Merry Christmas!

Prayer Update

Several weeks ago, I mentioned about a friend of mine that has been diagnosed with breast cancer. She regularly updates on how she's doing. I have her permission to share the link with you. As she said, "The more people praying, the better". The problem is that I think I need to add your e-mail individually.

So, if you would like to receive her regular updates on how she is doing with her chemo treatments & how she is choosing to praise God through this challenge, leave a comment telling me so & I'll add your e-mail address to her CarePages updates (be sure to leave your e-mail address if I don't already have it).

If you don't want to receive her updates but still want to pray for her, her name is Danika. Her husband, Scott is a State trooper in Washington & they just had their 6th child just before she started her chemo. She is the same age as me - 36. It sure puts things into perspective!

Please keep them in your prayers.

~ Thank you

Update!

So it has been requested that I let you know the outcome of Daniel's little escapade! If you haven't read about it yet, check below first.

The outcome is rather anti-climactic (spelling?!). Later in the day, I called the pizza place. I asked my "strange" question about whether or not my son left a message earlier that morning. The young guy kindly informed me that although they have an answering message, people are not able to leave a message. Whew! So after clarifying (I just had to make sure) that my son did not leave a message, I said "Thank you very much & we'll be sure to call them the next time we really want to order pizza!" So that was it! Like I said, rather anti-climactic, but I'm sure glad!

Funny thing - this morning when I asked Daniel if he was hungry for breakfast, he said that he was because he didn't eat any candy or anything he wasn't supposed to...AND, he didn't phone the pizza place! Of course I jumped at the opportunity to encourage him for being such a good boy this morning! Here's hoping the phone call was just a one time thing!

Taking Things to a Whole New Level

Time: 6:55am
Event: Waking up to answer the door for the boy I'm babysitting today
Surprise: !!!!

As I was opening the door, I noticed Daniel was hiding behind the couch - a tell-tale sign that he is guilty about something. My Mom-radar was instantly kicked into gear. WHY is Daniel hiding behind the couch? While observing the situation, I noticed the phone sitting on the floor next to him. Hmm, we must have left the phone off the charger last night, but how did it get behind the couch? It must have fallen or something. (Of course these thoughts ran through my head in about 1.2 seconds). "Daniel, pass me the phone please."

Daniel's response: !!!

As he passed me the phone, he also handed me the phone book (I hadn't seen that during my quick observation). As he handed me said items, he (almost proudly) informed me, "Now we'll have peperoni & cheese pizza here for supper". "Pardon me?!!!"

Oh my goodness! I compared the number on redial to the number just inside the front flap of the phone book & sure enough, it was the number for a pizza place here in town! According to Daniel, he phoned the pizza place & talked (at least he said he did when I questioned him), but no one answered. Now today I have to call the pizza place to make sure we won't have any peperoni pizzas delivered at supper time!

This is certainly a whole new level of mischieviousness for Daniel. It usually has something to do with turning the TV on, food (candy, chocolate, granola bars...) or toys that have been put away as a consequence. I'm hoping that the consequence he got this morning will stop him from doing this again. I think Jeremy's more hopeful than me. Time will tell!

Something to Ponder

I just saw this on another blog (Boy, O Boy, O Boy (and Girl)) and thought I'd post it here as well. Very thought provoking! Let me know what you think.

Saying Good-Bye

I've never really had a difficult time saying good-bye. When close high school friends moved away I told them "See you later" rather than "good-bye".

When I left my "family" in France after being a nanny for one year, I gave hugs and said good-bye. I'm sure there was a tear or two that I wiped away, but no full out crying. I was too excited to be returning home.

When I leave my kids or husband for the evening or weekend, I give a hug & run! Yay! Freedom! I know that I love them with all my heart and if anything ever happened to them that was permanent, I would be devastated. I guess I know that (most likely - God willing) I will be seeing them again soon.

Today I am saying good-bye to a precious little boy who has really touched my heart and I've already had one cry about it! Why?! Is it because he's just so darn cute & hasn't reached the "terrible two's" yet? Is it because he has been living with his Grandma & uncles this past 13+ months because his Mom & Dad haven't been able to care for him? Is it because I know he's being returned to his Mom's today and the living standards in his new home are going to be very different than mine or his Grandma's? Is it because I see the sense of loss in his Grandma's eyes as she knows she must surrender him back to his Mom? Is it because I know my kids will miss him & his silly antics?

