Jesus rode by? I don’t think you do, actually, because there’s no such verse. How about that? (For the record, I think there’s good biblical evidence that the people did wave palm branches – but there’s no one verse specifically saying so. In fact, only one Gospel actually mentions palms.)
During the week we went up north of Mexico City to the ranch where our friends the Howers live, for a missionary kid camp. It was designed for the kids and teens, but lots of adults (many MKs themselves, but not all) came as well. It was a great time of sharing and learning and fun and fellowship.
Back we came to Ixtapaluca, in time for a Good Friday service, led by our friend Edgar, in which Ezequiel led us through a meditation on the meaning of Christ’s death.
And then, of course, Resurrection Sunday! Oscar preached on – well, the resurrection, of course! And I led a game of “Who said it? Resurrection Sunday edition”.
Surprisingly, there are a lot of quotes in the resurrection story – and it’s not always so easy to remember who said it!
Today I’m getting ready for this coming Sunday, when we’ll be continuing our study of biblical anthropology. We’ve been doing it the first Sunday of each month, but we made an exception because of Holy Week. I don’t know how it’s going for everyone else, but I’ve been learning a lot from our study!
On Saturday we have our institute class – and in our New Testament Survey we’re finally arriving at the last book of the Bible! So that should be fun.
So it has been busy. Nathanael is starting to head into the home stretch for school, so that will be a little crazy over the next few weeks.
But Lord willing we will be able to get away for a few days next week and have a break, before diving back in again.
There’s a lot coming up, including the usually very busy month I lovingly call Manic May. Lots of decisions to be made. May we be faithful in service to our Lord as we take each step!
Retro: Holidays in Mexico City!
10 years ago today (and tomorrow, to be precise) we were having a lot of fun taking a holiday in Mexico City! So here are 4 photos for the price of one.
Top left – Hannah and Albert Einstein (well, a wax figure of Einstein)
Top right – Jim and Cantinflas (Mario Moreno) (again, in wax. Moreno was famous comedian from Mexico City)
Bottom left – Shari and Hannah in the pool
Bottom right – Nathanael outside Chapultepec Castle
14.6km
For his physical education class, Nathanael had to put together an activity using “SMART goals” (goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound). So he decided to do an Ixtapaluca hike.
So, yesterday after our main meal of the day we set out to fulfill the goals. He had mapped out a route (which we ended up adjusting somewhat en route), which included climbing up to two archaeological sites on two sides of town.
I took some pictures as we went, so I thought you might enjoy this mini-tour. I’ve linked to each picture in our Photo Gallery so that you can see the full-resolution version (you will want to actually download the photo from the gallery if you want the full-res version).
The Late Great Class of 2020
Late to graduate, that is! Through no fault of their own!
Yes, Hannah finally “officially” graduated from high school!
We’re so proud of all her hard work for so many years! Way to go, Hannah!
Speaking of late, I’m late posting this too! But the good folks at Prairie Christian Academy decided to do an outdoor graduation on the 26th of September. So we all sat out in the parking lot on a beautiful sunny day.
Hannah graduated with honours, and was nominated for the Timothy Award. Her tribute was read by her art teacher.
And it was very cool that Hannah’s Grandpa and Grandma Winger and Grandma Cottrill were all able to be there for the big event.
And we were able to be there! Because there were times when we thought it might not work out.
I’m sure I’ll post some better pictures in our gallery eventually, but I wanted to make sure I had something here on our blog for this big event. 🙂
Just something else to be thankful for – Hannah!
WHAT is going on??
I’m finally taking a breath and sitting down to give you a bit of an update. But it will take more than one post to get through it all! So let’s go in order. 🙂
So after we talked to you last, we spent some time in Saskatchewan, in the Lashburn/Maidstone/Lloydminster area, with my Mom and other friends there. We enjoyed some time with the folks at Grace Community Church in Maidstone, and as planned I spoke there on the 13th of September.
Also in September I spoke at our church in Mexico! By recorded video, this time. 🙂 Actually, this was much more of an “adventure” than we intended. We have had tremendous technical difficulties with one laptop, and since then we’ve gone through hours of tech support, and the problem still isn’t solved. So that has certainly thrown a wrench into the works.
However, thank the Lord, the sermon somehow got edited and uploaded, though not quite with the excellence I would have liked. 🙂
Now, big news. For quite a few months (actually, even longer), my Mom has been batting around the idea of moving to Three Hills. Why Three Hills, you ask? Well, because of the lovely view of the three imposing hills, casting their massive shadows over the landscape of the vast Canadian prairies, of course! Well, a lot of reasons.
First, she has family here now (Hannah, her granddaughter), as well as “in-law” family – Shari’s parents. Also, there’s a place for seniors here (the Golden Hills Lodge), which has the bonus of providing meals (my Mom’s a good cook, but she’s been busy with a lot of things, so this is one big time-saver).
We came to Canada knowing this was a possibility, but she didn’t finally decide until we were in SK last month. Now, how this went down was interesting. Hannah was graduating on the 26th (more on that later). I believe my Mom decided to move on the 16th. And she also decided that she would like to move before Hannah’s grad, so that she could be there for the celebration. Which, when we worked in all the logistics, meant that we basically had 7 days to move, start to finish.
I’m not sure I would have been that ambitious, but since that’s what my Mom wanted to do, we decided to give it a try (and when we had time to think, we realized that there were a number of reasons why this may be a good idea, but we won’t get into all that).
So – the short story — we did it! By God’s grace and through a lot of insanity!
So, my Mom has moved to Three Hills! Her address, phone number and email will all be changing, but there are forwarding services in place now. So get a hold of her while you can, and you can get updated on all the new info. 🙂
There’s still a lot to do while she gets settled, but we’re trying to lend a hand where we can. Otherwise, she’s doing well and enjoying catching up with friends and family, and making a lot of new friends.
So I’ll try to update you on our next speaking engagements, and also other adventures (including Hannah’s grad!) when I have the change to take another breath.