the best gift of all....

is that Drew's boys love to fish. For those of you who don't know Drew
he loves to fish, so I planned his Father's day around his favorite
activity. We went to the cabin with our friends, the Reynolds and
fished. We are forever grateful to Mr. Toews for being so generous with
his boat. Bill and Snax have never actually fished before so I wasn't
sure how it would go. Actually Bill had taken up fishing on Gramps'
itouch, but that's not a very accurate picture of fishing since every
time he cast his line out he caught something. We actually had to cheer
the kid up while we were on the boat. "Bill," I said, "this kind of
fishing is not like itouch fishing. Sometime you have to wait all day
to catch one thing." Suddenly I felt very old. When I was a kid we
didn't even have internet or ipods. Now I have to explain the
difference to Bill between virtual fishing and real life fishing. Once
Bill got his virtual world and real world straightened out in his brain
he had the best time and I think he even learned to appreciate the art
of patience in fishing. He landed the first jack fish about 5 minutes
into our first time out there. The next day Snax caught the biggest
fish of the weekend, which he actually had to throw back because it was
too big. And apparently the monster jack fish pooped in the boat, so
who needs that? He didn't even deserve to be eaten. Good riddance.
All in all I'd rate the weekend five stars out of five. The weather was
perfect as well as the company....and the food....and the
surroundings....and...well, it was just awesome.

picture descriptions:
#1 look at those beautiful red locks blowing in the wind
#2 E-coon and his cute mama.
#3 waiting patiently.....
#4 the first catch of the day. check out Bill's expression
#5 Proud daddy - check out HIS expression!
#6 Snax reals in a white fish that dad caught
#7 E-coon smoochies dad - happy Father's day!
#8 The Reynolds family
#9 Bill and Drew pose for a Father's day pic. That's not Snax in the
background...it's just some guy. Snax refused to be part of the picture
#10 Snax gets greedy
#11 E-coon is in heaven
#12 cuddle time with Curious George
#13 picnic by the lake

my dairy queen.

happy campers

We were brave and went camping for the first time with Bill and Snax
Beef on May long weekend. Together with the VanHepps we survived with
flying colors. After the tent was set up and the fire was going Bill
confided in me, "I'm a little bit nervous, but a little bit excited to
sleep in the tent because it's my first time." I assured him he'd do
just great. And he did. Our site wasn't flat like you'd expect to find
on the Canadian prairies. It was pretty darn hilly. Snax Beef kept
sliding down to the bottom of the tent in his sleep. I personally lost
sleep over this and kept pulling him back up to the top of the tent, but
eventually I just stopped caring and threw his sleeping bag over top of
him. And besides, he had his Jets toque to keep him warm.

picture descriptions:
#1 H trying to show off G's 'happy camper' shirt. G WAS a happy camper
#2 Spirit Sands - a desert in the middle of Manitoba. Bill asked the
question we all were wanting to ask, but didn't have the guts. "Isn't
it supposed to be hot in the desert?"
#3 Van Hepps fearlessly leading the way through the desert
#4 The Jets live on and keep us warm.
#5 We found a turtle!!
#6 The turtle
#7 Sweethearts - she loves him and he loves her
#8 The other VBs came out Sunday and we ended an awesome day with some
awesome ice cream.
#9 Chillaxin' on the drive home.

mission accomplished

Our list of accomplishments for the week:

- preparing for and then sharing about PNG (easier said than done!)

- first born son learns to ride bike without training wheels

-second born son learns to ride bike without training wheels

-survived a sleepless night with second born son

- second born son has 4 blood tests in 48 hours (malaria testing)

- made giant cream puff for the greater Loewen gang

- only 1 melt down! (and it wasn't any of the boys in the vb house)

- Jett (although that's not exactly our accomplishment)

- cried on someone's shoulder

- had my shoulder cried on....twice!

- got my camera out

Things that didn't get accomplished:

I refuse to make this list.

Honk Honk

This post is definitely an after thought. On our way home from PNG we
spent 2 days in Hong Kong, or 'Honk Honk' as Snax often refers to it
as. Those few days we spent there was a very good decision for two
reasons. First, it broke up the frightfully long trip thus helping us
keep our sanity, and secondly it gave us a chance as a family to regroup
and catch our breath after a crazy few weeks of packing up and good byes.

