Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Billboards
I'm quickly realizing that I have a 'billboard fetish' - not sure if that's a problem or not but I love to read them... today my inspiration came from this one: "We need to talk. God" How true! I feel this new year will bring many more conversations with the One that has brought us to a completely different place in life. We hope that you are all doing well and that the holidays were a wonderful time of food, family and friends...
Soon the pictures will come rolling in - so brace yourselves for Samuel/Olivia overload!
Soon the pictures will come rolling in - so brace yourselves for Samuel/Olivia overload!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas Time
Well it's almost past for another year and I look back and wonder where it went... Thank you Jesus for giving us a reason to celebrate. He is the reason for this season and all the others as well!
Our kids opened their gifts from each other, Grampa & Gramma 'on the farm', Uncle Les and us on Christmas Eve. They had a blast and if we thought we didn't have that much living space before we really noticed it once they were trying to ride their little hobby horses up and down the trailer! It was a fun time. We tried to go to a church pageant (notice I said TRIED); unfortunately our little princess didn't think that 5pm was an appropriate time to be going to church and sitting! So after about 20 minutes we left and went back home to make supper and open our gifts.
Samuel got to talk to Uncle Willy (one of the greatest gifts for him!). I talked to my family and realized how I really wish we could have been there. We really missed family on Christmas Eve!
Christmas Day came and we got ready to head out to Hammond to spend it with the Raifords. We had an awesome time with them, the kids got to run and play and us adults got to sit and eat - how dreamy is that!! There are a lot of fun pictures of our day together but it'll take a while to get them online (I'm having some space issues on my laptop). Tisha and Kent opened their home to us and we are very thankful that they did. God is good and we treasure their friendship.
So we begin the weekend with renewed faith in a God that will care for us and give us exactly what we need when we need it - all for the purpose of honoring Him.
We pray that you all had a good Christmas with friends and family and that you had time for Christ as well! Let us know what you're doing... we would love to keep in touch. Thank you to all of you that are emailing and calling - we treasure all the communication we get!
Our kids opened their gifts from each other, Grampa & Gramma 'on the farm', Uncle Les and us on Christmas Eve. They had a blast and if we thought we didn't have that much living space before we really noticed it once they were trying to ride their little hobby horses up and down the trailer! It was a fun time. We tried to go to a church pageant (notice I said TRIED); unfortunately our little princess didn't think that 5pm was an appropriate time to be going to church and sitting! So after about 20 minutes we left and went back home to make supper and open our gifts.
Samuel got to talk to Uncle Willy (one of the greatest gifts for him!). I talked to my family and realized how I really wish we could have been there. We really missed family on Christmas Eve!
Christmas Day came and we got ready to head out to Hammond to spend it with the Raifords. We had an awesome time with them, the kids got to run and play and us adults got to sit and eat - how dreamy is that!! There are a lot of fun pictures of our day together but it'll take a while to get them online (I'm having some space issues on my laptop). Tisha and Kent opened their home to us and we are very thankful that they did. God is good and we treasure their friendship.
So we begin the weekend with renewed faith in a God that will care for us and give us exactly what we need when we need it - all for the purpose of honoring Him.
We pray that you all had a good Christmas with friends and family and that you had time for Christ as well! Let us know what you're doing... we would love to keep in touch. Thank you to all of you that are emailing and calling - we treasure all the communication we get!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Home
"Yes!" is an answer to all of you who have been asking. Yes we miss "Home" but we have quickly realized that Home is where your heart is and this Christmas we have focussed on Christ and our kids and each other. It's changed things a lot for this 'shopaholic'!
We miss our family and friends but we know you'll all do what you do at Christmas... celebrate Christ and enjoy fellowship with those you love. We will do the same here. We will be with The Raifords and we're looking forward to being in their home for Christmas Day.
It is hard to believe that Christmas came so quickly again this year. Yesterday in church we had the pastor say something I hadn't thought of before - "As Christians we celebrate Christ all year - but during Christmas the rest of the world joins us - we need to show them how..." We truly need to celebrate Him coming with our lives all year so that others can know about Him.
We went out to Tony and Donna Duplessis (some of you know them) this past Sunday and had a good time. Their granddaughter was with them so the kids were excited to see her and have some play time. It was a two hour drive (one way) so it was a good Sunday Drive.
Thank you to all of you that have sent us Christmas wishes. Thank you Jobe for calling Samuel - that made his day pretty exciting! Thank you for the special note Les! Made me shed a little tear missing life at home and being at Mom & Dad's with everyone!
Well off to do the laundry... I'll put up some pictures real soon.
We miss our family and friends but we know you'll all do what you do at Christmas... celebrate Christ and enjoy fellowship with those you love. We will do the same here. We will be with The Raifords and we're looking forward to being in their home for Christmas Day.
It is hard to believe that Christmas came so quickly again this year. Yesterday in church we had the pastor say something I hadn't thought of before - "As Christians we celebrate Christ all year - but during Christmas the rest of the world joins us - we need to show them how..." We truly need to celebrate Him coming with our lives all year so that others can know about Him.
We went out to Tony and Donna Duplessis (some of you know them) this past Sunday and had a good time. Their granddaughter was with them so the kids were excited to see her and have some play time. It was a two hour drive (one way) so it was a good Sunday Drive.
Thank you to all of you that have sent us Christmas wishes. Thank you Jobe for calling Samuel - that made his day pretty exciting! Thank you for the special note Les! Made me shed a little tear missing life at home and being at Mom & Dad's with everyone!
Well off to do the laundry... I'll put up some pictures real soon.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Christmas
I read a wonderful church sign today; it read:
"What gift will you give Christ this Christmas"
I've been wondering how we can help our kids to understand that Christmas is about Christ and not just gifts for them and I think He just answered my prayer. This year and every year to come I hope that I can sit with my kids and have a conversation of what we will be giving Christ. I'm really excited to start that this year.
