A bit of a shock

As you all know, the Canadian dollar has made some remarkable gains in the last few weeks. It has been a bit of a boost for us over here as well, as the dollar gained significantly on the Euro for a few days at least. A few weeks ago I was able to get 710 Euros for 1000 Canadian dollars. We felt like we'd been given a pay raise! However, today I went to do our monthly transfer, and we can now get only 660 Euros for 1000 dollars. Ouch!
The Christmas banquet was on Saturday night and I will be including a few pics from that later on this week.

It's been a full week...

Yes, it's been a full week. Howard left on Monday morning for Portugal and returned on Wednesday afternoon. He took the camera with him but did not take any pictures, so our blog is blank this week. Sorry. Howard had a good but busy time in Portugal, and was reminded again what life indoors is like without heat when it's cold outside!
The choir concert is in two weeks and I feel like I'm making good progress on the pieces. They are challenging and there are some "big" moments in a few of them. So, I would appreciate your prayers for me that I would be able to stay calm so my hands will respond to the signals from my brain when those big moments come! It has been really a good time working with a choir again, and especially fun doing that from behind the piano.
The girls are busy with school and it's only getting busier as it gets closer to Christmas. There are only 12 instructional days left before break. Yikes!
We are looking forward to being in our own home for Christmas this year. We've have been away the last 3 years so this will be a special time this year.
Have a great week!

God's creative gifts

I looked out the window one morning this week and was struck by the amazing colour of this tree.

Bethany and Jack having a jam session.

Bethany's creative writing class. The students interact very frankly and openly with each other, accepting this as a very necessary and good part of the process of the pursuit of excellence.

Choir, quilts and yellow boots

As of Monday, I have been playing for the High School choir. The regular accompanist had to return to the States to be with her mother who has been diagnosed with cancer. An SOS went out from the choir director and I answered it. I am enjoying playing the piano again, even though it has made my schedule quite a bit more hectic. This is my first formal accompanying assignment at BFA and I am quite thrilled. The kids are full of energy and enthusiasm. This picture was taken at the beginning of the practice on Thursday as the director was attempting to gain some order!


These are two small portions of the quilt I am making for Bethany for her graduation. I am making pretty good progress and am quite sure I will have it finished before the end of the year.

Katy loves her yellow boots.

Our girls

I'm not sure what was going on in the kitchen one evening, but obviously there was a lot of laughter and picture-taking. I'm also not sure where these moods come from but they happen quite often and the camera is always there to take it all in!

Dorm life

I'm back-tracking a bit here, but I "borrowed" these pictures from Ellie's blog. She took them last Thursday evening when we were working in the kitchen. Since I often spend so much of my time just "hanging" with the girls, I thought it would be good to show some pictures where I was actually producing something. The potatoes were for the corn chowder which was eaten at dorm hot lunch on Friday. The cookies were baked as a favour to one of the girls who was swamped with so much other work. It's actually quite fun to bake in the dorm because all these cookies you see were baked at one time. The dorms have huge convection ovens so it makes pretty quick work of a batch of cookies.
Thanks for the great pics, Ellie!

I think we were pranked

We woke up on Wednesday morning to discover that our rather large spruce tree had been thoroughly wrapped with toilet paper. None of us had time to do anything about it before we left the house that morning, so when I arrived home from work at 1:00, I quickly pulled as much of the "decoration" off before I thought to take a picture! I was rather embarrassed about it all and was afraid of what the German neighbours were thinking. After school Beth arrived with two of her buddies to clean up the mess. They found the ladder upstairs in the shed and got to work. It was a cold and damp day but they worked until the mess was cleaned up. I rewarded the boys with Swiss chocolate and the girls made tea.
Special thanks go to Kristoff and Nate for their help. And a word to the perpetrators...we know where you live.

At the dorm

This is Hannah, a lovely young women, grade 9 student at BFA and a resident of Palmgarten dorm. She is an amazing artist, as you can see. I have spent many, many hours with Hannah working on homework and just hanging out with her. She has quite an interesting past: born in the Congo; at the age of 9 months evacuated with her parents and 3 older brothers taking only 1 suitcase with them; lived 9 years in Belgium; her parents and younger sister are now in France and Hannah is in her 3rd year at BFA. A typical MK!

We spend our Thursday evenings at the dorm, subbing for the dorm parents who get the day off. We enjoy our time there so much, getting to know the girls, and doing what we can to help out the RAs.

No matter where you are...

...you're always a long way from somewhere. (This was taken by my uncle this summer at the Welland Canal in Ontario.)

Rooftop

I just found this picture that one of the girls took and I thought I'd put it into my new blog! This blogging thing is a bit of a new toy for me right now but I'm sure the excitement of it will wear off pretty soon...

Palm RAs

We enjoyed a lovely evening in our home with the three ladies (Resident Assistants) who we sub with up at Palmgarten dorm every Thursday. Janet, Ellie and Rachel are great RAs who do their utmost to make the dorm a home for the girls there. It was wonderful to have them in our home!!

Fall in Kandern

Fall in southern Germany is soft and beautiful. It comes so gently and the amazing colours can be enjoyed for weeks. School has been in for a full two months already. The time is flying by far too quickly for this family as we think ahead to June and Bethany’s graduation. But for now, we will enjoy this season of life along with this season of the year.

Mistletoe is actually a parasite found in trees. Here you can see what looks like lots of nests, when in fact, it is mistletoe. People will cut this and sell it fresh in the Christmas markets. It's usually not very cheap.

Switzerland/USA Soccer game

BFA was able to get a block of about 300 seats for this friendly match in Basel, Switzerland (about 25 minutes from Kandern). It was pretty exciting being in the stands with such a lively bunch. And the bonus: we learned how to cheer in Swiss German!

Bethany & her best friend Meredith

Katy & her buddy Mallory

in the stands

Manitoba summer

intense cousin time

manitoba harvest

Road trip to Manitoba

a long way from home

wide open spaces

one of the smaller alberta trucks we saw this past summer

Tiffany's grad

It was great to be able to be at Tiffany's grad in Spruce Grove. The girls were part of the festivities, even riding in the stretch limo with the other grads.

O Canada

On the farm

Summer on the farm. There was lots of work to be done, but lots of time to play as well. We all had our boots, gloves and work clothes and we put them to good use! This is the "look" I imagine Howard sees when he calls me a "farm girl"!
Grandpa Dennis saved just about everything. He never knew when he'd need just that one thing. I love this picture of some of his treasures.
The girls literally spent hours alone together on the farm. What a blessing to us that they are such good friends and actually enjoy being together.
rippin' around
bethany's interpretation of grandma's bike
at the pond
always one more thing to do

the town of peace river with its famous bridge
a storm's a-brewin'
a special find

Ten of us worked for 5 1/2 hours loading this trailer with scrap metal. We were exhausted at the end of it all, but the effort was certainly worth it.

an ant's view

fuzzy boots

standing tall