Merry Christmas!

I want to tell you all about our wonderful Christmas that we had but that will have to be posted at a later date. Instead, I thought I'd post some pictures. Enjoy!

Cody, Rebecca & Daniel opening gift from Cody & his grandma

It's a "Cars" pillow story book.

You open the front cover & read the pages inside the "book"!

Daniel & Becca with GG (Jeremy's Grandma)

GG with Becca & her twin cousins (Lauren & Elise)

GG with two cousins - Connor & Brenden

GG with (almost) all the great-grandchildren (4 great-granddaughters missing):

(l-r back row): Hunter, Becca, GG, Elise, Lauren, Devon, Garrett

(l-r front row): Mitchell, Brenden, Connor, Trevor, Daniel

Becca, Elise & Lauren playing dress-up (the twins & Becca are 2 1/2mths apart)

Hunter having one last ride before leaving (youngest great-grandchild)

Daniel & Becca opening stockings Christmas morning at Uncle Don & Auntie Marion's

Christian (my cousin's son) opening presents

Christian, Becca & Ryan (my aunt's nephew) playing Christmas evening

Christian with his Mommy, Renee - all tuckered out!

Christian snuggling with Grandpa (my Uncle Don)

One of my cousins, Cameron, playing video games (with Jeremy) & Daniel enjoying watching!

My sister-in-law, Kim, with her son, Aiden (he's being shy)

Now Aiden's just being silly!

Just for laughs!

Today is my last day babysitting for two weeks! I just arranged today to not babysit the week after New Year's. So, as of about 5pm tonight I am finished work until Jan. 7th when my work begins at full throttle!

Earlier this afternoon I took a couple video clips of Becca and "my" little guy! He's 10 months old now! He's crawling like crazy, especially when he wants something, he's pulling himself up at the furniture more & more and one time he even stood on his own for a second or two (but he didn't realize what he was doing). He's enjoying his chunkier food and loves feeding himself Cheerios! And he almost always has a big grin for everyone! So cute!

So back to the video clips! I put Cody on my lap and did the "This is the way the ladies' ride - side to side, side to side. This is the way the gentlemen ride - clippety-clop, clippety-clop. This is the way the cowboys ride - Yeehaw! Yeehaw!" My little guy loved it! Of course, Rebecca wanted a turn too. Funny thing, when I was giving Becca a turn, Cody was squawking, "I want a turn! I want a turn!" At least that was the translation I made! It was so cute I had to get the camera out.

So here goes (sorry it's a little dark):

Christmas Plays

'Tis the season for Christmas plays! We had our church play on Saturday and Daniel's school play last night.

Our church play was called "A Churchmouse Christmas". It's a very cute play and each of the children did a wonderful job. We videotaped it but at this point don't have a way of downloading it to our computer so the video clips will have to wait. But I do have a picture of Daniel as a churchmouse choir member! (He's the mouse on the left).

Daniel did a great job. Last year he didn't have a nap and he fidgeted the whole play, but this year we got smart and had him nap. What a difference! He only started to fidget right near the end. Whew!


Then, last night we attended his school christmas play. This year his little country school did things a little different. Instead of renting the local fine arts centre, the program was at the school. Each class performed their memorized bits in their own classroom. Daniel's class performance was about 7 minutes long. Then they repeated it every 15 minutes for one hour. So, parents could go to one child's class and watch the performance and then off to the other child's class to watch their performance. It was kind of nice! It was one hour long and you could walk around every few minutes! No cramped legs from sitting for 1 1/2 hours, no trying to keep little siblings quiet & still! We took Daniel home a little early (still wanting to make sure he gets to bed early in hopes of avoiding a seizure) so we missed all the chaos at the end with everyone trying to leave at the same time. But all in all it was good.

Daniel with his good friend Alyssa

Daniel & Alyssa patting their "Santa bellies"

Daniel with his teacher, Miss Darke

Daniel performing "And Santa Was His Name-O!" to the tune of "B-I-N-G-O...and Bingo was his name-o!"

