One always has to be prepared for the unexpected...

Here we are into fall already! Our summer was so very hot and dry, and BC had over 1,900 forest fires this year, we broke all records. Some days it was so smoky, we couldn’t see the mountains or the trees. Our weather has actually turned cold, especially at night. So, we are having to harvest our tomatoes and anything else we don’t want to freeze. We’ve had a few emergencies in the family recently. Earl’s brother Elmer had a heart attack and landed in the hospital, where he had a stint put in. My brother-in-law Lorne, had to be flown to Victoria and also had a stint put it, but thankfully he didn’t have a heart attack. He is now back at work and doing great. It will take Elmer somewhat longer to recover. We made a trip to Vancouver to visit Elmer & Marlene. Took the ferry to the island and visited one of our supporting churches in Chamainus. After that, we drove down to Seattle for four days to visit Ruth & Royden. Earl did some wiring in their basement, which they are renovating. It was such fun to be there, and we so much enjoy our granddaughter and her husband. Managed to get in some shopping and then headed homeward. We had hoped to get home before dark, but stopped too long at Costco, in Kamloops, so by the time we hit the road, it was already dark. We were clipping along following another car when suddenly he swerved off into the oncoming lane, and for a split second we wondered if he was drunk. The next split second, we knew why he did what he did! About a fifty feet in front of us was huge pitch black Angus bull was standing right in the middle of our lane. Earl hit the breaks but just the same, we broad sided him and knocked him down before we could stop! Our car unfortunately got the worst end of the deal. We were unhurt and believe it or not, the bull got up, stood there for ten minutes in a daze, and after that his owner came and chases him home. But there was quite commotion on the highway, just the same. We’re going to make doubly sure that we don’t travel after dark again. It’s just too dangerous. So often the unexpected happens, as it did this week. We got a message on facebook from a young man in England that had been adopted by a British couple from the Mount Horeb orphanage when he was just under two years old. He said he had been riffling through his documents and found our name. He punched it in on the Internet and found our blog. We were so amazed to hear from him after so long, and like most adopted children, he was most anxious to learn something about his biological family, and was hoping we could help him make contact. We are in the process of writing letters and sending pictures, etc. etc. between him and his family. If we are happy and surprised, imagine how his mother and sister, uncles and aunts, etc. will be. It’s just another one of the wonderful surprises that come our way from time to time.

Elmer & Marlene

Pleasure Boats in Vancouver

Our Granddaughter Ruth & her hubby Royden

Jeremy & his girlfriend Carey

Summer is coming to an end.

Wow what a summer we’ve had, at one point there were more than 800 forest fires burning, and some days it was so smoky we couldn’t even see the outline of the mountains around us. As each summer approaches we hope and pray the rain will fall at just the right time, in just the right amount, so we won’t have to deal with the frightening wildfires. The last three or four years have been pretty bad and the doomsayers tell us we can look forward to much of the same, but I think when it comes to predicting the weather or natural disasters that might occur, it’s anybody’s guess. We decided to do make some finishing touches on the back yard this summer, it’s nice to have a large lot, but it takes a lot of time and money to make it look good and keep it that way. Earl got material and recruited Luke’s help, and they really got into it. But it really does look better, even though it looked pretty good before we started. There have been a few upsets in our family recently. My brother-in-law Lorne Plett (Jenny’s husband) went for a stress test, and they wouldn’t even allow him come home, they flew him to Kelowna, did all the tests, and then flew him to Victoria where he had several stints put in. Apparently the quickest route to getting treatment is when the Dr. treats it as an emergency. Lorne was up and back to work in a few weeks. My grand niece Eric Vanderbrink has Hodgekin's disease and is undergoing chemotherapy treatments. She has two young active children so you can imagine how hard it is to be there for them right now. Then we got the news that Earl’s brother Elmer from Ladner also had a heart attack. Fortunately it happened at home and Marlene called emergency right away and got him into the hospital, hopefully not too much damage was done to the heart. He had a stint put in as well, and has to take it easy for a few months. Things in a family can change so quickly. We are going out for a visit this week. Will visit a church in Victoria on Sunday and then drive down to Seattle to visit Ruth & Royden. Grandpa will do some wiring, and grandma … well, she’ll do whatever her hands find to do. They were just here visiting Royden’s dad who is suffering from colon cancer. We would really appreciate your prayers on behalf of these suffering relatives. Royden’s sister from Seattle was here to see her dad as well. She brought little Vincent (the Lepp's first grandchild) much to grandpa and grandma Lepps delight, and they weren’t the only ones to enjoy him, so did the rest of us. What a sweet little fellow he is.

