Just the old folks...

João and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary this week. We had planned a nice romantic dinner at the revolving restaurant here in town, but when it turned icey (literally) cold and icky, we cancelled our reservations. What's the point of paying a fortune to see clouds??? We are just two practical old people. So we went to the mall and walked and shopped and did eat supper and enjoyed our evening. We will go to the Marriott, but on a day where we can enjoy the panoramic view.
Then the next day we had even more fun, as we babysat our favourite 2 year old. I took my old korean bed and made the himalayan mountains by the couch for her to climb up and then slide down. Then she made acrobatic jumps from the couch to the bed below. Finally João taught her to do somersaults, which she learned with a vengeance. We laughed and had a grand time. I even got to introduce her to peanut butter which met with her approval. Who says I spoil her??? Not me! We had so much fun with her. I wondered... why do we fall into other people's opinions of how to enjoy life? To stop and play and laugh with her was a million times more refreshing than a candle-light dinner.
We are so blessed in life when we can learn to enjoy children in their fresh approach to life and appreciate the stories our elders have to tell us. And we are most blessed when we totally love where WE are in life. I guess João and I are just two old shoes. Comfortable with where and who we are.
Still... we are ready for a new year and all the changes that is sure to bring in our lives. VIVA being flexible. And Happy 2006.

Happy Birthday, Jesus

I did recover from being sick last week (at the left I was in bed after a bout with the stomach flu with my special nurse - Sadik - at my side) in time for Christmas. It did make things a little more hectic, spending several days in bed, but in the long run Christmas is not about decorations and food and parties, but about celebrating Christ's birth.
On Saturday João and celebrated at Gus' house in a "kinda" Brazilian Christmas. Although we were all Brazilians (okay, so I'm not Brazilian, but sort of...), there were some North American customs (I mean, how Brazilian are cranberries???). We had the traditional Christmas "secret friend" gift giving. That was especially fun since I had Christina's name. And double the fun for me since my name got drawn twice and I got two gifts. Not a bad deal, huh? The food and fellowship were lots of fun. So much fun that we lost track of time and got home well after midnight, which was later than we planned.
Unlike many churches, we did have worship on Sunday morning. We weren't sure if we would have 10 or 100 people. As it turns out, the church was reasonable full, although not overflowing. I estimate 60-70 people, which I was very pleased with considering we had a lot of people travelling. We had a great "Happy Birthday Jesus" celebration. I found it meaningful to really focus on worshipping God, thanking him for giving us the gift of His son. Barb had made a giant gift that we opened up to reveal the manger scene - to show the real GIFT of Christmas. Also, we had the opportunity of writing out what we wanted to give to Jesus on his birthday. At the end we even sang "Happy Birthday dear Jesus" and ate cake. I was pleased that the children seemed to excited to celebrate Jesus' birthday. I just HATE that Santa Claus gets "top billing".
After church, Sidney and Roberta came over for pizza and to keep up company. Later in the day, João and I opened gifts we had received from church members and from my family. We had been too busy to do so before that. These are my new "Pretty Kitty" jammies that I received. It's fun to open gifts, but I liked waiting until later, so as to take the focus off the gifts as the central to our celebration.
This was a different Christmas, but as always a great time of year, giving me the chance to stop and be thankful for my Wonderful Saviour.

Ah...muqueca cabixaba

For my anglophone friends, the title of this entry is the dish you see in the earthenware pot in the photo to the left. If you look hard enough you can practically see it bubbling. Sissy graciously sent me this photo of she and I eating out just about one week ago! It's so hard to believe. It was so hot and humid there and we were enjoying that delicious fish stew and now here I am freezing beneath upteen inches of snow. What a contrast. There I was thoroughly enjoying wonderful Brazilian food and now I can hardly eat as I recover from a bout of the stomach flu. How things change in just a few days. Life really presents us with so many fleeting emotions. Things shift and change so unexpectedly. As I said once, it really is a kaleidescope. Each time you turn the tube you get to see a new and delightful picture.

Oh there's no place like home...

