a song for every day

Sarah

2011-06-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

This is what I heard from Sarah as she was in the bathroom yesterday.

"God always loves me." (reading the title of a book)

now singing:

"Taking children on his knee, saying let them come to me

God always loves me, God always loves me, God always loves me, the Bible tells me so

Jesus loves me still today, walking with me on my way, wanting as a friend to give, light and love to all who live,

Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus Loves me, Yes Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so"

I thought it was neat how she stuck the "God always loves me" phrase into the song. The Bible tells us this too, for sure.

And I include 2 pictures of Sarah because in one she is not looking as she normally does :)

Sarah with Auntie Aimee, and cousins Eva and Anna. Sarah had made the paper craft for Eva's 5th birthday.

Sarah and I before Sarah's dance performance at the Abbey Arts. She was in a Kid's Lyrical Class at Freestyle Dance Centre in Abbotsford.

Jacob

2011-06-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

“I’ll close this too,” Jacob says as he closes a door. He can open doors now so that means he can go outside whenever he wants now. He got bored inside this morning and said, ‘outside.’ I love how he had thought up an idea of what to do.

He uses mainly, ‘nope’ and ‘yup’ as his responses to yes or no questions.

He is liking to not sit at his highchair. We compromised this morning and pulled the trayless highchair up to the table.

“Mommy, dump it in there.” Jacob says about the contents of his little potty while pointing to the big potty.

He uses the phrase ‘in there’ quite a bit. I.e. 'Sticky in there.'

He likes to talk about things that have happened before. Like Sarah pulling the towel bar off the wall. “Sarah, ouchie, there,” while pointing to the remains of the towel bar. She didn’t get an ouchie. She had been holding on to the towel bar and jumping while I was in another room. The towel bar and wall got an ouchie.

He’ll often say, ‘thank you’ and hand over whatever he isn’t supposed to have (like a pen).

When he’s done eating he passes his plate to me and says ‘thank you.’

He can also say, “Thank you, meal.” (thank you for the meal).

He cannot say ukulele though. He has called it a piano and song.

Here we are enjoying (?) a canoe time with our family on the May long weekend! We found the lifejacket secondhand and have neither seen the movie Cars or endorse it (I don't really like things with ads on them, but it is a great little life jacket for him :) Thanks Mom K.

2011-06-12T13:12:00.000-07:00

Hi. I am very sick. I am glad it is Sunday. Andy just took the kids to Whiterock. I will lie down again soon. I have been nauseous since Thurs. and got mastitis Fri. afternoon, for which I am now on antibiotics. The doctor said the nauseousness and diarrhea are from a stomach bug - the flu. I think it was a year ago January I was this sick last.
Well, being sick helps you slow down and appreciate the little (or not so little) things in life - your children, other people's children, the sunshine, your husband - and also think about and pray for those who struggle with chronic illnesses or diseases. There is a lady from our church whose husband read a letter about 3 weeks ago saying that her cancer (in throat?) had advanced so much she's been only given less than a month to live. Another man from our church is undergoing radiation treatment.
I'm pretty sure I'll make it through this sickness, but when I'm in it it seems difficult. Walking around is difficult. I have to be careful not to let my stomach get too empty - otherwise my nauseousness increases.
Time to lie down....

february family fun

2011-03-19T21:02:00.000-07:00

Sarah asked me to take a picture of her after she was done a project one day.

Smoothie time. It's good.

The kids and I had a great (but cold) sunny few hours at Mill Lake park one Feb. day.

Enjoying a walk through a wooded patch near Mill Lake.

Sketching at Mill Lake.

At the Orpheum. Great Concert by the VSO.

Dancing with Eva in her living room after a trip to the Orpheum with Mom and Dad for a morning school-kid concert.

Working with iron filings with Great Grandpa at his place.

January pics for you

2011-01-30T07:55:00.000-08:00

Outside the museum one Saturday.

Aquarium.

Snowtime, hen time at Grandad and Grandmas.
Mill Lake time. We did school by the lake one dry day recently.

The backyard was a little muddy and somebody did a faceplant.

Jan.1st morning walk at Mill Lake. So nice.

Jan.1 snuggle.

Sarah's post

2010-12-29T17:30:00.000-08:00

This movie is of me making a sandcastle. ~Sarah

Below you will see a picture of my sandcastle.

This sprout came out of a pumpkin we were cutting up for dinner and we found this sprout inside.

picture post

2010-11-26T06:41:00.000-08:00

Picking Apples at Willow View Farm together. Grandad was hanging out with Jacbo for a while in his car while Andy and I cleaned up after a market day.

Sarah loves to create things. She made this poster in anticipation of a playdate with her cousin.

Jacob's first walk outside without a stroller. Taking a break on the sidewalk. The way our living room was arranged Jacob could crawl up on to the counter. We have now eliminated that possibility. :)

Grandma A. came over for actual Thanksgiving Day and we made a Thankfulness tree. It reads "We give thanks" on the bottom. Two people were thankful for melons because we served some melons from our garden at the end of the meal.

daily life

2010-10-05T22:18:00.000-07:00

Sarah turned six on Sept.19th - some of my family heard the cake story:) We gave her my old bike - a tuned up BMX. She can go faster on this bike cause the wheels are bigger. Here are a few other family life pictures as well.

joyful jacob

2010-10-05T21:47:00.000-07:00

Jacob has been doing a lot of growing up. As you can see, he is very joyful, enjoys buttons and has an incredible smile. At night, after I nurse him, he's been standing up on the bed, finding something to lift and throw and then he drops down, flop, on his tummy and laughs. Then I put him into bed and he falls asleep. That has been the routine the last few nights. He really enjoys standing up on that bed (our queen size on) and flopping down again.
He used that overturned coffee table to get up on the couch today...he is turning out to be quite the climber.
Sarah has been improving in her printing and reading. She also is taking a dance class this year.
Jacob has been practising his walking more and more lately. He really enjoys walking outside, in the backyard...also, when something really catches his attention he gets walking.

Jacob got a little owie on his nose, so that would be a scab on there.

some happy moments

2010-09-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

Jacob models his new swimming suit from Grma K.
Aimee is very happy to be out picking blueberries.

Jacob was so tired, he fell asleep in his highchair. Mom was on the phone and didn't get me out in time, so I fell asleep.