Schalm Family Reunion 2009

Think of it ... You didn't even have time to get bored with my blog this time, and I am already updating it! A first for me. It usually takes me months. :p

We just finished our family reunion this past weekend, and we had a wonderful time. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to talk to everybody, which I would have loved to do. There were some new members added. Spouses of the grandchildren, and their children. The family keeps growing and growing. We had 111 in attendance, even though there were at least 40 that couldn't make it. We started on Friday night with the registration, and just hung around, had snack foods and lots of conversation. Saturday we all gathered about 2pm for more talking and snacking. :) Then at 6pm we had the banquet. Ate again! :p We were really happy that all three of our grandchildren were able to be there. Amanda & Russell came from Edmonton, and Ruth & Royden came from Seattle. We were just so proud to introduce them to the rest of the family that saw them very occasionally. My nephew Todd and his wife Laura and their two children came all the way from Borneo and my nephew Stan and his wife Ruth came all the from (would you believe it) BRAZIL! After spending 30 years in Brazil and never having a relative near by, wouldn't you know it that my nephew gets transferred right to Curitiba, just 30km from Mount Horeb - Itaperucu, where we used to work and live.

These are hot days, and fires are burning all around us. It's quite worrisome sometimes. So we are praying for rain and it's come, in gentle showers and down pours, but not quite enough to actually bring the fire hazard level down. The most horrific tragedy happened to a family holidaying in Eagle Bay, just about 30km from here. Their two children and their cousin were sleeping in the family cabin, near the house, and somehow the cabin caught fire and before anybody noticed it or could call help it was too late. The father tried to reach his children but got quite burned in the effort. What a terrible way for a holiday to end.

Nothing new has happened around here lately. I still want to pressure wash the house and clip the hedge way back, but those are big jobs and I think I will recruit Earl's help, but he is so busy putting a bathroom in our new coach flat above the garage! Once done, we will have extra room to put up visitors, and may even be able to rent it for short periods for people needing a few days, weeks or months accommodation.

Now, be sure to scroll down and check out my pictures. Till next time, Ruth.

Ruth, Amanda, Russell, Jannelle & Luke

Ruth & Amanda Luke & Amanda making faces. I wonder what they were thinking about ... Amanda trying out her cooking skills!

Some of our family members

Just enjoying a wonderful summer.

Sorry that I let so much time go by before updating my blog. Time just zips by, and our lives don’t seem all that filled with excitement and interesting happenings that others would find appealing! But just the same, here are some of the high lights of the last two months. We travelled to Edmonton for the annual Sam Ministries banquet and met with so many of our faithful supporters and friends while there. Pat actually drove us there in her brand new copper coloured Honda Fit. It was a tight ‘Fit’, but the good gas mileage made up for any discomfort we endured. We got in a good last visit with Lynn & Dwight before they left for Africa on July 1st. They were only home for a short three months, so our time with them was quite limited. They spent most of their time in Edmonton doing mission business and seeing as much of their children as they could.