You may have thought I abandoned my blog. Not so. I was just out of touch for a week or so. João and I made a whirlwind trip to Brazil from December 8-16 and it was difficult to access internet while there. Now that I am home and settled back in, I can write a bit about our trip. There are no pictures for now. I was slightly paranoid about theft and violence in Rio, so I didn't take my digital camera. I took a disponsable camera and didn't use all the shots, so I have nothing to post. So you will just have to read all my words with no illustrations. UGH.
Our trip was crazy busy, but absolutely wonderful!
The trip down to Brazil was a little stressful. Our weather in Ottawa was gorgeous the day we left. I wish I could say the same for Chicago. When we got there, the weather was closing in fast. We landed there at 1:30 and were due to leave at 6:00. I had asked, in Ottawa, to be transferred to the 3:00 flight to Miami, but they told me it was oversold. Not to be outdone, I went straight to that gate and asked to be put on standby. The attendant told me there was no way our 6:00 flight would get us into Miami on time to catch our 11PM flight to Brazil, and she would do what she could to get us on this flight -which had a stand by list of 20! She bumped us up to number one spot and lo and behold (through her intervention) we got on the plane. It left 2 hours late and everyone moaned and groaned as we spent an hour on the runway waiting for a take off and they kept spraying our wings for ice!!!! We were happy, knowing we had plenty of time. We later learned our scheduled flight actually got into Miami well after 1AM! We were thanking God for intervening. I knew our luggage wouldn't make it (which it didn't), but wasn't worried as I had a carry-on with everything we needed for about 2-3 days.
When we got to Rio, there were people from First Baptist to greet us, as well as Elly (she studies near the airport and came over to meet us). I was so (make that we) excited to see her. She is so beautiful and grown up now. And so sweet and thoughtful and mature. Wow. I loved every minute we could spend together.
From the airport, we drove to our hotel. We were in downtown Rio and our reaction was that everyone in the city was walking in the streets. I had forgotten how busy it is there. We were overwhelmed. And the traffic! João was nervous and Elly laughed and said: "Dad, this is normal. Have you forgotten what it's like?" Fortunately, it was not too hot, although rather humid. My hair did an immediate frizz job.
We had a great lunch with everyone with a traditional brazilian meal (feijoada), which I scarfed down. I was starving, as we hadn't eaten all day the day before. There was no time in the airports and no food on the planes.
In the afternoon we walked downtown Rio and had a great time. I went swimming in the pool and we tried to sleep early. The next day, Saturday, we were busy with things at First Baptist. I enjoyed my favourite shrimp dish (bobó de camarão) and João had fish (bacalhau) at a beautiful apt. on the beach of Rio. Elly came too, so we enjoyed catching up. Even got to meet her boyfriend who lived close by.
Sunday, of course, was busy with church activities. On Sunday morning, a large group came from our former church, Cascadura, since their worship is at 8:30 and First Baptist at 10:00. I was so stunned when I walked in the auditorium and there sat so many friends. I hugged and cried and then hugged some more, until they asked me to please sit down and quit making a scene in the front of the church. :)! João didn't get to do so until after church, since he was in the pulpit.
Sunday night we moved to Elly's cute little apt. It's so nice. She was quite a hostess, making all our fav. foods.
Monday we went to my old office and they closed business and just visited with us for about 2 hours. That was SOOO neat. Then we took Marilene and Franklin (my best friend) out to supper for their 8th wedding anniversary. We went to a churrascaria (brazilian barbecue) that serves meat until you can't stand to eat anymore. I loved it.
That evening we took a bus (8 hours) up to visit João's parents. We slept some on the bus. We were glad to make it in on Tuesday morning and spent all day Tuesday visiting and talking. Sissy couldn't come to Rio since she was take entrance exams on the weekend, so she came up to Vila Velha on Tuesday too. So more hugs and kisses were in order. She looks great too and seems happy. She has already passed one entrance exam for one university, but since it's private and paid, we are hoping she gets into one of the other public schools ( results in January) she tried out for.
Wednesday, more visiting and fun. Including dropping by to see our Condo. It's gorgeous. I was so impressed. Our apt. is rented out and that is good news. We still have some debt left on the apt, as we put in some extra stuff (like kitchen cabinets) and the rent is paying that. But soon we will have a little income from the rent. It's rented to a pastor.
Wed. night I took a bus back to Rio - in the midst of pouring rain. So the trip was quite long. I got some sleep, but the rain made the travel unsteady and there were many potholes. João stayed in Vila Velha. I spent Thursday with Marilene in Rio. I had a number of things I needed to do at the banks. And we just HAD to talk, of course. She made my favourite food - so as you can see, I'm sure I gained weight on this trip.
Friday João got in and went over to meet him at Elly's apt. We spent the day visiting with Elly, Pr. Baltazar and taking care of banking business. We left for the airport around 9:00PM. When we left Vila Velha, we left Sissy crying. I also have the image of Elly standing on the street bidding us good-bye and tears in her eyes imprinted on my heart. That was SO hard.
The flights were all smooth on our return and no hang ups at all.
When there was a shovel in the trunk of the car of the people who picked us up, we knew we were in trouble. The largest snow I've ever seen in Ottawa had fallen on Friday. They told us it was a good thing we hadn't returned on Friday, as the airport had been closed. The snow bank was about 4 ft. high into our driveway when they left, so we knew we'd have to shovel our way in. Fortunately our snow plough contrator was just finishing our driveway when we arrived. The cats were right at the door to receive us. They seemed very happy. No happier than we were to be HOME.
And thus ends the saga of a one week whirlwind trip to Brazil.

