Snowy drive home

My final class of the semester wrapped up this past Monday evening. After the student groups presented their final projects, I began the snowy drive home.

I arrived and departed from Elmira Tim Hortons at around 10:30pm. It's normally close to an hour to home from that point.

That night it took us two hours. The blowing snow and icy roads slowed me down but the worst part was driving on a closed highway.

Since I'm teaching in the same time slot next semester, I'm hoping the snow falls on Tuesday-Sunday for the rest of the year.

Tiling on diagonal

Our laundry room project that was launched in August is nearing completion.

This past week, my final vacation allotment for the year, Erika and I tiled the floor. We attempted something new--tiling on diagonal.

For those who aren't up on tiling terminology, that's what you call laying tiles on a 45 degree angle. Rather than keeping the squares aligned with the walls, they're spun a half a turn. It means every cut produces a triangle rather than a rectangle.

In other news, last night I remember three of my dreams. In one I was a student seated in a tiny desk. In another, my long hair raised a few eyebrows in Western Canada. I'll keep the final one to myself.

So, three dreams after an evening of cutting triangles. What's next? Hat trick perhaps?

Hockey night in Hanover (I mean Mildmay)

Tonight I'm dusting off my hockey gear and lacing up the skates for the first time in a few years.

It's not a pre-Halloween trick; rather, a couple of guys from the congregation invited me to join them on the ice for the season.

My goal is to represent the Spirit of Jesus on and off the ice (a difficult feat for any hockey player who follows Jesus, especially when playing in a church league!).

I'd also like to put the biscuit in the basket at least once.

The church talks

Thanks to Alanna, our creative communications expert, HMC has started an online conversation about life, ministry, and anything else we choose to write about. In other words, we've started a blog.

You can check it out by clicking here.

T-Bird flys again

Today marks the return of my 1989 T-Bird. I surrendered it into the capable hands of my mechanic about a week and a half ago. It was blowing smoke--the white, sweet-smelling type. Car people tell me that's a bad sign. The actual diagnosis was dire: I needed a new engine.

Thankfully, I landed a great deal on a used one. It's five years newer and there's 100,000 fewer kilometers.

Now, the Bird is back home and it drives exactly like it did before.

Hopefully I'll get a few more years of cheap cruising before it crashes again.

P.S. the car in the picture is not my t-bird. There aren't enough stickers.

Are You our next Children and Family Pastor?

We're looking for someone who has a heart for kids and their families to join our staff.

If you're interested in finding out more, visit our church's website.

Required - knowing how to do ministry with these:

Not Required (But an asset) - Owning one of these:

It Bugs Me

Many of you know that I try to keep my Thursday afternoons reserved for non-church activities.

So here's a play-by-play of this afternoon.

After playing a round of scream and run with my kids we rounded up insects for a science project. We started with some basic ones like a house fly and wood louse before moving on to some more exotic and potentially scary ones.

To our great surprise we were able to collect a dragonfly and a live wasp. (Don't ask me how we wrestled an angry wasp into a Ziploc bag without getting stung).

After being tagged and bagged, they went into the freezer for a couple of hours.

Then, voila, our very own bug collection--complete with labels and pins.