The kids from upstairs helped us make dinner one night while their parents were out.

a few camping pics

2010-08-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

Hi! Just a few pictures from our recent camping trip with my family to Golden Ears Provincial Park.

Strawberries!

2010-06-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

Last week we picked strawberries. The first day Jacob and I went and it took 45 min. to pick 1.78 pounds of berries because it was 1 pm in the afternoon and everything was picked over. Why didn't I go in the morning? I was feeling too tired to safely operate a motor vehicle....
I wanted to get something since I drove all that way - Krause Berry Farm in Aldergrove/Langley.
They told me they'd be opening the next field over the next day and sure enough, there were way more ripe berries there - I was allowed to go look at the fied...So we went and were assigned rows and everthing and we picked till all the good picking was done. We did much better than the day before. Jody and her kids came too, so that was nice Sarah had some people to hang out with when she got tired picking. I've made one batch of jam and have frozen a bunch of berries too.
The second day was actually a little drizzly and we were getting cold hands sometimes. I didn't mind that type of weather in comparison to too much heat and it didn't dampen other people's spirits to come on out for picking.

doctors verdict

2010-05-28T11:19:00.000-07:00

So, Sarah's nigh time cough is a symptom of environmentally triggered asthma (mild) and the doctor has ordered that we get a dehumidifier and also new mattresses for her bunk bed (I got that bunk bed and mattresses when I was 12). The mattresses seem to be in great shape but act as sponges for mold, dust, spores and the like he said.

Last night I was up for over an hour with Sarah. The tea wasn't doing the trick. I read to her out of the BC Health Guide a little cause she wanted to know what I was reading (asthma section). Then later she had bad dreams and I joined her in bed for the rest of the night. I am thankful Jacob has been having a few better sleeps with only one waking again at night.

I cleaned Sarah's window (bit of black mold - yikes) and vacuumed and washed all the sheets and mattress pads yesterday too.

That's all for now.

cleaning up

2010-05-27T06:48:00.000-07:00

So, I've updated my links...I had not been doing a very good job of that so I removed all but my immediate family (can't keep up with all those, sorry) and our farm blog. So, that should be up to date now.

garden getaway

2010-05-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

My aunt and uncle have a cabin right close to one of our gardens and we spent the night there Friday. The pictures are a little out of order but the kids and I really enjoyed the sunset while Andy was out doing things in the evening. The sunset view pic is the view from the front door of the cabin. Sarah really enjoyed the loft.

I've been feeling like I have a newborn again as Jacob is waking up 2-3 times a night for the past few weeks. Sarah has woken up in the middle of the night with a dry cough for the past 3 nights...so I make her tea and sometimes she has a snack. If I'm up early with Jacob we've been running around Mill Lake sometimes.

I think Jacob's issue is burps that I can't manage to get out before he goes to sleep. Cause he wakes up really fast and crying and then burps often when I pick him up or a little later.

I had a great time helping Andy in the garden weeding carrots Sat. morning while Jacob had a stroller nap. I would like to get out there more but we only have one car, limited energy and a lot of stuff that has to be 'kept together' here on the homefront. Many more garden helping opportunities around the corner I know.

cousins from California

2010-05-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

A few of my favorite pics from Josh & Heidi's visit.

Anna & Sarah

2010-05-18T06:23:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I went to the Fraser Valley Curriculum Fair in Old Clayburn Village. While I looked at books etc. Sarah and Anna did some fun things like participate in a mock pioneer classroom, build edible log cabins and get a tour through the museum from a past resident of Clayburn Village. Sarah was very happy to have a cousin along.

My kids

2010-05-11T22:01:00.000-07:00

Jacob and Sarah this morning.

Sarah's post

2010-03-11T15:49:00.000-08:00

Sarah wanted to do a blog post so here one is...no sound on the movies as these were just uploaded today from our old camera.
Picture of cat upstairs.

Sarah has a bucket on her head and she's talking with it on. She's making funny faces it looks like.

This is Sarah crazy dancing. This is really fun to watch because she is crazy dancing in the living room. Nobodies taking the movie. The counter is holding the camera.

some thoughts

2010-03-02T21:34:00.001-08:00

A year ago today Andy was let go of his job at Tulahead. We were brought flowers - 12 magnificent Gerber daisies - from a friend, today, in honor of that date and with wishes on the card that read "to new beginnings, rich relationships and rewarding work". This caused me to think and thank God for how he has led and cared for us this year. There is many 'unknowns' ahead as we launch our market garden, but we can attest to God's provision. Thank you God for good friends and a supportive church too, that we belong to.

I could go on, but Jacob's been waking quite a bit during the night (3 times last night), so I must prepare for night.Just wanted to say that little bit.And this - Sarah's been having a blast playing for hours in the backyard with the kids upstairs.

The pic is from Jan. 7, 2010. :)

Sarah's video post

2009-12-18T13:57:00.000-08:00

No sound on these movies.

Here's a daylight tour of part of our house from Sarah's perspective.

Me at Grandpa Lando with Grandpa and me acting it out.

Sarah's homeschool adventures

2009-12-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

This is me holding up bread on the cutting board. I made it out of my experiement for school (yeast and warm water and sugar). With bruise from falling of the window sill. This is me in the police car on our police field trip.

This is a design. It's made of my pattern blocks. The yellow things are heads and the brown things are hair.

Loads of smiles...

2009-12-17T15:00:00.000-08:00

...Jacob is so responsive now and Sarah enjoys putting on shows for him. We can only find one Christmas CD after our move, so currently Sarah is dancing for Jacob and he is watching and giggling when she dances and uses a little high voice to make fun sounds.

I made bean bags for Sarah the other day (shhh) and Andy is planning on making a hole in a board to make a bean bag toss game. :)

Sarah created an idea for a gift for Jacob... a little cardboard 'book' and a paper baby on a spring pops out when you open the book. She's wanted a jack in the box for years and we think it's so single use that we've never got her one. Now we are making something like this for Jacob. :)

Elimination Communication is going great. I went ahead and bought a Baby Bjorn toliet with the inner part that is removeable, so you don't have to wash the entire toliet. It sits in the living room and I don't have to walk down the hallway every time I think he has to go.

