The Mulching Mower Conundrum

As part of our rental agreement for our duplex, we are responsible for the upkeep of the lawn on our side of the property.  Part of upkeep is making sure your lawn is mowed.  Having lived in an apartment building in Sexsmith and then in Kiev (where the grass would get to the point where it needed mowing and then it would take them a month to actually mow it with a weedwacker), we have not had a need of a mower and one did not make the trip with us to Dauphin.

So, the first Saturday we were here, I went garage saling to find one.  Low and behold, the first sale I went to, they had an electric mulching mower.  Electric!  Great!  No need to fill with gas.  Electric!  Great!  GUTLESS!  The chord that came with it even almost stretches to all parts of our lawn, save 10 Ft Squared that I have to start up the mower and move fast because it will unplug and stop.  But enough about the electricity problem.

The thing that got me was the mulching property the mower has.  When I was a young sprout, we had a mower, but it had a bag.  So, one always had to check the bag and find a place to put all of the clippings.

I remember thinking to myself, "I wish there was a way to mow without having to always empty the bag"  and then it happened, a friend asked me to mow their lawn, and they didn't use a bag.  They just shot it out the side.  This was an ingenious idea, you mow the lawn and spew it everywhere.  It took much less time; well except for every 3rd time you mowed, you had to rake it up and bag it because it would begin to look unsightly.  Once again, I thought, "If only there was a way to not have to rake every 3rd time."  And then it happened, I bought an electric mulching mower 3 weeks ago, and no more bags, no more raking, just everything gets picked up, chopped and put back to keep nutrients in the soil.  Whoever thought of this was a genius!

Well, actually, whoever thought of this had no weeds in their lawn.

When we moved, we maybe had 10 dandelion plants on our yard; within 3 weeks of mulching (picking up the dandelion seeds and spreading them), our lawn has grown dandelions exponentially!  And all the money I have saved on not buying gas, I have spent at Canadian Tire buying Killex dandelion spray, but the battle is a lost cause.

As I was mowing the lawn this last time, I began thinking about those little seeds and sharing the gospel with others.  There are 3 different ways I thought of:  Someone who bags it all up and doesn't share,  Someone who shares with everyone, and others who share within a small, yet specific area.

On one hand, the lawn of the person who bags looks beautiful, with no dandelions.  Another spreads the seed everywhere, but with little aim and purpose, and the third, although only in a specific area, spreads exponentially.

I will be the first to admit that I do not go out and share Jesus with everyone, but, my prayer is that God will give me specific times to share and the wisdom and boldness to share when and where He desires.

Manitoba Bound!

Our Uhaul ready to go!

It has been quite a crazy month and to be honest, writing on this blog has not been on the top of my priority list.

To catch you up to date, we left Grande Prairie on Monday July 21 for Bow Island.  Tuesday we packed up the Uhaul and Wednesday we left for Dauphin at 4:00 am and arrived in time for supper at 6:00 pm, losing and hour on the way.

A very busy few days, but it is also good to have a home our kids can call home for more than a month as since February we have lived (constituting at least 5 days) in Poland, Ukraine, back to Poland, Parksville BC, Grande Prairie, Vegreville, Dauphin (ok so this was only a 3 day trip), back to Vegreville, Bow Island, Grande Prairie again and finally back to Dauphin where we have been for 20 days and counting!

I am pretty sure our kids are setting themselves up to move again, however, they like their own beds and Ellianna has started calling our duplex our house.  It also helps that we have not gone more than a 10 minutes drive away from the city (8000 people in Dauphin, but a Walmart, McDonalds and Tims!).

I was reminded when I put the title "Manitoba Bound" of the song Alberta Bound by Paul Brandt.  (Just a little video that really has no point to this blog, but a little piece of "home" for us)




I had the privilege of marching with the Grande Prairie Marching Band as we celebrated Grande Prairie's 100 years, so history is a little on the brain.  As part of moving to Dauphin, I went to city hall to register for Manitoba health insurance.  And noticed Fort Dauphin has been around since 1741.  And at one point was one of the most western settlements of North America.  Fort Edmonton was only around since 1795 (thanks Wikipedia for all that information (because everything on the internet is true!))  So we are living in a ton of history.

