Plans in the making!

Shane and I are finally able to start planning our summer vacation! We are pretty excited about it. On August 1 we will start the 3-4 day drive to Calgary, Alberta. There we will get Will's citizenship (really the whole point of the trip) and then spend a couple days touring the city. We plan to visit the Calgary Zoo which we are very excited about. Since William likes to stop and talk to EVERY dog or bird we see when we go on walks here I know he will LOVE seeing all the different animals at the zoo. He definitely got his love for animals from my side of the family :-)

After we spend 3 days or so in Calgary we will drive to Edmonton, Alberta. That should only be a 3-4 hour drive. We will spend a couple days there at the West Edmonton Mall. They have a mini theme park, an ice rink, and a water park so we know William will enjoy visiting there.Then we will begin the 3-4 day drive back home.

That's about all that we have planned so far. It will be a lot of driving but we plan to stop and let William see anything that looks interesting. We will just take our time and enjoy being together. It should be fun. Please do be praying about that trip as Shane will most likely be doing all the driving and he has never really driven that far or in the city before. Also please pray that William's paperwork for the US citizenship goes smoothly.

Tonight is a ladies' meeting. I have been studying Romans 1 for the past couple weeks and I am really excited to share with the ladies what I have learned. It is not the easiest chapter to understand so I really need God's help to teach it.

I am 33 weeks and 2 days pregnant now. Only 6 weeks and 5 days left! That's only 47 days!!!!!! I am pretty much prepared for the baby now. I still have a couple things left on my spring cleaning list but other than that I am ready. We bought a second hand bassinet for only $10! It is in like new condition so I am very excited about it. Baby will be in our room for at least the first few months so having a bassinet is so much nicer than a play pen. The bassinet takes up less space. This week we finally decided who we wanted to ask to watch William while I am in the hospital. We asked Shane's sister and she said that would be fine. So that is nice to have that taken care of. I have baby's clothes washed and folded and the blanket I made for him/her is sitting in the bassinet. Now all we need is baby!

Well, have a great weekend everyone!!

Easter Pictures

Here are some photos from Easter. Not much to update on, so I will just leave the photos for you!

Time for an update!

Well, this past weekend was our missions conference. We had Pastor Snow from Ohio as our main speaker and we had missionaries Todd and Jodi Holland also. They are on deputation right now and planning on serving the Lord in the Sahtu Region here in the North. As far as I know they will, Lord willing, be back up here by next January to stay (In the Sahtu region, that is). Right now there is no preacher there. There are several communities within the Sahtu Region. The Forneys were there but needed to come to Inuvik so Mr Forney could train Shane. Having the Hollands there will be a great answer to prayer. So please continue to pray for them as they travel across the States on deputation. 

My Bible Lesson at the Healthy Babies got cancelled :-( But the Lord knows and has it all planned out according to His perfect will. I know I will get in there eventually to teach them about the Bible but I am not sure when. Please pray that it will be before I have the baby. I am praying that it will be either at the end of this month or the beginning of May. 

I will be 31 weeks along in my pregnancy tomorrow. Things are going very well so far. Thankyou for all your prayers. It is a little more tiring being pregnant this time since I have a toddler to take care of. But he is a great little helper and I know that he will do great once baby is here. He picks things up for me when I drop them so I don't have to bend over (haha). He hands me the soaps and such to put back in the shower after I clean it and he feeds the dog (all I do is open the lid for him, he can do the rest himself). I am so thankful for such a great buddy! Speaking of William, I need to go get him up from his nap. Here are a couple photos from the Muskrat Jamboree yesterday. It was really really windy and very cold. We only lasted 10-15 minutes out on the ice at a time before we needed to go warm up in the truck again!

I am learning to bake!

I decided to try something new for this post and hopefully once a month or so I will be able to do something similar. I am really trying to learn how to bake and cook new things lately. Shane loves home made bread so that is what I started trying. I made some earlier this week and it turned out just okay. I will be trying again. But in the mean time I made Eskimo Donuts using the bread recipe I used earlier this week. Here's how it turned out!

I used the Amish White Bread recipe found on allrecipes.com. 

Ingredients

• 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 6 cups bread flour 

 

First you dissolve the sugar in the warm water then stir in the yeast. I used a butter knife to do this. I let it sit for about a half hour to get nice and foamy. Here's what it looked like: 

Next I added the salt and oil to the yeast mixture (in a large bowl). Then one cup at a time I added the flour. I mixed it with an electric mixer until I got the 5th cup, then I just used my hands. It looked sorta like too much flour in the end but it's not. It's needed for kneading. Speaking of kneading, after all the flour was in, I kneaded it for a few minutes. Here's what it looked like after kneading:

Next, I got another bowl and oiled the sides and bottom well. I put the dough in that bowl and rotated it around so that the outside of the dough had some oil on it. I left it in that bowl and put a damp cloth over it. Then I let it set to rise for an hour and a half. 

