The upcoming election

Canadians will be going to the polls on October 14! We can't vote, but I'm following the election, though I still don't fully grasp Canadian politics. Has this been covered by the American media at all? Canadian elections cost significantly less than American elections, and candidates campaign for a much shorter time.

Canadians do not vote directly for their Prime Minister. Instead, they vote for candidates in their local district (called a riding) who are hoping to be Members of Parliament in the House of Commons. The leader of the party with the most votes becomes the Prime Minister. Here are the main parties and leaders:

*Conservative Party of Canada. Leader: Stephen Harper. Harper is the current Prime Minister of Canada, however, he has a minority government. This means that the Conservatives got the most votes in the last election, but did not win more than half of the seats in the House of Commons. The Conservative Party is hoping for a majority government with this election. I read recently that with the exception of John Edwards, all of the Democratic candidates in the recent US primaries would be Conservatives in Canada.

*Liberal Party of Canada Leader: Stéphane Dion. The Liberals are currently the official opposition party.








*New Democratic Party of Canada. Leader: Jack Layton. The NDP is even further to the left than the Liberals.







*Bloc Québécois. Leader: Gilles Duceppe. This party wants independence for Québec.








*Green Party of Canada. Leader: Elizabeth May. As the name suggests, the Green Party advocates strongly for the environment.







*Other Canadian political parties: Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party, Canadian Action Party, Christian Heritage Party, Communist Party, First Peoples National Party, Libertarian Party, Marxist-Leninist Party, Marijuana Party, Neo-Rhino Party, Progressive Canadian Party, Western Block Party.

Some primary issues in this election are the economy, the environment, and Canadian involvement in Afghanistan. This short quiz can help you discern which party leader best represents your views. My result was Elizabeth May of the Green Party. Go ahead and take it, whether you're a Canadian or not!

September photos

Briercrest Seminary kicked off the year with a barbecue in Besant Park



Our friend Laura Welker came up from Montana to take a week-long class, and stayed with us!




Kate "reading" to Will




Kate helping me make baklava for our Egyptian meal



We made koushari, a common meal in Egypt. Rice, noodles, lentils and chickpeas, with a spicy tomato sauce. We also had pita and hummus.




Will enjoying his Egyptian meal




Baklava and hot mint tea. Eric played some Arabic music and we talked a bit about life in Egypt. Kate is going to email her friends Calvin and Sammy Kennedy, to ask them about what it's like growing up in Egypt.




Our friend Judy Guenter offered to teach us how to make apple pies! Here Kate is making a mini-pie.



The finished product! Beautiful and yummy! Judy teaches home economics at Caronport High School. We're hoping for many more private cooking lessons!




Will's latest sleepy suit comes with an adorable hat




Daddy and Will




Mommy and her darlings

Immigration medical exams

We drove to Regina yesterday to have our immigration medical exams. The doctor's office was in downtown Regina, and we had to drive around for a while looking for parking. Once there, we each had to fill out a medical form detailing any past illnesses or hospitalizations. They made copies of our passports and visas, collected our passport-sized photos, and took the immigration medical forms which had been sent to us. The actual medical exam was pretty basic. The doctor took a short history, weighed us, took our blood pressure, listened to our hearts, had us touch our toes and balance on one leg, and do a short vision test. This was no big deal to Eric and me, but Kate started freaking out from the moment the doctor asked her to stand on the scale. I quickly traded kids with Eric so he could be the one "helping" her to cooperate.

Next we headed to a lab in the same building for blood and urine tests. While people of all ages need to have a medical exam, the urinalysis is only for those 5 years old and over, and the blood tests for those 15 years old and over. However, HIV testing is required for children who have received blood, have a known HIV positive mother, or are potential adoptees. We were very glad that Kate did not have to undergo these tests!

After this, we got some lunch downtown and then drove to the radiology clinic across town. We each had a chest X-ray done there. All immigration applicants 11 years old or older need to have one.

At all of these places, we needed to pay for our own exams with cash. I believe this is because in a universal healthcare system, medical providers are not set up to deal with credit cards or checks--the lab didn't even have any change. The total for us was $625--this was for two adults and one four year old in Regina. Again, Briercrest adds this to our forgiveable immigration loan, but many applicants will have to cover all costs themselves.

So we'll see what happens next! We got a letter from the consulate in Buffalo stating that our file has been transferred to the Canadian consulate in Los Angeles. We had to cross off Buffalo on our medical forms and write in Los Angeles. Now, all these test results get sent to the CIC Health Programs office in Ottawa, before being forwarded on to Los Angeles. Then our file will be assessed and we will learn the result, hopefully before too long!

"I made a fib on you"

This is what Kate says when she's kidding around with us.

Compassion

We've been sponsoring a boy in Kenya for several years through Compassion International. It's been very rewarding, as we encourage him through letters, and our small monthly contributions help him grow physically and spiritually. The organization also works to give the children's parents additional skills.

