Fall Kick Off

A little late here ... 

but I thought I'd share these pictures of a really great time we had at our church fall kick off.

It was memorable this year in that someone decided to add an ethnic Mennonite food to the menu

and guess who was recruited!

Lovella and I did some homework and decided to go for it!

The Tuesday before the kick off we met with a group of friends in the church kitchen

and mixed up about 80 recipes of Rollkuchen.

Using the industrial sized mixer, that would be 20 batches.

Lots of rolling, cutting and layering.

We counted 3700.

The cart got rolled into the freezer room.

On Fall Kick Off Sunday, they were thawed 

twirled ... and fried up fresh as people were coming.

It became an assembly line that was hard to imagine before hand ...

What gave me such joy was to see how, along with friends, 

both Lovella's and my family came out to help ...

and stayed till we were done.

 

 We finished up just as dinner time ended ...

with three Rollkuchen left over.

 With their parents sticking it out at the Rollkuchen booth,

Papa and I had the chance to run about a bit with the littles ...

bouncy castles were a hit. 

 As was the shaved ice.

The end result was like a dream

and we experienced again the joy of serving in community. 

And a Happy Birthday to Koen!

 Lately, every time I see this boy

I marvel at how he suddenly looks ... so tall.

It would seem that I have not learned that

little boys grow up ...

 it still catches me by surprise.

Dear Koen ...

We literally had two sweet welcomes of you into our lives,

one when you were born and one when we welcomed you to live in Canada,

just seven months later!

 How thankful we are for the blessing of knowing you,

and knowing how to pray for you,

a third child, needing to stand up for yourself.

And rightly so, your ability to understand things,

your awareness of what is fair, just and good,

coupled with humor, 

are qualities you use for good.

As you turn nine,

the booster is put away,

the front seat is yours,

and, in your words,

you are "almost in Grade 5!"

It is a wonderful time!

May God go with you and bless you!

Love, Papa and Mimi

♡♡♡

Happy Birthday, Evy

 Dear Evy,

Today, as we celebrated your fifth birthday 

with our traditional trip to the Build-a-Bear store

I could not help but tell you of the day your were born ...

and the joy you brought to your family.

 You studied the pictures of your sweet welcome on my phone.

At Build-a-Bear you chose your stuffy to fill

and then a cute outfit for her.

 We dressed her

 found a hairband for her

and took pictures, of course. 

 You named your cat, Emma

and after registering her,

we were on our way.

As I reflect on these five years,

I wish that I could run a list of every little moment

that has grown our relationship to what it is today,
a special spot you have filled in our hearts and home by ...

your weekly visits

trips to the park in the stroller

story books

sippy drinks and baby cookies with a show

sugar roll up pancakes

coloring books

board games

blowing bubbles

swinging under the tree

rolling buns

helping with laundry

getting groceries and visiting Oma.

Sweet compliance, with never a complaint.

We've watched you grow in understanding,
and accepting the tough changes that even a toddler faces ...

times when I would have wanted time to stand still.

But, oh, what joy it is to see you grow!

You are sweet, kind and smart ...

and we love you ever you so much!

May God keep and bless you always,
our Everly Elise.

Love, 

Papa and Mimi

♡♡♡

Another End of Summer Date

A flower farm not too far from us

was opened by Kari's parents a few years ago.

 It boasts tulip fields in Spring and

sunflowers and dahlias in late summer.

The grands have been talking about time spent there 

selling toques (handmade by their Nana - proceeds going to needy children). 

This being a school night, they were not there,

but I got my toque on this hot summer evening

and we had a lot of fun strolling through fields of gorgeous flowers

and photo ops that can't go wrong. 

Beautiful paths ...

 Sunflowers hanging like shower heads above you ...

 Tractors, swings, cars, bicycles ... 

let you imagine going through the fields any way you like. 

 The varieties of dahlias are endless ...

 and I love the clean, grassy paths.

A perfect after dinner date for us locals,

and, for sure, a great destination for tourists to our beautiful Fraser Valley.