About getting off the couch

I've been encouraged by my daughter Chris and by several good friends to start reading again. Oh don't get me wrong - I read all the time - actually I re-read alot of the time - old favourites - like watching a favourite movie again or listening to a favourite CD. No what I mean is to pick up some of those books that are challenging to read - books that are not just an escape into another place but books that stretch my thinking and help me to grow closer to God. Books that take me to another culture or life circumstance and get me thinking about who I am and how I live my life.

I've just finished "The Shack" by William P. Young which clarified some of my beliefs and challenged other ideas of Who God Is. It's not that I concur with everything the author says about God but instead I've had to think about how little I really understand about Him and His role in life here on earth. It is sending me back to the Bible to read for myself who God says He Is.

Thanks to the authors and to Chris and the others who regularly challenge me to get out of my intellectual easy chair.

Happy New Year 2008

Wow, has the time flown by! There was so much happening in December that I didn't have a minute to justify writing a blog entry. I should be posting expense receipts but I'm going to take a few minutes to bring this blog up to date.

What a busy but great month it's been. At our ladies' Bible Study we finished up the Beth Moore "Believing God"study. I was so encouraged by the way God was able to meet each of the women who participated. Each week the ladies shared their hearts as we reviewed the previous week's lesson. Thank you to each of you who participated and brought even more insights to my heart's attention. Now in January we will be starting Beth's "Stepping Up" study on several of the Psalms.

Of course Christmas and the preparations for it took up a good part of the month. I didn't do as much baking as I used to but did more entertaining than usual. We had the neighbours in for coffee and "appys", we hosted a dinner party, had the whole family home for dinner and Chris' birthday on the 23rd and then had our kids and grandkids, my parents and my sister and her family on the 24th.

Christmas morning was a wonderful time of sharing and celebration with our children and grandchildren. What fun to see Christmas through their eyes. In the picture on the right they are Evan (5 1/2), Nathaniel (almost 4), Kyle (almost 4) and Ella (almost 2)
I was so touched and blessed by the enthusiasm displayed by our Grandkids for the real reason for Christmas. They "read" the Christmas story with Chris before opening gifts and when we asked them to pray before opening their gifts they each willingly thanked the Lord for His Birthday in their own unique way.

Reading the Christmas story

Thank you Tim and Dulci, Dave and Chris for making Christ so much a part of your home that your children talk so easily to Him as their friend.

It was so much fun to see the cousins playing together. Kyle loves "babies" and Ella stole his heart away. All three boys loved the hotwheels track, Ella carried her animals around and when the boys made her the "monster" she delightedly chased the boys saying, "Rrrarr" and stomping her right foot. When asked if she was the monster, she said in her tiny, very feminine voice "uh Huh!"

Hot tubbing, decorating cookies, playing hotwheels and Lego, reading books, playing in the shop and outside. Can Papa and Nana think of anything more fun? As Ella would say,"No WAAY!"

Watching a bedtime DVD

We were also fortunate to be hosted by friends and neighbours on a number of occasions - how blessed we are to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

All I can do is praise my Heavenly Father who has graciously given all things (including family, fun times, health and peace) to enjoy.

The year ended with a New Year's Eve Italian style dinner at our house. Our friends, Gil and Susan had recently been in Italy and asked us to help them plan and host the meal, patterned after what they had experienced in Italy. It was great fun and we sat around the table til well after midnight enjoying the good food, wine and fellowship.

November Notes

November has somehow slipped by -

I've talked in earlier blogs about getting a craft room set up. Well we've been busy cleaning up the basement and sorting out all the stuff left in our basement when we moved the office to the shop. Of course that involved sorting out other stuff to make a place for this stuff!! As a result, we got alot of clean up done. Several truckloads went to the dump, a truck load went to the new office and the rest was sorted and assigned a new spot in the basement.

I am so grateful - this has been along time in coming and it means so much to me to have Harv dedicate his precious time to helping me on this project. He had me pick some tile for the floor last week and he brought home an in - floor heating system which he is going to start installing this week. Our goal is to at least have the floor done by Christmas. I'd like to have the walls and ceilings done as well but we'll see how it goes. Needless to say, I'm very excited to see it started.
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Some time in October, my friend Jan and I spent an afteroon browsing at Michaels, and we came across some neat little things in the $1.00 bin. Jan said, "These would make great party favours. Let's have a party for the girls."

So that's what we did this past Thursday night. We called it a "Girls' Night Out' and invited 18 of our friends to join us for dinner at our house. We would have invited more but our dining room can only comfortably seat 14. Thirteen girls were able to come and we had such a nice evening. What a blessing to have so many that we can call our very good friends.

