Continued and New Traditions...

We are continuing an Olson tradition with pasties! We made our first pasties and they turned out awesome- Mmmmm...



We thought it would be fun to start the tradition of making a gingerbread house. 2 intelligent adults + 1 "do it yourself" gingerbread packet = great fun right?! In reality: 2 intelligent adults + 1 "do it yourself" gingerbread packet = a LOT of work! We are highly suspicious that children did not create the gingerbread house on the picture guide that came with the box.


The finished product turned out, but the jury is still out on whether this tradition will make the cut next year. Uh oh- there goes the tree again!

Reverend Bussis

I had the privilege of witnessing the ordination of our good friend, Steve Bussis. It was a special service and great event! Zach wasn't able to be there, but if you look close enough, you'll notice that he did make an appearance. :-)

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...At the Olson home! Zach and I took down our fall decorations (see below)

and put up our Christmas decorations for our first Christmas as husband and wife! Here are some before and after shots of the decorating.
Before...

After!

Before...

After!

A huge, special thanks to those who gave us decorations to help spread the Christmas cheer in our home!!

Gobble Gobble

To Grand Rapids or Bust! Zach and I were able to go to GR for Thanksgiving. We spent two days with our family eating delicious turkey, playing trivia pursuit, watching TLC bride shows, Christmas shopping, Christmas decorating, and hanging out.





Grandpa and Pieter
That's all for now. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Zach's first, second, and third baptism!

It hasn't even been two weeks since Zach's ordination, and he has already had the privilege of baptizing three babies. He was very excited and nervous going into each one. (We even practiced with my old stuffed animal, whose head is semi-attached which made it interesting when passing "the baby" back and forth.) He did a wonderful job; I was so proud! He now states that baptizing children is one of his favorite parts of his job. And with several births recently, he will continue to get plenty of practice! At a congregational meeting he encouraged everyone to "Keep having more babies!" Of course, we got targeted to be the ones to have the next baby. Oh boy, were we both blushing. :-)
Below is a picture of the family at the first baptism.

Fun at the Falls

Our good friends, Jules and Steve stayed for a weekend visit after Zach's ordination (Wahoo!). Saturday we ventured to Niagara Falls. It is a powerful, majestic sight.
While walking around we had some fun with the signs...

We took a special tour that takes you down in an elevator to the caves. It was awesome to see the falls from that perspective. It was also neat to learn the history of the falls and different stories about people surviving accidents at the falls. There was one young boy who was in a boating accident and fell down the falls with only a life jacket and survived with minor injuries- incredible!




The picture below has a fun story that goes with it. The man in the picture asked Zach to take a picture of him and his girlfriend, but then he whispered something into Zach's ear. I knew something was up by the smile that spread across Zach's face. As Zach was taking the picture the man took out an engagement ring and held it behind his girlfriend's shoulder. Then he told his girlfriend to check the picture to make sure it turned out. As she was looking, her eyes grew wide as she realized he had an engagement ring! She screamed with excitement as he asked her to marry him. It was fun to play a minor role in the happy event.
We also walked up the tourist road with all sorts of souveneir shops, food stands and sights. We stopped at the Guinuess Record Tour and took a picture in the chair of the tallest man in the world.
We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out and playing cards. Julie and I almost beat Zach and Steve in Euchre (a feat we've yet to accomplish). We came close with a rubber match that ended in a cut-throat 10-9 win for the boys. One of these days Julie and I will beat those guys...
Thanks for coming Buss and Jules!

Zach's Ordination

November 20 marked a very exciting day, Zach's ordination service. We are so thankful that many friends and family journeyed here to witness the event. Pastor CJ led a meaningful, beautiful service. In his message, he read part of a letter he had saved that Zach had written to God ten years earlier when Zach made profession of faith. The depth of Pastor CJ and Zach's relationship was evident and got a few of us choked up at times. Since Dad Mallekoote is an elder he was able to lay his hands on Zach for the prayer which was very special.

It was so much fun to host everyone and show them around our new home and community! Cal went on a belated birthday scavenger hunt at the house which added some extra fun and laughter. Zach gave him his first clue: "To find clue number 1, go to the ham buns..." Cal ran to the kitchen to find his first clue next to the ham buns which read, "To find clue number 2, think downstairs doo doo..." He ran to the downstairs bathroom to find the third clue...and so on.
The next morning we all went out for breakfast at a local restaurant. It was good food, and great fun. Thank you so much to everyone who came to share in this event. It was such a joy for us to have you here! :-)

Trick-or-Treat

For Halloween this year we joined some friends to go trick-or-treating. It was fun to see the kids all dressed up and super excited for the night. And it was great for the adults to socialize in the street while the kiddos ran from house to house. Zach wore his new toque and went as a Canadian. :-)

Welcome!

Our new church family planned a welcome evening for Zach and I in the community center. Our chauffeur picked us up in an restored, classic, 59' Ford pick-up. When we arrived we were blown away because it was filled to the brim with people! A program was planned with a variety of performances, games, jokes, singing, and delicious desserts. Zach and I were given several "how to survive Canada" items which included: his and her long underwear, a toque, a hockey stick, a Tim Horton's gift card and mug, and mittens. They even gave us a top hat and veil and sent us up on stage to play my favorite, The Shoe Game! It was a very special evening.

Domestic Engineering 101

I was invited to spend an afternoon with some girls in the kitchen. So I strapped on my apron and was put to work. We spent several hours peeling, baking, mixing, and canning applesauce. Then we worked in an assembly line making apple pies. At the end of the night we had 4 dozen cans of applesauce, 12 apple pies, and only one oven mitt caught on fire! So for anyone thinking of visiting, we have sweet, scrumptious apple pie, and warm, delightful applesauce waiting to fill your stomach. And the best part is they are made with love.
(You better hurry before Zach eats them!)

Congratulations Zach!!

This morning Zach and I traveled to Hamilton where Zach had his long awaited classical examination. It was a pretty intense few hours of questioning. He answered thoughtfully, articulately, and from the heart. He was examined with another candidate so he wasn't constantly in the hot seat, which was nice. We are very thankful and excited to announce that he passed! (whew!) :-)
His ordination service will take place on November 20.

Introducing the newest member of our family...

...Webster! Yesterday Zach had the treat of putting together our new grill. We are eager to spend many hours with him in the future. He has already added some spice to our lives. One thing we have found is he has a lot of gas. Although he is a little hot-headed at times, he is a grate addition to our family.

We're off!

We left for our new adventure in Canada on October 8, 2009. After packing up a 26 ft. U-haul and two cars we were ready to go. After a few hours of driving we arrived at the border. We anticipated having trouble getting all of our stuff across, but the border officers never even opened up the U-haul or our cars! The hard part was getting ourselves across. At first it didn't look like we were going to be allowed in. Our officer even told us we had to go to Detroit before he would let us in. But after explaining our situation several times we were able to enter on a one year visa. We made the mistake of using the word "landing." We later learned using that word means you never intend to leave. Fortunately our officer was forgiving. After a stop at Tim Horton's and a couple more hours on the road we arrived safely to our new home in Jarvis, Ontario. A warm welcome was given to us by several church members and with their help, we had all of our boxes un-loaded in under an hour. What a day!