Week of Unpacking & Relaxation

Once we returned to Port Alberni, we began unpacking our stuff in the new house. It took awhile to get things situated with our furnace; using oil as our fuel for the furnace is something new to us so Herman has had to get used to working this new furnace over. Our landlord helped us with wood, getting fuel, and even a neighbor gave us wood to get us going. We brought our woodstove back from Arizona and hooked that into the furnace as well so hopefully, the combination of the furnace and the woodstove will keep this house heated. THEN, Thursday night, we ran out of oil and woke up to a semi-cold house so once again, Herman had to start up the woodstove and it was crazy. Eventually, the house warmed back up.

Boy, talk about living by faith. We basically returned to Canada with practically no money because of all the stuff we had to do while we were in the States and staying there a week longer than we had planned for. But once again, God knows our needs and continuously provides for us. We are so thankful for the church at Victoria First Church of the Nazarene; they have been so faithful in providing financial support and they came through when we really needed it. It's tough at times, especially because we have always been self-sufficient but being here in Canada has been all about faith and depending on our God. Eventually, Cynthia will begin working fulltime here in Canada but that will be a process in itself due to immigration regulations.

In the meantime, we are enjoying our two sons being with us for the Christmas holidays. We had a chance to attend the Christmas Eve service at Southside Community then had Christmas dinner with Pastors Cal and Mel and some of their family members. We had good food, learned a new card game, and just had a good time being with one another. This week began with snow and ended with snow but we understand the rain is coming back so we'll see how long this snow lasts. But while it's here, we're going to enjoy it.

"How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in You." Psalm 31:19

We are home....in Port Alberni

Thanks for everyone's prayers as we traveled back. We got into Port after 10:30 pm, Monday night. Because the house wasn't heated, we spent the night in our trailer, which was fine. At least we were warm. Today we begin unpacking and moving stuff from our basement level to the main floor. Marcus got sick on us before we even left so keep him in your prayers; he's pretty much drugged up. There's snow everywhere here in Port with more snow all this week. It's definitely a white Christmas....yup, all is well. Merry Christmas, everyone!

"For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

FINALLY! Back to Canada....

UPDATE 2: We are now in Ellensburg, WA. We probably would have made it to Seattle but were just worn out from all the intense driving through white-out road conditions. Thanks to everyone's prayers because that's how we made it through. Tomorrow, we continue on.

Continue to pray for good weather, especially thru the mountains east of Seattle!

UPDATE: We made it to Ogden, Utah so we did alright. We hope to be in Seattle by Sunday night then on to the Island by Monday morning. Heard it's freezing cold....brrrrr. It's already cold here in Utah.

We are finally going back to Canada. We hope to get past Salt Lake City tonight so prayers for good travel, good tires, good weather, and all good stuff. We already locked the keys in the truck before we even started so surely it can only be good from here...

Such craziness....

We really need to go home....back to Canada but it seems that things keep coming up. This week finds us all over the place. We returned to Dilkon on Sunday night after we finally got done with services in Ramah. All went well there; after service, we drove to Winslow, AZ to visit Cynthia's dad, who was still in the hospital. Doctors diagnosed him with severe bladder infection so they kept him an extra night before releasing him Monday morning. He is doing fine now, already walking around. We are just thankful that we were in the area when all these things happened. It would have been so much harder being in Canada while Dad was in the hospital. God is good.

We stayed put in Dilkon, making sure Cynthia's parents were fine then Tuesday we attended Cynthia's niece's basketball game in Joseph City (her team won). After that, we had to drive to Pine Hill because Cynthia was asked to assist with some business related to her former job with the Head Start program. We had also left some things behind at her sister's place that we needed to sort through so Tuesday night found us in Pine Hill, NM. Wednesday, Cynthia was at her former workplace all morning then she had to run paperwork through because she will be participating in a meeting Friday morning in Santa Fe. By the time, we left Pine Hill, she was stressing out. We arrived in Albuquerque and attended services with our boys at Calvary Chapel. Instead of the main service, we attended the youth services that was put on by the the middle school ministry that our son is a part of. It was a cool service, lots of singing, short readings, taking of communion, and a goooood message from Revelations 5. It was probably one of the best messages we have heard from Revelations.

Today (Thursday), Cynthia is trying to finish out her online class assignments and Herman is driving back to Pine Hill because we found that Cynthia's medications were left behind. Our kids are busy with final exams and papers also. They just come and go. Tomorrow, Cynthia has to be in Santa Fe for a meeting then return to her final exams. We just want to get back to Canada and our own home too. Nothing like home. We are hoping to drive out next week, get back, move all our belongings from the basement on to the main floor, settle in, kick up our heels, and couch potato it til the middle of January because this is such craziness!

