Free Class

I am so excited for this class from Jessica Sprague. I just registered and can't wait until it starts. I struggle so much with journalling and telling the stories about the photos I take. I can't wait to learn what she is going to teach us and to start journalling better!! The best part is that it is FREE!!

GrEIGHTful!!

So I have changed my Grateful Eight title to Greightful at the suggestion of my Aunt Elaine! You know it took me a while to come up with "Grateful Eight" and then my Aunt gives me the great idea for an even better title! Why didn't I think of that??

This week I am GrEightful for:

1. A pleasantly warm October.

2. The Keg. We went for supper last weekend and we usually never go to the Keg (due to the price and the portions), however we decided to try it again. They were awesome! They brought Zech a plate full of veggies, crackers and fruit while we waited for our meal (and never charged us for it). What a life saver. He was hungry and when he gets hungry he gets restless and really fussy. He was so good, and he had all of the waitresses stopping by to say hi--little flirt!

3. My husband. I haven't been feeling that great. Zech is just coming off his flew and maybe I got it. However, John is so great with Zech and lets me sleep in when I most need it! He is the best!

4. A two year old and his many ramblings! This morning he was downstairs playing and he was repeating over and over ..... "I'm a good boy, I'm a good boy, I'm a good boy"! It was so funny! He was in trouble this morning and I told him he wasn't being a good boy, so maybe he was trying to convince himself to change! :o)

5. Time to do some digital scrap booking. Even if it was only one layout, that is one more I have to put in my album!

6. Catching up with good friends. We met with Dave and Jeanette and got to see their little Princess for the first time. She is so gorgeous and such a good baby! It was so nice to catch up with some really great friends of ours! We really did miss them!

7. Chatting on the phone with the Vianello's! Even though they are in Europe, they are just a phone call away! They are doing great and adjusting to their new roles. It has been really interesting to learn about Holland and their medical system through Mari. They are very hands off throughout the whole pregnancy. The midwives deliver the baby at the hospital and if baby and mom are fine, they send them home 3-5 hours after the baby is born. However, (this is the best part) they get their own personal nurse for 8 days after the baby is born. This nurse is there to help you and you can consult with her at any time. Mari and Tony's nurse has been cooking, doing laundry, helping out with the baby, and cleaning! I think that is great! The after care is so important, especially when you are a first time parent!

8. Reading the Bible and learning more and more about God's character.

Grateful Eight

I haven't felt much like writing, taking pictures or even blogging lately. All three things that I really do love to do. I haven't touched my camera for two weeks! Can you believe that and I have missed a few moments that I can't get back (although Mel says that I can re-create them--haha--still not the same), so it is time to get out of that rutt and get on with doing what I do enjoy doing!

So I am back with my Grateful Eight!

1. Yes we made the move back to Edmonton thinking that it would be the best move for me to get a job. We are open to God's provision and plan and if that means moving to Calgary we will go there, but for now we are here in Edmonton. I have extended my prioirty to include both Edmonton and Calgary and so far have got only referrals for positions in Calgary which completely caught me off guard (we decided we will go wherever the first position comes up). This has been a hard move, as we really loved Kelowna and the lifestyle in Lake country and moutain bike/hiking country, but we have to do what is best for our family. I am grateful to be close to my family again, but do really miss John's family! Bittersweet!

2. My beautiful little boy, who has been a little sick lately, but still melts my heart and makes me smile. I thank God every day for him and know what a miracle he is!

3. Beautiful baby girls. Trish and Trevor had their first beautiful little girl on Oct.2nd and then Mari and Tony had their beautiful little girl on Oct. 13th. We are so happy for them.

Baby Isabelle Pearl

(Trish and Trev's little angel)

Baby Ruby Matilda Vianello

(Mari and Tony's little Gem)

4. University of Athabasca. John has started and I think he will do really well. He is so excited and just wants to get his degree done--keep him in your prayers please!! I admire his faith, persisitance and courage to do what he feels that God is calling him to do, even in the midst of so much negativity and lack of support and encouragement that he has had to face from certain people. He is such a remarkable, wonderful man of God and I challenge those people to truly get to know him instead of constantly passing judegment on him! God loves us all!!

5. The Bible--need I say more! I am continuously amazed at this Master piece and that God can speak to us (if we allow him to) so clearly and precisely through the Word, the Truth! I am also saddened by the continuous attack on the Bible's validity by both non-christians and Christians alike. The evidence for its validity is both INTERNAL (contained within its text) and EXTERNAL (verified by ancient Bible manuscripts, archaeological discoveries, early Christian and non-Christian writers, etc.). Some of the most recent archaeological discoveries once again proving the Bible's validity are so exciting and mind boggling! God is so amazing!!