After my little cry this morning, I put the kids' music on; how fitting! They are listening to the "Music Machine" CD these days. The songs on the fruit of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness & Self-control - were very fitting. Once again, God used just the right thing to calm my spirit.

Family Time

A couple Sundays ago, we went to The Apple Barn here in town. Daniel had been in Kindergarten for a field trip but the rest of us had never been. We met some friends there from our new church and had a great time!

The kids went up and down the slide and through the little maze over and over again. We laughed and cheered so hard when Jeremy & our friends went down a very steep, windy & not-so-wide of a slide! I was wise and decided to stay on firm ground (okay - I was probably a little scared & I'm not that adventerous!).

It was a beautiful sunny, October day. It was good to be out in the fresh air and enjoying some time with new friends. It felt like old times (hanging out with people we know)!

Here are some picutres from our outing!

Thankful Thursday

Today I am combining Thankful Thursday with Jeremy's weight loss update because, well, I forgot to post his weight loss results yesterday AND I really am thankful for him working so hard at losing weight!

Thanksgiving put things out of whack a little, but after getting back on track, Jeremy lost 1 lb this past week putting him back at 230 lbs.

With only 2 more weeks to go before our anniversary (can it really be our anniversary so soon?!), Jeremy & I are hoping that he will lose as much weight as possible (at least be securely in the 220's). Our goal is for Jeremy to get a new suit for our anniversary and we don't want to have to have him change sizes after we buy it.

So stay tuned over the next couple of weeks to see how Jeremy does!

Weigh In Wednesday

Jeremy has changed his weigh in day to Wednesdays now.

With Thanksgiving this past weekend and an uneventful fishing trip filled with junk food the weekend before Jeremy's weight decided to reverse itself. As of this past weekend, he had gained 5lbs. But after getting back on track these past couple days, he was excited this morning when he weighed himself and found he had just lost 4 of those 5 gained pounds!

So as of this morning, Jeremy's weight is 231 lbs. I must say that he is definately more encouraged to be back on track for this next week.

As a side note, I just have to tell you about a meal I made last weekend. I cooked up some salmon with some prepared tzaziki dip on top. It was SO good! I love easy to make meals that taste delicous and are healthy! Now I can't wait for the next time I make salmon!

Do you have any healthy meals that you want to share? Click on the "Comments" to leave your tips, recipes or comments.

Thanksgiving Weekend!

It was Thanksgiving this past weekend. We don't have any family near us so at first we weren't sure what we'd be doing. But last weekend, I asked my parents if they wanted to come join us & everything worked out for them to do so from Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon. In the end, there was Jeremy & myself & the kids, my parents, their home-stay student (also named Daniel!) & a friend of my parents who has been staying with them.

Friday night after Jeremy got home from work we went shopping at Costco and had supper there. Gotta love the cheap meals at Costco! Where else can a family of four eat for $15 or less? We did our Thanksgiving meal shopping as well as food for the next week.

Saturday morning Jeremy went out to do some "errands". He had a few things to work on for our anniversary get-away in November. I stayed home & relaxed with the kids. Later we did a little house cleaning, but mostly just relaxed, so much so that Jeremy & I fell asleep on the couch! Later in the day we decided we should probably get out of the house and finish our shopping.

Because of the lazy day, our meals weren't really on schedule. The kids were hungry while we were shopping so we bought them a slice of pizza each. When we got home, I put some salmon in the oven for supper. It was defrosted and needed to be cooked so even though I was the only one hungry, I cooked it anyway.

Sunday morning we headed off to church (it's so nice knowing where we are worshipping now). After church we headed home and had a relaxing afternoon cleaning and doing food prep. My parents were bringing some leftover turkey so we didn't have to worry about that. I made a pumpkin pie, an "apple" dessert (it turned out that I didn't have a second pie or enough apples plate so I had to improvise - thank you, Karen for the recipe suggestion. It was delicious!). Then we made garlic mashed potatoes, mashed yams, steamed cauliflower & broccoli, a "loaded" green salad (we like lots of stuff in our green salads) and our famous stuffing balls. They are so good and really quite easy to make.

My parents arrived just before 6pm and within about 15-20 minutes of them arriving we were ready to sit down and eat - just like I had planned. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and delicious pumpkin pie (did I mention I made the crust; desparation calls for desparate measures). We put the kids to bed shortly after as it was getting late. Then we sat back and watched some good old "Mr. Bean" dvd's. The laughter helped to burn off a few of the calories we ingested earlier!

