This is getting almost funny ... poor Kev ...

So there was an earthquake in Tokyo this morning at 5ish o'clock (acted as an alarm clock). It was 5.9 on the richter scale but luckily the epicentre wasn't right in Tokyo but a couple of hundred clicks away so it was just a rattler.

And now, they've changed his flights and he is heading to Los Angeles rather than Vancouver. Oh my. He is VERY tired of the trip at this point, and will be getting home even later than he was. Poor guy.

And here, of course ... it continues to snow. I spoke with one of my farmer neighbours today and heard one more time of winters past, and how this winter reminds them of winter 50 years ago. This is a perfect winter, for the right transportation. Our over-dependence on cars is what makes it challenging. All the old-timers get a faraway look in their eyes, and tell you about their favourite team, and hitching up the sleigh to go in to town, and how snow in their days wasn't something to be feared but made transportation easier. As we drove home tonight from helping our pastor and family settle in to their new house, it was more "magic" snow ... glittery diamond dust snow covering everything. Magical and beautiful. Mmmmmm.

Updates on Kev and snow :-)

... who is now stranded in Tokyo. Good things: he is with his boss, not alone. The sushi is truly amazing, and he never imagined eating sushi in Japan. They get a day trip into Tokyo today (tonight our time) which was unplanned but should be fun.

Bad thing: He is now truly desperate to get home.

WE continue today to help move our pastor in ... and blow snow. Expecting 5 cm today and possibly 15 cm on Monday. Yikes!

Here are some "ladies-in-waiting" and snow photos:

Our flower box before snowfall number two:


Jasmine breaking snow in their paddock. The sheep have maintained a path to their feeder; otherwise the snow is untouched. It reaches right over their fence in some parts, however they are not particularly interested in leaving.


"Why are you dragging me through this, Alison?"


Rosemary's first winter. I don't think she's so sure about this!


Now I know she's not sure ... bawling for help! (Or food)


"That's better!"



Okay, only loosely a snow photo ... Iain carved this polar bear out of ivory soap as part of his unit on aboriginals. I'm sorry it's blurry, but I though he did a great job.

The continuing post-Annie saga

of Claire's hair.

The red dye we used refuses to cover. Tonight, my friend Vic tried once again. She has her cosmetology license and found some good product at a wholesale place in Belleville. Here is the result ... it's lovely .... still a red sheen but quite a bit better. Claire was lamenting at how long her hair was getting after the dye job, and voila! out come the scissors and an adorable blunt cut was born.

Thanks Vic! And no more permanent dyes done in this house ... ever. Claire, if Anne of Green Gables comes around in the next couple of years you do not have permission to audition for Anne! :-).


Post-dye, pre-cut:

Almost done:

The end product:

Update on Kev

Kev is having a great time meeting with people from all over the world, riding on elephants, river rafting and meeting Tribal groups such as the Karen tribe (lol) from Northern Thailand. What a rush! This has been a great opportunity for him. I'm hoping he'll come home energized, despite the jet lag :-). He has also promised lots of photos, which is amazing for him because he is not one to naturally remember to document his life that way.

A great link for a map of Thailand and geographical information ... here.

Kev leaves for Thailand today ...

He was asked to attend International Marketing Meetings along with James, the COO of UCB Canada (his boss).

His agenda runs something like this ...

Tonight: Drive to Toronto and stay overnight with the Cylka household (yay!)
Friday: Depart 8:30 a.m. and arrive in Vancouver at 10:29 a.m. (1:20 pm our time)
Depart Vancouver 2 hours later and arrive in Tokyo at 3:30 pm Saturday Jan 24
(which is 1:30 a.m. Saturday Jan 24 our time!)
Depart Tokyo 5:30 pm (now 3:30 AM our time ... poor Kev)
Arrive Bangkok at 10:50 pm (bedtime in Bangkok, but 10:50 a.m. in the morning for Kev)

He will be staying at Xen Suites Bangkok hotel evenings of January 24 and 25 (click on the link for English translation amusement lol). He hopes to go here and play tourist during the day on the 25th of January. We suggested he bring us home a monkey and some tropical fish for Iain's tank lol.