Also, today for the first time, he did a trick. After a nap, I found him in the opposite position from which I had laid him down. His head was where his feet were when I laid him down. Wow...sneaky guy. He has rolled over a few times, but I don't know if they were genuine rolls or if it was more gravity working him down from a propped up arm position I had him in.

thankful

2009-12-10T16:08:00.000-08:00

At Bevan park with the upstairs friends and neighbors, on my birthday, I think this was. :)

Sarah loves hanging out with these kids. We are thankful for this family to share a house with.

2009-11-27T20:10:00.000-08:00

Took this photo maybe beginning of October at a park near our house.

"Cheap stuff"

Hi. Being on a very tight budget at the moment has taken us to the lower priced shampoo and detergents and away from the environmentally unscented stuff. These cheaper soaps have their own hidden cost.

Not meaning to complain, but here are the costs: The shampoo doesn't work very well...leaves me feeling greasy in a day...it's some 2 in 1 ...that could be the problem, but it doesn't say conditioning shampoo on the bottle...just 'strength and fortify, 2 in 1.'

The dishwasher detergent leaves our kitchen and living room (attached) smelling like bleach while it is running.

The new 'mountain rain' laundry soap gives me a bit of a headache (certain hang-to-dry items are in the living room)...hopefully our skin doesn't mind it.

I've been behind on sleep - hard to keep my eyes open at times. I was trying to explain why to Mom A. and it probably has to do with the fact that Sarah has been up the last 2 nights to go to the bathroom and have a snack. Jacob, most nights, sleeps through.

Yummy beet/carrot salad tonight. Shredded beets, carrots plus balsamic and olive oil.

2009-11-21T21:40:00.000-08:00

A few pics my Mom took a few weeks ago when she was over. Well, I took the one with her in it.
Sarah got the bad bruise on her chin from sitting on the window sil (sp?) and jumping onto the couch, but the second time she did it she landed on the floor with her chin. I awoke from a rest with a scream. It's all healed up now.

2009-10-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

First stroller ride a few weeks ago.

2009-10-29T13:56:00.000-07:00

Camping in the Princeton area end of Sept. This lady, Shawn, from Princeton Baptist put on a very thoughful and creative shower for Jacob...what a blessing. She thought of so many neat ideas for the shower. It was a special time.

more random pics

2009-10-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

Long gown from Heidi and Josh... Cozy kids when we went camping end of Sept. in Andy's folk's Boler.

Grma A. and Sarah - two peas in a pod I say.

Sarah's post

2009-10-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the baby smiling in a towel (SA). A picture of doll (SA). Grma Kathy sewed this doll for Cara.

This is Sarah by the apples. We went to an apple farm and Sarah got to ride in the apple wagon (SA). This is on Thanksgiving Sunday.

some pics...from a while back

2009-10-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

Grandma Lillian with Jacob. Her husband was named Jacob (Jake) Abrahams and we named Jacob after him.

Jacob is wearing a peter rabbit sleeper Grandma K. gave him. Sarah wanted this picture because of his open arms.

Feet on cheeks (SA).

Sarah is giving Jacob a hug before bedtime (SA). While we were still living at Grma and Grpa's house.

2009-10-05T16:06:00.000-07:00

This is a family picture (Sarah). This is a picture of Jacob (Sarah).

This is Mommy by the flowers.

Summer pizza dinner at Abrahams. I am in labor...last pregnancy shot of me as well taken that night.

from Sarah

2009-10-05T16:02:00.000-07:00

Sarah wanted to say that she has started homeschooling. For homeschool she does 'Math, learning about letters and when we get more books in about apples we will learn about apples.' (Sarah)

I am starting ballet classes today after we go to Grandma Kathy's house. (Sarah)

2009-10-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

Sarah wanted to put a video our blog today. This is the day Jacob was born.

hello

2009-05-26T22:23:00.001-07:00

Just seeing if I can post pics again...

This shot from Naramata May long weekend vacation with my Dad's side of the family.

Cara

maybe I am...

2009-04-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

...in Hawaii. I got a sunburn today I noticed as I was getting Sarah ready for bed. I cannot believe it.
Crazy. I knew it was warm and we wore hats.
She got a little color on her face and a few more freckles maybe but not a burn like me...welcome to Abbotsford!

we moved yesterday

2009-04-05T18:05:00.000-07:00

Hi. We moved yesterday and it went good...a long day. Sarah to bed at 10:30pm. Steve Schulz, Daryl K. and Dan K. came up with Dan's truck and trailer to load and Don and Thalia helped clean the last day. The day before cleaners included Dan B, Dean and Lillian S. and Heather M. from our church in Princeton.
We had a car load of seedlings on the way home. We had to leave a little pile of things in the garage and Andy needs to go back and clean up some 'farm' stuff like chicken pens and other things that are not totally accessible because of the snow.
We relaxed most of the day today. Sarah and I went to the park and enjoyed T-shirt weather and meeing old and new friends.
More details on yesterday. The trailer was unloaded by Andy's Dad and brother and himself and our stuff stored in the Abraham's place. We are living with my parents now and will have our own phone line hopefully Tues.
I also got hooked up with a "Maternity Group" - 5 doctors and a midwife that share a practice in Abbotsford and Mission. I even have an appointment this coming week. I am also on the wait list (very long lists) for 3 midwives in the area, but don't think I'll get in with them at all.
So, I'll probably have a hospital birth, but that's ok.
Ya, the weather here is like Hawaii compared to Princeton where we had 2 three inch dumps of snow in the last week - so beautiful though.
Sarah was up at 7:15 am today, so she'll be extra ready for bed tonight and she's gotten lots of physical activity too...enjoying a razor scooter on the deck as well as park time.
So, thanks for all your prayers. I think I'm in holiday/recovery mode right now. My Mom is working on removing skateboarding pictures that were modgepodged to the walls of the bedroom that will become ours (Andy and I), so we are sleeping upstairs at the moment and Sarah in the library.
Thanks everyone for your generous help with our move too.
It was a great sunny day yesterday and we took the coquihalla and it was beautiful.
Lots of emotions and adjusting to the fact we left our house and town and place of work for the last three years of course.
I am thankful...I loved the country and now we have some time in the city. We have lots to eat, shelter and clothes and love. I am thankful we are not in a war-torn country and famine is not of concern.
I think of all these things cause it seems our life has been turned upside-down and there is still much that is not certain. But as I listed above there is much to be thankful for. Reminds me of the book I read with Sarah a while back, "City Mouse, Country Mouse."
The thought passed through my mind about the idea of there being a little recovery group for people that have just recently moved from the country to the city :). My conversations here will no longer include chickens and gardening so much...but maybe a little gardening since that is what Andy will be doing.
Andy has a b-day coming up - April 10th...and Carolyn just had a b-day March 28 - happy birthday!
My grandma W. and Andy's friend Bruce are both in the Abb. hospital.
I think that is it for now.
Cara

to abbotsford

2009-03-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

Hello. Thank you for your prayers and comments.
It seems we have a plan now. We will be going to live with my parents. Andy is hoping to work at an organic farm in the valley and do some small-scale market gardening (growing veggies) at his uncles' place.