Jan and I set the table with white tablecloth, red hurricane lamps and poinsettias. It looked so pretty. Dinner started with a salad of mixed greens, green gapes, cranberries, feta and pine nuts; followed by Teriyaki Chicken, rosemary potatoes and a veggie platter of green beans, roasted red peppers and julienned carrots. For dessert we served chocolate mousse in dark chocolate cups.
We sat around the table with our coffee and tea for a long time after dinner talking about Christmas- past gifts - great gifts and not so great ones (this involved some very funny stories), Christmas traditions and especially memorable Christmas experiences.

It was a relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable evening made that way by the warm friendships we share and by our bond in Christ.

I am ever grateful to God for these wonderful friends He has brought into my life.
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This past weekend Tim and Dulci and the children came from Seattle to see us. It was the Amercian Thanksgiving so after celebrating with Dulci's family they drove up Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday morning.

It was nice to spend time with them. We've all been busy and not been together for a while. It is always so much fun with our grandchildren. Nate and Ella are growing up so fast - Ella is learning so many words and Harv and I are absolutely smitten when she comes running to us for a hug. Nathaniel has the vocabulary of a 6 year old and talks and talks. He is endlessly curious and every response begins with "Why?" His conversation is never boring and he delights us with his unique comments.
We took them over to Rick's friends' place to see the puppy that used to be ours and the kittens at Uncle Rick and Aunt Adele's. We played in the hot tub and read stories, baked buns and played with trucks, and did lots of cuddling. We are very blessed as grandparents to have our grandchildren come so often. The credit goes to their parents who often give up other things to bring them to Nana and PopPop's.
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Well winter has officially arrived with the first snowfall last night. I wanted to take a picture of the trees last night - every little branch had a covering of snow but Harv had taken the memory stick to the office to download the pictures. I was ready for bed and didn't feel like going out in the cold so it didn't happen. It was very pretty. By morning the rain had started and the magic was gone.

When we left the house this morning, we saw that that little bit of snow was just enough to bring the dead branch of our big Maple tree down. We've been planning to take that branch down for some time as it has been shedding bits of bark and moss and branches. We were surprised that the big wind last week had no effect on it but this little bit of wet snow did the trick. Now we only have to pick up the pieces.
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Our ladies Bible Study at church is going very well. We are doing a Beth Moore study called "Believing God". I am so impressed with the commitment the ladies have to the study. There is alot of homework involved and everyone is making an effort to keep up with it. The discussion times are so meaningful as well and it is wonderful the way everyone is willing to share what God is revealing to them each week. This past weeks' lesson includes a study on how God remembers us. In Isaiah 49 He says "... I will not forget you. See I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands." We learned that when God remembers us, He always acts on His remembrance. We sometimes want to think that God has forgotten us, or does not hear our prayers but we can be assured that He never forgets us - we are always before Him and He acts on His 'moment by moment' remembrance of us.

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I can hardly believe the month is almost over. It's been very busy business-wise with a number of large projects coming through. It is good to see Harv's hard work result in purchase orders. There are alot more jobs on the horizon which is very exciting for Klassen Specialty Hydraulics.

I am so thankful to God for the way He has provided for us - work, play, family and friends.

The deed is done

I did a dastardly deed yesterday and gave away our puppy. Poor Harv. He is away this week and couldn't even say good bye.

Harv left for northern Alberta on Wednesday and since then I have been saying "NO Copper!", "No nipping", "no jumping up on people", "no chewing shoes, electrical cords and hoses", "Come here Copper", "Go away Copper," cleaning up after Copper, checking out where Copper is and walking Copper.
On top of all that, I've had to be away from home the better part of at least 2 of those days, and needed to spend the rest of the week inside working in the house and office. Guilt was consuming me because I didn't have the time, the energy or the desire to spend with with a puppy who wanted nothing more than to play with me.

Harv wanted to keep him but I reminded my dearest husband, that I am a grandmother now, not a mom to toddlers and I just can't do this puppy thing again.
Plus, realistically, it just ain't gonna work. We love to travel - we do at least one motorcycle trip and numerous trips with the camper each summer. We go south and/or take a vacation each winter and go on business trips numerous times the rest of the year. We don't ever intend to take a dog with us so how can it work? Harv was sad but graciously understood and agreed - however his one condition to giving the dog away was that we can take him back for at least a day when the grandkids come. (That is my only regret - that the grandchildren would have loved him.)

Copper's new owners are fine with that. We gave him to Rick and Adele's friends who had fallen in love with him when they saw him right after Harv brought him home. They are very excited to have him - in fact they came for him the same day I told them they could have him.
I know puppy will be really happy there as his new owners are home all day and he'll have lots of attention and lots of space to play.

Now it's quiet in the house, the garage stays cleaned up and we can once again leave shoes by the back door. And I am very grateful for an understanding and compassionate husband who gave up his own druthers for me.
And that is the end of the Saga!