March Madness

March was an incredibly long month that I'm very thankful we got through in one piece. Because I seriously thought I'd go insane and I'd be writing this from the loony bin. The picture of our house is one big clue. Just when I thought we couldn't possibly get any more snow because where the heck would be put it, it snowed. I'm not talking about flurries. I'm talking some serious storms. For the first time since we've been here, church was cancelled due to snow. It was the week before Palm Sunday and Wayne got up as usual on Sunday morning, showered, put on his suit, ate breakfast, reviewed his sermon and then - took his suit off and put his snow pants on and went outside to start the snow blower. He not only snowplowed our driveway, but made his own path down a few streets to hopefully get the van through. He did get it through and made it to church (with the suit back on) and then it was decided to cancel it. So he came home and snowplowed some of the neighbours driveways, nice guy that he is. The plows never made it to our street until 3 in the morning.
This picture makes me laugh! I guess this is what poor Zanna has to do for fun to keep herself occupied. The other reason March turned out to be so long is all the being sick in our house. We all seemed to have the flu at some point during the entire month on March. The fevers would last for up to 5 days, it was in our muscles causing soreness, went into some nasty colds. And the bloody noses the kids had was horrible. One evening I went upstairs to find Will leaning over the sink that had pools of his nosebleed in it. There was a trail of dots in the carpet leading from his bedroom to the bathroom. And somehow it managed to spray on the wall next to his bed, not to mention the sheets. Oh, how I did laundry because Zanna had nosebleeds to. I felt like I was covering up a crime scene after these episodes. I know I've become pretty good at getting it out of sheets. By the time Wayne and the children started feeling better Mommy got it good. It's funny cause when you're a kid you get to just be sick and watch TV all day. When Mommy's sick everyone wants to know what's for supper. Wayne tried to help as much as he could but I managed to take ill for Holy Week. I was even supposed to cook the meal for Maundy Thursday's Seder Supper at church and woke up feeling horrible and panicked!!!! Friends from church thankfully stepped in and took over.
The highlight of the month was Easter. We not only celebrated our Saviours resurrection but celebrated two adult baptisms from Wayne's chinese bible information class. A women and her teenage daughter were baptized on Easter Sunday!!! As if that wasn't enough, Wayne and I were asked to be the daughter's godparents. We were extremely touched by this and honored. Praise God as he continues to bless the outreach efforts to the Chinese community here. Our church recently started an English Conversational Outreach program and have made contact with 8 new Chinese people through this program. Please keep this in your prayers as we establish new relationships with these people and look for opportunities to tell them about Jesus.
Speaking of the ministry, Wayne did not take the call to Austin, TX. And so Ottawa continues to be our home and we're happy to be here. We'd be happier if the snow melted but alas, my discontent shows. The weather has since taken a turn for the better and the snow has been melting. Since living in Ottawa, we've had to laugh at the yearly tradition that most of the locals seem to do. After shoveling snow off their driveway all winter and paying taxes that fund the snowplows that clear our streets, come spring they shovel the snow off their yard and back onto the driveway and street to melt faster. We've gotten quite a kick out of this every year but this year the jokes on us - we're one of them! In an effort to get the snow off our yard, a good chunk of it now sits in the street and driveway. They may be on to something.