Bits of wisdom....

I want to share some profound bits of wisdom which I was reading in Normal Kingdom Business by Andree Seu. I just love her candid style of writing - she has a wonderful way of making you think deeper about everyday life. Here's a few that I thought were especially worthy of contemplating...

1. When I have no intention of obeying a Bible command, I say it's not meant to be taken literally.
2. A lot of what I thought was my personality was just sin.
3. Living in regret of the past, or fear of the future, are two ways of not living at all.
4. Talent is good, but faithfulness is better.
5. If you wait for better times to "Rejoice in the Lord" you will never do it.
6. Praising and thanking God all day long are the only cure I've found for depression.
7. If you're not dead yet there is still time to repent.
8. The longer I live the truer the Bible gets.

These are only a few that really spoke to me. If you want to read more you'll have to buy the book....

Have a great Sunday!

At last....a clothesline! Thanks Dad!

I don't usually air my laundry for all the internet folks to see but this one is special. Here's a photo of my new clothesline which my Dad made while he was visiting. We talked for many years about making something to hang clothes outside but just couldn't agree on where and how. My parents couldn't quite get over my hanging clothes on the front porch railing and over outside chairs & talked us through how to construct an actual clothesline in our back yard. This morning I hung up my first load - it worked wonderfully. I look forward to taking off fresh white laundry this afternoon. P.S. For those of you thinking it looks like it's hanging a bit low - we fixed that. Just a little tightening & a small purchase at the hardware store & there's no sag...

Mom & Dad's Visit

We've enjoyed the company of my Mom & Dad this last week. Here's a few shots of some of our outings - Mt. Baker and Hovander Park. The day we went up Mt. Baker was absolutely beautiful - the sun was shining and the snow was melting. We met a bear on the way up - a large bear which we think was a young grizzly was walking on the side of the road. When we stopped and opened our window to take a better look, it lay down and put his head on it's paws like it was bored with us. None of us thought this was boring in the least!! I have a closer shot but cannot figure out how to rotate it.

Showers...indoors and out!

During the last week of school we helped the gr. 3/4 students throw a shower for their teacher, Miss K. The kids each gave a bag of bulbs and together bought a bird bath. Miss K. is getting married in Australia in July and will come back to teach as Mrs. F. The students had a lot of fun playing a dress up game and tying the ribbon in Miss K's hair. Not only did we have showers indoors but plenty outdoors as well. Our spring has been extremely cold and wet - lots of clouds and rain. We are looking forward to going straight into summer - soon!!!

Another good book....

Our "book study club" finished another great book titled "Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands" by Paul David Tripp. The subtitle is "People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change". Using the words from the back of the book "It will guide anyone who wants to give real help to others, the saving help that is found in Christ's redeeming work". It was well worth reading - I highly recommend it.

Another week... another year...

This week was busy - our Tuesday morning bible study met for the last time this year and we ended it with a brunch. It has been a good year - I led this year with Mrs. J. and we studied the book of Amos. We used "You Only" by Rev. P. Feenstra and found it to be a good study guide. I am done my term so it was my last meeting. I promised myself that just because I will now have more free time I should not go & commit to something else.

It was also our last day at the school library - at least it was the last day we will be open to students. If you are a librarian you will know that it doesn't mean the last day of work. We will need to collect all outstanding books, do inventory, print reports and run after fines and lost books. It was a good year - but it becomes more of a challenge to stay motivated after 5 years. You get a bit of repetition after a while & you need to find fresh & exciting ideas for talks to the students. I hope to enroll in a Children's Literature class of WWU this coming fall - that is IF I can get over the fear of being the oldest student in the class...

Yesterday was also AK's 9th birthday. It's hard to believe he's already that old. He had 7 friends over from gr. 3/4. I had arranged to be at the Bellingham YMCA to climb the rock wall there. So the theme of rock climbing came out in his cake (at least I tried). They are also studying rocks in class so it was really neat. There was one 30 foot wall & another 65 foot (if I remember correctly) and 3 "belayers". They mostly stayed on the 30 ft. wall - which was challenging enough. About half of them made it to the top - they each tried at least 10 times. By the end, their arms felt like rubber. It was a great way to expend some "boy" energy. I was very disappointed when I realized I had forgotten my camera - sorry, no photos.

Today it is Sports Day at our school and we are at B. Fields. I had the gr. 3/4 girls for the day - a very sweet group of girls. They had a lot of fun trying to beat their PB's and making points for their team. I "snuck" home for a bit to change and do some laundry & then got sidetracked onto the computer. I should run back & see how their baseball game is going - till next time!

Pitt Lake

This past weekend was a beautiful one - very warm & sunny. We planted most of our veggie garden - at least what would fit. I had to hold myself back from making it larger - I get excited & forget what it takes to weed, harvest & freeze things. It started out as a small patch with just enough to eat from during the summer - but I'm afraid it grew larger!

