SNAP THAT

It has been such a long time since I've been to the beach or the ocean here in my city though I don't live so terribly far away from it. It is a shame really since I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. On one side is the beautiful Pacific Ocean and on the other side stand the majestic mountains.  In the middle is the pearl, the City of Vancouver. Today I went to capture some photos at a place called Spanish Banks. Named by the earliest European Spanish explorers in the 1770s. Spanish Bank is home to three of Vancouver's superior beaches, far from the madding crowd. Here you can feel truly "away" as you scan the open waterfront to the west or turn your glance back to one of the most beautiful city skylines anywhere. (Source: Vancouver Park Board website). I enjoyed my visit so much. The sights, the smells....I could smell the seaweed and the sound of the waves lapping against the shore is always such a soothing balm. Also one can't find bett

Driving to Kamloops, BC. We are at the highest elevation of the mountainous highway. Passing by Merritt, BC.  One hour left to go before we get to Kamloops. Today my brother, my cousin and I took a day drive to Kamloops to visit my mother.  We left around 7:45 a.m. and arrived in Kamloops at 12:30 p.m. after a leisurely drive and several stops. I only took a couple of photos along the way.  After stopping for some lunch we arrived to visit mom. She was waiting in the dining hall anxiously keeping watch for us and was so happy when we arrived. We visited for a time in the dining hall and I showed her the shawls and dresses I had brought for her. She loved them all.  After visiting for awhile my brother went to pick up my niece who lives about a half hour from where mom now resides.  When he returned, we left my brother to visit my mom in private while I took my cousin for a look around the facilities and took my niece to see the new rose garden that is now open at the facility

For some time I've been meaning to clean the cushion covers of 4 Kapok filled cushions I purchased a long while ago. I finally got around to it today. Kapok is seed hair fibre from a Kapok tree and looks and feels very interesting. The job was a little more difficult and time consuming than I bargained for but thankfully it is all done now. I had four cushions to open and empty of it's Kapok contents. Kapok grows on trees and has a cotton like consistency. It is rather soft and fluffy and this made the work of removing it a bit of a challenge. You can read more about Kapok here. Particles of kapok dust flew all over the place and got on the freshly vacuumed carpet. My cousin who is visiting and who had vacuumed was not so happy with me but the job had to be done. After a few years of wear the cushions were becoming flattened and that was the other reason I needed to open them. After refilling the cushions I was left with three. I need to buy more Kapok to fill up the r

What a wonderful treat I had when I visited Kenya recently. I got to meet a blogging buddy and she is a treasure. I met my blogger friend Jo in Nakuru Town when she and her husband made a pit stop on their way back from Nairobi to Kimwarer Valley. I was so grateful because it would have been a pity to be so close to her and yet not meet her. Through God's design and Jo's perseverance we were indeed able to meet and see one another in the flesh. This is Jo! Our meeting was brief but long enough for me to sense the special treasure that Jo is. She really is a delightful, gentle spirit.  Jo and her husband hail from South Africa but are currently living in the Kimwarer, Valley near Eldoret, Kenya.  I had a moment to introduce her to the three boys I was treating to lunch and they were thrilled.  In case, you don't know Jo yet, please see her wonderful blog here . From left to right:  Martin, Hillary Joseph and Moses. You can read more about them here.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask we know that we have what we asked of Him.  1 John 5:14-15 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,  according to the power that worketh in us. Ephesians 3:20 I have been in Kenya for about 3 weeks now.  I am going home tomorrow. I always feel sad a day or two in advance of my departure as I never know when exactly I will be back.  However, I do believe that God will make a way for me to return if it is His desire that I return. I had only notions of a holiday of rest and recuperation on this trip because the the past year has been mentally and physically exhausting due to health issues of my own and of my loved ones also. It has been a taxing year in every way.  I didn't have a whole lot of advance planning or funds to do some good works which I always love to

I've been on a short sojourn in Kenya. One of the things I wanted to do on this trip besides seeing little Kigen (see his story here ), was to travel to Solai . Solai is a small town located about a 50 minute drive north of Nakuru, Kenya. I sponsor a little boy named Peter in Solai. I sponsor him through a charitable organization and I hadn't made arrangements to visit him so this trip was really just to get a feel for the place where he lives and to see with my own eyes what is located there. I hope to visit little Peter in person some day if God enables. Most of the road to Solai is paved but the last 10 minutes or so you travel on a dirt road. The skies were especially lovely that day and you can see the wispy white clouds against a clear blue sky. The earth road is a deep red colour. I enjoyed these mud huts with thatched roofs along my journey.  There was an entire village of them along the road. Apparently the people who live there work at a farm. Th

I want to thank RonJoe Geezer for deciding to follow my blog and to welcome you. It is so far from Canada to northern Kenya in Pokot country where little Kigen lives. Some of you may remember him. He is the little boy that my friend Jonah and I have been assisting on medical mercy mission. He and his siblings have some kind of hereditary condition which has been affecting their skin, causing open lesions on the head and face, and affecting their eyesight. Kigen himself has been unable to see anything as both of his eyes have been closed tightly and are unable to open on their own. Signage on the last leg of our trip into Eldoret from Nakuru. After learning of Kigen's condition after Jonah's food relief effort to the Pokot people, I helped organize costs for transporting the mother, Paulina,  and two of her three children to seek medical treatment at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in El Doret, Kenya. They have now been there for over three months and whil