We just got the recent Compassion magazine. There's an article highlighting the work of Compassion around the world. I was sobered to read this about Haiti:

In recent months, the cost of living in Haiti has increased up to 50%, making it impossible for low and middle class parents to feed their children and send them to school. People are forced to eat cakes of mud (known as "Pica") to relieve hunger pains. This crisis has led to increased looting, violence, and public protests, as the people desperately cry out for reforms. To bring practical relief to the people of Haiti in this difficult time, please donate to the Global Food Crisis Fund.

Isn't that staggering? I can't imagine eating cakes of mud! How should we respond when we know things like this are happening in the world? I question sometimes how right it is that we have any luxuries at all given the poverty so much of the world lives with. We aren't wealthy in North American terms, however in global terms, we definitely are. What is our responsibility as people in wealthy nations? Jesus spoke constantly about economic issues--how should Christians respond to poverty?

Our summer garden 2008

What a fun time we had in our garden this summer! Kate had her own little section to care for, and helped me with harvesting and composting. Will liked wandering around among the vegetables, and loved standing there with the hose watering the garden.


Our corn did quite well! It was wonderful going out to pick fresh corn just moments before dropping it into a pot of boiling water.


We planted lots of salad greens! Here is red leaf lettuce--we also had romaine, spinach, and mesclun. I mostly interplanted this with the corn. Greens do fine in partial shade, and it also served as a living mulch for the corn. I planted the seeds every couple weeks, so we would always have ripe greens for salad.


While the bugs wreaked havoc on my kale, my Swiss chard did beautifully. It's great sauteed with garlic and sprinkled with parmesan. After harvesting the leaves, they grew back!



My carrots were a disappointment this year. I think the soil may have been too hard in that area, so they just didn't grow very big. Or perhaps the particular carrot seeds I had weren't the best.



I planted red and white varieties of potatoes, and they didn't do nearly as well as those I had last year. The plants just didn't produce many potatoes. I thought they would do fine in partially shaded parts of the garden, but I think next year, I'll put them in sunnier spots.



The plum and the Roma tomatoes did well. The majority did not ripen on the vine, however, I have brought them into the garage where they are continuing to ripen.




These cherry tomatoes didn't do that well--they were small little plants. I preferred those I had last year--they were normal size tomato plants with cascades of little cherry tomatoes.



I thought I was buying red bell peppers, so I was surprised to see these grow! They look like japalenos, but they seem too big. And they never turned red. Does anyone know what these are?



A couple rows of purple beans--they turn green when cooked!




The pumpkin plant sprawled all over the garden, but the pumpkins did not completely ripen before I brought them in due to possible frost. I don't know if they will continue to ripen.



The zucchini plants produced well! I have bags of shredded zucchini in the freezer, ready to make winter muffins and zucchini bread!




We came back from vacation to find some huge zucchini!



I got some raspberry plants from a nearby farm. A couple of them have survived, so I hope we get some raspberries next year!




I love having rhubarb in the garden--it's a perennial so it comes back every year. Rhubarb-strawberry crisp is so yummy!




Most of the herbs did really well, with the exception of my basil, which didn't grow very much. Here is dill--not only is it great to use in cooking, but it helps repel pests in the garden. My understanding is that after planting dill once, it will come back year after year.



Mint also comes back every year--and tries to take over everything! It's great in cooking, or to make mint punch, or hot mint tea.




It's fun to plant flowers in the garden as well--here are some mini sunflowers!

We also had some onions, which didn't do that well--however, I appreciated using the tops when recipes called for green onions. We had a couple pea plants in Kate's section, and those did fairly well. I planted cucumbers and broccoli, but they didn't grow at all. And the watermelon plant died early in the summer.

How did your gardens do this year?

Eric's latest publication!

Eric recently got an article published in the Ugarit-Forschungen journal! I'm pretty sure that it's published in Germany. So proud of you Eric! I don't know how you do it.

Pray for Eric today--he has a modular all day today, then comes home for dinner, and heads back to teach his 3 hour college Old Testament class. Followed by Hebrew early tomorrow, and then the modular the rest of the week!

Briercrest Seminary schedule

Here's the 2008-2009 course schedule for Briercrest Seminary. These are week-long intensive classes, so they're easier to fit into a busy schedule than semester long classes. Hope to see you here sometime!

Expat Women

You may have noticed a new image on the right hand side of my blog--if you click it, it takes you to the Expat Women website. I recently listed my blog on this site, and if you're an expat woman, I'd encourage you to do so as well! The site also has interesting articles and information.

Immigration update--next up, medical exams!

We got an envelope yesterday from the Canadian consulate in Buffalo. Our immigration application was received, we have a file number (and can thus track our status), and now need to go for medical exams. We can't go to our family doctor in Moose Jaw, but have to go to a designated medical practitioner. We will go to the one doctor in Regina who was listed on the CIC website. Eric, Kate, and I will each have a general medical examination. Eric and I will also have a chest X-ray, HIV testing, and a few other tests--Kate is exempt from these due to her young age. We will need to bring the medical forms we were sent, more photos of ourselves, and our passports. Hopefully it will all go smoothly!