HE did it again!

  Yesterday as I was praying for the services today I wondered who the Lord could bring in as visitors.  When I saw how few came for Sunday School I wondered how many would come for main service.  Today was also potluck.  We thought that it would be a farewell for the Goffs(heading to Arizona for the winter), but it turned out that they had to be in Saskatoon today.  Lorraine was flying to see her daughter and grandkids. She will be gone a week, home 2 days and then they leave.  It doesn't seem like we'll get much of a chance to say goodbye, but that happens sometimes. When the main service started there were only 18.  About 5 minutes after services they all started walking in. 12 more people, 2 of whom were first time visitors!  They came to visit their daughter from Korea.  A long way for visitors to come, but we're certainly thankful that  they did.  They even said they'd come back for the services tonight.   
 Potluck was a blessing, although our food didn't end up on the table.  We figure that our crockpot has stopped working properly, resulting in the potatoes and meat not ending up cooked after almost 5 hours.  Thankfully there was plenty of food, as usual.  Most people stayed and it was a good time of fellowship.
  It also looks like we'll be having another lady join us for the next Ladies Bible study.  That's a huge blessing, considering that there are only two ladies absent from our regular services. It's a reminder not to take God's power to move in the hearts of our community for granted. I think that we have about 5 more lessons in this series before finding a new area to study.  If any of you have been particularly blessed by a certain topic, I'd definitely be interested in hearing about it. 
  Something I didn't mention was the business meeting on Friday night.  It's been something that I never really felt comfortable attending, although the women are welcome.  Our church in Trail required us to all be there because there just weren't enough men in the church and a certain number of members had to be present to vote.  I went to the first couple because I thought Scott might need me there, but the last two I've abstained from.  I find that I get too emotionally involved with some of the things that the people say and I don't want to cause offense if I can avoid it.  Some of you know the history of the meetings from Oak Harbor, but for those that don't I'll share a brief synopsis.  Originally men and women were welcome to attend the meetings and they all had a vote.  However, after several heated meetings, where the women were upset over carpet colors, paint colors, etc, it was brought up that it might be better to have it be a men's business meeting.  The wives were in agreement and it went really well over the years, with only a few women being offended by the fact that they weren't welcome at the meeting.  They were allowed to know what went on and if they had issues they could bring them to their husbands or the pastor, but it just worked better and faster without them in attendance.  Some may think this is old-fashioned, but I'm really starting to see the wisdom in it.  In order to avoid conflict and further frustration I've opted out of going.  It's much more fun to stay at home with the kids anyway;). One of the big decisions I was really happy about is the decision to purchase a sound system.  When I have to be downstairs with the kids or making sure someone's casserole doesn't burn on potluck day, I really miss hearing the sermon.  Sometimes it's my sympathy for visitors or those hard of hearing to have to try to hear over child noises.  All in all, I think it's going to be a really good thing.  The second decision was to help our missionaries to the Philippines with their plane tickets.  Very thankful for that!
  Well, I'd better sign off for now.  We have a missionary preaching tonight.  He's headed to the Philippines and we're looking forward to seeing him present his ministry. Praying that the kids will continue their well behaved phase:).  J.K. I know that it's the Lord keeping them quiet, thus the comment that I'm "praying".  It's the best way to get results.

Time off for good behavior?

  Not sure if that's what you call getting a couple of hours without the kids, but I'm having a hard time thinking of a title.  Today felt like a bit of a holiday.  Mostly because Scott's had to work or study for several Saturdays in a row.  This morning I got to lay in bed with Kiersten til 7:). While I was being "lazy" Scott made bannock with the boys.  He had a couple things on his to do list, but told me that I could go "child-free" to town for the morning.  I had a few groceries to purchase, but mostly just had the opportunity to do it slowly, browsing the kids section for Garrison's birthday, without being asked for a toy, snack, or having to make sure that all hands stayed in the cart:)  Mind you, the kids are generally super good at the store.  They know that if they whine, they definitely don't get anything and if they cry(when they're not hurt) that we leave the store immediately and no one gets anything.  We've only had to do that once with each of the 3 older ones so far.  A huge blessing for sure! 
  When I got home he'd made no-bake cookies with the kids, fed them lunch and had a batch of beets ready to be canned(for him, of course:).  The house may or may not have been messy, but the fact that the kids were happy and ready to help carry in some groceries was a blessing.  The weather today has also been a huge blessing.  Sunny and slightly warm made an afternoon walk very desirable.  Kiersten went in the stroller and the others had fun seeing who could run the fastest.  I would post pictures, but I've been too busy spending time with the kids and didn't have the camera handy.Gotta go finish supper prep.
  P.S. Driving the Vibe was an added bonus!

Mission Accomplished

  This morning started early.  Around 6am, to be exact.  I had to get up to take a shower and Scott wanted us all in the car by 7:30.  Well, by 7:37 we were all in the car.  It was -14, but we couldn't very well cancel our appointment.  After an hour and a half at the dealership we went to sign the paperwork at the insurance office, then back to the dealership to pick up the car.  I should have brought a camera to entertain the kids.  If I'd thought about it more I would have brought books to read.  All they had were car and truck brochures and a bit of water.  I did remember snacks, but after that it got to just be a lot of sitting.  The lady that was supposed to be there failed to tell Scott that although the office opened at 8, she wouldn't be in til noon.  She'd asked another girl to handle things, but the girl didn't come out of her office for about 45 minutes.  Anyway, we're thankful that the process is complete. We walked out without buying the extended warranty, which was another $2,400.  The Matrix didn't have any warranty left on it, so we figured that we'd be okay without it. My experience is that you purchase it and then a couple months after it wears off you start to experience car trouble.  Why not just save that money and keep it in a repair account:)?  That's just my thoughts on the subject.
  Next on the list was dropping off some items at the Thrift shop.  We also needed a couple of winter items and God provided almost every single one of them.  Instead of paying $24 for new winter boots for Elyssia the Lord provided them almost brand new for $2.  The waterproof gloves were .75 instead of $10-15 and the boys winter underwear was only .50.  All in all I spent less than a 1/4 of what I would have paid for each of the things new, even finding a couple winter vests and pants for the boys.  God is so good to provide what we need and often what we just desire.  The next stop was for passport pictures.  Our 3rd attempt...  The first two times it was closed.  5 minutes and $30 later we had our passport pics and headed into get Scott a bit more for work clothes.  He's just about worn his to shreds and he's been wearing this one sweatshirt for at least 10 years, if not 15:)  Today, the Lord provided almost everything on sale and 3 pairs of dress pants for around $5-$10 each.  I don't know what most people's clothing budget looks like, but to get Scott's wardrobe for a year for under $100 is pretty amazing.  We budget around $40 a month for clothing needs, but usually I try to just shop for them once every couple months.  We probably spend around $200 total over the course of the year.  I think it's pretty good, but I don't have much to compare it with.  The Lord is so good to provide through the Thrift shops, that we don't seem to need all that's budgeted, although it seems to get spent elsewhere:)
  It took about an hour to get the kids down for naps once we got home, but I think they were just getting out some of the repressed energy from the car dealership:)  They're now playing horsie, mixed with bike helmets and shooting.  The joys of childhood imagination!