SAM Ministries Banquet

Pat's little Honda Fit

We undertook the task of painting the interior of our house this summer, and it looks really great. Luke and his friend Devin came over and gave us a hand. Luke has had some painting experience and works fast, so that really helped. We are trying to do an upgrade on our house every year. We don’t want to end up years from now with a big renovating job on our hands and not enough strength and energy to do it! Pat has moved into our basement suite and is nicely settled in. It’s so nice to have family living there for a change. It’s good to know things will be looked after when we go on our annual trip to Brazil every year, or on a church visiting trip etc. How does the feature wall in our living room look? :) I love to putz in the garden! We are having a Schalm family reunion in July and are really looking forward to that this weekend. To date, we expect at least 110 people to come and help us celebrate. As we get older, we wonder how many more reunions we will live to enjoy! We have one every five years, and so far only one sibling has passed on to eternity besides mother and father. The sunny Shuswap is a perfect spot for a summer vacation, so that’s a drawing card. We finally have some warmer weather too, but I’m afraid my feeble tomato plants will hardly bear any fruit this year, though the weeds are doing wonderfully well as usual. Schalm Family at our parent's 50th wedding anniversary. We do have some wonderful blessing to share with you though. Enough money came into the mission’s coffers recently to begin work on installing our own fire prevention system at Mount Horeb. The city of Itaperucu has 25,000 inhabitants and there is no fire brigade, fire fighting equipment, or fire hydrants, so it is no easy task to install system at our own expense, which is what the State government requires us to do if we intend to continue to operate a school etc. But fires do happen, strangely enough, even though most of our buildings are cement and brick. In fact, we had a fire at the old Mount Horeb, fortunately all the neighbours came to our rescue and we managed to put it out. Someone called the fire department in the capital city and a truck finally pulled up 3 hours later. Another blessing we received recently is that the Jireh Foundation once again came to the rescue and six members of our staff can continue their university education, in spite of the recession. God truly has answered our prayers and they are grateful and happy.

Enjoying our time with Lynn & Dwight

We, like everybody else in B.C. are waiting for Spring, seems the weatherman has decided to teach us avid gardeners a bit of patience. We are still hoping to get our tomato plants in by the May 24th. and maybe even our hanging plants. There have been some new developments since my last entry. Luke got another work permit; needless to say he is very happy. He got a job in a auto glass shop, his boss so kindly applied to immigration for the permit. Our daughter Pat moved into our basement suite, it’s nice to have only family living here. Sure is neat when I run out of ingredients for a cake or anything else I’m preparing, and can just run downstairs and borrow it. We decided to give our house a new interior paint job, and it looks very nice. But I haven’t rushed out to buy new furniture yet though ... don’t think Earl would have been happy with that.

We went to Seattle to pick up Lynn & Dwight who had flown there from Edmonton to visit Ruth & Royden. We had just a short visit with them, but as usual it was so good to see them. Royden has a chameleon and we had such fun watching him feed him cockroaches that he raises for that purpose. And for those of you who may not know, there are oodles of people that raise all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures and have to provide them with as natural a diet as possible! He even sells cockroaches and makes good money at it too. After our visit, we returned to Vancouver to spend a few days with Earl’s brother Elmer and his wife Marlene. They had a houseful of guests, but treated us all so well and we had such a wonderful time of fellowship. We cooked, ate, and laughed the visit. We spend the last evening at their daughter, her husband and their two interesting daughters. We were all into their games and saw just how out of shape and unbalanced we all were.

We came back through Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, Liloet, Cache Creek, Kamloops, and finally Salmon Arm. Our first stop was in Squamish where we looked up our long time friend Jenny Price. It was so good to see her, and she was her usual up-beat self. Our ties go way back to 1960, we were neighbours for a long time, and her children babysat ours. Now we are grand parents, and she’s already a great grandmother. It’s obvious she enjoys her kids, grandkids and great grandkids. What a wonderful example of a Godly woman she is. Before we left we drove down a few memory lanes to take pictures. Cruised by our old home, the hospital where Lynn was born, the school they both attended and a few other places they just had to see. We got lots of good pictures. Squamish has changed so much we hardly recognized it, and lost our way a time or two as we drove around trying to find some familiar landmarks.

