Ministering to M.K.'s

On Friday I along with Wes and Brenda was able to attend a M.K. seminar in Toronto.  The Theme was "Ministering Effectively to MK's".  The goal was to raise awareness around M.K. support needs and focus on the role we fill as family, church, agency & member care providers.  Our speaker was:  Nancy Ackley Ruth.  She is an M.K. who was born and raised in Sudan, lived through life threatening danger during an attempted coup, and lived in several countries across Africa.  It was neat to see how she uses her MK & HR experience to help MKs assimilate into the workforce.  She also works as a "Cultural Coach" to help families repatriate.  Nancy is a champion and advocate for M.K.'s across North American.  So many valuable things were shared throughout the day. 
Here was an overview of the content of our day…
•      WHY focus on MKs?
•      UNDERSTANDING MKs
–     Advantages and disadvantages
–     Grief – impact of loss
•      MINISTERING to MKs at various life stage

We were challenged to think about how we could develop a plan in helping meet the : Spiritual, Emotional, and Practical needs of M.K.'s.

A Weekend to Remember

The weekend went by way too fast.   It was one of the best surprises we have ever had.  We are thankful that Zachary and Elisha are getting some much needed time together after months of separation.  Please pray that Elisha's immigration paperwork will start to move forward and so she will be able to move to the States.

Rocking Out With Uncle Caleb

Everyone came over for supper last night.  Caleb and Vern were jamming for a bit.  Jeremiah came over to see what his Uncle Caleb was up to and he sure enjoyed "Rocking Out" with his Uncle Caleb.

SURPRISE!

We woke up this morning to a wonderful surprise.  Elisha and Zachary are here for the weekend.  We knew Zachary was making a trip up to see Elisha but since she lives four hours away from us we didn't think we would be seeing them.  Since Zachary had a late night flight they arrived in the wee hours of the morning.   It was a tear jerker, to be surprised with their weekend visit!

"Afternoon Tea"

Last summer I had a "Ladies Tea" party before our daughter Ruth moved to N.C.  All the ladies in our family were invited along with Aurora.  Aurora had such a good time she talked about it for days afterwards.  Well, when Aurora came to spend the weekend one of the first things she talked about doing was having another "Tea Party".  So Sunday afternoon we worked on getting things together for our tea party.  Aurora enjoyed frosting a few of the cupcakes herself.  Later that afternoon we had our "Afternoon Tea".  We invited Amy our next door neighbor to join us and we had a wonderful time together.  I am sure treasuring these days and moments together! 

Say "YES" to the dress!

This weekend Aurora and I went to the mall.  SEARS had all their little girl's Easter and spring dresses 40% off.  Aurora just loves wearing dresses so we had fun picking out a dress.  But they had so many beautiful little dresses for girls.  It was fun seeing my little princess all dressed up.  And there was one dress that she fell in love with before she even put it on.  And she did say "Yes to the dress".

 

Four Green Thumbs

Here in Canada we just had a long weekend.  Because of our cooler springs people here usually wait until this long weekend before they plant any plants and flowers.  I have never been a gardener and do not have a GREEN THUMB.  Vern's parents always had a garden and so he knows so much more about gardening then I do.  So this weekend was all about working in the yard.  We had the privilege of having Aurora and Gideon over for the weekend.  Aurora definitely loved being outside with her grandpa and helping him plant flowers. It was a great bonding time together while getting their hands dirty.  Gideon enjoyed being outside but wasn't too interested in anything to do with the garden.  However, he did enjoy the s'mores we made over the camp fire.