Narnia

If you've ever read the Chronicles of Narnia, you will understand why I love my new coat. It looks just like the coats in the wardrobe! At least in my imagination. I've been counting the days to see the film "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe." I wonder how many times I've read that book over the last 30 years? I hear the film is very good. I even have my costume ready, don't I? I won't be making the premier, however... but for a good reason. Off I go to Brazil on Thursday of this week. Guess it's for a good cause. I certainly won't be taking this coat or wearing it to any Narnia costume parties in Brazil. I am already in a meltdown just thinking about how hot it will be. I wonder if I will survive? Any bets???
I am not sure I can stand to wait to see the movie until I get back, although we are planning to take the kids from church to see it. I may just have to see it in Brazil - where it will certainly be much cheaper.
This promises to be my last entry for a while. I don't imagine I'll have time or acess while in Brazil. You'll just have to survive without any news from me. Hang in there!

It's beginning to look...

Today was a wonderful day. Just love Sundays. I had a great time with my two students in Bible class. (well actually one slept in the crib the whole time), but Jonaton had a great time hanging angels on the trees, gluing on aluminum foil to angel pictures and learning that the angels said "Jesus is Born."
Our church service was good, and I especially enjoyed singing the carols and seeing the decorations. Even our business meeting went well afterwards.
This evening four of us went to Fourth Avenue for their annual Christmas carol program. Since it was chilly and a very light snow falling, I just couldn't resist bringing out my Christmas present. I already knew what it was, and just couldn't bear to wait to use my new fur coat from Mom. It was so warm and cozy and I just love the way it feels.
But much better than my nice warm coat, was the joyous program of Christmas songs. The program was well done and it was great to both listen and sing along. If I find a few spare minutes, tomorrow I hope to get my tree up. I'll give it my best! Hope you are staying warm.

Living Beyond Myself

It was a hard thing for me to do. For a couple of reasons. It was hard to walk into a group where I didn't know anyone and where I didn't know what was going to happen. It was hard to commit to a couple of hours of week in class and time outside the class as well. It was a hard thing to commit to a study by a stereotypical southern American woman who seemed, to me, a bit wrapped up in producing literature and making money. But I did it.
Back in September I began participating in a weekly Bible study for pastor's wives. The study was Living Beyond Yourself, by Beth Moore, a study on the Fruit of the Spirit - something I had taught about on Wednesday nights last year. I wondered how much new there would be to learn. I was worried... this is a woman's Bible study, will it be shallow?
Guess what?? I was wrong. I was wrong about the quality of the study. It has been superb. It has been a blessing in my life, changing my way of thinking and living. I found myself guilty of prejudice, but God broke through and I was able to learn at the feet of a woman who truly truly loves the Word of God. I began finding myself wishing that I had that kind of passion for God's Word as well. Then I realized I could. It just would take more time and commitment than I had been willing to give. And this study has shown I CAN do that. I have begun to truly look forward to hearing her video's on Tuesday morning. And each day as I open up her notebook and begin to spend time in the Word, I came away excited and renewed. Even my prayer time has become more vivid and fruitful. God has moved in my life... doing a new thing.
So, yes it was hard for me to do this. And yes, I am so glad I have done this. The study ends this Tuesday. I will miss it. I know I don't need crutches to delve into the Bible. But this has helped me so much.
They are beginning a new study, in January. It is called: "When Godly People Do Ungodly Things". Sounds fascinating, doesn't it? I can't wait.
For now I am concentrating on living beyond myself. I, Peggy, can't be good. Wish I could. Just isn't in me. Fortunately with the Holy Spirit, I can live beyond who I am. I can be better and kinder but I can't do that alone. However, as the Holy Spirit lives in me, He can. Isn't that exciting? May you too be living beyond yourself.