6. The freedom to Vote. Some days I look at this country of ours and I see all of the things that are failing,corrupt and immoral and it just seems to be getting worse. I want to see this great country of ours be the best it can possibly be and as Canadians we need to start standing up, speaking out and taking some pride in our country. So yay for everyone that went out and voted.

7. My Dad and all of the wonderful times we did have with him! On Tuesday it would have been his 65th birthday (how fitting that an election was held on his birthday--he really did like politics)! I miss him and think about him often. I really wish that he could have met his grandsons. He loved kids so much and would have been beside himself with his little boys! Zech does have certain personality traits that really remind me of my Dad (I guess that was inevitable since I have a lot of the same personalities traits as my Dad too)! I think about my Mom a lot too. I know it has not been easy for her!

8. My Aunty Elaine. I have been praying and thinking about my Aunt so much lately as she battles breast cancer. She is an amazing woman, with so much to offer and such a warm, caring, loving heart! She is probably the friendliest, chattiest person you will ever meet. So please keep her in your prayers.

Still Here...

We are still here, just been a little busy and well things have been chaotic lately. Still trying to figure stuff out, but am constantly reminded that no matter how crazy, stressful, chaotic, unsure life is, the one thing I am always sure of is God's love and my amazing husband and wonderful little boy.

Also, I can't believe that my baby was two last Friday!! Where has the time went! He is growing way too fast!! We have been practising his age for a bit now, so the other day we went in to "vote" and the lady asked him how old he was and he smiled and said "twooo"--just as we practised! We are still working on his name. If you ask him what his name is he replies very confidently and boldy "me". He isn't completely wrong, but we are working on it and he will say "me" and then "ech". I guess the "Z" is a little hard to say! The long version of his name will have to wait a bit! :o)

I do have some pictures to share of the b-day parties, but am really behind and disorganized lately. So please bare with me as I try and get things together!

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING and take time to reflect on all of the wonderful things we have to be thankful for! God Bless!

Grateful Eight extended version

I realize that I am really behind in my posting and I missed last weeks "grateful eight" altogether, so I will make up a little this week.

Unfortunately there will be one more post after this one and I will be on a bit of a break. We have been a little busy lately and are getting ready for another transition. So hopefully I can get back into the blogging thing again soon, but for now there will have to be a brief "pause" in my bloggin!

So for the past two weeks, here are a few things I have been grateful for:

1. Nice fall weather. The weather has been gorgeous here and the colours are even more magnificent. Hopefully this weekend I can get out and capture some of the fall beauty with my camera.

2. Good health again. Zech has been sick and is slowly getting better. John has also been sick and had a bit of an eye infection. John had to see an eye specialist and it has cleared up now, but they want him to come in tomorrow to discuss the results of some of his tests that he had done. I think that he is fine, but of course he is a little stressed, so please keep him in your prayers and pray that it is nothing but good results (he still has 20/20 vision and does not wear glasses--I hope our kids inherit his eyes)! :o)

3. A chance to fly up to Edmonton by myself and see some of my family. I saw my grandparents which was quite difficult. My Grandma especially has failed and had no idea who I was!

4. Lunch with my sister, nephew and mom and then time to visit with my Aunt Laurel and the girls (thanks for the new boots too--they looked awesome with my interview outfit)!

5. An interview in Edmonton that seemed to go pretty good. Please pray that I get something soon! This is getting really frustrating!

6. Accident claims. We just settled an accident that John was in three years ago (he was hit on his motorbike) and were happy that it was finally over. However, the next day our neighbour backed into our van and did some considerable damage. We handled it extremely well, it is just a car and nobody was in it. Our neighbour wasn't too impressed, but thank goodness insurance will cover everything!

7. A wonderful scrap booking package from Mary. I entered a little contest on her blog and won! My little monkey got into it and I found him chewing on the little paper flowers she had enclosed--he told me it was his "vilo" (vitamin)!

8. My wonderful husband who is such an amazing father. He did a great job looking after Zech while I was away. It was the first time I had been away from both of them for two nights, three days! I missed them like crazy!

9. My sister, brother-in-law and nephew. They let me stay with them, chauffered me around and made some great meals for me. Plus I got Jonas all to myself and had lots of fun playing with him.

10. My in-laws! They have been so wonderful and supportive. My father-in-law just turned 68 last week, so we had a nice supper to celebrate. He is in remarkable shape for 68 as he rides his bike EVERYWHERE, every day!