Manitoba has been very Friendly as their licence plates state; however, having only ever paid GST tacking on another 8% PST totaling 13% has been quite "unfriendly"

But with the extra tax comes alot of free things like no Library fees.  I was watching a Bomber's game with some guys this past week (for some reason, they don't want to get together to watch Eskimo's games) and I was explaining the difficulty of transferring our licence and registration.

There is a reason you have 90 days to transfer your vehicle as it takes 90 days to fill out the paperwork and jump through the hoops to get it done.  One guy commented "Welcome to Friendly Manitoba.  Socialism, everything is free, but you have to do a lot of work to get it!"

I started work last week and am starting to make connections; I even got to go inline skating at the skatepark and boy was I bad.

A few highlights include Celebrating Ellianna's birthday and going to the street fair (which happened to be on the same day)

And Jolen riding a horse for the first time (the wrangler said he was the littlest kid she has ever had ride by themselves)

We are excited for what God has in store for us and the community and if you would like to connect sometime, don't hesitate to comment or send us an email.  We would love to hear from you!

Здравствуйте!

I was reminded this week about Ukraine and learning the language.  The title of this blog is "Strasvoche" the Russian word for hello.  If you know how to sound out the Slavic alphabet, you can sound out words but have no idea what you are saying.  While riding the busses, I would constantly be reading billboards just to sound out the letters, but I would have no idea what they were saying. (When I went to Venezuela, to learn Spanish I would sound out graffiti until our translator kindly told me to stop swearing, so that lesson had been learned before heading to Ukraine!)

We were driving through Grande Prairie, Alberta and saw this sign and thought of all of our times of trying to figure out what was being said and missing the humour.  So, I hope you are not offended but laugh for the humour that is the sign.



If you are not from Grande Prairie, Fourward is a bike, skate and board shop, so it fits the "surfer" type humour.  But what if you could not speak English and were riding the bus and saw this sign and were reading outloud.  I get this image of a guy in his 30s or so sounding out words and you usually can only sound out 2 words at most.  Next to this guy learning English is a pretty girl checking out her appearance in her mirror and the guy reads the sign outloud "Fat, Ugly"  It could be that I have made my fair share of cultural mistakes and I feel for those that make them as well, but the most learning I did, especially learning about culture, was making mistakes.  You remember things you got wrong and not things you did right.

For instance, when I was building houses, I remember building the house my brother-in-law now lives in and walking into the house, I remember all the mistakes I made on the house, but not the things I did right.  And everytime I walk into his house, I remember two things, "I really love his house and think it is the best designed house I ever built, and, I built a rake wall wrong and we had to adjust the trusses to fix my mistake."  None of the stuff I did wrong was structurally unsound and it all got covered up by drywall and shingles, but I know it is there.

When I think of heaven, a question comes to mind, will I remember my sins?  Will I constantly know what I have been saved from and this brings rejoicing because Jesus forgave my sins and I am counted as righteous because of it.  Or will my mind be wiped blank and be rejoicing because of who God is or maybe a little of both?  I know that there will not be pain when I remember life on earth.  Also, we talk alot of the Bible enduring for eternity and in the Bible speaks of all kind of sins and keeps record of David's sin, Solomon, and even mentions sins of those who are not spending eternity in heaven.  Many questions, few answers, but the answers I know is that God is perfect, so however I remember life on Earth, it will be in His perfect wisdom and not my own.

Speaking of life on this Earth, our hair is constantly growing.  And sometimes it needs to be cut off.

 

Thank you, my son the model, for showing everyone what must happen sometimes.  It is really hot up here and the shave is a welcome addition.

 

Also, If I was to start my own business, it would be in the deck building category.  I would say that decks are my specialty!  I love building decks and enjoy the finished product.

 

100 feet or so of deck, and I am finally finished.  The whole front of the house, the side and another 10 feet on the back!  14 rises, 7 different platforms, I am happy to be done.

 

I noticed that the Dauphin First Baptist Church has added me to their blogs list, so if you are in Dauphin and would like some advice on building a deck, I am your man.  We are leaving next Monday and hopefully arriving in Dauphin next Thursday or Friday!  The end is near, and it has only just begun!  God Bless!