What I love... what I hate

Isn't it beautiful? Today was our first snow that amounted to anything. It fell most of the day and it's really quite cold. Winter is here for sure. I love the cold crisp air. I love to watch it snow. I love the change of seasons. Tis grand to live here in Canada.
I even like to scuff the snow with my feet and look at the footprints in the snow. Yes those are my feet in the snow today. You can see it's actually slightly deep. This really makes it feel like Christmas is on the way.
Now on to what I hate... See the car? I hate driving in snow. Today there were umpteen ( a lot) accidents and at least one person was killed. These people drive like maniacs when the snow falls. It is dangerous. And I also hate having to scrape and clean the car before going out. You have to add 15 more minutes on to any trip. You have to warm up the car and then scrape, scrape, brush, clean. I hate to say it, but it's just a pain in the neck. At least the Toyota we have is smaller and I can actually reach the hood to clean it all off.
All in all, however, the love outweighs the hate. Today I just didn't go out driving. Good solution, eh?
Wherever you are, enjoy your weather. You can't change it, so why complain about it, right? This is the day the LORD has made!

Only at Eastview!

I've talked about this so many times, but just had to write about it. Our church, or perhaps Canada itself, is so unique. My Sunday School class this morning really brought that thought home. I teach 2 & 3 year olds together with Sandy. Today our lesson was about the fruits that God made. We only had 3 students today, and they all speak Portuguese as their first language, but also French. Sandy speaks English and I do Portuguese and English. We both know a few words of French. So we are playing a game with fruits with one little girl and thinking we are teaching her some English, when she looks at the peach and says "PEACH." Then she picks up the apple and puts it on the picture of the apple and says that's where the "POMME" goes. Sandy and I laughed because that is French, of course, for apple. I kept asking them "Quem fez a uva" (Who made the grapes), so they would answer "DEUS" (God). I guess I said it so much that Sandy, who speaks no Portuguese was soon asking the kids in perfect Portuguese who made the grape. Now isn't that just great? Sometimes we don't know what we are saying!!! I speak to them in Portuguese, Sandy in English and they answer us in French. The important thing is that we are learning that God speaks in the language of love and there's plenty of that to go around at Eastview.