This past Monday Jocelyn left with her Gr. 9/10 class to stay over at the Elk's Camp in Aldergrove. They made day trips from there. I drove them to camp on Monday & they went Geo Caching at the park that day. I went up Tuesday morning to drive them to Pitt Lake (BC). It started out quite rainy & cold but it got better. We had a beautiful canoe trip to a place where we hiked to an amazing falls. A few girls had very long faces & little energy to canoe & hike, but amazingly found lots of energy to stay up late to sneak out to the boys' cabin... I must say, the hike was not an easy one with many areas totally covered with mud & water from the quick melt this past weekend & from the high levels of snow from the winter. My body is feeling the extra physical activity & I took a friend's advice - a long hot bath with a glass of red wine... ahhhh.....

Junior/Senior Trip - they're off!!

Tonight Henry & I drove to Seattle airport (yes, again...) to bring the Jr & Sr class and chaperones to the airport. This has been a long anticipated trip for all of them. They've done a ton of fundraising - mostly in the form of working very hard at various places - cleaning, painting, landscaping. etc. They have an amazing list of places they hope to see. To see the itinerary and follow their travels check out their blog at www.washingtondc-08.blogspot.com. It will be quiet around here and we'll all miss Lorelle a lot. We'll pray for safe travels and God's blessings on all of them.

Piano Festival...

The past few days have been somewhat stressful since Lorelle was working hard to prepare for her big class trip to Washington, DC. As well, she was planning for her first ever participation in the Abbotsford Piano Festival. She had been sick for a week & this put the pressure on to practice, practice, practice... She played two pieces from memory - one from a Canadian composer & another was a romantic piece. Both were adjudicated by the same woman - she was very helpful and instructive. It was a great "first experience" and a much needed confidence booster. Both pieces she was awarded a second place - definitely reason to stop and buy a donut at Tim Horton's. Yaaah... the pressure is off and we can begin packing for Washington, DC!!!

Congratulations - Fourth Place!

After listening to 12 very brave and capable speakers, Hannah was awarded fourth place in the quad school speech contest. Here she is afterwards with her teacher, Miss VB, who coached the 5/6 class these past few weeks. She is completing her first year of teaching & is doing a great job!

Hannah's Speech

Oh...I forgot one thing! Hannah's class has been preparing for the speech competition at our school. Actually, it's a Gr. 6/7 competition and three kids from each class are chosen to give their speech to the school and others who like to listen. Hannah was chosen as one from her class. So we listened today to these speeches - they all did a great job. Public speaking is something I missed in elementary school - and believe me it's much too late to change when you're an adult. Well, she was chosen as one of the three from our school to go on to the quad school Public Speaking Competition in Yarrow, BC this Friday. Her speech was on Foster Care & and I think she made a great speach... I get a lump in my throat each time I hear it. We wish her well on Friday.

Bit's & Bites...

Well, I feel like posting but don't have that much to write. Life is back to regular routine now that Amanda has left. Our little guy left after 6 days and so it's life with just our family again. This past weekend brought us another beautiful Saturday and we were able to work around the house again. Henry tilled the veggie garden for me and added a bit of compost. With the shocking price of food in the grocery store I think this summer we will take gardening more seriously. We don't have plans to take much time off so we will just stay put and enjoy our summer at home. With the shocking price at the pumps that's not a bad idea either. Here's a few cute pics my Mom sent - might as well laugh about it...

Amanda's Visit

Last Friday we were scheduled to pick up Amanda from the Seattle airport. I was counting on leaving around noon, picking up Lorelle from school to join me, and heading off at a leisurely pace to pick her up. The day before I was called by DSHS if I could take a baby who was being discharged from Seattle's Children's Hospital until the permanent foster "mom" was over a nasty flu & fever. I hesitantly agreed - not knowing what kind of weekend we would then have. This little guy turned out to be one of the sweetest babies I've taken care of. He had been hospitalized many times with respiratory problems - and so a crash course was given on inhalers, steroids, and other medications to be administered at different times of the day. Well, that was the first morning with the little guy - and Henry walks into the kitchen to remind me that Amanda's plane arrives in 2 1/2 hours. That's a bit of a problem since it's a 2 hour drive to Seattle. You never did see anyone fly around the house so fast. Lorelle didn't go to school that day and we left within the hour - baby and all. We managed to arrive on time - Lorelle went into the airport to get her but unfortunately Amanda's suitcases were not arriving. We left after they promised to deliver her suitcases that evening (don't hold your breath).

We stopped in at Pike's Place Market - a must see if you're visiting Seattle. The weather was sunny and cold. Here's a photo of the girls trying to ride the pig - it's harder than it looks, The following days were filled with fun - an evening out with 14 of us to watch a wonderful performance of "Little Women", a walk along the ocean, a drive up Mount Baker, a visit to the school and more.

Meet Our New Groundskeeper!