The trip over that route (hiway 99) was beautiful, and if you ever get a chance to take it, you won’t be sorry. There are so many wonderful places to see in B.C.we probably won’t see them all in our lifetime. Lynn & Dwight were able to spend 3 days with us, too short but sweet! They are leaving for Edmonton tomorrow and we will be joining them again in Edmonton when we drive down for the SAMM AGM and their annual fund raising banquet to take place on May 23rd.

Back in Canada …

We left for Brazil in February, and came back five weeks later, but it still seems like mid-winter. Just the same, my crocuses, brave little things, with only their heads above the snow, are already blooming their little hearts out. We stepped off the plane in Brazil in exceptionally hot and humid weather. At our age the body doesn’t seem to adjust quick enough to such drastic climate changes and it takes us a few days to get sorted out. There were days when we actually pined for a bit of the cold Canadian winter we left behind. A few minutes in that intense sun, and a bad sunburn, was a good reminder that we must remember to slather sun block on all our exposed skin! There are always the usual things that remind us we are back in Brazil. People, cars and animals of all sorts share the streets and sidewalks. Garbage is scattered everywhere and no one seems to notice it, except us. Mangy dogs roam the streets day and night and bark incessantly, which rouses the roasters, that join in the chorus with their crowing, which wakes the chickens and gets them all cackling! Most households keep chickens in their back yard for eggs and meat. It’s unbelievable how people sleep through it all, but somehow they do! We try to muffle the noise by wrapping our head in the pillow, and we even tried the new fang dangled earplugs, that are terribly uncomfortable, and just didn’t fit our ears properly! As always, everyone at Mount Horeb greeted us warmly, and it felt so good to be back among our many Brazilian friends. It was gratifying to see how the work has grown and progressed over the past year. There are just over 300 children registered in school and in order to accommodate them all our school runs a morning and an afternoon shift every day. New children come every year, so we actually recognize only a few of them these days, mostly our staff kids. Even they change so much in one year and we have to check and be sure the name matches the face. The kids often look at us and say, “Do you remember me?” To which we mumble some sort of reply, but they soon set us straight if we’ve erred. We made it a point of visit each classroom and spoke to the students. Many had heard about us and were anxious to know us personally. They also wanted to know how Mount Horeb got started, and how come we came to their city. We were only too happy to tell them how God guided our steps to Itaperucu, and led us to do what we did. We are still amazed at how God helped us with the tasks we undertook, and at how much the school ministry has impacted the community. As we stroll through town many people stop to talk and express their gratitude to us for providing a safe place for their children. A place where Christian principals are taught and building character in the lives of the children is a priority. A place free of violence, bad influences, and the constant presence of the drug pushers waiting just outside the school gates, all too prevalent in the public schools of our city. The first Saturday after we arrived we joined the outreach team and headed out for Cacador ,a poor community in the interior. We all piled into the army jeep, and the Volkswagen bus, both heavily laden with the Unique Christmas gifts we had purchased, and set out on our slow rough journey over dirt roads. The mission out reach goes out almost every Saturday to work on improving the living conditions of about 50 families living there. It hadn’t rained for a few days so it only took us two hours to get out there, but the road was still quite wet in the lower sections of the road, we almost made it without any incidents, but for the last half kilometre of road, The jeep was loaded a bit too top heavy with the grocery hampers and school kits for the children and it started tilting and sliding into the ditch. The guys quickly unload some of the heaviest stuff off the top of the jeep, and we managed to make it safely to our destination.

We then proceeded with our late, but very welcome Christmas party. We had announced our coming and the small building we gathered in quickly filled up as people in the community poured in. First we had a time of singing and praise. Earl & I were then asked to greet the people and share something of our lives with them, after which our director Paulo Roberto spoke to them and encouraged them not to despair, God aware of their needs and was sending help. Finally it was time to serve everyone the hotdogs and pop that we’d brought with us, and as a grand finale, we handed out the school kits and grocery hampers. Many hours later they all left for home happily bearing their heavy burdens with them. How grateful they were, it was a reminder of God’s love for them, and that He had not forgotten them in their need. School classes should already have started, but we have since learned that they still haven’t had a day of school yet this year. Someone told us the department of education had forgotten to send money to fuel the school buses! Lord willing Mount Horeb will set up a school for these children by next year. They are so anxious to learn.

