Counting My Blessings

We're ahead of the times. You all are just settling into your Christmas Eve festivities and gifts and yummy food. That is so yesterday for us.

Well, anyway...Kendall is working tonight so we had our celebration last night. Out of 8 nights, he's working 7. Last night was the one he had off so we took advantage of it.

We had fun eating fondue. Of course the boys couldn't understand why we had to do dishes before we could open the coveted presents. They were so excited. At one point Eli announced, "You know what the best thing about Christmas is? The presents!" Then he added, "And then Jesus!" (After I tucked them into bed tonight I did hear him talking to Evan. I couldn't hear all of what he said, but it sounded like he was now saying that Jesus is the best part. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.)






Drinking egg nog. (Homemade! I had never made egg nog before this year. It's really good!)


Hanging up my gift from the boys: A bird feeder. They thought it was great fun to try to keep it a secret from me. Don't tell them, but I knew anyway.

So last night we all slept in the living room, a tradition of both the Millers and the Hochstedlers. Whew! Glad we only do that once a year! We hauled our big mattress out to the living room because dog-gone-it we're not camping! Kendall and I had a secret plan of letting the boys fall asleep then watching a movie from bed. Well, that plan slowly disintegrated when Evan took FOREVER to fall asleep. We were so tired that we gave up and went to sleep ourselves.

But in the meantime, we were treated to quite the show. That kid was all over the place! Rolling across the floor in his sleeping bag, throwing my slippers on my head, getting rid of his sleeping bag and pillow, whacking me on the head to tuck me in with his special blanket, trying to sleep across our feet, etc. etc. We would tell him sternly, "Evan, you need to hold still and be quiet!" Then we would lie there shaking with laughter. At one point we heard thumping. Then a little voice: "Dad, how do you do a flip?" Yes, he was practicing. Another time he joined Eli in a favorite Christmas song: "Mary, did you know that your baby boy would walk on water sometimes?" Anyway, Kendall and I gave up on any plans of staying up later than the boys and fell asleep.

Today we laid around until late. That was nice, but the rest of the day was more difficult. We know that the Hochstedlers are together in Iowa right now. We figured out that we haven't missed a family Christmas get-together with either side since we're married. So that seemed to have an effect on our day. It's really hard to miss that. And Kendall is working a lot right now, which also affects both of us.

We had a rather blue day. On the way to the Christmas Eve service tonight Kendall suddenly belted out a rousing rendition of We Wish You a Merry Christmas. He made it heartily all the way through the first line, then gave up and said, "Never mind. I thought maybe it would help." Oh well, his humor did help.

But today I looked across the parking lot and saw Donald drunk and falling down in the snow with his friends trying to help him up. A relative of his recently froze to death outside her door here in Red Lake. She had her key, but just didn't make it inside. He mentioned it, calling her his mother, yesterday at soup kitchen. I also thought of all the women and children who have husbands overseas in the military. I'm glad I have my husband here over Christmas and, more importantly, year round. Tonight at the Christmas Eve service, Kendall leaned over to me and mentioned our friends who are missionaries in Morocco. I had also been thinking of them during the service. They are much farther from family right now and in a foreign country. Following God to Morocco has been a lot more intense than my following Him (and my husband) to Canada. I know Nathalie is also working tonight and Rod is celebrating without her. In fact, so many people have to work on Christmas. And so many people don't get to celebrate with lots of family.

I have so many blessings and I want to remember that. It's too easy to focus on what I'm missing. So tonight I'm thankful that Kendall can be a nurse and that he has plenty of work. I'm thankful for a healthy family. I'm thankful for families that love each other. I'm thankful for a community that cares about us. I'm thankful for a warm house and enough food. I'm thankful that I get to see Kendall every day. I'm thankful that God is leading us and that he has good plans for us. I'm thankful for Immanuel- God With Us.

Church

This morning I was on my own with the boys for church. Kendall was at home, fast asleep, in between shifts.

