Happy 4th Birthday Eva!

once again, the pics that follow are in perfect backwards order. and I had more that won't upload for some reason. We had a lovely tea party at Lady Eva's house. Lady Dauna is a very gracious and kind hostess, with a great eye for detail. Thank you for having us!! Sir Jaden was certainly honoured to be the one representing the men of high society. :)







Thanks again, Dauna!

on Hospitality

10 Reasons You Can't Afford Not to be Hospitable:


1. Hospitality is one of the most practical ways to express the love of Christ.


2. Hospitality reflects the hospitable heart of God.


3. Hospitality is a great way to build unity and community with other believers.


4. The Bible promises rewards for those who practice hospitality.


5. Hospitality is one of the most effective ways to create a hunger for Christ in the hearts of non-believers.


6. Hospitality will help you deal with loneliness and depression.


7. Hospitality will help you deal with selfishness.


8. Hospitality will help you deal with materialism and help you get values that are eternal.


9. If you have children, hospitality is a great way to cultivate in their hearts a passion for ministry and a heart for serving other people.


10. God commands us to be hospitable.


from www.reviveourhearts.com
This is very convicting for me, b/c I have been so lazy in this way lately!! on that note, I am off to work hard so I am ready to entertain this weekend!! who wants to come over?? :)

oh, but first here are some pics of Jade's flying experiece...he's only ever flown as a baby before so this was the first that he could remember, and he loved it. although he was white-knuckled for the first few moments of every flight except the last one, when he was suddenly the seasoned traveler who insisted on sitting away from us across the aisle with Ashleigh. Now that he is potty trained, he takes it very seriously that he is "a big guy". :)

this is actually what his face was like during takeoffs :)

oh, Canada!

I saw this video linked all over facebook back when the olympics were on, but I never took the time to watch it. A little behind the times, but I did watch it last night (thanks to Dauna).. and was amazed. I'm sure you've all already seen it, but if not, watch it now!! (its Tom Brokaw's introduction of Canada to the Americans...have you seen it?) Sorry, I still don't know how to properly link things!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV_041oYDjg&feature=player_embedded

goodbye palm beach...hello orlando :)

what fabulous times. This wonderful family (unbelievably, right next door to us) is super hospitable...Tonight we were invited over for a BBQ along with the extended family, what great times. Unfortunately Erik & Rach & Olivia couldn't make it this week, such a shame. We miss you guys!

what a great family, thanks again for having us!
It is random to be next-door neighbors to the Postma's, and also quite random who we are sharing our house with. We are delighted that Pastor Jeremy was able to join us. As always, we have been blessed by his company and encouragement. And my sister Louise happens to be on March Break this week, so I am glad to have some sweet fellowship and help from her this week. :) So we all met up on Friday and we spent a night at the Marriott in Orlando before we got our house on Saturday...
Josh says "cheese" poolside at the Marriott. Such a ham :)

and at the house, Sunday afternoon dinner of fish & roasted veggies and potatoes. I LOVE eating out but I admit, it is so great to have home-cooked food again. :) North Americans are so blessed with all this abundance!! Sarah, I thought you might like to see pics of your pastor relaxing. :)

So back to last week, this is our palm beach Marriott. the kids loved when the lift bridge would go up and the big boats would pass through, we usually saw it a couple of times a day.

Today we were blessed by the worship at a Baptist megachurch this morning, and then tonight we watched a message online by Alastair Begg. He quoted the following from CS Lewis' Mere Christianity:

The Christian says, 'Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, then; is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.

God help us, and give us that desire! Have a blessed week!!

happy birthday :)

this is my brother in law Ralph. Most of you probably know him, and if you do you know why we love him so much. If you don't know him, its a shame. :) I would describe him as extremely wise, and i guess what is so special about him is that he is also extremely humble. He is a wonderful example of godliness and Kevin and I both aspire to be like him...although we will never attain. :) He is married to my wonderful older sister Sharon, and they have 7 kids. I don't think he looks old enough to be the father of 7, and he certainly doesn't look 40! :) happy birthday, dear Ralph...may God bless you with many many more!!

sorry, i forgot to do this last night!! his birthday was the 10th. THese pictures were from their blog, asformeandmyhouse.blogspot.com ...i had to look long and hard for pics of him but I enjoyed going through it again. :)

chasing bubbles

isn't that interesting how the water drops off suddenly to like 6 feet deep? The lifeguard told us today that he has seen sharks as close to shore as right where kevin is. nice thought! :) i tried to go in today but couldn't quite muster up the courage.