Memory Verse Monday

Memory Verse Monday

I'm doing a bit of blog copycat-ing here. I originally got the idea of "Memory Verse Monday" from Praying Karen. Then, Sweetmummy picked up on the idea. I have been contemplating it for some time, wondering if this is really something I want to commit to, but the time has come for me to begin this as well. I know I'm starting it at a challenging time (next Monday being Christmas Eve and all), but I'm going to try hard not to skip. So this is how it works:

The aim of "Memory Verse Monday" is to:

1. Memorise a passage (or passages) of scripture.

2. Share why you have chosen the verse or verses that you have.

3. Encourage one another with what God has been saying to you through this verse.

4. Share the ways in which you find remembering verses works for you.

The verse I have chosen to memorize is Isaiah 30:15, "...In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength...". I mentioned this verse a few posts ago. As I was reading through the chapter and came to this verse I really felt this was the verse to commit to memory. As I am trying to listen more to that "little voice in my head" I thought I'd better act.

Step number four says that I need to share the ways in which I find remembering verses works for me. To be honest, it's been a LONG time (Sunday School days, perhaps??!) since I've memorized verses. To start with I plan to write the verse out on a sticky note and put it on the side of my cupboard at my kitchen sink. For some reason I seem to be standing there numerous times of the day. I'll use that as my little refresher. But for seriously memorizing it and allowing God to take the verse deeper within me, my goal is to read it each time I do my devotions and ask God if there is anything He would like to show me regarding this verse. We'll see how that goes. If you have any tips on memorizing verses, please share them with me! I'd love to hear them.

As I said in the "Trust and Wait" post, I desire to have a closer relationship with Jesus. One thing that I felt God saying to me was that I need to be ready for God to show me areas in my life that need to be worked on, areas that I need to repent of and allow Christ to transform. As I was processing this I was getting nervous about all the things that might "pop" up. Who really wants to be shown something yucky about themself? Not me in particular. But God has a wonderful way of encouraging us as we surrender to His plan. As I was pondering on what this "repentance" phase might look like, I was encouraged by another verse in chapter 30, verse 18, "Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!" Wow! What encouragement! As I wrote in my "Trust and Wait" post, I don't have to worry about being taken through a refining process. Yes, it may hurt; yes, it will most likely reveal some unpleasant things, but in the end, won't it be worth it?! God isn't wanting to take me through this process just to see me squirm, He is doing it because He loves me, He longs to be gracious to me, He wants to show me compassion. How can I resist?

Today when I was doing my devotions, I came across some verses that also challenged me. Isaiah 31:1 says, "Woe to those...who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD." This was a strong reminder to me to make sure that I am drawing my strength from Christ, not from those around me. Taking encouragement from friends and family is great (God can speak through them to us), but they can never be our sustaining strength that we need to survive the battles that come to us.

Portions of Isaiah 32:9,11 say, "You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say! Tremble, you complacent women; shudder, you daughters who feel secure!..." I am not an overly motivated person so complacency is high on my "Things I'd Love to Change About Myself" list. These verses challenged me on that though. I especially liked the part that says, "rise up and listen to me". That phrase gives me the picture of preparing for a job to do - rise up! Listen for the instructions and be prepared to take action.

Rise up and listen to God, seek help from the Lord and trust Him!

Enough is Enough!

Three weeks ago Jeremy finally said, "Enough is enough!" He has decided to begin a new adventure of losing weight; this time for longer than a month or two. In the past, Jeremy has started losing weight but it became too difficult to maintain for long term, interfering with family time, etc. So then he would give up, gain it all back and feel even more depressed about his weight. A month or so ago he heard about a new program called Sure Slim from a c0-worker. She has been doing the Sure Slim program for five months now and her results have been very inspiring to Jeremy. Unfortunately, the cost of the program was more than we could spend at the time so Jeremy gathered up all his gumption and began his own journey of weightloss. What is he doing to lose weight, you ask? Well, it is a little bit of this and a little bit of that. He is trying to stick to the main concepts of Sure Slim but is also incorporating other nuggets of truth that he has learned through the years. If you want more details than that, you'll just have to ask him yourself!

