Petal.

Petal explores the garden.

Do not watch the petals fall from the rose with sadness, know that, like life, things sometimes must fade, before they can bloom again. ~ Unknown

I came across this quotation today which prompted me to write this post. In January, I wrote a post about the death of Ben and Josée’s pet pig Monty.  They were badly shaken up by that event.  Last week when Ben came home, he found another pot-bellied pig in their garden, the little pink one shown above.  Her name, he found out, is Petal.

Petal wandered away from a nearby neighbour’s property.  She, like some of the neighbour’s  other pets, tends to wander from home when the neighbour, who has health issues and is in hospital, is unable to care for them.  Her friends and relatives are supposed to care for the animals, but it doesn’t seem to work out.  To cut a long story short, the neighbour, when she got out of the hospital, came to see Ben and Josée and has realized that the pig would be better off with them, so after caring for the little animal for the whole of the weekend, Ben and Josée have agreed they will keep her.  They made it quite clear to the neighbour, that she is welcome to come and visit/play with/spend time with Petal any time they are home.  The neighbour was very relieved and grateful. I believe that good homes are also being sought for her other pets.

Today we went out to see little Petal.  We took Oliver our grandson with us as he had asked us if he could go out to see her.  We were met with squeals and grunts of welcome (at least I interpreted them as welcome, as Petal was running to us, not away from us), as well as the usual hearty greeting from Tegan the mastiff and some leg rubbing from Julius the cat.  We spent about an hour there with them, petting and scratching them.  They seemed to enjoy it and so did we.

So…after the very sad time around Monty’s death, it does seem that “sometimes things must fade before they can bloom again”

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Goodbye for now and God bless.

Bocce Brief

Hi Folks, today I received an update about the bocce tournament from Ben. It was written on his blog and is great reading. All results are in it along with a small slideshow of the event.  The winning team overall was the Pallino Necklace, made up of Lucien & Ton. They hung in there ‘ti the end and were deserving winners. You can read all about the day from Ben’s perspective, by clicking here. Over and out from me.

Bocce At Its Best

Well folks I have to tell you about Ben and Josée’s Bocce tournament which was held two days ago, Saturday Aug. 07, and is not a load of balls, bocce or otherwise.

Typical bocce ball set.

It was the second annual tournament in what I hope will be a long string of these.  For those of you out there who don’t know about this game, it has a long, a very long history.  You can read about it here if you wish.

Last year, the event had twenty teams and was played in Ben and Josée’s backyard field in the middle of their property.  This year, the event grew considerably with 32 teams in the fray and a waiting list of about five teams I believe.

Cynthia and I were at their Knight Rd. property early, to assist in any way we could, for the event organisers had promised to feed entrants too, for the price of their entry fee, as well as have them play their games.  The weather, which up until Saturday had been phenomenal, suddenly took a turn for the worse.  Grey skies covered the sun and the threat of rain was imminent.   As we looked out the window of B & J’s kitchen, we all said the same thing, and hoped and prayed for the weather to hold.  Fortunately the weather did hold for the best part of the day, only deteriorating late into the day as final events were played.

Typical Italian bocce pitch

Between 13.30 and the starting time of 14.00 all the participants’ cars arrived and were parked around the edge of the field.  Participants, many of whom were in the tournament last year, greeted each other like long lost friends.  There was a great atmosphere and it was greatly enhanced by the costumes or special T-shirts the competitors wore.  Competition got under way close to the proposed start time, and the 32 teams, organised into four pools, began play amongst themselves.  There was great camaraderie and the ten minute games went without a hitch.  Much of that was due to the rubbery lungs and massive vocal chords of Ross McDonald, one of Ben’s buddies.  He acted as announcer, ringmaster, public speaker, foreman…you name it, he was it, and he did a brilliant job of keeping the teams on schedule, both with his precision wristwatch timing of the games, and with his ear-splitting announcements.

The day wore on, children played tag, checked out the chickens and petted Monty the pot bellied pig.  Others spent time with the dogs and climbed all over the tractor, all pretending to be farmers in their own rights.  Later, Ben and Jason, yet another friend, fired up the barbies and cooked us all burgers.  The chefs did us proud, and the burgers, potato and bean salads, all filled the gaping holes in our stomachs.  Once the pool play had finished and the elimination rounds began, rain, light at first began to fall.  Some folks, especially those who were out of the running or had small kids to consider, left the playing field early and made their way home.  Cynthia and I were among them.

As I write this, early Monday morning, I still don’t know who were the winners of the trophy for 2010.  I really don’t care, and I think most of the others there yesterday didn’t care either.  Really, the day was about getting friends together for food and fellowship.  In that, the day was a brilliant success.  I know for sure, that Ben may have to mow even more grass next year, for I’m sure that all those who were there yesterday, plus many more, will be clamouring to enter.

To Ben and Josée, many thanks for the time, effort and energy you put into making the day happen.  Your reward will be in heaven.

To all who read this, all the best to you and yours.

