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. 🙂
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.
Preaching on the last part of Romans 5 from Saskatchewan to Mexico!
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!
All packed up and ready to leave Lashburn, SK! (or, “Three Hills or Bust”)
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.
So we had an event for Independence Day at the Jesús María community centre, with lots of activities. The first picture shows you-know-who with our friend David Gomez, who served with us in Jesús María (and is now a missionary in Uruguay).
The second picture is, of course, Hannah and Nathanael, same day, at the community centre.
Thanks again to everyone who has been praying for us during our time in Canada! Here’s a brief update…
We’ve been able to enjoy a little time with family, so that’s cool.
On Sunday, we enjoyed the service at First Evangelical Free Church. It was great to see many of you there! We’re always thankful to get together with our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
We were also encouraged to hear that the service went well at our church in Mexico. Lord willing we’ll catch up by watching the video sometime! 🙂
Also, I know that many of you have been praying for Hannah as she’s been looking for a job and a place to live. Well, the Lord has been bringing things together in many ways! Lord willing, this week she will start work, and also move into a new basement suite which she will eventually share with a room mate. More on that later, no doubt!
And, for a further clue that we really are in Canada, here’s a picture I took today:
My Dad spent countless hours in the study of God’s Word.
That study was expressed as he taught classes at a Bible college, or as he led a Bible study, preached, or provided counselling. But he also spent countless hours writing. Much of that writing he put online.
His online work actually focused on two topics – the Bible was one, and hymns was another.
After he passed away last August, we had to decide what to do with this online material. I finally decided to consolidate it all into one website – with the possibility of added unpublished work as well in the future. So, Wordwise Hymns and Wordwise Bible studies will be eventually all found here:
However, I am putting the material up a little at a time, which means that, Lord willing for the next few months (maybe years!), you’ll see new articles every week (currently 5x a week).
Other than updating the format, the material will be posted just as he originally wrote it.
If you’re looking for some thoughtful, Bible-based studies and articles (including answers to many questions that he received over the years – including some interesting ones like “Should I wear angel jewellery?”)), I encourage you to check out Wordwise. A series on the basics of the faith is just finishing up today (“Exploring Christianity”), and will be followed by some general articles about the church and the Christian life.
A lot of this material is in a format that could easily be used in a small group study, or printed on the back of a bulletin.
The latest articles are also currently found on the right sidebar of this site.
If you have any comments or suggestions regarding navigation and style, feel free to let me know. The site is probably not in its “final” form yet, and I’m sure there is a lot of room for improvement.
On this day in 2010, exactly ten years ago, Nathanael was graduating with his kindergarten class (K3). This was his last year attending Elizabeth Catelett Kindergarten in Ixtapaluca (named after the American/Mexican artist).
I have lots of pictures and video from that night, including some with his mortarboard, but this is one of my favourites. I think he was walking across the stage to receive his diploma.