At first Jeremy didn't want us to blog about his weightloss journey because he wanted to be able to surprise everyone (that we don't see very often), but this is such an exciting journey that he has changed his mind. Because of this, we didn't get an official "before" picture, but we found one that will do.

Taken Summer '06

Our roadtrip to Saskatchewan with my parents

When Jeremy began intentionally losing weight three weeks ago he weighed 281 lbs. The first week he lost 12 lbs, the second week he lost 4 lbs and this week he lost 7 lbs for a grand total of 23 lbs! He is excited and still taking one day at a time, choosing to eat right for the current day knowing that on Saturday morning he will be stepping on the scale. His goal is to lose a total of 100 lbs and estimates that he will lose it in 7 - 10 months. Now that this "information" is public knowledge, he has a great accountability and support group! Any encouragement is gladly accepted! Check back next week to see the progress!

Today - 258 lbs

Thirty-Eight Years!

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

I meant to do this yesterday but time got away from me! Thirty-eight years ago you made a covenant between each other and God. Many changes have taken place since then - some life-changing ones, and you have remained faithful to each other and to God. You are carrying on a legacy that began with Grandpa Craig and have passed it on to each of your children. We will continue to pray that all three of us kids will take hold, nurture and pass on the legacy of our Christian faith to our children. And Lord-willing it will continue on through the generations to follow. Thank you for being faithful!

Happy 38th Anniversary!

Dec. 13, 1969

Trust and Wait

In October, I went to our church's Ladies' Retreat. The retreat is has always been in October (at least since I've been going). I like having it in the fall; the relaxing summer days are tucked away in our memories, the crazy back-to-school days are settled and one is able to look beyond the non-stop To Do list and take inventory of where things are at. I often find myself evaluating where I am at spiritually, and just in time for Ladies' Retreat! Typically I have let my relationship with Christ take the back burner.

At the October 2006 retreat the speaker, Catherine Dagneau, likened our relationship with Christ to a marriage relationship. She asked how we would feel about our marriage relationship if we only spent a few minutes each week (or even less) talking to our spouse; or how connected would we be with our spouse if we only "schpealed" off about what the kids did today, or about the errands that need to be done, or if we did all the talking but didn't stick around to hear what our spouse was thinking and feeling? We wouldn't feel connected for very long, would we. The intimacy would dwindle, the desire to just hang out together would lose its appeal. Catherine compared that to our relationship with Christ. If we just rattle off our To Do list (God, please do this & please do that) and we don't spend quality time with Him, talking to Him & listening to Him, then we will quickly feel disconnected. It doesn't mean He's left us, it just means that other things have taken priority over His space in our life.

This fall I found myself in that place - that I had been having a one-way friendship with Christ and that I was feeling disconnected from Him. I always feel lonley, down, have a lower self-esteem and my relationship with Jeremy suffers when I haven't made Christ a priority in my life. As the retreat weekend progressed, I found myself missing my intimate relationship with Christ. I realized some things that were possibly holding me back and made a decision that this year would be a time of making my relationship with Christ a priority. Since then I meet regularily with a friend for accountability. We have focused on honoring our husbands (perhaps that will be a later post) as well as other areas we feel God is leading us.

All of this leads me to my reason for posting today! I know, that was quite the preamble, but I felt a bit of background was necessary. When I began doing my devotions (reading my bible, praying & journalling) I found myself drawn to Isaiah. Funny thing: while at Columbia Bible College I took a required course on Isaiah and failed it! Now, here I am reading through the book and quite enjoying it! Anyway, today I was reading Isaiah 30. Much of the chapter gave me reason to journal. The following is an excerpt from my journal today:

"I've been asking for and wanting to have a closer relationship with Christ. I'm beginning to realize that in order for that to happen I need to be willing and prepared to hear of the areas in my life that need to change or improve. I've been holding back, not wanting to completely give God control of my life.

