Stick Closer Than A Brother...

I see it's been nearly a month since this poor blog had someone enscribe upon it :( In that case I shall pick a joyful and beautiful topic to make up for the long absence :) Throughout the 17 1/2 years I have been on this earth have been blessed with a large variety of friends. Some short - some tall, some freckled - some pimpled, and some loyal while others had two sides to them. Being a good (loyal) friend takes a LOT of work and determination. We all love having a "friend who sticks closer than a brother" but the tables turn when that trusting friend tells you a secretive secret that's to be kept only between you and them. So... for the next number of days you miserably stumble around trying desparately not to let this gigantic (and SO interesting) secret out to those around you until one moment when you simply can't hold it in any longer and a person was conveniently (or not so conveniently) available to hear it you let the secret out with a big dramatic whoosh and bam!! You just betrayed the friend who was trusting you. So maybe that was a little over-dramatic, but you get the picture. It's quite easy to forget yourself or give in to the temptation for a little bit of juicy (and destructive) gossip and before you know it, POP! The secret is out and maybe just as quickly (unless that special friend of yours is ultra-forgiving) your friendship (and that trust) is completely demolished. I think God had a reason for commanding us to love our neighbour (including our friends) as ourselves, and giving us examples (like Jonathan and David) to follow... So the conclusion is stick to your friends, hold their trust in you, and keep your mouth shut! Won't that make you happy to hear your friends say "I have a friend that sticks closer than a brother!" Proverbs 18:24

God Has Got a Plan For You

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path." Proberbs 3:5&6

The last while I've been thinking how life takes unexpected turns and curves and most or all of the time and we really have no idea what's over the next hill. This verse is truly amazing and a great promise for any one of God's children to hold onto. None of knows for sure where we'll be in ten years or even ten months from now. We may still be on earth or we may be rejoicing in heaven :) Whatever happens friend, just trust God with all the big and little things of your life. He has a plan for you!

"God has got a plan for me,
No matter what the circumstance may be,
At times I may not understand,
Still my life is in his hands
God has got a plan for me."

Song by Daughters of Grace

The Western Haul

So before you screw up your face at the lack of posting for the last few weeks, I shall reveal the secrets of poor internet and cellphone connection, 8 people squished into an RV for 3 weeks straight, singing for a few thousand people, and visiting the majestic Rockies. About 1 day, 18 hrs, and 27 min. ago my family drove in the lane and piled out of the RV back onto our glorious, spacious farm! We trooped into the house and wandered around like lost puppies completely baffled by the unlimited space...

No more boggle games!

What happened to my crops?!
(Thanks to our uncle and aunt the farm looked great :)

 
 

Clean out the RV? You gotta be kidding!

No more hair! Travelling with 5 women means everything gets covered in strands. Hair was hanging out of the cupboards, floating in the dishwater, and even wrapped around the toilet brush!

                                                                                                                             
Overall we had a wonderful time and since three weeks is a long time this will be a long post full of pictures :) The reason we embarked on this journey in the first place, was to sing at Thousand Oaks Camp in Winkler, Manitoba. The people there were wonderful and their passion for God was incredible. You can check it out at: http://www.thousandoaksinc.org/index.html

The 4 long-distance groups for the weekend...

The Glick Family

Gospel Echoes Ontario Team

Kenny & Milly Jackson

The Horst Family

The Children

The view from stage

The Food Stand

The row of RVs

The crowd on Sunday afternoon

                                                                                                                         

So after our great weekend we travelled on out across the prairies to see the majestic Rockies. Since we took at least 1,000 pictures there are a lot to choose from and therefore a lot on this post :) Following are some of the major events and highlights:

On the Road:

                                                                                                                           

Scenes Along the Way:

Salt hills beside the Trans-Canada highway in Saskatchewan.

West Edmonton Mall

A beautiful prairie sunset

A Mountain Goat (Alberta)

The Great Canadian Rockies!

Building a snowman, just to prove we were in snow :)

Athabasca Falls (Alberta)

Our trusty steed

Dad and Mom on their honeymoon - 1994

.... and 18 years later :)

The ice glaciers in the Rockies

Rowing on Emerald Lake (AB)

ATVs!!

Dad, Jess, Stacey, and Jamie got to take a blazer much to their delight :)

Drinking water off the sidewalk...
(Who would've invented that?)

