New Year's Eve

I feel like I’m missing something special in the New Year’s celebrations in Sydney. I’ve already missed the Christmas celebrations with Hillsong and now this. I even watched a bit of TV and saw parts of the celebrations from other cities around the world – but they missed my home away from home. My New Years Eve will be spent in bed laying some groundwork on my recovery from a severe head cold that has had me in rough shape for a couple days now. I came back to Saskatchewan yesterday after a great time in Alberta but I insisted my brother drive because it would not be safe for me to do so. Upon my arrival home, my brother and sister carried my luggage to my room while went to crash in bed.

I managed to make my way to church this morning to share but it was a struggle. I was determined that I would not be kept away from sharing what God has given me to say and I know it impacted some people. Only God knows the extent of the work He’s doing through my life but I pray that it will continue to increase.

While in Alberta, I was able to spend some quality time with some great friends. My brother and I enjoyed phenomenal hospitality spending the nights and quite a bit of our waking time with long time friends of mine who happen to be husband and wife. I also really enjoyed catching up with another friend I hadn’t seen in 4 ½ years. After a short night, my two brothers joined me in hitting the slopes of the great Canadian Rockies. It really was a great trip. Here are some of the pictures…



Got some real A&W food – unlike the wannabe restauraunt we were at in Sydney







Upon arrival in Alberta – we caught the beginning of a snow storm in the last half hour of driving. Ended up with about 20 cm of fresh powder which was still partially there when I got to the slopes two days later.





Traffic on our way to the ski hill. Also note, if you climb to the highest point in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney, then climb half that distance further, that’s the same elevation as I was when I took this picture. I’m basically at the base of the Rockies.







My brothers and me ready for our first run down the mountain.






And the second run...








It was truly a great mountaintop experience.







If you zoom in on this picture, you can possibly see the distances to various locations. Sydney is almost four times as far as the North Pole, I guess I travelled a long ways to get here. (sorry about the picture quality when you zoom. I need to keep the file size small for dial up internet service.)




Nice finishing touch on the way from the ski hill.