The Faith of our fathers............

Today was a great day. We were able to witness Pete, Julie, two of Pete's friends and the whole family Best profess their faith in Jesus Christ publicly. The family Best was baptized as well. It was really good to see. They came to us from a different religious background. And all this, on the day that we remember that Jesus rose from the grave. We pray that they will not stray from the path that they have chosen to start on today.
Afterward we had a get together at our place for more coffee and cake. Followed by dinner and dessert. It was great to have the house full off people again. I'm sorry to say, I have no pictures of today's happenings, but the following link shows the video that the guys and Julie made together with pastor Chad. In the video are Julie, Klaas DeBoer, Feije DeBoer and Pete. Klaas and Feije are twins. Enjoy.........

Snowmobiling at it's best......

That would have to be in New Brunswick. Pete and I went there last week together for three days. We had a lot of fun. The weather was really good. Thursday was a little cloudy and the trails were slushy, as it was above zero all day. But it froze hard overnight. So the next day the trails were froze solid. This presented a bit of a problem with lubrication for the track and cooling for the engine.
We decided not to leave until late morning. Which proved to be still problematic. But by mid afternoon , conditions were getting better. We had decided to go to Mount Carleton this day. When we arrived there, we were able to take the sleds right to the top.
The view was awesome. We could see for miles around. Above you can see Pete, on top of the world. To the left , a view from the mountain.
It was beautiful up there. How awesome is our God, that he created such beauty. You really got a sense of that up there.
This next picture shows how trucks and snowmobiles share some of the same roads. The trail up about four feet higher. And this would go for miles and miles.
And, all good things must come to an end. Here we are, packing up again for the trip home. We had a safe drive home and found all was well at home. But a lot of snow had disappeared on PEI. Only to see more snow again overnight. I guess our spring is not quite here yet. Contrary to what the calender tells us............

More Ice............

This is like dejavue,it was last year around the end of January,that we had the same kind of weather. I had the same kind of pictures then. We did not loose our power this time however. Eventough the ice is still on the trees and powerlines. Also, the temperature tonight is going down to minus 15, windchill factor of minus 22.
This picture shows the strain on the post. It is bending under the weight of the ice. Hope she holds. It would be a cold night to lose our power.
This is the tree in front of the house, a big sugar maple. All covered in ice. You can see the house in the background. It does look very pretty with the sun shining on the ice. God sure knows how to decorate.
And this last picture I took early in the morning through the trees beside the road on the way to work. It is so beautiful everywhere. Not the best for snowmobiling though. We are getting some more snow and rain over the weekend. Saturday will be the first day that the temperature is supposed to go above zero. Maybe the ice will fall off the wires then..........
p.s.
See also next post, I did two posts in one week. Have a great week people, and thanks for your visit.

Pete's birthday today......

Today we celebrate Pete's birthday, he is twenty years old now. Quite a milestone. All the guys are over today, for tomato soup and icecream cake from DQ.
They were going to be with Matt and Amanda this weekend, snowboarding at Crabbe. But God had other plans. Car trouble changed their plans and now they are still on PEI. Of course it is nice to have them all here for Pete's big day. I took a few pictures this morning, first one, the guys playing Battlefield together. That is Pete in the bottom right and Caleb right behind him. And the next on does not need an intro. We have all seen them before
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Mmmmmmmm............that cake was some good.
The weather here has been wintery lately. Lots of snow around. I did get some sledding in. Mostly in the evenings though. Since we are very busy grading potatoes the last couple of weeks. And last week was a busy day of blowing snow as well. Good time for the guys to be in Florida. Bet they didn't shovel any snow there!
I took a few pictures of that as well. Our house, behind the snowbanks that are alongside of the road. .The next couple of pictures are of the snow blower. One posing and one of it working.
You can see the snow coming out of the top there. It comes right from the fan and gets thrown about two hundred feet into the air. The drum rotates and can throw the snow to either side or staight up out of the shoot.We also did some snowmobiling. Last Sunday was just a gorgeous day to be out. Today, not so good. It was raining yesterday and now it is minus ten again. The trails will be frozen and hard as rock. No lubrication for the sliding rails.
Freezing rain tomorrow, and rain for Tuesday may slow things down even more. On this picture shows us having a break and a stretch. That is Tim on the left and Rebecca on the right.
This is an action picture of the other two sleds closing in on me. The weather as I said before was just beautiful. We went about a hundred some odd kilometers. There was lots of traffic on the trail.
We also got stopped by the trailwarden in Winsloe. Him and two policeman were writing tickets out to people that didn't have the proper documentation, re: trailpermits, registration or insurance. We were waved through after checking our stickers. This last picture is the view I like best, a clear groomed trail ahead of me..........
Thanks for visiting, please leave a comment.