Visiting a Hutterite Colony

The Badlands (AB)

Cactus in the Badlands

Lakeside (a huge feedlot in AB)

Raking and baling the ditches along the Trans-Canada :)

                                                                                                                          
As you can see our trip out west was a lot of fun, a lot of work, but definitely worth it :)

A quote to remember :)

"When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money!" ~ Unknown

Family Gathering Woes...

This past weekend we were lucky enough to have my Dad's family at our place for our annual family gathering. It was loads of fun except for the fact that it rained some of the time. The trouble is we spent a week (or two) trimming, washing, cleaning, fixing, organizing, and ordering a giant ice-cream machine just for one special day! I shouldn't complain except that I wonder how many people out of all of our cousins, aunts, uncles, and Grandma, noticed that the bookshelf was dusted? I know for a fact that they discovered the ice-cream machine! Except for one lovely cousin of mine who complimented me on how cleaned up everything was! Thanks Ella Mae! So.. all that inspires me to hand out compliments freely and look past the "ice-cream machine" to the smaller just as important tasks someone humbly did behind the scenes! Besides it is a lot easier to incorporate humility if you're not the one on the front lines! So be the duster not the ice-cream machine orderer!

10 Reasons I Love My Sisters

I think sisters are one of the best thing God could ever give anyone. I have 3 and I still say that so it must be true :)

1) When you're in a dumb mood and acting in a scandolous manner they come up to you and shoot darts out of they're eyes that say "stop acting like a maniac or I'll disown you!"

2) They know I have a weakness for soft ice cream so they keep me from ordering a large cone by promising me that "there's no way they can eat all of theirs!"

3) They act as bad as I do and I feel all grown up and ladylike in their presence until I remember that they follow my example... (so much for that one...)

4) They congregate in my bedroom every evening to share jokes and the stories of the day then end up staying there until Dad sleepily yells "You better get to bed girls!" (When he says that, it's time to depart!!)

5) They detect the look in my eye that means "I'd really like to have it but I'm trying to be nice" and then give it to me :)

6) They love singing and have a ginornous heart for hurting people.

7) They keep me in my place because "they follow everything I do" (it's scary sometimes!)

8) They tell you exactly what they think (sometimes that can be a bad thing :)

9) When I complain about homework they look at me with mournful eyes and pity me in such a manner that I begin to feel a little stupid for saying anything :)

10) They provide cheap entertainment (by putting on a Christmas show and using a bed sheet for Mary's costume... poor Mary could have been mistaken for a ghost instead :(


~ Corrine

Prepare with Prayer!

This summer in June our family is heading out to the Thousand Oaks Camp in Manitoba for a weekend of singing with some other gospel groups and we're having a hard time getting down to practising :( It's pretty much a family tradition by now... Wait until the last week and then frantically practise every evening until you get to the last evening and do one final wacky, jumbled, jam session! Anyway, this unpractising business must have muddled poor Jessica's brain, because a few nights ago she had a crazy dream that she told me about this morning. "All of a sudden one day our family ended up in an RV and we were merrily travelling out west when we remembered that we were going out there to sing! We had been so busy getting ready to go out west that we completely forgot about practising. We were all embarrassed and our program turned out horrible! A sad ending indeed... :) Thinking about that though, in order to do anything well we have to prepare. You know, prepare for a speech, prepare for hosting a dinner, prepare for worship, prepare for witnessing, and even prepare for the day. Most things require some kind of preparation. I mentioned preparing for your day... How do you prepare for your day? Or maybe you just wing it :) If that's the case there's a big chance that there's no success either and you get to the end of the day wondering why nothing went right! It's so easy to sleep in and then mumble a quick, scattered prayer as you run out the door (or just totally skip prayer). But, as a Christian, why would we lose out one of our most important tasks? Take time to talk with God. Remember your time is really His time and it's your obligation to use it for Him in the way He wants you to. Time spent with Him will make the rest of your time twice if not thrice as valuable :) Prepare with prayer!

Fundraiser: Free the Children

Date: Sunday, April 22, 2012
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Place: United Church
           175 Queen St E
           Mount Forest, ON
           N0G 2L2

Our family will be providing and hour of singing and you're all welcome to come :)

Check it out at: http://www.southwesternontario.ca/community/rejoice-with-the-horst-family-singers/