Toronto Travels

I'm back from Toronto and I survived. What an interesting trip. I left on Thursday afternoon ready for a relaxing 4 hour train ride. I had been so busy the last few days, I was ready for some time to nap and read and then arrive in Toronto and get a good night's rest before my two days of meetings. I got more rest than I counted on. I sat on the train, in the Ottawa station for 90 minutes. You can imagine how much fun that was. Got lots of relaxation on a dark airless train. Turned out someone had a psychological episode and they had to call the police to talk him down and off the train. That's a unique excuse that Via Rail arranged for being late. Lots of people nearly had a melt down. It was cell phone city. Me I ate my apples and walnuts and yogurt and dried fruit and most of the rest of my food supply for the weekend. Who says I eat when I'm tense?
Nevertheless I did arrive in Toronto and managed to get to the hotel by 11:30 at night, even with some other delays along the way. Then they wouldn't let me check in, since they said I was already checked in. I looked at the guy, very frazzled and tired and said: "Do I look like I am checked in? Look at me. I am standing here." I tried my best to be nice as he made me wait for 20 minutes as he looked for me. It was a great chance to apply my Fruit of the Spirit study on patience for this week. All's well that ends well. Got in and got to bed and had a wonderful day of meetings on Friday. It was productive and fun.
Friday evening we returned to the hotel and met the women's ministry links from Ontario and Quebec. I think almost all of the associations were represented. I was moved as we heard about the ministry of the Friendship House in Brantford. Over and over again I am impressed with the passion people have to serve God in the most diverse situations.
Saturday the meetings continued and I felt encouraged by the direction in which Baptist Women are heading. We just have to keep reminding ourselves that our goal is to introduce women to Christ, not just have a good time!
There were two special bonus' during the weekend. My roomie was Brenda Mann, the new Exec. for BWOQ. I loved getting to know her AND had fun staying with her. That was so gratifying. Secondly, on Saturday we stayed over for the Kelita concert, as promoted by BWOQ. She was funny and moving and talented. It was delightful to just forget everything else and immerse myself in the music. You can see her at the left, as Jude from Timmons, Ontario. It was a riot.
I was also able to visit Kingsway Baptist Church on Sunday morning and enjoyed their worship so much. It is a beautiful sanctuary, and the worship was uplifting. I was glad I was able to enjoy the experience. Brenda had a car and was then able to give me a lift to the subway so I could get to the train station downtown.
I finally arrived home on Sunday night. Late (*sigh*) again, as the train was just slow. No reason we were an hour late. Maybe it was the rain. Who knows? I was glad to be home and in my own little bed last night. I slept late this morning and am ready for a new round. I will be leaving in a just a bit to take Sandy to the hospital for exams. Then (FINALLY) today I am going back to my aqua fitness after several months off. (BAD GIRL). Have a great week. I plan on having one.

I Pigged Out

Man, I did pig out. Tonight we had a "hallelujah" party for the kids at church. The only disappointment was that the turn out was much smaller than in the past (but that may be due to it being a Monday night). But we never had more fun than we did this year. We had games and relays and the kids had a great time. We also had time to throw people in jail as well. We laughed and as I ran in the relays I got out of breath and hot. It was amazing that on October 31st it was so warm we didn't even need jackets. I couldn't believe it. We had lots of goodies to give to the kids, but also enjoyed non-sweet snacks in our breaks between games. That's when I pigged out. I resisted the sweets, but the nachos and cheese and sour cream, well now that's another story! I did enjoy myself. After being out of commission for several days with a cold, it was good to be back to my normal self. Having fun and making a pig out of myself. Life is good. Oh, you can see more photos of the party at Hallelujah Party

Twenty years after the fact

Twenty years after the fact
Originally uploaded by Peggy Jo.

Some time ago, in a real blast from the past, I got a phone call from "Hilary" Dawn who had worked with me at Camp Viewmont in Virginia in the summers of 1981-82. Through persistent investigation she found me here in Canada. She invited me down - well actually she did more than that - she bought me a plane ticket. So off I went to Fredericksburg, VA, for a marvelous reunion with her. I got to meet her fabulous family and even help with a GA sleepover and a Missions Alive encounter at her church. As an added bonus, on Saturday another former Viewmont staffer, Sonja, drove over to visit us. We had a great afternoon of reminiscing. Truth be told, we may have grey hair and put on a few pounds, even have some different perspectives on life, but "we are still us", just richer, surer and more deeply "us". It is so wonderful to reach back and pull our memories back to the present so our current "persona" is more firmly rooted. Make sense? It was a great experience. For those who know us, do you think we've changed a lot since 1982? Post a comment and let me know.