"What gift will you give Christ this Christmas"
I've been wondering how we can help our kids to understand that Christmas is about Christ and not just gifts for them and I think He just answered my prayer. This year and every year to come I hope that I can sit with my kids and have a conversation of what we will be giving Christ. I'm really excited to start that this year.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Willies contribution...
If you wanna see some MDS pictures of the work in Newton you can go to the following websites:
http://gallery.me.com/cmarider (or http://public.me.com/cmarider
www.mds.mennonite.net
www.newtonmethodist.com (click on MDS link)
http://gallery.me.com/cmarider (or http://public.me.com/cmarider
www.mds.mennonite.net
www.newtonmethodist.com (click on MDS link)
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
New Mailing Address
Hey everyone - we arrived in foggy Pass Christian last night. We got to meet up with Peter & Margaret Goertzen in New Orleans for supper so that was a great treat (especially for the kids!)
Our new mailing address here is
Willie & Jacquie Friesen
c/o MDS
503 Church Avenue
Pass Christian, Mississippi 39571
Our phone number is still 780.841.1366
We will be here until the first week in March...
Have a great end of December!!!!
Our new mailing address here is
Willie & Jacquie Friesen
c/o MDS
503 Church Avenue
Pass Christian, Mississippi 39571
Our phone number is still 780.841.1366
We will be here until the first week in March...
Have a great end of December!!!!
Monday, December 15, 2008
December 14th
Haircuts, Guns, Goodbyes and a Bathtub
Sounds like a crazy mixture but that’s been the last few days. I had an amazing experience in a Barber Shop on Friday afternoon. Ms. Teara took me to get Samuel’s hair cut. Too funny! Apparently they like me though because they talked about me (actually they were laughing at me!) I felt quite intimidated - (I’m wondering if I’m the only white woman that has ever walked in)? But we survived. I was very thankful that Teara was there with me. I would have either left or cried if I was on my own. Samuel did very well. He got up in the chair and he was doing fine until she was pulled through his hair with a comb (well it was more like ripping through them) and you all know how dreaded it was already! So he was trying real hard to be brave but all of a sudden the walls broke and he lost it. He really started to cry and I asked him to stop... didn’t work so I got up and was told to sit down and to stop babying him and that he needed to cry... But I went to him anyway... he got off the chair and now I had a devastated child, a barber who was upset with me, a little girl on my leg and a bunch of guys thinking I’m a freak! So I calmed him down and after the next guy was done Samuel was brave and jumped back up and he was fine. He did VERY good considering! And he looks great. He looks like he’s about 10 years old but he’s so handsome!
All the long-termers left on Friday or Saturday morning. We were left at the camp which felt so quiet but it was good to have some extra time to pack up and do some ‘extended’ goodbyes.
The Samuel’s house is so close to completion but it just didn’t quite get there. Willie is a little disappointed but respects MDS’s decision... but we will be coming back through on our way home to visit. We are so looking forward to meeting them again. Teara and Lester Samuel are such a grateful family! We just love them and thank God for allowing us to be a part of their life! We will never forget them.
Ms. Teara and her girls came to watch the kids while Willie and I packed up our stuff on Saturday. I had a lot of laundry to do so this was a great thing!
We got to ‘shoot’ on Saturday as well with Jason. (we still think it’s interesting that there’s a Rifle Range on a Bible Camp!) It was rather deafening so I left the men to shoot and went back to the house. We had supper together before going into Newton for a Christmas Train Ride in the park. It was such a beautiful evening. God is bringing His glory to us everyday in such different ways when we just look at the surroundings. We are quick to say that we could make East Texas our home simply because of the people that live here. We have met incredible people of faith and hope and love! The local people are friendly and so inviting. And we met a lot of short term volunteers in the last 6 weeks. Many will remain on our hearts and in our contact lists forever! We are thankful for people that give of their time and Willie has enjoyed working with so many different people. He always wished the work week was longer because after 5 days you’ve only just begun to get to know people but we’re learning to ‘get to know’ people faster!
So anyway... we finished our time in Texas with God guiding us through the day of blessings. We went out to the Call Junction Baptist Church where Jason preaches and God spoke to us through him. God is good! He spoke about contentment and encouraged us to want more of God and being good with what God’s given us. And another sweet little smile from God, I heard my favorite Christmas song in church!!! Thank you Jesus!
We packed our stuff on the back of our truck, cleaned our room and then we went to say goodbye to our good friends the Glenn family. I was doing the ‘strong’ thing and thinking I was so used to goodbyes that I wouldn’t cry... Wrong! It was really hard. We hugged, prayed and cried a bit and off we were.
We stopped by Lester and Teara Samuel’s home one more time before we left Texas. Lester showed Willie his gun collection... there were just more and more and more ... and they were all in the bedroom! Yikes. It was so great to see them and they were actually having a family get together so we got to see everyone before we left. The kids just love our kids and we will miss them.
We will miss our family and friends in Texas but we know we will see them again - if not now we’ll meet them when God calls us home!
So we’re now in Lake Charles in a hotel room and the kids were super excited about the full size bathtub (as were Willie and I!)
One funny... I told my son today that I just loved him to pieces.. “Mommy I love you together”. :-)
Goodnight.
Haircuts, Guns, Goodbyes and a Bathtub
Sounds like a crazy mixture but that’s been the last few days. I had an amazing experience in a Barber Shop on Friday afternoon. Ms. Teara took me to get Samuel’s hair cut. Too funny! Apparently they like me though because they talked about me (actually they were laughing at me!) I felt quite intimidated - (I’m wondering if I’m the only white woman that has ever walked in)? But we survived. I was very thankful that Teara was there with me. I would have either left or cried if I was on my own. Samuel did very well. He got up in the chair and he was doing fine until she was pulled through his hair with a comb (well it was more like ripping through them) and you all know how dreaded it was already! So he was trying real hard to be brave but all of a sudden the walls broke and he lost it. He really started to cry and I asked him to stop... didn’t work so I got up and was told to sit down and to stop babying him and that he needed to cry... But I went to him anyway... he got off the chair and now I had a devastated child, a barber who was upset with me, a little girl on my leg and a bunch of guys thinking I’m a freak! So I calmed him down and after the next guy was done Samuel was brave and jumped back up and he was fine. He did VERY good considering! And he looks great. He looks like he’s about 10 years old but he’s so handsome!