Winter, my favourite time of year....

I have been waiting to take some more pictures of winter. Today would have been good or last week, but no, keep forgetting the camera.
Last weekend, Sunday afternoon till Monday night we spend at Chrystal Palace in Moncton. We took Caleb and Damaris. And Tineke went as well with Cassie and Aaron. we had an absolute blast and were sure tired when we got home.
Did some snowmobiling on the trail with Rebecca last Saturday afternoon. The trails were good. Then another snowstorm Wednesday with about a foot of snow, just too bad I got the flu and don't remember most of it. No energy at all. Today it is finaly coming around, not so tired anymore. Enough energy to go for another sledrun today. It was very busy on the trails. Lots of snowmobiles out. Some broke down, (Artic Cat)of course. Went with Pete, Rebecca & Tim, and Damaris on the back with me. Sorry, no pictures, but what a beautifull day for it. Should sleep good tonight.
Tomorrow's weather calls for above zero temperatures. Hope that the it doesn't get too warm.
On the other front, I did finaly bottle my first two batches of wine. Thirty bottles of white wine, Gewurtztraminer, and thirty of red wine, Cabernet Sauvignon. Very tasty if I may say so. Hope you will come over and try one of them some day. I do have some pictures on my camera of the winemaking procedure. So I can add a few of those. It is just not the same without pictures.This is what the wine looked like in the carboy(glass bottle), just before bottling.
And in the glass, it was goood too, :)
And after bottling, impressed yet? Wait till you taste it.First carboy of red wine.
Filtering the wine from one carboy into another one. To make it just right.And finaly bottling with the help of Damaris, my main bottle filler. Not so much up for taste testing however..........

Happy New Year.............

We wish all of you the best for the coming year. May you be blessed in abundance,We woke up to a blizzard this morning. Up to 40 cm is possible, with winds gusting upwards of 100 km per hour. It should be a fun day. Nice and cozy by the fireplace.This is what our world looked like at 10 A.M.


This way the snow will all be in the woods again by tomorrow, just like last time. Hard to snowmobile in the woods. We may have to go to New Brunswick again this year.
Pete is stuck at the DeBoer's today. He will make it home eventually i'm sure.
...............I hope that all of you will be blessed this year............

Merry Christmas ..............

This is always a busy time for every one. But I am glad you took the time to come for a visit here on our blog. It is appreciated.
I hope you are able to spend some time with your family. Christmas time is always special to me. Matt and Amanda come over from Fredericton. We think of Dianna & Jordan and Mary & Isaac as well at this time and wish that we could have been all together, but that was not to be this year. We hope, the Lord willing to Celebrate all together again next year.
We did have a nice get together with the rest of the Nieuwhof's at Marten and Karen's last Saturday. It was a lot of fun. There was lots of food , as usual, and good company. Amanda decided that it would be a good idea to exchange presents at home too right away. So, that's what we did. It was hard to get Caleb and Damaris to go to bed after that. They wanted to stay up longer and play with all the new toys. Well, that was understandable.
These are some pictures I took at home. Top: Matt, Caleb and Amanda. Beside:Pete, Damaris, Mom and Rebecca on the floor. And a good time was had by all.
By the time you read this blog, it will likely be Christmas for you as well. I hope you well get to enjoy to time with family as much as I am.

p.s.

I started a new hobby. Wine making. Finally a hobby that will save me some money. Below is what the first batch of white wine looks like right now. Not that white, is it? It looks more like grape juice at this point. But I'm told this is the normal colour.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you...............