Michael Moore's "Sicko"

Has anyone seen this movie? I will be curious to see it. According to this CNN article, most of Moore's facts and figures are correct, however he fails to mention many of the positives in the US system and the negatives in the universal healthcare systems. I've heard that US businesses are pushing for the US government to do something, as their employee healthcare costs keep them from competing effectively on a global scale.

Cutie Pie

Plumbing the depths...

Kate has been doing a great job with potty training, but apparently has been a bit zealous with the toilet paper! Today the toilet overflowed and we had to call out plumbers. After trying everything they could, they finally took the toilet outside, laid it on its side, and used our hose to try to unplug it. Turns out the toilet was jam packed with toilet paper!

It was probably for the best, because the plumbers pointed out a crack in the water tank which they said could blow apart at any time. Needless to say, they will be installing a new toilet tomorrow. And the toilet paper will be kept high on a shelf and brought down as needed!

Saskatchewan Map

This map should help you place us! Double click on it to see more detail. We are 15 minutes west of Moose Jaw in the southern part of the province.

First Haircut!

Well, Kate's hair was getting pretty straggly, and she's going to be a flower girl in a couple weeks! So we thought it was time for her first haircut! We invited over our friend Larry to do the honors. Larry was formerly a hairdresser in Ottawa (the Canadian capital) and developed quite a clientele--many people on the Prime Minister's staff, international opera stars and even the man who played Max Headroom! And then God called him to Briercrest Seminary and here he is, living in Caronport, giving Kate her first haircut! Larry dreams of living with the people in Haiti--teaching them the Bible, and maybe even giving a few haircuts along the way!


Kate was quite unsure at first so Mr. Larry just used her brush on her hair for a while




They played hide and seek with his cape, and he let Kate play with his neck sweeper




It didn't take long for Kate to warm up to the idea! I don't have a good "after" picture but she has a cute bob!

Kate Quotes

Kate (to daddy on a walk): "Don't go too far, Daddy! You will be lost!"
Daddy: "You mean if I go too far ahead of you I will get lost?"
Kate: "Yeah - that's why I must go with you."

Daddy (during thunderstorm): "You are safe, Kate. The thunder will never come inside the house."
Kate: "Yeah. It will never come inside the house or into my shoes."

Kate: "Daddy, maybe you can put a tony-pail in my hair."

-Eric

Parenting ideals and parenting realities

I don't know about the rest of you, but I find parenting two young children to be significantly more difficult than parenting one. At least with one, there is just one set of needs, at least one or two naptimes a day, and time to give undivided attention to your child. Now I am usually just trying to get through the day! I feel bad that Kate has to play so much by herself when I'm tending to Will. I find it hard to be patient with her when Will is crying and she is creating messes or having fits. And there are so many outings and activities I could do with her if I didn't have a baby. And on the other hand, Will isn't getting the attention Kate got as a baby, and we certainly aren't going to Baby Swim Class, Mommy and Me Music, or infant massage! I just have to trust that in the end, the advantages of having a sibling will outweigh any disadvantages! I wouldn't trade either of them, but wow, this is hard work! And forget actually having time to decorate our new house! I'm just grateful that two of my favorite things, books and the internet, require little energy on my part! Anyway, I would welcome prayers and babysitters!

National Aboriginal Day

Today is National Aboriginal Day in Canada. This article explains more about it, and includes information on events being held around Canada over the next few days.

Herb-y dinner

Here's a recent dinner with each dish using something from the garden!


Here is broiled salmon with lemon-pepper and fresh basil. Oven fries with olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh oregano (Abigail's idea!) And salad with lettuce from the garden.




Dessert was honeydew and blueberries with lime juice and fresh mint

Name that flower!

I have some UGFs in my yard! Unidentified growing flowers. So I will label each picture with a letter, and if you know what it is, tell me! I am rather flower-challenged, in that I have rarely had occasion to grow any, and can't identify very many apart from roses and tulips! So help me learn, so I can teach my kids!

*Edited to include the names of the flowers now that you all helped me!


Flower A is an iris





Flower B is a columbine





Flower C is a columbine





Flower D is possibly a bell flower





Flower E is a daisy





Flower F is a tiger lily





Flower G is a peony





Flower H is a columbine

Evening Prayer

I'm not sure if I got too many Africa-themed books from the children's department at the library, but tonight Kate said, "Let's pray to God that there won't be any rhinoceroses around here."

Goodbye Ruth Bell Graham (1920-2007)

Here's to remembering Ruth Bell Graham, wife of Billy Graham, who died yesterday in North Carolina. I've read a couple books about her, and have been inspired by her faith and life.

What is the What

I highly recommend this book by Dave Eggers, the novelized autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. If you've ever wondered about why there is currently conflict in Sudan, or what it's like to be a refugee, this book will be illuminating. He describes his life as a boy in a village in southern Sudan, and then his perilous journey to Ethiopia and then Kenya after his village is attacked. After years and years in refugee camps, he ends up being flown to Atlanta, where he tries to integrate into American society. Gripping, horrifying, and inspiring! Buy it, borrow it, get it on interlibrary loan--it will be worth it!

He also has a website where you can read more about his life, the book, and Sudan. And according to Valentino, we can make a difference! Check out Ten Things You Can Do for Sudan. You've likely heard of Darfur (western Sudan) and here are answers to questions about how the conflict there compares to the southern Sudan conflict which affected Valentino. Also, here he is on Youtube, discussing the book and his life.