All the long-termers left on Friday or Saturday morning. We were left at the camp which felt so quiet but it was good to have some extra time to pack up and do some ‘extended’ goodbyes.
The Samuel’s house is so close to completion but it just didn’t quite get there. Willie is a little disappointed but respects MDS’s decision... but we will be coming back through on our way home to visit. We are so looking forward to meeting them again. Teara and Lester Samuel are such a grateful family! We just love them and thank God for allowing us to be a part of their life! We will never forget them.
Ms. Teara and her girls came to watch the kids while Willie and I packed up our stuff on Saturday. I had a lot of laundry to do so this was a great thing!
We got to ‘shoot’ on Saturday as well with Jason. (we still think it’s interesting that there’s a Rifle Range on a Bible Camp!) It was rather deafening so I left the men to shoot and went back to the house. We had supper together before going into Newton for a Christmas Train Ride in the park. It was such a beautiful evening. God is bringing His glory to us everyday in such different ways when we just look at the surroundings. We are quick to say that we could make East Texas our home simply because of the people that live here. We have met incredible people of faith and hope and love! The local people are friendly and so inviting. And we met a lot of short term volunteers in the last 6 weeks. Many will remain on our hearts and in our contact lists forever! We are thankful for people that give of their time and Willie has enjoyed working with so many different people. He always wished the work week was longer because after 5 days you’ve only just begun to get to know people but we’re learning to ‘get to know’ people faster!
So anyway... we finished our time in Texas with God guiding us through the day of blessings. We went out to the Call Junction Baptist Church where Jason preaches and God spoke to us through him. God is good! He spoke about contentment and encouraged us to want more of God and being good with what God’s given us. And another sweet little smile from God, I heard my favorite Christmas song in church!!! Thank you Jesus!
We packed our stuff on the back of our truck, cleaned our room and then we went to say goodbye to our good friends the Glenn family. I was doing the ‘strong’ thing and thinking I was so used to goodbyes that I wouldn’t cry... Wrong! It was really hard. We hugged, prayed and cried a bit and off we were.
We stopped by Lester and Teara Samuel’s home one more time before we left Texas. Lester showed Willie his gun collection... there were just more and more and more ... and they were all in the bedroom! Yikes. It was so great to see them and they were actually having a family get together so we got to see everyone before we left. The kids just love our kids and we will miss them.
We will miss our family and friends in Texas but we know we will see them again - if not now we’ll meet them when God calls us home!
So we’re now in Lake Charles in a hotel room and the kids were super excited about the full size bathtub (as were Willie and I!)
One funny... I told my son today that I just loved him to pieces.. “Mommy I love you together”. :-)
Goodnight.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
December 10th
Thanks be to God for His provision. He is the Great Physician and He proved it once again. We are so sure that Olivia had pneumonia or some kind of Bronchitis but she’s doing well now... no more coughing until she puked, no choking on mucus she couldn’t get out, she’s breathing normally, no more blood coming out of her nose, and the best indication that she’s back... she’s eating again and fighting with her big brother! So even though we felt a little like neglectful parents for not taking her to see a doctor we did have peace knowing that God would take care of her and restore her. That being said I’m sure I would have taken her in if I was at home but... circumstances are so different here.
This is our last week in Newton Texas and we’re going to be leaving with mixed emotions. We have enjoyed being here and have fallen in love with a lot of people and it’ll be hard to say goodbye. Leeanne is pregnant and is due in February so we do hope we can ‘swing’ by on our way home after we’re through in Mississippi but after that we don’t know when we’ll see them again. They were the perfect gift to our family through these last 6 weeks. (Man I feel like I’ve said that about a million times on this this blog... sorry)
They are laying the lino today and tomorrow. It’s looking really good. The power was turned on today as well so they have air/heat and all that other good stuff. Cabinets are getting installed. Teara said she would like to put her Christmas tree up as soon as the floor is in so I might go help her with that. They won’t get everything done in the house by Friday but Willie is happy with the progress. God has been sending the exact tradespeople when they were needed - how awesome!
Yesterday we saw Santa and Samuel listed off everything he would like... Santa was patient and said, “Well, we’ll see if we can get you at least one of those things.” It was really cute, I thought he would be too shy to go up in front of all the other kids but he wasn’t at all. Olivia of course just went for the candy cane, forget Santa! Santa also did the coolest thing... he told the Christmas Story. I’ve never had a Santa talk about the real reason of Christmas (in public) and then they prayed!! How wild is that. I told Leeanne that would never happen in Canada! It was great.
It’s been raining like crazy... and today is the coldest day we’ve had. Feels like winter that’s forsure. I know there isn’t snow but we’re bundled up. I think it would be warmer if there was snow! The door to our room is not exactly weather proof so we have the outdoors coming in all the time :-) By Sunday we’ll be in our new ‘home’ in Pass Christian, MS.
Talk to you later. Thanks for being patient with the updates. Gotta run... the kids are waking up. Later.
Thanks be to God for His provision. He is the Great Physician and He proved it once again. We are so sure that Olivia had pneumonia or some kind of Bronchitis but she’s doing well now... no more coughing until she puked, no choking on mucus she couldn’t get out, she’s breathing normally, no more blood coming out of her nose, and the best indication that she’s back... she’s eating again and fighting with her big brother! So even though we felt a little like neglectful parents for not taking her to see a doctor we did have peace knowing that God would take care of her and restore her. That being said I’m sure I would have taken her in if I was at home but... circumstances are so different here.
