Author: ba

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The best things in life…

Grandma Klassen gave us a card that said, "The best things in life aren’t things." Some people might disagree, but our trip so far has reminded us that family and friends bring so much joy!
 
We left on Thursday morning and drove to Briercrest Saskatchewan where we enjoyed an awesome meal with Maria and Ike (our sister and brother) and our sweet nephew and nieces. Jacquie met us for dinner too and she enjoyed a meal that wasn’t spaghetti! We even ate it over candlelight (thanks for remembering our anniversary Maria).
 
Alliance University College is really high tech and modern! We visited Jenn and Emma and saw their super cute condo. Don’t worry about those girls, they are living it up. Fiore is an awesome italian restaurant on 17th Ave. in Calgary that my brother Kevin recommended. We met him, Jon, Mandy (our other brother and sister) and Denae (Mandy’s sister) for a fantastic meal on friday night and then stayed overnight at Jon and Mandy’s new condo. I haven’t laughed that much in a while!
 
We flew out to Vancouver the next morning and met Uncle Rick, Auntie Maureen and Grandma Klassen for lunch in the airport. We had about 5 hours to kill until our flight to Honolulu, and our wonderful family stayed all day with us (and I am sure paid a heafty parking bill). Starbucks with family never tasted so good!
 
And so we see the best things in life are friends, family…and food.
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Overwhelmed

It felt like the 100th to do list for the week! I scanned it and realized there was no way I could get everything done before Thursday morning-scheduled time of departure! Ben is telling me I need to learn to let somethings be undone.
 
We leave in 1 1/2 days for Hawaii (after a one day visit at Briercrest to visit family and then another 1 day visit to Calgary to visit family again!) and we feel totally overwhelmed with this significant life change we are making. Thankfully we have awesome friends and family, and a great church that is helping all of this to go as smoothly as possible!
 
Many people have been asking how we are doing financially. We are currently about half way to what we have budgeted  for monthly income. It has been awesome to see people really come around our vision and make it their own! Even our younger cousins from California have pledged a little from their allowance each month. How encouraging!! But not everyone can afford to give on a monthly basis or even one time, and more important for us is the emotional/prayer support, so start writing those letters
 
By the way, if you have any comments to this entry please use the link just below this paragraph to leave a little note for all to see. That is what makes this an interesting conversation! We are going to be posting a new blog entry every week!
 
Next entry will be once we are in Hawaii…
 
  
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DVD is coming….

Well, Ben just got back from a very difficult, busy week at camp- but he loved it! He was a counsellor for boys ages 14-15 and was the only counsellor in his cabin- we are talking difficult time! But Ben, as only Ben can do, absolutely loved on those kids! Way to go honey! (as you can tell, Angela is writing this entry).
 
We are also getting set to mail out our DVD’s so keep your eyes on the mail! The DVD gives a great explanation of our plans for fall. If you have any feedback feel free to post it here!
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Kit Kat Break!

Summer has been very busy, but this weekend will be a break for us as we go camping with some friends at Clear Lake. Some BBQ, a little bonfire, definitely some swim time and some time to rest, away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Enjoy the weekend!
 
 Ben and Ang
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It is Finished.

The bathroom is all but finished. No pics, but it sure does look good! On to bigger things – our DVD is in its final stages. We are doing the final touches up and we’ll be making copies this week for distribution!
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Hey there!

Angela and I are preparing for the adventure of a lifetime! Sure is exciting! I just finished reading about Hudson Taylors adventures – WOW! Let’s make a go of it and give it all we’ve got!
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Orthodox Church – Experience #2

Our second experience with the Orthodox church occurred nearly a year ago, summer 2010. This time, instead of being led by our friend, we were out to see the city.

Talk about:
Time we visited with Lisa, St. Michael’s blue one.
Go into detail on the atmosphere, the paintings.

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Orthodox Church – Experience #3

We are almost to the current time, spring 2011. Our first experience we were lead, the second we lead ourselves, but this time, we were leading a group of Bible teachers who were spending 4 weeks teaching the Bible in and around Kyiv. (As a side note, the spelling of “Kyiv” is the Ukrainian transliteration, “Kiev” is the Russian).

Anyway…

Talk about:
– seeing new parts of st michaels,
– seeing the prayers by the priests and the gifts of bread etc.
– no hands in pockets (basil in trouble)
– their first impressions