There were exactly 2 kids at church: mine. That worked out great for me because I was on nursery duty. So we just stayed in the service.

In the past few weeks two women from the church died. Susie died on December 4th and Edna died a week later. They were two of the old-timers up here and both left a widower. This morning both men were in church. They were seated in there usual spots, one right in front of the other, both with an empty space beside them. At sharing time, Norman stood up first. As he talked, he got choked up. It was moving to see Adin, the other recently-widowed man, reach up and put his hand over Norman's. Then it was Adin's turn to share. When it was difficult for him to speak, a third elderly man sitting in the next row back reached up to put his hand over Adin's. It was neat to see the community they have here.

I have had a few difficult Sundays, but lately I have found them to be encouraging. Today I talked to a lot of people before I left. Many Sundays we are among the last few to leave. (Could it be a generational curse? We just can't leave! That's how it was for both Kendall and I growing up.) Just kidding, I think it's more of a generational blessing. Anyway, when we stay so long after church, I remind myself that I really am getting to know people.

The other notable event at church this morning was when Evan announced, "I have to go poop, Mom!" I think we have to talk about changing that to, "I have to use the washroom, Mom." Really, the people around us don't need to know the details of what he needs to accomplish there.

Yesterday Kendall and I had our final interview for foster parenting. Afterward, we took advantage of our child care and went out for lunch. And this may seem little, but it's a big thing to me- I ate a really good ethnic meal here in Red Lake! Okay, there's a "Chinese restaurant" close by, but other than that, the restaurants just aren't too exciting. For the most part, it's a very good thing for us because I am not near as tempted to spend lots of money eating out.

Anyway, back to my exciting news. We went to the Lakeview and they had a special: "Ukranian Dinner." It was very yummy- borscht, cabbage rolls, sausage and perogies. It was homemade and even though I was very polite and complimentary when I asked if the cook gives out the borscht recipe, I was told, "I don't think she'd give it out." Bummer. Any good recipes for borscht?

Sledding

This was the most exciting part of our Saturday. After lunch we walked to a nearby hill. (Isaac will recognize it.) The boys had fun going down on the sleds. I had fun getting some exercise running up and down the hill. By the way, the temperatures were balmy today. I think it actually went above zero. (Farenheit, of course.)

We're Cold

I just want to document the fact that it is -16F/-27C. We're cold.

We just picked up Eli at school and stopped at the grocery store for 3 things. Evan took off his mitts in the car to eat the cookie he was given at the grocery store. He was out of the car to get into the house for approximately 1 1/2 minutes. He was crying in pain.

We're cold.

Stormer Lake

We were out at Stormer Lake Thursday morning through Sunday morning. It worked out really well for us because the family that lives there was ready for a break and we were ready for a break too. Someone has to be at the camp to keep the fires going and to be available for people who come through. It was so nice to be out there and to feel like we were also helping out somebody else.

The camp is a little over an hour from Red Lake. There is really no one around. It’s FAR from anything else. Pikangikum is the closest community. It’s a reserve about an hour away in the winter. When the lakes are frozen, there is a winter road that comes out close to Stormer Lake. Later in the winter people will be able to drive trucks in and out- right now it’s just snowmobiles.

There are cabins people can stay in at Stormer. People also stop to buy gas, use the phone, or buy pop and chips. The camp is also used for kids’ camps and other camps. The people who live there also do intensive counseling and sometimes people come for an extended time of that.

Anyway, it was strange to be out so far from anything, but to have people driving through every once in awhile or coming to pick up a vehicle they had parked there. I will admit that Kendall and I both got slightly freaked out at times. Seriously, out there, anyone could come and do anything. What would we do? We had the Pikangikum OPP number. (Ontario Provincial Police) We were also told that we could call the Red Lake OPP. But what would we say? “We’ve all just been robbed and brutally murdered and the murderer is taking lots of pop and chips and not paying…You can be here in an hour? Okay, we’ll see you then. Try not to slide off the road or hit a moose on your way out here. But if you do, we’re laid-back Canadians: we can wait.” (That really didn’t bother us too much, it was just weird to think about. You know, the makings of a movie I would never want to watch.)