Come Away

The One Way Ministries of Ottawa offered a "Come Away" retreat to pastors and spouses in Ottawa and we were able to make our reservation for this Sunday night. So we went away with 10 other ministerial couples to the Sam Jakes Inn in Merrickville yesterday. I still can't get over the generousity of the this organization that gives to ministers without asking for anything. They are doing these get aways over a 14 week period - for 140 couples! So yesterday, after lunch, we drove down. It was quite cool, so we were just delighted to find an antique inn with a cozy room for us. The feather duvets on the beds were just what we needed on a cold blustery night. To our surprise there were two other couples we knew (Baptist) and we enjoyed talking and getting to know others as well. The food was just great too. This morning we had a delicious country buffet and enjoyed more conversation before taking a shopping/historical walk around town.
As you can see it was a fine fall day (actually kind of chilly) and we loved these two sites - a tree that really shows what fall is about here (the half "empty" tree) and a sign prohibiting snowmobiles (only in Canada) on the main street.
It was a lovely morning and finally we started for home. We decided to take the meandering route home, so we drove along the Rideau River/Canal and appreciated the beautiful colourful leaves.
What a wonderful retreat! Just what we needed.

Happy Thanksgiving Birthday

I am so blessed. Not everyone has two families, but I do. I have my "blood" family, into which I was born. They bless me everyday that I live and I love them. I also have a "church" family that stands in the gap. Today some members of my church family came over to help us celebrate Thanksgiving in family. There were 12 of us. None of us have other family nearby, so we came together to celebrate giving thanks. I had lots of fun preparing the food last night, so today it wasn't all that much work. The biggest crisis was that I overslept and the turkey got into the oven later than I had planned. That pushed back lunch to a later time. No one seemed to mind. The house smelled good and the conversation was fun as well.
At dessert time, we gave a card to Sidney, which told him to look in the basement for his present. We all came down as he looked around and we told him "hot", "cold", as he approached his present. Many people at the church had gone together to get him a new (used) computer that he needs for his doctoral studies. That was so much fun, as I am sure he didn't expect that. He had a nice big smile. We really had to laugh at Roberta who was so deeply touched by the gesture that she began to cry. Then all of us mushy types joined in and soon it was a weepy little party. Really what she touched me, was her comment about hard it was to be here without family and much this meant, because it showed we are a family. I love to surprise people and this was a great moment, because it was a sucess. Roberta brought a beautiful cake, so we sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed the delicious cake (and some pumpkin pie). We topped it all off with some of that wonderful freshly roasted coffee.
Everyone pitched in and cleaned up, so my house looks spic and span. All I had to do was put away a few things here and there. It really has been a day that has made me grateful. My heart is full to overflowing. Yesterday in our thanksgiving prayer time in the church, I thanked God for bringing us to Canada. He has given us so much here. Not least of which is our wonderful church and the dear friends he has given us here.
"Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits."- Psalm 103:2

Birthday Bathroom

No one can say it wasn't an original gift! While my mom and sister were here, they decided to do a make-over on my downstairs bathroom. You have to understand this bathroom must have been a last minute thought when the house was built in the 1940's. It's under the steps. It looks like the only thing that had been done for it since the house's construction was to paint it. Pepto-bismal pink. Yuck. This photo doesn't do it full justice. It was much worse. Concrete floors and cinder block (PINK) wall. Bulging sheetrock walls too. So scrub, scrub, scrub. Work, work, work. Paint, paint, paint. Glue, glue, glue. Hammer, hammer, hammer. Calk, calk, calk. Six days of work. And voilá! A yellow bathroom, with one grey wall and nice tile floors. And these photos of the "after" don't do it justice either. It looks twice the size it was before. It looks all nice and clean. I don't think I will have to apologize anymore when I tell people they can use the basement bathroom. Looks downright decent. It really is a transformation. That has to be the most original, as well as useful present I've ever gotten. I know I will remember it every single day. Thanks Carolyn and Mom. It was fun to watch the work (I didn't lift a finger to help) and will be even more fun to enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Family fun

Last week my mom and sister arrived to spend a week with me. They've been working hard at my house (and more about that on another day), so today they got their reward. We took them on a boat cruise down the St. Lawrence River to see the thousand islands ( well we probably only saw 20 odd islands I guess). Here they are at the left boarding our boat. I couldn't believe we had such a spectacular day in October! We had to run the air in the car. Of course it was windy on the boat. (See mom on the bow of the boat? She says it looks like she has horn - it was just the extreme wind.)
I think everyone enjoyed the day. The only disappointment was that the trees hadn't turned much. We thought the drive down and back would be beautiful, but this year the trees seem to be late. Well that's okay. We are glad for the warm weather. Hope it lasts a while.

