Happy Easter!

I'm sitting here waiting for my kids and their youngest older cousin (does that make sense?!) to finish eating dinner. We have 14 people here for Easter dinner. The younger ones are eating first so we have enough dishes & chairs for everyone else!

My sister & her family are in town from up north & my parents came last night & head back to the Island tonight. We also have my sister's in-laws here for dinner.

I love having lots of family here, even if we're squished. Somehow it wouldn't be the same without the craziness of everyone sharing one bathroom, people sleeping in every sleeping place possible (although we didn't have anyone sleep under the dining room table this time!).

This visit is short but sweet as early tomorrow morning our house will be quiet again.

I hope that you are enjoying time with family this special Easter weekend & that you take time to ponder on the depth of what Christ did for us 2,000 years ago.

And if you think of it, could you please pray for a friend of mine. She had surgery today - hysterectomy & mastectomy. She is deserately wanting prayer for the healing, both physically & emotionally. She is my age (mid-30's), married & has 6 kids (the youngest was born just before her first chemo treatment in the fall). Thanks!

Happy Easter!

Thankful Thursday - UPDATED

Here it is January 3rd, 2009 and I'm just adding pictures! Jeremy found the cord for transferring pictures from our camera to our computer. So I thought instead of creating a whole new post & having to describe each picture again, I would simply put the pictures in where they should be.

Hope you enjoy!

I have much to be thankful for today! I have been wanting to post all week, but haven't because I want to post pictures with it. I can't seem to find the USB cord to transfer pictures from our camera to our laptop. So today's post will have to be without photos - Sorry!

November 9th, Jeremy & I celebrated our 12th anniversary! That is the super-condensed version! Despite not having much time today, I will elaborate a little more than that!

Earlier this fall, Jeremy told me that we were going to go away for our anniversary. He didn't want to say anything until a day or two before we left, but because of my new business & my babysitting schedule, he chose to give me fair warning. I knew we were going from Friday night to Tuesday (it was a long weekend because of Remembrance Day), but that's all he told me. I had no idea where we were staying or what we were doing.

This is how the weekend played out for me:

• Nov. 7th, Friday night - babysitting kids go home; we're packed but so are the ferries. We decide to wait & go in the morning.
• Saturday morning (Nov. 8th) we (Jeremy, the kids & I) headed for the ferry
• Saturday noon, we met my parents at Walmart near their home & left the kids & their stuff with them; Jeremy & I left for Victoria for the night to celebrate our anniversary
• Saturday - on the drive to Victoria, Jeremy hands me Envelope #1. Inside it told me where we were staying for the night
• Saturday - mid-afternoon we arrived at our Bed & Breakfast Mountainside Luxury Resort & Spa (turns out it was very close to where my grandparents lived when I was growing up!)

View from our room

The Parliament buildings in Victoria, BC

• I rested a little, showered & got ready for our evening out; Jeremy presents me with Envelope #2 telling me where we were going for dinner; Jeremy puts on his new suit (he looked awesome!)
• We go to Il Terrazzo Ristorante for dinner. We went there on our honeymoon & both LOVED it! If you're ever in Victoria and looking for a great place to eat (it's a little higher priced & not as suitable for children), definately check it out
• Saturday early evening, during dinner - Jeremy presents me with Envelope #3, telling me where we were going after dinner
• Saturday evening after dinner we walk to the Royal Theatre to watch a perfomance of the Victoria Symphony & El Viento Flamenco. It was like Celtic dancing meets Spanish music - excellent!
• After the perfomance we head back to our B&B. The next morning, Jeremy presents me with Envelope #4 telling me where we were going for brunch.
• Nov. 9th (Happy Anniversary) Sunday morning - brunch at Samuel's by the Park
• After brunch, we attempt shopping for a bathing suit for me with no luck
• Sunday afternoon we drive back up Island and meet my parents & the kids at my aunt & uncle's (their kids planned an open house to celebrate my aunt & uncle's 25th anniversay).
• Sunday early evening, my parents & the kids leave early from the open house to drop some things off at another aunt & uncle's; we leave shortly after and meet my parents & the kids at a swimming pool (my parents have time shares in Parksville so they can use the pool there whenever they want for free).


• Sunday evening my parents take us out for dinner in Parksville to celebrate our anniversary
• Sunday evening, dessert time for the kids - the waitress brings the kids their desserts & hands me an envelope!
• Envelope #5 - "Actually, there is one more thing!"
• Inside the envelope:

Dear Leanne,

You are the wife a man can only dream of having. You have walked with me through some of the hardest days of my life and some of the best days of my life. You have encouraged me, loved me, supported me, and embraced my inner being with deep love & great affection. God has blessed me beyond what I deserve by giving me you. What words or actions, pledges or wonders could I ever do to express the deep gratitude of love I have for you, my best friend.

