Living in St. Marys

In 2006 Jack and I had a number of changes that took place in our lives. Sometimes you are not sure just what the Lord has in mind for you. Our changes ranged from being finished with the work at the church in Guelph, trying to determine where the Lord wanted us to minister, selling our house, storing our furniture, major surgery for me in the middle of this, and then living at a friend's house while waiting for direction. It was quite a year with many struggles, doubts, and thankfully some victories with the Lord.
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After the surgery Jack bought me a CD by Damaris Carbaugh. I do love her music because it never fails to minister to my heart. One song on it was Jeremiah 29:11. I didn't even know this verse had been put to music. "For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." A number of nights I would listen to that song as I was trying to go to sleep. It was a great comfort to me.

It took several months before we knew what and where we were to live and minister. The Lord is so good. He led us step by step. He has us so safe in His hands, even though we think we are just barely hanging on. After looking in several small towns, He directed us to St. Marys, Ontario. It is about 15 minutes southwest of Stratford and about 30 minutes north of London.

St. Marys is around 6,000 people and is a beautiful town on the Thames River. All these names do make you think you are in England instead of Ontario. I'm going to include pictures of St. Marys so you can see a little of what it looks like. We purchased a semi-detached house (we used to call them duplexes) only 2 years old. St. Marys is called Stonetown because of the limestone quarry located here. A number of the buildings are made of limestone. Included in the pictures is the waterfalls that goes through the middle of the town, a walking bridge over the river, the town hall, our library, the water tower, the location of the past grist mill and the downtown area.

There are so many things that the Lord worked out for us. His plans truly are for our good and blessing. I keep thinking how years ago I told the Lord I wanted only to live for Him. Sometimes we don't realize exactly what that involves. He has to strip away so many things in our lives before that takes place. Some things are easy to give up, some it takes a while for you to let go, and then there are the painful things that seem to be ripped out of your very heart.

We are working with two churches now. One is in Exeter and one in Stratford. The Lord has given us many new friends and a new ministry. He has met our financial needs in many different ways. One unforeseen way the Lord has met this financial need is in Jack doing some work on the farm of several men of the churches we attend. He grew up working on his grandfather's farm (which he loved). He has gotten to drive some John Deere tractors, etc. He also has developed some good relationships with men in the churches because of this.

The main reason I wanted to write this blog was to post some pictures of St. Marys. The Lord gives us much more than we could ask or think. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we never had fears about the future. I've found that the one thing in my life that I just can't do without is my time with Him and my studying of His Word. His Word keeps me focused on Him, trusting Him and praising Him.

Canada Day

The past few years we have celebrated july 1st, Canada Day, with four special friends of ours. It started when we lived in Guelph, Ontario. Our friends are Beth, George, Dot, and Jim.

Beth and George live in an apartment building on the 7th floor. Their living room window (fills the whole wall) looks out over the park. Every year there is a fair in the park with rides, food, live music, plus other things. When it gets dark, around 9:30, there is about a 20 minute fireworks exhibition.

We get there between 4:30-5:00 and enjoy a great meal that Beth has prepared. It is a time to catch up on all the family news of everyone. Jim and Dot travel quite a bit with their trailer and have all kinds of stories to tell. They are in their 70's and are always gone on some adventure. Beth and George go golfing almost every day. Both couples love the Lord and are very involved in things at the church.

After supper we always play games. It is the guys against the girls. Last night we played Mexican train and the girls won, but then the guys beat us in a card game named golf. We do laugh a lot and of course are snacking as we play games and Beth always has diet coke for me (now, that's a good friend).

It's wonderful to be sitting in cushioned seats while we watch the fireworks. There are no mosquitos, bugs, etc. to bother us. We have been blessed through the years to have good friends to share times like this with.

Our yard

I always look forward to winter going and summer being here. This year it took a little longer. As much as I enjoy flowers, I'm not much on growing them or taking care of them. So, I'm very happy that Jack loves to garden. He grew up working on both grandfathers' farms and loves to garden.

We moved here to St. Marys a year and a half ago and he has slowly been getting our yard in order. The house is a semi-detached house and was only two years old when we bought it. The yard hadn't had anything done to it.

Last summer Jack put in a sidewalk up to the front door and also built a small deck at the back of our house, next to the patio doors. He made a small flower garden adjoining the patio. He has planted several cedar bushes, some perennials and has planted some hosta plants. In the small flower garden he put a trellis with some clematis plants growing up it. The flowers are purple and so beautiful.

