Saturday Kid's Club

One Saturday a month we have a kid's day at our church. It runs for about four hours and we usually have an average of fifteen children. We start with some songs and warm-up (another word for energy burning!) activities. We then have about an hour for a Bible lesson, verse, and related worksheets. Mark chooses a theme for each club, and we try to tie it into the entire day. After the lesson we provide a lunch of sandwiches, pancakes (sweeter than American pancakes and a favourite treat straight out of the packet spread with butter), biscuits (cookies), crisps (chips), and a drink. We then have either a craft time or Christian dvd and some more games. The craft and lesson time are broken into two groups with Mark, Paul, and Billy working with the older group and Ethel and me with the younger children. Bethel is blessed with active, willing church members. Below are some pictures of this past Saturday's club.

The older children working on wooden models.

More hard work on the models.

Ethel and I made heart shaped chocolate cakes and had the younger group decorate them for their parents. Mark tried his hand at cake decorating as well!

Getting ready to start the days activities.

Game time!

The younger group had a great time decorating their cakes and did a wonderful job!

Chinese New Year Party

There are three families in our church that homeschool. On Wednesday, February 6th, the Ho family hosted a Chinese New Year party for the homeschoolers.The event was held in the Ho's homeschool classroom. Ethel did a fabulous job. She had been planning it for weeks. She had activity books which had their name in Chinese, a page for them to copy counting to ten, a dot-to-dot with Chinese numbers, as well as some other pages. There was an opportunity to make Chinese lanterns, practice Chinese writing , a chopstick competition, and loads of delicious junk food! Ethel and her sister even dressed in Chinese clothes! Fun was had by all, especially we big kids that were invited!

Busy making lanterns.

Practicing Chinese writing.

Even though it was a fun day,

it was an educational one as well.

Some very eager children!

Ethel, the creative mind behind a wonderful day.

Enjoying some Chinese treats,

and some non-Chinese ones as well!

Chantelle, the chopstick champion!

Nathan came in a close second - they were tied

it went into overtime!

The chopstick championship in progress.

Displaying their lovely lanterns!

Too cute a picture to not post!

Wedding Day

Mark, Monica, Ginny, and Doug

My sister, Nina, was my matron of honour.

My father-in-law, John, a real sweetheart.

Two handsome men.

Mark and Monica Bradfield (M-n-M)

Jade (left) and Rhoda (right)

They both looked beautiful and did a wonderful job!

Arriving at the reception - I was finally able to relax!

My sister, her family, and my parents,

over for the wedding.

They really enjoyed meeting and getting to know Mark.

A day that my parents (and I!) thought would never arrive!

The Start of Our Life Together

Hello and welcome to our blog! Since the purpose of this blog is an easy way to keep my friends and family updated on Mark's and my new life together, I am going to begin by sharing some our wedding photos. It was a wonderful day, when we were surrounded by friends and family. Six of my family members came from home, as well as my bestfriend from college and her husband. It is a day full of many wonderful memories.