11. My newfound love of BBQ shrimp. I am not a shrimp fan, but my brother and sister-in-law made shrimp skewers for the B-day supper. I thought I would give it a try as my taste buds have really changed recently and to my surprise and delight I loved them! I am still not sure about the raw shrimp, but the BBQ shrimp skewers in garlic butter--delicious!

12. Dreams and provision!

13. Good friends that I am able to stay in contact with no matter how far away we are!

14. The Bible.

15. Almost forgot about our new MAC laptop. Love MAC and don't think we will ever go back. We bought it for John as he is back at school and will be doing everything online. Our PC laptop has been plagued by viruses lately and our Desktop crashed, so we took the safe route and we are so glad that we did!

6 Random Things

Today I was checking out my friend, Melinda's blog and found out that she tagged me with this little game. So, just so she can read my responses, and any of you interested readers I've decided to play along.

The "rules" of the game are as follows:

1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
4. If you're tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag 

* * * * * 

1.  I don't get a chance to watch much TV, but I have to admit that I am a huge "So You Think You Can Dance" fan! I started watching in Australia and it is the one show that I "plan" to watch.  I think that I would have loved to take some dance lessons.  I started taking some latin ballroom in Mexico and loved it.  Apparently I do have some rhythm(the many years of piano, band and dancing with Dad must have helped), but I have zero flexibility and lack a bit of coordination!

2.  I love to cook and bake and actually find it relaxing.  I love to entertain and share new recipes with friends and family, but never seem to have a place big enough to do so.  One day when we buy or build a home, the most important feature would be the kitchen and the dining room.  I want a HUGE kitchen with a big eating area.  I would also like to take some cooking or baking classes, just for fun.  

3.  I love the heat and hate the cold!  I dread winter and hate feeling cold.  I think this fear or dread of the cold happened when I returned from living in Mexico.  The day I left Mexico it was a beautiful hot day with temperatures reaching in the high thirties.  I arrived in Calgary to minus 20, wind, flurries and absolutely froze to death.  I prefer the nice dry heat though, versus the super humid, sweat non-stop heat.  

4.   I have the travel bug and it is permanent.  Even with all of our moving around, I still love to travel and I get the itch all the time (I am grateful that my hubby shares the same travel bug--maybe it's contagious!!).  I would love to see more of Europe, and I would love to see South America and Central America. My dream trip is to go to the Holy Land and see all of the historical, biblical sites. I would love to see where Jesus and his disciples walked, where miracles were preformed, to see where the most well known biblical accounts took place.

5.    I miss living in the country and hope that one day my kids can grow up in the country and be free to explore, and enjoy the great outdoors like I did as a child.  There was a time in my life where I couldn't wait to get off the farm and into the big cities.  I did enjoy my time in the city life when I was young and single, but now that I am married and have a little one, I would love the simplicity, the peacefulness and the serenity of living in the country again!

6.  My favourite movies and books are those that are based on true stories.  I am not into fantasy, fiction, any of that stuff (I never liked cartoons growing up either--I know I'm weird).  I like bibliographies, historical accounts, archaeological findings, stories that are based on true events and movies that are based on true stories. They are easier to relate to and I love hearing about other people's lives, struggles, fears, likes, passions, etc. Unfortunately I do not have as much time as I would like to sit and read a great book, but one that I have read recently and couldn't put down was "Save me from Myself" by Brian "Head" Welsh (he was the guitar player for the extremely heavy metal band Korn and became a Christian---his testimony is remarkable.

You've been tagged:

1. Aunty Elaine - I know that you would have lots of random things to share and that I would thoroughly enjoy reading what you had to share!

2. Melanie - You need to update your blog, so this is a little push to do so! :o)

I don't really have anyone else to tag.  Melinda has tagged Heather, Crystal and Deanna and those are the blogs that I frequent too.  So you are double tagged in a sense! :o) 

Gianna Jessen Abortion Survivor in Australia Part 2

Part Two.

How true, God does have a way of making the most miserable thing beautiful! God is in control! In the midst of all the pain, hurt, and suffering in this world, it is so reassuring, so wonderful to know that our Father is in control!

Another challenge Gianna offers is to put aside our desire to be Politically correct (PC) and stand up and be morally correct (MC). I love my country, but I am so sick and tired of seeing stupid laws passed because we are more concerned about being PC rather than MC! I am tired of everyone getting this uncomfortable look and start shifting about as they look for the closest exit because they do not want to address these horrific realities! We need to stand up in Canada and we need to defend the weak, the unborn, the defenseless!

Why is it that a little boy's puppy that was shot to death makes more headlines than the hundreds, the thousands, upon millions of babies that die each and every day, each and every year? It makes me so sad to think that we value an adorable little puppy more than our precious unborn babies!