Christmas Letter 2008

Well,
Once again I'm late...I don't think I even sent out cards last year! Well, not like this will surprise any of you, we moved from Tuscany back to Midnapore in February this past year. Our landlords wanted to list their house for sale and we wanted to be out before it was listed...I'm not keen on housekeeping, and making it look 'perfect' for the showings was NOT something I was willing to do!!! Nope sorry, not unless I'm trying to sell my OWN house will I go through the torture of keeping my house THAT CLEAN!!!
We've enjoyed being back in Midnapore, but have had tons of landlord issues which resulted in us phoning the health inspector and then being out of a bathroom for over a month....we DID have a half bath, but had to go to friends houses for showers or the YMCA...hmmm, are they even allowed to get away with that??? Well, they did, I'm sorry to say. I am quite ready to move out, and want to find good landlords next time! Anyhow, we've had an enjoyable year as a family and enjoyed the lake a lot this past summer!!
Jamie wasn't able to get much spring cleanup done this year due to late snow so that was a huge setback but summer was business as usual....and oddly enough he missed out on most of fall cleanup as well due to leaves not co-operating and falling off before the snow came. sigh...so that also has a big impact on finances...BUT we've enjoyed lots of family time and have come to really appreciate having Dad around lots!! I'll probably go into shock when he finds work for the winter!! I must say though, I'd rather go without bells and whistles than have Jamie work so much we never see him!!
We were able to take Silas and Shyla camping for the first time this summer! The long weekend of July we joined a bunch of friends and went camping out by Strathmore. Lots of fun but boy were those nights cold! I was so glad to be able to snuggle with Shyla in the girls tent! But I really didn't enjoy her waking up with the birds at 5 am....I'm uh, not exactly an early bird myself! lol So we got dressed quickly and warmly and walked around the campground for about an hour...I was exhausted by the time we got back to our campsite...Shyla's not that heavy, but at 5am I'm not used to that sort of workout carrying her and talking quietly while we listened to the different birds and animal sounds. It was really beautiful and calm, I just wish my stomach agreed...have I mentioned yet that early mornings don't agree with me?? THEN after I had a nap and Jamie took Shyla for a truck ride with Silas, we all had breakfast and went swimming!!! yay! Unfortunately Silas stayed in the sun a little too long and ended up with heat exhaustion and was throwing up that night and all the next day....we decided to leave that day...lol But we WILL go camping again next summer! Perhaps at a campground with a little more shade.
We enjoyed a trip to Swift Current in August! The long weekend in Aug. is a closely guarded holiday for my parents and all us kids to get together...this past year we went to Swift Current and had so much fun! We all went to our cousins' wedding on the Saturday, then on Sunday we went to the Saskatchewan Landing to go swimming and hike up the highest hill you can see...I don't know WHY we thought that we would be in good enough shape to do this...we haven't done it since I was 16 or 17!! ummm yeah, so now we had a 2 yr old to drag up the hill, our camera equipment AND I was 7 weeks pregnant and stupid tired! However, we ALL did it! All of us kids and our significant others and our kids as well as my Mom and Dad! I still think we're all insane for doing it...but for some reason I think we'll probably do it again....just not this coming year! It was humbling to see our 7 yr old practically running up the hill while I'm wheezing sitting on a rock catching my breath before dodging more cactus on my trek up the hill...
then next day we all went to a park in Swift and played fun relay races with prizes and everything! It's so cool that there's enough of us to do this!!!
Sept brought in another homeschool year for us. Silas was excited to start his school year and is starting to read wonderfully! His math is doing well and he's become quite the good storyteller...sometimes he just needs to decipher his spelling...lol He loves writing cards to people...sigh, I just need to be better at mailing them! Shyla too is loving it when I come up with things for her to do for 'school' at age 2 1/2 she can recognize quite a few of her letters and she's pretty darn good at playing memory!! I'm so enjoying teaching the kids and seeing the lightbulbs turn on when they 'get it' and learn a new concept. How fun is that?!
At the end of Nov. we made another trip to Swift Current and 'helped' mom and dad, grama and grampa pack up and move from the big house to 'everest' (the project they've been working on for the past year) Was such a treat to be able to help even a little bit, goodness knows how many times mom and dad have helped us move !! We tend to move every year so it was a treat to help them for a change! haha even though they wouldn't let me do too much in my pregnant state!
I'm doing well. As I write this letter I'm 7 months pregnant, due at the end of March. It has been such a smooth wonderful and stressfree pregnancy! Only a couple days of nausea worth taking a gravol pill for! Baby is quite a gymnast and seems to love the hours between 1am and 2 am the most...lol We'll have to work on baby's sleep schedule soon....haha
We're looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home and then off to Innisfail on Boxing Day to visit with Jamie's parents and his Oma and Opa who are down from Ontario!! New Years is up in the air...but that wraps up our year!! Feel free to browse my blog or bookmark it so you can read it every now and then. I try to update it every two weeks or so.
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and your 2009 is filled with Love and Hope from our Savior!

