Lost!

Have we lost our friend?

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather ran cold, even very cold during the first part of the week, but has returned to more comfortable temperatures for the start of the Scotties! I had a training session Thursday evening, and began my officiating assignment Friday evening—I'm here all next week! Since I'm working in the event, I will be quietly cheering for hometown favourite #9-McCarville, and my usual favourite, #2-Einarson, but still expecting the powerhouse #1-Homan team to be there at the end. My #17-Jayhawks continue an up and down season and slide another notch in the rankings. They split their games again this week, but show flashes of potential! C'mon Jayhawks!  In hockey, the big event is the Four Nations Face-off. The games have been very entertaining so far, with the big game tonight as the traditional rivalry match between Canada and USA which they won 3-1. Sadly, that friendship is in tatters as the USA has launched aggression against us, vowing to destroy our country and make us a part of their country. This is a devastating turn of events, and our only hope is that some will remember our longstanding allegiance and friendship and change the determined course that Trump is taking. Otherwise, he says he will break us economically and force us to submit to USA rule. We have long looked upon the USA like a big brother, and we can hardly feature this situation. Their economy is already suffering under the new administration, so clearly there is a lot he can do if he decides to do so. He campaigned with promises of creating jobs and killing inflation, but so far it's the opposite as job creation lags and inflation jumps higher again. The markets are also suffering, and I need that to change. Surely the corporate forces will not allow this to continue. 

Erica is off on a medical trip to Germany. On Tuesday she wrote, "Later today, I will begin my journey to Germany with my handy nurse, Tina Stenske. However, I almost wasn't able to go. Last night, as I was packing, I discovered that my passport was not where I thought it was. Eric and I started looking through all the usual places... then the not usually places... then boxes and bags of stuff that got moved around in our rearranging of the main floor for Christmas. I went through all my drawers, pulling out, refolding and putting clothing back in place just in case it had slipped into a drawer. Eric went out and looked through the car, in the - 30 weather. Several times we said prayers that God would show us where the passport was hiding. Around 11 pm, we decided to take a trip to my office. I had booked the tickets on October 22, a Tuesday, and I was pretty sure that was at the office. Usually you have to enter the passport number when you book an international flight, as was evidenced by the fact that I had asked Tina to send me her info at that time. So we searched my office—no luck. But since we were parked in my office's underground parking, we decided to give the car a better look through than we had done before. I pulled the passenger seat all the way forward, and there it was—under the seat. Eric and I had both pulled out stuff from under the seat, but it wasn't until we pulled the seat forward and had decent lighting, that we could see it. We thanked God, breathed a sigh of relief and returned home!" She flew through London to Bonn with her friend and nurse, Tina. She had her surgery on Friday, and has begun the process of recovery. She expects to stay another week there. 

Erin celebrated the victory by her chosen Eagles as Super Bowl Champs. She writes, "I closed the year on Wednesday :) Still have reports to do, but the real important stuff is done. No more entries allowed. Then I finished January financial statements yesterday. It’s been a really good week! Over 100 applications came in for my accounting clerk position. Interviews start Tuesday. I’m excited to meet these people, actually. I was a bit nervous at first… thinking about being on this side of hiring and how to choose. One of them will be super close with me for the next few years. Now I’m not so nervous because I feel that I will know. Weather here sucks. It’s cold and I haven’t seen a break in the forecast. Time to go to the beach! But more realistically a couple months from now once everything at work is settled. And by then it might be nice enough to pretend I’m at the beach when sitting the backyard. Kristian was waiting for me to get home a couple days ago so he could take the car to Walmart. That’s pretty usual. It’s either Walmart, GameStop, or Tim Hortons, or all three. But this time he only went to Walmart and came home with a Lego set for me. And a bag of chips. And said happy Valentine’s Day. Really nice surprise. Sweet boy. He says his friend Jeff told him Valentine’s Day was coming. Melted my heart a bit."

Lego for Mom!

Travis & Joanna hosted us for pizza supper and the Super Bowl on Sunday. The game didn't go my way, and didn't even stay close, so by the second half we weren't paying much attention. We did have a good meal and visit while we enjoyed playing with the dogs. Travis is still very busy with PuckShots, and Joanna keeps busy at her work also. 

And that's about it for this week.