Monday morning Jeremy & my Dad went to Jeremy's work to put the dropped-off rental vehicles into the yard so they wouldn't get stolen then went out for breakfast. The kids were up early (as usual) watching their cartoons. The rest of us grown-ups slept in to some degree or another. After a relaxing morning and a lunch of left-overs, we played some card games & relaxed. It was so nice to just have time to play together. Usually our time is so rushed that it go-go-go. By the time my parents had to leave, I felt like we had spent some quality time together. Jeremy & I and the kids enjoyed a relaxing evening after we said our good-byes. And that was the end of our Thanksgiving weekend!

I thought I would leave you with a few pictures (most of which were taken as we were saying our good-byes).

Prayer Requests Update

Thank you for praying.

Please continue to pray for our friend's husband who had heart surgery. The surgery went very well. Please pray for his body to heal quickly.

Please hold my friend in your prayers. She received the results of her biopsy today - she has breast cancer. She is pregnant with her 6th child (due this month, I believe). She is in shock and is asking for prayer. She and her husband are Christians.

Thank you for praying!

Perfection!

The sun is shining, the air is brisk, the kids are playing outside, it's quiet inside & I'm enjoying a cup of hot Mulled Cider! What could be better than this?!

Thankful Thursday

I'm Thankful for God's patience and His love. I'm thankful that even when my memory is short & I forget God's wonderful Truths, He patiently reminds me of them and loves me just the same.

For other Thankful Thursday posts, visit Iris' newly designed blog at Sting My Heart.

Prayer Requests

I have a couple of different friends who could really use prayer right now. I will omit their names, but please pray for them as God leads you.

#1 One friend is pregnant with her sixth child & just had a biopsy taken today (possible cancer).

#2 A blog friend is sitting by her husband's side awaiting his heart surgery in the morning.


Both of these friends love the Lord and are striving to remain firm. Thank you for your prayers.

Weight Loss Update

Just a quick update: Jeremy weighed himself this morning and is still at 230 lbs. He was at the same weight last week as well. The past two weekends have not been diet-friendly (a birthday party both weekends) and with Thanksgiving this weekend, we are simply hoping that he doesn't gain weight.

Jeremy is still sticking to his diet, making healthy food choices each day (except for a the birthday exceptions), trying not to eat too late in the evenings and limiting how much he consumes with each meal. I think that because he is still doing these things, this is helping him to not gain weight.

Thanks for all the support!

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

Here it is Saturday & I still haven't posted about Daniel's birthday! So here goes!

Lst Sunday (the 28th) we had Daniel's birthday party after church. We came home quickly from church & finished our preparations (aka: decorate the cake!). Daniel turned 7 this week (on the 30th)! I was away on the Island last weekend doing an Epicure party for my Mom. Because we knew I'd be away, we made a decision to have Daniel's party at the local McDonald's PlayPlace. It was great coming home Saturday evening knowing I didn't have to quickly run around cleaning & prepping our home to be invaded by 10 other kids.

Instead, we let them invade the McDonald's. It was well worth the money!

This year Daniel was able to invite kids from school. It was great being able to connect again with the kids' parents.

Each year I have made the kids' birthday cake. I enjoy decorating it & seeing the look of excitement on their face when they see their cake for the first time. This year, because I knew I wouldn't have much time just before the party, I chose to go a simpler route. I made a double layer cake a few days before the party (I cheated & used a cake mix this time). Then, instead of cutting & creating a design, I worked with a flat 9" x 13" cake. We made green icing (for the grass) and blue icing (for the water). I had borrowed some Playmobil pieces from a friend and in the end, the cake had a little Indian theme, complete with a teepee, campfire, Indians, and canoe. Then we sprinkled on some brown sprinkles (for dirt!).

It was very cute if I may say so!

Here are some pictures of the cake and Daniel's party.

Look how much you've grown!

Happy 7th Birthday, Daniel!

Thankful Thursday

A few weeks ago I wrote a post but never published it. I guess writing it was more for myself than for others. It was a time of processing. Well, today I am happy to write that I have a conclusion for that never-published post.

For 3 1/2 months we have been searching for a new church, for a new group of people to call family. Through a lot of prayer and waiting on God, visiting various churches and even having church in our garage with just the four of us, we believe that God has brought us to a body of believers who have the same spiritual passion that we have had ignited in us over the past several months.

