-Bianca

I so enjoy taking pictures of all the snow we have been getting this year! That is, as long as I can do it from the comfort of our house:)

Okay, so the following picture isn’t quite in winter yet, but I thought it was too nice to pass up.

For these sunrise pictures I actually went outside

Timber wants to play, but Leandro is just too busy:)

-Bianca

You all must have decided that I have completely forgotten about this blog. If that was true, I’d actually have a good excuse for not updating. But I didn’t and now I have the daunting task of filling you all in with what had been happening during my absence. Although that is a lot, I will begin!

So on November 7 we left for Calgary. Mama had two checkups but they were not on the same day, so we decided to make it a overnight family getaway. Best decision ever :)! After the first appointment we went to downtown Calgary to eat lunch. I think that’s where I took the most pictures. Not nearly all of them turned out, due mostly to the fact that I insist on taking them while we’re driving. Hey, they do turn out sometimes 🙂 All those buildings and busy streets fascinate me!

I found this very neat! If only I could draw like that…

This tower has probably been shot to death already, but I always have to get at least one picture every time we go to Calgary.

And this was the motel we stayed at. Actually it was two motels joined together. They were right across from the airport, so that provided us with some entertainment. A casual observer would have thought we had never seen a plane before, much less seen one land or take off:) It was quite fascinating.

This was the view from our window

The next day, we oldest four had a good time at the mall while the rest went to Mama’s other appointment. There, they were confirmed of the fact that all is well, for this we praise God!

The most daunting thing to write about is the passing away of my uncle Peter. He and his family, a wife and two daughters, lived in Seminole, TX. He had been on his way to work when they got hit from behind by another car that hadn’t noticed they wanted to make a left turn. We were in shock! He wasn’t that old and this was so quick. So final. We spent the rest of the day packing and figuring out who would take care of out acreage while we were gone. Thankfully, we do have the best family ever, who graciously offered to do our chores and more. Thank you all so much! It was such a relief knowing our animals were in excellent hands. That same evening we left for Texas. Jon & Yesenia joined us, which was really nice. The roads on the way there were not the smoothest, which really slowed our progress. But we arrived safely on Wednesday evening. It was definitely with mixed feelings that we met our family, at least for us children. I mean, it was a very sad occasion, but we were also very excited to see our cousins from down south. The last time we had seen a lot of them was the wedding in June and for some it was even longer. The emotions were very conflicting

We cousins spent a lot of time in the gym at the church where the family had gathered. I did not join in with the sports but sure took my share of pictures. Here are some of them.

Condie on the right (Peter’s oldest daughter) with her cousin Haley and photo-bomber-cousin Jonathan

Playing tag football

Gathering for a meeting

Tired after playing so hard, they looked at pictures

This was the best I could do when it came to getting a picture of all the guys. Age difference was not a problem, which I found really sweet.

This little guy got his share of attention:)

I honestly do not know how to describe the funeral. I was never close to my uncle Peter and didn’t see him very often, so the funeral was not such a big deal to me as it should have been. I think I was more sad when I thought of the family he had left behind. Your continued prayers for them would be very much appreciated.

A few days later we spent the afternoon at Beverly’s house. We spent a lot of time outside. Leslie and Condy got a hold of the camera, and I was warned I might never get it back again. This did not bother me, as I Love it when others get a passion for photography. Here are some pictures from that afternoon. All the following pictures were taken by the girls. For beginning photographers, I thought they did very well.

Chilling inside before the game…

…which of course was tag football! Whenever we cousins get together, we seem to have a theme game which we play (almost) nonstop. Once it was capture the flag, another time it was ultimate frisbee, and now it was tag football.

Watching the game

This little girl was so adorable!

I know that this isn’t very clear, but I think that it was the best group picture we had of all of us cousins

Condie (above) decided she was the photographer (pronounced with the accent on the first syllable just to be unique,) and Leslie (below) chose to be the model. Though this worked quite well, I think they would’ve had better results had they traded professions.

Waffles for breakfast the next morning

The following pictures were taken later on in the day at one of my aunt’s house.

Love that combination of colours

Not sure what the point was of this picture, but you get the idea. Just hanging out and talking. Best times ever:)!

Monday morning we left for home. Though we had come to TX for a very sad occasion we still had a good time together. I felt that through this time we cousins had bonded a lot closer for which I was very thankful. It was hard to leave the grieving family alone down there, but home was calling with all its tasks and comforts!

These last pictures were taken on the way home.

I guess that finishes it up for now. You all have a great weekend,

Bianca

P.S.  This post would have been published a bit sooner had not our computer decided that it needed a break for once. Thankfully Yesenia got it to work again, but only after a lot of hard work. Thanks a lot Yesenia!