Q: Which is more important - security (with family, health, finances...) or that Christ has complete control of my heart and life?

A: I know the latter option is the right answer but fear holds me back (what if something terrible happens...?). Part of Isaiah 30:15 says, "...In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength..."

So, in order for me to have a deeper, closer relationship with Christ, I need to repent (ask God to show me what needs to be repented), to be quiet, listen and TRUST!

I hesitated writing this blog post but felt it was something I had to do. Another verse in Isaiah 30 spoke to me as well. Verse 18 says, "Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you comapssion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!" I felt that this verse was encouraging me to step forward in my relationship with Christ. I love that He longs to be gracious to me and that He rises to show me compassion. Somehow it helped to calm my fear of the "what if's". TRUST! "Blessed are all who wait for him!" I am waiting for Him; waiting to find out what is around the next corner - cleaning up the rooms in my heart, learning more about Him, being used by Him.... TRUST and WAIT!

Update

I wrote an update on Daniel's pediatrician appointment and stuck it at the end of my original post "Proud Moments & Prayer Request". However, it seems that Blogger's Bloglines didn't notify people that I had made any changes, so here is the update from last Friday.

Jeremy took Daniel to his appointment last Friday (I would have had four kids with me if I had gone!). We are pleased with what the pediatrician said. He told Jeremy that, yes, these "episodes" Daniel has been having are seizures! We also found out that the type of epilepsy Daniel has is called Benign Rolandic Epilepsy of Childhood (click on the highlighted title to take you to the website). That means he will most likely outgrow the epilepsy during puberty (Benign) and that his seizures are more likely to happen during times of sleep (Rolandic). I have just found a website that explains all about it. It feels good knowing that we have this information; information is a wonderful thing! In conclusion, our pediatrician has changed the way Daniel takes his medication. Now, instead of taking 10mg in the morning and 10mg in the evening, he will skip the morning and take the full 20mg before bed. If that doesn't work then the dosage will be upped. In the meantime, we'll be watching Daniel a little closer in case this new administration isn't effective. Thank you for your prayers. Feel free to continue praying!

Over the past few weeks our senses have been much more aware to what has been happening to Daniel. We were getting frustrated by it and felt totally helpless. One evening, Jeremy cried out to God and asked Him what we should do. God gently reminded Jeremy that we hadn't ever seriously prayed about Daniel being healed from this. So Jeremy spent time with God, praying that Daniel would be healed. After that, some nights were fine, others weren't. Then we decided to include Daniel in the praying. Now before bed Daniel prays that Jesus will help his lips to not get tingly. It is so sweet to hear his very simple prayer. But the cool thing is that on the nights that Daniel has prayed, he hasn't woken up with any symptoms! Now we know that praying isn't a magic formula (if you pray your request will be answered the way you want), but we really feel like God is honoring Daniel's simple prayers. This has also been an excellent way to teach our children about the different ways God answers prayer. For this reason alone I am thankful that we are on this journey. It doesn't always help to take away the frazzled nerves, but I'm thankful I can take my requests and concerns to God.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which trancends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Proud Moments & Prayer Request (& Update)

I took this video the other day of Daniel reading a book from school. He started learning to read last year in Kindergarten and has greatly improved already in the few months of Grade 1. I thought you might enjoy hearing him read!

And of course, Becca has some of her "babies" in their stroller. She always takes good care of them. She has finally gotten to the stage where she likes to dress her babies rather than undress them! Yeah! No more naked babies!

On a more serious note, we have a prayer request. Daniel has a pediatrician appointment tomorrow, Friday. We orginally had an appointment with our family doctor but we had it changed so he could see our pediatrician.