Sigh...well it all started when God started giving us a vision of living in community with others in our housechurch...both Jamie and I got this vision together which is odd that we're on the same page in something that is so 'not us'...you know? The vision got started when we saw the Lifestyles lottery home....well we didn't win it, but the vision was planted by then and we are convinced that the lottery home served it's purpose. However, because we now had a vision, we just assumed we were to make it happen now...not later...you know? So we've been looking for 6+ bedroom homes and we found a beautiful one in Christie Park but the landlords want it rented asap...so we were again, trying to make it happen....forgetting that if God is truly in it, we don't need to strive unnecessarily, He will open the doors.....we weren't allowing for God's timing. We were becoming focused on the dream/vision and less focused on God and what He wants done. I know someday we will live in community with others and it will be a special home we create, but it HAS to be in God's timing or it will fall flat. Soooo from Monday to Wednesday, this realization finally hit. Monday we were still trying to make it happen and packing like crazy....Tues. and Wed. we have realized that the timing is off and we need to back off and let God be our main focus again...sigh. I was so excited to move out of this place! lol So now my emotions are all over and I don't know what to do with myself! lol I want to still pack nonessentials and just be organized for when we DO move, yet I don't know how much to do...I honestly haven't done much in the way of Christmas prep....so I guess I could bake up a storm again and just be ready for drop in company....not that that happens anymore...sigh. I'm just feeling the blahs after a couple days of lots of adreneline and excitement. So hopefully that explains more of the frenzied move that didn't happen...lol
So no, we're not moving right now....we are, but we don't know when....it COULD even be at the end of Jan. or wait until Aug. I don't know...lol But I do know that I'm now focused on Christmas and wondering why on earth I waited this year for the last minute to even think about giving...sigh. It's been a very strange year really...but one of growth and unity in marriage. I've never felt more 'on the same page' with Jamie as this past year....more of that Lord more!!!

New way to do school pictures for the year!!

Isn't this just fun??? A sneak preview of what people will be getting in their Christmas cards this year! I love how creative my sister is! And to think even I have the program capable to do this! I just need the patience and time it takes to figure it all out! lol Perhaps AFTER we move....

What??? Prepare like you're moving in 4 days??? We need prayer!!

Oh dear...I think I may be losing my mind to actually be ok with this thought...but all of a sudden I'm withdrawing from my sweeties and just wanting to be alone to process the speed at which all of this is happening...I've packed up half my bedroom and will be going crazy from room to room all week. Shyla is extra clingy due to the change in my own attitude and the fact that the stress level has soared through the roof I'm sure! lol
So the reality is this, IF we can find someone to rent out our current home, we are released from our lease and are free to apply to rent a nice big house....the pictures are available on a previous blog...however, what happens if we find someone to rent our current home and someone else gets the nice big house??? Is this a test of faith? Are we to go ahead and sign a lease on the new place and trust God to find renters for the smaller house?? I need clarity. I need God to just relax me and at the same time give me energy. To also bless me with patience for the kids while I'm really busy packing...they are following me around the house, and I know they usually do anyways, but right now, I'm focused...I'm trying to sort things out in my head! and they aren't exactly helping my poor pregnant brain to focus on the task at hand! LOL How many times will I say, "Yes, I'd love to play a game with you, but I have to pack boxes instead." sigh....perhaps we will ask Gramma and Opa to take them for a couple of days closer to moving day.
Anyhow, I'm stressed out right now and just need to sit down and refocus....so if you think of us this week, please send up a prayer!!

