Please pray my friend's sons home!

These two handsome gentlemen are currently in an orphanage in Haiti, awaiting their passports so they can travel "home" to our friends Amy and Jerry Feldman in Indiana.

Amy was in our small group at Princeton Community Church while we lived in New Jersey, and we've kept in touch. They have an older adopted son, Jarrod, and are excitedly awaiting the arrival of these boys. There are not too many more hoops to jump through, but the closer it gets, the slower time passes by for Mom.

So please help pray Johny and JB home! Thank you!

Amy, if you would prefer no photo here, please let me know and I'll remove it right away!

UCB Canada 102.3, 4H lambs, and NLGH photographs

Kevin has now been getting up at 4:30 a.m. for an entire week. We won't say he's completely made the transition; it's definitely not a natural time for him to be up. But he's doing "okay" with it. Starting this Wednesday, he's "it" -- the only morning man, even though he officially doesn't start at UCB until the beginning of September. I must say, I'm going to love listening to the morning show once they ramp it up in September. I've made a decision to retire at night with him, which is very early, but I'm an early riser anyway so it won't be as big a deal for me to be up at 4:30 or 5:00.

One photo of the girls with their 4H lambs ... sorry the background is so cluttered, but I love this shot:
Jasmine (white) is an incredibly smart lamb. She blows the whole theory of sheep being stupid. This is the lamb that as a baby, would hop on her mom's back, ride her over to the fence, then hop off to freedom on the other side. She is very personable, comes when called, and is already completely halter-broken.

Kivu (moorit gulmoget) is an adorable teddy bear. She is just the cutest little thing, and is the fastest sheep on our property. Her little legs pound like pistons as she propels herself across the pasture ... so fast they are a blur. And her fleece is to die for :). She's also doing well once she is caught, but has a bit more of an aversion to being caught in the first place! Catching Kivu requires patience and treats at the moment.

I've started working on the New Life Girls' Home website. Interesting, but a little frustrating. I know just enough HTML and CSS to be dangerous; however, their website is set up using a local company's software. Apparently there is no access to the actual code, which means I don't have a lot of flexibility in what I can do. Last Friday I was able to get out there and take some updated photographs. Once again I am reminded about what an incredibly beautiful place this is, and how God has blessed this ministry as a place of peace.

A view of the outdoor fireplace, looking towards the shoreline.


Standing at the shore, looking back through the willows to the portable. This is where Kevin's office has been (the window to the right of the door). You can't see it, but there is a canal that runs up from the shore to the left of the portable. It's very reedy, and wild, and home to herons of various sorts (including Great Blue) and swans.

A swan family I photographed July 1, 2007 while on a visit to the Home.

Every year the grounds look more and more beautiful, thanks to countless volunteers and to the staff and students themselves. Sometimes the students aren't too happy about the work (in particular when it's assigned as "hours") but the results are amazing.

Hopefully this mini-photo tour has been enjoyable. Many of these photos will be showing up on their website in the future :).

Tidbits

It's been an interesting couple of days ...

A bird flew down our chimney two days ago, but only as far as the elbow. Yesterday it made it into the woodbox. Of course, we weren't able to catch it without letting it out, so it flew happily around the house for quite a long time, thrilling the kids and driving the dog and cats to distraction. We did get it out, finally, through the dining room doors, and thankfully it was a cute little vireo or warbler or something not a big ugly grackle (that happened in 1995 when we lived at Sleeman Avenue in Guelph!)

Our adorable, gentle lambs are still mostly adorable and gentle ... except for the boys, who chose yesterday as the day they would become hormonal and completely obnoxious. Thank goodness I had already set up our pens so they could be separated; separated they are. The one in particular is getting mean. Which makes him one step closer to $4.00 per pound lamb in our freezer, at much less cost to us :).

Kevin is transitioning to his new life at UCB ... he has been getting up faithfully by 4:30 every morning and going in for morning show training, which means early to bed. Of course, I've been going with him :). This morning, however, I was up by 4:00, waiting for the alarm clock to go off. I'd like to say that I got up and had an incredibly productive morning because of my early start. I can't. In fact, I stayed in bed for ages, finally drifting off and awoke far too late (for me) -- 7:00 a.m.

This morning, I frogged my baby sweater (for those who haven't heard the term, think "rip-it, rip-it") back about 6 cm because I was unhappy with my last button hole. I kept knitting on thinking, well it's my first, it's okay. But it wasn't. The good thing is I wanted to post pictures in process, and my camera is finally charged so I just took this:


I'm having such fun knitting this; I love knitting things without seams and in-the-round.

All for now :).

The County rumour mill is spinning out of control!

Rumour no. 1 is substantiated: my friend Vic's friend sold her large waterfront home two years ago, and it has recently resold to a member of the band The Tragically Hip.

Rumour no. 2 ... well, this one seems a little unlikely, but supposedly Elton John and his partner have purchased a home in Prinyer's Cove. Apparently his partner's mom lives in Coburg, Ontario, so they've decided to invest in the County.

