All posts in Adventure and Me

Spa Weekend

by admin on March 6, 2012 in Adventure and Me, Bits Of My Personality with No comments
 Third annual girls weekend away.  
Second time going to Moose Jaw Saskatchewan 
and their ‘Temple Garden Mineral Spa’.  
First time EVER getting a massage.
 

 It was a weekend of relaxing and eating mostly.  Each evening we took in a movie right in our hotel room.  We soaked in the mineral waters and puttered around the hotel a great deal more then in the past.  Such a slow pace meant we even got naps in.

While we got in some shopping it is so often more about the food with Mirelle and I.  We find such pleasure in not just stopping in anywhere to eat or have a coffee break.  I think after this trip we have pretty much hit each of the special dining locations that Moose Jaw has to offer.  We went to the hotel’s restaurant twice as it was amazing!

(Our favorite dish at the hotel’s restaurant.  A crepe seafood dish.)

(My sister enjoying her breakfast and coffee at one of our favorite coffee shops.)
(One of the nicest places we have ever dined at was an art galleries cafe.)

This time around I really saw the appeal of a ‘spa weekend’.  Wondering around in your robes and slippers, getting massages and floating in the spa waters.  Having a coffee at the pool side starbucks cafe and snoozing through out the day.  Yeah this was actually a break!

 Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan MARCH 2012

TTFN

Kathy

by admin on February 28, 2012 in Adventure and Me, Bits Of My Personality, Feeling It (Thankful), Little Things, People In My Heart, The Pet with 1 Comment

Been going to a series of conferences for the last while, on my own.  In general I appreciate getting time alone.  The plus to this time of learning alone has been plenty of head space to take it all in.  The downer has been it is often nice to have someone to bounce off that new and expanded info.

The Lord sends encouragers at the simplest of times.  I sat down to eat at the lunch provided and a lady I had only recently met made sure to come over and sit with me so I wasn’t alone.  We found we had a connection in the church we attend and I was enjoying getting to know her bit by bit.

More people filled up the table and as we chatted I realised I was siting with neighbors!  On my left sat a couple that lives on the same crescent as us.  We had been getting along so well talking about gardening, organic eating and dogs.  We connected over Riddick (this isn’t the first time he has made my family recognisable).  They indeed knew my dog and recognised my eldest children that trailed around after him daily.  They too felt this was a real blessing to connect at such an unforeseen location and numbers where exchanged, plans for tea put in motion.

I now stood at the entrance to the conferences lecture hall, if you will, the sanctuary of a west side church.  Most people had come with someone and had spread out making little room for those of us who where flying solo.  Out of the blue Kathy, whom I would learn was her name, asked if I was looking for a seat.  She lead me to her spot and pointed out the available space next to her.  We chatted and found many a point of connection in why we where at the conference.  Both of us where finding great joy in learning as older women who have done the family thing for years.  A friendship seed was indeed planted as we ended up doing the courses practical application with one another; as we worked on our prayer ministry tools, together, a connection of the Spirit in us was lit.

I smiled to myself because I had just started to feel down about going to all of these lectures on my own when the Lord expanded my social circle so easily.  If I had decided to be uncomfortable and withdrawn, which in the past I was pron to do at such events, I would have missed out on a blessing.  It really drives home the point that there are people all around us to bless and be blessed by in the simplest way possible, sharing a little conversation and kindness.

TTFN

And Down To One Fish

by admin on February 23, 2012 in Adventure and Me, Dem Kids Sayed WHAT?, Do I Call It Parenting Advice?, Life Keeps Changing, The Pet with No comments

 Well you never can tell with fish.  Yellow-whisker just didn’t seems as healthy from the get go.  The day before she died I was starting to warn the kids she seemed ill. 

We are now down to just Nia.  Sure didn’t take long for the first experience with a pets death to happen thanks to our new fish adventure.

The kids handled it well, although all differently.  Youngest two seem very unaware.  My eldest is just hoping we get a new fish; maybe a fancier one like a Beta next time.

My oldest boy, however, was the one who found her…  belly up… He looked so ash colored as he came and told me.  I took one  look at her and confirmed his suspicions.  He then looked really solemn.  I asked if he was okay and he shook his head ‘no’.  I said it was okay to be upset and when he started to cry I grabbed him in a big hug.  I assured him it is always a hard lesson in life to learn… that life ends.

After we hugged for a while he asked if he could go be alone in his room.  He then asked the sweetest question, so honest, “Is it okay if I am not okay for a while?  I still feel sad”.

“Absolutely okay my boy”, I assured him.

For now Nia is very healthy looking so we will stick with her and when she goes we will debate trying ONE Beta or just two new goldfish again.

TTFN

Adventures in Waiting

by admin on February 7, 2012 in Adventure and Me, Feeling It (Thankful), Life Keeps Changing, My Listening Year with 3 Comments


(My fridge has become THE family organizational center of the house.  
Need to know info?!  Check the fridge.)

