Brain Day - It's been 3 years

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Nov 5th, 2008 - moments before surgery #1

October 2011 - Liam being Liam

There will never be words to describe how grateful I am for all the God has done on our behalf.  His faithfulness is never ever ending. 

Yesterday I Met Hopelessness

And to love Him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is far more [important] than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.

~ Mark 12:33 

I met him yesterday.  I watched as he tried to speak to people but they either did not hear him or choose to not engage with this troubled man.  His clothes were dirty, ripped and torn,  His shoulders were slumped, his head lowered as he teetered back and forth precariously on the curb.  As I got closer to him I noticed that he wore both a large cross and a pentagram around his neck.  His cheeks were sunken in and he had large sores on his hands and face and I wondered when he had last received any medical attention.  Everything about this man was difficult to look at.  He looked beaten by life and without any source of hope.  I could not understand what he was asking me but then he abruptly stopped and pointed to the word "bible" on my book.  I tried asking him if he had ever read the bible but again incoherent words tumbled from his mouth.  He stopped and I asked him, "What do you need?"  He asked for money, almost falling off the curb and into the parking lot.  "I don't want to give you money but you look like you could use a coffee."  I said.  He still did not look up.  "When was the last time you ate?"  "How about I get you a meal."

When I came out of the store he was not in the same spot that I left him and I wondered if he had moved on.  But a second later I noticed him on the other side of the parking lot this time.   It took me a while to get him to understand that the meal was for him.  I got him to sit down on the curb and as I knelt beside him and opened his coffee lid and got his food ready for him,  I was at a loss as to what else I could do.  I tried again to ask him his name and to talk and ask about the bible hoping that I could offer him some encouragement and hope.  Strange and incoherent words again tumbled from his mouth and I am not sure if they were from his inebriation or if he was also mentally ill.  I finally left him there on the curb, in the sunshine, drinking his coffee and eating his chili.  As I walked away, I was praying that God would have mercy on this man.  Since that meeting yesterday his image is never far from my mind.  I wonder if I could have or should have done more?  Is there a way I could have shared the hope I have for my life that could have broken through his hopelessness?  Again I am left wondering how do I love my neighbour well?

Shine Your Light 2011

We showed off our new buttons - So fun!

It is the morning after the night before and everyone in my house is sleeping soundly except me.  Maybe I am just too excited to get this post up!

For the last four years in Milton, we have hosted Shine Your Light on October 31st.   So when we thought about what new traditions to serve our neighbours that we would start in our new house and city we decided that this would be an event we would have to continue.

We enlisted some friends from our Milton church and the plans began.  This year we added a new element to our night.  We handed out flyers to let our neighbours know about the event and that we would be collecting for the Mission Services Food Bank.  We also were able to use a popcorn machine and a cotton candy machine courtesy of Toronto Church Planting.  These were great, and a big hit with both kids and parents.  Our friend Annabelle Wilson has her own cake company called Simply Belle.  Well, she out did herself with amazing apple caramel cupcakes and a super fun spooky castle with working lights!  Jason, Liam and I along with our friend Mike played a little music on the front porch under the name the Hammer Hillbillies.  We even had someone ask for us to play one more after we had shut down for the night.  Costumes were a plenty and so was the laughter and smiles.  When all was said and done we had quite a few donations for the food bank and we made some new friends.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves but I think a new tradition has been born!

Michael - Our cotton candy chef

The cutest little cupcake we know!

Annabelle - Not only can she bake everything delicious but she can make popcorn!

Our Hillbilly debut!

Liam and his fav costume of Mr. Orangeman

Really I don't think you can even imagine how good these were!

The Crazy Castle with working lights! - And it tasted just as good as the cupcakes!

People in our neighbourhood

The sugar rush has begun for TJ and Maddi

These big blue eyes just melt my heart!

 Thank-you, thank-you to all our friends, old and new for helping us create a night of memories for our neighbourhood!  We are already thinking about how to make next year's Shine Your Light bigger and better!