Merry Christmas

Hello everyone, Merry Christmas! Greg and I are in Alberta right now enjoying time with family and friends! I will share more when we get home! Hope all is well!

....and so I try this once AGAIN....

First off, I have to say that relying on technology sometimes makes things more difficult than easy. I have began to post at least half a dozen times these past few weeks, only to have things disappear on me repeatedly and the internet decide it doesn't want to work half way through. Today I am trying to work around this by saving it into word as well as on this site so that maybe, just maybe I will be able to successfully update everyone on life!
A lot has definitely happened in the past few weeks. My parents came out to visit over the remembrance day weekend, so we got to spend time catching up with them and showing off the campsite. We definitely welcomed the company!
As for everything at work, well that has definitely been keeping us busy. We had groups steady throughout November and truly it has flown by! I was amazed this past weekend when I had to flip over the calendar one more month! I have been busy hosting groups, decking out the lodge in Christmas gear, and keeping the office in running order. Overall I am coming to a point where I feel I can answer most questions with confidence and keep up with the groups as they all need different things. It is nice to be able to read a situation before it arrives, instead of trying to backtrack!
Greg has been working on getting everything ready for the winter season. The snow started falling fairly late this season, but once it started it didn't stop. We have had snow most days in the last two weeks, and watched, quite literally as the lake froze over. We noticed one morning that the shoreline was starting to freeze over, and when I came into work early the next morning, it was completely closed over! Now Greg has all the x-country skiing trails groomed and well marked, the tube slide iced over and in use (it will be a continual work in progress as more snow arrives). There was an attempt at clearing the ice with the tractor this past week...but it ended up being more work than help, as the tractor went through close to shore and it had to be pulled out. Needless to say, the guys were soaking wet, in the bitter cold!! With the snow, the cold has also arrived and the temperature gauge has not warmed past the -18 mark in quite some time, with most nights dipping past -30 with wind chill. Welcome to a Manitoba winter! BUT, when you don’t have to start your car and try to drive somewhere, fighting traffic the whole time, it makes quite a difference. We just bundle up, walk 30 seconds to the lodge and move back into warmth!
November 22 marked an exciting day, as Gavin Grey Friesen was born to my good friend Sabrina. He is a beautiful little man and it has been such a blessing to have been here for such a huge event. Greg and I went in and met him the day after he was born and I got to spend an entire day with Sabrina again this last week. I am quite smitten, he is beautiful and such a content little baby!
I am going to sign off here, hoping that this is going to post!! Please continue to pray for us as we are still adjusting to living in a new environment. Thank you again for all your support!

The morning after the lake froze over...it was a stunning!!

Wintertime...top L: the lodge; top R: Our cozy home;
Bottom: L-R: The tube slide from top to bottom!

Gavin Grey Friesen with mom & myself

Sending out....

a big

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to Andrew and Laura today...

Laura I know that you have been

counting this down for a long time,

and we are sorry to miss today and also the party coming up!

Have a awesome day you two!!

A windy day...

This past weekend we got to enjoy a visit with my parents. It was great to have them out here, to see where we live and experience a bit of our day to day life. They flew in on Friday and went back to Calgary last night. We managed to do lots of exploring and get some Christmas shopping started! We also spent some time yesterday visiting with Konrad and Karen and Sabrina and Ken. So it was a busy weekend of catching up with everyone! It does make us miss home a bit though, here visits with friends are spread out. At home they happened all the time and were easy to come by. So if you are bored we would love to add you to the list of visitors out here!


Well as for camp info. We have had a busy couple of weeks. The groups have been on the smaller side and so that has helped to make days busy but not crazy...tomorrow I'm sure that will change we have 110 Jr. High kids moving in which always proves to keep us running!

Here are a few pics that I took this afternoon...enjoy!
The climbing wall is on the left as well as the deck leading off of one of the lounges

The wind is coming straight in off the lake today, so their are lots of whitecaps!

4:00 pm...and already the sun is almost set. It is amazing how quickly that seems to change, especially when a time change is thrown into the mix.

