I know the sun's still shining when I close my eyes....
Except for the fact that I cannot let my little people outside, because our neighbor just sprayed our yard to kill the dandelions and thistle (thank you!), so now, I watch them, standing at the window, longingly looking outside. I think they think it'll kill them to not be outside on a beautiful day like today. It won't kill them, but it may just kill me.....
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
One Proud Mama
I had a home visit with Hannah's teacher this morning. She got me caught up on the results of the testing that Hannah has gone through over the last few weeks. I was so proud of her, and the results of the testing I have to brag about a little bit. In her reading, Hannah scored a grade equivalent of 5.4 (that's grade 5, month 4) with her vocabulary, and her reading comprehension is 8.2. Yup, it's true. She's a smart little cookie! And here's the cool part.....wait for it.....I taught it to her. All. By. Myself. So that makes me One Proud Mama!
Friday, May 15, 2009
A New Addition
Spring fever has hit me, and so I decided today that we needed a new addition to our family. I looked in the paper, and sure enough, there was what I was looking for....an ad that read, "Free Kittens!" As some of you may have heard, we haven't had so much luck in the kitten department, but, there are safety in numbers, so we decided for 2 boy kittens. I called first thing this morning, and the lady was at work, so she asked me to call back in the evening, and we could surely come and pick up a couple of kitties. So, I called back tonight after dinner, and asked if there were 2 boys. Her response was, "Honey, we've got 10 kittens here, so come on over..."
We piled into the van, and headed out about 10 minutes, until we found The Place. The Girls were excited, I was kinda excited.... We get out of the van and are greeted by a very nice lady with about 4 kittens in her arms. We oohed and aahhed over the kittens, and she says, "These ones are too young, but come on in..."
We walk up to the front door, and there are cats EVERYWHERE. A couple of The Girls start to get a little freaked out, because they've never seen SO MANY cats in one place. I promise you, there were at least 12 cats in front, and probably 8 kittens running around. She asks us to watch our step - she doesn't want us to step on the cats. I remark, "Wow! This is a lot of cats!", and she says, "Oh, these are just wild ones.... come on in...."
In the front door we step. Immediately, I am greeted by the wonderful, umm, smell.... of cats. Everywhere. You know that ammonia like smell of cat pee? My eyes start to water, and I start breathing through my nose... The kind cat lady says to The Girls, "Come on in and sit on the floor... take a look at the kittens and see which one you like."
I hear Art quietly say, "Girls, do not take off your shoes." But they do - after all, we are Canadians, who are, above all else, polite. So they all take off their shoes and pile onto the floor....the old carpet, cat pee everywhere carpet, and start playing with the kittens. She keeps bringing kitten after kitten to the girls, encouraging them to see which ones they like....ones that are gentle, yet a little frisky, and frankly, being fantastic. As I survey the house from the doorway (no, I DID NOT take me shoes off), I can count probably 25+ cats....everywhere. In the kitchen, on a scratching post, on the couch, the mud room....everywhere. The kind cat lady tells us about the 13+ kittens that they have, and how all their cats climb into bed with them.... (really?! I can see one, maybe....but 30?!) One of the girls comments on the one that she likes, and the kind cat lady says, "Oh no, honey. That kitten is mine." Which is fine, but inside, I am thinking, "Really?! You need ANOTHER cat?!"
The girls finally decide on 2 boy cats, and we get very clear instructions on how to carry the cats outside, and to take really, really good care of them, and we are on our way. We walk outside, where again, I am astounded by the amount of felines there are, and the kind cat lady says, "Be careful where you walk!! You don't want to step on any kitties!"
We carefully make our way through the throng of cats, to the van, where I can finally start breathing through my nose again, when I realize that the only thing I can smell is the pleasant aroma of cat pee. So, I take of my hoodie, open the sunroof, and tell Art, "Hurry home....I stink!!"
We get home, introduce the kittens to Moses (the dog), and Aaron (the last remaining cat we have), then I strictly instruct the girls to get into the house, take all their clothes off in the laundry room, and hop into the shower (which I myself do as well). Now, the girls are all clean and tucked in, we've talked about the generosity of the kind cat lady, who gave us 2 kittens FOR FREE, and how if they EVER have that many cats when they are adults, I will NEVER come and visit them... (Hannah said that she would maybe have that many cats, but they would all live outside, and she would build each and every one of them a cat house...) Bedtimes prayers have been said, asking that God would help the kitties not to be scared, and that they would live for a long time (I think these are kittens #9 & 10), and not be coyote food.... I still can't get the smell out of my head, so I will go and light a strong candle and hope that will take away the smell.
So there you have it....our new additions. Oh - I almost forgot, the kind cat lady had named all of the kittens, so we ended up getting one with the name Spot (because that's what Molly wanted to name her cat, and it had that name), and Yang, the twin (I do think they wanted us to keep that name as well, but alas, it is now called Snowball).