My wonderfully crazy stormy evening Dec.13/08

Yes, it's storming like crazy here today...the winter storm warning is in effect until tomorrow evening! But oh how it's getting me in the mood for Christmas!!
After picking up some tickets from a friend for a concert her daughter is in on Saturday with the Bow Valley Fiddlers, Shyla and I went home and I was able to kinda test drive my 'new to me' station wagon in the fun weather! it was fun going around the traffic circle sideways...lol thank goodness no one was beside us as it's a double lane traffic circle! haha but the car handled beautifully and I was able to correct it quite nicely without a bunch of jerky movements etc and without hitting any curbs! haha I felt rather proud of the way I drove...sigh and my husband wasn't even there to witness it...just my 2 yr old daughter..sigh..
Anyhow, AFTER all that we left the house at 3:30 to drive over (Jamie drove the truck, I had enough driving for the day!!!) to see about renting a 6 bedroom home that is nice and close to Jamie's work and is big enough for our growing family as well as being able to live in community with some of those in our housechurch! It took us 2 hours to make the drive which usually would take half an hour in rush hour!!! It was so depressing watching people walk past us on the sidewalk as we inched along to our destination and with a 2 yr old in underwear saying she needed to pee!!!! I nearly just took her outside and helped her squat on the sidewalk, but apparently this city has a bylaw against urinating in public and I didn't want to deal with that today...lol
Sooooo, after finally getting to the house and meeting our roomate Holly there, we looked around and fell in love with the place! So we will phone the landlord tomorrow and ask about renting it etc. Is it wierd that the landlord didn't meet us there? He just gave us the code for the key box on the door!! Here's a link to pictures of the house!! After all that, I hopped into Holly's car with her and we proceeded to travel up a hill...she was going 80 km but barely moving...yes her tires were bald and were getting balder by the minute as we smelled that lovely smell of burning rubber. Until my wonderful husband came to our rescue and pushed us up the hill with the truck...LOL what a hoot! a couple of scuff marks later we made it up the hill and Holly and I were on our way to the opposite end of the city to grab some snow tires at the only Canadian Tire that carried her size tires at this time of year...apparently everyone is buying tires right now...didn't realize there were so many procrastinators in this city! lol Anyhow, it was a nice uneventful drive there and then we headed over to her mom's apartment and picked up about 150 lbs of card making supplies! Holly used to be a Stamp'N'Up girl and now has at least 50 lbs of JUST the STAMPS!!!! Insane...seriously insane! But we'll have SO MUCH FUN!!! Why we decided to do this on probably the worst day of the year, I don't know...apparantly we were feeling adventurous! So we got home at 10pm, unload the car and then settle in for a cup of tea, then watched an old Cary Grant movie, Father Goose! Love that movie! And that is my fun Friday night....baby is moving around lots, not sure if it's because of mild contrax due to all the heavy lifting....but he's sure active right now! lol and no worries please, the contrax are just braxton hicks, I just feel them a little more if I overdue it....I'll be good and not go crazy while we move next month!!! lol
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We Won....Hmmmm Dec 1/08

Well, sort of...lol We didn't win the lottery house, and we woke up on Sunday morning knowing that it wasn't ours, but the neat thing was that we weren't disappointed!!! We knew the house had served it's purpose and that was to plant the dream of living in community with others. We will still be moving at the end of our lease, but likely to a normal sized house with 6 bedrooms.
We still want to live in community with others and we know we need at least 6 bedrooms in order to do this...whether we rent again or are approved for a mortgage, we know God has His hands all over us, otherwise He wouldn't have planted the vision He did.
So that's that news...things are going well pregnancy wise. Baby is kicking up a storm in there and I just can't wait to be able to see the movements through my belly, lol. I don't feel as much as I'd like to simply because the placenta is anterior....smack on the front of my tummy area..lol sigh, but perhaps that's a good thing so I sleep well at night and am not feeling so much movement. hehe God thinks of everything!!
School is going so well!!! It's hard to believe Silas' music class will be over after this week! Then next week he will be starting swimming lessons, he's so excited!! I'm going to try to find some sport thing to put him in after Christmas, he's just got so much energy!
He wrote his first song today, put it down on paper and everything! I was so pleased that it was a "praise and worship" kind of song!!! How exciting to a mama's heart to hear her son's first song talking about God and how he wants to have a party with Him!!!! and being pregnant of course I was all emotional, although I think I hid it well from him! lol Anyhow, here is his very first written song (keep in mind he is at a grade 1-2 level)
"I wont to see yo God hav a prde hav a prde yo or God"
translation if needed...."I want to see you God, have a party, have a party, you are God."
So yeah, lol, I'm a proud little mama. hehe Both him and Shyla were so sing songy today it was really cute! Oh and he wrote the song on a whole bunch of papers so they were "easy to read"...so "I" was on one page "wont" was on another page etc....lol He was in teaching mode apparently!
Ok, enough bragging...hehe, have I mentioned yet that my 2 1/2 yr old is FINALLY out of diapers during the day? Has been for a good month and a half now after a very long potty pause...she'd been doing very well with potty training and hadn't pooped in her diaper since she was 6 months old but when she turned 2 yrs old all hell broke loose! Anyhow, that's done and I'm happy! I'll have a nice 6 month break from diapers until this little one is born and we'll start using the potty right from birth this time instead of waiting until sitting is established.
We had lots of fun last week helping my parents and grandparents pack up their stuff and move from the 4000+ sq foot home to a 700 sq foot basement suite!! That was just so weird! This big house was the house my mom grew up in on the farm and it was moved to the city the year I got married, so even my younger siblings grew up in it!! But a 7 bedroom home with a grannysuite and huge double garage is simply too big for 4 retired adults! So my mom and dad bought a smaller house and completely gutted it last year with my grampa and have completed the basement suite renovations so far and were pleased to sell their large home and move into the suite this past week...it's a tight fit for 4 adults, but they will be able to put so much more effort into the upstairs of the house now with only a small place to take care of!!! I'm so excited for them to get the whole house done!! Their plans have changed so much over the course of the year that I can't wait to see what the finished product is going to look like! woo hoo! And the cool thing is they sold the big house to an organization that will use it as a group home for the physically disabled!! So it's awesome to see it meeting the needs of others and not just be a nice house for wealthy people...you know?
This year Jamie hasn't quite decided what to do with his winter yet in the way of working...I've been peaceful up until now. I'm starting to freak out and wonder where we're going to pull rent from in January...lol sigh, Lord calm my heart beyond all understanding and show me ways to be frugal that I'm not already doing. (but don't make me give up the internet...hehe) Jamie HAS made lots of comments about wanting to go help my parents work on the house though, so who knows what will happen this winter! lol perhaps we won a different cool prize from the lottery and we can sell it to carry us through the winter?!! lol, God knows our hearts and first and foremost we want to be giving of our time and abilities and invest our money in the people He leads us to. So we will trust Him to sustain us, but it's so much easier said than done sometimes. However I will keep speaking His truth and know that His will is always done.
Ok..it's almost midnight...sigh, so much for getting into bed at a decent hour...lol
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My Week Nov. 8/08