Lately, Daniel has been having more "episodes" with his epilepsy. Because of the epilepsy, if Daniel stays up too late and gets overtired then about 10 minutes after being asleep he will wake up with tingly lips. He used to describe it as "sparkly". Usually rubbing his lips with a wet cloth takes the tingles away. Also, over the past number of months he has had a lot of saliva in his mouth along with the tingly lips. Now his speech is being affected. The last time he had tingly lips (a few nights ago), he came out of his room, went to the bathroom to rub his lips with a wet cloth then came out to see us. He tried telling us what was happening but we couldn't understand him. He had a lot of saliva and his words were all mumble jumble. By the look in his eyes we could tell that his brain thought everything was fine, that his mouth was speaking coherently. But that was not the case. We kept asking him to repeat himself to see if his speech would get better. Him having jumbled words has happened before but usually only lasts for one or two sentances. The other night it lasted quite a bit longer. His words did finally start to make sense, he laid down on the couch, snuggled up with Jeremy and was sound asleep in about five seconds! The whole thing was over, but our nerves were far from settled.

In the past when we have mentioned about these "episodes" to our family doctor and pediatrician they didn't seem to be overly concerned. But because the symptoms seem to be getting worse, we are hoping that tomorrow's appointment will answer some questions for us. One thing we are hoping for is that Daniel's medication dosage will be increased. In some ways, I hope that the doctor sends Daniel for tests because that would mean our concerns are valid. At the same time, I'm quite enjoying not being on the medical roller coaster!

Please pray that our concerns are "heard" by the doctor and that the answer is as simple as increasing Daniel's medication.

Update: Jeremy took Daniel to his appointment today (I would have had four kids with me if I had gone!). We are pleased with what the pediatrician said. He told Jeremy that, yes, these "episodes" Daniel has been having are seizures. We also found out that the type of epilepsy Daniel has is called Benign Rolandic Epilepsy of Childhood. That means he will most likely outgrow the epilepsy during puberty (Benign) and that his seizures are more likely to happen during times of sleep (Rolandic). I have just found a website that explains all about it. It feels good knowing that we have this information; information is a wonderful thing! In conclusion, our pediatrician has changed the way Daniel takes his medication. Now, instead of taking 10mg in the morning and 10mg in the evening, he will skip the morning and take the full 20mg before bed. If that doesn't work then the dosage will be upped. In the meantime, we'll be watching Daniel a little closer in case this new administration isn't effective. Thank you for your prayers. Feel free to continue praying!

Over the past few weeks our senses have been much more aware to what has been happening to Daniel. We were getting frustrated by it and felt totally helpless. One evening, Jeremy cried out to God and asked Him what we should do. God gently reminded Jeremy that we hadn't ever seriously prayed about Daniel being healed from this. So Jeremy spent time with God, praying that Daniel would be healed. After that, some nights were fine, others weren't. Then we decided to include Daniel in the praying. Now before bed Daniel prays that Jesus will help his lips to not get tingly. It is so sweet to hear his very simple prayer. But the cool thing is that on the nights that Daniel has prayed, he hasn't woken up with any symptoms! Now we know that praying isn't a magic formula (if you pray your request will be answered the way you want), but we really feel like God is honoring Daniel's simple prayers. This has also been an excellent way to teach our children about the different ways God answers prayer. For this reason alone I am thankful that we are on this journey. It doesn't always help to take away the frazzled nerves, but I'm thankful I can take my requests and concerns to God.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which trancends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

I've Been Tagged

Okay, so I was "tagged" a while ago, but our keyboard has been partially out of commission (apple juice has a way of doing that!). I have been waiting for our new keyboard to arrive - and it's here now, installed and working great! Oh, to not have to copy & paste in every space and "m" anymore! How much we take for granted!

Okay, back to the topic here! So, I've been tagged by http://sweetmummy.lifewithchrist.org/index.html.

