Since last Christmas, we've had our first 6 months of parenthood. You may have seem some of the photos on our main page. Below, we take our turn at bundling the little girl up to go outside for a walk. She loves to watch the trees sway and to have something to look at besides the same old same old of the house.
Below is one of my favorite photos of the three of us. It was taken at Old Fort William Museum when my sister Sarah and brother-in-law Adam came out to visit us in Pass Lake for Christmas.
It may be Christmas, but when I look out my back window, I see dried leaves today (Dec. 21), not snow. It makes a good excuse for the autumn theme of this page. It looks like the picture below with a touch of ice on the beaver pond.
This year has been just a wonderful year. What follows is a month by month run-down starting just after last Christmas.
January (not this one, last one!): New Years with good friends in Steinbach! Then full time work for me at a L'Arche group home with manager Ali Tote from the Seminary, and 5 wonderful fellows. The family sense of this work was a real eye-opener and blessing - though tiring at times. Angie continued work, also with people with disabilities.
February - April: A trip to Canmore alberta for me to the Alberta study conference, with classmates. What a wonderful chance to give pastors some enthusiasm for the future, and to let them see ours.
February - April continued: A semester of school at the Lutheran Theological Seminary. I took classes on preaching, the book of Romans, basic theology, and getting ready for ministry and internship ("vocational formation"). Excellent professors who both listen and speak carefully and with a keen sense of their role in guiding us as students and leaders. Also the odd evening class on having and taking care of a baby! We had plenty of neat get togethers with people at the Seminary, and family coming to visit (Gord, Linda and Roger, and others).
May: A move to Bonnyville Alberta, to Angie's mom and step-dad's house (Linda and Roger). We were thankful to have a smooth move there, and for the apparent ease with which they took us into their home, and I think they were thankful to have us there in the weeks leading up to Brenna's entry into the world. I started work on the oilfield with some of Angie's family.
June: Angie had a little girl!! My family: Sarah and Adam and Sam and Anne came out (at separate times) to see her. Bill was busy travelling in Europe and getting ready for University.
July and August: Settling into parenthood. Getting familiar with the oil field. Helping out at Roger and Linda's house and new land.
End of August/ Beginning of September: A move to Pass Lake, Ontario (near Thunder Bay). A 2 week visit with my family in Steinbach on the way. Good to see them all and good for them to see the baby again. Grandad died unexpectedly while gardening. The funeral and weeks together were a testimony to a wonderful man.
September to December: A gorgeous area of Pass Lake, for which it seems I have not taken pictures that do it justice. Discovering a wonderfully hospitable community. Angie connecting with people visiting, scrapbooking, playing scrabble, and being involved in kid's club at the church. The opening up of the world of pastoral ministry to me - visiting and caring, preaching and teaching, connecting and praying, reflecting and writing, working to share a message that's right for each setting. Learning to pray more often and more expectantly...
Christmas time this year: Angie went to Alberta to spend the lead-up time to Christmas with her family. I'll be meeting her in Steinbach, Manitoba on the 24th, and we'll spend Christmas and New Years their before heading back.
On the Horizon: A spring and summer in Pass Lake, and a return to Saskatoon to finish my seminary program.
Through good and through bad, may you be reminded of God's presence, and may you take comfort in the profound care of us that God has for us year after year. Hope you've all had a Merry Christmas. Enjoy the celebrations of Christ's birth throughout the year!