This is our last week in Newton Texas and we’re going to be leaving with mixed emotions. We have enjoyed being here and have fallen in love with a lot of people and it’ll be hard to say goodbye. Leeanne is pregnant and is due in February so we do hope we can ‘swing’ by on our way home after we’re through in Mississippi but after that we don’t know when we’ll see them again. They were the perfect gift to our family through these last 6 weeks. (Man I feel like I’ve said that about a million times on this this blog... sorry)
They are laying the lino today and tomorrow. It’s looking really good. The power was turned on today as well so they have air/heat and all that other good stuff. Cabinets are getting installed. Teara said she would like to put her Christmas tree up as soon as the floor is in so I might go help her with that. They won’t get everything done in the house by Friday but Willie is happy with the progress. God has been sending the exact tradespeople when they were needed - how awesome!
Yesterday we saw Santa and Samuel listed off everything he would like... Santa was patient and said, “Well, we’ll see if we can get you at least one of those things.” It was really cute, I thought he would be too shy to go up in front of all the other kids but he wasn’t at all. Olivia of course just went for the candy cane, forget Santa! Santa also did the coolest thing... he told the Christmas Story. I’ve never had a Santa talk about the real reason of Christmas (in public) and then they prayed!! How wild is that. I told Leeanne that would never happen in Canada! It was great.
It’s been raining like crazy... and today is the coldest day we’ve had. Feels like winter that’s forsure. I know there isn’t snow but we’re bundled up. I think it would be warmer if there was snow! The door to our room is not exactly weather proof so we have the outdoors coming in all the time :-) By Sunday we’ll be in our new ‘home’ in Pass Christian, MS.
Talk to you later. Thanks for being patient with the updates. Gotta run... the kids are waking up. Later.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Our Faithful God
Wow. We had the toughest week physically and mentally but we're so encouraged and excited - Kinda like the phrase...
"It's Friday but Sunday's comin' " Well Sunday came and the kids feel great, we've had a relaxed weekend that included a Christmas Tree and fireworks and family. Thank you Jesus... thank you for all the people that have been praying for us so faithfully.
Just wanted to quickly update you and now I need to run... it's our last week here and so that means a lot of prep to leave. Take care and thanks again. (and thank you Pete & Martha - you know what for!!)
"It's Friday but Sunday's comin' " Well Sunday came and the kids feel great, we've had a relaxed weekend that included a Christmas Tree and fireworks and family. Thank you Jesus... thank you for all the people that have been praying for us so faithfully.
Just wanted to quickly update you and now I need to run... it's our last week here and so that means a lot of prep to leave. Take care and thanks again. (and thank you Pete & Martha - you know what for!!)
Monday, December 1, 2008
Tough Weekend
It's been a really tough weekend for us. Samuel is down and out. Besides the adult teeth coming through he's been at about 103/102 fever every night for the last 5 nights and he's coughing painfully. He also started doing the limping where he actually can't walk sometimes. We couldn't figure out what to do and the Chiropractor offices were closed on the weekend. He's walking now (Monday) but we know it hurts still. Not sure what's up with that. We think it's his knees and we're praying really hard. So of course to follow in his steps Olivia had to get sick too. It's feeling like she might be getting pneumonia but we're again praying really hard that this doesn't happen.
The forman left this morning so Willie has some added responsibilities which he is both excited for and a little stressed about. The house is ready for painting so that's awesome!
I'll send pictures soon.
The forman left this morning so Willie has some added responsibilities which he is both excited for and a little stressed about. The house is ready for painting so that's awesome!
I'll send pictures soon.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Finally... the kids are in the back and I'm trying to update you all....
November 24th
Greetings to you! We are sorry that we can’t update this blog more often but the internet here at the camp has been down for 2 weeks so when we get to go to town we try to do as much ‘wireless interneting’ as possible before our kids go CRAZY in the back seat!
The Samuel’s house is at the mudding/sanding stage and Willie is finding that to be an exciting challenge. He has enjoyed working with all the different groups that have come through and working with everyones strengths and abilities to complete this home. It would be a real dream to complete it by Christmas! I went out on Friday for about an hour... the kids were both napping in the truck so I got out and helped mud some screw holes in the ceiling. Not much of a contribution but hey... you do what you can when you can...
We went to another high school football game on Friday night. The kids stayed at the Glenn’s (Luke and Sara) and they had an amazing time. It was a great date night for Willie and I and even though it was cold we enjoyed the game (until half time anyway... then we realized half time was 28 minutes... so we went to Walmart to buy Samuel his birthday gift from my mom and we went back to find our kids did not want to come with us. Again I say we’re so thankful for Jason and Leeanne and their kids.
Sunday brought us another gift! We were once again blown away by a God who loves to ‘wow’ us. We went out to a country church (and I mean country... not a whole lot but a church down this road!) All but 5 people in the congregation were in the choir and how sweet it is to hear the voice of God through a beautiful black choir!! The lady on the piano came by the camp on Thursday to bless us with her talents and now we got to experience it on a Sunday morning worship! The neatest thing about this is that they weren’t expecting us to come. She had invited us but had no clue we were all going to come (there were about 20 of us) She had woken up on Sunday morning and God told her to prepare food for us - so she called her mom and asked her to prepare chicken and all the amazing things that go with that - and for 20 people!!! How exciting it was when we walked through the door and she saw us file in to this tiny country church!!! God is so amazing! And Samuel got to meet the sweetest lady - her birthday was this week too! She turned 98!! So he got to wish her a happy birthday and she just blessed him with her sweet warm hands!! (then we had to cruise because I was standing on an ant hill but I was so caught in the moment I hadn’t noticed!!!) I love how it’s such a different ‘world’ and yet we all serve the same God - just in totally different ways!! He is glorified and He is here!!!