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Children In Our Lives

Ben at about 3 and Tim about 16 months

I received an email this evening which got me thinking about some of the children in our lives. To the left you see our own two, Ben and Tim when they were very small. I love this picture and decided to put it in the blog for this post. Of course, Ben and Tim are respectively 38 and soon to be 37 now, but very often my memory takes me back to the times when they were as they are shown above. How blessed we were/are to have them. When this picture was taken of them, Tim had already had one heart surgery in Vancouver and he and Ben had battled through that time together. I say battled through it, because Tim was struggling to stay alive with a narrowed aorta, and Ben was so disturbed by all the needles Tim was having poked in him. Tim went on to have the same surgery repeated at age three and another one at age 17. At that time it was decided he’d need a heart transplant and that occurred when he was 26. Those times around the traumas strengthened our family and our faith in what God could do in our lives. Both the lads are now leading great lives with wonderful ladies in them and there are more children on the scene, which brings me to part two.

Oliver and me at Comox Lake

Earlier this week Cynthia and I spent a wonderful couple of hours with Tim, Andi, Oliver and Charlotte (our grandchildren) as the four of them camped at Comox Lake. We had a meal with them and went for walks. We did some fishing of sorts but just being with the children and their parents was so rewarding in itself. Oliver roared around and was so proud because he had graduated from wearing diapers all day to his new brilliantly coloured underwear. Charlotte swam all the way out to the log boom with her Mum and was thrilled to tell us that she’d done so. She’d also received her first pair of tie up shoes one day in the week and was proud to be able to show us how she could whip the knots together.

Charlotte comes to visit

Charlotte came out to visit us at our home today and while she was delightful to me she spent most of the time with her adored Grandma. They chatted while Cynth made lunch. Charlotte helped lay the table. They picked radishes in the garden, built a tent on the back deck from a blanket and some lawn chairs, and read stories together. Watching them together is magic.
So why did the email get me thinking about kids in our lives? Well take a peek at the next two, here on the right.

Samuel and Judah Specht

They are Samuel and Judah Specht and they are busy growing up in a very different environment. Samuel and Judah are children of Tim and Joanne Specht who look after A.C.T.S. people and projects in Uganda. Samuel is 7 and Judah is 9. Here’s a little excerpt from the A.C.T.S. newsletter which this time features those children in Uganda. This is a section from Samuel’s piece in the newsletter.
“Hi, my name is Samuel Specht and I am almost 7 years old. It is really fun to be a missionary kid in Uganda. I like it because I don’t have to wear shoes and I can wear shorts and t shirts all year round. But there is one thing that is boring about Uganda, we have to eat the same food all the time: Matoke, beans, rice and ground nut sauce. I have lots of friends and one that I see every day. His name is Moses and he is our guard.”

Tim and Joanne continue to do a marvellous job with A.C.T.S. (see side-bar) in Uganda and we keep them and their children constantly in our prayers. If you’d like to read more of the notes written by Samuel and Judah you can read on here.

“I like to play football with him, which is really soccer. Another friend I met this year was John Pattison. He was an ACTS intern and he is a real cowboy in Alberta. I got to play cowboys with him. We made sawhorses and Mom made some horse heads which we attached to the sawhorses. I made some stirrups and I made a saddle for my horse, Buttons. Then John and I went to the forest and we saw some wolves. We wore our cowboy hats and bandannas and John had his gun to scare away the wolves. We had a great time. I think it is fun to be in Uganda and to meet all kinds of new people and make new friends.

- Samuel

Hello, my name is Judah Specht and I am 9 and a half years old. I was born in Canada but lived on Bushara Island (SW Uganda) for my first 2 years. I don’t remember much about it but my parents have told me that I rolled down a hill once and that I loved to sit outside with a cookie and watch the birds. The lake is called Lake Bunyonyi and it means the place of Little Birds. We like to go back there to visit and see where I grew up. We visited our old house and saw where I would sit and where I rolled down the hill. I love to go back there!

In the morning when I wake up, I hear the birds. We have lots of doves and plantain eaters. They sound like monkeys. When our sunflowers are blooming, the brown parrots come to eat the seeds. Even though they are called brown parrots, they are actually a brilliant green on the stomach with some yellow markings. We like to watch them when they eat the seeds. We also have a lot of Ibis’s and they make a lot of noise. I like to bird watch.

I like to help with the baking and cooking. I am learning how to cook. I like to make cookies, cakes, tortillas and special juices. I use any fruit and mint from the garden. I also like to work in the garden. I have my own garden planted with beets, carrots, French beans, leeks, dill and pearl onions. I also help my mom in the garden but sometimes I eat all the strawberries and cherry tomatoes. Samuel eats lettuce and anything else he can find in the garden.

Sometimes I feel sad because I don’t get to see my cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents often. I am looking forward to seeing them next year when we come home on furlough. I like it here in Uganda but sometimes I wish we could be back in Canada.

- Judah

Well folks, I think you can see why the letters from Samuel and Judah got me thinking about our kids, the Specht kids, our grandkids and kids in general. We share our lives with them in different places and in different ways, but I know that if we allow them to, they will bless our lives and enrich them. Ben and Tim, you mean everything to us. Charlotte and Oliver we adore you. Samuel and Judah, as you go to sleep tonight, know that we are thinking of you and praying for you. May all of you who in our family and among our friends know that we love you too, and are praying for you.
God bless you and all the best to those who read this.
Martin