In spite of all that, we were so glad to be out there and would do it again in a heartbeat. Hopefully we can do it again. They say that they have a hard time finding people to watch the camp when they want to be gone.

Unfortunately, it was so cold that we really didn't spend lots of time outside. It was well below zero. Kendall, on the other hand, spent lots of time outside. He had 4 fires to tend. They had to be stocked morning and night and wood had to be hauled to each of the fires.

He also got to go on a "service call." Two people came out from Pikangikum. They had come out to pick up a car parked about 15 minutes away and take it into Red Lake for snow tires. Unfortunately, they got locked out of it with the door handle broken off. They got a ride to Stormer and were half-frozen by the time they arrived. They came in for hot drinks, then Kendall took them back to the car with a hanger. They still couldn't get it unlocked, so they used an axe.

On the snowmobile.




This is how the boys looked after a very cold ride across the lake. I rode in the sled with them to help keep them warm. Because of the dangerous cold, we faced backwards. At one point, something felt weird, then I saw we had just gone through slush. I hate that. It scares me.

It was only later that Kendall told me that I had ice an inch thick on my back and on the back of my hood after the splash through the slush. It made me laugh to think if I had been facing forward. Can you imagine an inch of ice on my face?! Kendall reminded me that I would not have been laughing if it had really happened. That's probably true- I was annoyed enough about the slush as it was.

Eli was the best-covered of all of us. His fancy goggles (a second-hand gift from Lamar) did the trick.




Thursday night the boys woke up often during the night. By morning Eli was in bed with us. Evan came to our room and said, "My tummy hurts." Then he laid down on top of Kendall's clothes that were on the floor. Then he started heaving. That got us out of bed much faster than any alarm clock. Of course, after witnessing all the retching, Eli said his tummy hurt. Here they are immediately after. Eli has his puke bowl and Evan has water and a cracker. Thankfully, that was the end of that. Seems like the same thing that happened to Eli over Thanksgiving.




We played hockey in the gym.

Stormer Lake

A Needed Break

We're headed out to Stormer Lake tomorrow. The people who live there wanted to go to Winnipeg for a few days and needed someone to tend the camp. The place runs on woodfire and generators, so it can't be left to freeze. (And it would surely freeze in this nippy weather.)

Also, during most of the year, people stay at the camp on their way in and out from a couple reserves. So someone needs to be there for that. They're not getting many guests right now since the lakes are frozen, but not enough for the winter road. But some are going in and out by snowmobile.

Anyway, so that's where we'll be until Sunday morning. Kendall picked up an extra shift tonight, then we'll leave when he gets home in the morning. We're looking forward to a few days of quiet, nature and family time. And Kendall needs some time away from work.

P.S. My thermometer says -8 F.

Winter Fun (and Frozen-ness)

Before and After

Before. (It's the one in the center of the photo.)




After.

Choosing a Christmas Tree Off the Lot

We have a Christmas tree straight from the bush. We drove along a back road looking and looking. Unfortunately, when trees grow in their natural environment and aren't groomed to be Christmas trees, they're...well....imperfect. (And maybe that's just fine.)

Anyway, we saw lots of trees that would fit in our living room, but even though we were surrounded by thousands of Christmas trees, we couldn't find the right one for us. (Picky, picky.)

Then we saw it. It was beautiful and filled out and it stood out above the rest. (Literally.) Okay, it was 40 feet high. This posed a problem as our living room ceiling is not 40 feet high. And bearing it home just might have brought the real, final end to the blue weasel.

But, no problem, Kendall has experience in this very predicament. Chop down the tree and take the top 8 feet.

So here he goes with his collapsible saw.





