The Dyck's Drive-In

This is definitely a different summer with the pandemic and so many things that we can not do.  However, we are choosing to focus on the many things we CAN do.  Therefore we are being very intentional to make this an awesome summer and doing things that we put on our "Summer Bucket List".  On Thursday and Friday night we enjoyed "The Dyck's Drive-In".  Thursday night was a couples date night as Vern hung hammocks and we watched a movie in our yard on a big screen.  Last night Camille, Jeremiah, Aubrey, and Gavin came over and we made some special memories together with them.   I want to say a HUGE thanks to my hubby for all his hard work to make "The Dyck's Drive-In" a reality! 😊

The Power of CUDDLES

Cuddles has been a gift from God.  The word cuddle means: a prolonged and affectionate hug.  Well we have enjoyed that prolonged and affectionate hug for 16 1/2 years.


Many of you know our journey but some of you might not.  We worked in South America for 15 years.  While we were on our last home assignment, due to the unrest in the area our ministry shut down.  We were not able to go back as a family and have any kind of closure.  We also lost everything we owned: our house, things, pets,  a ministry we loved, relationships that would now not be a part of our every day life, and the list goes on.  We resettled in Ontario but that was a hard adjustment as we were grieving from all the loss we had been experiencing and Ontario just did not feel like home.  


Titus really missed our pets in Venezuela and we started praying about getting a dog.  We did not research types of dogs or anything we just knew with having people and especially a lot of children in and out of our house we would need a smaller dog.  Before we knew it we found this little puppy who became our Cuddles.

We knew nothing about transitions, grief and loss or how therapeutic dogs were.  Our Cuddles brought so much healing to our family.  Over the years our Cuddles has been so much a part of our lives.  She lived with us in jungle camp, went on road trips, and has been there for birthdays, Christmases, graduations, and even in Vern's recent health crisis Cuddles was there with us in VA.   When Vern's dad died I was away at a conference and Cuddles followed Vern around the house and stayed by his side to help comfort him and as she knew something was wrong.  As our family has grown our grandchildren have been able to build some fun memories with Cuddles.

Cuddles health has been declining but in the last five days she went very rapidly and yesterday we had to say good-bye to our beloved Cuddles who had become such a part of our lives.  We have shed MANY tears already but after 16 1/2 years of her being such a part of our lives here in Ontario we can not even remember life without her.  So as we go through these next days and weeks it will be quite an adjustment as we miss her already. I will be keeping a box of Kleenex  close at hand.  

The Grand Reopening of "The Shepherd's Inn"

Years ago in the remote area where we were living in South America we had our own little family owned and run restaurant we called "The Shepherd's Inn".  There were no stores, restaurants, or anything where we lived.  All of our groceries had to be flown in to us and for many years we only got our supplies in every three months.  You end up making your own entertainment for your family and coworkers.  While we were there, our coworkers were celebrating their 25th Anniversary.  Well, there was no way we were going to let this special event happen without doing something special, thus we launched "The Shepherd's Inn".  During our time in South America "The Shepherd's Inn" helped many people celebrate special events such as anniversaries, birthdays, and even Valentine's Day were celebrated at "The Shepherd's Inn".  Our children often were the waiters and waitress as we served dinner, so it was a family affair.  During Covid 19 we have tried to do special things to encourage our family and friends.  When we celebrated our anniversary in June we realized there were few options of places to go.  There was no in restaurant dining available.  Now you can eat on outdoor patios but many places are booked up for weeks in advance.  Therefore we thought it was time to have a GRAND REOPENING of "The Shepherd's Inn".  We offered our coworkers a FREE date at "The Shepherd's Inn.  To win this FREE date they had to be celebrating their anniversary in July and they had to be one of the first two couples that emailed me back with their engagement story.  So it was with great JOY that tonight "The Shepherd's Inn" had their GRAND REOPENING.  It was a bit touch and go as it was pouring rain right before our guests arrived.  But the weather cleared and dinner was served.  

Summer 2020 Bucket List

I think most of us are in a different reality than we ever thought.  Although many places are starting to open up we still have a long way to go.  I know where we are they are still saying that there can be no gatherings of more than five people.  The border is still closed and there is very little traveling done these days.  To give our  MKs and their families who live in the area some thing fun to look forward to, each week I have been doing a weekly challenge with them.  Many of the kids will soon be finishing their schooling for the year.  I was trying to think of a great Summer Challenge they could do to add a lot of fun to their summer.  So I came up with the SUMMER 2020 BUCKET LIST CHALLENGE.  It is easy to think of all the things you can't do instead of seizing the day, think outside the box, and be intentional about making some fun family memories right where we are.  So to encourage our families I bought them all a sand pail.  (It is actually smaller then I would have liked but since I am buying these for many families I could not afford larger ones.  However, each family can go buy a bigger bucket if they want.) I challenged them all to come up with some fun things they would like to do this summer.  Then I wanted everyone in the family to write their ideas all over the bucket, even inside the bucket.  Then I encouraged them to keep their bucket in their line of sight.  Hopefully in the middle of their table so they can be reminded every day about all the fun things they want to do.  Then by the end of the summer they will have made some incredible family memories together.  The reason I am sharing this is because I think we should ALL go to the dollar store and buy ourselves a bucket.  It doesn't matter how old you are, if you are married or single, we all need to be intentional in life.  There is so much doom and gloom out there, let's get out there and live life to the fullest with some good clean fun.  This will also help with our mental health to have some fun and laugh a little. So I am challenging YOU to the SUMMER 2020 BUCKET LIST CHALLENGE.  If you choose to accept this mission, please send me a picture of you and your bucket list.

