Recent events

Matt, Janice's brother, moved into his first home and finally proposed to Steph and she said yes! Congratulations!
This past Monday evening, we hosted an Barnhoorn Information Evening for some people from Palmerston church. We think it was a successful evening. Some new people have expressed interest in being part of our team! We have spent time this week meeting with supporters, going to the doctor and thinking about packing! We have also viewed a few homes and are trying to find a home that we could afford!

We do want to apologize for the poor updating since being in Ontario. Niether set of parents have high speed internet so it is a challenge! Thankfully Matt now has high speed and we are using it tonight!

The Fall

After going to church on Sunday morning and speaking there, we came home and were getting lunch ready. Stephen was outside on the front deck throwing a ball to Titus, the dog. Suddenly we heard him wailing and crying. He had fallen down the stairs and got a rather large, fat and bloody lip!

Camping

The second weekend of July was Drost Camping with my dad's family. Stephen loved camping but wasn't too keen about how dirty he got! He liked the big houses (motorhomes) and the tractor that took him on a wagon ride to see the deer (elk). They also had a very cold swimming pool.

Saugeen Conservation Area

While Jono was busy camping with the boys, Stephen, Dad and I went to the Saugeen Conservation Area. It's a place we used to go to when we were young. It has many animals and trails to hike. It was also shady so it was a great way to get out of the heat.

Since the wedding

It has been a busy/relaxing summer so far. Before the wedding, we were able to spend a few days with Jono's family in Port Perry. Stephen loved playing with Uncle Dan's project. Unfortunately, he did not love the sandbox that Opa (Jono's dad) had spent hours cleaning up for him. Stephen still does not appreciate being dirty! BUT, he has overcome his aversion to grass and will now walk through the grass barefoot!!!

Theresa and Joe's Wedding

I have tried to post pics from the wedding but am running into some trouble. For now, if you want to see pictures, you can go to Theresa and Joe's blog from the link on our page.

It was a great day despite Stephen being sick. We still don't know what he had, but it wasn't nice. Thankfully he woke up Sunday feeling much better but he was also covered in a rash! He was glad to be able to play with his new best friends, Aiden and Ashton, my parent's neighbours.

Getting to Ontario

We flew to Ontario on the 13th of June. We were picked up by a very excited Beppe (Janice's mom). Stephen even recognized her and gave her a hug. He was quickly distracted by the luggage carts and was able to go for a few rides while we waited for our luggage. We drove to Elmira to meet Janice's siblings for dinner. On the way we were able to get Stephen to tell Beppe that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy. My mother was quite excited! We had to tell Pake (Janice's dad) over the phone as he was in a course, stuck in Toronto.
After dinner, we made it to our new home for the next month. Stephen seemed to remember it and adjusted quickly. Janice promptly tried on her bridesmaid dress to affirm the fact that it didn't fit properly! The next day we were able to find a seamstress and have her alter the dress in time for Theresa's wedding.
For those who were wondering, everyone now knows that we are expecting. It was great to tell people our great news!

A free day before flying to Ontario

COPE/WOC was finished late Friday night, so we had 3 days before we flew to Ontario. We slept in Saturday morning and did some running around. On Sunday we stopped at Uncle Jake and Auntie Donna's house for lunch. Stephen loves going there and spending time with them and Auntie Dendra (Kendra). Hopefully we will see them in Ontario later this summer. We went to the water park on Monday to kill some time and have some fun. As it turns out, Stephen loves water and getting wet!
Showing off new gloves from Jake and Donna. They match a head band received earlier (which we were unable to find at the time of this picture).

COPE/WOC

A long time ago, or what seems like a long time ago, we spent two weeks in a course. It was a Wycliffe Orientation Course (WOC) and COPE was about culture and stuff. I can't remember what it stands for.
We spent two weeks learning about culture, Wycliffe, interpersonal issues, life on the field, partnership development, insurance, prayer and other things related to life overseas. It was an intense, but great couple of weeks. Meals were provided so we didn't have to cook or shop for two weeks. They also provided babysitting for Stephen! We also got to meet many cool new friends.