At a garage sale last summer he bought two planters for the patio and they look great. Last fall we brought back several trees from northern Ontario for the side yard. They are still quite little, but will grow. They remind us of our 30 years up north and the great friends we still have there. One finishing touch was a maple tree for the backyard that Jack bought and planted. It is a good size and I love it. He is to be commended for all his hard work.

Adventures with my Sister

When I was in Dallas recently, my sister (Shirley) came down and we spent several days traveling together. We drove to Oklahoma City to see my brother and his wife. Then we drove over to Ft. Smith, Ark. where she lives. Our plans included going to Branson, Mo. to see some of the shows there. We arrived in Ft. Smith Sunday afternoon and then left for Banson late Monday morning.

Driving with Shirley is an adventure. I think she could probably be a NASCAR driver, along with my daughter. She is from the South (which you definitely have to be in order to be a NASCAR driver), can start and stop on a dime (and sometimes does), gets where she is going in about half the time that I can get there, and before you know it she is parked and out of the car--she has things to get done.

It is about 2 1/2 hours up to Branson from Ft. Smith. As we were getting close to Fayetteville (not sure how to spell that) she was trying to remember how to go around it and get to the highway north. I kept telling her that she needs to have a map of Arkansas in the car and then she could know definitely what exit to take. That didn't seem to appeal to her. We did have an atlas of the states and I tried to tell her several times that we were not on the right road. She is always very optimistic and knew she would find the right road, and eventually did. Can you tell that she is the first born and I'm the middle child?

We didn't do badly on the time it took to get to Branson. Just before we got to our motel, we saw the theater that we were going to go to that night. It was only about 1/2 mile from the Motel. I suggested that maybe we could walk when it was time to go. We had been sitting for a while and it would be good to just walk. We were going to see Shoji Tabuchi (a Japanese violinist) at his theater. It started at 8:00 so we left the motel about 7:00. We wanted to visit the gift shop and then go see the women's bathroom at the Theater. I've been hearing for years about this bathroom. I'll include a picture of it. When we got there Shirley went to get our tickets that we had reserved. She got out the sheet that she had written all our reservation numbers on and then realized that we weren't to see this show until Tuesday afternoon. We were to go to see the Presley Family (not Elvis) instead.

One thing we have in common with each other is a good sense of humor. We also can laugh at ourselves. So off we went, laughing, in a hurry to walk back to the motel to get the car. I tried to forget that I was the one who suggested we walk to the theater. Then we had the task of finding the back way to the Presley Theater. In Branson you don't want to go down main street when you are in a hurry. After much ado (yes, Shirley knew exactly how to get there) with a little searching we got there about 10 minutes before it started. My friend, Sharon, had recommended that we go to this show and it was very good. The music was outstanding.

We did go see Shoji Tuesday afternoon and he was great. He also had a small orchestra and dancers that were wonderful. Tuesday night we went to see Andy Williams. Shirley and I were teenagers when he was popular, oh so many years ago. He is 76 and still has a very strong voice. I had my picture taken with him at his theater as you can see. Alright, it is only a cardboard picture of him. The songs he sang brought back many memories.

Wednesday morning we left for Ft. Smith and then the next day back to Dallas. It was a very fun time with Shirley and I love sharing adventures with her.

I'm so proud of myself

I have officially done two blogs with pictures attached, and am very proud of myself for doing them. The first one my son helped me with, but the second one I did on my own. I had to keep telling myself that I can do this. It took me several tries to finally remember the steps that Lenn showed me, but I persevered. Since I officially will be a senior citizen in June (yes, turning that dreaded 65) I feel that I can boast that even us "seniors" can learn computer things. Of course, my nervous system will never be the same. There is no telling what I will try to master next.

Since I'm so confident now, I think I'll show you a picture I took in Dallas of Lenn and the boys.

Memories of Motherhood

Once your children are grown and leave home you tend to forget how much time, effort, blood, sweat and tears are involved with having babies and toddlers at home. The memories are there, but maybe you box them up and put them in the closet of your mind. My daughter graduated from high school in 1987 and went to college and then my son graduated in 1992 and went to college and it has been very quiet here ever since. There have been many days I wished that they were home and the house was messy and it was noisy here.

All of this to say I've renewed my respect for mothers with small children, after seeing how much work Sarah does in taking care of three energy filled boys, ages 4,3,1. I've just spent two weeks with Lenn and Sarah and the boys, in Dallas. It brings back memories of the nights that you don't get much sleep, being a peace keeper between the children, thinking at times there is more food on the floor than was eaten, constant washing of clothes,etc. So often after my own children were in bed I'd think "why was I so upset with them today?", they look like little angels now. Of course, the next day I remembered why I got upset with "the little angels".

