Grandchildren

We have one Grandson who is two years old and a bundle of energy. We were lucky to spend time with him at Evette's wedding. The downside of our grandchild is; he lives in British Columbia and we live in Nipigon, Ontario, needless to say we don't see much of him and have to make do with phone calls, which, as you can guess is not very satisfactory.

Now both our girls are expecting, at about the same time August/September. We are really excited for them, but, once again the distance is going to be a problem because Lynda will still be living in British Columbia and Evette lives in England. Although Evette does plan to come out and visit once the baby arrives.

I want to do the Grandparent thing and that is buy stuff. I keep seeing cute clothes and toys and furniture but because of the cost of shipping items to the girls I have to restrain myself. I recently saw this wonderful bundle of clothes on Ebay for a little girl and fell in love with them but I also don't know whether they will have a boy or a girl so silly to bid on items for a girl if neither of them has a girl. So I have to restrain myself constantly.

I never imagined that I would live so far from my children and hence grandchildren. Seeing that Richard is a Pastor we never know where God is going to Call him next. We know that we will be moving from here, there is no doubt about that, but there is also the possibility of moving even further away from Lynda. Mind you if we move to a bigger centre there is the chance that she could move to be closer to us. Evette though will still live in England, but if we were closer to a major airport then the flights would be far more reasonable to encourage travel between us.

So much to think about when one is to be a Grandparent once again. I am excited though to again anticipate the arrival of these little ones of God's creation.

More Wedding Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from Evette's Wedding. I hope Evette doesn't mind that I posted them here on my blog. I just love them and had to share with my friends.

The final touches

Waiting for Blessing and Prayer

Isn't this just a gorgeous picture and check out her fluffy boots (slipper).

Evette found these when I was in England in September and I agreed with her they were just perfect as a finishing touch.

One way of keeping warm during the outside shots

A Pastor's Call

A Pastor has to really love his Calling to accept only half his salary and then some months not receive any salary.

Richard has always said that teaching The Bible is the best thing he can think of doing. There is nothing else he would rather do than be a Pastor. This is all good because four years ago he agreed to receive only half his salary as a temporary measure. As the years have gone by it has been harder and harder for this tiny congregation to meet even that. We are now in the third month of 2008 and February there was no salary forth coming and this month looks like it could follow suite.

Four years ago Richard agreed with the Chairman of the congregation to allow his name to be put forward for a new Call. It is obvious that this is where God want’s Richard, as he has not received a new Call yet.

God has supplied all that we need. I was offered a position in the business office of the local hospital; originally it was a six month contract. Just after Richard’s salary was halved the Hospital offered me a full-time position. I recognise that God supplied the job in order for Richard to remain here. I do complain often that I would rather not be working but I continue to faithfully do my duties at the hospital.

Tragedy struck this area. In the past year and a half the two big employers of the area have ceased to exist. The paper mill in the next town closed down in November 2006; and in February 2007 the Plywood Fabricating Mill in town burnt to the ground and will not be rebuilt. The hospital is now the largest employer in this small area of Northern Ontario and we have fewer than 100 employees. Many families have out of work parents or a spouse that is traveling to another province for work, which means they are away more than they are home. Young families have moved away due to the lack of work.

Our Congregation was small to begin with and over the last few years has shrunk even more. We have had people retire and move to the bigger centre an hour away. We have families who are out of work; and families with a parent working away. And of course we have had members die and those that don’t like the Pastor both of these items every congregation has to deal with. For a congregation to suffer so much God continues to keep his Pastor here. Are we frustrated? Yes of course, but we look on the positives and remain faithful to God’s Call here.

So no matter what God has in store for Richard and me we remain here until the day God Calls Richard to a new Parish.

Time Flies

Wow! I can't believe it has been a month since my last posting. So much time and yet very little to report. Of course the big event of February was Evette's Wedding on the 16th. It did this mother's heart good to see my girl married to such a wonderful young man. The downside is he isn't a Christian so they had a civil marriage.

Everyone had to travel for this big event. Evette and Smiley chose Jasper, Alberta in the winter. The weather was wonderful never dipping lower than -6 Celsius, which is great for the mountains. We flew out of Thunder Bay on the Wednesday, were delayed in Calgary for two hours which meant Lynda, who was meeting us in Edmonton with her 2 year old son had to wait three hours for our plane to arrive. We rented a minivan, after factoring in two large cases a piece and a couple of carry ons and of course a stroller for Kegan and his car seat, would be far too much luggage for a car. Once landed in Edmonton we started the four to five hour drive to Jasper. We arrived in Jasper very late and very tired Wednesday.

Smiley's family are all from England. Most of the English contingent flew in to Calgary on Tuesday and then drove to Jasper through the mountains on Wednesday. Evette said the drive wasn't too bad but that was a far different opinion to the one I heard from those who have never driven in Canada and such snowy conditions. They did say the mountains are gorgeous.

Friday was the rehearsal and then family dinner at which 40 of us partook. Evette did such a wonderful job of placing us at the three large tables. The rehearsal was great fun and although a civil wedding it did not lack for much. Evette had asked Richard to do a Wedding prayer and blessing.

Saturday arrived and five of us headed out to the hairdressers, this took far longer than Evette had imagined and we had to leave one of the bridesmaids at the hairdressers sending someone to get her so we would have time to dress Evette. I quickly donned my attire and then headed for Evette's room to help in dressing her. The biggest challenge was lacing up the back of her dress, this was left to me with one of her friends holding the ends of the ribbon as I worked with the other end. She looked gorgeous. Red for the bride and white for her maid of honour and bridesmaid. The Groom had red vest, tie and hanky. The groomsmen had grey vests, ties and hanky. No vail for the bride just a simple tierra.

Ready and waiting for the grand entrance.

The bridal party after the ceremony and during picture taking.

Evette saying thank you.

There will be more pictures to come but these give you an idea of how gorgeous Evette looked and how the bridal party looked. I promise more pictures to follow soon.