Brief Update

It seems the deep freeze is over for now.  It is only -27 degrees Celius now.  Pipes are unfrozen after hours of blow dryer time.  Sickness and throwing up is over.  Everything and everybody is back to normal.  C is at 700 as of today.  $400 dollars worth of mittens cut out and ready for sewing.  Whew!  ready for bed!

The Deep Freeze

We are in the deep freeze right now.  It is -40 degrees outside and so crazy cold.  Well,  that is really not a problem so long as the house is warm.  And, for the most part it is.  The only problem is that the drainage pipes coming from the kitchen seem to have frozen up and that is a royal pain at the moment.  What to do!!?  Boiling salt water has not done the trick even if I thought it was.  It did go down the drain but I soon discovered it coming out the dishwasher and nothing was solved.  Ahgh!!  I guess we'll figure this out.  Doesn't seem like a great Sabbath activity but it is necessary so here we are with wrenches and water, and pipes.  Wish us well and say a prayer for us while your at it.  Thanks.

Ziggy the Seamster

Ok,  I don't know what you call a male seamstress but I call him my little seamster.   Art had several pairs of jeans that were worn out and so the boys took them over and cut them all up into pieces.  This boy has gotten hours upon hours and day after day of consentrated time trying very hard to make himself a suit to wear with his wooden armor.  He is trying very hard to be a knight in shining armor however unshiny his choice of fabric for his suit is. 
Anyway,  He has started with the leggings or pants. or maybe we should call them half and half. 
You see,  he worked on these pants/ leggings for two whole days between school hours, cutting and cutting and sewing and piecing.  I tried to give him some handy tips but he felt he knew just what he was doing and didn't need anyone elses expertise.  He was so cheerful and full of joy at this project.  He kept proclaiming to himself and whoever would listen that these were going to be so beautiful!  The were going to be so nice, in fact, that he was going to be making jean pants and jean shirts and selling them and making big money.
Alas the big day came when he could put them on and show them off.  I was very worried that he wouldn't even be able to get his leg in one sleave of his pants.  I was also worried that he would cry and cry in disappointment after all those hours of hard work.  (I would have!!!)

Here he is with his new pants.

 

He got his leg in alright!!  He is skinnier then I thought.

Notice the skin tight leg and the very loose leg.  The top didn't come up to his waist and it was a good thing he had a long shirt.  Notice also the seams are on the outside of the pants.

The good thing about all this is that he was greatly amused!  He laughed at his skinny and fat legs and he decided to try skinny up the other one to match.  When that failed, he laughed some more and said, "Well, I could always make another pair.  I think I did pretty good for my first pair and I did it without a pattern!!"  

Good for him!!  I told him he did great and he's my little seamster!!  I love these pants.  :0)

The Boy Who wants to Go to Africa...

...is now at 620 as of today!  Most of my family knows what that number means I'm sure.  This is him as of yesterday at 380 or something like that. 

C, the Mitten Man

Now, he's mittenless and very happy!  Time to start all over again.  One man bought $160 dollars worth in one shot. 
Oh, and I forgot to mention that C. went to the store and spent $85 on fleece for making more mitten liners today.

For the Twins

My sister has twins.  They are not identical twins.  They are a boy and a girl kind of twins.
The girl is very, very cute and the boy is very, very cute too but they are not exactly the same kind of cute.
 

I don't have any twins myself, but one day, I bought some.  I didn't know I had bought them, but I found them hiding on the bottom of a bunch of bananas in my grocery bag.  They  were both wrapped in one yellow blanket.

They were identical twins.  One was very, very sweet and the other one was very, very sweet too.  And they were both the exact same kind of sweetness! But they didn't stay with us for very long!  Too bad!

However, just yesterday, I happen to buy twins again and again it was a surprise for they were hidden in a amongst a big bag of apples. One was very, very rosy and bright and the other was very, very rosy and bright too and they both had little brown flowers on their bottoms and little stems poking from their heads but they were different.  One was very big and chubby and the other was very small and tiny.  One like to sit on its little brown flower attached to his bottom while the other like to stand on her little stem poking out of her head.