I have worked on this anniversary since January of this year, looking at ways I could show my appreciation for all the work you have done and all the love you have put into our family. I hope our time in Victoria achieved my desire to let you know how much I love you and how much I appreciate all that you do for me and this family.

BUT, as I said, I could never do enough.

I have arranged for us as a family to spend the rest of this week, until Sunday, at Pacific Shores Nature Resort. I told ___ & ___ (babysitting parents) that you are not available this week and the Epicure party you booked for this coming Thursday has been re-booked for the following Thursday. I have arranged with Daniel's school for him to be away as well and have brought his work to be done.

What do I have planned for this week? Nothing. I have talked with my family about us being here and we can visit them through the week and do whatever else we want to do. This is our family vacation in honor of you and all you do for us as a family. Thank you, Leanne."

Needless to say, the tears were flowing down my face! So in the end, what I thought was going to be a weekend on the Island with Jeremy & I gone for one night, turned into us staying for the entire week! I was completely shocked!

That week was SO good! It was the first time we, as a family - Jeremy, the kids & I, had ever had a holiday by ourselves. When we have holiday time, we always go to visit family. Even when we went to Saskatchewan a few years ago, we travelled with my parents. I am so glad they were with us, but there's also something to be said about just being by ourselves with the kids.

We had a great week hanging out just the four of us. We took the kids to a movie, I finally bought a new bathing suit (yeah!), we played tourist, took pictures (sorry, I still can't find the cord), relaxed and visited family. I loved it! Each evening I'd sit in the living room, look out the windows into the darkness, look at the lights reflecting on the ocean water & sigh. It was so perfect.

My Dad - I love this picture!

Daniel's photography

Cousin time

Family Time

It's been good being home again, but I think I could have stayed another week! Maybe next year!

Thank you to everyone who played a part, in some way or another, in planning this surprise for me. I was completely shocked and amazed at all the details that went into it!

To Jeremy, THANK YOU! I don't know how else to say it! You touched my heart in a very deep way & I love you more than I can put into words. I am SO thankful that God brought us together. Two people who grew up on the Island, with common friends, going to the same church camp at the same time, but not meeting till years later...God's ways are perfect! I love you and I'm looking forward to the next 12 years and beyond!

Merry Christmas!

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.

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).

Canada Day in Review

Our Canada Day plans were rather last minute, but that was okay because we had a great time celebrating our country's 141st birthday!

On Monday morning, I had a phone call from my mom saying that she & my dad, my little nephew and an aunt & uncle and cousin were all coming for to our house for the night! I knew on Friday that they might come but it wasn't confirmed until Monday morning! They were catching a ferry around supper time and would be at our house around 8pm. Time to tell my kids about the excitement (I tend to keep things a secret from my kids just in case plans change).

So Monday was the mad dash, cleaning and making sure there was enough bedding for everyone. Jeremy came home from work and tried finishing things up in our garage. We are almost finished (just need to put down a bit of lino at the entry area and sew & hang some curtains) converting our garage into a rec room. God has blessed us with quite a bit of free stuff, helping us finish the garage.

My family was a bit late getting here, thanks to the ferry, but the kids were ready to greet everyone nonetheless. After some visiting time, we got the kids settled into bed. When the grown ups went to bed at midnight, it was nice knowing we had already had a good visit and lots of laughter. I still have visions of my dad galavanting around in his...maybe I'd better not say!, my dad making us all laugh - somehow it's hilarious when it's midnight, my dad wears his breathing apparatus (to help his sleep apnea) and makes silly faces! Maybe you had to be there!

Tuesday morning, Canada Day, we got up (some earlier than others), made a wonderful breakfast of fruit, pancakes and healthy baked omelet. We laughed over the early morning escapades of some of the children - my little nephew climbed into bed with my parents about 5:30am and Daniel joined them about 6am. So much for sleep!

After breakfast, we quickly got ready and got all 10 people out the door and off to see the parade. The parade wasn't as exciting this year as it has been in past years, but the kids enjoyed it and even got a bit of candy. One thing that I thought was so neat was an entry by the Gideons. They were handing out Bibles! My kids wanted one, but I thought it would be better if they left them for other kids who don't have bibles yet. Here are a few pictures of the parade.

Aiden, my little nephew, at the parade

After the parade, we came back to the house and relaxed.

My Dad catching up on some lost sleep with Aiden's bunny

Uncle Don having a snooze!

My Mom & Auntie Marion visiting!

