2008 in Review

Since we don't send out a Christmas letter every year, we've decided to do a similar thing on our blog. 2008 has not been an uneventful year, it began with the closure of CP Steel in January, a decision that had been made earlier. Closing the shop after 7 years was difficult, many of the tools and machines were sold off. In February Chris started his new temporary job, welding at General Metal Fabrication. In the Spring he started his permanent position as Customer Service Representative at General Metal, a job he enjoys.

As I look back on the Spring, I can't beleive that Justin only learned to drive without training wheels this year. He's so good without them now it feels like he's been riding without them longer.

The summer brought swimming lessons, soccer, gardening and house painting. In Spring Nettie bought a family pass at the pool and we spent as much time as we could there over the Summer. Justin did his swimming lessons over the summer and greatly improved. When he began, he was a little nervous of getting his face wet, by the end of the summer he was jumping in without a life jacket on. We also did a bit of swimming in Altona and later in the Summer we went to Delta Beach North of Portage where the water stays shallow a long way in.

Nettie spent a bunch of her summer in the garden. We doubled the size of our garden this year which made for some great summertime stir frys. We had more than we could deal with, so at the end of the summer we filled our wagon up with the last of our corn on the cob, a few tomatoes and some peppers and found neighbours who would take them. It was a fun way to meet the neighbours.


It sounds sort of stupid to say that I spent my summer painting the house, but that's the truth. With all of the other stuff (not sure what it was now) that we had up this summer, I fought to get a few hours in at a time.


The fall began with Justin entering into Grade 1 and a new renovation project, new windows. We got half of our new windows in before the weather forced a hault to the work. Fall also saw the creation of a new Bible study group. We, along with Barb Klassen Nettie's sister Mary and Jim & Judy Wiebe's family began a study on the Book of John. It has been a challenge to all of us and we've had some really good discussion along with some wonderful desserts.


Kaitlyn has turned into a little lady this year. Kate loves to dress up and she loves to be pretty. Kate learned to drive a tricycle this spring and she likes an excuse to run. She's learned to speak very clearly, better than a lot of kids that are older than her.


Charity is developing quickly. In the past month, she's mastered walking and is now working on climbing. Though she's still small for her age, she's learning some of the sign language that the other kids know and she's starting to babble sentences to people. Every now and then she even says an identifiable word (we're her parents, of course they're on purpose).

2008 was a year of change for our family. God has blessed our family.

Happy Belated Birthday Charity

On October 30th Charity turned 1!! Her birthday was just a private affair, only our family.

Justin and Kaitlyn are so very excited about Charity's accomplishments. It is great to see the joy for each other. We are so thankful that our children get along as well as they do. They are a huge blessing to us.

Here is Charity following family tradition and destroying the first piece of birthday cake. She had lotsa fun!! (It's long!!)

Wow one already, time goes by so fast. The other day I caught her climbing up onto a chair, I went for the camera and this is the look she gave me when she finally figured out how to get into a sitting position from a standing position on the chair. She was SO excited.

Here is a photo of our Clown and our princess. We dressed up for the penny carnival at church. The Children had a great time. Except for Charity who was under the weather. After we drop in a few homes to say "Trick or Treat smell your feet," as Justin Would say!

Our Girls

Energy..............

A Pauls Cousin (Finally!!)

On October 12th God Blessed Jay and Trevor with their new daughter Brooklyn Dawn. Brooke is the first cousin on the Pauls side of the family. The kids were so excited to meet her.

Justin holding baby Brooke like a professional older cousin.

End of an Era

On Thursday Justin had his twin friends Lane and Cole over for the last time before they move to their new home in Ontario. They did what they'd usually do, playing video games and making a mess in the sandbox. On the way back from dropping them off at home, Justin said "Maybe they'll come back at Christmas time." When we explained that it was possible but unlikely Justin became very quiet and we could hear sniffling in the back of the van, not the first time that tears have been shed over this move. It hurts to see him hurt like this.

Summer Memories

Picture of our Children this summer!!

Charity discovers the watering can.

Justin at Soccer

Kate creates new fashions!