We are so enjoying our time and are again forever thankful for a God who has given us so much! We are however a little (or actually quite a lot more than a little) disappointed that no one has come out on a short term to see what MDS is about... we do encourage you to do it!! Just do it!!
November 25th - Samuel’s Birthday!!!
I must admit that before we left I was a little bummed because I knew we wouldn’t be able to a birthday party for Samuel at home - but wow we had a great day. We did a lot of our favorite things today... we went over to the Glenn house for ‘Birthday Pancakes’ (which were John Deere green!!), went to the library with Luke, went out to McDonalds for nuggets and fries, got some balloons, played with Luke and Sara, played with some really cute puppies and talked to Gramma, Grampa, Auntie Dewey, William & DJ on the phone, listened to Mr. Pete, Bethany and Benjamin sing Happy Birthday, had a Lightening McQueen birthday cake! WOW.
So thank you so much Pete for having the kids call that was really special - a highlight forsure! And yes Dad, Samuel instructed me to pull his ears for you and he liked that (had to do it twice).
So thank you Jesus for giving our sweet boy a great birthday day from Morning to Night. Samuel was born on American Thanksgiving day and he truly is a gift that we are thankful for daily!!! As I go to bed tonight I’m amazed that He has been so good to us and I wish I would spend more time praising Him for his goodness... always something to work on I guess!!! Goodnight.
November 26th - the Morning After
Okay now my boy is flat on his back - resting. He has said that his head hurts for the last three days but today he had no ambition and he’s doing NOTHING! I was a little concerned but thought it was just because of all the excitement of yesterday and he was tired. But then I looked in his mouth... he’s got his adult teeth coming behind his bottom baby teeth... and the baby teeth are not comin’ out anytime soon!! I’m freaking out a little but trying to stay calm. I threw the kids in the truck and went over to Leeanne’s since she’s got 4 kids and much calmer than I am... but everyone is saying it’ll be okay and that the baby teeth will fall out but yikes... it looks painful. And anyone that knows Samuel knows that he’s pretty tough - for him to say his head hurts it must be pounding! So I guess I’m asking for prayers again...
Becky if you’re reading this I know Cassidy had this but just in the past year right? And the dentist had to pull the baby teeth if I remember correctly. Let me know if you have some advice. Thanks... later.
Greetings to you! We are sorry that we can’t update this blog more often but the internet here at the camp has been down for 2 weeks so when we get to go to town we try to do as much ‘wireless interneting’ as possible before our kids go CRAZY in the back seat!
The Samuel’s house is at the mudding/sanding stage and Willie is finding that to be an exciting challenge. He has enjoyed working with all the different groups that have come through and working with everyones strengths and abilities to complete this home. It would be a real dream to complete it by Christmas! I went out on Friday for about an hour... the kids were both napping in the truck so I got out and helped mud some screw holes in the ceiling. Not much of a contribution but hey... you do what you can when you can...
We went to another high school football game on Friday night. The kids stayed at the Glenn’s (Luke and Sara) and they had an amazing time. It was a great date night for Willie and I and even though it was cold we enjoyed the game (until half time anyway... then we realized half time was 28 minutes... so we went to Walmart to buy Samuel his birthday gift from my mom and we went back to find our kids did not want to come with us. Again I say we’re so thankful for Jason and Leeanne and their kids.
Sunday brought us another gift! We were once again blown away by a God who loves to ‘wow’ us. We went out to a country church (and I mean country... not a whole lot but a church down this road!) All but 5 people in the congregation were in the choir and how sweet it is to hear the voice of God through a beautiful black choir!! The lady on the piano came by the camp on Thursday to bless us with her talents and now we got to experience it on a Sunday morning worship! The neatest thing about this is that they weren’t expecting us to come. She had invited us but had no clue we were all going to come (there were about 20 of us) She had woken up on Sunday morning and God told her to prepare food for us - so she called her mom and asked her to prepare chicken and all the amazing things that go with that - and for 20 people!!! How exciting it was when we walked through the door and she saw us file in to this tiny country church!!! God is so amazing! And Samuel got to meet the sweetest lady - her birthday was this week too! She turned 98!! So he got to wish her a happy birthday and she just blessed him with her sweet warm hands!! (then we had to cruise because I was standing on an ant hill but I was so caught in the moment I hadn’t noticed!!!) I love how it’s such a different ‘world’ and yet we all serve the same God - just in totally different ways!! He is glorified and He is here!!!
We are so enjoying our time and are again forever thankful for a God who has given us so much! We are however a little (or actually quite a lot more than a little) disappointed that no one has come out on a short term to see what MDS is about... we do encourage you to do it!! Just do it!!
November 25th - Samuel’s Birthday!!!
I must admit that before we left I was a little bummed because I knew we wouldn’t be able to a birthday party for Samuel at home - but wow we had a great day. We did a lot of our favorite things today... we went over to the Glenn house for ‘Birthday Pancakes’ (which were John Deere green!!), went to the library with Luke, went out to McDonalds for nuggets and fries, got some balloons, played with Luke and Sara, played with some really cute puppies and talked to Gramma, Grampa, Auntie Dewey, William & DJ on the phone, listened to Mr. Pete, Bethany and Benjamin sing Happy Birthday, had a Lightening McQueen birthday cake! WOW.
So thank you so much Pete for having the kids call that was really special - a highlight forsure! And yes Dad, Samuel instructed me to pull his ears for you and he liked that (had to do it twice).
So thank you Jesus for giving our sweet boy a great birthday day from Morning to Night. Samuel was born on American Thanksgiving day and he truly is a gift that we are thankful for daily!!! As I go to bed tonight I’m amazed that He has been so good to us and I wish I would spend more time praising Him for his goodness... always something to work on I guess!!! Goodnight.