It didn't matter how different they were though, they loved each other and were inseparable.  The big one carried the little one and the little one hugged the big one.

I always will remember these very rosy and bright little twins because they treat each other so kindly!  Are you that kind of twin?  

Whooping for Joy!

My son is grinning from ear to ear and whooping for joy.  He finally got his box of mittens made and I pushed him and prodded him and got him to make all the liners.  He did a great job but was not really excited about it all.  Today, however, is different.  I told him to grab his box of mittens on my way into town for their homeschool skating day.  After they had their skating fun, I brought him into town and told him to go into stores and try to sell his mittens.  He was not very enthusiastic at first but then we hit upon a store where the guy was really excited about what he saw and so was his wife so they bought $60 dollars worth of mittens (3 pair) from him then offered to sell his mittens in his store if he could produce them on a regular basis.  Suddenly C. saw the light!  He was beaming!  At the next store they said he could also do business with them.  Again,  he came out grinning and talking 100 miles an hour.  At the third store he again was offered a business bargain with them and $40 in his pocket.  By this time he didn't have but two pairs of gloves left in his box and he stopped at one more store and sold them both to the clerck.  He is so excited!  I sat in the van, let him do his business, and prayed.  So fun to watch your kids succeed! 
Hey,  anyone need some mittens? 

Ziggy's Christmas Present

I thought I'd let you know that we did not forget to give Ziggy a present this year either.  It just wasn't something I could take pictures of him in action with.  When we go swimming I usually leave my camera behind so I don't have to babysit the thing.  But I'll let you know what he got.  He got a pair of goggles and a good pair of flippers for when we go swimming.  He was thrilled. 
Happy New year everyone!

Thank God for a New Year

I'll have to say,  I am really grateful for a new year this year.  I am so tired!!!
This Christmas season has had me beat.  For the last two weeks it has been a constant bee hive of activity.  We have a ton of friends here.  Most of them are not Christian but the loveliest of families.  We have made some invites to our house and people have been anxious to come so I spend time at my least favorite activity and that is cooking.  I must say,  I do not too bad for not enjoying it much and that is not said in a bragging sort of way but rather a grateful, "Thank God!" kind of way.  I enjoy the "having people over" part though.  In between having people over to our house, we've been inundated with invites to other people's houses and have felt compelled to accept them all.  How else can you share the love of Jesus unless you mingle with people.  Anyway, we've also had people call us and ask if they can come over to our house.  They feel comfortable enough not to wait for an invite.  What do you say,  "Sure we would love to have you!!  Plan to stay for supper!"  And... there I go cooking again.  :0)
So we've been to Christmas parties, Birthday parties,Filipino House Blessing parties, and just "Come and have fun" parties. We've been swimming at the games center and skating with friends, soaking in the hot springs on a couple of occasions, and sledding at the lake on the opposite end of town.
Now,  I'm tired and had to turn down the last New Years Eve party.  I just couldn't do it any more.
But this I'll have to say, my husband and I had prayed together that God would help us to reach out to people and put people in our way whom we could be a blessing to and I believe he has.  Now for the New year planning.  I can't wait to see what the Lord has in mind for us.
Keep us all in your prayers everyone as People are opening up to us as least about their religious backgrounds and I am finding that no matter the person we've met,  they have all had some sort of former introduction to God and don't seem entirely closed to him.
We have discovered that even the people who have openly declared that they are not Christians have looked up prayers, memorized and recited them for the meals they have so generously prepared for us.  It has been interesting to see them go out of their way to make us comfortable.
It is a huge mission field up here and would be nice if we had another family to work with us.  Yes, we have a church family here but not one with kids and around our age.  Working with young families with kids seems to be our mission and it would be so nice to have help.  So, anyone who wants to move to the Great White North?  We sure could use a dedicated Christian family with kids.
Anyway,  loving the weather hear today.  Can't get any better then this!  Lovely -2 C.