Bill's favorite thing about Hong Kong was the subway we rode on. Snax
Beef agrees, but also loved riding the escalators. Cheap thrills! They
failed to mention the cable car experience and visiting 'Noah's Ark' -
both things we actually paid money for. :)

did this just happen?!

Coming home makes me feel like I've been transported to a completely
different world. I've finally downloaded pictures from our last few
days in PNG and it already feels like so long ago. Did we really live
there for the last two years?! Did that just happen?

The pictures are of our last visit to Sarang and meal special together
and saying good bye to our beloved staff at the airport. I sure miss
those guys.

down on the farm

The farm is the best playground for the amazing number of boys on the VB
side. I love all these boys!!

good ol' Canadian boys.

Back on familiar turf. Gramps and Nana took Bill and Snax Beef to the
cabin for a few days. I'll admit I was a little jealous. The cabin is
one of my favorite places to be. On the way they stopped to check out
the windmills at St. Leon's. Snax Beef also took up fox hunting just
like he said he would. No luck this time.

winks town.

We've been back in Winkler for a week and a half now. I feel like my
thoughts are still very scattered and I'm not sure how to write about
it. Lists are an easy way to get thoughts down....so here's my 'back in
Winks' list:

1) My friends all look so beautiful. I love them all.

2) I have to write down my schedule now.

3) One morning I found Bill in his room getting dressed. He had on a
pair of shorts and he was pulling up his socks as high as they went. I
told him that it wasn't warm enough to wear shorts in Canada yet and he
said, "Don't worry Mom. I was just seeing if my socks went up to my
shorts." He thought that would pass as wearing long pants.

4) The peanut butter jar is as big as my head. When Drew pulled it out
of the cupboard he said, "Whoa. This is blowing my mind right now."

5) People have been so nice to us and very understanding.

6) Anything I could ever want or need is right at my fingertips.

7) I'm behind in the times, but that's okay. What's Twitter?

8) People here are very punctual and I like that. We need to be more
punctual. No more 'island time'.

9) I love watching Bill and Snax play with their cousins. They fit
right in. Why was I worried?

10) People are very busy.

11) I can hug my mom every day.

12) Snax Beef loves yogurt a whole lot and calls them 'milkshakes'.
Snax Beef (the person) hasn't missed Snax Beef (the food) yet.

13) Snax Beef didn't let Uncle Chris pull a worm in half. He had to
remind Uncle Chris that worms are God's creatures too.

14) I love dishwashers as much as I thought I would.

15) Food I missed and didn't disappoint: fresh milk, squeaky cheese,
Burwalde honey, sour cream, Dad's steak dinner with Mom's fixin's,
wiener roasts, DQ Blizzard.......

16) I feel so loved because I was missed.

17) I drove down 15th street on the wrong side of the road in my parents
new car! I cannot be trusted.

18) Meine Steele went wokabaut already. Keep your friends close and
your enemies even closer.

19) I wouldn't trade our 2 years in PNG for anything.

20) I think I could go camping now and enjoy myself. It would blow a
Papua New Guinean's mind if they saw what we did recreation!

21) There are lots of cars and not very many pedestrians. In PNG it was
the other way around.

22) There are so many things that haven't changed in the last two years
that it's almost eerie. But at the same time there are things that have
changed and we're still trying to get caught up! Life does go on
without you.

a day at Rempi

We took a much needed day of R&R today with our good friends Paul and Heidi.
Rempi is a village outside of Madang town that has some incredible
snorkeling. There is a rustic bush house right on the water for missionary
families to use, so we took advantage of it. We had a great time swimming,
snorkeling, eating, and squishing SEA CUCUMBERS!!! Those are those black,
icky looking things that Snax and Bill are playing with. We even had a
little visit from the village pet - a noisy, colorful bird that had a little
too much personality. All in all it was an awesome, memorable day. We'll
definitely miss those Hursts!

How excited are we?

Craaaaazzzzzzyy excited.