Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Burn Pile


One of the jobs the site staff looks forward to is burning the burn pile. Today was that day so I took Joelle and Liam over to have a look at the big fire. Liam LOVED the skid steer, every time they came and dumped snow on the pile to help the rate that the pile burned he would point and say WOW. Joelle on the other hand was a bit stressed about the trees being on the ground, she wanted Troy to put them back up so they could be “taller and taller up”. I think she needed a nap first then she might have been ok with the fire. Cor, one of the guys that helps out with site maintenance is on the Nordegg fire department so he was in charge of making sure the fire was under control.
 




Listening and Encouraging


It was a week of wrestling with figuring out what my part is here at camp and trying to figure out how I can minister without stepping on other peoples toes. I have been feeling purposeless and not sure what God was wanting me to do here. I am loving being home with my kids every day…even the crazy days when I question my sanity I still would rather be with them than anywhere else. It is a blessing to have family times again when Troy is off instead of us switching places, Troy home with the kids and me at work we can actually spend 2 whole days a week together as a family. The kids are loving having both of us home to play with and go on adventures. Still I was struggling to find my place here, we went away this past weekend to Troy’s parents place to pick us some things for the South Africans that arrived a little over a week ago and to run some errands and pick up things we can’t get back home. We went to the Ministik Community Church on Sunday and shared a little about what we are doing at Frontier Lodge. We both felt really encouraged after talking with some of the people in the Church. For me the speaker Trevor hit on something I really needed to hear, his message was about listening to people and encouraging one another. This I thought was something I can do out at Frontier Lodge I can encourage the other staff members and listen to them. We have many staff that are from overseas and various parts of Canada, these are the people that I am to listen to and encourage. I need to be intentional about spending time with the staff and getting to know them better on a deeper level so I can better know how to encourage each of them.
 

Fun at Grandmas and Grandpas
 playing in the deep snow
 Love the smiles
 Liam was not so sure about the horses
 Joelle loves the horses
 Liam enjoyed riding the horse only when she was going fast
Joelle loves riding horses, she could ride all day

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Life with a Water Pump


Monday morning and the kids are still in bed at 8 am and the phone is ringing…not good. Turns out nowhere at the camp had any water and people were calling to see if Troy was working, he was scheduled to be working that day and if he had the day off he would no longer. It was too warm for the pipes to freeze like they did the first few days we moved out here and the pipes froze. Turned out the water pump in the well had somehow detached and was sitting in the bottom of the well.  A new problem that had not come up in the past so some creative thinking had to be done.  Someone told him that when they put it in someone was down there with a life jacket in the water setting up, not really an option for winter time. Thankfully Cor another one of the guys who works with Troy on maintenance decided he would help and take a different day off.  The two of them spent a lot of time waling between the well, which is down by the lake and the water house at the top of the hill at camp. They modified a ladder that was destined for the garbage and welded a few hooks on the end of it so they could hang it on the side of the well and climb down to get the pump without getting wet. There was a piece they needed to replace on the pump before they could reattach it, there was a lot of digging through bins in the garage desperately looking for this one piece or no water. There was talk of welding something to make it work for the day and have someone drive and pick up the piece the next day. Thankfully they found the part they needed and didn’t need to creatively weld something together that could take hours.  They had some creative way of balancing on the ladder and the side of the well and hanging down from the top so they could tighten the pump back into place. After they were done Troy said this is probably the only thing the maintenance staff can do to make everyone at camp really happy! It’s true, everyone was happy to have the water back. I was really thankful that Troy didn’t have to work late into the night to get the water going.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

New Adventres


It seems like this last week has just flown by. We are expecting our 3rd baby due to arrive in August which I have a feeling is just going to fly by! This pregnancy so far has been different from the last 2. I have been really tired the last 3 months, which is normal but really hard when you are moving and need more energy than you seem to have.  On December 24th I spent the day in emergency getting blood tests and an emergency ultrasound done because I had started bleeding. The ultrasound showed us that everything looked normal but the doctor told me that that was all they could tell me. After that I was really looking forward to my first prenatal appointment so I could hear the heartbeat. We had an emergency ultrasound last Monday because they could not find the heartbeat at my doctor’s appointment. Once again the ultrasound showed that the baby was fine and developing normally. I am praying that form here on out everything goes more smoothly, no more emergency ultrasounds just regular doctors’ appointments until the baby is born.

This week we also got a chance to explore a part of this area we have never been to before. Saturday we went with some of the other staff members to Ram falls. It was about 1 hour drive down the forestry trunk road towards Calgary. Right before we got there poor Joelle was beginning to feel sick from all the turns in the road. Thankfully she didn’t get sick in the Jeep! It didn’t take long before she was feeling ok, Troy carried Liam in the kid pack and the plan was for Joelle to walk…Troy ended up carrying both of the kids, Liam in the pack and Joelle on his shoulders.  It was a beautiful day to be outside exploring new places. Ram falls reminded me a bit of Crescent falls, tall and a similar look to the rock surrounding the waterfall.  I am looking forward to exploring new parts of these mountains.


Troy’s job is going well. They are still working in Peskett to get it ready for the girls to move into at the end of the month. They are down to the last bit of painting and installing flooring then it should be ready for them to move into. The next 2 weekend coming up is the Wycliffe adventure races that help raise money for Wycliffe. I am excited to be around to learn more about them, for the camp side of it. You can pray for safety for the racers while they are out hiking, ice climbing, rappelling and doing team challenges.