A Journey of 10000 steps

Today the three of us went to the Gatineau Hills to check out the hiking trail. Tomorrow, on Saturday, we are taking a group up to walk, to kick off our month of "walking" at the church. It's something new we are going to try. We've got pedometres and our goal is to make at least 10,000 steps a day. He who walks the most, will win the contest. I think it will be interesting to see how we really do. So on our walk today we did over 8000 steps. So in the evening I am sitting at 11, 377 steps. Pretty good for an old lady, eh? Well Nora, Sandy and I had lots of fun our hike. We didn't hit all the side trails or anything, but it wasn't a hard hike at all. A nice young man offered to take our photo at the high point. It was all downhill after this. Those who are going on the hike tomorrow are looking forward to it. From quilting last weekend to hiking this weekend. We are a unique group, aren't we? Tomorrow I am looking forward to really looking around. I decided today that João and I need to go up to the park weekly and walk or hike. It's just nice to get away out of the city. Next year I want to be sure to do this in the spring when the wild flowers are at their peak. God's world is truly beautiful and I am glad I have eyes to see and health to appreciate it.

Eastview Women's Retreat

We had a wonderful women's retreat this past weekend. There were 28 of us total (I think) together with the theme of "Patchwork People". We used quilts as our theme. We talked about God as our Master Quilter who takes all the scraps of our lives and makes them into something beautiful. As you can see we were quite an attractive group. We were so pleased because everything went so well for us. Everyone arrived safely on Friday night, albeit two cars arrived late enough to have us worried, as it was raining. We started making our quilt blocks on Friday night and everyone was pretty reluctant and nervous about it. But before we knew it, it was after 11PM and we didn't even realize it was so very late. The next day (after a not so good night of sleep) we did so many things, it's hard to believe we left by 6:30pm. We had lots of praise and worship, we had a message from Ephesians 2:10 and another from Isaiah 49:16, two small group Bible study times, time for quilting and eating, lots of eating! The weather was just great, as on Saturday it was warm, but not hot. Some people even found time for naps and walks. We had lots and lots of first timers - more than 10 of us, but amazingly the group really jelled. Everyone was just so congenial. It's fun for us to get together and do this. I will confess, though, that the drive home on Saturday was tiring. I fell into bed by about 9:30 on Saturday evening. And even today, Sunday, I was tired enough to take a 2 hour nap. I think I've recovered now. I feel so satisfied. The words of Is. 49:16 (Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands) continues to echo in my ears and I can remember how special I am to God!

If you want to see lots of photos of the retreat, visit my photo album on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peggyfonseca/44509773

At Lac Philip

João and I had a great Labour-less day! We went to Lac Philip with Moises, Ellen, Matthew, Martha, Nora and Brian. We had such so much fun. We had 4 guitars going, and before long a group of Lebanese children fascinated by the music and they came to hear us sing and eventually sing with us! I loved hearing the little girl singing "This Little Light of Mine", even though she was francophone. I think we have some new talent for our Praise team at church. It sounded really good. (The guitar players, not the little kids)
The little children were thoroughly entertained by João's antics as well. He ended up playing games with them, even though we had no idea who they were.
We found time to take a nice canoe ride (João and I didn't even tip over or go in circles!) and take a a walk along the lake. It was so relaxing. João said he thinks canoeing may well be an addictive activity. Can't you just see the two of us buying a canoe????
The food was good and the company was even better. We stayed for most of the day - singing, eating, playing soccer, canoing, walking, and of course talking. I don't think anyone will have to rock us to sleep tonight, do you?

She's go-n-n-n-e

Today was our last day with Sissy! There was lots to do. I took her to get her hair done and then we shopped a bit. In the afternoon, we worked (or she did and we watched) on the suitcases. Boy it was a tight squeeze. Finally we headed out of here around 5:45, for her 8:00 flight.
On the way it rained and the sun shone and we saw the most beautiful rainbow. We told her it was a promise that she would come back! We got to the counter and they decided to put her on the 7:00 flight, to give her more time in Toronto for her 10:15 flight. So then it was rush, rush, rush to get through security and board the plane - we only had about 15 minutes. But they were so nice, as suprisingly they let João go through security with her. She had so much electronic stuff, that it was really helpful (cd, mp3, camera, computer). I was able to grab a few shots of them from the viewing glass on the next floor up. That's why the shots are a little foggy. As soon as they cleared security she got in line to get on the plane and off she went. Her plane arrived on time in Toronto and she just called from there. She will leave for São Paulo in just a little bit.
Our house is a bit quieter... our hearts a bit lonelier.

