December 1, 2025, is the beginning of advent. We wait and reconsider our relationship with Jesus and what that means for today. Since 1918, the Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada (WICC) has been Restoring Hope to Women Touched by Injustice. Their Advent message in 2023 was based on Ephesians 4:1-3

I am glad to report that Prue and George continue to have relatively good health for our ages (84 & 85). At the end of February we experienced a bad ice and windstorm. Our front and back lawns were covered with branches. Throughout most of March we would spend a couple of hours most days breaking branches into under 3-4 feet lengths which we then tied into 6-inch diameter bundles, so that they could be put out in our yard waste.

Sticks in our backyard and on our neighbour's pool due to ice storm

At the end of March we were at a political meeting waiting for the provincial leader to arrive. We had been sitting but stood when she arrived. After standing for about 5 minutes, George’s legs gave out and he had to sit down. I checked him for signs of a stroke or heart attack, but they were negative. After 3 attempts to get up and go to the car, a worker asked what she could do and I said call 911 (we had forgotten to bring our phones). At the hospital, the ambulance attendant said he had detected no signs of a stroke or heart attack but that when George went to get off the gurney his legs gave out again, so he wanted a doctor to check him. Eleven hours later a doctor saw George. He ordered a CAT scan. The results would take 2 hours. The doctor said that George would be admitted and that Prue should go home. By that time, it was 4 am,so she did. Five days later George was discharged with a walker.

When the doctor who discharged George asked him who his family doctor was, George told him that we had no family doctor. The doctor grabbed a piece paper wrote a number on it and told George to phone that number. The number that we called was his office number. His nurse said that he was taking us on as his patients. We are very grateful to have a family doctor after being without one for several years. Our new doctor, Dr Zaniewski, was one of George’s former students. Since then George has been checked by a neurologist and a urologist but they still do not know what caused the problem. Since then, he has biked all summer without any problems.

At the end of April we flew to Edmonton. We took a cane in case George needed it. Since Prue was carrying the cane the airline attendants asked her if she needed a wheelchair. George's legs seemed to be OK until on disembarking from the plane he needed the cane again.

Brent and Lisa

Taylor, Lisa, Brent, Prue, George, Emma

We stayed with Brent and Lisa for 5 days. Brent stays busy with his work as a Spiritual Health Practitioner/chaplain and educator as well as refereeing basketball. Lisa continues to work with children’s ministry at Leduc Community Baptist Church. Emma continues to work as a nurse at the Stollery Children’s Hospital in the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (PCICU). She is busy with basketball, pickleball, softball and camping/hiking with friends. In August she ran her first full marathon in Edmonton. She finished in 4 hours and 3 minutes! Taylor and Zachary continue to work at River City Events in Edmonton. The work has increased year over year, and they often work very long hours. We did not see Zachary because he was on a solo journey in his 1981 Chev Bonaventure to Vancouver Island for three weeks in April.

Emma, Zachary and Michael(Lisa's brother) backpacking in BC

Zachary in his van