Okay, we didn't relax for very long before we had everyone working (sorry, no pictures to prove we worked hard)! Because Jeremy was so close to being finished and we had extra hands available, we decided this would be the time to move our upright freezer and treadmill off our deck and into our garage/rec room. So Jeremy scooted to his work, grabbed a dolly and loaded up the heavy items. Of course, moving these big items put my mom, aunt & myself to work cleaning up the things up and cleaning up the deck afterwards. It's amazing how much dust accumulates over time! Thank you, Mom & Dad, Uncle Don & Auntie Marion for all your hard work. My aunt kept sweeping even though she could hardly stop sneezing from all the dust!

The guys decided they needed to go to Canadian Tire for some "guy time", so us ladies got things ready for our BBQ supper. It was a delicious meal, topped off with strawberries & vanilla ice cream (thanks Auntie Marion & Uncle Don!). After letting the food set for a few moments, there was just enough time left for our family to quickly pack up and say good-bye before heading off to the ferry. It was a short time, less than 24hrs, but filled with a LOT of laughter (any time my dad and aunt are together there's sure to be laughing) and good memories.

Daniel showing off his new sunglasses

Happy Canada Day!

Check back later for pictures from the day!

Catch Up!

My mind has been preoccupied this past week so I haven't been keeping up with my blogging. See my "Thankful Thursday" post (coming up next) for more details. Today I feel able to summarize the adventures of last weekend.

On Friday, I received a birthday card from my Mom & Dad and found a "little something" in it, so we decided to go out for supper with the gift. The kids are getting to the age where they want to celebrate mine & Jeremy's birthdays with us so we thought going out for supper would be a great way to celebrate. We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory. It's the first time we've been to the new one in our town. I had manicotti stuffed with spinach & a variety of cheeses ~ Mmmmm!

Saturday ended up being a different kind of day. Due to some circumstances at his work, Jeremy had to work for the day. This left me with the kids. I still had to take care of the little girl I have (every Saturday morning), but after that we went out to do some errands. On our way to do errands we were driving past the new hospital that is being built (it will be open near the end of August). It turns out there was an open house to tour the new hospital so I turned around and the kids and I enjoyed a tour of our beautiful new hospital. We even got to see the medic helicopter on the helipad! At the end of the tour they had BBQ going so we sat on the grass and enjoyed our lunch of hot dogs, chips & popcorn.

Sunday was Father's Day. We woke up early and drove to a city nearby (about 45 mins away) and went to church. Our friend, Bob Dobson, was speaking. This man has an incredible testimony of how God is sovereign and present, even in the midst of tragedy. Just briefly, two years ago in June, he was on holidays with his wife, mom, daughter & son-in-law and 14-week old grandson. They were driving in Oregon and were on their way to their holiday destination when they were hit head-on. Bob's wife and mom both died from the accident. Bob, his daughter & son-in-law have had multiple (over 40 each I think) surgeries so far - with more to come - to repair their damages. The baby came away from the accident unharmed - praise God! Last Sunday, Bob was speaking at his church, sharing his testimony of the past two years. He is an incredible man of God. At the end of his testimony, Bob said that if God doesn't receive the glory in this tragedy, then the price was too hard to pay.

After the church service, we raced back to our town for a birthday party for the little girl I take care. She turned 2! The kids had a blast as it was at the local gymnastics gym.

The Birthday Girl!

Daniel having fun in the foam blocks

Trying to decide if she should let go & fall into the foam pit!

The party was finished around lunch time, and we didn't have any plans made for the rest of the day. We are trying to keep our expenses down so instead of going out for lunch, we picked up some steaks for BBQing later in the day. When we got home, our friends called. Their dad was sick so they couldn't celebrate Father's Day with him. So our two families went to a Father's Day Car Show (we were happy because the admission was by donation!). The men were in their glory and us wives watched the children play in a creek on the property. The men were happy to check out all the old & newer vehicles, we were happy because we were in the shade and the kids were happy because they were playing with water! How much better can it get?!

Daniel's perspective of the car show!

When we'd all had enough, we went back to our friends' place and had a BBQ with them. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Jeremy being a father.

So that's a wrap up of last weekend. Sorry it's a few days late!

Happy Easter!

I am still on holidays. Jeremy went back home today and the kids and I will head home on Tuesday. I have been sick since Friday so haven't posted any of our holiday yet. I have lots of pictures to share! But I had to share this little tid-bit, and it fit so well with the theme of Easter!



This year we celebrated Easter a little differently. We are at my parents' place and their church had a retreat this weekend.

Unfortunately my achy, swollen glands, sore throat, feverish cold came back so I've been out of commission since Friday. This afternoon I finally started to feel like I was coming back to the land of the living! Needless to say, I didn't partake in any of the retreat sessions. But I had to share something that happened last night.

Daniel had been goofing around and hit Grandpa (my dad) on the backside with a tennis racquet. Grandpa didn't think that was a very good idea and Daniel apologized.