November 26th - the Morning After
Okay now my boy is flat on his back - resting. He has said that his head hurts for the last three days but today he had no ambition and he’s doing NOTHING! I was a little concerned but thought it was just because of all the excitement of yesterday and he was tired. But then I looked in his mouth... he’s got his adult teeth coming behind his bottom baby teeth... and the baby teeth are not comin’ out anytime soon!! I’m freaking out a little but trying to stay calm. I threw the kids in the truck and went over to Leeanne’s since she’s got 4 kids and much calmer than I am... but everyone is saying it’ll be okay and that the baby teeth will fall out but yikes... it looks painful. And anyone that knows Samuel knows that he’s pretty tough - for him to say his head hurts it must be pounding! So I guess I’m asking for prayers again...
Becky if you’re reading this I know Cassidy had this but just in the past year right? And the dentist had to pull the baby teeth if I remember correctly. Let me know if you have some advice. Thanks... later.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Beginning Week Three
Well we’ve been outback for a week - no internet service for over a week - I’m going crazy!! Sorry for not being able to keep you updated.
Willie finished his second week and they’re drywalling the inside rooms and hope to be painting real soon. There is a large crew out this week so we’ll see how successful things are.
If you want more ‘updates’ on the building you’ll have to call Willie - he says he’s a more verbal person - not a virtual person like me! I’ll give you some basics but I don’t know all the specifics.
I don’t know how to answer the comments on the blog so I’m sorry if you’re asking questions and I can’t answer... I’ll try to email you personally.
A few answers:
Our mailing address until December 13th is
Willie & Jacquie Friesen
c/o MDS
P.O. Box 272
Newton, Texas 75966
Please feel free to send mail up until December 5th... I think after that it just might not get here in time before we move on. We will have a new address come January through to the time we return home.
The kids are still crazy and so is their mom! We’re having a great time but we are missing our playdates and all the regular things at home... familiar faces instead of new ones every week. We have so appreciated the Glenn family here at the camp and will enjoy being with them until we have to move on.
We are struggling with training our little spitfire... I knew it would be a challenge but being away from home makes it more difficult for me. Our bathroom area is super small and well I just don’t really like hanging out close to the potty all day... but I realize I need too because I’ve washed a lot of Tinker Bell panties the last day! Maybe I shouldn’t give up after one day but I feel like a quitter right about now...
The nights are getting super cold so for all of you that are jealous - don’t be. It’s cold here too. No snow but cold. As you see in the pictures my Christmas decorating has been kept to a minimum but it’s still making us feel festive...
We spend Tuesday mornings at the Newton Library and we LOVE it. It’s great to watch Samuel in a learning environment and he’s doing so well. The children’s librarian is so sweet and so fun to listen to.
Anyway it’s time to head to the dining hall for supper... take care. Love you all.
Willie finished his second week and they’re drywalling the inside rooms and hope to be painting real soon. There is a large crew out this week so we’ll see how successful things are.
If you want more ‘updates’ on the building you’ll have to call Willie - he says he’s a more verbal person - not a virtual person like me! I’ll give you some basics but I don’t know all the specifics.
I don’t know how to answer the comments on the blog so I’m sorry if you’re asking questions and I can’t answer... I’ll try to email you personally.
A few answers:
Our mailing address until December 13th is
Willie & Jacquie Friesen
c/o MDS
P.O. Box 272
Newton, Texas 75966
Please feel free to send mail up until December 5th... I think after that it just might not get here in time before we move on. We will have a new address come January through to the time we return home.
The kids are still crazy and so is their mom! We’re having a great time but we are missing our playdates and all the regular things at home... familiar faces instead of new ones every week. We have so appreciated the Glenn family here at the camp and will enjoy being with them until we have to move on.
We are struggling with training our little spitfire... I knew it would be a challenge but being away from home makes it more difficult for me. Our bathroom area is super small and well I just don’t really like hanging out close to the potty all day... but I realize I need too because I’ve washed a lot of Tinker Bell panties the last day! Maybe I shouldn’t give up after one day but I feel like a quitter right about now...
The nights are getting super cold so for all of you that are jealous - don’t be. It’s cold here too. No snow but cold. As you see in the pictures my Christmas decorating has been kept to a minimum but it’s still making us feel festive...
We spend Tuesday mornings at the Newton Library and we LOVE it. It’s great to watch Samuel in a learning environment and he’s doing so well. The children’s librarian is so sweet and so fun to listen to.
Anyway it’s time to head to the dining hall for supper... take care. Love you all.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Second week gone... where did it go??
Wow time flies when you're hanging out with MDS!!! We are shocked that we've already been here for two full weeks - feels like just yesterday and yet when we said goodbye to friends today it felt as though we had always known them! Crazy how God works! We are so thankful for the chance to have met Frank & Shirley Enns and Issac & Elsie Bergen... they received us with open arms and were so wonderful to work with and live with. We only wish it would have been fora longer time.
Our week was a little rainy and yet so fun for the kids! Apparently 3.5 inches in one night (Willie just informed me) Looking back I'm having a hard time remembering what the week was like. Olivia cut another molar (thank you Jesus) Samuel is still coughing at night but we're getting used to that.
Our friends Jason and Leeanne are still a saving grace most days because the kids love to spend time together and I just really enjoy the great chats with her. We're planning on spending the weekend here on the camp with them... I'm excited to go 'shooting' with Leeanne - she had a 9mm (not sure what that is but I guess I'll find out) We're going to church and then shooting (kinda random but hey we're in Texas!)
I'll upload the weeks pictures on Tuesday because our 'internet date' is almost over!
Thanks for the love!!
Our week was a little rainy and yet so fun for the kids! Apparently 3.5 inches in one night (Willie just informed me) Looking back I'm having a hard time remembering what the week was like. Olivia cut another molar (thank you Jesus) Samuel is still coughing at night but we're getting used to that.