 

 

 Then I started forming them into Eskimo Donuts. You make them into a ball them smooth them out flat. Then you put one hole in the center and five holes around the donut.

Here's what one looks like before it is fried:

Now into the deep fryer they go! Well, I just used some oil in a pot. I kept in between at about a medium, maybe a little higher. If you let the oil get too hot it just won't work. It's a good idea to test one donut first by sticking it in the oil. If it just sinks to the bottom without any fizzing and bubbling then it is not hot enough. I stuck two in at a time. About 1-1.5 minutes on each side. 

Then pull them out and put them on a paper towel. Yummy Eskimo Donuts! I can't wait to show them off to Shane. He loves these and he will be happy I finally made some!

Sorry it's been so long!

I didn't realize until last night how long it has been since I have posted! Sorry!

The past few weeks have really flown by. It's been pretty cold outside, staying in the -30s for the most part. Will and I still try to get out once a day for a walk if we can. I can tell he just about goes crazy on days that we can't go outside at all. I am ready for the warm days to come back! The sun is up until about 9:30-10 at night so it really makes me feel like it should be summer.

I am very excited about something coming up next month. I go to the Healthy Babies group a couple times a week and I have been going for over a year now. I have been praying and praying for an opportunity to witness to the other moms there. A couple weeks ago Tammy, the woman who runs the program, asked me if I could do a Bible story and craft time there once a month! I was (and still am) so excited about it! I was going to do Jonah for the first one but she scheduled it for April 5 which is the weekend before Easter. So I decided telling a story about Christ's death and resurrection would be more fitting. I am so excited to be able to share the Gospel there. Please pray about it for me and be praying for Tammy and the other moms there who will be hearing the Gospel (some possibly for the first time).

Well, here are a couple photos from the past couple weeks. Have a great week!

BRRRR!!

This morning I checked the temperature...-41! I think it might be the coldest day of the year so far. It is cold! I wasn't able to take William out yesterday because it was too cold and I don't think I will bring him out today either. When I walked the dog I only lasted 5 minutes before my legs were freezing and my face hurt. I am really looking forward to the warmer days and I hope they are not too far away!

I finally took a picture of my baby belly. I am 26 weeks today but the picture was taken 2 days ago, so technically I was only 25 weeks when the photo was taken. Also I found a picture of when I was 25 weeks along with William. So just for fun, I got that one to compare to the one from a couple days ago. The picture on the left is from when I was 25 weeks with William and the picture on the right is 25 weeks with the new baby. 

Thankful for sunny days!

Well today is another beautiful sunny day! I am so thankful for days like these. I love how the sun fills the house when I pull the curtains back.

I only have 15 weeks left in my pregnancy. I can't believe I am this near to the end already! I am sure these last weeks will go slowly though as I get more and more anxious for baby to be here. I had another ultrasound last week and it was amazing to see the baby. He/she moved all around and is growing so well! He is even measuring big for his age. So everything looks great.

So thankful for the Word of God and what the Lord has been teaching me lately. If you ask Him to show you something, He will show you! It's amazing and wonderful to learn more about the Lord. The more I learn about His character I realize how sinful and useless I am. I need Him and His strength for everything in my life. I am so thankful He loves me enough to take the time to teach this to me and then help me also. I have been studying Romans 3 and learning about the Lord's righteousness. Like I said, as I see Him for who He really is, I begin to get a better look at what I really am.

William is doing really well. I know I have said it before, but it is true: he is the best little helper! I love the way God made him! Everyday just about he brings the trash can from his room and dumps it into the kitchen trash can then puts his trash can back where it belongs. I never even told him to do it. He just does it! And if he sees trash laying around he will pick it up and throw it away. I am so thankful for him. He is such a great buddy.

Shane has been very busy these past few months. He works Monday-Thursday at Stantons and then works Friday and sometimes Saturday at the church with Mr Forney. He preaches once or twice a week, teaches RU ministry once a month or so, and leads music 2-3 times a week. He is also still under Mr Forney's mentoring which involves book assignments and book reports among other things. He is doing really well keeping up with everything and spending time with me and Will at home, too. Both of us are learning a lot about the ministry and look forward to the day when Shane will be pastor here. We both have a lot to learn before that happens, though.

Well, have a great week!

Sandy