Audacity 

It occurred to me that all to often in our desire to follow after Christ I have been like Sarah, laughing at God’s plan because it seems so beyond her, and Garnet has been more like Abraham, taking God at his word, just his word, needing nothing more.  Being the one to see everything through to the end has been a good trait as the mom in this family.  I keep on top of everyones stuff, thus need a detailed plan for my day to day, my week to week and even months ahead.  This doesn’t transfer over to a healthy personality trait in the world of faith.

Steven Furtick is a young speaker from the states.  I gleamed much from a message he shared on bold faith.  Faith is audacious (showing a willingness to take bold risks).    It takes audacity to live by faith, because faith abounds when you don’t have all the info.  It is risky and appears brash to step out and act on what little leading you usually get, all too often it is not enough info by worldly logic.  It involves doing our part, the only part that we limited humans are able to do, and then trusting God for the rest.  Our part is faith in Christ’s call.  This doesn’t mean figuring it all out, all that you are to do, and then getting to work.  It is more correctly, intimately getting to know Jesus more and digging to the depths of who you are in him. Taking steps, with out the whole picture, moves this from daydreaming to a vision.

2 KINGS 3: 16-20

The before mentioned preacher shared about the story of Elisha telling the people to fill their valley with MANY ditches so they would receive plenty of water.  They had to act and dig the ditches with no visual proof that the rain would come.  The rain was God’s part.  He finishes things… we want to know it all and yet don’t need to for we are not doing it all, he is… and he knows already.

Our Ditch

Garnet and I dug a ditch when we left Waldheim, turned our backs on the chance to have our dream acreage.  We felt asked by the Lord to put ourselves in a place of availability, available to be active workers in his kingdom, and that meant moving on from where we where happy and comfortable and then waiting where we where not comfortable.

With each passing year since our choice to dig that ditch we have seen growth and opportunities present themselves.  We’ve tried to let the Spirit do his work in us, and sought to seize all opportunities of purpose in Christ’s kingdom.  All along we still feel a call; a need to not hold on to what we have and where we are at.  In prayer we strive to keep our hearts prepared for change, for more intense kingdom service.

With each year we see glimpses of clarity about this call, but still have little information on what, when or how… we still don’t appear to fit the bill of your typical ministry couple…  THUS we have lots of opportunities to grow more in faith…

My Ditch

Garnet has always been very open about sharing this.  I have always huddled behind my man wishing for more faith… Today I dug another ditch and shared our call publicly at a study and now on my blog.  Now I wait.  Garnet and I wait, digging ditches as steps of faith present themselves.  It is the least we can do as we hope for opportunity to do more…in his time.

TTFN

Hello There :)

by admin on February 1, 2012 in Adventure and Me, Bits Of My Personality, Feeling It (Thankful) with 2 Comments

Well helllllooooo there!  A pretty little camera that made my heart skip a beat when I got to take it home.  While I was picking it out, with my husband’s help, I honestly felt a little doubtful that I would actually be getting one after all the waiting.  Seven months camera-less, saving… and ta-da, a digital that finally out does my lovely and faithful old analog.   I have been waiting to invest in a REAL camera till I felt like they where in our price range and able to out do my analog… then we had to do the saving up part.  My last camera dying in August spurred it all on to immanency. 

I am a happy girl and wonder if this will put a little umph into my blogging again?

I am pretty enthusiastic about being a student of photography once more.  Much to learn and I am sure I will enjoy the process. Watch out kids, your click happy Mama is back!

Very thankful.

TTFN

Nya and Yellow Whisker

by admin on January 19, 2012 in Adventure and Me, Bits Of My Personality, Four Little Eggs In My Nest, Life Keeps Changing, Little Things, The Pet with No comments

 The kids where hanging off of the railings at the fish pond (in Market Mall) once again. Garnet and I where waiting. Myself more patiently then him. The kids can stair at the koi forever! I mentioned perhaps we should get a coffee and just let them stair while we talk.

Somehow we started talking about getting fish. I have never really been into this type of pet, mostly because they lack a lot of actual pet like advantaged… like touch and affection. Well Garnet dared me to get set up with fish for under 20 dollars because I had said it would have to be kept simple, no big tank, no more then two fish, no adding to it later. Well I marched into Zellers with his bet on my mind. Got a tank with the gravel, plant, food and conditioner for 11 dollars. Marched over to a pet shop and got two fish for 60 cents a piece. Done, only about 12 bucks!

For less money then a lot of their barely enjoyed toys cost we had a new pet. The kids where ecstatic. I don’t think having their own fish had ever entered their minds before. The whole affair took up most of the day and that was intentional. We had no plans (something rare on a weekend) and so this was turned into a grand family adventure.