Even though there is a hugh amount of effort that goes into raising children, they are so worth it. I have such fun memories of the past two weeks. Saturday we went up to Lake Murray in Oklahoma to be with my brother. He has a boat and he wanted us to come and go out on it. Andrew was sitting in the back of the boat urging his Uncle Bob to go faster so the waves would be bigger. He was fearful of getting in the deep water, but finally got on a small floating thing(don't know what it is called) and conquered his fear so he could go with his Daddy to the shore to throw rocks in the water.

Matthew had a harder time on the boat, but once we stopped and Mom and Dad were swimming he would walk to the back with his stick fishing pole and pretend to fish. The stick was another of his "treasures" that he loves to find. He snuggled with his Daddy on the way back to shore. He also loves to try anything he sees his big brother doing. They have such fun together.

Then you see Robbie coming right behind his two older brothers. He is eager to climb on anything, get into the little swimming pool they have, wrestle with them, etc. Since turning one, he is sitting forward in the car seat, eagerly looking out and seeing everything, smiling at his Mom and Dad as they look back at him. He also loves to swim and here he is in the water with his Dad.

It is hard being so far from Lenn and Sarah and the boys. I am thankful to the Lord for the times I get to be with them. They will be coming up to Ontario this summer for a week and I can hardly wait.

My Three Grandsons in Dallas

I'm having a great time in Dallas with Lenn, Sarah and their three boys (Andrew, Matthew, Robbie). As I watch each of them I see how different God has made them. They have such different personalities.

Andrew is 4 1/2 and looks just like his Daddy, and has the energy his Daddy had at his age. He loves to jump and run and climb. His co-ordination is unbelieveable for his age. I'm not nervous when he climbs on things(at least I try not to be). He seems to know how to do it without hurting himself. I love it when he is serious and is telling you something that is important. My heart just melts when I look at his sweet face and see the innocense of childhood just oozing out of him. He loves for someone to read books to him, loves to laugh. Coming home from eating lunch out today he kept asking his Daddy about motorcycles. One answer led to another question. He continues to love learning about things.

He especially loves quilts and blankets. When he was up at my house at Christmas, he was sleeping in one of the bedrooms with Matthew. I have an end table that has a quilted skirt on it and then a scarf on top of the skirt (the table is round) and then there is the round glass over these two items and a lamp sitting on the glass. After the first night, I was sitting downstairs waiting for everyone to get up and here comes Andrew, carrying the quilted skirt and scarf and he was saying he was very careful when he took them off the end table and explained how he did it. I just stared at him with my mouth open, not quite grasping the fact that he thought it was another quilt that he felt he needed. It also didn't dawn on me that there had been a piece of glass on top of the "quilt" and a glass lamp and to be worried that he could have hurt himself with them until Lenn had gone up to see what had taken place. It all made me laugh. I love making memories with him.

Then there is Matthew who is 3. Sarah and Lenn have told me how much he loves finding "treasures", but I didn't understand fully about this until this visit. It is amazing how he finds money when we are walking with him. I don't think there has been a day since I've been here that he hasn't found at least a penny or nickel when we have been out. He finds other things as well, and always comes home with another treasure. I'm sure he'll go deepsea diving for sunken treasure when he grows up.

I love it when he is talking about something serious. He talks with a deep voice and is ever so serious. You need to watch him also when he is drinking anything liquid. He will drink it until it is empty, usually walking around while drinking. It doesn't matter what it is. He has done this from the time he started drinking from a sippy cup. He follows his "big" brother around and tries everything Andrew tries. He also loves play dough, chalk painting, anything to do with art. Besides hunting for treasures when he is grown, he'll also sell his famous paintings all over the world.

The third grandson is Robbie. He will be 1 this month on the 18th. When I think of him I think of his magical smile that lights up the room. He always is ready to smile and laugh. It is funny to see him at the supper table with his brothers. He wants to enter into what is going on. He talks or yells right along with them, jabbering as if we should understand what he is saying. He also does things to make you laugh on purpose. He has started to walk and every day he is going further. Of course, when he crawls he can really motor. It is fun to see how fast he can get to what he is after. Yesterday his Aunt YaYa was over with her dog Pooky(not sure how to spell that). Robbie is all over him, loving him, and Pooky just lays there and lets him do it.

Children are a blessing from the Lord, especially grandchildren. I thank the Lord that Sarah and Lenn are raising their children to love the Lord. I thank the Lord for His blessings in my life.