Our friends Jason and Leeanne are still a saving grace most days because the kids love to spend time together and I just really enjoy the great chats with her. We're planning on spending the weekend here on the camp with them... I'm excited to go 'shooting' with Leeanne - she had a 9mm (not sure what that is but I guess I'll find out) We're going to church and then shooting (kinda random but hey we're in Texas!)
I'll upload the weeks pictures on Tuesday because our 'internet date' is almost over!
Thanks for the love!!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Some more miles
We went out to Beaumont Texas this last weekend and enjoyed doing nothing and just being the 4 of us and the hi-light.... a full size bathtub!
Samuel has been coughing quite a bit since we got here - usually at night. We don't know if it's the A/C or the changes in temperature from hot during the day to cool after dinner.. On Satuday night he was starting to again so I went to pick him up so that he could breathe better and he threw up all over me. Oh what a great thing to be a mom with a sensitive nose!!! Let's just leave the details and say that Willie had to grab him to clean him up so that I could have some time alone to try to keep my food where it belonged!
We're back on the camp again and realize coming back on Sunday night that this already feels like home! Thanks be to God for all His wonderful blessings and so many people around us that love the same Jesus!!
If you're reading this and are wondering what to pray for I'll ask you to pray for a young man that came out to help out last week (for a two week short term). He had seizers and some other things happen to him earlier in his life so he was a little handicapped but such a willing servant! He came out and worked hard everyday and he was pretty easy to love! Well this morning he got a call that his dad was ill and he needed to go back to Winkler now. (they don't know if his dad will still be alive when he gets there.) They got him a flight out this afternoon and we're all praying that God will do a miracle for Corny and allow him to say goodbye to his dad. (His dad had colon cancer and was doing okay but now they found a tumor). So the details are little but please pray for Corny - in all his innocence we weren't sure how much he understood.
We are welcoming people who want to experience life to the fullest to really step into His throne room and spend time with Him. He'll direct you and keep you and give you all you need - just allow Him to. Don't scale back - the miracle can be yours! God wants to live through you and we love meeting people who want to spend time with God and to help others see Him in the everyday living. We've experienced so much in the last little while - so much undeserved goodness and we just want to share it with you all. (or should that be y'all)
Thank you for your prayers and your comments.
Mel I'll get you an address. Not sure what it is.... I'll put it on the blog maybe - or email it.
Sleep well!
Samuel has been coughing quite a bit since we got here - usually at night. We don't know if it's the A/C or the changes in temperature from hot during the day to cool after dinner.. On Satuday night he was starting to again so I went to pick him up so that he could breathe better and he threw up all over me. Oh what a great thing to be a mom with a sensitive nose!!! Let's just leave the details and say that Willie had to grab him to clean him up so that I could have some time alone to try to keep my food where it belonged!
We're back on the camp again and realize coming back on Sunday night that this already feels like home! Thanks be to God for all His wonderful blessings and so many people around us that love the same Jesus!!
If you're reading this and are wondering what to pray for I'll ask you to pray for a young man that came out to help out last week (for a two week short term). He had seizers and some other things happen to him earlier in his life so he was a little handicapped but such a willing servant! He came out and worked hard everyday and he was pretty easy to love! Well this morning he got a call that his dad was ill and he needed to go back to Winkler now. (they don't know if his dad will still be alive when he gets there.) They got him a flight out this afternoon and we're all praying that God will do a miracle for Corny and allow him to say goodbye to his dad. (His dad had colon cancer and was doing okay but now they found a tumor). So the details are little but please pray for Corny - in all his innocence we weren't sure how much he understood.
We are welcoming people who want to experience life to the fullest to really step into His throne room and spend time with Him. He'll direct you and keep you and give you all you need - just allow Him to. Don't scale back - the miracle can be yours! God wants to live through you and we love meeting people who want to spend time with God and to help others see Him in the everyday living. We've experienced so much in the last little while - so much undeserved goodness and we just want to share it with you all. (or should that be y'all)
Thank you for your prayers and your comments.
Mel I'll get you an address. Not sure what it is.... I'll put it on the blog maybe - or email it.
Sleep well!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Civilization
How quickly we become spoiled! We had an amazing week and felt 'trapped' because we couldn't share it "virtually" with anyone because the internet situation at the camp is less than ideal.
We got out to the East Texas Baptist Encampment on Saturday night (Nov 1). We were a little less than excited when we saw the size of the hotel room that we would be living in for 6 weeks. But you know when you go in a spirit of service it changes your (mostly mine) attitude about certain things. We had driven through some neighborhoods and were so amazed at the quality of some homes... most people in our community would not be able to believe how a lot of the population lives like. It's so heartbreaking! So ya, when we saw how small our 'home' was with the images of others homes we were thankful.
We had a super awesome church experience in Newton. We were the white population and yet I've never felt more welcome in a church that wasn't our home church. Thank you Jesus for such a gift. I had a few tears of thankfulness and just took it all in. We will miss them this weekend but home to go back next week.
Willie started the week on Monday early morning. He had an awesome day and was excited about the rest of the week. There are short term volunteers from Manitoba and one guy from Chicago.
Tuesday we found ourselves really curious about the election (since we didn't have internet or TV or radio...) but late at night we sat on a log and got connected to the internet and found the news... We feel that we need to pray for the US... a lot!
Willie's crew shingled the house, roughed in all the wiring and began the siding. The A/C and heating guys completed their work on Friday as well. The family that they are building a home for consists of Mom and Dad, 3 kids plus a niece and nephew of Mom's sister who passed away a short while ago. Dad is a delimber operator so that's kinda neat for Willie, as he works in the heat he hears some very common sounds of the 'bush' machines in the distance (so just like winter work at home - just with a farmers tan happening) :-)
Samuel has found a new friend named Luke. God gave us another amazing gift! A family has just moved to the camp - he's a Youth pastor and she's a full time mom of 4 kids and one more on the way. They just moved there about a month ago from about an hour down the road. So they have little Luke who is 4, Sara who's 2 (see how perfect that is!!!) and 2 older kids. Luke and Samuel play great together - the girls don't always play perfectly because they're both shoe freaks so they have some arguing to do about that.