I wouldn't post this at all if this were a public blog (hate to feed the "mill") but I thought these tidbits were amusing. In the past, Robert Ulrich (did I murder the spelling?) owned a large property in the county, and his family still come regularly. And Bruce Cockburn, who owned a place in South Marysburgh, used to regularly go shopping at the menswear store that Kevin used to own on Main Street.

Knitting, both personal and the Worldwide Back to Back Challenge

So after a year of socks and more socks, I finally decided to try something different. I purchased a great, EASY book of patterns for sweaters thinking I'd like to try making some for the girls to start. However, budgeting for sweater-amounts of yarn has proven difficult, since we have orthodontics ongoing and an upcoming job changeover (from weekly pay to monthly!).

Part of my desire to knit again, despite summer weather (I'm normally only a cool-season knitter) is the wonderful birthday present that I received from my parents! Mom and Dad, this lovely set is what your birthday money purchased, amongst other things :).

Options Knitting Needle Set, by KnitPicks
I ONLY knit on circular needles now and just love them! They are much easier to transport, and this set can actually be set up as flexible straight needles if you wish.

So there I was, with brand new needles, sorted and organized and just aching for something to knit, when I was given quite a few balls of baby yarn in a soft pink colour. So yesterday I google free online baby sweater patterns, and found this one. Here is an image of it:

Claire was all excited and asked me who I was knitting the sweater for. There's a mom at our church who is expecting, and I think she assumed it would be for her baby should it arrive as a girl :). Not knowing how quickly this would be finished, however, I startled Claire by telling her, "It's for YOUR baby!". That gives me a minimum of10 to 15 years to complete it :).

On the other hand ... REAL knitters do this:

Every year there is a world-wide competition called the "Back to Back Challenge". Teams from many countries compete, as a team, to make a sweater. The hitch? They start with a sheep! Yes, the teams are timed from sheep shearing, to spinning, to knitting, to final bind-off and sweater construction. The wool is spun "in the grease" (i.e. the lanolin not yet removed). I believe the team from Japan has won for the past few years, but THIS year, the world-wide competition was won by the TORONTO SPIDERS! The Spiders are a relatively young team, and this is a huge accomplishment for them. Their time? From a woolly sheep to completed sweater? 6 hours and 18 seconds!!!

Obviously, they will not be calling me any time soon to knit with them :).

More High Ropes Photos!

Left: Alison doing hanging vines.


















Coming down ... I did it (nooooo problemo) !


















Claire on her way up the final climb.


















A better view of the height of this climb.


















"Do you trust us, Pastor Andrew?"

The final exercise was one where the girls were responsible for belaying Andrew as he climbed. Quite the responsibility! They all love Andrew, so took their duties very seriously.



I hope you enjoyed this little expedition with Alison, Claire and their friends!

Flying High at Wesley Acres

We had a fabulous Junior Youth year, and one of our final activities was the chance for the kids to do the high ropes course at Wesley Acres. It was a fabulous, stretching experience!


Here is part of our group standing beside the zip line. It is 50 feet high and sends them 300 ft out into the forest at a pretty rapid pace!










Here are the girls getting into their harnesses and safety equipment. The gentleman in front, Bill Boone, is the director of the High Ropes course at the campground; he did an amazing job encouraging and exhorting the girls.










Claire getting ready for the climb up to the zip line, involving a very high ladder and pole, then a catwalk over to the zip harness.
















Here's a shot of Alison almost to the catwalk so you can see how high the girls had to go! You'll notice that I am in no pictures; once again, I was in charge of the camera :).

Truthfully, it's not that I am unwilling to do it. However I am unwilling to do it at the same time as a bevy of athletic 12 year olds :). I'm hoping someday to get a chance with a group of over 40's who've never done anything like this before (such a wimp, am I :) !)










Here is Claire traversing the rickety bridge.


More photos in the next post!

And just what is my son's name?

It's bad enough as a parent to do "the-thing-that-I-swore-I'd-never-do-to-my-kids". If you were ever a child with siblings, or are a parent now, you certainly know what I mean.

"Hey, Alis--Clair--Dicken---argh, I mean Iain, could you please ...?"

Argh. I DESPISE that that I do this to my children. And to be completely truthful, generally the dog's name is not a part of the spiel (although it has happened, in particular if the child I'm calling has been naughty!). But far too frequently, I end up list-calling and it drives me nuts.

As of this week, it may get even more complicated. My son is experimenting with going by his middle name rather than his first name. All his life he's had to spell his name, which is not really a problem. There are many Ian/Iain's in this area, all pronounced "eee-an", so it gets mispronounced occasionally. Again, no biggie. But for some reason many people in this region can not pronounce his name, even after being told what it really is. Even after hearing it said in conversation many, many times. It comes out a stilted "eye-on", with equal emphasis on both syllables. And this has been a tad frustrating. I wonder whether it's a regional thing, like the whole "choir"-practor for "chiro"-practor thing that you hear in the Ottawa Valley or the greater Peterborough area. But whatever the reason, this has been frustrating to Iain (and myself).

Probably not many of you know that Iain was actually called Geoffrey for his first couple of days in the hospital. We wavered back and forth, and decided on Iain, although have always been willing that our children might go by their other name.