We had a lovely last day of church here. It was potluck Sunday and they had a cake that said, "We'll miss you," on it as well.

We are having our week of 'lasts' now. We'll go to a few programs this week - Sarah and I and of course a lot of packing still. Andy got the greenhouse down last week and Sarah and I packed her toys (still accessible some of them are). We've been making regular drop offs of recycling and thrift store donations as well.

An encouraging verse I found is from Lamentations 3:55-57 NIV:"I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief."You came near when I called you, and you said, "Do not fear."

right now

2009-03-23T13:46:00.000-07:00

I'm not sleeping. I have lots on my mind. We are moving April 4, and we don't know to where and we don't know what we'll be doing yet to generate an income.Andy has been in Abbotsford since Fri. and he is looking into potential options. It is hard to know exactly how to pack or how to quiet my mind during this time.

The last 2 nights were a write-off. I was thinking about, Sat. night, making sure we were ready for our ride to take us to church Sunday and last night just about everything in the air and all that's happened since early March. I went out on the deck around 1:30 am and enjoyed a very bright starry night. Naps have not gone well either for me, as I hear Sarah and kinda need to in case she needs me.

I've been enjoying more baby's movements and Andy's felt the babe from the outside, but Sarah hasn't...although she's put in her time.

Where do I have our mail forwarded too? So many questions...I keep thinking it'll be interesting looking back on this time. Where do I call to get on a waiting list to get a new midwife?...cause I don't think we're going out Kelowna way, where my midwife is.

Last night I was so tired I felt I might die from tiredness. Ha. I went to bed immedietely after putting Sarah to bed (9 pm) and that didn't even help much cause I was thinking Andy might call so I had one ear open for the phone.

So, I feel a bit of a wreck right now and I don't do well with this sleep deprivation thing. I would appreciate prayers for being patient with Sarah when I feel so on edge from being exhausted and of course prayers for a residence and a job...wisdom for Andy and a calm mind for me.

We are getting some organizing done and Sarah and I have generated a bag each for the thrift store (plus 2 small boxes) and the dump over the last 2 days.

Things are really melting here, snow-wise. I don't know what else to say at the moment. Think it's time for a good cry.

moving somewhere in a month

2009-03-04T18:39:00.000-08:00

So, some of you have heard, we are ending our time here at Camp Tulahead. Andy got a phone call, this past Mon., to tell him that he was being let go. To put it simply, he was told that he is not the 'best fit' for camp at this time. So, that was a shock, this news.

Since then, we've been sharing the news with people, talking about and praying about what could possibly be next and I've been trying to focus on trying to clear my mind via taking my burdens to the Lord in all this in order to sleep. I have been having some sleep issues, anyways, with my bladder anyways (up about 4-5 times a night to go to the bathroom and lots during the day too). I would have to report, the first night since the news was the worst and things have improved a lot with regards to thoughts keeping me up.

Anyway, Andy does not have to work this month. We are to be moved out of our house by April 5, 2009. It is very helpful that he does not have to work because he can search for another job and help pack.

There is much to pack...garden stuff (he began dismantling the greenhouse already) and all the stuff we have in this big house. We've been talking about the need to downsize over the past few years, if we ever move to a smaller place (very likely). We have to figure out what to do with our laying hens. I'd love it if someone would adopt them, so we don't have to kill them. Thankfully, we didn't have any chicks growing in our house yet - Andy cancelled that order yesterday. He had started leek and onion seedlings that he continues to care for becuase we don't know if we can have a garden where we might go to next.I have been doing some filing that was on my list for normal life anyways.

Today, Sarah and Andy went ice fishing. I visited for a bit and saw Sarah catch a little fish. It was so cool seeing him come up out of the hole, flipping and flapping.

We have another midwife appointment on March 10, in Kelowna, which will be my last with these midwives I'm imagining. I am not concerned about who will be my pregnancy care provider or where I will give birth. We had a nice little plan set up re: Kelowna, but even if we have to have a doctor instead of a midwive, I think that would be ok, we'd just need to have more of a 'birth plan' and be ready to communicate what we desired (re:possible interventions).I have been feeling movements of this baby which is super super cool. I hadn't felt Karina move in my last pregnancy. I started feeling this baby's movements at 17-18 weeks. I will be 19 weeks on Friday.

I checked the eggs today and also noticed some of the greenhouse plastic Andy took down was blowing away, so I collected it from the field, including one piece from the creek. We don't want to let random pieces of plastic clog up the creek - no.

Andy and I started "Horton Hears a Who" and that is fun.

We've recieved many encouraging and sympathetic emails from people - thank you for your care and prayers.

Andy recieved some cheesemaking supplies in the mail and he is starting plans for a cheese press. If you learn about how to make cheese you will understand why it costs so much. It is quite the process and it has to age sometimes for months, before it is ready (or at maximum taste).

I hung sheets OUTSIDE on the line today to dry. The snow has melted off the deck, but is still everywhere else. They almost dried.The camp driveway has a patch along the side that is showing grass and there is concrete on the bridge showing (a larger patch).

I went on a nice ski again Saturday and today, to visit the ice fishing time.

Last night I put 2 sweaters on and went out on our porch to look at the stars and talk to God and sing a little. It was a good time. We have lived in such a beautiful place where we drink in so much of God's creation.

Andy has been filling the bird feeder each day. We usually don't fill it that often because they finish the seed in one day. I think he's filling it more because he knows we'll be moving.

