SunnyD and lots of it!!

Over the past week I have picked up HUGE quantities of food and toys from various grocery stores and other locations around town. In addition to picking up the food that we ordered for our Christmas Hampers we also received a large quantity of food as a donation from the local IGA - big thanks there!! Lots of toys have been coming in to support the Toys for Tots program as well. It's increadible to see the tangible evidence of people's generosity and caring for those in the community who are less fortunate than themselves!! Way to go Peace River!!

This upcoming week will be the last that we are taking applications for Christmas Hampers, then we just have to finish up putting the boxes together for distribution the following week. I will not be around Peace River on Thursay and Friday as I'm headed for Edmonton.

I have my interview with the Divisional Candidate's Board Friday afternoon. This is one of the final stages of my application for entry into training for Officership in The Salvation Army. I am rather glad that the application process is coming to finality. It's been at least a year since I began filling out my preliminary application. The Territorial Candidate's Board is set to meet early in the New Year, so I'm hoping that I'll have an answer one way or the other soon after that meeting.

Today the Fire Department is manning the Christmas Kettles around town. They're a good bunch of guys and are well known in the community so we're hoping that will have a positive impact on Kettle contributions today.

I am continuing to sit on the local Poverty Action Committee, although that group won't meet again until the new year, but I am now a part of the Community Soup Kitchen Committee as well, representing The Salvation Army. We have been meeting once a week for a couple of weeks now and the committee will meet again on Thursday, although I will be in Edmonton and miss that meeting. We have found a location for the soup kitchen and have set a start date of January 8th or somewhere thereabouts.

Life is very busy right now, but I am thoroughly enjoying myself. I am looking forward to a couple of slower days later in the week when I'm down south in Edmonton, even if I do have the stress of the interview to consider. And I am looking forward to flying out of the Peace River Airport at 11:20am on December 22nd aboard Peace Air flight 708 for 10 days of Christmas holidays.

Those 10 days feature seeing my Grandma Waters for the first time in nearly 2 years, a visit from my friend Myrtle (who was a classmate of mine in Australia), and getting to visit with my good friends in Calgary - possibly for the last time until August (we'll see how things go).

Hopefully I'll get some pictures up in the next day or two...we'll see how things go.