We piled into the van, and headed out about 10 minutes, until we found The Place. The Girls were excited, I was kinda excited.... We get out of the van and are greeted by a very nice lady with about 4 kittens in her arms. We oohed and aahhed over the kittens, and she says, "These ones are too young, but come on in..."
We walk up to the front door, and there are cats EVERYWHERE. A couple of The Girls start to get a little freaked out, because they've never seen SO MANY cats in one place. I promise you, there were at least 12 cats in front, and probably 8 kittens running around. She asks us to watch our step - she doesn't want us to step on the cats. I remark, "Wow! This is a lot of cats!", and she says, "Oh, these are just wild ones.... come on in...."
In the front door we step. Immediately, I am greeted by the wonderful, umm, smell.... of cats. Everywhere. You know that ammonia like smell of cat pee? My eyes start to water, and I start breathing through my nose... The kind cat lady says to The Girls, "Come on in and sit on the floor... take a look at the kittens and see which one you like."
I hear Art quietly say, "Girls, do not take off your shoes." But they do - after all, we are Canadians, who are, above all else, polite. So they all take off their shoes and pile onto the floor....the old carpet, cat pee everywhere carpet, and start playing with the kittens. She keeps bringing kitten after kitten to the girls, encouraging them to see which ones they like....ones that are gentle, yet a little frisky, and frankly, being fantastic. As I survey the house from the doorway (no, I DID NOT take me shoes off), I can count probably 25+ cats....everywhere. In the kitchen, on a scratching post, on the couch, the mud room....everywhere. The kind cat lady tells us about the 13+ kittens that they have, and how all their cats climb into bed with them.... (really?! I can see one, maybe....but 30?!) One of the girls comments on the one that she likes, and the kind cat lady says, "Oh no, honey. That kitten is mine." Which is fine, but inside, I am thinking, "Really?! You need ANOTHER cat?!"
The girls finally decide on 2 boy cats, and we get very clear instructions on how to carry the cats outside, and to take really, really good care of them, and we are on our way. We walk outside, where again, I am astounded by the amount of felines there are, and the kind cat lady says, "Be careful where you walk!! You don't want to step on any kitties!"
We carefully make our way through the throng of cats, to the van, where I can finally start breathing through my nose again, when I realize that the only thing I can smell is the pleasant aroma of cat pee. So, I take of my hoodie, open the sunroof, and tell Art, "Hurry home....I stink!!"
We get home, introduce the kittens to Moses (the dog), and Aaron (the last remaining cat we have), then I strictly instruct the girls to get into the house, take all their clothes off in the laundry room, and hop into the shower (which I myself do as well). Now, the girls are all clean and tucked in, we've talked about the generosity of the kind cat lady, who gave us 2 kittens FOR FREE, and how if they EVER have that many cats when they are adults, I will NEVER come and visit them... (Hannah said that she would maybe have that many cats, but they would all live outside, and she would build each and every one of them a cat house...) Bedtimes prayers have been said, asking that God would help the kitties not to be scared, and that they would live for a long time (I think these are kittens #9 & 10), and not be coyote food.... I still can't get the smell out of my head, so I will go and light a strong candle and hope that will take away the smell.
So there you have it....our new additions. Oh - I almost forgot, the kind cat lady had named all of the kittens, so we ended up getting one with the name Spot (because that's what Molly wanted to name her cat, and it had that name), and Yang, the twin (I do think they wanted us to keep that name as well, but alas, it is now called Snowball).
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Another year
Another year has passed....this past week, we celebrated both mine and Molly's birthdays. For my birthday, Art gave me the gift of a day. A day to do whatever I wanted, without any responsibilites....it was fantastic! I helped him get the girls ready first thing, and then he was out of the house by 8:30. I thought it was going to be a quiet morning, but it was a busy, busy, phone ringing, trying to get out of the house kinda morning. I headed off to meet 'The Ladies' (whom I love!) for prayer, after stopping by Starbuck's for a special strawberries and cream yumminess incarnate drink (my new favorite treat) and some raspberry lemon loaf. I NEVER do that, so it was a fun little treat. After prayer, off I went to the mall with my friends Suzanne and Natalie for an afternoon of shopping...went to Mac and got a new look, got some new duds at American Eagle... all that good stuff. Then, home for WokBox (one of my favorites!), and birthday cake. Get this: Art made me a cake. Himself. And it was marble. And it had 2 layers. And it was iced. And it was very, very yummy. First. Time. Ever....impressive, eh? Then, I headed out for a little while to a conference our church was hosting, but I snuck out early because I was SO TIRED! All in all, it was a very grand day.