After we picked the fish up we went home to choose names. Everyone, even our three year old, have very very strong opinions on a name for each fish. So we decided to draw the names out of a hat. My eldest’s warrior cat name ‘Yellow Whisker’ and then my oldest boy’s Lego Ninja name ‘Nya’ won. I was very disappointed that my suggestions ‘Jane Eyre’ or ‘Eeyore’ didn’t make it. Garnet was clever and picked spaghetti as a name and I thought meat ball would be perfect for the other in that case. No one but me liked ‘tweedle dee and tweedle dum’. My five year old daughter was heart broken that her names ‘cute and cutie’ didn’t get picked so she is refusing to stop calling them by her names. The youngest, our three year old, picked Bob the Builder and Diego… I am sure we all know where he got those ideas…

My olds daughter was sure everyone would be coming over JUST to meet our new fish. The littlest two spend a lot of time staring at them and talking about how CUTE they are. My biggest boy is hoping to teach Nya (the bigger of the two) how to do kungfu or spin-gitzu.

For now I am in charge of feeding them and we are all learning to not torment them. It they want to shake or touch something go find the dog. Eventually we hope to have the big kids feeding them too.

I am in no rush though. I find it very relaxing to feed them and watch them do their thing. Bonus is how smashing their pretty purple bowl looks in my sitting room.

Here is to new pets!

P.S. I want to put in writing though, that I draw the line at birds and rodents. I have a lot of reasons if you would like to know.

TTFN

And WE Made Cookies!

by admin on January 6, 2012 in Adventure and Me, Bits Of My Personality, Domestic Damsel, Foodie Like Me, Mama Heart Mushings with No comments

Two things I have said that I retract… as of today…

ONE, I don’t make cookies and TWO, guess you have to be a chef or a baker and I am no baker anymore.  It is amazing what more time can do for a mom’s self esteem!  With HAVING to make our bread every week I couldn’t help but retain that skill, but with Garnet diagnosed with hypoglycemia I let my baking skills mostly slide.  Especially where cookies where concerned as I always found them such a struggle, so time consuming and so often a failure of mine.

With Garnet’s shoulders both damaged due to two different accidents of late I have been home bound while I let him use our only vehicle more often.  Before his shoulder issues he was commuting by bike YEAR ROUND.  This means I am feeling more domestic as I have no choice but to put off all the run around stuff I have been expected to do since moving to the city, and I am lov’n it!

With more time on my hands I decided we needed cookies.  My little man, who is three now, and I have the mornings alone together and we needed the together project as well as the treats that result from cookie making.  It all became necessary after yesterdays trips to two grocery stores.  He loves grocery trips, even asking when we don’t need to if I will take him anyway.  He loves grocery trips because I figured out what other mom’s apparently knew for years… the baker will let you child have a free cookie!  So he got a gigantic ginger snap from Superstore and a fat chocolate chip from Safeway.  I got a happy little man and a kick out of his deep deep pleasure in cookie eating.  I recalled how much I adored them as a child, pretty much all of us did right?!  I remembered how AMAZING my mothers home made chocolate chip cookies where… we needed home made cookies around here again!  And that!  That would be up to ME!!

Once home I also remembered how badly every single batch of my mom’s famous cookies turned out when I made them… doubt set in… uncertainty… apprehension… but my craving and my boys chocolate smeared smile pushed me through the haze of horrible memory flash backs and I GOT OUT MY BOWL TODAY!  Yes the cookie batter mixing bowl, and the spatula, and the ingredients!  I then called my mom for help and let her walk me through my rough spots over the phone

When I poured in the chocolate chips my boy cheered ‘You put in chocolate!  You are so good mommy’!  When I let him mix he exclaimed, ‘We do dis together Mama, US make cookies.  Iz you and me’!  And my heart glowed.

My tummy glowed too, as I munched down my first… well two first cookies.  My three year old got SOOOO quiet when I set two cookies and a glass of milk before him.  Ironically that spoke deeper then all his adorable praises as we prepared the cookies.

Today was a big day… today we made cookies!

P.S. Oops… burnt tongue…I never ever seem to remember to not put the stray chocolate chips straight into my mouth after removing hot cookies from the pan.  HOT CHOCOLATE!

TTFN

Find Delight (Even or Especially In Winter!)

by admin on December 31, 2011 in Adventure and Me, Bits Of My Personality, Do I Call It Parenting Advice?, Domestic Damsel, Feeling It (Thankful), Life Keeps Changing with No comments

(Skating CHRISTMAS DAY! 2011)
What can I say?
I really am delighted with winter!
I guess that is why I still live here.

You can’t have those sweet rosy noses and cheeks with out it.
Or wear thick sweaters and knit scarves each day without it.
Mittens and toques with pompoms are a must have and a must enjoy.

(At the neighbourhood rink with my oldest boy!)