This blog post is brought to you by the letter "P"

I remember growing up watching Sesame Street.  Every episode of was brought to you by a specific letter.  Well, this week it was the letter P in the Johnson household.

Potty, Pee, Poop, Panties and Treat (I know it isn't a P word, but it was a big word).

You have probably guessed, but Potty training has begun.  Not only Ellianna, but now Jolen is sitting on the green and orange froggy potty we got at Superstore.

The interesting thing about potty training is I was really surprized at how it relates to the Christian life.  As mentioned in previous posts, God has been teaching me alot about the process of life and our daily walk with Jesus.

When Ellianna started, the battle of the wills began and it was sitting on the toilet for 3 hour stretches waiting for something to come out.  As the days progressed, the three hours shortened to 15 minutes every 2 hours, to less than 30 seconds from entering the bathroom to exiting.  I really didn't notice the shortening of time in the process, until we would say, "Ellianna, it is time to go potty,"  and then before I got off of the sofa, she came streaking back, "I peed."

Again, another revelation happened yesterday when Ellianna came streaking (I emphasise streaking, because she was she really without clothes running around the house) into the room.  "Why does she have her clothes off?"  I wondered.  "I peed!"  without being told to go to the bathroom.  She had moved to sensing the need to empty her bladder.  (I know I am being quite descriptive, but I am one very proud father!)

As our time in Dauphin is coming soon (in two weeks we are leaving Sexsmith and heading East), I have really begun reflecting on connecting with and discipling teenagers.  I mentioned on the youth trip to Edmonton that I forget the way youth think, but more than that, I realize the need to tell youth what they should do.

I know youth don't like to hear what they are supposed to do and want to figure things out on their own, but there also needs to be someone to show them the right way.  Kindof like my daughter on the potty.  She didn't know really what to do, but eventually she came to the point where she knew what to do.

We can't expect young and new Christians, and even those who are not as sensitive to Holy Spirit like someone who has been forgiven for 30 years.  We are all on a journey and some are farther than others, but we are called to help each other along the way.  So next time you stop and shake your head because of something someone has done, or said, come alongside them and think of where they are coming from.

Adresses and Emergency Rooms

As I mentioned last week, we got a duplex to rent in Dauphin.  This last week, I phoned to get the electricity and gas hooked up and was in for a pleasant surprize. We know what our mailing address will be.  The previous renters got their mail delivered to the duplex and with us moving in, our new mailing address is 3 Kirby Ave. East, Dauphin, Manitoba, R7N 0E8.  It feels kind of weird having an address for a mailing address.  Ever since we have been married, we have lived in small towns that only have post office boxes but now, an address!  Ok, so I guess we had an address while we lived in Ukraine, but in some ways that doesn't count as we still had a PO Box number in Canada and it took 1-2 months for mail to arrive.  We hope this will be an address will have for a while, but as has been the theme of our lives, God only knows and we are along for the ride wherever He leads.

So, back to last week's post, I mentioned a scary incident with Jolen.  This week, we went to the emergency room with him.  He usually is a very stable sitter and we have put him on many chairs and he doesn't fall off, well almost never.  This week he did and straight on his head.  He lost consciousness a couple of times and we were off to the hospital to have him checked out.  Definitely not a trip I want to take again.

Going to the hospital and waiting 4 hours or so is not my idea of how I want to spend my time, but how I want to spend my money.  We are very blessed in Alberta to have free healthcare.  This means I can go to the hospital, see a doctor, have immunizations for free, no dinero.  I was reminded of a conversation I had with a few American teachers in Ukraine.  We were talking about wait times in Canada and how it takes so long to see a doctor and they would say they would get in quickly and efficiently.  Then the conversation would switch to money and the deductible on their insurance would be $2000.  This means that every time they go to visit the doctor, it is money (and no little amount) out of their pocket.  I think me, growing up not paying for doctors visits would take the waiting to the lightening of the wallet.  Jolen, ended up being fine, we had to check on him every 2 hours but a small amount of time to make sure everything is ok.

Reflecting on this last week, one can't help but think of when we have a permanent eternal home with no tears, no pain and no hospital visits.  We are so blessed to be granted life on this earth, but we often forget that this is not were we are to stay forever.  We have an eternal hope in Jesus and we will truly be home when we embrace our Saviour!