To help the creative juices start flowing I will write out a list of some possibilities.

> See the sunrise with a friend and a cup of coffee

> Get glow sticks and enjoying a night time conversation wearing glow sticks and enjoying the moon light

> Go for a walk  and physical distance stopping to connect with people along the paths

> Going for a walk and bringing a garbage bag with and picking up trash along the way

> Make a meal for your neighbor or friend just because you want to bless them

> Have an epic water balloon/ squirt gun fight with a friend, spouse, or your family

> Buy some popsicles give them to your neighborhood kids 

> Call your church office and find out who the shut ins are and bake them something and drop it off with a note to let them know you are thinking of them

> Have a backyard tea party wearing crazy hats

> Guys have a meeting of the men around your fire pit with the amount of people your area allows

> Enjoy a walk in the rain without your umbrella

> Reach out to a friend and practice your active listening in hearing their story

>  Lay on the grass and enjoy star gazing.  

> On a rainy day have a picnic on a blanket in your living room

>  Get a jar and catch lightning bugs

> Help you neighbor plant flowers

> Write cards to residents and health care workers at your local nursing home

> Buy a Cow Bell and then Use it to cheer someone on

PAID IN FULL

Have you ever had a debt you could not pay?  As most of you know on March 5^th Vern had a stroke.  While Vern was in the ER I phoned our travel insurance only to find out he was not insured.  As I sat there looking at my husband in his hospital bed, I did not know if his stroke would leave him with permanent damage.  Now I had the added stress of  paying a hospital bill that I would not have the resources to pay. I try to walk a life of faith and yet there are things that can shake us to the core and make it more challenging live by faith and not by fear.  These last five weeks we have been stretched in so many ways.  Yet, we have felt the love and support of so many through this journey.  The notes, cards, phone calls, and skype calls have been such a source of encouragement.  Vern has been doing well in his recovery and we are so very thankful for each new day God has given us.  Shortly after coming home I started working on the financial aid paperwork and sent copies of bank statements, pay stubs, and other things that were requested.  We prayed and kept believing God to work out the details of all the hospital bills.  The total bill came up to $35, 097 in US funds which is almost $50,000 Canadian since the exchange rate is so bad right now.  For us that is a lot of money and not something we just had in a savings account somewhere. The hospital was very good to us in giving us a lot of financial aid.  But there was still a chunk of money we owed the hospital that we did not have.  However, even while Vern was still in the hospital people started to send gifts.  And a few days ago we got a phone call from someone wanting to finish paying off the rest of our bill. (It will take several weeks for all the different gifts to arrive and to actually pay off the hospital bill.) But all of a sudden, the words “Paid in Full” have become a reality.  We have been so very humbled and moved beyond words at the friends, former students, missionaries, co-workers, family members, a church, and even a couple of strangers helped to take the weight off our shoulders and blessed us with gifts.  Each gift brought us to tears as we would embrace, and thank God for each person and every new provision. This is our YEA GOD story, and many of you have been walking with us in it.  So, we just needed to share this God sighting in the midst of challenging days that we are all walking through.  God is still working and there are God sightings all around us.  

     This Easter weekend has taken on a new meaning like never before.  We have never been in a place to owe a debt of this size that we could not pay.  We feel the relief of that weight being lifted.  And yet this is just a financial debt.  Christ came down to do so much more then take on our earthly financial debt.  We have a debt of sin we could never ever pay on our own.  We are celebrating God’s provision of him paying our sin debt.  It is "PAID IN FULL"!  YEA GOD!!!! I don’t know where you are on your faith journey. But God has taken care of the biggest debt we will ever have and I hope you can celebrate this Easter being DEBT FREE of sin and celebrate your debt being “PAID IN FULL”.

Sharing Our Story

So many of you have journeyed with our family through our time overseas and now our ministry in Durham.  How we thank-you for your love, care, support and prayers for us!

Two ladies in our mission started a pod cast called "COMPEL: How Ordinary Women Spread the Gospel Story".  A few months ago they interviewed me and now the pod cast is on line for  you to listen to.  I share about one of the ministries I have been invovled with: Caring For missionary Kids and Families.   However, on the pod cast I also share a little bit of our family's journey through some of the challenges we have gone through.  If you would like to hear our story all you have to do is click the link below and it will take you to the pod cast.

https://ethnos.ca/episodes/ep-13-caring-for-missionary-kids-with-holly-dyck/?fbclid=IwAR3c6LIfi7yN81lHO34eJEwUiOfvVE2jhQ2jC8d3p23QsDBeK6T5E8dkc7M

 

Hello Doctor!

Today we were able to celebrate a HUGE milestone as we attended the graduation of Dr. Glenn Galle.  Glenn has been working on his doctorate in Plant Pathology for six years.  We are so proud of him and all his hard work which started in the classroom,  then was out in the field collecting samples, working in the lab, and doing his research.  We LOVED being a able to attend this improatnt milestone and being a part of his cheerleading squad.