On Friday we experienced "Friday Night Lights" and that was fun! For $5 we could go watch a High School Football game in Newton. It was so neat - pretty much the entire town of Newton was in the stands and wow is it a big deal! They get to the game about an hour and half before kick off!! And you think La Crete hockey moms are crazy --- we just found a whole stadium full of them!
We also met a family that has a connection to home. Larry (and Sandra) Neufeld's brother and his family is here at the camp on their way down to Belize. What a small world! And they have amazing kids that enjoy spending time with our wild kids too!! So we haven't lacked in the entertainment section of life and Samuel is so happy to have someone other than Mom and Olivia to play with!
God is showing us daily how much he loves us and how He is going to take care of us. I'm thankful for the experience God is allowing us to have and I pray that we will continue to be used by Him! I pray that each of you at home will search for an opportunity wherever you are to bless someone's socks off!
Monday, November 3, 2008
We arrived... with not the best Internet service
Sorry - we're here but we don't have a lot of time to blog and when we do the internet seems to be lacking in service.
We arrived on the site on Saturday and we love it. There is so much room for the kids to run and play - very dreamy!
Willie started work today and hoping that he's going to be effective in the work and in sharing Christ.
We had an AMAZING church experience yesterday. We've never felt so loved and invited! We were hugged about a million times and they feed us and just took us in. It was so encouraging and we thank God for His gift to us! Praise Him for all that He does to encourage and to inspire. These people were truly inspiring! They had so little and yet talked about doing a food drive for the elderly and needy in their community and giving was a very important part of their service. Just amazing. More details when I have time.
Take care and hold fast to the One who loves you the most!!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The Checklist
Willie was happy to see some indication of Hockey!!
This is my check on my checklist... the Book Depository where Oswald 'allegedly' shot JFK from...
This is a picture of me going crazy with the camera. Behind me is an 'X' - that's the spot of the fatal shot that killed John F. Kennedy.
Hey Uncle Willy... we're in horse country now. Get that work visa and come on down!
Cheap entertainment - you kinda had to be there but Samuel found some game that kept these two crazy kids entertained for quite some time.
Well I experienced something on my list of "Things to see..." It was the Dealey Plaza in Dallas. All of you that know me - know that I'm a bit of a Kennedy 'fan' (use the word fan loosely). I know it sounds a little crazy but I was really excited to see this. For some reason I just didn't think that some of those dreams would come true but hooray!! And Willie was a driving champion in downtown Dallas!!!
Texas is proving to truly be the south... a lot of American flags, Waffle Houses, "yes Mam" and that 'warm' smell!
Olivia enjoyed her short chat with Gramma this morning - that was super cute - thanks mom. Samuel is still praying for Kobe, Jobe and Tori and is waiting for them to come over to his house. Michela the dinosaur is still with us even through all the miles. William, Samuel has your moose - oops... oh well he was probably wanting a warmer winter!
Samuel was really disappointed that we ended up in another hotel and is saying he doesn't like Texas... I made the mistake of telling him we were going to Dallas today.... he was expecting to see Dallas (our blue eyed blonde sweetie) :-)
So ya, our day was good - I would have liked to go upstairs in the Sixth Floor Museum but Museum's aren't really for the kiddos!
So a couple more nights in the hotels and we'll be in Newton Texas ready for schedule and the long awaited potty training.
miss ya'll
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Billboard from God
"Calm waters? Set sail with Jesus!"
God using a structure to show us once again how very present He is!
Off to the pool. Being hand-in-hand is really important for Olivia (I think it's a control thing... then Samuel can't go faster than her) 
This was an awesome billboard that said "As my apprentice you are never fired." God.
There's a silver lining at the end of each driving day and today it was the great weather and an outdoor pool.
Beautiful green green fields!
Always happiest when she's got something going into that tummy!!
Big brother helping little Ms. Olivia with her shoe... they are actually becoming pretty great friends! Thanks for praying about this mom!
Our Cracker Barrel Stop. Say Cheeze!
Lovin' the Green!!!
Sweet face... can't believe how she can soften my heart and yet make me pull out my hair within a few seconds of each other!
Always with a rock in his hand... these were our morning pictures outside of the hotel in Kansas.
Off to start another day. God is so good!!We're puttin' our feet up in Oklahoma City and lovin' the 26C weather. I know it's cold for the locals but we're crazy northerners!!
God has brought us about 4400 km safely and we're so grateful!! Samuel showed signs of being very tired of driving today so we had a short day on the road and jumped into an outside pool; had some great family game of Tag and some hot supper from Chili's.
Dad we thought of you today... country song on the radio reminded Samuel of you and your great singing of Johnny Cash's classics :-)
We are finally feeling like we're in the south... the trees are coming alive and there are some beautiful green fields and there's water. It even smells warm!! We love it! The kids have lost their sick faces and I think I might have said "Oh, it's so hot!" but not in a complaining manner...
We went to one of my favorite stops which is Cracker Barrel and I was looking for the Cobb Salad Jules but I couldn't... so I settled for a different salad but it was awesome. Olivia quite enjoyed her Chicken and Dumplings. Samuel didn't want to try it but I said it was kinda like what Gramma Penner makes and then he tried it and liked it too. There was so much Christmas Stuff in the store I just about lost it!!! I'm SO excited for Christmas even if it means that it's going to be different this year - I know God has a lot to teach me about the real excitement of Christmas so I'm willing to learn.
So tomorrow we're off for Texas and then we'll hang out for two days until we 'report for duty'. Thank you Jesus for your love and care! Tisha we're so close...
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