Since our son is heading to school in the fall, and since there are both an Ian and and Iain (both "eee-an") at this school (one in his class), and since one of the staff has already shown a propensity to the "eye-on" version, and since there are very few people who know him already, he's thinking that it might be a good time to switch to Geoff. Of course, he did point out that people may call him "gee-off", but at least once they have heard it it's easy to say.

So this week, Iain is trying on a new name. A bit like trying on shoes :). Will it be instantly comfortable? Will it break in gradually? Will it never work? The girls don't even know this yet since they've been at New Life Girl's Home Camp for the week. I've only messed up once. He's forgotten once. Kev's not sure about the whole thing and may resort to calling him "Bubba" forever.

At least this week, my son has not received "the list" when I've called him 'cause I'm too busy trying to remember what his name is!

"The watchman opens the gate for him, and ths sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." John 10:3

Imagine, a God who knows each one of us individually, by name, and never has to resort to "list-calling". Next time I feel like telling God what to do in my life; how He should direct my steps, I must remember that I do not qualify for His job on many levels, starting with this one.

... and my career move as well :)

... which actually predates Kevin's change of employment :).

This happened so quickly, and has impacted my "free" computer time, hence the sudden downward spiral of posting quantity at this blog. I am working, and I have the perfect job (for me!)

Since June 11 I have been working for New Life Girl's Home. This actually predated Kev's news, but is even more crucial now that there will be a transition in directorship at the home. I will be working for NLGH at least until October, at which point both parties will decide if the contract should continue. I am doing various projects to support the Home's activities; projects that require high-speed internet, which we have courtesy of the Chuckery Hill tower, and which the Home does not have. I am having a blast! I have researched and made recommendations for new donor database software, which will help NLGH stop wasting time and financial resources with their old, inefficient system. I am presently researching foundations and grants for them. And at some point I will become their web site administrator! Yes sirree, I'm climbing the ladder to "geekdom" and I'm pretty thrilled about it :).

This position fits my life to a "t". I have no interest in driving in to work anywhere (gas money and wasted time); this allows me to still keep on eye on our livestock (who are growing like weeds, btw!) and allows huge flexibility, especially while the kids are home this summer. Since I am wide-eyed and bushy tailed by 5:30 a.m. ... I can get started! I also have somewhat of a larger vision ... not sure if or when it will lead anywhere, but I have a real heart for NPO's (non-profit organizations) and may eventually take this a little farther ... to make these services available to other small non-profits so their time can be spent doing ministry. Additionally, I have a vision for someday providing online work for other rural SAHM's to support their lifestyle. Maybe. We'll see.

Leading me to our other big news; the advent of the big yellow bus at the end of our driveway commencing September, 2007! Yes, the Stenhouse kids are enrolled at Sophiasburgh Central Elementary School for the fall, for a myriad of reasons. We've always taken this homeschool one thing on year at a time, and this year, it's time :). It's pretty much a God-thing, and we are all looking forward to the new adventure. We've spent quite a bit of time at the school .. they've all met their teachers (which seem hand-picked for them: truly amazing!). There will be a few wrinkles ... a couple of the kids are WAY ahead in math and language, and there may need to be some "tweaking" done to accomodate this. And on the other side ... we're a little light on French and will be doing some remedially this summer. The girls already know a few of their classmates through 4H Clubs they've been involved with, so that will make their transition easier. They also get lockers, which I think is more exciting to them than anything :).

So it will be an autumn of change, and we are truly thankful that God has provided these neat opportunities for our family!

Bye for now, and hoping to update at least occasionally over the next few months ...

Exciting changes afoot! (E-mail Kev sent around concerning his current career move)

Hello Friends,

It's time to send out a brief email letting you know about a huge change in the lives of the Stenhouse clan of Greater Picton. I know a few of you have heard rumblings, and I apologize that I haven't been able to come clean with all the news up till now.

After pretty much five years at New Life Girls' Home, I've made the decision to step into the next adventure and leave that ministry at the end of August. It has been a great place to hone some of my skills and I have really enjoyed working with some amazing people. But, it's time to move on.

I've been volunteering at UCB Canada (UCB 102.3 fm) since it came on the air and I'm über-excited to be starting there full-time on September 1st. I'll be doing a whole bunch of fun things, and some of the details are still being worked on, but I do know that I'll be on-air during the morning drive (6-9am). So, for those of you that know me well, you're probably already wondering how I'm going to get up at that hour. I have no idea myself and it's the one thing I'm stressing over. Pray for me, 'k? I'll also be doing some big-picture fundraising and some web stuff. I may even dirty my hands a little down the road with some HR-related projects, which I love. My long-term goal, of course, is to rule the world.


That's it for now. Fun, eh? The only thing constant is change.

KEV

PS: If you know me well, you know that my heart for the Girls' Home won't change now that I'm leaving. I'd really like it if you all could be praying for a very smooth transition for the Home during this time. It's not uncommon for some of the students to see change in an unhealthy way: instability, "men are undependable", "it's all my fault" etc. and I just want this all to go super smooth. Also, that we would find the perfect replacement for me. Thanks!