Letting Go

On Monday, Sept. 5 we left our son, Ryan with another family in Lindsay, Ontario, to board there as he attends Fleming College. An  acquaintance of ours did some inquiries in her church and found a family whose son had just moved to Calgary, and who have a lot of empty rooms in the house. Ryan could even share meals with them. The room is absolutely perfect: roomy, a desk at a window facing east, walk in closet, receptacles in the right places, a fine bed, everything he needs.  He has been planning this for over a year and we have been planning with him, and yet we looked on this event with much apprehension.  It is natural for parents to try to make paths easy for their children and when there are many uncertainties it can be difficult to continue.

We had many worries. When living in dorms on campus, peer pressure can be negative and difficult to resist.  The other option was living off campus and six km away from the campus in a town we knew little about, and  we wondered how he would travel to and from the campus. Cars are expensive to insure. Are bicycles safe? All winter? His place of board is close to a bicycle trail that winds through Lindsay and can bring him straight to the college.

Ryan and I spent three hours on Saturday checking out the beautiful bicycle trails and the best routes for biking from his place of board to the campus.

Are there buses? We had not seen any evidence of Lindsay being serviced by buses, but when we explored over the weekend with our bicycles we saw bus stop signs at nearly every street corner.
The church we attended on Sunday couldn't have been more welcoming, even praying for us in the evening service. We enjoyed the services on Sunday and heard a very good message from Psalm 23 about God's love and care for us.  The new youth pastor is staying in the same home as Ryan as well.

It has been three weeks now since we dropped Ryan off  and we are confident that he will get along well in Lindsay. He has been back for one weekend and we have had encouraging emails from him. We need to practice living out Philippians 4:6 " Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." We need to  trust  God that He  will make all things well, trust Him before the outcome actually happens.

Life Keeps Changing

Hi Family and Friends,

Monday, Aug. 22nd we received the results of the MRI Gary had on the 17th. We are happy to report that there was no significant change again this time.

We are thankfull that all things are good at this point and we are very happy how things are staying stable.

Gary has been keeping busy with work and projects and is feeling well or just like always.

We also had 10 great days of camping at the beginning of August, sharing weekends with both sides of the family as has become a summer tradition.

Please continue to pray for good results and thank God for His faithfulness and His mercies that He has shown us over the past year.

Have to see the sunset!

A lot has happened since the last entry. Our home life keeps changing. Jessica our youngest graduated from grade 8 and has finished home schooling. She plans to go off to high school in September.

 

Gary spoke at Jess' graduation on behalf of all the parents to the graduates.
Their graduation text was Psalm 32:8, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you."
The following are exerpts from the speech:
This verse talks about God's initiative and does not mention our involvement in the process. God promises to instruct us, teach us and to counsel us.
We know from scripture that He wants us to be involved in the process as well. We are to be actively reading and studying His word and praying and listening for the voice of His Spirit.
The author of Hebrews gives us a challenge in chapter 11:1-2 ...let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus...
When I supervised the hurdles at track and field I noticed that some of the participants looked at the track, some at the hurdles, but some couldn't help but look at the person next to them. This generally slowed them down. The author of Hebrews uses the illustration of an Olympic race to illustrate how we are to walk the Christian life. Athletes would make sure that they carried nothing with them that would slow tham down and that nothing would distract them form doing their utmost best. In the same way, we need to focus on God and His teachings and follow Jesus our Saviour.
Graduates and all of us: God's eye is on you...there are blessings...so let us keep our eyes on Jesus. May this encourage and challenge us.

 

David and Leanne are engaged and plan to marry next June 9th D.V. We are very excited for them.

Ryan graduated from grade 12 this past June and is heading off to college on the long weekend.

Christine went to Ireland to meet David's family and friends.

Michael is starting his second year of teaching.

Thanks for all your on going prayers for us.

Gary and Joanne