Here's the meme: Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I was born at home! My parents lived (and are still there) in a small town (at the time it was still a "village"), 20-30 minutes away from the nearest hospital. I was coming too fast so my mom called the doctor and told him he had better come! I was born at 10am in my parents 1 bedroom basement suite on my sister's toddler bed. The ambulance came after that and took my mom & I to the hospital. I love the uniqueness of being born at home! A few years ago my parents were thinking of selling their house of 38 years. I told them they couldn't - it was my birthplace! I think I'm okay with it now - maybe it's because they're not thinking of selling!?!

2. I am left-handed. Despite a handful of frustrations through the years (pour spouts that only pour on one side for right-handed people, "left-handed" scissors - can't stand those!, serrated knives...) I have enjoyed being a "leftie" and always wanted to have a child that was left handed. At this point it seems that I'm not getting my wish but both kids have used their left hands at times, so I'm crossing my left fingers =)

3. When I was 19 years old, I went to France for one year by myself to be a nanny. When I think about it I can't believe I actually did it! I'm so glad I did, but to fly half way around the world by myself, to a country that speaks a language I only half paid attention to in school - WOW! I think that my being naive was a benefit because if I had stopped to think about it I probably would have chickened out - I'm not typically the adventerous type. But I think that because I was going for the purpose of looking after kids (5 of them) I didn't give it a second thought.

4. I like to cook and bake. I prefer baking more that cooking, but I think that's only because I get frustrated trying to think up new meals to cook day after day. When I start cooking I can get into and enjoy it, it that annoying "what shall I make today" part that turns me off. But baking I do it because I enjoy it. I enjoy making things more when they are for other people or for an event. That is often when I try a new recipe - so far it's mostly worked out!

5. I don't mind going to the dentist, but that is probably because I haven't ever had any dental work done! I have never had any cavities, fillings,... just cleanings, x-rays and a guard for my teeth (I used to grind them when I was younger). Oh, and I don't have any wisdom teeth, either. Apparently not everyone gets them.

6. On a little more serious note, this next year I am striving to grow deeper with God. It scares me at times because I know that typically in order for a relationship to grow deeper there has to be conflict / struggles. So, when I relate that to my relationship with Christ, I see potential struggles ahead. But, a deeper relationship is something that I'm wanting, so I'm willing to take things as they come; one step at a time.

7. I am excited about the future. Jeremy and I have a goal that when the kids are older and more independant, we would like to take our photography more seriously. We would like to do photography for weddings as well as people and nature shots. We know that it would require more of a time commitment so we're putting it on hold for now. But it's good to have future goals together as a couple, and this is one that I'm really looking forward to!

I'm tagging Patty, Lisa, Telma and Lyndsay. The other friends I would have tagged have already been tagged recently, so they're off the hook!

May I Have This Dance?

Three of the four children I have today just went down for a nap! It's almost quiet on the western front! Whether they all nap or not is a different story.

Before the nap, Daniel and Rebecca decided to practice their dancing. It's so cute that I had to videotape it. The first one, Daniel lifted Becca a few times; the second one is how they usually dance!

Do I see future "Dancing With The Stars" contestants?!

First Snow!

Family Time

Sunday afternoon, lazy day. I'm babysitting but she's napping. The kids brought out the train set and had fun! Notice how well they are sharing! (Let me know if the video doesn't work)

What God Has Joined Together...

This is a rather long post, so grab a cup of tea (or coffee), settle in and enjoy the read!

This past Friday (Nov. 9th) Jeremy & I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. We decided to go away for the night so Jeremy booked a room at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa. We've been there once before 5 years ago - Daniel was only 1year old - so we thought it would be nice to go back there. It's a little closer than driving to Vancouver, less traffic and more scenic.






Jeremy took Friday off work. I had one babysitting job that day so we had to wait until early evening to leave. Jeremy picked up our wonderful babysitter while I was getting ready. We decided to have supper in Abbotsford before heading. That way it would felt like our anniversary celebration started right away rather than driving for an hour first. We checked out a restaurant, "The Bavaria", that has been completely renovated and greatly improved. We loved it and highly recommend it to anyone (not so much for kids). From there, we headed out to Harrison. We got the hotel, checked in and our adventures began!

