It is officially 'Crazy Weather' in Bragg Creek!

The cold and snow has come and it isn't joking around. The girls may be all smiles in this picture but it was cccccold. We have just come through a week long period of minus 20 ish weather and lots of snow. The girls love playing in it and constantly are asking if the snow will be sticking around. Must be Victoria raised kids!

Hannah doing some stunt riding in the snow and ice. No wipe outs yet!

Right here you can see that we were at 20cm, we now are at around 30, fun times!

The hugely buffed snow shoveling man, what a great guy eh Sylv?

Abby and Hannah sledding around and having a great time!

Fairmont Hot Spring Swimfest with the McGifford Clan

Here we are: the Seibs and the McG's all in one pic!
Underwater Abby

Underwater Hannah

Here we are having a pre-hotspring snack at the highly coveted Misty Waters Cafe! Lucky thing that there wasn't anyone else in the cafe, as our group was rowdy and messy. This picture shows milk in the bottles, we didn't get a shot of the milk all over the place, but you can imagine what that would look like. We had a great day with our friends the McGiffords, soaking in the hotsprings and chasing our kids around the pools. Nothing like doing the walk of shame from the dressing room to the pools in minus 5 weather after a required shower, yikes!

Highlights from the day include: taking pictures with Dan's underwater camera (pics are above), the lifeguard asking to check the kind of fabric in Sylvia's sun dress that went over her bathing suit (hilarious), trying to reach the bottom of the 3 meter diving pool, and playing with the kids for the 3 hours we were in the water.

A great day, thanks McG's.

Wranglers, Steel Guitars, and Jesus

Interesting title eh? Well that's what we have seen a lot of at church at Cochrane Alliance, our church out here in Alberta. After looking for churches on the internet, we decided to head into Cochrane, which is 30 minutes from our house, on Sunday's for church. We found a great Alliance church that is relatively the same size as our church in Victoria, the First church of the Nazarene. The music has been great, and we both love the pastor, who is a very gifted preacher and challenges us weekly. We also joined a small group on Monday nights that we love as well. The people are very friendly and have made an effort to welcome us in. The church has an in-house rule that for the first 3 minutes after the service has completed we are to look for new people in the congregation to talk to. I must say that that rule has proven to work well, as we have felt many folks come and welcome us and ask about our situation. The girls have fit well into the Sunday school program and look forward to going week in and week out.

We thank God for showing us the way to this church, we have been truly blessed. Check out the church's website and if you like, take a listen to one of Jason's sermons. Cochrane Alliance Church

Elbow Falls: A thing of Beauty!

Today we took a trip out to Elbow Falls in the beautiful Kananaskis country, only minutes from our house. The temp was around 20 degrees, and we had a great time hiking around the falls and taking pictures. The girls need to do art and PE everyday they do school and so its fun to be able to take off in the afternoon and accomplish both of those things in the great outdoors. Abby and Hannah both drew amazing pictures with charcoal crayons. They even walked in the cold water with their bare feet. This country has some amazing views, and again and again we are reminded of the greatness of our God when we look upon them.

Click here to see more pics of the day: Elbow Falls Photo Album

45 Days

Well, it has been 45 days since we moved to Bragg Creek (temporarily). It has been fun exploring new places (as you will see in pictures below) and having time to do things we often don’t have time to do. People have said we are on an adventure and we do feel like that and we are embracing it! However, there are times when we miss the familiar whether it is our home, family, or friends, there is something comforting in the familiar. I have thought a lot about this because being transported to a new place has made me think about how I embrace and respond to new people in my life. I have come to realize how many times in the comforts of my Victoria life I never made a huge effort to include someone who is new. Now the shoe is on a different foot and I am the new one. The reality is everyone wants to belong to something, to have significance and relationship. I know that when I return to the familiar I am going to make more of an effort to step out of my comfort zone to reach out to those that are “new” in whatever capacity that may be. Well, there are my thoughts for the day. I hope you enjoy the pictures posted below. Many of the pictures where taken by our budding photographer “Abby” Hope this email finds you well!