This past weekend - particularly Saturday - was absolutely beautiful! The temperature probably hit close to 70 degrees and so our entire family spent time outside. Some of us put on our bathing suits (no, that was not me) and worked on the tan, while others spent time making the lawn & gardens beautiful. Last year Jocelyn did most of the lawnmowing and trimming around the house but we are hoping with her that she will have some sort of summer employment. We are working hard at making that happen.

When Alec expressed interest in helping, I spent some time with him on the lawnmower. This picture shows him hard at work - it just makes my heart swell... what a cutie!! And just in case you are dashing off to phone the authorities...I was close at hand to help him if things went wrong. With a very protective mother as a trainer, he is well aware of the safety issues & the rules that go along with operating a John Deere. Let's hope the eagerness to help continues throughout the summer.

Capilano Bridge Field Trip

Today was the last day before Spring Break and Alec's Gr. 3/4 class was scheduled to go to Capilano Bridge in Vancouver, BC. They finished their unit on bridges and each student had a chance to build one of the 3 main bridge types. I volunteered to join them, along with three other adults. The weather was rainy - but it didn't dampen their enthusiasm for the day. It's been about 8-10 years since I've been there last. They've added a tree-top walk, with suspension bridges hanging from tree to tree so you can walk through the tree tops. This really makes it more worth going. Miss K. had arrranged for a guide to explain bridge structures as well as a nature guide. It was a nice day - but by 1:30 we were happy to get back into a warm vehicle and dry up.

Still Learning...

On Tuesday I filled in for Miss K.'s grade 3/4 class while she was away at a seminar. Since I've taught Art to her class several times during this past year she asked if I would teach them that afternoon. I decided on a very simple project since I wouldn't have a helper. I gave them a short explanation on the life and art of Pablo Picasso (which they already knew a fair bit about, smart kids!) and then they proceeded with the project. We tried to create an imitation of Mains Aux Fleurs which required that they rip out the shapes of flowers and leaves to create a handful of flowers. I really thought this should be quite easy - what child can't rip? Well, I think their moms had sufficiently drilled into their little heads not to rip at a very young age. All afternoon I heard, "Mrs. K, can you help me? I can't rip". In the end we had 14 beautiful pieces of artwork and a very tired teacher....

As I was reading later from "Normal Kingdom Business" by Andree Seu (World Magazine writer) I was reminded of how much I have learned later in life. I think I've gained more knowledge through my children than I actually learned while I was at school. A sentence in her article read, "I don't know what the inside of your head looks like, but mine looks like Guernica". Well, I would not have known what that meant if it were not for that little lesson on Picasso yesterday. Like I said...still learning.

P.S. Some days the inside of my head does feel like Guernica...

Bad Day, Anyone?

Just wanted to share with you the fact that I had a bad day today. I'd love to share the details but that wouldn't be helpful and it would incriminate others... Ever had the kind of day that you just expect the next nasty comment, broken something, or upset family member? Well, today was that kind of day. I was in no mood to take any photos to share it with you because I'd rather forget it happened. I will just have to get a good sleep and wake up to a brand, new beautiful day!!

Oh, by the way, we won both of our volleyball games last night and it's still lots of fun & good exercise...

The Invention Convention

After much preparation, the planned Invention Convention at Cornerstone came together this past Friday evening. Our Science Teacher, Mr. M. introduced the idea to the students & parents several months ago. The grades 1-2 could do something really simple - most of them introduced a simple machine they had learned about in class. The grades 3-4 could enter the bridges they designed which is part of their curriculum. The older grades had to invent something that hadn't been invented before or improve on the design of something already invented. They could also produce a piece of original music, write a book, or think of an original recipe. We spent many dinner hours as a family inventing the strangest things - some just made us howl with laughter, others the kids tried to produce but failed, and still others bordered on simply ridiculous.

Here's the photos that would upload today... "A" is very proud of his beam bridge - it's stronger than it needs to be & it looks great too. Hannah and her friend published a children's book. It is entitled "I Do Believe in Fairies" and it is really good (unbiased mother...). "H" wrote the story and her friend painted all the pictures - it almost looks like a professionally published soft cover complete with made-up ISBN & barcode. We asked her to remember us when she becomes rich & famous... The other inventions we can't disclose because we don't want to endanger the patents that are pending....

The entire gym was filled with tables and trifolds explaining the inventions - it was amazing to see the variety & ingenuity. The evening was definitely a great success!

A surprise arrives from Ontario!!

On Thursday morning, as secretly planned, I went to the Abbotsford airport to pick up Kelly and Nikki. I knew for the past month or so that they wanted to surprise our girls - on the weekend of Lorelle's 17th birthday. It was great fun waiting for them to come home from school. They popped up from behind the counter when they came into the kitchen & shocked them all. So started a great weekend. The weather was decent - about 52 degrees F. and a few threatening clouds in the sky. While they were here they went to the ocean and spent time at a park there, went toboganning on Mt. Baker and had a fun time with friends celebrating Lorelle's birthday.

Some Hawaii Pictures...