A little change of plans....

A new little one is changing our plans.... Darnell and I are expecting our second child in the middle of April! We now plan to leave for the Philippines after our baby is born, which means in June we will finally be on our way to a new and exciting adventure of church planting in Manila. And now it will be even more of an adventure with two little munchkins about 19 months apart!


Because of our later departure date, we have been more deeply immersing ourselves in our local community this fall. Darnell is coordinating the Extreme Weather Shelter at our home church, Emmanuel Mennonite. For the month of December our church is open to shelter homeless people during below freezing temperatures. Darnell is finding volunteers now and will be very busy if we get a cold December! He is also leading our bible study and leading a monthly newcomers potluck at our church where he invites people to share what God is doing in their lives- so far, it has been a wonderful time of community fellowship.


In September Cody turned one and I went back to work as a Teacher-On-Call. I was going to TOC part time and was hoping to squeeze in enough hours for another maternity leave. On my first day of TOCing I happened to fall into a perfect position at my former school, WJ Mouat Secondary and I will be staying there the whole semester (until the end of January) and can receive another maternity leave! Because I had already given up my last position (thinking we were leaving much sooner!), I did not expect to get a great full-time position. Thank you Lord! I am teaching Beginners ESL, Planning 10 and French 9. It's really a great course load and I am still home at a decent hour to spend time with Cody:)


Cody is learning so much everyday and is such a happy, silly little boy. He is having a lot of fun with grandparents while I am at work- mostly Grandpa Barkman, who takes him all over town campaigning for City Councillor right now. I think if he's re-elected he'll have his friendly little grandson to thank!


This Sunday we will be preaching at our church for Missions Sunday and we are welcoming invites to other churches as we seek more ministry partnerships with local congregations. In February we plan to travel to Alberta to speak at a few Mennonite Church Canada congregations there.


Thanks again for all your love and support! I'll leave you with a giggly little pumpkin:)

Update from Pennsylvania

We have spent the last two weeks in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for mission's training. We have another week and half to go before we head to Winnipeg and I thought I'd give a little update on our time here so far. 

- We are with 12 other soon-to-be missionaries who will be dispersing around the globe this year. We are enjoying getting to know this great group of people.

- The discipleship centre we're staying in is in the ghetto of Harrisburg- quite an interesting neighbourhood! Right now I am listening to a crazy amount of 4th of July fireworks and firecrackers just outside my window (and am surprised that Cody is sleeping through it!).

Our little climber loves the stairs in the 100-year-old building we're living in.

- Cody was quite sick the first week with a flu, ear ache and rash (it was a virus). So needless to say, it was rather hard leaving him for the first time and he did spend a couple of the sessions snuggling on mommy's lap. He is back to his usual cheerful self now and is very happy with the lovely childcare girls.

He spends a lot of time eating and giggling in this great seat we purchased. 

- We have had some great cross-cultural experiences. We visited a Muslim mosque, a Messianic Jewish synagogue and a Conservative Jewish synagogue. This weekend we head to a Hindu temple in New Jersey.

- Being tourists here on the weekends has been much fun. We spent a day touring the beautiful Amish countryside. My favourite stop was a toy store with handmade wooden toys. We also went to Hershey, Pennsylvania and learned how to make a kiss! Cody loved the little train ride, especially the singing cows.

- We have really appreciated the classes. So far, I'd have to say David Shenk was my favourite. If you haven't read his books, you should. He has a wealth of experience, especially when it comes to Muslim-Christian dialogues and he shares the most interesting cross-cultural anecdotes.

- Lastly, it is HOT here! I know everyone at home is wishing it were hotter but this heat and humidity seems more like the Philippines and we don't have an air conditioner! 

He's getting good wear of his summer outfits!

the journey begins....

In preparation for our church planting assignment in Manila, we are taking part in a three and half week missions seminar in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania- we leave June 19! The training is hosted by Eastern Mennonite Missions, in partnership with Eastern Mennonite University; we will be hearing from some great professors and experienced overseas workers. I am particularly excited about the learning that will take place- seeing as I don't already have a missions degree, like Darnell, I'm thinking this will be quite useful!!!

After some time in Amish-country, we have five days before we fly to Winnipeg.... so what are we going to do? Head to New York, of course! We don't really have any plans yet, but we're hoping to see some of the Big Apple and drive around the area. Any suggestions??? 

In Winnipeg we will be visiting some friends and family for a couple days, then spending a day at Mennonite Church Canada's head office to figure out more logistics of our assignment. And finally, we'll be attending Mennonite Church Canada's missions seminar for the last weekend of our trip. We'll be home July 25th.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we travel, learn and fellowship for the next 6 weeks. And pray that Cody will adjust well... I'm not too worried, seeing as he is such a happy and flexible little guy, but he will be in day care for nearly 4 weeks! Actually, I think his mama might be the one who needs prayers:)

Peace to you all!
....and I had to add a photo of Cody:) Here he is with all his travelling necessities: his cool-like-my-dad hat, his favourite travel chair and daddy's wallet!

Philippines Bound

It's official now- Mennonite Church Canada will be sending us to be church planters in Manila. We plan to leave in January 2012! Since coming back from our year-long internship with Peacebuilders Community about 2 years ago, we have had Global City (part of Metro Manila) on our mind. This is where we will begin our vision of Peace Church. We have been invited by the Integrated Mennonite Church of the Philippines to start a church in one of the wealthiest areas of the country. We believe that Christ's message of peace must reach the upper class in order to bring Shalom to the conflict-ridden Philippines. Here is a snippet from our initial vision we recently wrote...

"We hope to plant an Anabaptist Mennonite church in Global City. We want to see a community of believers who follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace. We envision a church that is active in spreading God's message of peace and reconciliation; a church that seeks to rebuild broken relationships, both personally and nationally. The biblical concept of shalom is central to our identity as Mennonites- harmony with God, harmony with others, harmony with the self and harmony with creation- and will direct all our actions."

Please pray for us as we begin to plan for this exciting new direction for our lives.

p.s. I think our little smiley guy will be the best at making friends in the Philippines :)