Our family was saddened to hear of the passing of my uncle Reid Young on Feb. 18. Uncle Reid was a kind and generous man who loved his family, antiques, gardening, photography, and Ford Mustangs. I have many fond memories of him which I will always treasure. We will miss him dearly.

Special anniversary wishes are going out to . . .

Earl and Ginette Bottrill as they celebrate 45 years of marriage on Feb. 28. Congratulations on this wonderful milestone.

I am sending belated birthday wishes out to Raelynn and Finnley Hobbs who turned three on Feb. 20. Happy birthday to Sara Richardson on Feb. 24 and to Dryden Frobel on Feb. 25. I’d like to send birthday wishes to my aunt Linda Lucas who is also celebrating on Feb. 25. Blessings to everyone marking happy occasions this week.

Last Wednesday was the beginning of Lent and so I had been giving thought to what I would give up this year. A friend said to me, “Haven’t we already given up enough this year?” which is so true. However, I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of giving something up for Lent as a faith practice and so I have decided to give up online shopping. I’m sure my bank account will thank me in 40 days.

Our student minister Paul Whynacht is encouraging our congregation to build a mountain of non-perishable goods within our households, one item a day, to be able to donate to those less fortunate at Easter. I have also been putting that idea into practice and look forward to watching my mountain grow.

Here we are, almost at the end of February. The dark days of winter will soon be behind us and the promise of spring is starting to grow with longer days and warm sunshine. It certainly hasn’t been an easy winter for many of us with confinement and curfews. I keep saying better days are ahead and I continue to hope that is true. Take care everyone.