On Monday, January 26, he departs Bangkok at 6:20 pm. (all times are now in Thai time; our times are 12 hours earlier that day) and arrives in Chiang Rai at 7:40 p.m. In Chaing Rai he is staying at the Laluna Hotel and Resort (4 nights until January 30). There is will be mostly meetings, although they have one afternoon planned with a raft trip expedition to visit an elephant sanctuary!!! So fun. I believe in Chian Rai they are actually not that far from the border of Myanmar.

On Friday January 30, he flies out of Chiang Rai at 8:20 p.m., arriving in Bangkok at 9:35 p.m. and does another overnight at Xen Suites.

On January 31 he departs Bangkok 6:40 a.m., and arrives in Tokyo at 2:15 p.m. He then leaves Tokyo 3 hours later and arrives in Vancouver at 8:40 a.m. By now I'm not even sure which time this is but I assume it's Vancouver time. He then departs Vancouver at 11:00 a.m. and arrives in Toronto at 6:19 p.m. ... and drives home. Or, given how tired he might be, perhaps he will instead stay overnight in TO again :-).

So pray for my hubby, that he's not in a walking fog the whole trip and remembers to take some photographs! Our camera is missing, so he is taking Claire's cute little pink Samsung for the trip lol. Kev has been doing a lot of research into customs for the trip; for instance, because he is tall he must crouch down whenever he enters a room so he doesn't appear haughty and overbearing to the Thai people.

It should be an interesting experience all around. We're praying for political stability in Bangkok :-).




.

It is official :-)

As of last night we officially became foster parents in Prince Edward County! Joanne came by with our new resource worker, Melissa (who turns out to be a neighbour, and was very excited to discover two babysitters in the 'hood!)

We have given CAS an age range of 4-10, girl or boy, although I have no doubt that God will place here who HE knows should be here. New walkers and toddlers are out; this house is almost impossible to gate properly. (And I'm pretty sure I don't have the energy ;-) ..) We already have one potential placement under discussion who doesn't much meet any of our basic criteria, but may be an excellent fit :-). The best laid plans, you know ... prayers welcome and appreciated!

Last night we had a "Kev survived 2008 party", and more Roger photos ...

It is hard it believe now that Kev was in Kingston General Hospital, seriously ill, a year ago.

It is hard to believe that he was told he would use a cane for life, and yet not only is he walking unaided but running on a treadmill. Thanks to the good folks at "Fit for Life" he is appearing as the main guinea pig for a "Fit After 40" segment on UCB.

2008 has not been Kev's favourite year, so this party bid 2008 a not-so-fond farewell! I'm grateful though, that God chose to work in this manner. 2009 could have started so much differently than it did.

And two photos for all of you that are following little Roger's attempts to become a chicken :-). We still haven't managed a pile of chickens with Roger's nose poking out, but here he is ROOSTING with the chickens at night, and drinking out of their water bucket :-).

M.J., meet Shetland fleece (another fibre addict in our household)

We could NOT keep her out of the raw fleece last night.






And yes, it's true ... in the last photo she is kneading the wool, and sucking it :-P. Ewwww.

This does explain, however, why last year our outdoor kitty ripped in to a bag of fleece in the garage and lived in it all winter :-). I'm thinking a Rubbermaid container full of raw fleece would be the ideal outside kitty house. Inexpensive too when you have your own sheep.

Iain's first real knitting project!

Iain has done a little knitting on and off over the last year, just to learn. Recently we picked up some cotton, and I cast on for a washcloth. This was only a few days ago, and this is the result!

He has already used it to wipe the kitchen counter, and cast on 28 stitches for the next one :-).

I'm very excited about having homemade washcloths, and have requested some for my birthday in May! Additionally, they keep bored hands busy ;-).