It felt so good to walk into church on Sunday . We had visited this church several times over summer but always felt like we were visitors. People were friendly and we could see where we would fit in, but we still didn't feel like we belonged. We were waiting for the "Okay" from God. And now we have it! Last night we met for the first time with people who are wanting to be involved in a Care Group/Small Group. It felt so good walking into the room knowing that these people were about to become our close friends.

It feels so good to have a place to call "home"!

For more Thankful Thursday posts, visit Iris at Sting My Heart.

Weight Loss Update

Here it is Wednesday and I haven't posted Jeremy's weight loss results for this week. He actually didn't weigh in on Monday, so stepped on the scale yesterday morning. The results:

Minus 2 = 230 lbs

And, just thought I'd let you know - I have been wearing my wedding rings to bed the past few nights. So what?, you may ask.

Well, since I was pregnant with Becca I haven't been able to wear my wedding rings. I may have been able to wear them briefly after she was born but I can't remember. But for at least the first 3 years after Becca was born, I wasn't able to wear them because I had gained too much weight.

Over the past year I have been losing weight and have been able to wear my wedding band - but only sometimes. If it was too hot out, my fingers would swell and my ring wouldn't fit. I certainly couldn't wear it to bed. I remember one night I accidentally wore my ring to bed and I woke up in the night because my finger hurt from my ring!

Over the past few months I have been able to wear both rings during the day (unless it was really hot & my fingers were too swollen). But now, I have been wearing both rings day & night. I'm so excited! It is another sign that I'm getting back to my almost pre-pregnancy weight. Yahoo! That and the fact that I can now wear my wedding rings when I'm out in public with a bunch of kids in tow! I like having that symbol on my finger stating my life-long commitment to someone I love dearly.

Life in Pictures & Ideas Wanted

Last week we had a real heat wave, at least it felt like it! One day when Daniel got home from school (I love carpooling!) this is what he looked like! Talk about wild & crazy hair!

All hot & sweaty after playing on the playground after school!

What goes through your mind when you see a picture like this?

If your answer was "clippings from a hair cut" you would be correct - well, sort of...

Becca ~ the willing participant

Daniel ~ The Culprit
The end result

Did you see it? The hair is cut level to her ear. Daniel cut off about 3"! Needless to say, we weren't too happy. Especially because we had just finished telling Daniel & Becca to put the scissors away after they were trying to cut a stuffed puppy's fur. Sigh! We'll probably take Becca in for a haircut this weekend to see if anything can be done to make it look a little better. And while we're at it, we'll get Daniel's crazy hair taken care of too!

Now on to today's adventure! Daniel lost another tooth! We were at Costco having lunch with my Mom. She was on her way through to the Interior for a "Music for Young Children" conference. Because of the short time that we'd have to visit - and she wanted to fill up at Costco (gotta love cheaper gas) - we met at Costco and had lunch. While eating his pizza, Daniel's tooth popped right out! I thought it was pretty cool that Grandma was there for the special occasion. Here is the happy boy!

Now for wanting ideas.

I am planning Daniel's 7th birthday party. We are trying to save money so I'm thinking of ideas for having his party at home. But then it could rain & who wants 10 kids running around in a small house with no playroom? So we might end up going somewhere.

What I am wanting ideas for are the birthday cake. I only have limited time but making the birthday cake is something I really want to do. Any ideas how I could make / decorate Daniel's cake with little effort & cost? I'm thinking something along the lines of Space, Cowboys & Indians (we're reading the "Little House on the Prairie" series so he's interested in this), airplanes/jets/rockets, pirates (nothing yucky), treasure chest, castle (knights, etc). I saw a wonderful idea of doing a treasure chest with cupcake pirates, with the chest overflowing with candy "treasures" but most of the candies I looked at today contain peanuts (or traces of). One of the boys Daniel is inviting is allergic to peanuts and I want to be sensitive to the allergy - making it so he can eat everything we offer.

Any ideas? Please leave them in the comments...I'd love the input. I'm planning to start on the cake as soon as possible. Thanks in advance!

Weigh In Monday

Minus 2 = 232lbs

Jeremy is happy that he lost weight this past week but is feeling frustrated because he's not cheating and feels that he should have lost more. Also, with only seven weeks left to reach his goal weight, he's feeling the pressure. Calculations show that Jeremy needs to lose 4lbs each week, so only losing 2lbs this week really puts the pressure on.

This next week, Jeremy plans to try eating more veggies (something we've slacked on this past week) and drink more water (he has really slacked on this in the past months). Other than that, there's not a lot more he can change. I'm really proud of him because he has stopped snacking in the evenings, is avoiding sushi and all other "treats" till he's reached his goal weight.