Eric and I are in touch with people working at the Nile Theological College in Khartoum, and hope to get there someday to teach a class and support the school. It's easy to get caught up in North American life, but we want to be as informed and involved as possible with what the physical and spiritual needs are in the developing world. Reading books like this is one way to do that from here!

Can the Canada Pension Fund save the American Social Security System?

Check out this interesting article about whether something like Canada's retirement scheme could work in the U.S.:

...But the demographics are not changing. In 1950, there were 16 U.S. workers for every retiree; by 2032, there will be only 2.1 paying in for each beneficiary. When a future president takes an inevitable second look at the issue, Rother (AARP policy director) wants to be ready. He has looked around the world for a model to follow and he has settled on Canada's. The only problem is, well, it's Canada's...

I'm not sure what retirement will look like for us. It will likely be a crazy mix of social security and Roth IRAs, and Canada Pension Plan and RRSPs. It's a little nervewracking--it's hard to wrap your mind around it even when dealing with just one country, let alone two!

Monkey Business

We try not to give too much money to the baby products industry, but how could we resist this? Kate adores Curious George! And she comes out smelling like a banana! Note the bilingual label and the metric measurement.

Favorite ways to use fresh herbs?

Anyone have any ideas on how I can use my fresh herbs? I have: cilantro, chives, rosemary, mint, basil, oregano, thyme, tarragon, and parsley. It can't be anything elaborate--these days I don't make anything that takes more than 30 minutes of active kitchen time.

Baby Milestone

Will is rolling over now!

Where have you lived?

I've lived in:

Marseilles, Ohio
Wayland, Michigan
Waynesboro, Virginia
Holland, Michigan
Westerville, Ohio
Mombasa, Kenya
Deerfield, Illinois
Evanston, Illinois
Edinburgh, Scotland
Caronport, Saskatchewan, Canada

I was realizing recently that for much of my life, I have lived near large bodies of water. That's one thing I really miss living here on the prairies.

Eric has lived in:
Mountain View, California
Banchory, Scotland
Eugene, Oregon
Libertyville, Illinois
Highland Park, Illinois
Evanston, Illinois
Edinburgh, Scotland
Caronport, Saskatchewan, Canada

And Kate and Will are both US citizens who have never lived in the US!

So living in different places and being far from extended family is something we have always known--our parents are very prone to moving as well! I suppose it feels "normal" even though we often wonder what it would be like to have a strong sense of "home." We have decided that raising children in an isolated nuclear family isn't natural--so we work hard to try to build community with our friends and neighbors!

What about you? Where have you lived?

How American are you?

Even if you're not American, take the quiz, see what result you get, and post it in the comments!

You Are 53% American

Most times you are proud to be an American. Though sometimes the good ole US of A makes you cringe Still, you know there's no place better suited to be your home. You love your freedom and no one's going to take it away from you!

How American Are You?

Visitors!

Here are some pictures of our visit with my grandmother, Jennie Koster, and her husband, Nelson Stegeman. They drove all the way from Holland, Michigan! We enjoyed showing them around! They should be in the Badlands by now...these two make me look forward to being a senior citizen! They are always planning a fun trip!


Well, at least one child is smiling!



And now the other one!



We had to get a picture by the Moose Jaw moose, of course!

Caronport

Caronport, Saskatchewan is probably the most unique place I have ever lived. People ask me if I had much culture shock moving to Canada. I really didn't, as it's similar to the U.S. in many ways, and when it's different, it's often like the UK. No, if I had any culture shock, it was in moving from large cities (Chicago area and then Edinburgh, Scotland) to a small town of fewer than 2000 people on the prairie.

Caronport's history is basically Briercrest's history. The school was holding classes in a hotel, and needed more space and so:

About six months before the end of the war, knowing that enrollment would go up when the soldiers returned home, Mr. Whittaker said to Mr. Hildebrand, "Henry, from all I know, an airport is what we will need after the war. Let us pray that God will give one of them to us."

Mr. Whittaker used his experience in business and politics to arrange the purchase of Royal Airforce Base #33 in Caron for $50,000—five percent of its value. The new facility was dedicated on July 1, 1946, and the incredible task of converting the airbase into dormitories, classrooms, offices, and staff housing began.

So we live on an old air force base, even though only a few of the original buildings remain! Caronport is unusual in that it is not as insular and homogeneous as most towns of its size. So we get the small-town community life combined with the diversity and intellectual life that being in a college town brings. We have born and bred Saskatchewan folks, of course, as well as people from every province in Canada. We have teenage boys from Quebec who come to Caronport High School for the excellent hockey program. We have college students from Japan and Sudan. The town is filled with former missionaries and people preparing for service around the globe. The faculty have studied all over--several did their doctoral work in the UK as Eric did. And we're not the only American family here by any means. For example, the new theology professor and his wife are Southern Baptists who spent the last several years teaching at a seminary in the Philippines.

Like anywhere, there are challenges living here. For one thing, despite being on the same continent, we still aren't close to family and getting to them involves either long drives or expensive plane tickets (since Regina is not a hub). We have to work harder to find things to do, and the long winter saps some of the motivation to do much. Then again, perhaps it was being heavily pregnant that made me feel that way last winter!

But for the most part, we are really happy God put us here in this unique town of Caronport. Eric loves teaching at Briercrest, we are enjoying the people in our lives, and we appreciate that the relatively low cost-of-living has allowed me to be home with the kids for the time being. The Briercrest leadership has great vision for the future, and we look forward to being a part of it!