The produce of our blessed garden

Apple Sauce and Apple Juice by the Pauls Family

We blew them off with the air hose when they were done.

Charity's first ice cream cone of her own

(there was an auntie Anna involved)

The New Earth

A few months ago we had a speaker named Bob Wilkin come to our church. One of the things he spoke about was the new Heaven and new Earth. 1000 years after the tribulation there will be a new Earth. (don't take my word for it, look it up in Rev 21). He went on a tangent and said a few things that he admitted were out of his own mind. He told us that he thought that the greatest symphonies were yet to come in the new earth (it'd be easy when you have an unlimited lifetime to work on it). The greatest architecture and the most amazing history. (We don't know what history is yet because our past is so short on this planet). It's gotten me thinking and considering the things I do and how I spend my time. It's made me question what I'm aiming for. Do I want to spend my entire life trying to pay off my "dream home?" or fighting to have a better vehicle and more stuff that I can show off with, only to find out that it didn't last? There's better ways to spend time and money. We're investing in a retirement plan that will literally last for eternity. When you consider the length of this life and the length of eternity it seems to be a no-brainer. I'm starting to have a better understanding of those who've given up all of their possessions and followed where they feel God is leading them to go.

Spruce Woods Trip

Yesterday we joined our friends Willy and Tina Fehr at the Carman Baptist Church where Willy is a part of the leadership. This week was their missions emphasis Sunday. We enjoyed an "International meal" and the kids accrued a few toys.

After lunch we continued on toward Glenboro and Spruce Woods Provincial Park. (Thanks for the idea Mark & Rosalie). We'd told Justin that we were going to see Sara the camel and see the "Desert" which scared him because he was a little nervous of the cowboys and buffalo. Kate wasn't concerned with those but the thought of seeing crocodiles made her uneasy (Not sure where that stuff came from). We decided to take the "short" path (only 1.6kms) and soon found out that a mile of walking on sand is far more taxing than a mile on gravel. Even our perpetual motion 3 year old wasn't keeping up all of the time. I also found that you can only carry an 11month old on your shoulders so long before she gets bored and starts re-arranging your glasses or sticking her fingers in your ears, (a small drool-lubed finger can go a long way into an ear canal).

The kids had a wonderful time jumping down the sand hills, rolling on the dunes and running the paths. Justin saw a bunch of crows and decided to scare them away by pulling his arms into his jacket and standing perfectly still like a scarecrow.

When we were done (around 7pm) we dumped out our shoes and went to Glenboro for supper. As we approached the camel effigy Kate asked, "Is that Mary the camel?" Our apologies to the aunties who've had camels named after them.

The General Metal Picnic

On Tuesday, Sept 9 we went to the General Metal picnic at Winkler Bible Camp. We played mini-golf tried our hand at archery, spent some time petting the noses on some horses and watched some of the people on the climbing wall.




While Chris was winning a jacket during the doorprizes, Justin and Kaitlyn spent some time on the play structure along with the multitude of children who came.

Justin riding a "Motorcycle"

While at grandma and grandpa's on Sunday, Justin took advantage of the opportunity to ride the Z50 Honda that his Dad and Uncle Mike grew up driving. Justin's driving is smooth but cautious.

Kaitlyn's 3rd Bithday

Kaitlyn is 71/2 months old in these pictures. Hard to believe this is the same little girl.

On Sunday, we went to Mom & Dad's place for the day and celebrated Kaitlyn's third birthday along with Grandma Pauls, Mike & Jeanette and Derek & Beth.

Mike and Jeanette came out for the Morris MCC auction. It was great to see them again, it had been along time. Their visit was short, because they had to get back to the combine.

Who Dunnit?