On an exciting note, Jeremy pulled out a pair of size 38 black jeans that he hasn't worn for years! That means he has gone from a very tight 42" waist to a very comfortable 38" waist! Yeah!

Walking by Faith & "What-Ever"

Well, Mel from Mel's World has done it again! Her words have really spoken to me. First off, each week she participates in "Then Sings My Soul Saturdays". This week's touched my heart. It is a song that God used earlier this summer after He called us to leave our church family of 12 years. Go here to read Mel's post and why this song is special to her.

Jeremy Camp - Walk By Faith



And while you're at it, check out her "Speak to My Soul Sunday" post for this week. It is very insightful and a great way to refocus our thoughts.

Thankful Thursday

I couldn't wait for this morning to come, so I'll just get right into it!

Today I am thankful for:

• My wonderful, sweet, thoughtful & amazing husband
• Free Cycle/Full Circle
• Blessings that God gives us - just because
• My "new" patio swing!

Now for a little background! We are signed up with our city's Free Cycle (in our city it's called Full Circle). It's an internet-based "organization" with which people can post "Wanted" and "Offer" ads. All items must be given & received for free. The idea is to keep as much stuff out of the land fill as possible.

We have received a couple items already through Full Circle (click here to read about those). This past spring/early summer, I posted an ad on Full Circle requesting a patio swing. Because of the reaction my skin gets when it's exposed to the sun, I wanted to have a patio swing with an awning so that I could sit on it in the backyard, keep an eye on the kids and not get itchy in the process. I didn't receive any responses at that time.

Yesterday, someone was offering a patio swing that needs a little repair to the cushion & awning material. I forwarded the e-mail to Jeremy asking what he thought. He quickly dismissed it as not a good idea because of the repairs that would need to be made to the fabric. But I didn't want to give up that easily so I e-mailed the man back, asking if the swing was structurally sound. I never received a response back and the next thing I knew, the man had posted an e-mail stating "the patio swing has been taken".

My practical side said, "Oh well, maybe next time!" And that was the end of it. Or so I thought!

My wonderful, amazing, thoughtful, sweet...did I mention amazing?!...husband had taken matters into his own hands. With a couple of loving white lies (okay - they were rather blatant lies), he e-mailed the man himself and said he would love to take it as a surprise for his wife (me!). The man was concerned because I had already e-mailed him asking questions about it. So Jeremy (he's so smart) suggested the man (who happens to be a Christian!) send out an e-mail stating that the item had been taken. So that's what the man did; that's the e-mail I received which led me to believe that I had lost out on this opportunity for good.

Well, the next part of the story is pretty cool. Our next door neighbors were receiving some "new to them" furniture from their friends and we were taking our neighbors "finished with" furniture. As a stipulation (with a smile), our neighbor said we could have their funiture if Jeremy brought a truck home from his work to help them pick up their "new" stuff. So of course Jeremy obliged! He helped bring their old furniture over to our garage/rec room (it looks amazing now, by the way) then helped to pick up their "new" furniture. After all of this work, Jeremy told me that our neighbors' friend, Ian, needed help moving a couple things, so Jeremy had to go back out. No problem, I thought! Here's a great opportunity for Jeremy to connect with more non-Christians!

As it turns out, Ian didn't need help with anything. Jeremy took advantage of having a truck from his work and went to pick up the afore mentioned patio swing! He very quietly brought each cushion and piece up the back stairs onto our back deck. I was oblivious to the whole ordeal. When it came to moving the main frame, Jeremy enlisted the help of our new tennant. Together they quietly snuck it up the stairs and set the whole thing up.

I was sitting in the living room flipping through channels on the TV when Jeremy walked in. I asked how it had gone helping Ian. He said that it went well...there was some extra stuff on the back deck. What?! What extra stuff? Don't we already have enough furniture? Okay, I'll come see what's on the deck.

This is what I saw (well, actually I could barely see it because it was dark out and we don't have any lights on our back deck):

My FREE new-to-me patio swing!

For other Thankful hearts, visit Iris at Sting My Heart.

Sharing

Today I read a couple of blogs that spoke to me personally so I wanted to share them with you.

The first one is Lysa TerKeurst at Proverbs 31 Ministries. The title of her post from today is called "Good Mom, Bad Mom, Good Mom". I think it's something that all Moms can relate to, unless you're perfect! Click on the post title to check it out.

