Convention has come and gone...

The annual Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists' Annual Convention was held in Charlottetown and hosted by my church last week...and we have survived! Word is that it was the best Convention meeting ever and we are encouraged by that. I was the children's ministry coordinator and I don't think I've ever had such a physically and mentally draining week! Man, oh man....but God gave strength and met needs in only the ways He does in our times of need. He brought just the workers that were needed to serve some of the best children in the world! The World Changers and CCSB parents plus others were great. It was wonderful to see old friends and make new ones. What a joy to be part of the CCSB family...which is now known as the Canadian National Baptist Convention! It will be wierd saying 'CNBC' instead of 'CCSB'...
Thanks to those of you who prayed for this special time in the life of our Convention! Your prayers were felt.
To view Convention sessions, go to www.ccsb.ca.



Some ladies of our church were God-sends in getting snacks ready for the children. We bought for 80 children, including 400 juice boxes as there were 5 sessions of snack times! Not quite that many children were there, so we have tons of snacks leftover! What a sight to see the grocery cart!

Our church hosted a Lobster Supper for over 300 people (in 3 different settings)! It went really well. Here folks are getting ready to start the Lobster Supper of rolls, mussels, lobster (or ham or hot dogs), salads, and cheesecake. What a blessing the World Changers and CCSB staff and Community folks were!

This family is farely new to our church. April and Oliver are precious kids!

Kids enjoy playing games during Convention sessions. Majority of the Convention was held on the University of Prince Edward Island campus.

Mission Service Corps missionary and dear friend, Mary Bryant, comes to speak to the children about the ministry that she and her husband (and dog) do across Canada

Ellen and Ellen ~ I met young Ellen while in Calgary and what a joy to see her again! We are kindred spirits! Her dad is a pastor at one of our churches and her grandparents were my seminary professors. I look I little tired from the week, eh?!

The flowers the Convention family gave me. What a nice surprise!

Two Neat "Sightings"

My dear friend, Shelly Webb, and her mother are on a cruise right now. Yesterday, they were docked in Charlottetown! She now lives in Boston, doing campus ministry at MIT and serving as an MSC missionary like me. They left from Boston to Bar Harbor, Maine, and then were in Nova Scotia for a day before traveling here. Shelly and I went for breakfast and I brought her by the church and my little apartment. She and her mom went on the Anne of Green Gables tour in the afternoon, before their ship left last night. They will depart in Montreal, Quebec, and drive back to Boston, but not before more sight-seeing! How neat that God allowed me to go to Boston last fall for a missions conference (see older post) and get to visit with Shelly and now she got to come here and experience just a bit of my world! I LOVE YOU, SHELLY!
Oh, the neat sighting was seeing the cruise ship docked! It's a neat sight to see along the harbor and as you drive over the bridge to the town of Stratford and back.




I had an appointment in Stratford yesterday afternoon. Until driving there, I didn't realize that Tour de PEI (women's cycling competition) would be there later in the day. Tour de PEI had started earlier in the week by the cyclists crossing the 12 mile Confederation Bridge that links New Brunswick and PEI. The race went through the countryside of PEI, Stratford, and ending today in downtown Charlottetown. Right up from where I was parked, the folks were setting up for the end of the race, so I got to see the "Finish Line", awards podium, fencing, and signs (300m, 200m, 100m, etc) that are put up. It was neat to see it all coming together. One of the dear ladies, Marjorie, from our church lives right where it was going to take place. After my appointment, I walked up to her place and had a lovely lunch and visit. If I had not had other things going on yesterday and last night, I would have stayed and watched the race with her. I'm sure it would have been a neat experience!

What a joy!

What a joy to finally meet and hold my little nephew! He is just precious! When I first saw him, I knew who his daddy was as he sure favors Nathan! Knox will be 6 weeks old tomorrow and is a bundle of joy. He mainly sleeps and eats and poops, but is very alert when he is awake. His little blue eyes are sure looking at something. I know, it's his Aunt Ellen! He has the sweetest little cries and loves to be held! I am so thankful to have this time with him, as I missed out on this early stage of the girls' lives. I met both of them when each were around 3 months old.

Speaking of the girls, I am having the best time with Rosalyn and Katie! Rosalyn loves dress-up, books, princesses, coloring, and taking pictures with my digital. Katie loves books and to be held. She is talking so much more than when I saw her 8 weeks ago. It is so fun to just watch their little personalities. Watching them interact makes me wonder how my sister and I were at that age. They are 2 years apart, while there's 3 between my younger sister and me.
Rosalyn is definitely the bigger sister because she likes to tell Katie what to do and will get a bit frustated as Katie doesn't understand how to do things as she does. Katie is a very sensitive child, so her feelings get hurt easily. She is full of smiles, though! Both girls already have a sense of humor and seem to be just fine hanging out. They aren't always playing with their toys and such. Both the girls seem to be doing quite well with their baby brother.

What a day!

