Sunset



The sunsets here are absolutely beautiful.  We are up on a mountain so our view is quite fabulous anyhow, but here are a few pics to show you some sunsets:





You can actually see the sun's rays on this one. 



I can't wait to edit this pics and print them.  They are beyond words, not because of me our my camera, but because of the beauty of  God's creation.

That's it for today.. maybe more tomorrow or Monday, but no promises ;)

Riverfront Trail

The walking trail system in Quesnel is AMAZING.  There is a trail purposely meant for walking/biking that will take you from South to North Quesnel with a few side trails  in between.  Most of this trail is along the river.



Along this trail there are a few old machines.  This one I think is a bulldozer.



The river.  I like the look of the layering.




An old log.  Do you know that they figure within the next 10 years, they will run out of trees to log in Quesnel?





Meet Snowball.   He is an itty bitty caterpillar and was Emmy's new pet for all of 10 minutes as we walked along the trial.  She ended up letting him go so that he could go back to his mommy.  Emmy has an INCREDIBLE love of animals.  From slug, to beetle to horses.  A couple weeks ago she found a beetle stuck in a flowerpot.  So she got 2 leaves and scooped it out and let it free.  She LOVES horses.  Her book of choice from the library this week was a horse magazine. 





A beautiful view of the river.   This picture is taken near downtown Quesnel.



This is a walkway that takes you over the traintrack.  It spirals up on either side of the track with a flat part connecting each side.  Kenna had been wanting to walk it for awhile so one day when we were with John, he dropped us off and drove to the other side to pick us up.  I found out how scared of heights Emmy is.  :)





Tackling Temptations

  Can you tell what my week has been like?  It is already Friday and I am only now telling you about this past Sunday's service!

We are continuing our study in James, this time it was from James 1:13-18.  Temptations was the theme. 

What are temptations?  A: the act of enticement to do wrong by the promise of pleasure or gain.  As a Christian, we will face temptations.  Temptation is a result of our own desires. How can we recognize that we are being tempted?  It always follows the same pattern: 1. the bait is dropped  2.  there is an attraction to the bait  3.  the bait is taken   4. there are tragic circumstances.  What can we do so that we aren't tempted?  In Romans 6:13 we read.
           "Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. "
  We cannot tolerate it and must use the right resistance and that would be to give everything to God.
I will finish with a quote from Dietric Bonner
   "ONce desire is kindled it burns like a raging fire and siezes our minds. It mkaes no differnce whether it is sexual desire, ambition, vanity, or desire for revenge, or love of fame or power, or greed for money.  At this point God is extinguished in us and we seek  only our own joy.  Satan now fills us not with hatred for God but forgetfulness of God"
Thanks for reading!
I hope to post some more pics soon.

Cougar in town

Yesterday morning there was a cougar sighting across from the school.  As soon as the kids got to school, they were informed and were instructed on what to do in case they came across a cougar.  Emmy, being the softy, started to cry, as she was a  wee bit worried.  Kenna, being the older sister, hugged Emmy and said, "It's ok Emmy, the Lord is with you."  Sad to say, the kids around her that heard her say that laughed and said, "God is not real." :(

Saturday drive...

Chubb Lake- there is a Bible camp on the other side of this lake.  John actually stayed there last hunting season.  There are a few campsites around, but it is generally pretty windy here.

Building sand castles without any toys.   

It started out with scooping with their hands and it worked, but the ground was pretty hard.

And that's when the McDonald's cup came in handy!

Exciting stuff!

This may not excite some of you if any of you, but I am excited so bear with  me ;)  I was privileged to attend the first Ladies Bible Study class today... all 2 1/2 hours of it.  I was worried since I had heard that the age of ladies that usually attend is around 40-60.. just a few years older than me.  It turned out that there were 2 other ladies my age!  This study makes you very involved. I have not been to a Bible study like this before and it excites me.  True, I have to be dedicated as I have about 1 hours worth of  "homework" every day.  But the curriculum that is used is very thorough and really makes you think about what the Bible means.  You are really encouraged to search only the Bible for answers and use the concordance as a last resort.  You can find it at http://www.preceptministries.ca/  We are studying 1 Thessalonians and I am told that by the time the 13 weeks study is done, I will have read it over 100 times.    I will keep you updated!