Andy told Sarah the news today. I don't know what he said or how she reacted because I wasn't there. She did say, he told me, that she'd like to live in Princeton. I asked what she liked about Princeton and she said, "The playground would be close by." Ah, yes, a close play ground. I know that would loose it's fancy wonderfulness for me, but maybe not for a child eh? I do never get tired of walks out here though.

I am wanting to leave our house nice and clean for camp and the next person/people who will move in. When we moved in here there was no one living in it so we had to clean it ourselves.

We have a lot of flour and meat in the big camp freezers currently and that will have to find a new cold home. Anyone have extra freezer space. It's mainly the meat that will need it.We also have a lot of canning which will be heavy to move. We've alredy been eating more canning.

Sarah and I went to Strong Start on Monday and she made a necklace holder - piece of wood with four nails to hang necklaces off of. She painted it yellow with purple spots. I had a good time talking to another Mom who seems to have a similar lifestyle to us with chickens and a garden. Her little girl, also four and the only child, is learning about baking at a young age, as well.

Oh, I also taught Sunday School on Sunday and had an absolute blast doing it. I was just filling in. I didn't know how many kids would be there, but it went good. There was seven kids, ages 2-4 years. I was thankful a couple Moms stayed because they helped a lot as we had a little bit invovled craft we made and the snack was people shaped biscuits, so kids needed butter and jam spread for them. We read 2 books (on the theme of God making everyone different and special) and also played a game that spontaneously came into my head as I asked the kids if they wanted to play a game next or to read another book. Each kid drew a picture of something they liked to do on a small card. I wrote the words of what it was on the card and collected them. We sat in a circle and when I read and showed the card, whoever also liked to do that thing stood up and jumped up and down. We played the game twice, at their request. The second time the kids each had a couple cards to show.

The craft was a magnet with a felt fabric frame and inside the frame was a fingerprint scene. They kids put their fingerprints on the paper in the middle and then turned them into flowers or whatever they wanted to.

So, Andy and Sarah have had colds and he bought some kleenex the other day that had Vicks something in it. We call it spicy kleenex and I can't stand the smell of it. It bothers Sarah's nose too. I think as you breath the fumes you are supposed to clear up in your nasal passages or something. I think we'll go back to our other kind with the lotion in it.

I have had a grateful attitude for a long time about where we live. I often find myself, while Sarah is sledding down the steep hills, standing on top of the hill (which is a great view) and just thanking God and enjoying what I see.

A lot of things don't make sense to us about this whole turn of events, but I don't want to dwell on it. Andy does feel misunderstood and like his employer never really got to know him, so that is tricky. We are hoping to get away for a few days to think and pray, so that will be a good break.

Feb. update

2009-02-21T20:01:00.000-08:00

I just came back from a wonderful cross country ski on our field. I brought the camera and took pictures too - some even of me, cause I brought the tripod.

So, we went to Abbotoford Jan. 31 and visited people and a Feb.2-5 we went to the BC Camp Association/Fellowship of Christian Camps at Stillwood in the Columbia Village. The Camp Conference was great. I got to help lead worship which was really I really enjoyed. I met two encouraging ladies who also have children in heaven or know someone who does. I also enjoyed music and messages and a workshop on "how to develop a talk" by Sam Rowland.

On the 5th, Andy headed back home, sick, and Sarah and I stayed in Abbotsford for one week visiting with family and a few other people.

We had a "Christmas" gathering with my side of the family because my uncle (Mom's brother) was in town.

I attended the first concert at the new coffeehouse at the House of James - Sheree Plett and This Old Mountain. Had fun dancing with Eva and Elijah.Sarah and I stayed with the Abrahams from Sat. till Thurs.

We witnessed James' baptism on Sunday morning and enjoyed a dinner with his friends for the lunch meal.

I got to visit a friend with a new baby and another friend with her 3 and 5 year old - Joshua and Cherith. Sarah enjoyed doing some art with them.I got lots of resting and naps in and some park-time with Sarah. One day we had funny snow/hail come down on us. We also enjoyed swimming at the local pool. So fun. We'd go swimming probably every week if we had an indoor pool here.

Dad A. drove us back on Thurs. the 12th and stayed one night at our place. Andy was just getting better, only to catch something else on the next Sunday. He is recovering from that once again. The latest thing has attacked his sinuses.

While at the Abrahams house I was impressed with how they keep their kitchen clean. At my parent's it is not the same way. It gets clean but not always within an hour of the last eaten meal. Anyway, being inspired with this mode of cleanliness, I have managed to keep up to my own dishes, here at home, for over a week! I haven't made any meals, save heating up leftovers, but the dishes have been kept up with. It is nice to clean up in 10-15 min. spurts rather than 30-45 min. marathon at the end of a day.Andy and I had a good talk about how I sometimes wish I could do more and he reminded me my primary goal is to take care of myself right now, so that was very encouraging.

Anyway, what else? Sarah and I did contribute a side-dish to dinner tonight. Cabbage Au Gratin...baked grated cabbage and carrots with a rice milk/egg/cheese mixture on top (all ends up getting mixed together).

I took out "Superman, the Movie" from our library and that has been fun to watch. It was filmed in 1978, the year I was born. Slow start, but intersting all the same.

I am singing on worship team tomorrow and it was neat, when I got to the practice Wed., with Sarah, two of her friends from church were there for her to play with, cause their Mom, Leanne, was also on the worship team. Sarah enjoyed following/chasing Graham, the two year old around the church and coloring with Holly (age 5).

We've (Sarah) been doing more sledding and a few days I have brought out a chair to watch Sarah and read a book or journal. Most of the time while she's sledding, I'm marching (walking quickly) around in circles as to get some excercise and also stay close enough to keep an eye on her.

I have been quite tired, still and the adjustment from my great time of rest in Abbotsford and responsibilities here I have noted.

We made it back to Strong Start Mon. and that was fun.

Then yesterday evening we took in the last hockey game of the season, in Princeton. Princeton Posse against the Chase Chiefs. It was great. We stayed for 2 periods and then home. It started at 7pm, so it was a late night for Sarah. Ya, watching the game was intriguing and I really enjoyed it. Sarah seemed captivated as well.