Prayer Request

Well, the day Cynthia has been dreading arrived. Having written our blog and said all that about sickness, we left for evening service at Calvary Chapel. As soon as the worship service ended, we began receiving text messages and calls telling us that Cynthia's dad was being transported to Winslow by ambulance for unknown health-related problems. This was right after a powerful time of worship too. All we could do was just put Dad in God's hands and trust that He would take control. Still, it was pretty scary. Right now Dad is okay; doctors are running tests on him. Two of Cynthia's brothers are there, along with her mom, her nephew, and one of her aunts. Who knows why Dad got sick all of a sudden, but either way, no matter if it was satan or not, when we cried out to God, once again our God heard our prayers. So please continue to pray for him. Dad knows his Heavenly Father very well, and we know that he wasn't afraid at all. Yet it's still tough when something like this happens.

"The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." Psalm 18:2

Mmmmm.....gooood!

Well, we sure had our fill of mutton alright....thanks to a Zuni man from Pescado. Boy, this piece of meat was fattening! Layers and layers of fat...and we ate it. Sheephead and all. It was gooooood. So thank you, Bootz! That's the sheep's name, from what we hear.

Cynthia arrived in Phoenix on November 21. Between the airport and the restaurant, she said her voice dried out and all moisture was sucked out of her; then by the time she got to Flagstaff, it was so piercing cold that her joints and bones stiffened up and she could barely move. For the next couple days, it got worse and worse. We couldn't understand what was going on. However, she was able to attend our oldest son's presentation for the Youth Leadership Conference in Flagstaff on November 22. All went very well. The boys returned to Albq for school and work while Cynthia went on to Dilkon. She drove with her niece to Albq on Sunday evening. On Monday the 25th, she and 2 of her sons caught a ride to Pine Hill where on Tuesday morning, she was seen at the Clinic. Mainly, they did bloodwork and gave her Tylenol. On Wednesday night, Herman arrived in Dilkon after speaking at LeChee Nazarene Church for their Wednesday service. There were at least 25 people in attendance.

Then for the next couple days, we more or less cooked and ate and ate and cooked. During this time, Cynthia was in a lot of pain. People recommended various treatments--from wearing mittens and socks to rubbing horse liniment on her joints. Finally, on Tuesday, December 2, we returned to Pine Hill where the doctor informed us that Cynthia did have rheumatoid arthritis. On a scale of 0-14, her rheumatoid factor was 387. So now she's taking seven different medication; all of which has helped her and now she is moving around again with no pain. Praise the Lord! When Cynthia informed her family of the lab results, one of her brothers wrote, "Congratulations! You always scored high in everything you did. JK." That was funny. But we're thankful that God heard our prayers.

During this time, our son asked a question, "do you think that when we get sick or have health problems, it's from the devil?" When asked to explain, he continued, "well, sometimes people say 'the devil is attacking me' so they blame it on that." So we talked about that and basically said that no, it always isn't entirely the devil's fault. Many things may have contributed to a sickness--sometimes we don't take care of ourselves like we should, we don't eat healthy, we don't exercise, we overwork ourselves, we stress out, and basically we are not very good stewards of the bodies God has given us. Then when it begins to fall apart from lack of care, we pay the price. So in many cases, we have to examine ourselves and see if we also contributed to the problem. It was a reminder of how our bodies are a temple of God. and that we need to treat it as such. We tend to focus on keeping it pure from sin such as sexual immorality but overlook eating healthy, exercising, resting, etc. It was a wake-up call.

So far, we have spoken at four different Nazarene churches on the Southwest Native American District--LeChee, Leupp (Sun. morning), Dilkon (Sun. evening), and Albuquerque Apache Avenue (this past Wed. night). Tomorrow morning (December 7), we drive out to our former church in Ramah to share with the people once again what is happening on Vancouver Island. Overall, it has been good spending time with family and friends. We are trying to cram as many things in as we can during our remaining short time here. Cynthia is finishing out her Fall Semester online courses so she's looking forward to her Winter Break before she starts again in January. The same with our children.

Last night (Friday), we met with our oldest son's School of Ministry professors and shared about what and why we are on Vancouver Island. It's amazing all the opportuntunities that we have before us if we would only let go of our "comfort blankets". We settle so much for the average and the routine then we wonder why our lives seem like it's going nowhere. Our God is always on the move, and He constantly invites us to be a part of Him. We find that very humbling and exciting. Although we may experience health problems, financial problems, etc., the bottom line is we know we are where we need to be--being a part of God's plan.

So this week finds us resting in our God; enjoying His blessings--our children, family, friends, food, Das Bootz, doctors, and church family. Yes, we are blessed indeed!

"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." Psalm 34:8

We're Back in the States

Cynthia flew back to the States on November 21 and Herman and PeeWee drove back until November 26. So we have been back for about two weeks now, and have been here, there, and everywhere. Currently, we're in Albq visiting our kids. As soon as we get some time here, we will write a longer blog and even add some pictures. So everybody, just hold thy horseys, we will be right back....stay tuned.