Hmmm, let's start on Monday. A regular school day for us and I had to make another appointment for an ultrasound because according to the message on my answering machine they missed a picture. Ok, that's fine, so I'm making my appointment and I asked what picture they missed and she said, "oh we just needed you to come in 6-7 days later" So I was wondering all week what that was about...Tuesday comes and after another good day of homeschooling, Shyla somehow cuts the top side of her finger off...sigh, drama drama, I had to put pressure on it for quite a while to get the bleeding to subside enough to put a bandage on tightly enough to keep the bleeding stopped....then we have Wednesday, another good homeschooling day and then I decide to take Shyla to the Dr's to get her finger looked at and at the same time I wanted to ask the Dr what was up with the ultrasound...so after getting the regular lecture about refusing the tetnus shot, Shyla was such a brave little girl and let the nurse bandage her back up very nicely and the nurse even cut me some bandages to take home!! yay! the top of the finger is so awkward to bandage up!!! lol Then the Dr. comes to talk to me about the ultrasound and said that they needed to confirm that the baby does or does not have a cleft lip/palate!!!!! WHAT??? So now I'm getting a little more concerned and tell Jamie this, and we pray lots that evening that baby is completely fine. Now for Thursday! Silas and I had a fun field trip!! We went to the Orchestra Games at the Jack Singer Concert Hall and had a blast! there was a 13 yr old pianist for a couple of the songs and he was fabulous! Then we took the transit back home and had some lunch then we were off to the ultrasound. Baby was incredibly uncooperative!! lol And I was able to ask the tech questions while she tried to get baby to move and found out that the placenta is anterior (by my bellybutton) so that's why I don't feel tons of movement, and the tech also allieved my worries by telling me that they just couldn't get a good picture of the lip at the first ultrasound, NOT that there was a possiblity of cleft lip/palate...and baby never did cooperate he had his legs together and straight down so I couldn't even prove to Jamie what the sex was! lol AND he also had his arms together in front of his face the whole time...hehe
You probably wonder why I'm thinking this is humourous...lol I felt God telling me over and over during the ultrasound, "Just trust me!" So with baby not cooperating I felt like even baby was telling me to stop relying on technology of man for things that God is completely in control of!! It was very reassuring. And then my own sweet husband reminding me of why we are going unassisted with this pregnancy and birth....wow those tables turned! lol I'm doubting myself and letting the enemy cause fear in me and lack of trust in God, and my wonderful husband is the one who builds me up and reminds me to have faith in God's awesome and wonderful power!!! Needless to say, I'm so thankful for the support he's been throughout my godless worrying! My trust and faith is in God alone....I'm done worrying if things are going normally or not. I will trust that the Holy Spirit will place rational concern in Jamie AND myself if we need to get medical attention. Even taking Shyla to the Dr. for her finger...I didn't need to. We had it under control and it's healing just fine! God has us under His wings as we continue to seek and follow Him in our lives.
Friday was a fun day for me! I spent my morning in line at Scholar's Choice...first a line to get into the store and then a 45 minute lineup to pay for my stuff!! lol Then I had some homeschool friends over for a playdate and it was wonderful!! All of us are pregnant and it's just so fun, we were however missing someone who usually joins us and we all missed her and her kids but it DID work out well cause our house is so small...lol We ate gingersnaps and drank French Vanilla Bean Coffee with whipped cream on top! lol sigh, preggo's must indulge!
Our Faith in Action group met that evening and we met at the Lifestyle Lottery House where we had bought a ticket. After going through it for about an hour we gathered outside on the driveway and joined hands and prayed about the possibility of winning...what it would mean for our whole group. When we walked through it this time I felt at home...there are some little changes I would make but ultimately I felt comfortable there, which is not normal for me at all...I don't like fancy or wealthy looking neighbourhoods/houses....I don't feel at home in that atmosphere....but with the potential of what we could turn this house into...it just fits...even the address has spiritual meaning to me! the house number itself means 'double grace' which is what our aim for the house to be filled with! The grace to love one another and NOT have any judgement and condemnation there. Another part of the address is 'Spirit Ridge ****' ...so while I see this house as a big possibility, I can't help but be scared to get my hopes up. God's got the perfect plan and we will rest in it regardless....we only have to wait 2 more weeks until the draw date...lol
I can't imagine having anything else to add to my week, other than I'll be glad for a quieter one this week!
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Baby news and other fun stories...Oct. 18/08

