Winter Is Here FOR REAL!!!

Winter came the end of October and hasn't left since then!! We've had LOTS of snow and COLD temps!!! This morning it was -24*F and windy! We lit a fire in our fireplace finally to help keep our house warm. We have enjoyed winter, but we sure are starting to think about springtime and green grass!!!

The end of October we were able to make our trip North to Round Lake. We had a really good time and were able to meet a lot of our friends. I had the experience of making "spaghetti" last minute for the family that was grieving death of a loved one. I also made lunch in someone else's home for them and for us with their food. We LOVED catching up with our friends, making new friends and being a support to the grieving family. We were there for a little over 24 hours and then flew back to Dryden. It was a trip worthwhile! The end of October also brought a visit from Matt's parents and brother. That's when the snow started and hasn't stopped since then. We enjoyed a lot of fires in the fire place, hot tea and hot chocolate and lots of other good memories.

First Tooth Lost!

Snowmobile Rides

Fun In The Snow

November was Clint's birthday. We celebrated with some of his friends. There was an Intake too as well as Single Mom's Retreat at the very end of November. We had a good weekend with lots of mother's and children here.

Happy 5th Birthday Clint!

Clint & His Friends

December we were busy with an Intake and then we left for MS for Christmas and had a REALLY good week and a half with our family and friends!!!! We loved being in the South again and enjoyed some deer hunting. We were able to bring back some meat with us!

Single Mom's Retreat!

The Sliding Hill

Fun On The Rink

Baking Christmas Cookies

Trip South

January was an Intake, Youth Retreat and Couples Retreat for the Staff Couples. We enjoyed 3 days away in MN!! It was good to come back to our children again, but it sure was refreshing to be away for a couple of days!

Latisha & Classmates 

It's COLD Outside!!

February brings Little Bands Hockey Week, Intake and whatever comes our way. Our family has been dealing with some sickness. We had really been blessed with health for a LONG time this winter!!! I was quite certain we couldn't escape all the sickness all winter!!!! We will really be thankful for health again! God has been good in the midst of sickness too!!!

May God continue to bless you in this New Year!

Happy New Year!

Winter Is On The Way

Well, as the title says, winter is on its way. The last 2 mornings we have woke up to significant frost on the ground and roof tops. It's exciting to see the seasons change. We have had a beautiful fall with lots of leaves changing and falling from the trees. This year we didn't have the army worms come visit in the spring and destroy the leaves, so this fall to see lots of leaves falling is quite different! 😊 Yesterday there were snow flurries. You would have thought our house was burning down with all the racing around being done by the children when I said it was snowing! 😂😂 It's fun to see their excitement!

The past months since we last updated were busy with Training Week, Summer Camps, Family Camp and a visit from my sister Kendra, a Trip to PA in August, the Intake Season starting again in September, School starting for Latisha, a Youth Retreat the end of September, another Intake in October, celebrating Thanksgiving with our Client Families on the evening of October 9, and now gearing up for Board Meetings later this week and then a trip by airplane to Round Lake, Lord willing, October 23 & 24 followed by a visit from Matt's parents and older brother.

We enjoyed having a local Native family over one evening for a hot dog roast and catch up time with them a couple of weeks ago. On our trip to Round Lake, we are hoping to make lots of connections with different people that have been here over the last number of years for our Intakes. Our family is really looking forward to this trip. It's one of our dreams that we would love to fulfill before we leave the North.

We continue to face the normal challenges of parenting, relationships, knowing how to stay in contact with people scattered all across the North, relating to friends that have been sorrowed with the loss of loved ones through suicide and continuing to seek God's will for our family. We continue to covet your prayers.

Family Camp

Inside the Big Tent where singing, preaching and testimonies were held.

North Woods Quartet

Enjoying Wild Blueberries

The black dot is a Black Bear that came to join our blueberry patch

while we were picking blueberries. Thankfully he was a long

ways off!!