Now that you've checked out Lysa's post, here is another post that I really enjoyed today. It's by Nancy Douglas at Olive Leaf Ministries. One of the ministries she's recently started are short video devotionals. I really enjoyed this one (it's actually from yesterday but I only watched it today) and just had to pass it along to you. I hope you enjoy it as well! Nancy has also provided some Home Study Notes to help you dig deeper! So go on over and enjoy Nancy's "Silence is Golden".

After you've checked out these two blogs, I'd love to know what you thought. Leave me a message & let me know!

A Blog Award!

I have received my first blog award! I'm so excited!

It was generously given by Nancy over at Olive Leaf Ministries. Nancy has been doing short encouraging devotional videos on her blog these past few months. Her story is worth reading and I encourage you to check out her blog. Click here to see her blog award post.

Thanks for this award, Nancy! Some of my answers are the same as yours - we have similar values!

Here are the rules:

1. Mention the blog that gave it to you & comment on their blog to let them know you've posted your award
2. Publish these rules
3. Share 6 values that are important to you and 6 things you do not support
4. Grant the prize to 6 people

What I value:

1. My personal relationship with Jesus Christ
2. My husband's vision & encouragement
3. Time at home with my children
4. A good dessert, steamed milk & conversation with friends
5. A good book
6. God's beautiful creation - I just love flowers & sunsets!

What I do not support:

1. Disrespect
2. Teasing
3. Whining
4. Violence
5. Abortion
6. Sushi (okay, I just don't like it!)

I wasn't sure what the name on the award meant, so I translated it on-line (may not be a completely accurate translation). "Premio al Esfuerzo Personal" = Prize to the Personal Effort. So I chose some of the blog writers who I feel deserve a prize for their personal effort in blogging.

I pass this award on to:

Lysa at Proverbs 31 Ministries
Susan at Penless Writer
Melissa at Mel's World
Leanne at Impressions
Yvonne at Life as a Gronau
Kristen at Janzen/Larsen Family

Weigh In Monday

Minus 3 = 234!

If we are both remembering correctly, this is the weight Jeremy was when we first met! This next week will be a new milestone!

Praise & Coffee Giveaway

Sue over at Praise & Coffee offers a monthly giveaway of coffee beans & a worship CD. All you have to do is leave a comment on Sue's blog to be entered in the giveaway. It's that easy! And if you add her Praise & Coffee button to your blog, let her know so she can enter your name a second time!

This month's giveaway is a bag of coffee from a local coffeehouse and "Casting Crown's" CD, "The Altar and the Door Live". Click here to leave a comment on Sue's blog post. (You don't have to have a blog to enter the contest; just leave her your e-mail or some other way of contacting you).

Catch Up

Here it is the end of the first week of a new school year and I haven't done a post about Daniel's 1st day back to school! So here is his unofficial "First Day Back to School" post!

Here is my little boy, who is not so little anymore, proud to be in Grade 2!

Daniel - almost 7yrs old

And to top it off, if you didn't notice from the picture, Daniel lost another tooth a week or so ago. It's his top front tooth. We were at McDonald's and his tooth became extra loose. I asked him if he wanted me to try to gently pull it out. He agreed, so with little effort, his tooth popped right out! He was so excited!

Another sign my son is growing up!

Thankful Thursday

Once again I remembered about Thursday Thankful while reading other blogs this morning! So here goes:

• My son being excited about starting grade. He's such a social butterfly and was so excited to see his friends again.
• The way God is providing for our needs. September is such an expensive month for us - we've just finished buying back-to-school supplies, our van and house insurances are both due and it's Daniel's birthday at the end of the month. But through being diligent and saving throughout the year, plus what God has provided for us in the past 2 days, we should have enough to pay for our insurances and Daniel's party! It's been awhile since we've finished September in the black!
• The comfort that God is giving us as we search for a new church family.
• Medication! It's amazing what a tiny little blue thyroid pill can do!
• The sunshine that is back!

For more Thankful Thursday posts, visit Iris at Sting My Heart.

Weight Loss Update

I know Monday has come and gone but I thought I'd do an update anyways.

Jeremy actually tried weighing himself on Monday morning but the batteries in the scale died! After replacing the batteries, Tuesday morning found Jeremy at 137 lbs. That's 3 lbs he lost. One one hand it's nice for him to finally be under 139 lbs, but on the other hand, throughout last week Jeremy was weighing himself each day and actually got down to 235 lbs but gained 2 lbs at the last moment.