Last Weekend's Adventures

Last weekend we decided to go for a drive and see where it took us. Greg saw a sign for a mine in the area, so we tried to go check it out. But they had too much security and so we had to turn around, but we found a sweet river in the meantime, and Greg pulled out the fishing rod and I tried for a while too and surprise, surprise, no fish were caught!! While we were out the first few snowflakes fell, and out of a mostly blue sky. We figured the fish didn't want to be out in the cold either!!
This weekend I am hosting a pentecostal youth retreat, so I'm sure it will be busy and a lot of fun!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! It is crazy to think that tomorrow is November, and already all the stores in the city are decked out for Christmas...I am convinced that happens earlier and earlier every year. But maybe that is just what we say every year because one day it is summer and then suddenly Christmas is everywhere and we haven't pulled out the winter gear yet. The weather is doing the same thing, yesterday we were in T-Shirts...and then today....the wind has put white caps on the lake and the snow was driving straight into the windows. Nothing that will stay yet, but it is a good reminder that winter will be here soon and this year it will be without the Alberta chinooks.

Last night was the YFC fundraiser banquet in Winnipeg. There were 1200 people there and filled the Winnipeg convention centre. There was good food, Phil Callaway as the guest speaker, and lots of entertainment (and a wonderful video put together by Greg!!) It was exciting to learn more about everything that Youth For Christ runs. The dance program, Masterworks, did presentations for us. There were also some of the youth who got up to share how YFC has impacted them. Their testimonies were huge, and included turning away from gang memberships, time in juvenile detention and broken homes. Spending a summer at Cedarwood played a huge part in both of their lives and serves as a good reminder of the effect that time here can have!!

Tonight is going to bring about Halloween festivities. I am hosting a group that has brought in a DJ for the evening so the kids (all 98 of them) can still get in on Halloween. I will be running the concession and keeping them all full of candy and snacks!! Should be good fun and there are many ghosts and the like wandering our hallways already! Gotta' run...Trick or Treat!! (we do accept care packages :) )

Settling In

Well, now that I have put it out there that we have created this blog, I guess it is time to actually get going on what life at Cedarwood is all about. We have been out here for a month now, and are settling in quite nicely. In camp life that means that we have been crazy busy, but I will start at the beginning...

We moved out here on September 25. I managed to be ill throughout the last week of getting ready to move and was VERY ready to hit the road and have some order to life. My grandparents pulled the trailer out here for us (thank you!) and we followed behind in our car the next day. We met up with them again in Winnipeg and drove straight out to camp from there. There was lots of help unpacking and within half an hour, my house was piled with boxed everywhere. We grabbed a bite to eat and met everyone at camp, said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa and I headed home to start digging through the boxes while Greg....went fishing!! He had been talking about it non stop the entire drive to Manitoba and in the weeks leading up to it, so I was only more than happy to just let him go. It is definately more fun to pull everything out of boxes and find it a home than to put it in! There are still a few things left to be done, but nothing that can't wait. Our new home is a small cabin, with two bedrooms, bathroom, laundry room, kitchen and front living/dining area. It is small, but cozy and we love it! I will post some pics as soon as I take them.

Work started on Oct. 1 and it did not take long to get into what we are doing. I have been busy re organizing the office, figuring out how to get everyone booked in to camp, and hosting the groups who come in. Greg has become quite the expert on all the equipment around here. He has fixed all the bikes, archery equipment, climbing anchors, skateboards, and everything else you can think of. His biggest project so far has been the promotional video that he has put together for YFC. It is going to be viewed at the yearly fundraising banquet held in Winnipeg next week. Last night the final touches were put on it, and it is now done, yay!!

As for fun around here, well we definately do not run out of things to do...there is always hot tubbing almost every night, fishing for Greg as much as he can (we have even eaten some of the fish that he has caught!), canoeing around the lake, playing with all the equipment that they have around here, video games, and just socializing with everyone that works here.

Well, now that this general update is getting lengthy, I am going to go and enjoy a day off at home. We thank you all for your prayers and support!

Calgary Farewell!

This is just a taste of the group.
The second picture is definitely a more accurate representation!

We miss you guys!