When Jeremy booked our room over the phone, he specifically asked for queen-sized bed. He was told that they couldn't guarantee us one unless we booked a certain kind of room, all for the same price as the double-bed rooms. So that's what he booked. Well, we got to our room and sure enough, there were two beds but they were both doubles! Not what we wanted. Now, please note, we are not usually ones to complain about things, but this was a time to do so. We phoned down to the front desk and were politely told that we could upgrade to a queen-sized room for $25 more. After trying to explain that we booked a room with a queen bed and didn't get one, and the lady "not getting it", we decided to change rooms and accept the $25 increase.

After we got settled into our new room we got ready to enjoy the hot spring pools. We found the outdoor pool and joined all the other guests in the 102 degree water! The air was cool and there was a fine mist with light drops of rain. (It reminded us of when we vacationed in November with some friends and sat in the Banff Springs Hotel hot springs pool. It was lightly snowing that night. So cool!) We enjoyed the relaxing water despite the kids playing noisily in the other outdoor pool. Then we went attired in our bathing suites & bath robes to the Island's Bar to order our desserts (thanks to the hotel staff for the tip). After changing we went back to the bar to enjoy our desserts.

Now, in keeping with our blog website name, our adventures continued! Backing up a little, I had been having bad headaches for a few days and Jeremy had one on Friday. Getting enough rest seemed to help. Because we didn't want our headaches to come back, we wanted to make sure we got lots of rest. So, you can imagine how frustrated we were when we had to call down to the front desk at 1:10am, asking them to send someone up to tell our neighbors to be quiet. We had two young couples (early 20's at the most) sharing a room next to us. They were laughing hysterically, thumping, banging, running up & down the halls (earlier in the evening)...! Aaaaggghhhh! I just wanted to sleep! Thankfully the hotel staff came and took care of it. Finally, we could go to sleep! Then at 5am Jeremy's cell phone rang alerting us that there was a message. Now, who would phone at 5am unless there was an emergency? Of course, there wasn't any cell service in the room so Jeremy, still half asleep, went down to the lobby...outside...outside to the parking area...still no service...outside to the far parking area...finally, service! Oh, by the way, picture all of this while it is pouring rain! Jeremy fought through all this to check his message. "Please enter your password...you have one message..." Jeremy waited nervously for the message, "Oh, sorry Jeremy, I have the wrong number!" Aaaggghhh! Wrong number?! Oh, Jeremy was frustrated to say the least! And wet! He came back to our room and had to get a towel to dry off. Thankfully we were able to get back to sleep and even slept in. So much for having a good night's sleep, though! Oh well! Life goes on and we determined to make the best of our time anyway.

After a relaxing morning, we checked out. Many thanks to the lady who helped us check out. Jeremy explained our whole queen-sized bed situation to her and she promptly took it off our bill. After a pleasant conversation with her we left the hotel. Now, to find something special to buy for our kids and to get ourselves something to eat. We quickly found the kids' "surprises" and went in search for some good cheap food! We found a wonderful little restaurant and enjoyed good home-made food.

It was time for us to start heading back home. The wind was blowing, it was getting cold. Okay, fine, let's have one more adventure! Jeremy left the van lights on and the battery died! We got to have some quiet time sitting in the van waiting for the tow truck to come & jump our battery. By the time the van was running (thank you to our private insurance!) it was time for us to head home. When I think of all the things that went "wrong" it seems like we shouldn't have had a good time, but, we were able to take each situation in stride and enjoy our time away -just the two of us.

On our drive home, we reminisced of how our relationship began. Looking back, I realized that making one decision can change the whole course of your life. During my first year at Columbia Bible College I had to do a community volunteer service project. I chose to volunteer at a kids' club that met at a low-income apartment building. I enjoyed it so much I continued helping during my second year. Little did I know that Jeremy would transfer to CBC and volunteer at the same kids' club as me. That's where we met -in the "Dungeon" as we affectionately called the dingy, smelly room in the underground parking. If you had told me twelve years ago that this new guy would be my husband and I would be celebrating 11 years of marriage with him I wouldn't have believed you! But, that's the beauty of how God works!