"Sweet Fruit for Bitter Times"- James 1: 1-12

What an amazing sermon we heard this morning.  One both John and I feel was preached just for us ;)
Pastor John read from James 1: 1-12.   ¹

"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,  To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:   Greetings.
 ² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
 ⁹ Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. ¹⁰ But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. ¹¹ For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.
 ¹² Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. "

Trials can make you either bitter or better.  It is not a question of if we will have them, but when.  We can choose our response to them.  We are told in 1 Peter 4:12-13 what our response should be:

^"12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed." 

We can find in Job 23:10 what Job's response was to trials.  " I have kept to his way without turning aside. "  What a blessing to have a faith so strong to endure trials like Job. We weaken and wimper at the slightest trial and ask God, "Why me?" ( I am not pointing fingers, but speaking from personal experience.)
Our faith will always be tested.  The example of a muscle was used.  A muscle will only grow if it is continually worked.  So will our faith, through every trial. 

Trials help us to mature as a Christian as it leads us to surrender to God.  Through prayer, we can pray for wisdom and patient endurance to get through these trials.  God answers these requests as He gives liberally and will use these trials as a stepping stone in growth for us.  Another story used as an example:
       A donkey once fell in a deep well.  Those who found him thought that there was no way to get him out, so they started throwing dirt into the deep hole.  Instead of being buried alive, the donkey used the dirt as a step up until he was high enough that the men were able to grab him by the ears and haul him out.   This is what we need to do with the trials that we come across in our lives.  Instead of allowing us to be buried by them, we can use these trials as stepping stones and over come them.

To hear this sermon yourself, or to hear more like it, visit NorthStar Baptist Church in Quesnel, BC or click on this link and find the messages tab.  You won't be disapointed!
http://www.northstarchurch.ca/

GOD BLESS!

What a great reminder for John and I as we are going through this moving phase.  We ask for your prayers that our house may be sold soon, that we may be able to purchase our own home here.  I was actually joking with John the other day that everything that we own is going to be new all over again because we have been without it for 3 months.

Out of the blue...

I am home alone right now.. so I have time to think!  Yesterday morning, around 4 o'clock, I got up with John.  He was heading out this early because he had to drive a truck for Rona to Ft. Nelson.  He left around 6 o'clock for what should have been a 12 hour trip.  But, he got stuck in Prince George... at the scales.  He was overweight.  It took 2 tries and a $450 fine, before he was on his way.  I talked to him at 7:30 and he was only in Ft. St. John, 4 hours away from destination.  So that would've made a 12 hour trip, an 18 hour trip!  Well, last night I slept like a baby.  Thanks to my genetics, that doesn't happen very often.  But today, with all this time to think, I miss him.. like crazy.   And for that I am so thankful.  That after 9 years of marriage, we complete each other's sentences, we see things the same way, and say things at the same time.  We have the same dreams, some of the same hobbies ( hunting, camping, fishing, etc.).  We both have our days where we enjoy other people's company, while sometimes, we enjoy lengths of time without  visiting anyone.  We are also so different, eg. he is NOT a morning person, I am.. in fact, he was complaining that I go to bed so early that by the time i am 50, I am going to be an "old" person!  Another example is how we get ready to go out. I get myself and the girls ready, so that we are ready 15 minutes before we have to leave.  John will start getting ready to leave 15 minutes before.  That could include showering, shaving and getting dressed.  I am sure there are more, but I will not bore you with them. 
Isn't it so sad that there is so little value to marriage nowadays.  I will not lie, it is alot of work, selfless work.
So my point being:  I am very thankful that my marriage continues to grow.  I think that the major growth started about 4 years ago, when we both gave our life to Jesus.  Being able to depend on Him for EVERYTHING has taken alot of stress out of our relationship. So my thanks go to God, who has blessed us with each other and our 2 daughters, which in my eyes, is my perfect family!
**I am not a writer and I probably don't always make sense, please forgive me  ;)

more pictures

These are flowers at our house in CHilliwack.  I seeded them back in May and planted them when they were barely 1 1/2" tall.  When we left, the marigolds were maybe 4" and the laverna were about 6".  When I was back in Chilliwack in August, I stopped by and couldn't believe how big they were.  The neighbor ladies were drooling over them and couldn't believe how well they were doing for not getting any water. I think one lady was even going to dig up a few and transplant them in her garden!

A double rainbow. 

The sunset over Dragon Lake.