Sunday Sept 7, 2008
My immigrant neighbour stood on my doorstep holding up Nettie's wallet. "Does this belong to you guys? I found it laying on the grass in front of my house." I took it and opened it. It was Netties wallet..minus the cash and the credit card. We'd forgotten it in the van, along with some groceries that had been picked up Saturday evening. The van had been parked right up in front of our garage (under a motion light). As we searched the boulevard we found Nettie's drivers license and citizenship papers as well as an envelope with the name of one of our neighbours on it. When we told him about it his eyes were wide. It had been an empty envelope that night, but the night before it'd been left in the truck...with a few thousand dollars in it. So, they got away with around $35 and never used our credit card before we cancelled it. It leaves us more curious than mad...who dunnit? We keep looking at any teen or biker who goes by and wonder "was it him?". I suppose we'll never know.

Our Piano

Our kids love music and though we don't want to be the over-acheiver parents who get their kids doing too much we do think the option of piano lessons would be valuable, so a few weeks ago we bought an older piano from a family in Miami. On tuesday we had Jason Dyck, from Piano Manna, come to tune our piano and he said it's in reasonably good shape though it has a crack in a small wooden block that needs to be glued. He gave us some pointers on things to do to make it better. Resurfacing the hammers, adjusting the slack for each key, and leveling the keys are some of the things he suggested. Currently we're working on the cracked peice and so our piano is apart and laying on it's back with about 15 strings unhooked.

Some of Our Summer Time Fun

A day at Great Grandma's







A few weeks ago while Justin was in Alberta visiting his cousins with Grandma & Grandpa Dyck the rest of us went to Brandon to visit Grandma Irving, a visit that was long overdue. We had a good visit and a sponsored supper at Humpty's. It was great to see Grandma again.






Grandma enjoyed cuddling with her little girls!












Two weeks ago while Chris was painting the eves on the house, Justin had his first entreprenurial experience selling ice tea and beans (wierd combo but it worked). By "closing time" Justin had sold the whole pitcher of ice tea and all of the green beans, netting a whopping $3 and change.





Our house painting is going slowly but we're pleased with the final product. Currently the front is done, and one side has the primer and one coat of paint on it. We're waiting on our new windows, the next step in our exterior makeover.

Two Rocket Scientists

This last weekend we overheard Justin and Kaitlyn in the bathroom:

Justin: Hey, Kailtyn come stand on the scale with me, lets see how tall we are!!

A short while later Kaitlyn replied," Oh Boy 60 bucks!!"

An Afternoon at Island Water Park

On Sunday Afternoon our family went to Island Water Park in Portage, by the time we arrived there it was mid afternoon. The sun disappeared in the first few minutes of our swim and the wind picked up. Kate and Chris went down the big waterslide a few times but finally it got too cold to leave the pool except to use the small waterslide. We thought maybe we should leave but the kids were having fun despite the cold. We pulled Charity out and dried her off when we noticed her bottom lip wouldn't stop quivering. After our swim we warmed up with some pizza at Pizza Hut. Despite the cold, everyone seemed to have a good time.

A Fact About Winkler

Justin came running into the house this morning; with a brilliant discovery.

"Hey Mom, there are bugs in this town!!" he very excited announced.

To all those who didn't know!!!

Who is Who?

A














B

Who is who? If interested tell us what you think by leaving a comment.

Justin - No Training Wheels?

Check out what Justin learned to do Sunday afternoon:

We took the kids to the school grounds on Sunday and Justin rode his bike around the entire track without his training wheels. We are so proud of his accomplishment.

Kaitlyn enjoyed learning to pedal on the tricycle, she is doing well. Her next task is learning how to use the handle bar, so that the trike will go in a straight line not just a circle.

Planting Potatoes

Justin and Kaitlyn had a blast planting potatoes. It was a cool windy day, but by the time we were ready to call it quits, Kate was very wet and loving it. When Chris and I were not quick enough and there were no holes to water or plant a potatoe in, they would make a hole (just anywhere), put water in it and then a potatoe, and dirt to cover. We were lucky they only put a thin layer of dirt onto the few strays.



At the end of the day stage one of our planting experience is complete!! The existing piece of garden is planted, and hopefully next week we will break new ground for the rest of our garden.

I (Chris) have been working at General Metal Fabrication since the beginning of February. I was hired to be a customer service rep but I've been welding in the shop until the new office opens. Though my time in the shop has been good, I'm looking forward to my first day in the office on Tuesday.