A Terrifying Experience

We have made it to our last supporting church up here in Sexsmith, Alberta at Grace Bible Fellowship.  We have been fortunate to have "family" up here as the Lovrod family is not blood related, but don't tell our kids that.  They have a house that can hold the four of us in a single room, so we have been all together, and will be until the middle of July, when we pack everything and move to Manitoba.

On a side note, they are BlueBombers fans in Manitoba, and my 2nd cousin (Teague Sherman) plays safety for them, so I may (but probably wont) cheer a bit for the home team (Unless they play the Eskimos of course).

Well, back to the story, we are on a farm and me being a carpenter, there are always things to do around the yard like building a deck and a roof over the entranceway, but I can't complain as they are putting up with us for a month and not charging us room and board.

On the farm, there are many things to get into for a small child.  These items include a creek nearby and a dugout, both of which contain water that my son could drown in as when he sees the water, he runs full tilt.  We were loading up some of the scraps from the deck to take to the dump and Jolen was going to come with us men to do the manly work of smelling like garbage at the landfill.

All of a sudden, he was gone.  "Oh no!" I thought, so I bolted for the creek, screaming his name, hoping to hear some sort of sound from his little lungs, but nothing.  In a panic, I ran faster only to hear a "Wheeeeee!  Wheeeeeeee!  Wheeeee!"

I caught a glimpse of him.

 

Without a doubt, that boy is going to grow up to be a farmer.

 

It did make me think of the parables Jesus told of the lost coin and sheep.  The rejoicing that went on when they were found.  And how Jesus relates the celebration to that in Heaven when a person who is lost, finds his way to Jesus.  A time of terror, turns to one of pure joy!

 

Thank you again for all of your prayers as I will be making our final presentation on July 6.

 

We have a place to rent in Dauphin, a 3 bedroom duplex that is a wee bit (as in a lot) less expensive than the house I had shown earlier, we are so excited as we continue on this journey towards heaven that we call life on earth.

The Common Sense

I was super fortunate this weekend to travel with the Grace Bible Fellowship Youth group to West Edmonton Mall.  The difficulty I had was that I have not been involved in youth ministry since March, so one kind of forgets the way teenagers think.

For instance, we stopped off at Whitecout for McDonalds supper on our way.  McDonalds was across the street kiddy corner so, this meant we had to cross the street twice to reach our destination.  Simple, right?  Not with kids who have not developed the common-sense portion of their brain.  And me, being the mature responsible one of course, used common sense.  So, crossing the street started off quite routinely, we waited for the little white man to appear signaling we were to cross, and we did with no incident.  However, when we reached the other side, the group proceeded to begin crossing the street in the next direction walking directly into oncoming traffic that had a green light.  A couple of horns later, the group made it across safely, laughed and continued on their way walking on the street instead of the sidewalk.

It brought to mind an incident I remember when I was young.  We were waiting to go to an Eskimos game and the crosswalk signal switched from white to a red hand, the light turned yellow and then I decided that it would be a great time to run across the street in the middle of rush-hour Edmonton.  The engines revved, the horns honked, you youth leaders yelled and lets just say that I am still alive today despite my "need" to disregard what I knew was the smart choice to make.

Now that the trip is over and my memory is jogged, I am reminded the great desire God has placed in my heart to see youth grow in their faith.  I will be the first to admit that I am old and am not as crazy as I used to be, but there is a thankfulness that God still brings my days of yore back to mind.  Young Christians, do not have the same growth and maturity us who have grown in the faith, yet it is important we remember the time when our relationship with the Holy One was fresh and new.  We were much more "reckless" for Jesus and I think it would be a benefit if we could harness that passion with the maturity that comes with knowing Christ.

I guess the meat of what I am writing about is that we often write off teens and new Christians as naïve and lacking wisdom, but forget passion in our Christian walk.  We need each other, the old to lead the young and the inexperienced to remind the experienced that there is more than one way to skin a cat (why one would want to skin one is beyond me).  So, next time you are challenged, instead of taking offence, step back and wonder how this can teach you the lesson God has in store for you!