And now the time is near

I guess this photo says it all... tonight is Sissy's last night here. We took her to Wakefield for a going away lunch today. We had a really good time. She is excited about going home and seeing her family and friends. I know she has missed them, but she hasn't complained and has been a real trouper. We will miss her so much. Her scandalous laughter and easy smile. Her joy at little things. And the fun we had as a "family." We've enjoyed our time together and rejoice that we had this opportunity.
There had to be one last "event" in her time here, so Barb invited her out to the cottage and Sissy actually went canoing. As usual, she had a great time. We loved watching her. Here she is.

On the way home

Since we got away late from Quebec City, we found we were unable to drive all the way back to Ottawa on Monday. We decided it would be the better part of valour to stop and spend the night on the road. We were tired from the walking and heat and just not up to facing Montreal traffic. We stopped just some kilometres out of Montreal. We laughed since the name of the place we stopped was Mt. St. Hilare, and one hotel we stopped at was $250! Hilarious, but fortunately there were no vacancies and we were spared the embarassment of saying we were too poor. It was a great looking spot along the river, so we decided we might return there on our 25th wedding anniversary. This was a big tourist area, so it was hard to find a place that we could afford, but at least we stopped at what looked like a typical 1950ish motel, where we got the last cabin. It was a cute little 2 bedroom cabin, which was nice for us. Again, we tried in vain to find something open for supper after 8:00PM. Ended up eating fast food, alas. At least we had something in our tummies.
On the way home the next day, we decided to take a drive through Montreal, since Sissy had only seen it under several feet of snow. We even stopped at the Olympic Park and went up in the tower (largest of its type in the world) to get a good view of the city. It was a cool cable car ride up. We even pretended we were Olympic gold medal winners!
We took a drive down through old Montreal, downtown and ducked by McGill University before getting back on the expressway.
Our new old car, did a great job on the highway and was very comfy as well as easy on gasoline (and considering it was $1.15 in Montreal that was a relief!). The air worked like a charm, which made all the difference in the world.
When we saw our little house, we were glad to be back home again. As my mom always said: "The best part about travelling is coming home."

Quebec City

Since Sissy is in her last week here, we thought we would like to take her to Quebec City, so we took off Sunday afternoon. We decided to wing it, leaving late, but surprisingly finding it an easy trip, arriving before it was too dark. We found a nice (read cheap) hotel and slept well after hunting everywhere to find anything open for supper. We found something, but wished we hadn't. Not too good... But the next day we had a wonderful time in old Quebec. We just loved the city.
Although they had predicted rain, we had a hot, humid day. On the left João is at the Royal Plaza, that made us feel like we were int he 18th century. On the right, I am at the beginning of a great shopping street, with tons of people. I especially enjoyed the flowers in all the windows. Of course the Chateau Frontenac was one of our favourite spots - we just kept looking and taking photos. This is Sissy and her dad looking down on the hotel from the Citadel. We walked more than we had walked in a really long time - we counted about 12 kilometres, and most of it up and downhill. We started the whole day down at the docks you can see down by the water. On the right you see a few of the steps we climbed in the process. I think I made everyone tired by oohing and ahing over everything. It was a feast for the eyes and we learned a lot of history in the process. By the time we got around to the cathedrals, we were ready to just sit and be quiet. I especially enjoyed the Anglican Holy Trinity Cathedral. There were so many beautiful churches in town. Finally we just had to stop and eat and think about heading out of town. We found a charming little restaurant where we sat in an open window/door and enjoy a delicious full course lunch. Of course, being french, the quantities were microscopic! But the atmosphere was great and the view was terrific. In the end, we had to bid adieu to the lovely walled city. It was a lovely, lovely day. Tomorrow I'll write about our trip home from Quebec City.