Did I ever tell you that Sarah named our growing baby Bi-Bim-Bop (Korean for "to mix toghter rice - a really tasty dish, by the way)? Bi-Bim-Bop is still growing and making me do so, and I noticed I couldn't get into the hen house very well as the door is wedged part-way shut because of hay or something and my belly was definatetly in the way. The hens enjoy pecking snow off our boots. I love how Sarah talks to them - like I do - and tells me, "They'll move if you put your hands out" or as she is picking up the eggs "Thank you hens" and then showing one egg to one, "Oh, is this your egg?"

I gave Sarah a haircut a few days ago and it was a challenge although the end result I think is nice. She stayed perfectly still, I just had trouble getting all her hair the same length at first. More of her face shows and that is nice.

We did some face painting on one another today. She was a clown and she drew a cherry and a base ball cap on my respective cheeks. Andy got a cherry too. I remember having watercolor pencils growing up, for face painting, and they were a lot of fun. We used brushes today and that worked too.

I think that is it for now. But no, it isn't. I've thought of a few more things that happened while in Abbotsford.

Andy and I went out with Lance and Aimee and Anders to the NAAM - a very old vegetarian and eceletic restaurant in Vancouver. It was lovely and we enjoyed a walk at Jericho beach afterwards. Before that we also went to a farmer's market they buy carrots and apples at.

The next day we had lunch with the Abrahams in celebration of Dad A.'s retirement. He's done work now and we are very happy for him.

Sarah has been enjoying a VHS video from our church library called, "The Donut Man Active-time Songs." She stands in front of the TV and joins in all the actions. They are very meaningful songs, so it's neat to see her singing and acting them out.She told me the other day, "I love the Donut Man" (the video) and she asks to see it daily. We are sticking to every other day for now. :)

We've been enjoying Lance's new albums he gave us as well as a couple he lent us - "This Old Mountain" and "Ordinary Time - Until He Comes."

whoosh whoosh whoosh

2009-01-27T21:36:00.000-08:00

Went to the midwife today and we heard our baby's hearbeat! She couldn't find it right away and started talking about how sometimes they don't hear the heartbeats this early because the baby is nestled or tucked away. Anyway, then we could hear it...not to clearly, but Andy and I and Sarah all heard the 140 beats/minute whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.So cool. I was very thankful we could hear the heartbeat today because we were looking forward to that.

When she was measuring the fundal height she held my hand down there so I too could feel the firmness of the uterus. Cool.

We hadn't met this midwife before and her name is Sharon. There was also a student midwife in with us during the appointment.

We had a tour of the Baby's Inn today too. It's a new house in a new subdivision in "the Mission" part of Kelowna. It's not as decorated as I thought it would be which could be a good thing, but there is some furniture and it is very spacious and clean. They have a full kitchen with plates and cooking stuff. Also, the bedroom people birth in has an empty closet, walk-in shower (and tub in other bathroom), big bed and she's hoping to add another end table and table for the midwives to put their things. in that room as well.In the backyard there is a plum and a cherry tree. You can see them from the bedroom window.We have priority for the time around our due date and I hope to move in there when I'm in labor.

Other things we did in Kelowna include dropping off stuff at the thrift store, picked up containers from a water anaylisis place so Andy can test camp's water, drop an electrical heater off for repair for camp, go out for Japanese food and go shopping at save-on and two health food stores. We also heated up borscht soup in the parking lot of a strip mall for dinner before heading home.

Very tired so it's time to turn in. Thank you God for a safe trip and bare and dry roads on the way home in the dark.

more daily life

2009-01-26T17:18:00.000-08:00

Hello.I forgot to mention these things in my last post:

Andy and Sarah sorted our recycling. In our town (living out of town) you have to sort your own recycling (or maybe everyone in town does too...not sure), colored #2 plastics, glass, tin etc. So, we have boxes in our kitchen closet to do this. Sometimes they get overflowing...sometimes life happens and after our 2nd child died we never got around to sorting the closet. We had friends over and I'd put a sign on the door that says, "Do not open, unless you want to sort our recycling." Sometimes it would be cascading down and out of the closet and I would slam the door shut on it. So, last Sun. Andy started sorting it. Now we have the sorted stuff in the garage and we are taking it in trunk loads to the dump, when it's open and I have energy. Andy has not gone in to town on an open dump day yet. It is nice to have the closet clear again after half a year or so of recycling added up. So fun to recycle now...hmm, which box do I throw this into?

I also got a call last week that I won hockey tickets to our team's home game. I entered a contest in the local paper before Christmas. I picked up the tickets and we won 4 tickets so we'll either go twice as a family or invite another family to join us. Cool.Last week at skating Sarah and I got to see our sopped (made to look cool, industrial like) up Zamboni do it's magic on the ice.

Things from this week: Sarah has been enjoying making bugs out of construction paper. I found a story/craft book that shows how to do this at the library.

Andy has been researching cheese making. He got a book before Christmas and is getting set to order some bacteria starter packs. We're thinking goat's milk cheese I think.

Go to Kelowna tomorrow for the midwife appt.

We had a fellow stay at our house last night...he did a bit of plumbing on the guest cabin at camp today and talked with the building inspector who also came out today. So, that means the guest room got cleaned and organized too and the house tidied.

The upper bathroom is now siliconed and dry so now all our tubs (all 2 of them) have no old unscrubbable black mold showing it's ugly face from the crevasses of peeling silicone. I bought some new tub and tile cleaner (spray bottle, natural stuff) and 2 new scrubby sponges so cleaning is fun with those.

Been having some good naps lately as well as some good sledding times with Sarah.I outgrew my jogging pants and dug through my maternity box to find a nylon pair of athletic pants from my Mom or Dad that I wore when preg. with Sarah and I took to Crowsnest for hiking and such. To bundle up for sledding the other later afternoon I wore my stretch pants, maternity cords, and those spiffy (think 1990s) Brook's athletic pants, 2 sweaters and my down coat, thick socks with my boots...I was much more comfortable and warmer than other times when I have the wind whistling through my jogging pants.Sarah's been enjoying sledding down the field. Near the highway she starts. I stay on the driveway, because I sink down to my knees in the deep snow out there, but Sarah, being only 36 lbs, stays above. We are borrowing a 'snow surfer' sled that is more slippery than the toboggan and she goes down on her stomach.