P.P.S. Another big thank you to Yesenia as she edited this post and got the words flowing smoothly! Sisters are the best:)

 

Maybe I should set up my own private blog to do all my posts on :-). But, if I were to do that, Bianca would have to guest post there so it would stay updated. So I’ll just keep being the guest instead of setting up an ‘infrequently-updated-blog’.

We had the first message of a week of revival meetings last night and I’ve already been challenged. I’ve realized how much God is doing in my life and that is why I want to do this blog post. Yesterday, in the youth message, we were challenged to share what God is doing in our lives and since I express myself better in writing, this is my way of saying that God is still faithful.

First of all, I went through a dark time a while ago that lasted way too long. I tried to stay positive and do what I knew I needed to do in order to get out of it, but I couldn’t seem to pray and the grace that I knew was there, didn’t seem to be working in my life.

Now for a while already, I’ve been doing a lot better and I thanked God for it. However, on our 7 month anniversary, I decided to embark on an experiment. You see, through this time when things were so dark, I spent a lot of time on my phone. God wasn’t speaking to me and my phone did (to some extent), so that’s what I turned to. I got quite addicted to Pinterest and Youtube. Not that I was looking at anything that was, in and of itself, harmful, I just was addicted to it. And that’s where, as I see now, the big problem was. I was depressed, I had no motivation, I couldn’t get victory over sin, I couldn’t sing, I couldn’t trust God, and I got practically nothing out of my devotions. I listened to a message about Abraham and in it, John D. Martin expressed very clearly that God had been blessed by fellowship with Abraham. True, Abraham was blessed too but the special thing was that God had been blessed by their fellowship. I didn’t even have to think to know that God was not blessed by my fellowship. The next message was about Jacob and Esau. In comparing their characters, he brought out that the reason Jacob was blessed was because he was willing to obey. I asked myself, “Am I willing to obey?”. Not really. But I wanted to be. Because God showed me that my faith is shown by my obedience. And if I’m not obedient, first of all, He counts me as having no faith. Secondly, I won’t move on in my spiritual life and His presence will feel distant. God doesn’t skip a step to go on to the next one, no matter how small the first step is!

When I realized all this, I decided to not go on Pinterest or YouTube till our 8 month anniversary (my, that sounds like we’ve been married a long, long time!) and see what would happen.

It’s only the 5th day of my experiment, and oh! what a difference! I’ve been blessed by God’s Word. When I can’t sleep, songs and prayers come so easily! I have motivation and my thinking pattern is so much clearer. Not to mention that I get a lot more done because I’m not wasting all that time anymore! God is so good! And I’m looking forward to the future because I can’t wait to see what He will continue to do!

It’s not been easy though! I’ve had a couple of moments where the temptation was still so very strong! But contrary to previous experience, I’ve been able to say ‘No!’ and move on! It takes some imagination and you have to exercise your brain in finding other ways to keep it busy but God is faithful and He is so willing to hold us up when we make a decision for Him!

So now I understand why I wasn’t having the victory and why grace (the power to overcome sin) hasn’t been manifested in my life. I wasn’t letting it happen! Once I finally stepped up to the plate and told God, “Yes, I’ll give that up for a deeper relationship with You,” He manifested Himself beyond my expectations!

This morning, as I was reading the Daily Light, I was so blessed!

 

Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.      

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. — Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. — Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness. (I had to deny myself and the ‘unfruitful’ works of darkness.)

Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. — Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. — Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.     (Amen!! Saying ‘no’ to my body with its fleshly desires and pushing on to the prize, this is what I want to do!)

HEB. 12:1,2.  Luke 9:23. ‑Luke 14:33. ‑Rom. 13:12. I Cor. 9:25,27. -Phi. 3:13,14. ‑Hos. 6:3.

  So I ask for prayers and I hope you’ve been challenged to give up that thing that’s keeping you from the Lord and true fellowship with Him. Looking at it when you’re down is not very appealing, as I found from my experience. But being down is even less appealing so when you finally give up, God’s plan is better than you ever even imagined! May God bless you in your journey to become closer to Him.

P.S. Funny story from last night. (It came with a conviction so that’s why I’m telling it ;-).)

We were ready to go to sleep when I started complaining about everything that hurt. You see, we went skating Saturday night and I fell so I was sore along with a few bruises. After complaining a bit, Jon’s like, “What else hurts?!”. I asked him if he really wanted to know and proceeded to list 9 things. Laughing, he tells me, “So 9 out of your 10 body parts hurt.” And just like that, I remembered two more things that hurt. Now it was 11 out of 10!

But then the conviction hit me! The Israelites had to stay in the wilderness for 40 years because of their complaints! So I decided for every complaint I had made, 11 to be exact ;-), I had to name a blessing!