Since this is an Iain post, I also want to include a scanned photo from January 2000 (Is that right Mom? When did you visit us in NJ?). It is especially suitable for this post, because it is of Iain and his Grandpa. My Dad is incredibly talented in the whole fibre arts thing, doing the most incredible crocheted table cloths, murals (he did a huge one that to this day hangs in their church sanctuary), and doilies. Rumour has it that Dad started to crochet when he was home from school for an extended period due to measles (Am I right, Dad? Please correct me in the comments section if not!) I so understand why Grandma taught you! This photo had disappeared into one of the girls' bedrooms when they were collecting pictures to scrapbook with, and thankfully it resurfaced a couple of days ago :-).

Christmas and New Year's 2008

Christmas tree 2008 :-). It is always so much fun decorating. Each of the kids has their own stash of ornaments built up over the years. A funny; this year one was concerned that when they left, we would have nothing to decorate our tree with :-). This, as we strained our eyes looking for one last untrimmed branch, and packed away the excess that had no tree home.


We had a very peaceful Christmas (by default, since I was still recovering from pneumonia!). Here are a few photos from Christmas morning:

Dickens, intensely focused on his Christmas stocking containing a few doggie treats. Doesn't he remind you of a child??? He also received a few pig ears and a new stuffed animal to cart around. I am presently teaching him to "tidy up" his toys, however I haven't been too consistent and he doesn't quite get it yet.


Our trusty woodstove, for which we are truly thankful! It's true though; weirdly, a couple of times during the Christmas season we STILL put the holiday channel on the TV (you know, the ever-flaming fireplace :-) ... a fire at each end of the family room!


Iain the Rocker Dude with his Christmas guitar. This is an electric guitar that he has been saving up for ... Kev and I were able to contribute and complete the purchase for him for Christmas. He is also wearing an electric guitar rocker hoodie that Claire discovered at WalMart. And Claire's Christmas hat, just because it matched :-).


The true owner of the herringbone hat. Claire, wearing her gift sweater from the Wessel family, that matches her eyes completely and perfectly. It was quite astonishing.


Alison, modeling her Aero Postale bag from Auntie Kim. She's quite thrilled by this, and this morning used it as a book bag for school!


Our turkey dinner, which turned out to perfection (of course, since we had no guests for dinner ;-) ...).

We spent a decidedly lazy Christmas vacation. We now have four "West Wing" addicts in our home, so watched a good chunk of TV. Kev has been trying to interest me in this TV series for YEARS and only this time around did it catch :-).

The only other thing I was personally able to accomplish?

Kevin's socks are DONE. Both of them. Here is sock no. two drying by the woodstove on my homemade sock forms (yes, how fancy sounding -- it's a coat hanger :-) ...). Next sock project will be for Alison, whose first pair are completed, save for casting off sock two, and have gone missing. I have been looking for them since the summer :-(. Hopefully they will turn up as I cast off the second pair.


And lastly, but not least, my Christmas gift from Kevin. He purchased me this:


It's an Ashford drop spindle! And I'm presently making lace-weight yarn on it from his other gift, which was 100% Corriedale roving, custom dyed by Ann-Marie:

I also received lace-weight wool from Claire for Christmas, so I'm about to face my biggest knitting obstacle: my fear of lace knitting :-). I did pick up what seems to be a very easy scarf pattern from Rosehaven Farm Store last week, which I think I'll try first with my handspun. Other fibre news; we borrowed hand cards from Ann-Marie over the holidays and Alison has discovered a special knack for this. I have started spinning Kivu!!!! I'm REALLY looking forward to knitting the first project from one of our own animals.

All in all it was a peaceful Christmas, and because of health reasons it's good we didn't have a whole bunch of family plans ... but I missed family. I would have loved to host a house full! One last piece of news which I may have posted already, but for the life of me can't remember ... our homestudy has been completed and we are now an approved foster home in Prince Edward County! We meet our resource worker this week. Life is busy and full. God is good. Bless you all!