Well, I am now feeling little flutters from our littlest one...I am 17 weeks and 3 days...158 days to go until the official due date...well, if you follow due dates, lol I've heard the heartbeat with my fetoscope a few times, but I find the fetoscope really uncomfortable in my ears so I can't listen for too long...I started my pregnancy at 120lbs, and am now at 130lbs and have officially 'popped' within the last couple of weeks...lol No hiding this baby anymore! Not that I even want to! haha
Our family life is changing dramatically! We have a new border and we're enjoying having her with us, causing us all to grow in maturity and Christ's love. And at the same time my wonderful husband has been convicted of our lack of proper stewardship of our time. So the TV is getting the boot to the curb and our internet time is going to be limited a lot more as well...no more wasting our evenings just playing poker online or Lord of the Rings for hours on end. There's so much better options of filling that time! Like reading together or listening to some teaching tapes we received from Bold Christian Living !! Just increasing our time with the Lord and our family instead of wasting it on mind numbing activities. I'm so excited about this change in our lives! And as we've been changing our daily routine, the Lord has been placing a vision in our hearts. We feel called to help others in a bigger way than 'normal' , but then when do we ever do things normally...lol I'll keep you posted on the progress of this vision and share as things happen. Right now, we need a bigger house to accomodate this vision...there just so happens to be a huge house with an undeveloped basement of 2200 sq feet in an area very close to where most of Jamie's clients are located, and this house is the grand prize in a hospital lottery. Hmmm, we bought one ticket knowing that if this is where God wants us, then all we need is one ticket. So we'll see, and if that doesn't work out, then we know that God has something much better in store and that is groovy with us!!! lol
It's been fun to look back and see where God has brought us from and wondering where exactly He's leading us. I know I'm being really vague, but it would just take too much time to write it all out. I just feel God's hands are all over our lives and I love it! I love living in a state of expectancy.
Homeschooling is going well! Silas is doing great learning how to read and next week we'll be reviewing his Advanced lessons of ABC's with Ace and Christie and then we'll move on to another phonics program that has a lot more actual reading in it, and I think that will boost his confidence hugely! yay! We'll also be doing a year's worth of Health this month through Experiential Education, I just have to print out all the info and get it all ready to start. That's my big job for Monday! lol But then we also have the Canadian Oil Conference all week as well...so with sessions in the morning and evenings, not sure what's going to get done this next week.
Feast of the Tabernacles, we celebrated this feast in part on Thursday with a group of other homeschoolers. Learning about WHY we should celebrate this holiday even though we aren't Jewish...Christians would benefit from celebrating some of the Jewish Feasts as well...they are reminders of our past but also reminding us of what Christ did for us on the cross and there are still prophecies that are not fullfilled yet that some of the feasts remind us of. I love the A Families Guide to Biblical Holidays, it has been wonderful in explaining the relevance to Christians...I highly recommend it!
Anyhow, that's about it so far...
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