Monday, October 31, 2011

I Know, I Know...

...you've just been waiting forever for some volleyball footage.  Well I'll give you a few tidbits from the Halloween Bash tournament this past weekend in Penticton.  Erin played 23 straight sets without a sub. And she wasn't sore the next day.  Oh to be young and fit!  I wonder how many calories that is.  Probably about how much candy I've eaten today.





Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Ribbit Ribbit





 I love everything about this photo.  The boyish charm of catching frogs and bringing them in the house, the close examination of frog skin, the fact that my girl took the photo of her brother, the way he's lounging across the table always relaxed, and the hands.  So much about hands tells a story. Like an old grandmothers' hands that have rocked countless babies, and the chubby hands of toddlers grabbing Cheerios, the working hands of men providing for their families.  And these boy hands getting so strong and agile, less like a boy, more like a young man. 

And what frog doesn't need a little CPR to brighten its day?


The biggest picture of hands I have etched in my mind are my Dad's, once strong and able, then turned motionless, unable to provide, work, feed, scratch, love, teach, garden!  Loss of ability, a part of who you are.  They became soft and unknown.  Yet he could still make a joke and request hands for Christmas... for which my brother bought a plastic pair, the kind the you set up on your TV to hold a remote control.  And we could all laugh, a bit.

One of my favorite people is going through something similar, where her Mom isn't the same as she was, just weeks ago.  The awful word.. cancer has wedged its way into her brain.  And so we pray for a miracle.  We have faith, we hope. And God talked to me in my study of Daniel's friends in the furnace yesterday - about facing fiery trials. We are either delivered FROM the fire, delivered THROUGH the fire, or delivered BY the fire.  We all want to be delivered FROM it, but it's not our choice, we have to trust Him to decide.  We can pray and believe that He will choose deliverance from it, He can do that.  But through each one, our faith is refined, built up, perfected.  I don't want to hear it, I don't want fire for them, I want for her to be well.  It seems the choice between sickness and stronger faith isn't really a choice I want to make.  They are as close as any mother and daughter can be and it doesn't seem fair, not now.  And they cling to Jesus.

When I read through that Living Word, 1 Peter 1:6-7
"in this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
there is some biting comfort in the words, but I noticed verse 5 that jumps out like a beacon:
"who through faith are SHIELDED by God's power".
I pray a shield of power over you! 
A shield in the dark night, in the lonely morning, and the long day!
XOXO 

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

I Love Biology

When I was in grade 11, we went to Expo '86 and then to Bamfield Marine Sciences Center on Vancouver Island to explore marine life.  I'm so lucky I got to go again with my daughter's class, and that she let me.  I didn't make her share a bunk with me though, I'm a pretty cool Mom that way.  I let her stay with her friends, imagine the teenage eye roll now.
Our 5 days were filled with no mornings sleeping past 6:30,  if you know me.. that's a serious uggghhh....and and being busy until 9:30 at night, then trying to settle 28 girls (the 10 boys were left to the principal), so we could do it all again the next day.  What an amazing group of teenagers!  They were keen, loved all the learning, even in pouring rain one day.  We were totally blessed upon by an awesome God with an orca whale sighting the last day, then a brief shower, followed by an amazing rainbow.  I think HE just wanted to give His blessing on us.  From discovering the tiniest of sea creatures.. plankton.. spawning and fertilizing sand dollar babies.. hands on experiments with invertebrates.. to seeing the grandest creature!  Totally cool!






How cute are they in their safety goggles?






Sunday, October 16, 2011

"A Wiener is Meat?"

What do you think?  I think I should totally make this, well for one family member maybe.

Snood


Occasionally we turn off the TV and do something weird to entertain each other, like last night.  Snood has become a word in our family vocabulary this year due to recent news stories in regards to FIFA rulings. But we're not really sure what to call it when the Snuggie, which we all mock but everyone fights over, turns into a snood for 2.  Don't ask me how the Snuggie sleeves got around someone's head!
Siamese grim reapers?



ET?


It's definitely going in the laundry now!

Monday, October 10, 2011

Gracias


Happy Thanksgiving!  We had a quiet day today at home, listening to the rain outside most of the day and smelling turkey as it roasted  and pumpkin pie, yet to be savored. We were our quiet, OK maybe not so quiet, 4 since our usual family guests are in Vancouver this weekend.  We were happy with that today.  I'm in a bit of an anti-cooking mood lately anyways, wishing dinner would just appear on the table some evenings of late...  wouldn't that be amazing?

The kids are boycotting my annual Thanksgiving tradition of writing our gratitudes on a paper leaf.  We have done it the last 6 or 7 years, we can't stop now! Can we?  Maybe it was me telling Jacob he couldn't write "food, water, Ditto" this year again.  I'm only trying to expand their thinking.  I guess the house is just full of math/science geeks and I should embrace it, my own self included.  :)  Maybe they could all write a math equation instead of words.


Well... sharing our thanks on a Monday with others :


308. Kevin working, it's been almost a year since he's been back at it after the 18 month "break", and we're more grateful everyday for a great job that he enjoys, and provides for us and more.
309. Sunny, fall days
310. New friends, that we feel like we've known forever, and should have. I think the boys/men are somehow each others' missing twin, or triplet? 
311. My ladies ~ can't wait to start Tuesdays with you tomorrow morning, been missing it so much! Will be missing 1 of you though even more.
312. Pumpkin anything!
313. 4 weeks into Boot camp, not loving the during, but the after feels good
314. A new house for my sister in law, can't wait to see it and spend Christmas there!
315. Flannel sheets
316. Picking grapes at the orchard yesterday from our old friend Bert
317. Free apples from my neighbor orchardist
318. All the wonderful people in our life!  Thank you for being one of them.