Ashleigh and I finished Gordon Korman's This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall today. ok i know this is not the finest literary work around (did you know he wrote it when he was in gr.7 though?) but if you read those books as a kid didn't you find them funny? Ashleigh and I enjoyed it. :)

ewww, so much sand. he eats it, even.

and we went out for dinner to a place called friendly's. Tuesday is kids night there, they eat for 1.99 so it is a steal of a deal. Although, certainly not the most nutritious option i'm afraid, heh heh. anyways, the kids got these balloons and made masks and we had a great time! On the way home we stopped to listen to a bagpiper playing by moonlight at the waters edge...he even took requests, if you know Jade you can guess what his request was :)

Hope you're enjoying spring up in Canada, or wherever you are!! lots of love to you :)

wonderful worship and wild marine life

hello!! hope you all had a great weekend! We did. :) the weather has gotten steadily hotter but to be honest, we don't even mind the cooler weather that we had last week. Sometimes that is nicer for little kids than 80 degree heat. But we are enjoying the mid-70s this week. so whatever, (although hopefully not rain) it is just nice to be together...although i must say i wonder how the kids will do with 2 weeks out of routine, the dinners out seem to be getting wilder and wilder rather than that they are learning to behave. :( and sometimes the bad behaviour can get annoying, especially if you're not used to dealing with kids 24/7 (ahem, Daddy-o :) )...generally, though, sun sand and water is such a great combination for kiddos and we are all having a great time!!

Yesterday we hardly even noticed the weather, thats how much fun we were having at Grace Presbyterian Church in Stuart. What a blessing it was to worship with these dear people! We had never met Pastor Bernie Van Eyk before, although we knew his brothers Arie and John. It only takes one time meeting this beautiful family though and it feels like you have known eachother all your lives. And I've heard it said that a congregation will take on the personality of their pastor and in this church it is definitely true!! What a welcoming, gracious, interesting bunch of people. We even surprised my cousin Jeremy by being there, it was nice to get reacquainted with him again. We had an amazing Sunday. :)

Of course it goes without saying that Pastor Bernie reminded me of his brothers, with their passion for the gospel and their vibrant personalities, but especially i love how they scoop up children left and right and just love them. :) Pastor John used to do that with Ashleigh, and it must have made an impression b/c she still remembers how he told her he loved her. :) Lucy, if you're still checking, we miss you even though we rarely saw you! I can only imagine how much Riverside does! Anyways, that kind of love and enthusiasm is beautiful to see. :)
So, we hardly were outside yesterday as we spent the WHOLE day visiting with this wonderful, inspiring church and experiencing their amazing hospitality and being encouraged by the preaching of God's word. Even the kids were really welcoming, less than five minutes after the first service Ashleigh was running around with the girls her age...you know how shy Ashleigh is, they obviously drew her in. If you are ever in the area, you must visit them to experience it all for yourself. :) oh, and Anita, Nicks parents are wonderful as well! it was so nice to meet them, what a blessing for you to have great in-laws! :) (my keyboard is doing funny things, the question mark and apostrophe are coming out like this È)

so back to our hotel, it is on South Ocean Blvd, across the street from the ocean and backing onto the bay. The other day we were hanging around the pool and happened to see dolphins swimming around in the bay, really close to us! Wow! I already mentioned the sharks (there were more sighted today, although not sighted by us :( ) and today it was interesting at the beach because of all the fish that were jumping around in the water, really close to the shore! you can even see it in some of the pictures, but it was really amazing to watch, there were hundreds of them and they would jump right out of the water!) I guess that is partly why the sharks were close by today, they had the flags up warning of dangerous marine life.

so the pelicans would patiently float around in the water, and the fish would jump right around them! i realize that this is probably nothing interesting for many of you, but we city slickers haven't seen many fish jumping like that and thought it was pretty neat. :)

this isn`t a good picture of it, but Josh is into funny faces. :) he loves to make people laugh. He just loves people in general, it is embarrassing sometimes because he just marches around talking to everybody and as he walks past them he will touch their hair, or their feet, or whatever, to make conversation. until today most people around here are older and think its adorable, but now there are a lot of families and younger people arriving and a nosy child doesnt seem as adorable to them. :) Kev and i are always having to retrieve him from the middle of other peoples space, because he settles right in and makes himself comfortable. with whoever. You remember that Ashleigh and Jaden are really shy, so dealing with this type of child is all new to us. :) We think he is precious, though. He just loves people!
have a great week, everybody!!

not much new here, but i thought i would blog while i have the time. i never seem to get around to it at home. i hope you are all well, i hear the weather is nice and spring-like at home, thats exciting! isn't it great that we can depend on the changing of the seasons? sometimes I take God's faithfulness in things like that for granted. i so much love the beautiful seasons we enjoy in Canada!

it is warming up here too, we were at the mid-60s today. We must be Canadian b/c that felt hot to us! :)