God's Blessings Through Friends...Both Old and New!

I’m back from vacation and had an absolutely fabulous week! (Although, I used 1 of my vacation days last week so have arrived back at the office on a Friday. What was I thinking??? Oh well, it means today is the first day of the workweek, hump day and Friday all rolled into one. Yup…it’s all good!)

My vacation was once again spent at Muskoka Baptist Conference Centre (MBC), just outside Huntsville, Ontario. I’ve often shared about my time at MBC, doing a variety of things and going a number of places. I probably have you quite confused so guess it’s time I shared more about what MBC is and why I love being there!

First and foremost, it is a place where God is! Just one look outside at the beauty of Muskoka and you realize it is a place that only God could carefully craft and design to such perfection! Muskoka is quite hilly and MBC is no exception! At the bottom of the property is beautiful Mary Lake. It’s not a huge lake (I’m guessing 8km from one end to the other and about 1 ½ km wide) but is perfect for swimming, boating and so much more!

From the lake you go up, up…..up! At lake level is the beach, the cottage my parents rent and other privately owned cottages. This past week I enjoyed a wonderful 4 days with my friend Deb at her cottage. Normally the cottage is filled with teens running in and out, entertaining us all, but this year was quite quiet as their youngest went home for the week.

Traveling up from the lake level you go up about 500’ feet to the next main level. Located on this level is the Main office, Chapel, Bookstore (where I volunteer), Fellowship Centre with a gym, Dining Hall and some motel style rooms that are available for renting.

Up only about 100’ from that are more accommodations and more private cottages. Next, going up approx. 200 more feet is the trailer park. Nested within the beautiful, big trees are over 300 trailer sites. Many are permanent sites which allow people to permanently place a trailer on them and are available from May – October of each year. (After that…too much snow!)

One thing I learned last week I found to be quite funny! I borrowed Dad’s van and headed up to Sharon’s trailer for a visit. If you remember the trip Sharon and I took to Calgary in June, we took Dad’s GPS. The GPS system was unable to find the town of Three Hills, AB with a population of about 5000 people so I laughed it found all the little roads in the MBC trailer park!

Hopefully now you have a little better idea what this MBC place is all about. The scenery and location are amazing! The ministry is even better!!

This past week the speakers were Dr. David Walls (Unionville, Ontario) and Dr. Jim Mindling (Elyria, OH.) Music and worship were led by Jason Russ (Scottsdale, AZ.) The ministry of this team was outstanding! What a blessing to be on vacation and have my spiritual batteries recharged as well as get some extra sun, rest and relaxation! A perfect combination!

During the week it was also neat to meet some great people! Sometimes it was those seated at the same table in the dining hall, while visiting at the beach or other times, God had an extra special blessing planned! Mom attended the Ladies Luncheon on Monday and ended up sitting with the worship team from Elyria, Ohio. She quickly found out that seated at the table with her was a lady who was anticipating receiving her referral of her baby from China any day! Wow!!! Mom shared some of my story with her and couldn’t wait to tell me!

At supper Tuesday night I introduced myself to Tracy and Rick. They have 2 beautiful daughters and are waiting to receive their referral any day now! (As I’m writing this it’s now Friday so it could possibly even be today!!!) Tracy and Rick were one of the families who sadly missed last month’s referral cut-off by only 1 day!!! Urgh! They understand that’s God’s timing is perfect and that they will soon see Maia Ruby’s beautiful little face but I can’t imagine being so close and yet having to wait another month. God’s timing is always perfect…but that doesn’t mean the wait won’t still be tough at times!

Anyway, when I last spoke with Tracy yesterday ‘the stork’ had left China, flown across the ocean and was in the United States but hadn’t made it to their agency yet. Fly stork…fly! :o) I’m praying for Tracy, Rick and their girls as they anticipate meeting their precious daughter/baby sister soon! Tracy will be sharing Maia Ruby’s picture with me by email next week which will be so exciting! (Oh man! If I’m this excited about a new friend’s referral, I won’t be fit to live with next summer when it’s my turn and Hannah’s referral is close!)

Time on vacation was spent reading, resting, worshipping, shopping, chatting with friends and of course, eating. Ahhhhh….vacation! I highly recommend it!