Signs of Spring

 

One day this past week it was plus 10!! The snow was melting which made puddles everywhere to play in. Joelle and Liam had a blast! I think this is going to be a spring full of mud, kids covered in mud, and lots of fun!

 

 

One of our projects at home this week was building a dresser together. Liam was all over this, he loves helping build anything he can and loves the power tools! Joelle liked helping but was more intrested in the dresser when she could climb in it. It was a fun family project.

 

Stuck Skid Steer

Since we moved out to Frontier Lodge we have been surprised at how little snow was out here. We have had a few dumps of snow but they never seem to stick around for long. We were told that March is the month they get most of the snow, they were right! Over a foot of snow fell this last weekend, mostly on Saturday and on and off all day Sunday.

 This provided lots of fun with the snow, on Sunday church was late by 30 min because someone got their van stuck on the hill outside of the church. Being from a small congregation (I think there was 7 brave souls that made it through the snow to come to church) all but 3 of us and the kids were out trying to get the van unstuck. They got the van free and then came inside to begin church, when we got home from church one of the staff came over and told us that the skid steer was stuck and they would need Troy to help get it out. It didn’t look like it was going to be that hard to pull it out; the skid steer was on the edge of a bank in the snow. One would think that it might take 5 min to hook it up and pull it out. After 2 ½ hours of trying to pull it out it ended up all the way in the bottom of the ditch. I would go out every once in a while to check on progress (it was stuck right behind our house which made it easy to do) I chuckled to myself because at one point it reminded me of a country song Truck got Stuck! The skid steer was hooked up to the Suburban and a pulley system through the trees to a red truck that stalled and they couldn’t get it going again so it was dead weight because all the tension was tied to the truck and then Troy got our Durango to pull in front of the red truck. Yep the Truck got Stuck song with a a few different vehicles and a skid steer. After it became dark and the skid steer was resting in the ditch they decided to call it a night and get it out in the morning.

 Some of the vehicles uesd to pull out the skid steer

 

In the morning they spent a few hours cutting branches, setting up ropes and a pulley system I think it was a 15 to 1 pull ratio (not exactly the safest but very effective) they checked the system and then they were ready to try and pull the skid steer out. Troy put the suburban in drive and began to roll down the hill a bit and we began to cheer because the skid steer came right out of the ditch! There was a lot of cheering and laughing because it was almost effortless to get it out. Hurray for static climbing rope and climbing rescue knowledge being applied to get the skid steer out.

 Prep for set up

 The final set up

 

 Joelle to the rescue! She tried to pull and dig the skid steer out for her daddy

 Liam loves the skid steer

 

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

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.

New Adventres

It seems like this last week has just flown by. We are expecting our 3^rd 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 24^th 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.

Little Blessings

I am sitting here this afternoon reflecting on the last 5 years, this Saturday, January 26^th will mark 5 wonderful years of being married. It is incredible how fast the years seem to go by, I can still remember little details from our wedding day that make them  seem like they happened months ago not years.

 Then I begin to think of all the adventures we have had since that day, we bought our first house together and had the joy of renovating it together, taking something that needed some TLC taking it apart and making it into something beautiful. We have 2 beautiful children, I still remember the first time I held each of them, the surreal feeling that this perfect little person was ours to love and protect for the rest of our lives. What an incredible blessing and responsibility to raise both Joelle and Liam to be followers of God who love Him with all their heart. At times when I think about that I feel inadequate and I am thankful for God’s love and grace he has shown me throughout my life. I think being a mom is the biggest adventure I will ever have the privilege to be a part of, one with many tears, laughter, love and joy.  Three years ago we began to dream of adventures we would take our family on, things like the Olympics, camping, rock climbing, hiking the West Coast Trail, a big family trip overseas possibly South America. Now we have added serving God at a camp in the mountains. I am blessed beyond what I ever imagined by amazing family and friends. Thank you all for being such blessings in my life and for those of you who loved me in tough times, and good ones.

 

 This last little bit as we have been settling into camp life, and adjusting to having Troy back at work I have been trying to figure out where I fit in all this…I get the chance to be an amazing mom, having adventures that would not be possible if we still lived in Lacombe which is another blessing. I am praying that God uses me, my life and my heart to help serve Him here at camp. My heart for the camp world is still as big and as strong as it always has been, I have had many different roles and opportunities through the past years I have served at camp and I know that somehow even if I do not have a title here He can use me.  Troy has been working at his job for just over 2 weeks now and has a few big projects to work on already, the camp has been in need of staff and God is providing them as couples and families. For Troy this means needing to renovate an older house called Peskett to accommodate the single female staff that live here year round so a family can move into the house they are currently in. Turning the basement of Peskett into a place for the women that come to the Ascend program twice a year, Peskett needs alt of TLC and a few modifications to turn it into a nice place for the girls. On his list is also fixing up one of the older outdoor cabins to house the guys for the Ascend program, all to be done before the Ascend program starts the beginning of March. I think having these big projects is good for him, the previous site manager told Troy it took him 1 ½ years before he felt like he had a good handle on the job, this way at least Troy has something to keep the guys busy for a while.  If you think of us you can pray for Troy and his big projects and that I find my place to serve.