Life

It's true... there is another Barnhoorn baby on the way. Some of you were astute enough to catch the hint. Good detective work! The baby is due in December, around the 12th, which puts it smack dab in the middle of exams and papers and moving!! Good timing! It means that we likely won't be heading back to Ontario until January to give us some time to pack. We are quite excited about the new baby. Stephen is, as well. He often asks if he can give the baby a kiss.
We are now in Ontario helping the Drost side of the family get ready for Theresa and Joe's wedding on Saturday. We're hoping for nice weather because they are planning to have the ceremony outside. It means a lot of work around the house trying to get it looking pretty for all the guests. We will be spending several weeks in this area talking to people and trying to get our support level up. Neither of us have been looking forward to doing this, but it's actually starting to grow on me. I get to talk to people about my passion.
Around the middle of July we'll go to the Port Perry area to visit the other side of the family and talk to more people. We'll also go to the wedding of a friend and then at the end of August we have another wedding, this time a wedding on the Barnhoorn side.
That's how we're doing. Sorry about the lack of updates, but we've been traveling and dial-up internet is not something we're used to. It's really slow. Anyway, hope to see most of you in person at some point during the summer!

Hidden message

There may or may not be a hidden message in this post.... We'll leave it for you to decide.

Happy Birthday and such things

I just want to say a belated happy birthday to my wonderful husband. He is busy playing his present, Age of Empires III. I think he likes his gift. We spent his birthday at "school" and haven't done much to celebrate it. They did put a candle on a cake and sing happy birthday for him that night at dinner!

We are in the middle of COPE, a Wycliffe Orientation Course being held at CanIL. We drop Stephen off at the Family Room by 7:30 am! That means we are up and at 'em by 6:30am. That is much earlier than our usual 7:30am. The days are long but are filled with sessions, testimonies, food, and fellowship. It has been very informative, for the most part, yet very tiring because of the long days, we usually get home around 8pm!

We were driving home tonight and we commented that Stephen's language abilities have drastically improved this past week. He is saying new words and putting more words together to form fragments/sentences! In no time he'll be speaking real English and not just Stephenish/toddlerease!!

Superstar

For those of you who don't know Stephen is a professional personal trainer. Here he is in his uniform. The headband is from Jake and Donna and says "Ice Age" on it. It came in a cereal box. No one wears it as well as Stephen. And yes, he always looks this cool.

More Babysitting

Janice is also babysitting a couple mornings for a mom in her Bible Study group. She babysits them here at home. "Luta" (Lukas) and Stephen get along pretty well together. The other day we took Lukas with us while we went to the dentist. The dentists are a couple who are big supporters of Wycliffe and CanIL. They are wonderful people. Unfortuanately for us they ran into some big problems the morning we visited them. What was supposed to be a thirty minute visit ended up being a three hour stay. Fortunately Stephen and Lukas played together the whole time and were no problem even though they didn't have lunch and only a handful of animal crackers. At home, they love playing with the water in the water table.

Talking with Oma

Oma had a treat the other day when she called. Stephen was in a mood where he actually wanted to talk on the phone. We just had to take a picture of it.

Lunch at the Stelpstras

For Mother's Day I took Janice out to some friends of ours. Donna just won a parachute at a book fair, so we took it out in the back yard. Jake had fun with Stephen, throwing the ball on the "woot" or roof if you don't speak Stephenish. Kendra also got to play with Stephen a little (although not as much as she would have liked). We also got to watch the season finale of Survivor with them. Don't you just love the hat? All in all, Janice had a great Mother's Day. Just ask her.

Babysitting

Janice still babysits a couple mornings a week. Stephen loves to go there because of some of their toys. Of course, it doesn't hurt that there are two girls there, as well. Here are some pictures of one of the biggest toys (a boucny castle) and one of the girls.

Megablocks

Some friends of ours from CanIL have recently moved. Their oldest son has outgrown his Megablocks and now only plays with Lego. So Stephen has inherited the Megablocks. He loves them and plays with them every day. He enjoys making "tower" (He can pronounce tower fairly well.) but his favourite thing is to knock them down. In the one picture you'll notice that Stephen looks like he's falling down. Actually, he's jumping on the couch. He likes to jump when he gets excited.

Hair Cut

Stephen's hair was getting long again, so we cut it. We also figured we should cut it before his Aunt Theresa's wedding so that some of the inevitable "holes" would have time to fill in. Here are some pictures of the process. We fed him candy and let him watch a Veggie Tales movie to help the procedure go a little smoother. We forgot to take before pictures, but have a look at the pictures below to give you an idea of how long it was.

Bi Tu and Moye

Apparently Stephen takes after his uncle Rod. He loves to watch the cars go by from our back porch. He stands on his picnic table so that he can get a better view of the "bi tu" (big truck) and "moye" (motocycles) that go by our place at breakneck speeds.