Bob Stromberg's Slide Show

Amazing Hand Shadow by Bob Stromberg featuring Ken Davis

Swim anyone?

This is not what you might think. It was a chemical reaction between the high iron levels in our well water and the chlorine "shock" treatment we gave the pool to take care of a bit of algae. Almost 30 minutes after we added the extra chlorine we looked out the window and saw this 'tea' coloured water and wondered what in the world was happening.

It is treatable. It's being filtered through now with the use of a special bonding agent that binds the iron while it goes thru the filter. The brown is already getting lighter. In the meantime, we shall wait the outcome. Hopefully we won't have a heat wave in a couple of days.

The Bakker side in us

Yes we have Bakker in us. Probably no relation to anyone in Providence, but nonetheless another Bakker name to add to the mix. This is Dad A's Mom's side - Kees and Froukje & fam.

To Know You

To know You is to never worry for my life
To know You is to never give into compromise and
To know You is to want to tell the world about You
'Cause I can't live without You


To know You is to hear Your voice when You are calling
To know You is to catch my brother when he's falling
To know You is to feel the pain of the brokenhearted
'Cause they can't live without You


More than my next breath
More than life or death
All I'm reaching for, I live my life to know You more
I leave it all behind, You're all that satisfies
To know You is to want to know You more
To know You is to want to know You more


To know You is to ache for more than ordinary
To know You is to look beyond the temporary
To know You is believing that You'll be enough
'Cause there's no life without You


All this life could offer me
Could not compare to You, compare to You
And I count it all as loss
Compared to knowing You, knowing You


Casting Crowns

So... what are you and your kids using for devotions?

Here are a couple of suggestions that we've found helpful for bedtime reading and around the table. Sinclair Ferguson has come out with some very well-written material. We love the way Dr. Ferguson can take complicated topics and themes from Scripture and relate them in a simple down-to-earth way for kids:

A good series for kids in their own personal reading is the "Building on the Rock series" by Joel Beeke & Diana Kleyn. They're written for children ages 6-12. There is Scripture reading with each story. It includes questions that can be directly related to a child's life. There are a total of 5 in the series. Cabes really enjoys these:

Here's another one that we are presently using around the table with our kids: From the Lips of Little Ones, by Jeff Kingswood, an Ontario colleague who was part of our Sheffield ministerial. It has a very simple catechism for each week for a total of 73 weeks of daily Scripture readings and short lessons that speak to today's child. It's based on the Children's Catechism of 1840. Very good for children ages 2-6, but also good for big kids like teens and parents. :)

Sola Scriptura or Reformed Book Services www.reformedbookservices.ca should have these. If not order from Amazon.ca, or directly from the publishers (Christian Focus for Ferguson, Crown and Covenant for Kingswood and Reformed Heritage for Beeke).

Gimli.......brutally honest

Very hot. Very sunny. Gimli, Manitoba. Sorta touristy, but not the touristy I'm used to. Pretty spot, but kinda rough. And that's okay. We're not much for flashy tourism......that's not us. But this day didn't quite go down the way we'd hoped. But, that's life, right? Not always what you hope or dream. Not always a shiny cheerful picture to display before the world. Instead, sometimes things go bad and you're not really sure why but you need to take it. And forgive. And ask forgiveness. And realize that we live in a fallen world. And we're pilgrims. One day it'll all be different and every trip will be only beauty and wonder and pure thankfulness to our Creator and Saviour.

Yvetta on the pier. I told her to dance for the picture.....to blend in with the charming scene she was standing in front of. Instead, she did this rather modern sort of wiggle that made me wonder what she's been watching when I'm not looking........

You're wondering what made this trip what it was. Well, here's part of the picture. Above, on Laura's back, unbeknownst to her, were fish flies. They are inhabiting Gimli in the thousands. Following our every move. Alighting on us at every opportunity. Gross. Just gross.

The marina was very pretty - very picturesque. And right out there under the baking hot MB sun. Wow. Hot.

We captured a nice shot of me swimming with Laura, Yvetta and Corin. I guess I can understand now where Yvetta gets her "moves" from........did you know I could do that? ;)

Fish flies. Dead. By the thousands. Gross. Just gross. They covered every surface, got caught in our hair, crunched beneath our feet, and let off a strange odour. Well, maybe not, but there was a strange odour in the air and our minds linked it directly to those bugs.

Yvetta waiting for our fries. She was very happy - I just caught her at a contemplative moment :) This was the highlight of our trip. We went to a restaurant called Europa and ordered 2 family packs of french fries. They packed the 2 containers so full that it took 2 people to pack them - one to hold the container while the other put an elastic around it to hold it closed against all the fries overflowing the edges. YUMMY! Thanks for the tip, Agnes :)

Swimming was very refreshing for those of us who swam. Some didn't bring bathings suits. Some thought the water was kinda gross........you know, just b/c it was rather brackish looking and had lots of dead fish flies floating around in it...... But Corin overcame some fears, Yvetta bobbed away in her floaty from Elaina (thank-you so much, Elaina!!) and Rich and I cooled off and played with the littles for a good hour or so.

So, there's our trip to Gimli. You may wonder why I didn't just gloss over the ugly things about the trip and paint it all pretty. Well, b/c sometimes I get tired of glossing things over. Sometimes I just want to let the truth hang out and see what comes of it. We are not perfect people with perfect lives. We live with sin. And sin produces bad attitudes and sharp words and complaints and discontentment. Yet, it also lives alongside grace. And so our lives are filled with both. Sin and grace. Misery and joy. Ugliness and forgiveness. This is life. Not all flowers and cool breezes. Sometimes we're accosted by the hot blast of hell. And it isn't pretty. But then grace comes along - while we were yet sinners - and doesn't just cover up. No, it wipes clean. And it can only wipe clean b/c of the ugliest piece of history. Much more ugly than fish flies and intense heat and bad moods. Painful, torturous, undeserved death itself, to the only Innocent. And out of that ugliness our reconciliation with God Himself was birthed. So we can still smile. And find even more intense thankfulness amidst the turmoil that is life.