Jason is still up in the air with his health.  He has a Dr.’s appointment on February 17, so please pray that we would get some direction from the doctor. In the meantime, we suspect that Jason has Crohn’s on top of the Celiac Disease, so we’re trying to limit his fibre and his stress.  He’s been doing very well at not opening his laptop at home to do office work and is taking time to read for enjoyment and I think it is helping some.

Delena recently brought home a certificate saying that she knows all her letters – upper and lower case.  The teacher has also started sending home little readers.  It’s so fun to see her recognize words!

Lorelei is at the age of potty-training.  She’s very consistent at telling me when she has to go, but she doesn’t like to tell anyone else if I’m not around, so we’re working on that!

Myelle is SO close to walking!  Just yesterday, she took her first steps!

Here she is on her way down – if you didn’t know better, you might think she knew how to dance already!

We spent Boxing Day with Jason’s Mom and all his siblings.

Then the 27^th we were back at home in order to have Jason’s Dad over to our place. Each day came with a turkey dinner and, of course, there were lots of leftovers to follow! It was also nice that Jason could have a few days off between Christmas and New Years where we didn’t have to go anywhere or do anything!

New Year’s Eve we were home with a few family members and we managed to make it until midnight! It was a short night though with church in the morning!

The next week we had a nice surprise and my cousin was able to come for a visit with her two boys. We’ve stayed at their place a number of times, so it was nice to have them to our place for a change. I got to take them all for the winter version of the ‘Jungle Camp’ tour. I think the kids just liked building the snowman at the end of the tour. They didn’t really care too much for trudging through the snow, but at least they all slept well after that!

Yep, the bridge can hold their weight!

Julie and her boys had never been to Jungle Camp

That week there was also free skating each afternoon at the Durham Arena, so we decided we should attempt to take all the kids skating. Ever been skating with a 1, 2, 3, and 4 year old? That doesn’t even include Myelle! Jason and my brother both came with us to help and it still took us a half hour to get everyone’s skates on! That left us with a half hour to skate, but that was enough. Thankfully some friends were at the arena and one of them graciously watched Myelle on the sidelines and another one helped Lorelei out quite a bit. By the end of the time, the kids were just starting to get the hang of things and we forgot our camera, so we decided to try again the next day.

Lorelei showing us how it is done. Not bad for being the first time on skates.

eventually Delena did catch onto how to use the pilon

Our second round of skating, Jason stayed home with Myelle and just two adults took the four kids. Again, a half hour of lacing, but the allotted skating time was longer, so we could actually be on the ice for a full hour. This time we took lots pictures and the kids did a lot better!

For about a month now, she’s been getting up on all 4′s and rocking back and forth as though she’ll crawl away at any moment. She doesn’t even sit up yet! Last week she improved on that movement by sticking her little bum up in the air. She was so proud of herself. I took a few pictures, but I’m not sure they do it justice.

The other night she took things another step and rolled her bum to the side and put herself into a sitting position! Look out big sisters, I’m gonna be trouble soon!

She didn’t really want us to go when we dropped her off at school, but when it was time to come home, her statement was, “I want to go back right now!”

As staff at the home office for NTM in Canada, we got a sneak peak at how the students are doing. The actual open house isn’t until July 2-3. I encourage everyone to plan a day trip and see for yourself how resourceful and creative the students are.

Here are some photos from the current class:

Elisabeth and Yvon from Montreal

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Here are some posts from our summer of 2007 in Jungle Camp

Round 1 of Questions about Jungle Camp

Jungle Camp 2007

Hot Water Plumbed into our Jungle Camp Home

Here are some photos from our summer in Jungle Camp:

Angie tying our counter top together

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The police officer was kind enough to knock the offense down to 60 in a 50 km/h. It was on a fairly rural road, with homes only on one side of the road. The speed limit along there kept going from 80 km/h to 50 km/h and back, so I think he knew what he was doing, waiting for us at that particular spot.

Angie’s embarrassing moment was soon over-shadowed by one of Jason’s.

When we got to the hotel, we realized that when we had dropped Delena and Lorelei off at the sitter’s, that Jason had unpacked a little too much. Myelle’s bag was no longer with us. No clothes. No diapers. No snugli. Thankfully Angie had two outfits in Myelle’s diaper bag, which was still with us, and we were able to buy some diapers.

Embarrassing moments out of the way, we had a really relaxing two nights away in Wallaceburg, ON. Co-workers of ours, Wes and Brenda Dyck, were so kind to keep Delena and Lorelei for us.

While Angie’s favourite part about the hotel was the extremely large pool, Jason liked that our room came with supper one night, and breakfast both mornings!

On the way home to Durham, we were able to stop in and wish our mother’s a “Happy Mother’s Day” and do a little bit of shopping! Both Delena and Lorelei were thrilled to see us too! All said and done, it ended up being a very restful weekend, once we got beyond the shaky start.