P.P.S. I started this in the morning, and now, in the evening, I’m glad that this day is almost over. Cause it’s not been an easy day! However, God’s grace has been sufficient and I have been able to withstand temptation. Glory to His Name!!

 

I hope I’m not the only one excited about this blog post. I know it’s been way too long in coming as yesterday marked our 7 month anniversary. But I think January is a good time to share some summer beauty, especially with wedding pictures! So without further ado…a few of my personal favourites!

         The Groom and his Men

The Bride and her Maidens

Some favourites! Rosie, that picture of you and me had to make it on here because that’s exactly us! You can always make me laugh!

Some highlights

I just love the bouquets! Sara, you did an amazing job and Lorena, you photographed them so well!

This was us, all day! I used to think that wedding pictures would be hard to take because you have to smile so long. Not true! I couldn’t quit smiling, even if I tried!

I think these pictures will always be my favourites because of the memories they contain. Lorena did such a wonderful job posing us and we had so much fun! She made it so relaxing and she knew just how to pose us in order to make it very enjoyable! Jon and I both did not think that our love language was touch. But that all changed on our wedding day! Oh, what fun we had, just holding hands and being in each others arms! The wait sure paid off!

These were the last pictures we took and I was surprised that we were done so soon. But I think we stopped at just the right time because we weren’t tired yet and this way we got an good start on our honeymoon ;-)!!

When we first looked at our wedding pictures, after the last one was done, Jon was like, “We should do that again.”

Immediately I asked, “The entire wedding?!”

“Oh no!” he said. “Just the pictures and the honeymoon!” ❤ 🙂

Lorena, thank you so much for not only capturing our memories, but for making memories as well!

I can hardly believe that my wedding pictures are going onto a blog! For years, I’ve enjoyed the half hour on Sundays when my sisters and I were allowed to check blogs. The best ones were always the weddings! Even though I never thought that I would have any of my own for years yet, somehow, wedding pictures attract a young girl. Now my wedding pictures are here and I’m ready to begin sharing them with you! I’ve already mentioned it, but it’s worth saying again. Lorena Neufeld from Frames and Feathers Photography did our photography and she did such a good job! We will never regret choosing her!

June 25. The day has finally arrived! I woke up at 6:00 am after about six hours of sleep (which I never expected to get the night before my wedding but it was an answer to prayer.) It was rainy and cold but we loaded up our dresses, the bouquets, and all the hair supplies before heading to church. Leaving the house for the last time as Miss Unger was an interesting feeling! We got to church at 8:00 but didn’t really start with hair till around 8:30. This meant that it was a big rush towards the end but everyone was ready before the ceremony, praise the Lord!

We were the first ones to get married in the new church building in Bow Island. These are the guestbook tables at the entrance.

Dresses! I absolutely loved the colours we chose and every time I see the bridesmaids’ dresses, I fall in love with it again!

Doing hair!

My hair is all done! I never saw my own hair before the reception was over. I guess that tell you how much I trust my new sister, Tenay. By the way, if I haven’t told you, you did an amazing job!

 

Jon sent me a message on the bottom of my shoes! I was so surprised and utterly thrilled!

Sadly, it wore off by the time the day was over but it said, “You’re my friend, you’re my love, you’re my life, I can’t wait to make you my wife! Jon”

Elfrieda asking to see 😉

My dear Mama and the maker of my dress! She did such a good job and I will forever cherish the memories we made while we were sewing. Thank you Mama!

Almost done with hair! Although you can’t see it, Aggie is doing a flower girl’s hair while her hair is being done!

Ready to walk down the aisle! (But of course I had to wait another long time yet!)

The guys got ready at our house in town but they came to church early and Lorena got some pictures of them. They didn’t have their ties, bouteniere, or shoes yet so they did that at church.

Ready to go!

 

Smelling the rose on the bouteniere!

 

Jon’s sister Tenay is an artist and she made this sign for us. Believe it or not, that’s practically written freehand!

Jon’s sister Suzy took responsibility for the decorations and I think she did a wonderful job! Thank you Suzy!

My soon-to-be Mother-in-love!

More of Tenay’s artistry. She made signs like this from 1 Corinthians 13 for the aisle.

Our programs!

Jon’s uncle and aunt, Kiko and Judy, were one set of our guestbook attendants. (Thanks again for wearing the tie, Kiko :-)!)

And my uncle and aunt, Eric and Anna, were the other set! Thank you guys!

 

I’ve been trying to get more morning pictures, as I’m kinda tired of sunset ones. Now that the sun is waking up here so late, it works out a lot better. 

for now,

Bianca