House Update

Well our new house is coming along quite nicely! This weekend our kitchen cabinets will be installed so that will be fun to see! We have our final walkthru on March 9th and we have posession of our house on March 14th.

3 Poplar Point

Daniel is standing in front of the stairway, directly to his left are the stairs for the basement and the hallway to the front door.

This is a picture of the kitchen. The sink will go int he corner under the windows and there will be a large island in the middle of the kitchen. Through the door on the right there is a mudroom and an exit out to the garage.

This picture is taken from the kitchen and looks into the great room and exit to the backyard. Recently, the fireplace was installed the the unit directly in the middle.

We also wanted to take a moment and thank God for answering our recent prayers for our rental house in Seattle. We were down to last week left to find renters before it would be sitting vacant and begin costing us a lot of money. But God came through again and we have new renters moving in March 5th - YES!

I (Sarah) am enjoying my new job in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba. I starting here February 1st and I am loving it! This is another huge answer to prayer - YES!

UPSTAIRS

BASEMENT

STAIRWAY

MASTER BEDROOM

Our house

The "Virgin Land"


The Hole


The Basement


The First Floor

Sarah competed in Dragon Boat Races with her work friends...

September 24th - We celebrated our 6th year anniversary!

Happy Holidays

Hello Everyone, My apologies for not updated this blog for a while. I just plain forgot about it for a couple months. I also had a war with my Christmas cards this year and lost horribly. Thank you to everyone who sent us a card--I will try agian next year to send our Christmas cards your way. I wanted to show you how the holidays went for us!

This is the best way to explain Thanksgiving and Christmas in a nutshell: Turkey, Turkey and more Turkey! First we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving in October and had Turkey then we made a trip back to Seattle for Thanksgiving and had Turkey and then Turkey for Christmas Eve and Turkey for Christmas day! What is dutch girl supposed to do without ham for one of these meals??? Can someone help me out here? So I bought a ham--just could not do without!

We had a wonderful time in Seattle visiting with family and friends. While we were gone Dan got a call from FedEx in Winnipeg asking if he would want to start working. This was a surprise--he gave them his resume 7 months earlier and thought there was still a hiring freeze. He has now been working for FedEx for about a month now and we are happy to have steady hours and benefits again. Dan is still studying to be a firefighter and planning on applying in the spring when they are hiring. He was surprised to find out that there are a few firefighters who work for FedEx on their days off, so he may keep that job when he is hired on with the city.

Here in Winnipeg, the holidays bring a lot of white stuff and cold temperatures which I seem to be coping with pretty well--if I can say so :) We received our first big snowfall on Christmas Eve day--about 5 inches--it was so fun!


This is a picture of the snow falling--can't really tell.



Roxy's first snow print, right outside the front door. I tried to put her out in a snowbank to take a picture but she kept running towards the house before I could take it. I guess she doesn't like the snow too much--go figure!


2009 Christmas Tree


Spoiled little Roxy with her Christmas bow.


Annual street hockey game with the Carriere Men--the old guys always win!


On New Years Eve, we watched Team Canada vs Team USA Juniors. USA lost--can you believe it?! That was hard to take because I was the only one cheering for the US in a room with 6 Canadians--Where were you guys?! Oh and by the way--yes I did dye my hair brown, no need to adjust your screen :)


We took this picture last night. -35 C or -25 F ***It was a little chilly***

I have been continuing in my job search and trusting God for a good job in the last few months. Finally, a couple weeks ago I got a call from a company wanting to interview me. So I went downtown Winnipeg for the interview and they told me the they could not tell me a lot about the job because it is for an Executive Assistant job for the CEO of a large company in Winnipeg. I told them that I would be interesting in that position. So before I left day I had three separate interviews, including one with the CEO and found out later that week that I got the job! I start on the 7th of January. It sounds like a great job for a growing company called Groupworks.


This is the building I will be working in.

That is the story over the last couple months. These are some things that Daniel and I are praying for right now and we would love your support in prayer if think of us.

-Dan's studies for firefighting and that God would prepare a spot for him with the city.
-Sarah starting her new job on the 7th.
-Finding new renters for our home in Everett. Our current renters decided not to renew their lease--so we need to find new renters by the 1st of March. If you know anyone looking to rent a great house send them our way:)

Thanks for your support. We love you all very much! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and wish you all the best in 2010!

Sunny September

September is not half bad in Winnipeg. Third week in and it is still around 85 degrees everyday--can't complain. I am completely in denial about seeing the first signs of the cold winter coming up. I will be honest though, there is a tree down the road that is loosing its leaves---nooooooooooooooo!
Anyway September has turned out to be a very busy and exciting month. Let me tell you all about it friends. The month started out with a bang--Dan came back from Texas and his cousin Josh and wife Audrey visited for two weeks from California. It was so great to have them around and hang out. They just left this last Sunday so we are having Josh and Audrey withdrawals now--come back guys--we miss you! The month also started out great because I (Sarah) was surprised to open my mail box one day and find a working visa inside! Everyone say Yeah! I have been sending out resumes ever since. Here in the land of Canada, receiving a working visa also means that you can enroll in the provincial medical plan and get your social number. So, in other words we are officially in business. I am free to work, get sick, and get a credit card. Yes! I have been applying for numerous positions in social work and some government support positions. Excited to see which job God is going to bless me with.
Dan started classes again this past Monday for EMR training (emergency responder). He is in class from 8 to 5 all week. By the end of this week he will know what to do at the scene of an accident and how to deliver a baby--among other things. So far he has been enjoying these classes and excited about all that he is learning.
There are two more weeks of excitement left in September. The 24th is our 5th anniversary already! We decided to do something really crazy and go to Grand Forks, North Dakota for the weekend and stalk up on our American goods. Kinda sounds sad huh? But it should be fun! The 30th will be my 28th birthday too. So it is a month of partying and celebrations.
We would love your continued prayers for Dan's testing coming up and my job searching. Please email us if there is anything you need prayer for--we want to be there for our friends and family and have seen how much prayer makes a difference in the last couple months. Let us know. Until next time!

P.S. I think many people are confused about how Dan's fire training and hiring process is working--so this is the tentative schedule:
Currently--taking EMR classes. The lecture portion will be done this Saturday. Then he has hands on training once a week for a month or two. Then he takes the Provincial tests to become a EMR. With this training he will be able to work on a Ambulance.
Then Dan will need to go back to Texas to take his pump operations training and testing. That teaches him how to work all the water mechanisms on a fire truck.
Then the last big thing he needs to do is get his air brake license--so he can drive a fire truck.
The city hiring for fire fighters only happens once or twice a year and there is a rumor that they are planning a hiring for November. So we are waiting for that announcement and hoping that Dan will have everything finished. Hope that clears everything up. Thanks!