Thursday, October 29, 2009

the Layouts



"For Ever!" is what Sean always says when he does things to make me roll my eyes...  I'm stuck with him forever.  And I'm happy with that!  It also says "3 years and counting" - it'll be our third anniversary on November 18th.


A funny old pic of M - I think she was doing a recycling badge for Brownies and made herself a monster outfit out of the boxes.  I used a punch and papers from a bright fun kit for the squares.


The journalling on this one is about how she's not a little girl any more and not a young lady yet; I like these times when I can see both at once.  The first picture is of her playing with playdough, but she made it by herself on the stove.  The second one is of her fiddling with her MP3 player, but she's chasing butterflies at the same time.


Our first time going to the Ward family farm by Grenfell; first time meeting the people who were going to end up being family.


This one uses glimmer mist - I cut three stars with the Cricut, used them as masks and sprayed over them.  The photo is of me slacklining - so fun.


We brought the boys these shirts back from Florida in 2007.  The dots on the top and bottom are flocking I added - I like the softness and imperfectness it adds.


Just a few cell phone shots of M getting a hair cut.  This paper was all at our work spots at the retreat on Saturday morning, so I thought I'd make one using it... Fun getting freebies.


And these are a couple of 8x8's for M's little album - have had these shots of her year in highland dance in the to do pile for a few years now.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

A Teaser...

Here's a little shot to show you what's coming:
 We had a nice relaxing time out at Riverhurst this weekend.  I think I figured I did about 17 hours of scrapbooking before I left at 8:30.  That seems a little ridiculous to me...  I got 10 pages done - half are finished and I will post them later and the other half need a little finishing but will be up soon.

Monday, October 19, 2009

The Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

I just read this again while browsing an ezine I subscribe to & thought I'd share because it's such a good one. We so often are so backwards in our thinking. I know I need to be much more aware of others around me and much less aware of my self, my thinking and feeling and wants...

Friday, October 16, 2009

Good Idea...

I found this little something on (in)courage the other day and thought I'd share:

Fall in Love in Four Minutes A Day
It only takes four minutes a day to move into a deeper heart place. It only takes four minutes a day to connect in soul intimacy; to breathe in oxygen for the other half of my heart. Don’t and I too begin to suffocate, the death heave. I wish someone had told me in the beginning.
Four Fixations
Four times a day think on love. When I leave the marriage bed, leave the front door, when I return to front door, return to marriage bed. These are the four critical archways of time in our day. Touch or whisper a sweet nothing when passing through these gate points, and we walk into hours of closeness. Forever love fixates like fresh love.
Four Embraces
Four times a day, wrap up in husband. Embrace fully and hold each other's eyes. That’s all. Repeat four times daily. The one flesh breathes best when the skin pores are close; connected.
Four Affirmations
Four times during the day, thank him. For working faithfully to provide, for hanging up his towel, for putting gas in the van, for making this heart skip a wild beat. Look for the ways to thank him and watch how moves closer.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

A Wednesday

The bus:
Did not show up. I usually see M out the door then go sit by the front window until I've seen the bus go by. I lost a couple minutes getting to my window seat this morning, and after sitting for 10 minutes, guessed that the bus was a few minutes early like yesterday and I just missed seeing it. So off I went and started cleaning the bathroom... Almost done, just scrubbing the toilet, and "DING DONG" (x10) - there's M at the front door. It's after 9. School has already started. "The bus never came! Can you drive us?" So I run and get the van and pull around the front - no kids. What is going on? Then a bus comes down the street, turns beside me, pauses and I get a wave and thumbs up from the driver, and off they go to school.

M tells me later that the bus broke down, and they had to come with another bus; that's why it was so late. I don't even want to know what else is going to happen with the bus this year. So bizarre.