Victory! Would you look at those muscles! That's what you get when you're a real live bushman.



Posing on the stump.




See what I mean? He can just drag a tree through the boreal forest!




And our faithful, undying blue weasel does it again.

And Again

Evan still has not mastered the skill of waving instead of pointing a finger gun and saying, "Boom!" It continues to be a frequent happening at the supper table. I think it is habit as much as stinkeriness. (But there is definitely stinkeriness involved.)

He still gets in trouble for it, so he has had to think fast. The last two nights he has tried to reason with Kendall: "I'm not shooting unless I pull the trigger!"

Hmm...You would think that if it didn't work the first night, it wouldn't work the second night either. Either Evan's being a slow learner or he's working on his stinker skills.

Oh, Evan....Again

While I'm on the subject of Evan, he has come up with another clever strategy to explain himself. Two nights at supper he randomly pointed his finger at Eli and said "Boom!" (We're trying to crack down on shooting each other.) Both nights Kendall reprimanded Evan and both times Evan tried the same excuse, "That's how you say Hi!"

We're working on waving instead.

Oh Evan...

Little Evan is developing quite the skill. It has to do with bedtime...and poop.

We get them all tucked into bed and before long the bedroom door slowly creeps open. A squinting, blinking, smiling toddler stands in the doorway. Slyly, he says, "I have to poop and pee." We can't very well tell him, "No, go back to bed." So we take him and surprise surprise- he goes! Not sure how he is learning to hold it until after bedtime. One night he even went multiple times. Meaning, that he had the triumphant joy of coming out of his room more than once.

Finally, a couple nights ago, he had been up several times and was going down again...for the night. He seemed to agree with that. Soon after I left the room I heard Evan: "Eli! Eli!" I opened the door and Evan was at the top of the bunk bed's ladder right by Eli's head. "Evan!" I said, "Don't wake Eli up!" Evan turned to me and said, "But what is a bull dog?"

Oh, the pressing questions we ponder late at night...

Pukquasiokunabo

Yesterday was soup kitchen day for the boys and me. I made a concentrated soup in my kitchen so that I wouldn't have to carry a heavy soup pot across the parking lot. It was so yummy. I was very happy with my soup-cooking skills. 25 minutes before we were supposed to be serving, I took the boys and the soup over to the mission's kitchen. I turned to soup on high to get it boiling so that the pasta I had just added would cook and so I could add water. I started getting everything else ready- we serve hot drinks and buttered bread with the soup.

Then I noticed a strange smell. I looked over at my precious soup. What?!!! I grabbed the lid and the smoke POURED out! The basement immediately filled up with smoke. Nooo!!! We dumped what was still liquid into another pot and tried to think fast. By this time I had 2 people with me trying to remedy the situation. Only 15 minutes to go. I opened a couple windows, desperate to get rid of the smoke so as to make the situation less obvious when people came in.

I was trying to make it okay. I thought that the burnt taste (and yes, it tasted very burnt) might not be so obvious if the room wasn't filled with smoke. I'm ashamed to admit the dumb things I was trying to tell myself about why it wouldn't matter to our guests if the soup was burnt. So I won't.

Soon it was time to open the doors. We had pulled some leftover soup out of the refrigerator and were frantically trying to thaw it. If we used the scalded soup, but added good soup to it, maybe the flavor wouldn't be so...umm...flavorful. It was taking forever to thaw, but people were coming in. We served tea and coffee and told them that it was going to be a bit late. "No problem!" they said, "We can wait!" Nothing (at least not in English) was said about the cloudy air or the smoky aroma.

Finally we served the soup. (My delicious creation burnt to a crisp!) We didn't mention anything about what had happened in that very room just 30 minutes earlier. The first few bowls of soup were handed out and nothing was said. "So far, so good," I told myself.