This is taken from the 3rd story of the house we are living in. There is some mornings where the fog is so thick.  This is about 7:15 in the morning, when the sun was coming up.

Alot of the houses are heated with wood furnaces.  THey either have a fireplace inside, or a furnace outside that is loaded with both pellets and logs.  Seeing as the owners here are gone for 6 weeks, we feel the need to supply them with firewood.  We found this stack of wood on one of our leisurely drives.  We took along a chainsaw and some farmer sausage and made a day of it.  John cut the logs into 7'+ lengths.   I packed them into the truck.  We later had a small fire to roast the sausage.  The girls LOVED it!

I love Barkerville.  We have already been there twice and now have a seasons pass.  There is so much character in the buildings and so many stories displayed in each one.  We have yet to ride the carriage or take in a school lesson or church service... next time??

This old fellow was showing the gold that he had... yes this is real gold.  He later did a school lesson for us.

Him and Kenna are pretending to play tug-of-war with a quarter.  He was demonstrating that the quarter was not going to stretch. Now if you did that with gold... I can't remember exactly the numbers but it was something like this.  a 1" cube of gold could be stretched so far that it could wallpaper the room that we were in that was 20' x 12'.  We learned that not only is gold "stretchy" it is also VERY heavy.

Emmy was able to do some gold panning.  With some help, she found 3 flakes.  It is so funny because anytime they come across any water now, they look for gold!

Peeking at the horse!

These guys were HILARIOUS.  There is no way I could explain how and why.  Together the two of them told the story of how the waterwheel worked to bring up gold and then demonstrated it.

***any and all pictures are unedited***

A look at how it's been so far

A beautiful sunset.. the first night in Quesnel

The river got high this spring. Scary high!

Emmy posing on the walking bridge in Quesnel.  This bridge goes over the Quesnel River connecting the West side to downtown Quesnel.

First time on a horse for Kenna.. and she loved it!

A regular sighting when you live this far north.  I was hoping for another picture but this one will do!  I am sure you will see more of these animals.

Emmy is panning for "gold" at Billy Barker Days.

Beautiful scenery.. in the fog.

A float from the hospital at the parade!

Our home for the past 2 months.

Sharpening a stick for a marshmallow roast.

Sitting at the courthouse in Barkerville.

Petting a miniature horse.  Kenna was scared of these! 

Posing in front of the Narcosli Creek.  There is a beautiful hike up here.  We were going to hike it to Deep Creek Falls but we came unprepared for all the mosquitoes.

A mushroom along the trail. 

More pictures to come!

God's timing, not our timing

After all my blabbing of the last post, I want to make one thing clear.  We did not just have this dream and decided to make it come true.  We prayed our way through it.  We asked God that if it was His will for us to move to Quesnel, to give JOhn a job that was less physically intensive (he was having a lot of physical troubles before we moved), a job that was Monday-Friday, 40 hrs a week with a hourly rate that we could live off.  When we got all that through this offer from Rona, we knew it was an answer to prayer.  While we waited to here back from Rona after John's interview, we prayed that he would get this job.  Our patience was tried and tested, and we STRESSED, but in the end, GOd's timing worked out as John didn't have to leave until the end of June.  We worried that he wouldn't be home for my or Emmy's birthday, but he was.  We worried that he would be in Quesnel for too long without me.  He wasn't, it only ended up being a couple of weeks.   I learned alot through that process, and has really changed my way of thinking.  One example :
John's wage would be sufficient for us to live off of if we had a mortgage for a house out here.  We could get a 5 acre with house for only $130,000 which would considerably lower our mortgage payment.  RIght now, we still are paying for our house in Chilliwack, which is considerably higher, so money gets stretched FAAARRRR right now.  Well, being stretched out so far already, we don't have a lot of extra cash... and then John's truck breaks down.  He needs a new fuel pump.  Where oh where are we going to get the funds for this?? Well, I get a text from my bookeeper saying that she had finally figured out why our GST/HST money was being witheld by the government and she made it possible for them to be released and sent to us.  We are talking a BIG cheque.  Now, like I said, this money was owed to us from awhile back.  If we would have received it right away, I can probably guarantee you that we wouldn't have spent it all so wisely.  Well, now when we need it, we get it!  I will finish with a verse from the Bible:
Psalm 55:22
"Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let  the righteous be shaken."

Let's start at the very beginning...