Speaking of lbs., we are hoping Sarah will be the required 40 lbs by the time our next baby is born, because then the baby can use Sarah's car seat and she'll get a booster seat. We are thrilled that she's gained the weight she lost during her Dec. sickness back. Her little arms have something to them again. If she's not 40lbs, which I think she'll be, we can get another convertible type car seat...and we need to make sure they'll fit in the back of the car too. The babe will be in the middle facing backwards and Sarah next to him/her.

We have a lot on the agenda for tomorrow including seeing a place called the Baby's Inn - a B and B that people from out of town can use for a home birth. Also, the thrift store (to make a big drop), Michael's, couple stops for camp, save-on, health food store.

Today is Chinese new year (we had fortune cookies at Strong Start) and I wish I could cook Chinese food, but we were at the grocery store...I just have never cooked Chinese before, so I don't know where too start...another food to look into.

Andy completed the home-made memory game for Sarah, made with pictures we've taken and they've played it. She loves it. It's called 'Family Memory.'

We had potluck Sunday at church yesterday and Andy made a big potato salad. I was very tired in the evening and my family delivered kisses to me as I laid on the couch...one from Andy, multiples from S., during 1/2 hour.

Sarah's been enjoying drawing on her paper on her easel lately too...especially when I'm napping. It's upstairs in our bedroom right now.

The temperature has plummeted here and it was minus 25 this morning.

The craving for this evening would be Chinese or samosas again...but leftover turkey noodle soup and/or pasta and tomato sauce (that I made:) will have to do.

doing stuff

2009-01-21T10:56:00.000-08:00

Hi. Just thought I'd make a post of what's been happening lately.

It seems Sarah's social needs are increasing and so we've been getting into more of a rhythm of doing stuff in town. This week and last week we did Strong Start Mon. and skating on Wed. (we are going today, skating at the arena again).This Mon. at Strong Start she had a blast and spoke to the teacher during circle time. That was the first time. She gave an idea about what we do in winter. First she told me when I repeated the question and she said, "sledding," then I said, 'tell Pam' and she did. She really enjoyed the actions of the circle time activities too and got into it. Every once in a while she would bump into me, as if she noticed she was being more outgoing, but she had a blast...and it made the teacher's day too. :)

We've been doing more sledding and borrowed a 'snow surfer' from our neighbors. We found the sun at the end of the driveway yesterday and I laid in the sun on the sled while Sarah crawled in the snow and near the fence. Then she used the sled, on her stomach and enjoyed the gentle slope of the field, sledding through tall grass and burr plants that are still sticking out of the snow.

I made dinner last night...kind of went all out I suppose, but I can't remember the last time I made dinner, Andy's been doing it so much. I made wraps (from scratch), sauteed cabbage/onions/garlic/canned tomatoes/chili powder to put in the wraps, maple glazed parsnips with walnuts on top, boiled beets, rice for in the wraps, and we had salsa, beans and grated carrots in their too. Sarah helped me make dinner for over an hour...peeling skin of garlic and onions, putting water in the pot for the beets, putting the beets in the pot, rolling out wraps, grating carrots together until we decided it was too dangerous (no one got hurt) and taking loads of veggie tops and scrapings to the compost bucket for me. She also fetched the onion from the guest room and checked for parsnips. Her Dad brought a new batch from the root cellar just in time.

Andy is working on making a memory game for Sarah out of pictures we took. He's been mounting them lately.

I am pretty tired this morning as the night was rough and Sarah woke up at 6:41am.

It is very sunny again and we are looking forward to going to the BC Camping Conference at Stillwood Camp in early Feb.

I vacuumed yesterday cause the floor was bothering me and also Sarah and I began tackling the silicone in the upstairs tub.

It seems like we may have a few visitors in Feb...3 groups of people have expressed interest in coming. That's good cause we'll get the guest room organized again. It tends to explode every once in a while when someone is looking for something.

We go to see the midwife on Tues., which I'm excited about. Andy has the day off that day which he traded for Sat. so we'll do some shopping too.Sarah continues to give us gifts everyday and we've been enjoying playing Penguin Pick-up (new card game from Abrahams for Christmas).

And James we finished Charlotte's Web already. We were reading it about 2-3 times a day. She really enjoyed it and looked forward to each chapter immensely...and Andy, if he read or overhead me reading could often be found chuckling too.

12 weeks, just about

2009-01-15T10:03:00.000-08:00

So, many of you have heard, we are expecting again. I will be 12 weeks on Fri., tomorrow.

Pregnany so far:

So, I've gone through the extremely tired phase, and easing into being pregnant in terms of what to do with my brain, after having our last pregnancy end at 15 weeks. I have now landed in a excited frame of mind. The major nauseousness I think is behind me, although I still feel nauseous from time to time. Breakfast is very important...eat in the morning. Yeah.

When we first told Sarah she was hesitant and it was just as she was getting better from her Dec. sickness. A few days later she asked me, "Do you think we'll have to do another balloon?" and then the next day, "Do you think we'll have to make another scrapbook?" (both things we did to remember Karina...letting a helium balloon go off into the air at her memorial and making a scrapbook). I told her I we don't know, but I really hope we don't have to do those things and I also explained people make scrapbooks for many reasons...even to celebrate people who are living. We've talked about how we are praying that the baby will be healthy and grow to full newborn size and be born then, so we can meet him/her but that if that doesn't happen, God will continue to take care of us.

Sarah has seemed to be excited and very giggly lately and I wonder how much of that is her excitement about a new sibling. She often says "3 people are dancing" or baking or skating, whatever we are doing, meaning me, her and the baby.
She also loves to put together gifts, almost daily, and now is giving Andy and I some gifts that are 'for the baby' (from her old baby toys and books).

We already had our first midwife appt. on Dec.23rd, making it an epic day of driving to Kelowna for the appointment, then to Abbotsford for Christmas. The midwife was very understanding and showed an appropriate reponse when she heard of our loss...there are a few midwives there, so we'll alternate between two or so of them. We'd never met this midwife before.

I've also gone through a bit of food craving stuff. One craving was samosas, encouraged by Heidi's blog, I think. We've learned how to make them which is wonderful and make them not too spicy so Sarah enjoys them too. I do not enjoy the smell of oil heating up in the cast iron and eating greens I do, but not the full serving I used too. I like mixing them in with other things (kale in spaghetti sauce, for example).
I've had itchy legs too and my bladder is definately smaller (or pushed on or something), making my nightly bathroom trips double from 2 times to 4 times a night.