This was frustrating for Jeremy because he didn't cheat at all this past week. He has been fighting a cold/upset stomach which could have something to do with gaining weight, but most likely it's because he hasn't been taking his thyroid medication regularly over the past few weeks - forgetting a bit while we were on holidays & then trying to make it last until he had a doctor's appointment booked. We were able to get him a few to tide him over until his appointment next week so hopefully this will help give him his energy back and help his weight to keep coming off.

Our Holiday in Pictures (Part 3)

I'm realizing now that we took a lot of pictures on our holiday! That just means I can do more pictures and fewer words! If you haven't seen the first two sets of pictures, click here for Part 1; click here for Part 2.

The first set of pictures are from our day trip to Carp Lake for fishing, swimming & just hanging out. We arrived just in time for lunch so quickly roasted some hot dogs for lunch. After lunch, we launched the boat into the water and Ernie & Jeremy took Daniel, Becca & Kathleen out for a ride & a little fishing. After a couple of hours, they returned with one small fish that Kathleen caught. Although our kids didn't catch anything, they were excited just to be on the boat!

Ernie let Daniel & Becca take turns steering the boat.

They couldn't stop talking about it after!

Jeremy taking time out for a little fly fishing

Daniel ready to explore the lake

Mid-week we adjusted our plans. Jeremy & I had wanted to head further north to visit Jeremy's brother, sister-in-law & four girls but scheduling just didn't work out. So instead, we all (my sister & family, parents & us) headed south to Barkerville. If you have never been to Barkerville, I highly recommend going. Click here for Barkerville's website.

There were a number of these little guys eating popcorn that people had dropped on the ground

Taking a break from all the walking
(Dad, Ernie, Paul, Douglas & Daniel)

All the employees are dressed up in period clothing

One of the pictures Jeremy took at Barkerville

This church is the only building I remembered from the last time I visited Barkerville - many years ago

At the end of our day at Barkerville, we all said our sad good-byes. Poor Becca cried for at least an hour after we left. Over the almost 2 weeks that Daniel & Becca had been in Mackenzie, Becca really bonded with Kathleen. They were almost inseperable. But the time had come - Karen, Ernie & kids still had to drive 4hrs back home that night with terrible weather looming on the horizon. We had about a 2-3hr drive ahead of us as we headed south to Williams Lake for the night. Mom & Dad have long-time friends there so we usually stay the night as we pass through. We were fortunate enough to hit the bad weather on the way down too - thunder, lightening and heavy rain. At one point, Jeremy pulled over because he couldn't see the lines on the highway! After a bit, we continued on, driving slowly. Mom & I were doing whatever we could to keep the kids calm (and try to keep Becca from starting to cry for Kathleen again). We sang church songs, played games, told stories, anything!

The next morning, we loaded up the van and continued on our way home, this time with more favorable weather. On our way, we stopped for lunch at Horsting's Farm Market. If you're passing through Cache Creek, and the farm market is open, it is definately worth stopping for.

A picture of the Horsting's apple orchards
We used the distance for Daniel to expel his energy!

Jeremy - taken by Becca

And that is the end of our holiday! We are thankful for a safe trip and all the fun we had. 'Till next time...!

6 Random Things About Me - Meme

I have been tagged by Susan of Penless Writer to do the "6 Random Things About Me" meme. I thought I'd give it a shot!

Here are the rules of the game: 1) Link to the person who 'tagged' you; 2) Post the rules on your blog; 3) List 6 random facts about yourself; 4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post; 5) Let each person know they have been tagged by commenting on their blog; 6) Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog.

I know I've done a couple like this before, so hopefully I won't repeat myself!

1. When I was growing up (and even sometimes now), you could often find me wearing pants and sweatshirts in the middle of summer. We have a few family pictures to prove it!
2. I don't like the smell of hay (or any smells to do with farms or animals really); actually it almost makes my stomach sick - don't know why?!
3. I was very shy growing up
4. I (along with my sister) would run around with 5" high heels on when I was younger
5. I have had glasses since I was in grade 3
6. I love the smell of clothes & bedding after its dried on the clothes line

Well, it seems that most of my random things are from when I was younger! Now you know a little more about me!

I'm not going to tag anyone specifically, but if you do this meme, leave a comment on my blog to let me know - I like learning new things about other people. And check out Susan's 6 Random Things here!

Our Holiday in Pictures (Part 2)

Because we had so many pictures from our holidays I am posting them in two different posts.

If you haven't seen the first set, click here first. Okay, now that you've seen those ones, here are the next set of pictures.

