Bits of lovliness.....

Click on the pics.

Day after day we're given so many beautiful gifts in nature......all free!

It is good to stop and appreciate them.....and the One who does the creating....

In memory of Nodar Kumaritashvili...

A tragedy occurred today as Vancouver prepares to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. A young man was killed in a luge accident. The country he represented decided, in the spirit of the Olympics, to go on and participate. Here is the story.....

Georgia: Georgia will march in opening ceremony and compete in Olympic Winter Games
Feb 12, 2010
Vancouver (AFP) - Georgia will march in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony, officials said on Friday, despite the death of one of the country's lugers.
"Officials have confirmed the Georgia team will march in the opening ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games," said a statement.
Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, was killed in a high-speed crash in training at the Whistler Sliding Centre on Friday.
Georgia will compete in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games despite the death of one of the country's lugers, a senior minister said Friday.
"On the Georgian team's participation, during the 2008 Summer Olympics Georgia was invaded by Russia and despite this they stayed and won several medals," said minister for sports and culture Nikolos Rurua.
"So our sportsmen have decided to be loyal to the spirit of the Olympic Games and compete and dedicate their efforts to their fallen comrade."
Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, was killed in a high-speed crash in training at the Whistler Sliding Centre on Friday."

May God be with this young man's grieving family.

iiiieeeeeeee.....

It's been a sore-head-ice-on-the-forehead-with-husband-having-chills-fever-vomiting kind of twenty-four hours.

We missed our first Council meeting of the year too. Sometimes sickness is more untimely than it aught to be! But we just have to roll with it, I guess.

Our lives have been improving the last few hours. We ate toast and drank tea. Always a good sign.

Enjoy your evening.....

Land of meditation....

Son looks like he has found another realm of the spirit perhaps. The Himalayas in the background make for a majestic picture, kind of surreal, very out-of-the-ordinary for this prairie fellow. But he has made his way to India, Nepal and now back to India for the last leg of his journey. He will be back on Canadian soil on February 19 at 5:35 p.m. landing in Winnipeg.

It makes me happy that in the next weeks we will see him again and hear his stories of how the trip has changed his life both inwardly and outwardly.

It makes me sad too, to think that he will be leaving a place where he has hopefully managed to find a real sense of peace.........in another land, in another culture. I pray that that same sense of contentment will follow him home and that life will be forever changed because of his initial decision to leave his home with everything familiar and face the realities of poverty, and injustice and the extreme over-population of a different country and culture.

May God watch over him as he travels home again.

Ce...le...bra....tion.....

Tomorrow will be a day of celebrating at church!

There will be a time of welcoming new members, people who have made a decision to commit to being a part of a group of people who desire God to be a part of their lives and for them to have a place to grow more fully within the community of believers at Gateway Covenant Church.....along with everyone else.

And to celebrate that event, we will all eat and have some fun together after we worship together......."together" being the key word here. It's good to be a part of each other's lives, to help each other along in life and to encourage and be encouraged by others.

We will also feast before we have the potluck. The Feast at the Table...which Christ has set out for us.....a place of communing.....of taking the gift Christ has offered and allowing it to be a part of our every-day lives. The gift of grace......of unmerited favor....of getting something good we really don't deserve....all of it a mystery that can't be explained......

These are things worth celebrating!!! So, celebrate we will....tomorrow at 10 a.m. Join us.

Sweet Sixteen....

February 4th began in a fog.

Gram sang Brittney the "Birthday Song"

(a 16th birthday rendition)

Gramps and Brittney
"Paddy" and Brittney

"Mammas" and Brittney

The Birthday Plate lick in memory of

her great-grandpa Benson

Yep, turning 16 causes smoke!!!

Our beautiful Brittney!

Sweet Sixteen and looking like

a lovely young woman!!!

Sixteen years have gone by. Where did they go?

Wasn't it just yesterday a sweet, chubby cherub made her way into the world where she would be loved and cared for and brought up well.

She continues to mature and grow and learn the lessons of life, knowing she will always be loved by her family.

She is sensitive and caring and loving and kind and has all the qualities that will make this world a better place.......because of her.

A great source of pride....to us all.

HAPPY SWEET SIXTEEN to our very sweet granddaughter, Brittney Elizabeth. May God watch over her and bring her through the trials and temptations of teenage years....and may He protect her when the proverbial "licence" is issued. AMEN!!!

Willie is a dud...

I think if someone dragged me out from a nice warm room into a cold winter's day, I'd run back into my little den too. So we can't blame Willie for another six weeks of winter...shadow or no shadow.

Can we think of a time when we DIDN'T have six more weeks of winter after February 2nd????

No.

It must be some kind of diversion for we people in the north country to get some kind of kick out of winter....and I think it works.

So, "Happy Groundhog Day"!!!! Cheers to Willie for going back in his hole!!!

And now I'm going to go into my little hole too, and cover up and have a good sleep.