We were so happy that our friends from Ireland joined us at Mount Horeb, we had such great fun and fellowship. They are such enthusiastic and willing workers for the Lord, always so ready to help and contribute wherever they can. This year they set up a community kitchen at the mission where mothers of our poorest students can come and learn to prepare more nutritious meals for their families. They can also use the kitchen to make the finger foods that many of them sell on the streets in order to survive. In exchange for this, they will prepare the daily school lunches for the school children, which will take a heavy load off the shoulders of our regular kitchen staff. We praise God for the commitment of our Irish friends that come to Brazil every year and contribute so willingly of their time and talents to the ministry at Mount Horeb.

We also re-connected with many of the children that were raised in the orphanage. Most of them are now married and have families of their own. They attribute their time at the orphanage to having made the important difference in their lives. How wonderful to hear them rise up and call us blessed, and how can we not feel blessed. It reminds us that God’s greatest blessings can’t be purchased with money.

Yes, and it has snowed…

The last 6 weeks here in Salmon Arm, involving our family, have been happy and sad. Earl got a case of shingles a week before Christmas, so we were off to doctors trying to figure out what was wrong with him. After 3 days, we got him on the proper medication and he is doing much better. And typical of us, we decided to replace some of the floors in our house, so our furniture was all shoved around into various areas of the house. We now have a lovely stressed slab lino floor in the kitchen, hallway and bathrooms. In the office and laundry we put a vinyl plank floor. It all looks very nice and is better for us seniors, who have a tendency to have scatter rugs all over the place and tend to trip and fall over them. Then, our son-in-laws mother has cancer and has only a few months to live, so some of the family went and spent Christmas with her. We also found out that our Granddaughter’s father in law (Ed Lepp) has cancer of the colon, so we are all quite anxious to see what his treatment will be and what his prognosis will be. And on top of all that, some very dear Pastor friends of ours (Ed & Doreen Breitkruez) were in a horrific accident. The first one they suffered wasn’t so bad, but then the ambulance came and got them all strapped down safely and headed for the nearest hospital, when they ran head on into the back of semi-trailer loaded with pipe. Their injuries were multiplied about a 100%, if you can imagine, they were tightly held on the stretchers, so they both suffered very serious back injuries. Doreen has had her operation after 3 weeks in the hospital and is not home recuperating. She had 7 of her vertebrae fused with a titanium rod. Ed is still in the hospital and in more serious condition. We are praying for a miracle, so that he will not be left a quadra or paraplegic. So, those of you who are praying people can just join us and pray for a miracle on his behalf. Our Christmas meal was with a smaller crowd than usual. We had Pat, Ruth & Royden, two Brazilian friends that live in Salmon Arm, and of course yours truly and Earl. But we had much to be thankful for just the same, and praise the Lord that He came and lived among us and died for us so that we might be forgiven and can share Eternal Life with Him. Our plans are to live for Brazil on February 15th, and just about now we are wishing we were there right now, because it seems it’s all we can do to keep ourselves shovelled out of the snow. It seems to know exactly when to start snowing again, I think the weatherman is watching us! I am including a few pictures for your viewing. May all of you that read this blog have a blessed happy and healthy New Year filled with God’s peace.

Ruth.

And let it snow...

Here we are facing another Winter... Which means lots of snow (for Luke's sake! :D ), ice, cold weather, heavy coats, warm boots, and of course Christmas. It's quite clutter free for us really. We don't do a lot of the Christmas stuff like we used to. No more spending on gifts for people who already have everything, no more sending of Christmas cards. I do like to decorate the house, put up lights and have a really special Christmas dinner with whatever family that happens to be here at the time!