The not-routine in our week:
Conflict Manager Training (for grade 5's to help on the little kid's side during recess), Tuesday and Wednesday, 3:30 - 5.
Piano Lesson, relocated to Wednesday 12-12:30, because of Conflict Manager Training.
Girl Guides Cookie Sales, 6-8 Wednesday (instead of 6:30-8).
(Catch that? I picked her up at 5 at the school and had her up to Guides by 6. I confess, we had canned stew for supper.)
Field Trip to the Floral Conservatory, Thursday afternoon. I get to go along and chaperone!
Class (for me), Friday night and Saturday.
Food Bank Drive with Girl Guides, Saturday 10-12.
I'm so glad we had a relaxing weekend before this!

The traumatic:
Tonight as M was walking down the street to knock on another door to sell cookies, a man walked towards her, "limping a bit." She said to herself, "Oh, poor man," and then he fell over into the bushes. She turned around and went to the car, the mom with them got the 3 girls into the car and then went to one of the neighbors, who said that he recognized the man, and that the police were over at his place lots and that he was probably drunk. M said the neighbor was over with the man and then they drove away, so she didn't see if he was okay or not. She was pretty freaked out; thought he might have had a heart attack. So we had a little debriefing to do before she went to bed tonight.

The living room update:
Carla and Larry came and got the old sewing machine tonight; he was teasing her about why they'd want that old thing and pretending not to get the whole emotional attachment thing... It's a beautiful Singer that was her grandmas and she learned to sew on it when she was little.
Sean took apart our tall bookshelf and re-made it shorter to suit our tech needs and put it in the corner in the place of the table with pictures and plant that is now where the sewing machine was.
The old couch and loveseat are still in there but I listed them on Used Regina tonight...
Sean is picking up the coffee table tomorrow. I think it will have to go downstairs to wait until the couches go, otherwise we'd only have two square feet of floor space!
So it's all coming together...

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Guest Blogger!

Madeline has written a post for you about what happened in our house this morning:

**********

Today I was doing my hair and I had 2 stands in front. I wanted 2 crimp them so I took a comb and I twisted it up to my forehead and let it stay that way for a while. Then I went downstairs and said to mom, “I have something stuck in my hair!” Mom came to where I was and saw that the comb was stuck - in my hair - on my forehead so we went to the bathroom and slapped some conditioner on it and it took 20 minutes to get it out.

Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My head still hurts.

Bye for now peoples,
Madeline!

Monday, October 05, 2009

Memories of KBK

This is something I just published on our staff blog on our church website:

This past Saturday was a 60th Anniversary celebration for Katepwa Baptist Kamp. KBK is part of the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada (CBWC), same as we are at Westhill, which makes KBK 'our' camp.

The banquet was held at a location that was NOT the camp in order to seat the 300 people we hoped to have out, and we sold out our 300 tickets and filled the Balgonie Multiplex with people that love KBK and appreciate that rich history, including people that came from Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario just for this.

For me, (and I'm sure most others there) the camp site itself is special. I remember leading a group up Vesper to the crosses as part of a prayer exercise I led at a retreat. I remember the feel of the icy water when we went wakeboarding in October one year. I remember hours pruning back the mountain bike trails, and sleeping under the stars up on Mini Ridge. I remember sitting on the lodge balcony watching storms come up and put on a sky filling display.

While the site itself is special, most of my memories are tied up with people, too.

I remember watching my nephew try kneeboarding for the first time on the beach, and my daughter's first steps there. I remember all the female staff that I camped out with at the bivouac, and how our dog Kizzy joined us there. I remember 'becoming dates' and a first kiss and a proposal and a first home there. I remember the feeling of parental pride as I saw the same faces move from being campers to LITs to staff to directors, and knowing that that growth is the whole point of all the fun. I remember the Sunday afternoons dropping off my own daughter at camp and visiting my own camp friends who are dropping off their children.

It was a wonderful time on Saturday to see so many faces that I know and love because of that place. Wonderful to see people stand who had been part of the first camp in 1949. Wonderful to hear the dreams for the future, and see new babies that will grow up to be campers and staff and on the board... and continue on this great part of God's story.

Thursday, October 01, 2009