"David" and his armour

Latisha & Friends

Our Bookworms 

The First Day of School

The school students had a field trip this first quarter. They went to 

the hockey arena in town and enjoyed skating for a couple of hours.

Latisha, Aria & Maiya - all in the same grade!

The beauty of the River in Dryden

We took the children to the swinging bridge in Dryden. It was pretty

windy and cold that night. They loved running across!!

Have a Blessed Month!

5 Months and Still Going

It has been about 5 months since we have last updated! How can life go by so quickly?! So many things have happened, I just really don't know where to start? Right now, we're winding up for Work Week which starts on Monday. Two different groups are coming in to help us get projects done, buildings cleaned and the grounds prepped for Summer Camps. Summer Staff arrive June 22 and Training Week starts June 23. We're on a race till the end of Summer going from one thing to the next. Some days it feels like a marathon! We shall make it if we let Jesus be our Guide! We covet your prayers through this very busy time for our family, both physically and spiritually. It stretches all of us with the different schedule, LOTS of people around all the time, and not lots of family time. There's parts of summer that we enjoy, but we all are glad when it slows down a little again. 

Some of things we've been up to lately on the Missions side of things...

- Client Intakes

- Staff Men's & Ladies Retreats in February and May

- 10 Course Classes happening here at BLC in January and April

- Youth Retreats in January & March

- Spending time with a friend in town one afternoon over coffee

- Girls and Boys Clubs happening every other week

Some things we as a family have been up to lately...

- Family Vacation to MS in March

- Enjoying the yearly open house at the local sheep farm 

- Redoing the children's bedroom!

- Matt, Latisha and Clint getting a plane ride in the small 2 seater Luscombe plane that's on floats now that it's summer and the lakes are thawed

- Cordell shooting his 1st bear

- Picnics

- Fishing (Clint caught a 36" Northern Pike on his little fishing pole! It was quite some excitement!)

- Celebrating Alayna turning 1 and Latisha turning 6 

- Camping as a Staff Team in the 1st weekend in June

- Enjoying many summer evenings outside soaking up the warmer weather

Enjoying the Open House at Egli's Sheep Farm

The children LOVE all the animals

While we were in MS, Mom & Dad Petre, got chicks and the children loved watching them and helping to get them to the feed and water. They really miss not having animals here!

Some of the cousins enjoyed playing in the water!

Clint got to go to work with Uncle Jerilynn for a little while. It totally made his day!

Many stories were enjoyed during our time in MS

One night for supper, Clint got a STACK of baby carrots on his plate.

This is the empty plate of carrots! I think he ate around 10 or so :)

Another exciting thing in April, was Latisha finishing K-5! 

We were both very excited to be done!! :) 

A project we have wanted to do for a long time! The children helped Matt

get the old wallpaper off in their room and get it prepped for paint.

The finished room!

Cordell's 1st Bear

Some of the happy team of well wishers!

The children were recovering from the flu. This couch was being junked

and was waiting to be moved. In the mean time, they enjoyed laying on it

out in the sunshine.

One evening Clint asked Amos if he could have a ride in the Luscombe. 

Amos was quite happy to give him one. He let him choose if he would like to 

have a ride on ski's or on floats. He chose floats. So when the ice went off of

 Beaver Lake and the weather was nice, Clint got his promised ride. 

Matt and Latisha got to join.

Our Baby is 1!

Her baby and her "Tia" Lori

She was quite delighted with her cake

Such a big girl on a mission!

Being 1 has so many adventures! The baby pretty much 

goes where she goes.

Latisha turned 6!!!

She had her friends over to help her celebrate!

Camping at Good Lake

Frying Fish for our fish fry

Breading Fish

Chilling

Enjoying the Hammock

After grocery shopping the other day, I took the girls to the park

Our little Monkey :) 

This pretty much wraps up our news for now. Your prayers for us and encouragement to us mean so much! May God bless you as you bless us! Until next time!