Later as Jeremy was bringing the kids back to my parents' place for bed, Daniel confessed to Jeremy what had happened.

"Daddy, I hit Grandpa on the bottom with that thing but Grandpa didn't like that. I don't want to have a black heart. I want to have a white heart, a heart that's white as snow. Satan wants me to have a black heart. He's a meanie."

"Would you like to pray to Jesus?"

"Yes. Dear Jesus, I'm sorry I hit Grandpa on the bottom with that thing. Please forgive me and give me a white heart, a heart that's white as snow. Thank you, Jesus. Amen."

Then Daniel said to Rebecca, "I hate Satan!"

And Rebecca kindly reminded him that "that word" (hate) is a naughty word. So Daniel promptly prayed again, "Dear Jesus, please forgive me for saying that naughty word. Thank you. In Jesus name, Amen."

"Daddy, now I have a white heart! Jesus wants me to have a white heart. I love Jesus!"

When they got to my parents' house, Daniel came in to see me (I was in bed, still sick). He shared with me what he had done to Grandpa. Then he told me that he had asked Jesus to forgive him and make his black heart all white, "as white as snow, Mommy; as white as people's teeth".

Last summer a friend of ours lost her newly-married husband in a tragic car accident. As we explained to Daniel that he was in heaven now with Jesus, Daniel was very touched by that and wanted to make sure that he wen't to heaven when he died. I explained to him that a person can ask Jesus to be their friend, to ask Jesus to forgive their sins and make their hearts all clean and to tell Jesus that you want to love Him and be His friend. After that, he went into the living room by himself. I wasn't sure what he was doing at the time but he came back to me after and told me he had just prayed to Jesus as I had explained. I wasn't sure how much I should believe him...did he really understand what I had explained, did he really mean it...? But I didn't want to totally doubt the faith of a child either.

I have to trust God at this point that Daniel's prayer last summer was sincere and that he is now a child of God. When I hear the tenderness of his heart about last night's situation, I thank God, have more hope that Daniel's decision was a sincere one and pray that his sensitive heart isn't hardened as he grows older.

I thought last night's story was so neat I had to share it (and I'm feeling well enough to sit up long enough to type this!).

I Won!

Well, we are now on holidays! Our daughter's sickness went away so we left Sunday morning - one day late.

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to receive a comment on my blog that I had won one of the Canadian prizes from the "Ultimate Blog Party" gals! I totally wasn't expecting that to happen, especially when there were almost 1500 ladies who signed up! And to think I almost didn't sign up for the UBP! I guess it pays to experiment with change!

I will be sure to post a picture of the prize once it arrives (and we're home from holidays).

And I may even post a few pictures soon! Keep in touch! And Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Delayed

We are all packed and ready to go. But our plans are currently on hold.

At midnight last night we were awoken by our daughter calling us. Something in us said we'd better hurry to her bedroom. Sure enough, she had gotten sick! After we changed her bedding and pj's, cleaned up the floor and put the soiled articles in the washing machine, she settled down and went to sleep. It took me awhile to go to sleep because I kept wondering if she would get sick again.

We were awoken again at 6am this morning - our cutie pie was sick again. This time it required her to have a bath. The bedding was changed...again! Jeremy went back to bed and I finished washing her up. After she was all cleaned up and settled in her bed reading books I went back to bed. Awhile later she got sick a bit more again.

Not quite how we thought we'd spend our first day of holidays but at least we didn't have any reservations or commitments. Our schedule is pretty flexible. The rest of today has been sickness-free - now we are playing the waiting game to see if she is better or not. If we make it through the night then we will leave in the morning!

This 'n That

My "TO DO" List:

• Wash dishes
• Vaccuum
• Clean bathroom
• Finish laundry
• Pack
• Charge camera battery
• Make supper
• Put gas in van
• Go to bank
• Clean out van

The more I think about it, the longer the list grows. Tomorrow isthe first day of our 2 week Spring Break and we are heading out for a one week holiday. We're going to spend the time with family. The kids are excited to see their Grandmas and Grandpas and cousins.

Jeremy and I are looking forward to getting away. It has been rather stressful these number of weeks and it will be good to have a change of scenery. Last night we had a meeting which was very helpful in breaking through some of the stress. We can leave with less weight on our shoulders, process some new information and be ready to continue things when we get back.

I have been amazed at God's timing in things over the couple months. This week of holidays that Jeremy booked at the beginning of this year is another example of how our seemingly insignificant decisions can actually be God's hand at work. God knew we'd need this time away, even back in January! He is so amazing!

We will have internet access while at my parents so I hope to do a post or two. If it doesn't work out, then I'll "see" you after Easter!