Well, you never know what will happen when you travel and especially when flying. I left Charlottetown on Monday at 12PM Atlantic/10AM Central and flew to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where I had a 3 hour layover. I ended up being in Halifax for 7 hours because of ground delays. There was bad weather in Chicago, so no planes could get there. I was getting pretty stressed that I would not make it to Memphis, Tennessee, and did not want to get stuck in an airport and especially Chicago. We finally left for Chicago and were told that they had delays there. I get to Chicago and my Memphis flight was delayed! Whew...or so I thought! We finally get on the Memphis bound plane and back out. We were soon told that due to bad weather & heavy Fed-Ex traffic in Memphis, we were once again on a ground delay. By this time, it's 11PM Central and I am sooooo tired and we're told that it will be another hour until an update. I'm glad no one was sitting beside me, so I could stretch out a bit and try to rest. We finally leave for Memphis after midnight Central. I am feeling pretty bad for my dad and aunt because they are up so late, waiting on me to get in. My mom and sister are still up as well, texting or calling me, to see what in the world is going on. I know things are beyond my control, though, and I'm just so glad to finally be headed to Memphis. As always when I fly, I wonder if my luggage will make it. Well, for the third time in 3 months, my luggage didn't arrive with me. Better it not arriving, than me! It did arrive this morning, so I am finally safe and sound in Mississippi with my belongings.
Flying is old hat for me, but it's still nerve-wracking. God was with me in special ways on Monday. My luggage was a bit overweight and the guy didn't even charge me! PTL! It was nothing to get through customs and I was not stuck in an airport overnight and was able to get to my destination, even if it was the middle of the night! Oh, and when I arrived in Chicago, my departure gate was right across from my arrival gate!

Please pray for my dad and aunt. I met both of them with injuries at the airport. My aunt Sarah broke her foot a few weeks ago while playing basketball with her 9 yr old grandson. My dad, Charles, has a very sore leg from going through the floor of my aunt's attic in her new house! He didn't know the floor wasn't really finished, so while going through some of Granny's things, he steps in one spot, and through the floor his leg goes. PTL that it wasn't worse! Pray for speedy healing and ease of pain in the meantime. There are some members of our family who are accident prone!

Welcoming a New Life

A new man has entered my life...

...my first nephew, that is!





Daniel Knox Shurden
February 21, 2008
6:02PM
6lbs 8oz
19 inches long






Knox arrived safe and sound and how precious he is! I cannot wait to meet him, hold him, and spoil him like crazy! I don't know if we'll know what to do with a boy, but I'm sure we'll learn fast. Though Knox arrived a few weeks early, all are doing well.

Within a month, we have celebrated one life who has left us and welcomed a new one!

God continues to bestow His blessings on us each and every day!

WELCOME TO THE WORLD, LITTLE GUY! I LOVE YOU ALREADY!

Celebrating One's Life

My Granny, Elizabeth Cone, 96 years old, went to be with Jesus on January 25, 2008. She was a precious person in my life and I am blessed to have had such a special relationship with her. We liked much of the same things and my mom says I get my independent spirit from her! Granny introduced me to stamp-collecting as a young girl. She traveled the world for many years and I always enjoyed hearing her stories and seeing pictures. Until she could no longer drive, each time we visited her in Memphis, TN, she would have our days planned and we were always venturing out somewhere. I loved our times together. She was also a woman of faith and has left a legacy. She loved her Lord and her church (Bellevue Baptist) and her Sunday School class. Since I moved to Canada, she had been unable to care for herself. She and I had quite a few talks about why God still had her on this earth. I once told her that she could be a prayer warrior...she said, "yeah, you're right." I could write a book on the memories I have of her and our times together.

We got to see Granny at Christmastime. Dad, my sister's family, and I had planned to go visit Dad's side of the family the Thursday-Saturday after Christmas. That morning, we got a call from Aunt Sarah that hospice was with Granny every other hour because her pulse had been low (she was in a nursing home). For the next 4 hours, I kept praying that God wouldn't take her just yet since we were so close to visiting her. When Dad, Christy, and I arrived to her room, she was sleeping and was so much thinner than when I had seen her in February 07. She woke up and saw us there. She was smiling, though was so weak that she couldn't move her arms from under the covers. One of the sweetest memories I'll always have is that she said, "I'm jumping for joy inside!" I knew she wanted to hug us so much...

Nathan and the girls came with us the next day and Granny looked much better and we were able to hold her hands & talk with her more. Granny enjoyed seeing her great-grandaughters and Christy was able to tell her that she was expecting a boy and his name would be Knox~a maiden name on Granny's side! We don't know if Granny remembered, as she had dementia, but it was special to tell her, especially now that she is gone.

God allowed me to get home for Granny's funeral. Her service was a celebration of her life and her Savior and how we can have a home in Heaven...just what she would have wanted! Dad was able to play "How Great Thou Art" on his trombone, while Mom accompanied him on piano. This was something Granny wanted & it was special that Dad was able to do this. A few years ago, Granny had planned everything, even what she would wear and her casket. This made it so much easier on Dad, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle John. Though despite the reason, it was wonderful to be with my 3 cousins again. They and their familes are so special and we usually only see each other once a year. Granny had 5 grandchildren (with 4 of them married) and 7 great-grandchildren, with one on the way.

Granny was one who kept almost everything! Between she and her mother, there is much history written down & photos of our family. We spent many hours going through things and have many treasures of our own now. I have one of the last Bibles she used, along with a few other odds and ends.

Though death is never easy, what comfort I can take in knowing that she is all healed and dancing with Jesus...and that we will meet again one day!

(My scanner is not working right, so no pics available for posting at this time.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I can't believe that we're halfway into January 08! Where does the time go?

I had a great time in MS, TN, and NC with family and friends! I will post pics soon!
God orchestrated the timing of my visit and many things that occurred. He is so good in that way, isn't He? I will write more on what He has been doing when I am less tired!

I pray you have a blessed 08 and you see God at work around you. Remember, it's all about Jesus!!

"Be still and know that I am God." ~Psalm 46:10