The first set of pictures are from our adventure up Morfee Mountain. When I say that we went up the mountain, I don't mean that we drove for a bit in the trees on a highway, I mean that we turned off the road, stopped and loaded up the truck. We had 11 of us in the truck - Ernie, my Mom & Dad and myself in the cab of the truck, and Jeremy, Daniel, Rebecca, my sister, Karen, and my nephew & neice (Paul, Douglas & Kathleen) in the box of the truck.

After loading up the truck, we drove for about one hour on gravel roads. Now when I say gravel roads, I don't mean nice wide, seal-coated gravel roads. No, I mean gravel roads where you wonder how if we were to meet a vehicle coming in the opposite direction, how would we get passed each other? I mean gravel roads where there are deep (I mean deep) crevices, potholes, bumps, dips all over the road. I mean gravel roads where if you aren't in a 4x4 vehicle, you are going to bottom out! At one point, there had obviously been a bit of a slide or something because part of the road had been washed away down the steep embankment, but thankfully had bright orange ribbon wrapped around little stakes in the road around the missing roadway. Oh, and did I mention that all the while we are traveling UP?! The road was quite steep.

One thing I was thankful for was for all the trees lining the side of the road where there was a sheer dropoff - at least I couldn't see how far down we would fall if we hit a bump wrong ! My hands are starting to sweat just thinking about this adventure.

I have to say that my brother-in-law, Ernie, did a wonderful job navigating his truck up what I would call treacherous roads (he would just chuckle and say, "This is nothing!"). At one point, we pulled off the road, about half way up the mountain, where there is a little cabin and an outhouse. I wasn't sure if Ernie had pity on me or if he wanted to show us this "pitstop" - either way I was happy for solid ground! Here are some pictures from that pitstop.

Some white rock that was all over the groundJeremy, Douglas & Daniel resting at the cabin

If I remember correctly, those patches of snow is where we headed next - way up there!

Our second pit stop. We got out to play in the snow! Here it was early August and there was still snow on the mountains!

On our way to play in the snow

After our fun in the snow, we hopped back in the truck, went higher again to the towers. I don't remember what the towers are for (phone, cable, cell phones...???). Maybe my sister will leave a comment & let us all know!

The towers - our 3rd pitstop

While here, the old golf clubs came out. Time to hit a few balls & rocks off the side of the mountain!

Where we played in the snow
Can you see the "road" leading up the mountain?
That was our final destination!

We finally reached our destination - the top of Morfee Mountain! We built a small fire, roasted some hot dogs & marshmallows and enjoyed the view.

I don't really want to share it, but in order for you to understand how BIG of a deal this was for me, I need to tell you. I was nervous all the way up the mountain. My brain kept telling my emotions "Ernie knows what he's doing", but my emotions had a hard time listening. My thoughts kept going over and over all the "what if" scenarios. I was praying, I was screaming inside, I was breathing to try to calm myself. All this for over an hour. We would get out to stretch and enjoy the view at each pit stop, but I could never fully enjoy myself because I knew that at some point I would have to climb back into the truck and keep going. I don't remember ever being that scared for that length of time before.

At one point - trying to talk so as to keep from freaking out - I mentioned to my mom sitting beside me that this was worse than going on the "Jurassic Park" ride at at Universal Studios. Jeremy & I went there in 2005; when you are on that ride, by the time you realize you are going DOWN, you're already finished! The scary part is over before you know it! This drive up the mountain was like the Jurassic Park ride, only much longer!

By the time we reached our final stop at the top of the mountain, I couldn't hold back the tears. All the stress over the past couple hours, all the time spent trying to relax & control my emotions - it was too much. Jeremy came over to me and just held me, letting me get all the stress out. The tears kind of surprised me. I am often strong in stressful situations. But this time proved to be too much, I guess. But now, I can say that I have been to the top of Morfee Mountain! I can say that I survived and that God protected us. And I'm sure at some point in the future, I'll be able to look back on this time and smile - maybe even laugh at my silliness! So Karen, don't feel bad about making me go up there. I'm sure it was good for me to be streched in this way! And, I am very thankful that my kids LOVED every moment of the trip.

Becca & Auntie Karen

Roasting hot dogs on top of Morfee Mountain
(Me, Becca, & Daniel)

Jeremy built this guy on top of Morfee Mountain!
My sister told me later that someone else took a picture of this guy & entered it in a photo contest in Mackenzie! He's now "famous"!

Jeremy & I