Then I heard a woman's voice pipe up for all to hear: "Who made the burny soup?" Standing there by the reeking soup pot, I slowly raised the hand that was not holding the ladle. All heads slowly swiveled to look at me. With all eyes on me, I reluctantly confessed, "That would be me." And we laughed. And people assured me that it was fine. And some (though not as many as usual) even requested seconds. They told me that they were used to cooking over a fire. In fact, my soup now tasted like pukquasionkunabo- some kind of flour, milk and duck fat soup. Yummy.

So I think I've earned myself a reputation. When they're around me and not speaking in English, I'll have to keep my ears open for one of the two words I now know in their language: pukquasiokunabo and me-gwetch. The second word means 'Thank you' and I have heard it a lot in three weeks. Even yesterday.

Old Friends

Where to begin? We had such a good time with the Bontragers last week. It was so good for all of us to be around old friends. And it was nice to be able to show them a bit of our world. Of course, the boys were in their heaven too.

They got here Tuesday evening. We put the boys to bed at a decent time. Evan woke up several times during the night. The first time he was wet. As Kendall and I were helping him, Eli eagerly got out of bed and said, "Good morning, Evan!" as he breezed by him to go out toward the living room. Unfortunately for Eli, it was still the middle of the night and he still had to wait a few hours to start the day with Isaac. Also unfortunate for Eli was the fact that he was heaving into the sink at 7 am. I was quite unhappy about that since our fun was just starting and the Bontragers still had lots of vacation left. Not a good time for anyone to get sick. But we prayed and others prayed and that was the end of that.

Eli and Isaac spent hours playing outside in the snow on Wednesday. That day we went for our winter picnic. We had hot ham and cheese (burnt, of course), s'mores and hot chocolate. (Thanks to Jodi!) Thankfully, it wasn't too cold. We came home and most of us took naps. Then it was back outside for the big boys.

Thursday- Thanksgiving Day! Jen made her famous hearty hotcakes for breakfast. The guys took the big boys sledding (or sliding, as they say up here). We also made a very nice Thanksgiving Dinner. My first ever. Unfortunately, dinner was not all that we envisioned it to be. J It included whining, pooping and puking. So we skipped the going around the table saying what we were thankful for and put all the kids down for naps. (We were quite thankful for naptime.) Then we adults sat around and had our coffee and yummy pumpkin pie. We were all refreshed after naptime and ready to move on. (Except that my youngest son couldn't seem to move on from his exceptional whining. That never ended and only intensified as the week went on. He put on a spectacular and amazingly frustrating show pretty much the whole time we had company.)

Kendall and I were sad to see our company leave Friday morning. It was so good to be with Jen and Ben. We've worked hard at making friends the past 5 months. And it has been rewarding for the most part. But there's nothing like old, comfortable friends. I think Eli best expressed our feelings about seeing them leave. I kept trying to prepare him for their departure. He would just answer, "I know" and didn't act too bothered. We stood at the window as they loaded up in the van. As the van pulled out of our drive, Eli didn't say a word. He just turned around and walked back to his room. I followed him after a bit and found him lying facedown on his bed. He wasn't crying. He was just lying there. I knelt down beside him and started rubbing his back. He turned his head and looked at me sadly. We didn't say anything. And that's sort of how our Friday was- rather gray and heavy.

One of the most fulfilling parts of our time with Jen and Ben was watching Isaac and Eli interact. I am amazed at how well they get along. They really care about each other and don’t fight. When one is sad, the other one wants him to be happy. It was good to see Eli interacting with Isaac again because it seems that they really build each other up. They both think the other one is just the best and that boosts their confidence. That was one of the difficult things in moving. It seemed like Eli’s confidence level dropped a bit. In Goshen he had some really good friends and adults that knew him and cared about him. In a new place, he was a new kid. In the long run, I don’t think a temporary drop in confidence will hurt him. It will probably even help him. But it was hard to watch. So it felt so good to watch these two buddies loving each other and laughing together again.

Early morning.









Art project with Ben and Jen.

Picnic in the Snow

Dance Party!