It's better to give than receive!

Sigh! A week of sunshine and temperatures in the 60s (upper teens C) has bade us farewell! We were blessed with a number of days that were way above average for this time of year, and of course we made the most of them! Unfortunately, the weather reports for this week are indicating that we will be back in line with the averages expected for mid-November.

On Friday night, we invited some good friends over for dinner. The food, as usual, was delicious (made by Liesel), and the fellowship was sweet. After dinner, Nathan introduced Ron to his Lego Star Wars game on the Wii, which soon had them totally engrossed in their light saber waving mission. After Nathan and Joshua had gone to bed, we hauled out the card game, Phase 10. By 10:30, we had laughed so much and had so much fun, that we had only played up to Phase 8! It was then that we finally quit the game, and declared Ron the winner!

Saturday was a quieter day with Nathan going to a birthday party, Liesel heading to some shops, and I cleaned out the garage with my handy leaf-blower! The evening continued the relaxed theme, as Liesel and I caught up on some of our favorite TV shows.

Sunday was noticeably cooler. Liesel had her Nursery duty routine and I took the boys to the early service. That evening, after a delicious roast for dinner, we sat down with Nathan and talked to him about our Christmas donation plans. Earlier in the week, Liesel received a catalog from World Vision with various ways to support less fortunate people. What we like about the idea, is that our donations can bring direct relief to needy families, mostly in Africa. The catalog shows you how you can buy livestock, fish, seeds, trees, water purifiers, school books, sports equipment, medicines and even mosquito nets! After telling Nathan our plans, he asked Liesel to read some of the stories that accompanied some of the pictures. After hearing how these gifts will impact others lives, we asked him what items we should purchase for these people. He gave it a lot of thought and chose the water purification fund, some medications, fruit trees and mosquito nets! We were so proud of the thought that Nathan put into this decision! We pray that this may plant the seed of giving in Nathan's heart as he grows up.