Aunt Betty - Called Home

Richard's Aunt Betty went to be with the Lord at 5:00AM today (Thursday, July 19th).

Dr. Elizabeth Brooks held a PhD in Social Work and was a professor at Nipissing University. Both prior to and following her appointment at the university she was a missionary to Zambia and Russia. She had hoped to return to Zambia, however cancer treatment prevented her from going. She still carried on for the Lord here in Canada and had plans for visitations to those in Bethany Lodge nursing home after she moved to Bethany Courts condos in Unionville. The Lord had other plans for her though. Shortly after selling her cottage in Eagle Lake and moving to Bethany, she took ill again and spent several weeks in hospital.

At approximately 6:00pm EST, we received word that Betty's cancer had returned, apparently undetected for some time. She had been given 48 hours to a month to live as cancer had spread throughout her skeletal system and into one lung. Eleven hours after we received the news, the Lord graciously released her from the painful confines of her human body and she is now in His glorious presence.

We were able to visit with her, along with Richard's sister Rachel, just last Saturday. We sang a few hymns and songs for her just before we left. The last one was "In Christ Alone". The last verse of that song is so applicable today.

No guilt in life. No fear in death.
This is the power of Christ in me.
From life's first cry, 'til final breath Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of Hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand.
'Til He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

We are in Pennsylvania right now (business trip for Richard) but will be making arrangements to travel back early when we know the funeral arrangements.

We do not sorrow as those who have no hope, for our hope (divine certainty) is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Richard's 30th birthday at Betty's cottage, Eagle Lake. July 16, 2006

Betty's first visit to our home following her cancer treatment.

Recent Activities

Richard surprised me with these wonderful shelves he installed in our outside cupboard. It opened up so much more cupboard space in the kitchen and given how heavy the corningware is, makes it easier to get in and out.

Richard was the guest speaker for Massey Bible Chapel's retreat a few weekends ago. Richard's cousin, Mary, and her family live up there and organized the event. It was held at Camp ABK (between Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie). Beautiful location! ABK = Aush-bik-koong meaning "To the Rock". This is a picture of a baptism held for a 10 year old boy. You can't really see him as he's just come out of the water and his mom is hugging him. I didn't get a lot of other pictures but did get a couple of videos which I can't upload unfortunately. :(

This is a picture of Richard's cousin's Mary's house which she and her husband, Richard, are building. They are doing as much of the work themselves as they can. It is an incredible location, right on the river (pictured below).

As it isn't finished yet, we only took one inside shot so you can see some of the work done. Beautiful hardwood floors and tile in front of the doors in the living room.

A New Name

My Mum has always been a wealth of information about a variety of subjects. Last night she mentioned she came across a baby name book in the library and looked up "Elysha". She informed us that the name is of Greek and Latin origin and has a very different meaning from what we thought. Apparently, the entry I found for the name was incorrect in stating "Elysha" is the feminine variant of "Elisha" .



Further investigation showed that "Elisha" is both the male and female spelling and can be pronounced Ee-lie-sha or Ell-ee-sha (the pronounciation we want).



Elisha means "The Lord is my salvation". Elysha means something completely different.



It means "one who was struck by lightening".



We had a pretty good laugh about it and even now I'm chuckling to myself especially given the fact that the odds of being struck by lightening and the odds of being born with all the heart defects our daughter has are about the same.



So we will be changing the spelling to one that fits with the meaning we want.



Ellisha is now the spelling we're going with. At least for now...