Thursday, August 24, 2006

Who's in control?

Since Gary is at a loss as to what to write this month, I thought I would step in and test my journalistic abilities. This is Tami by the way....The summer has gone by way too fast without getting as much done as I would have liked, which means that life is still normal. Some of the highlights of our summer have been summer jobs for Kaity, a life of leisure for Josh, and an all boy's adventure camp for Matt. He wondered what kind of fun would there be if no girls were there to harass!...he loved it inspite. We spent a wonderful weekend with Gary's family at a Balzer family reunion with approximately 60 of our favorite aunties, uncles,cousins and of course Grandma.
We have completed all the to-do-lists that we have procrastinated about for the past 3 years and have sold the house. We are in the process of putting anything that has sentimental value into storage boxes, packing what we think we will need
for language school and another lot for Angola and selling the rest. We still have a few big decisions that we are waiting on, like should we spend six months in Portugal or Brazil for lanuage training, spend October & November in Idaho for extra flight training for Gary, do we keep our van, or sell it, blah blah blah....Life is good, God is so good to us! I need to remember on a daily basis that He is in control and although it isn't always easy, He knows what is best and how things will come together for His honour and glory. We appreciate that you all bring us before the Lord in prayer it, really does make a difference in our lives. Balzer Reunion 2006
What a fine looking group!

Another adventure we had was heading off to the Guzoo (Three Hill's Zoo) with Tami's nephews' Jaxson and Carter to pet a Bengal Tiger cub! Who would have thought you could do that in Three Hills let alone in Angola? We thought it was pretty cool that the cub's name was Jaxson as well.

We look forward to catching up with all of you this fall. It has been a wonderful summer, see ya soon!

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
Romans 10:14

Monday, July 03, 2006

New Challenges

It feels as though the months are slipping by quickly as we prepare to go to Portugal in January for language training. So many things to do and get in order before we leave, our level of excitement grows with each day. God continues to bless and amaze us with His provisions through all of you, thank you once again.

June took us to Saskatoon where spent a wonderful weekend sharing with family and friends. We spent an afternoon with Gary's 91 year old Grandma who regaled us with pictures and stories of her youth in Czarist and Soviet Russia. It was exciting to be able to connect with our family history a bit more as we get ready for a new adventure in the future.

We returned to Three Hills where we joined our church for its annual camp out. Good food, good fellowship and a wonderful baptismal service in the river. Also, as it regularily seems to be the case, our family grew to 11 as several teens joined us for the camp-out. What a great group of kids, they help keep the adventure in our lives. The following weekend was Kaity's graduation. Wow, what a hoot, it was a great time of again, looking at the past and dreaming about the future.

The last weekend saw us heading up to Lacombe where the church had organized a fund raiser for us. We spent Saturday doing a walk-a-thon and picnic and then sharing in the Sunday morning service. Gary has taken to throwing chocolate bars into the congregation, it's lots of fun, you should see how alert people become when chocolate starts flying.
Thanks to all you Lacombians!?

The picture shows Mitcha compound where we will live. Our house has a red roof and is the one on the upper right hand side of the three. If you like Google Earth you can use the following co-ordinates (14 53'27.70" S 13 29'40.82" E) to find the house and look around the City of Lubango. Is that cool or what!? We'll try to give you a bit more of a tour as we write more.