MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas from cold and snowy Canada. We have about 2 feet of snow in our yard and it is still snowing. It is beautiful but we hope our guests can make to our house for dinner on Christmas Day. We are so glad to have Letha with us for Christmas this year. Heidi and Doug were coming but the weather has changed those plans. Maybe they will make it for New Years Day. Enjoy the pictures and keep Christ the center of your Christmas.

Ready for Christmas

Fireside with friends

A great time by the fire with Moshen and Laleh on our back patio

Grouse Mountain

We had a great day on Grouse Mountain today with our friends Mosen and Laleh. Mosen and Joan walked the 2 miles up the very steep trail and Laleh and I rode the gandola. We enjoyed the lumberjack show and the grizzly bears at the top.

A few more pictures

11493 Millar Road

We moved out of the townhouse in south Surrey on Tuesday and moved into a house in north Surrey on Wednesday. We had some good help from some great friends that made the move much easier. Here are some pictures of the house. It is one story with a wooden desk in the back and a large cement patio on the rest of the back of the house. A nice two car garage and a great gas fireplace in the living room. Come see us.

Summer is over

Well, summer ended yesterday and now we have begun the beautiful fall season. Leaves are beginning to change quickly here, the days are getting shorter, and we are getting ready to move. Not far this time but about 25 minutes Northeast of here. We will still be in Surrey but instead of south Surrey we will be in NW Surrey near the Faiser River and less than 1 KM from the church we attend. This location will put us more central to the rest of the metro Vancouver area.

Our new address beginning October 1st will be 11493 Millar Road, Surrey, BC Canada V3V 2V1.

Off to Portugal

Hannah, Mark, Sahara, Bria and Tirza are on their way to the airport in Seattle to fly to Lisbon, Portugal. The picture is all of them and their luggage loaded in the van and departing out of our garage in Surrey, BC. We pray they have a great trip today to Frankfurt and then tomorrow in to Lisbon. Also one picture from last night of our traditional family meal. It was great. Sorry you missed it DeLaughters and McClures.

Prayer for a friend

Today I received a call from a friend in Damascus, Syria. He is a friend who is origianlly from Iraq but now lives in Canada. He is in Damascus trying to get permission for his wife to come from Iraq to Canada. She lives in Iraq but the Canadian embassy is in Syria. He called asking for prayer for the process as so far they have rejected there application. If they reject it again he will return to Canada but she will have to return to Iraq. The timing is critical as they really wanted her to be in Canada for the birth of their first child. Pray with me for N. and his wife S.

Doug & Heidi McClure

May as turned out to be a great month for us. We are so blessed and want to give God all the glory for the good gifts He gives to us. We are so pleased to welcome Doug McClure into our family. We have prayed for all of our daughters that God would lead them to godly men who would love God and and want to to thank God for the marriage of Heidi and Doug on May 18th. We look forward to celebrating this marriage with a reception for them on July 5 from 1-4pm at 1st Baptist Church in Longview, WA.

TN to WA

Well we are almost there. We left TN on Tuesday and traveled to Hannibal MO and had a great visit with the Booth family there. On Thursday we drove across MO and then up I-29 through Iowa and then headed West on I-90 through South Dakota. About midway through SD highway I-90 was closed due to a blizzard at Rapid City. So much for seeing Mt Rushmore. On Friday morning we traveled 200 miles straight South and hit I-80 at N Platte, Nebraska and tried to go West again. At Ogallala, NE we found I-80 was closed for the day and the whole night. Again due to high winds and snow. We left Ogallala this morning about 7:30am. The road was opened about 5:30am. It was a bit snowy but we made it through. We drove for 900 miles today and ended up in Boise, Idaho at about 8:45pm. We should be able to make it into Longview tomorrow. What's up with all the snow in May?

Mark and Hannah's Appointment Service

What a great privilege it was to be able to attend the appointment service of another one of our daughters. Mark and Hannah were appointed by the IMB to service as missionaries in Lisbon, Portugal. They will, along with Sahara, Cambria and Tirza move to Richmond, VA for orientation on April 28th and then on to Portugal in early July. Joan is in TN helping them get ready to move and Tim will join them next week to assist in finishing everything and get our house there ready to be sold.

Pray for Mark and Hannah and their girls as they say their goodbyes and begin this exciting journey. Also continue to pray for Kara and David and their boys in India. Pray for Letha at SE Seminary in North Carolina and for Heidi who has a new job in Longview, WA.

I have also included our family picture from January. God is good.

The Crowd and our friends.

Persian New Years Eve

We had a great time with our friends at the Iranian celebration of New Years last night in North Vancouver.

A trip in the van

Tonight I was the designated driver to a meeting in nearby Burnaby. I had planned to pick up a couple of my Middle Eastern friends to go to our planning meeting for our conference in July. I ended up with a van full of 7 of us. There were three guys from Kurdistan, two guys from Egypt and a lady from Kuwait. Although most of the conversation was in Arabic I enjoyed all the fun that everyone was having. We had a great meeting and made good plans for the meeting to celebrate the community of faith and to encourage one another in our witness to others. What a privilege to be a part of this vibrant community of faith that loves the Lord.

Sunday in Canada

We knew it could snow some in Canada but through Dec and Jan it seems to snow almost every Sunday. Yesterday we had to drive through more than a foot of snow to take our Burundi friends home after church. We wonder sometimes how much they are understanding but they sure seem to enjoy everything. On the way home Brickmas who is four years old was singing , "My Redeemer Lives" in perfect tune. As we looked at all the snow Shantal said that it looked like there was ugali in all the trees and covering all the ground. She thought it was very funny and that her family in Africa would never believe it. What fun they are.

Kids and Grandkids

Having a great time with family all together. Happy New Year to everyone.