Recently, we took a trip top Ladner, to spend a few days with Earl's brother Elmer and his wife Marlene. We always enjoy their company so much and have great fellowship talking about the things about the Lord and praying for each other and with each other. We caught a ride down and brought back a car that they have donated to Lynn & Dwight for when they home on furlough in March/2008. This was such a blessing because it's always a concern for missionaries when they come home, for how they are going to manage purchasing a vehicle to use while they are home.

This past weekend made a trip to Edmonton. We took the Jasper-Edson route and dropped our daughter Pat off in Edson, so she could spend some time with her mother-in-law Dolly who is not at all well. After that we headed for Morinville where we attended a mission's conference. We had a great time and stayed with Jason & Mayra Michaud and got to know their little daughter Luiza. Jason went to Brazil and spent some time at Mount Horeb and travel around to various places in the country. He met Mayra in Brasilia, they fell madly in love and by the time he was ready to leave they had already decided that she would come to Canada and they would be married here. We had actually never had a chance to get to know her, so this was a very special time for us. And now there's another member to their family: a sweet little girl they named Luiza.

We managed to see some wild life on the trip. The mountain sheep were in the middle of the high way and we had to maneuver around them and managed to take a picture of them to include in this blog, as well. :)

On the way home, just beyond the summit a car had flipped upside down in the middle of the road, fortunately though the two occupants badly shaken up but otherwise suffered no serious injuries. It was snowing, hazy, the roads were icy, and it was a typical thing that happens when people forget to slow down and take it easier.

We also spent some quality time in Edmonton, with Amanda & Russell and enjoyed a couple of meals out with them. They are both doing well in university, and getting along quite nicely. After Christmas we plan a weeks visit to Seattle, where Earl is going to do some renovation work on Ruth & Royden's house, and in February 15th we plan to leave for Brazil. My cousin Rosa from Germany is going to Argentina to visit some relatives on my mother's side of the family and she has invited my sister Alma & myself to catch a flight to Foz do Iguacu, then take a bus and meet her in Argentina. Alma will be in Curitiba visiting her son Stan & his wife Ruth, so hopefully we can work this little extra activity into our schedule.

That's the news the now. Don't hold your breath for my next entry though.

Ruth.

You will be thinking I have forgotten all about my blog…

Not really though!!! It’s just that there isn’t always much news to write about. Anyway, I think I need to update and there is a considerable bit of new news.

Summer is about over in B.C. It’s turned cold rather early this year … and the weatherman doesn’t predict an Indian summer! Luke is anxious to see the snow and swears he will shovel our driveway for us … that will be two driveways, since he lives with Pat and Eric.

I am glad because I actually harvested a fair number of tomatoes off my ‘potted’ plants. First time I tried that, and it works really well.

We are still getting the last minute finishing touches done to our landscaping, so from now on, it will be free sailing … aside from the usual maintenance.

We’ve had a Federal election and both Earl & I worked at the polls and made ourselves a bit of extra cash. We were happy our Conservative candidate Colin Mayes won this riding hands down with 51 % of the votes. Now we can get on with life as usual till our municipal election for councilors and mayor, and after that, the provincial elections. Ho hum … we get really tired of all the hype!

Eric’ s mother Dolly had gone through two cancer operations and was doing really well, we thought. However in her last exam they found a cancerous spot on her liver, and the doctors have given her 3 to 6 months to live. She is a great lady and we are all very upset and sad. You can join us in prayer on her behalf. She lives in Edson, Ab.

We got some good news concerning the mission. When we lost our property we had a great lawyer and he tried to reverse the judges decision but was not able to do so. When it got all the way to the Supreme Court, they decided it wasn’t worth a hearing and annulled the case. The lawyer’s sister (also a lawyer) then took up our case to try and get reimbursement for the original price we paid for the property, plus the thousands of dollars we spent on improvements on the place over the 15 years we carried on our work from there. After 8 years, our first hearing is set for Nov. 14^th 2008. We are very excited and happy, however we know it may take another few years to hear our case and they will likely appeal so we aren’t exactly counting our chickens yet. But we are praying for justice to be done, and want to invite you to pray with us over this situation. Mount Horeb could sure use the money … OR the property back, if the owners can’t come up with the money. Either way, we expect to receive some recumbence for our troubles, traumas and tears over the whole affair.