As Jeremy & I talked about our first few dates and when we were getting to know each other I got those excitement butterflies in my stomach! It was such an exciting time getting to know this man and realizing that we had so much in common and were very compatible. And now, after one year of dating and being engaged (the picture is of us right after we got engaged) and 11 years of marriage, we are still in love and anticipating the next 11+ years of marriage. At the rate time is flying by it will be here before we know it! And I can't wait!

I love my husband for all the big things he does: works hard to earn enough money for me to stay at home with our kids, loves to spend time with his son & daughter and wife, is passionate about his ministry within our church; and for all the little things he does: goes out in the pouring rain at 5am to check a cell phone message just in case it's an emergency, fixes the broken toilet seat, fixes our van, encourages me to laugh more, takes charge of supper on Sundays, makes sure I get a break from being a Mom...the list goes on and on! God gave Jeremy to me and for that I'm forever thankful.

What God has joined together, let man not separate.

Friends!

Well, a couple weekends ago I went to our church conference's Ladies Retreat. It's an annual event and I try not to miss it - hey, a weekend away without kids, cooking & cleaning, staying up late, laughing, reconnecting with friends and with Christ?! What could be better!

This year Jeremy took the Friday off from work and I was able to juggle things with my babysitting jobs, therefore enabling me to leave in the afternoon instead of my usual "after supper" time. It was great, driving up with all the ladies. We stopped for supper at a restaurant in Hope (the camp is just a few minutes outside of Hope). Mmmmm! The food was good and the pie was even better! Good memories!

(Cassandra, Shauna & Christa)

Then, we chugged off to the camp - full tummies and all! And what a great weekend we had. My only disappointment was that I was so tired from all the babysitting I had been doing (I had just finished working for 14 days straight). I managed to stay awake for a bit (okay, 'til 1am!) - chocolate & pop has a way of doing that! But once that sugar wore off, I was done! Apparently there's some rumor going around that I was asleep in 7 minutes and that they weren't able to get to sleep right away because of me! I have no idea what they're talking about! (Wink! Wink!)

(Bonnie & Yvonne)

Our friend from church, Laurel, spoke at our retreat this year. She spoke on redemption; specifically, "Jesus, our Redeemer". It's a word that isn't often used but has a lot of meaning to it. Basically redemption means: "to deliver from sin and its consequences by means of a sacrifice offered for the sinner". So basically, if we believe Jesus is our redeemer then we believe that He has freed us (forgiven us) from our sin. He is the only one who can do that for us because He died on a cross and three days later came alive again. When he died, he took on Himself all the sins of the world - past, present & future sins! What a load! What a gift to us! And if we accept this gift, then we can live in Heaven with Jesus after we die!


Laurel reminded us ladies that all of us are beautiful in God's eyes. Why? Because we were made in His image. That was a good reminder for me to see other people (particularily those I might not enjoy very much) through God's eyes because they are made in His image as well!

(Some ladies I DO enjoy!

Yvonne, Leslie, Marlene & Laurel)

(Shauna, Me, Christa & Bonnie)

One of the songs we sang that weekend had some words that meant a lot to me.

"This is my desire, to honor You
Lord, with all my heart I worship You
All I have within me, I give You praise
All that I adore is in You.


Lord, I give You my heart, I give you my soul
I live for You alone
Every breath that I take, every moment I'm awake
Lord have Your way in me."


On the Sunday morning, we had communion together. The word communion means: "to converse or talk together with profound intensity". I left that weekend encouraged to continue forward in my Christian walk. My desire to connect deeper with God grew stronger too. As I spend time reading my bible and praying I am excited about conversing with profound intensity with God.