Pete and Fiona's house - under contract

Great trip to Cincinnati and a joyful reunion with Pete and Fiona and Susannah and Dave. How luck we are to have them living in the same city.

Pete and Fiona are launching into housebuying. It seemed an impossibilty but the bank foreclosing on this property (just round the corner from Dave and Susannah) in Northside has brought the price down to manageable proportions. The house is already divided into three appartments. There will be a fair amount of work to be done to make the appartments ideal, but much of it is not major structural work. I guess the Lord knows that they cannot afford anything that doesn't have a good margin of payback built in, in terms of rentable value. God is good.

Beaver Damage

Near Matts house there is a creek that was beautiful and clear and ran chuckling down stream. A beaver (or two) got in and the the trees all around are felled, the stream is a bog, and the undergrowth a complete tangle of broken trees fallen in every direction. Unfortunately when the poplars and other food trees are all gone the beavers will likely move on and leave a mess so that not even they benefit. Beavers and civilisation don't mix very well so they probably have to be got rid of.

It is fascinating watching how the old trappers used to work to get all the furs that they exchanged for foodstuffs when they came out from the forests.

Matt's new house

Matt is the proud owner of a new house. I think it is called a grit box style - this refers to the shape with one side of the roof longer than the other. Grit boxes are on the side of the road and are the source of grit to make hills passable in winter when the roads treacherous with ice. Anyhow that is my thought on where the term comes from.

Bill's sawmill

Bill has bought himself a sawmill and demonstrated his use. I think that all the siding on Matt's house was cut with this saw. It has always been one of the things that impresses me about the USA that people are willing to have a go and to do things themselves rather than calling in the experts. Bill is of course an accomplished woodsman, hunter and trapper as well as being very good at building. We stayed with Bill and Waneta in their house which he built with his own hands.

Katie and Fiona

Fiona came over to Castile in upstate New York to meet us and linked up with her cousin Katie Weiss. The years fell away and they were kids again. Whenever we came over to North America we would link up with the Weiss (Waneta is Elsie's sister) and have memorable times together.

Now Fiona is a married woman and living in the USA. Something we would never have thought of. Life is such an adventure of different experiences and God has been so merciful in allowing us to enjoy it all so much.

Whirlwind December

It has been difficult to catch our breath over the last month or so. We soldiered through an extremely busy patch in late November where I estimate that I sat in full day meetings every day for almost two weeks including Sundays. This included London, Dubai and Carlisle and led up to the official opening of our new offices on 02 December. Where is my balance?? I think it taught me a lesson. Men are not built to sit in meetings all day.

02 December was the official opening of the new office – a historic day. We had around 200 people there to celebrate with us. A group of OM’s ‘Future Leaders’ as well as the main leadership of OM – the International Executive Committee – were there as well. The finale was the office opening. At one stage the CEO of STL stood up and challenged folk to give towards the cost of the the building. He threw the gauntlet down by saying that STL would match any gift given in the next 10 days. To my delight and astonishment £112,000 came in which will be matched, over time, by STL. What a miracle!! It heads some way towards the £900,000 which we have borrowed to buy the two office buildings. We had £870,000 which we had collected already. God is good.

09 December Elsie and I caught the plane to Toronto and the beginning of our Home Assignment. Elsie had effectively not been back for the last 4 years and so the visit is long overdue.

Since then it has been a wonderful whirlwind of breakfasts lunches and suppers with different friends. Doug and Pat Thompson hosted us in Toronto helped in so many ways. Some of Doug’s latest paintings of clouds took our breath away, and we pray that these will begin to sell well.

Carruthers Creek Church has supported us for a number of years so it was a huge blessing to get to know some of them.

Craig and Krista Shugart continue on paths less travelled as they minister to the group of people both families love so much. Warwick and Annette Cooper are at People’s Church – a privilege to link up again with them. Jack and Fran Harper were a lifesaver to us as a young couple and we arrived newly married, alone and initially friendless in Toronto. If Elsie and I are as bright and with it when we reach 84 we will be thrilled. Our main communication with them seems to be on Skype – would you believe it? Chuck and Sue Wilson welcomed us to Toronto back in the early days and helped us to find our first flat as a married couple. What a joy to meet up with them again and to thank them for being such a faithful part of our support team.

Then it was down to OM Canada in Port Colbourne and a wonderful time with Greg and Annie Kernaghan and so many others of our friends there.

We crossed the border to the US on 15 December and had a wonderful time with Elsie’s Dad, Eli, and his wife Donna who made us so welcome. Then time with Bill and Waneta (Elsie’s sister) Weiss and others of the family. Matt Weiss’, new house, built high above a creek dammed by beavers, was much admired.