Trips to the outdoor rink, to the toboggan hill, snow forts and snow angels and the amazing way the house feels when you freshly return from winter adventures.


(Our home, a couple winters ago.  We don’t have this much snow yet this year.)

Ones house never feels so inviting in the warm months of the year!
How perfect a big hot mug of tea or hot chocolate feel whether going warmly down your throat or just being held in your chilled hands!

Such glorious domesticity blooms in ones heart as you unpack your snow covered children, rediscovering them from underneath loads of winter clothes and you place a warm cup of love in their sweet little hands.  Just standing over the pot of home made hot coco is enough to make me feel like a great mom.

(A day gone by, at the community toboggan hill will the whole crew.)

Yes winter takes a lot of work and requires effort and yet this is why the little moments feel so very good this time of year.

(My eldest son, on the way home from a winter adventure.)



Hurrah for winter!

TTFN

Lovely Weather For A Sleigh Ride Together

by admin on December 21, 2011 in Adventure and Me, Dem Kids Sayed WHAT?, Holiday Messages, Little Things, My Romance with No comments
 Can you hear the sleigh bells jingling?  
Ring ting tingling too?!
Pops and Grams (my husbands folks) where kind enough to let us know about their community winter day in the park, Sunday past.  Oh what a grand opportunity to bask in Christmas feelings!  A sleigh ride is a sure fire way to take me back and make me all sentimental.  
We had neighbours, up north, who had two very strong (mid-sized) ponies to pull us on what we called hay rides; probably since there was a lot of straw involved.  We often came home with it up our jackets and down our ski pants.  Sleigh rides are so civil down south!  There was only one boy who kept hopping off and on and he got ‘spoken to’.  
(Garnet and I, our first photo together.  Also our first Christmas holiday together.)

Back home we spent more time wrestling off and on the ride then sitting and looking around.  It was one big brawl from start to finish.  Mr Hillier only ever stopped the ponies if we fell so far behind that we couldn’t catch up, weighted down, as we where, by our snow gear.  We laughed so hard and loved ever minute of it.  I remember it was one of the first things I had to do with him, when Garnet and I where dating.  My brothers took it upon themselves to immediately try to throw the city boy off.  It took a lot of work, Garnet is a stubborn and big fellow.  He was game right away though.  I remember I got him worse then anyone else; he was hanging on by his hands at one point and I coyly unhinged his fingers till he rolled away, carrying my brother with him.  My brother had been hanging on to Garnet’s foot trying to pull him off from that side.  My boyfriend landed safely… on top of my brother… knocked the wind right out of him, it was all terribly funny!

Well the ride this Sunday was really genteel and sweet.  We climbed up and sat orderly.  The kids gushed about the horses and the ride.  My sister and I broke out in ‘jingle bells’ with her daughter and my youngest boy at one point.  All adding up to romantically Christmas-y memories to keep.  It was such mild weather for this time of year and thus truly was ‘lovely weather for a sleigh ride together’.
My youngest pointed out the ‘horse’s bums’ and my second youngest thought they might not be real horses but was pleased when we told her they are.  All four kids really enjoyed the hot chocolate served in the skating shed.  We finished this romantic evening with coffee and soup at Grams and Pops house, just a couple blocks from all the fun.  
I couldn’t help stealing glances at Garnet through it all, remembering our first sleigh ride together, up where I come from.  I can get so enamoured with him still.  Ahhh romance always adds to this time of year.  
Wishing you a very merry Christmas!
TTFN

The Engagement (Marriage Monday)

by admin on December 5, 2011 in Adventure and Me, Life Keeps Changing, Marriage Monday, My Romance with 5 Comments
Under A Tree
Two young people sit under a tree, at their favourite city park.
He is reading to her, from Galatians…
She is leaning against him.
Mid sentence he turns her around and asks ‘Will you marry me?’
In shock, she threatens that this had better not be a joke.
In a demanding voice she points out he seems surprised that he asked, and had better be very very sure.
The color returns to his face and he starts to giggle while assuring her of his sincerity.
There under the tree two young people kissed, for the first time.
They both where trembling.
She cried and said yes.
He hugged her close.
The children near by, in the park, christened the event with an chorus of ‘ewwwwwww’!
There was no ring, but they didn’t need one to know their hearts where stuck together.
There was no bowing of the knee, no ceremony and honestly no planning, but they didn’t notice.
All they saw was one another and all they would remember was the question, the answer and the kiss.

Over a month later they returned and he bent to one knee, she put on her best surprised face and he unrolled his sock and took out a ring for her. It had been their secret for a month…

And it all started under a tree in their favourite park.

~

P.s. When we renewed our vows, on our tenth anniversary, we went back to that tree and took photos together, thus the two photos at the top of this post. The first is us in 1999 and the second is us in 2010.

First Monday of every month at Chrysalis

TTFN

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