Here is a picture of Mount Horeb's old building and below that you can see the new buildings:

.... Plans are to go to Brazil in Feb. of 2009 again. I now have a nephew living in Curitiba, real close to the mission and we will get to see him and his wife and spend sometime with them as well. That is very exciting … imagine another family member living in Brazil J. He is an executive for the Exxon oil company.

We have a trip to Edmonton coming up in Nov. We were invited to attend a mission’s conference in Morinville. Invitations like this are always greatly appreciate by missionaries.

Our friend Solange, who came to Canada from Brazil years ago, just had a visit from her niece, and on the video you will see a picture of us at the Kelowna airport… And if you haven’t already clicked on the video below, please do! There are a lot of other pictures of interest to those of you who know us better.

Till next time … Love to all those of you that read this blog.

Our home ‘on the road’ comes home!

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activities. A number of friends from Edmonton stopped by to see us, and enjoyed some of our wonderful Okanagan fruit. We get so used to having so much of it around every year, we fail to appreciate it like we should. The first few years we lived here I went hog wild canning and freezing fruit … and we are still eating jam and fruit canned in 2005 … Horrors, I hope our grand daughter Ruth doesn’t read this blog! And talking about Ruth, we had the pleasure of having her and her hubby here for almost a week. They came from Seattle to take in a family wedding, and a grandfather’s funeral, two occasions that don’t really go very well back-to-back. We sure did enjoy them. Since Earl got back from Mozambique he has been wondering and worrying about how he was going to get our little RV back home. It broke down in Fairview last year on our trip visiting churches, and my nephew Dan Litke so kindly offered to winter it for us in his back yard. No one we know owns a heavy enough vehicle, and a long enough trailer to haul it through the mountains… so we prayed. Trust God, He always answers prayer, and meets our needs, no matter how difficult the situation looks. He also has his people scattered here and there, ready and willing to help a friend in need. We got a phone call from our friends Len & Eunice Schamehorn telling us they are on the way to Salmon Arm with our motor home in tow. Earl was one happy camper. Then the last weekend in Aug. my brother Henry and his wife Marion celebrated their 50th. wedding anniversary. Henry is in a home and suffers from dementia, but Marion was determined they should celebrate just the same, so she got busy and planned the event. She worked really hard at preparing him, and that is no easy task. Just getting him to put on different clothes is traumatic for him, and he hates bathing. He lives in Bastian Place, and they prepared a lovely buffet dinner on the patio. The weather was perfect, we had a sunny warm afternoon. Everything was as close to the ‘original’ wedding as possible, right down to the bridesmaid bouquets, the grooms tie and shoes. One of the best men couldn’t make it, but all the others were there. It was also a good excuse for us siblings to get together again, only Ed my youngest brother didn’t show up for the occasion. After that celebration, we had another one on Sunday afternoon. My sister Betty and her husband Henry’s youngest son recently married a girl from Australia and most of us had never met her. They invited us all to the lake and prepared some good food and we all had a wonderful time. All in all it was a great weekend, and we got some good pictures that will help us remember these occasions. Now Earl is up to his elbows in grease fixing the R.V. and even gave me sometime in the garden … we’re almost finished with our landscaping … finally. Now all we have to do is maintenance. We have a big yard and we are getting too old for all that bending, lifting rocks, hauling dirt and keeping the dandelion crop in check. Gotta run … till next time … -------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are some pictures for you to check out! ;) Earl having our RV placed back in our backyard! :) Randy and his Australian wife Heather! What a wonderful time we all had at lake... Us sisters had a chance to take a family picture while we were all together at Randy & Heather's reception at the lake! Here we are at Henry & Marion's 50th Anniversary Celebration! Henry & Marion's family...