You need to start at the beginning of a story in order for it to make sense.  So here goes:
It has been quite some time since John has mentioned moving up north. And for the longest time, it has been nothing more than a dream.  I was all for it, but didn't figure it was worth getting excited about until it looked like it might become reality.  Well, in February of 2011, we decided to see what winter was all about in Quesnel and went there for a weekend.  It was COLD.  -28 degrees.  But it was manageable. (as long as you warmed up your vehicle before you went out!!).  On our way up, we stopped in 100 mile for breakfast at A &W.  John, being the sociable guy that he is, stopped to talk to an older couple about where we were going and why.  The MR. told John to talk to their son-in-law Duncan at RONA.  John didn't, but took a Quesnel phone book home for contact information.  A couple months later, he was paging through the phone book and came across the RONA ad in the yellow pages and decided to give them a buzz.  It ended up being that they were hiring and although they had already intervied a couple hundred people, were willing to interview John. (I am sure he heard from his father-in-law about us!).  So, beginning of May, John went for a week to Quesnel by himself.  He had his interview on a Tuesday, but stayed until Saturday, driving around, talking to people and looking at properties for sale.  Well, it was 6 weeks after he came back that he finally got the answer: he was hired!!  They wanted him there in 2 weeks.  As many of you know, we were mid house renos.  The kitchen, the flooring, window and door trim, baseboards, paint and drywall.  He finished up as much as he could before he left.  He left on June 25 with the plan that I would join him in a week or so.  Well, with all the work that he left me with, it didn't happen that way.  But i could NEVER have done it without the help of MANY friends and family whom I will mention by name.
Marilyn helped with taking my kids, feeding me, painting, packing and cleaning.
Debbie helped with painting, cleaning, feeding me, taking the kids.
Rebecca helped me with painting and more painting, flooring, and loading the moving truck, and food
Mark R. saved me by doing all of the baseboards and interior window/door trim
Ted did the tile backsplash in the kitchen
Mom and Dad, and Ev helped with cleaning
Mark V. hung some lights and caulked the baseboards.
Martha cleaned on her days off.
Jim and Josh helped moved the piano (and it was HEAVY) and also on moving day
The Luteyn men helped on moving day
Leanne O. took the kids to VBS and swimming.
Ben helped unload the moving truck
and last but NOT least, John's brother Tony.  He donated his company's semi, to help us move our furniture.  He helped load the semi, which included full and HEAVY freezers.  He also drove that semi to Quesnel and spent a night there and helped unload it again. 
And to any and all who I might have forgotten, I appreciate all the help that i received in those couple of weeks.  I could NEVER have done it without you. 
I ended up leaving Chilliwack on July 8th.  It was about a 7 1/2 hour drive there.  We parked the semi, and found John, who was at the campground where he was 'living.' We ate supper and went for a drive to show both Tony and Ben the area where we are hoping to live.  It's pretty amazing country.  This area is along the Barkerville highway which is just north of the town of Quesnel.  It's still close enough to town that it is not considered rural!.  Saturday morning, after unloading the semi, we went out for lunch before saying good bye to Tony and Ben.  We spent that night at the campground before packing up and moving the West Quesnel, 20 minutes out of town, to live at a family's house, someone I had never met, but had been introduced to John by a lady from Rona.  We backed our camper up to their carport so that we had covered area in case it rained.  We had access to their basement with a bathroom and laundry.  We slept and ate and lived in the camper for the most part for the first 3-4 nights.  They felt so sorry for us that they literally hauled us inside and set us up in a bedroom in the basement.  The girls each had their own cot, John had his own bed, and I slept on the camper foam mattress on the floor.  It worked quite well.  These people were amazing and I got along really well with the Mrs.  But the time came for us to move on and we packed up again and moved to Kersley, which is a small town south of Quesnel.  We live about a 10 minute drive from the outskirts of Quesnel.  The 'castle' is located about a 5 minute drive up the mountain.  This couple opened their doors WIDE for us.  We live, eat, sleep and everything else in their house.  We are fed like king and queens, most often having a 3 course meal at suppertime, with dessert to finish it off.  John and I and the girls have seperate rooms and I have free range of the house.  The couple is actually John's boss' parents.  The girls finished their first day of school today and are very excited about making new friends.  The next few posts will be pictures of the journey i have just told you about!  No promises though when I will get around to that!