Then, on Saturday, we celebrated Molly's 4th birthday. Originally, we were going to have a weiner roast outside with a couple of families, but it turns out (of course!) that there is a fire ban, so we had to have a b-b-q instead. Not as fun, but still good. It was a little bit crazy, because we only had 4 families here, but there were 14 kids here. It was loud, and crazy, and very, very fun. Molly was very excited to have her friends here, and excited to be turning 4, so it was all good!!
Anyhow, that's what we've been up to for the last week.... It's all good! I will (hopefully) post some pictures soon...
Then, on Saturday, we celebrated Molly's 4th birthday. Originally, we were going to have a weiner roast outside with a couple of families, but it turns out (of course!) that there is a fire ban, so we had to have a b-b-q instead. Not as fun, but still good. It was a little bit crazy, because we only had 4 families here, but there were 14 kids here. It was loud, and crazy, and very, very fun. Molly was very excited to have her friends here, and excited to be turning 4, so it was all good!!
Anyhow, that's what we've been up to for the last week.... It's all good! I will (hopefully) post some pictures soon...
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
My Friend
Here is my friend....we've been friends since the first Sunday we arrived here. I love her a lot.... we spend lots of time together as families, both have 4 kids (between our 2 families we had a baby every year for 8 years!), both live in the country....2 members of our family share a birthday with 2 memebers of her family....the list goes on. I have appreciated her friendship over the years. I am excited to see how God continues to work in her life. Here are 2 pictures of her from Easter. We usually end up sitting and chatting, and laughing.... She may hurt me for putting on this picture, but I laughed a lot at it, so here it is....
Updates
Miss Hannah
Abby
Miss Molly (who turns 4 on Saturday!)
and baby girl, Ellie MaeMan, I love those little ladies!
Here are some updated pictures of The Girls...
Friday, May 1, 2009
Revelation and Humility
Here's a new revelation for me....something Art and I have just realized. I know that it may seem fairly obvious to y'all, but it wasn't for me. Here's the revelation: We need to get out more! So, after talking, Art took matters into his own hands, and found a babysitter. Now, again, this may not sound like a big deal, but I don't know that I can remember the last time HE was the one to plan such a thing! He called around, and found someone to watch our girls tonight. So we get to go out on a date! Such fun!
So, here's the rest of the story.... I was stressing a bit about what this night was going to cost us....not only a babysitter, but also us going out = lots of $$. However, Art was right - we would pay someone to do odd jobs around the house, why shouldn't we pay more to have someone care for our girls?! I TOTALLY agree, but the practical side of my brain is thinking, "How is this going to work?!" But, my sanity, and our marriage is worth it, DEFINITELY!
After arranging for a young adult from our church to come and watch the girls (she's pretty great - she teaches a worship dance class that our girls are in on Saturday mornings, just for 'fun', and you know that she just loves it!), I started to get excited - a night out!! Then, she called back to talk to Art. She told him how, after she hung up the phone with him, the Lord started talking to her about sowing into to people's lives, and He wanted her to watch our girls, and sow into their lives....FOR FREE!! Art tried to fight it - really, we do want to pay someone, and think it's important to entrust our girls to someone trustworthy, and all that stuff... but she refused. She wants to be obedient to what God is asking of her. So, here I sit, bawling as I write this post. I feel 1) thankful that we have people around us who listen to the Lord, and desire to do what He asks of them, and 2) so incredibly humbled that the Lord cares for me in such a way that He knows my fears, and He wants to remind me that He cares about me, and wants to provide for me in such a way that I really GET. You know? Such a tangible way in which He is showing me He loves me, and wants to provide not only my needs, but also my wants! Thank you, Lord!
So, here's the rest of the story.... I was stressing a bit about what this night was going to cost us....not only a babysitter, but also us going out = lots of $$. However, Art was right - we would pay someone to do odd jobs around the house, why shouldn't we pay more to have someone care for our girls?! I TOTALLY agree, but the practical side of my brain is thinking, "How is this going to work?!" But, my sanity, and our marriage is worth it, DEFINITELY!
After arranging for a young adult from our church to come and watch the girls (she's pretty great - she teaches a worship dance class that our girls are in on Saturday mornings, just for 'fun', and you know that she just loves it!), I started to get excited - a night out!! Then, she called back to talk to Art. She told him how, after she hung up the phone with him, the Lord started talking to her about sowing into to people's lives, and He wanted her to watch our girls, and sow into their lives....FOR FREE!! Art tried to fight it - really, we do want to pay someone, and think it's important to entrust our girls to someone trustworthy, and all that stuff... but she refused. She wants to be obedient to what God is asking of her. So, here I sit, bawling as I write this post. I feel 1) thankful that we have people around us who listen to the Lord, and desire to do what He asks of them, and 2) so incredibly humbled that the Lord cares for me in such a way that He knows my fears, and He wants to remind me that He cares about me, and wants to provide for me in such a way that I really GET. You know? Such a tangible way in which He is showing me He loves me, and wants to provide not only my needs, but also my wants! Thank you, Lord!
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