I'm definately being more cautious and have a few boundaries in place like not pulling Sarah on the tobaggan uphill. Sarah's been enjoying some more adrenaline rush-like runs on the togaggan. We climb up to the top of a hill or snowbank and I send her down. Yesterday we were polar bears and we used the sled for 'the first time,' since we're bears.'

I've trimmed back how long we stay in town too. We were going to two programs a trip, but now it's mainly "Strong Start". I think Sarah enjoys that the most. It's more structured and she's been getting really excited about going lately, including crying one day when I told her it wasn't in the plan to go.

I've been really tired, as I've had trouble sleeping at night...sometimes I can't get comfortable, I'll just lay there awake...and I'll be dizzy sometimes during the day too. Dizziness is what happens to me when I'm too tired.

Anyway, we went ice skating at the arena yesterday and today I need to do some housework as we have a little friend (4 years old) coming for a visit tomorrow...and her Mom and one month old baby brother. The weather forcast said, "freezing fog" here this morning.

Been resting and napping too and some reading too.

I've already grown too, of course, in size and am in some maternity clothes already.

some smiles

2009-01-09T10:26:00.000-08:00

Sarah made me laugh a couple times this morning. I made her a pb sandwhich with lots of honey and as I gave it to her I said, "I may have put too much honey on. It may be too sweet." After she'd been eating for a while she says, "It's not to sweet. In fact, it's just right." Reminded me of this spin-off story from Golilocks (Baby Bear's Chair) that we'd been reading when little bear says something is 'just right.' I love how she used 'in fact' as well. :)

Then she saw me cleaning under the stove burners and said, "Why are you doing that?" and I said, "The stove has to be cleaned every once in a while." And she says, "I need to be cleaned every once in a while too."

The snow has been melting here and that is amazing.We were skating on the lake not more than 3 or 4 days ago and now we can't go on there. We were also able to make a snowman because the snow is more wet. We built him in front of the living room window so we can keep an eye on him or visa versa.

We met a new family at Strong Start yesterday and Sarah had a good time with the four year old in the family, Natasha. The Mom, Nikki, also has a one month old, named Jonah. Sarah had a good time there playing with the other kids and actually talked in front of them to me, so that was neat to see.

back home now

2008-12-31T09:06:00.000-08:00

Hello,We had a good holiday down in Abbotsford. We were there from the 23rd to the 27th.We stayed with Andy's folks and his entire family was sleeping in the house (James in the garage in the bowler trailer) on Christmas Eve. Since there was so much snow many Christmas Eve services were cancelled including the one we planned to go to.

On the 23rd we had just started out on the road, travelled about 5 min. when we caught the edge of the road and spun around and ended up stuck in the snowbank facing the opposite direction from the way were were headed and on the other side of the road too. We were completely stuck and rejoiced when a logging truck came by in about 5 min. and pulled us out. He had a full load too. That was so amazing.

We had a lot of good time with Andy's family and it was really special Josh, Heidi and Tristan were there from California. They had been turned around because of weather the first flight they tried getting here (to Bellingham).

Boxing Day was spent at my Moms and that was nice too...a small intimate gathering with Steve and Courtney, my Moms parents, my parents and Andy, Sarah and I.Carolyn was having her little baby...or working on it, during out gathering.

Since being home we've enjoyed some down-time and also the warmer temperatures. Yes, Naomi, Andy put some plastic on our bathroom window upstairs and it works great.

Today we went to town and Andy did errands for work. Sarah and I picked up mail and went out for coffee. We hardly ever do that. She worked on an activity book she got from Christmas and I was working on some journelling ideas from this book I'm reading and really excited about right now. It is "Shyness Breakthrough: A No-Stress Plan to Help Your Shy Child Warm Up, Open Up, and Join the Fun" by Bernardo Carducci. In the book she talks about how kids often do not grow out of being shy and they need someone who loves and cares about them to guide them through breaking out of being shy so often. She talks about how it is good to not label your child as shy as they may start acting out their label. Also she simply explains that children who expericence shy feelings quite often simply have a longer warming up period then their peers and how you can work with them to shrink that warming up time over time. So, the journelling activities from the book help me to think about what to talk to Sarah about and to solidify what I've read and think how that relates to our situation.

Sarah has been eating a ton since we got back...must be a growth spurt. It almost makes me tired...how much food she needs...preparing it all, but it's ok. Yesterday she sat at the breakfast table eating or waiting for me to make food for her for a full hour... and last night she only got to bed at 9pm cause it took a long time for her tummy to fill up during her snack and I thought she wouldn't need one because we'd had a late dinner during which she ate lots of chicken etc.

Mom A., Sarah has been enjoying the Raffi CD very much and is dancing to it this morning and has me pause it if she needs to get a scarf to wave around or different clothes on. The CD is a compilation of many songs we've heard before (but don't own) and some new ones. Bannaphone is excellent...talks about a bananaular phone :)

a mumble jumble post of a few things in my head

2008-12-16T17:34:00.000-08:00

We lit the advent candles yesterday in lieu of Sunday but didn't read our reading. It's one we have to make four-year old friendly. Sarah spent some time downstairs yesterday on the account that I can't carry her upstairs and Andy wasn't home when we got back from town. It was nice to be downstairs for a bit.
Our Cmas tree is drinking a lot of water. I enjoy watering it. Our house seems difficult to keep warm. The living room and of course upstairs is warm, but the kitchen is cold (putting on the fan helps this too). I often have cold feet even though I'm in fleece slippers, jogging pants (my uniform), sweater. But, once I got up and around doing laundry that helped...movement. Our wood stove is devouring wood. Andy is keeping the box stocked up more. It is minus 25 C this morning. There is ice on the inside bottom of our patio door from humidity on that door. If things warmed up quickly, there would be a puddle on the carpet. Interesting. Andy has some belgium endives growing under the kitchen sink (the place that was the right temperature). The grew the root like a carrot in the summer and now planted the root in wet sand and when it warms up it grows and we can eat in salads and stuff (can braise it a little bit, he says...similar to the inner part of a romaine heart but more blanched).
I have much to do to prepare for Cmas still, and don't know what will happen with that but it was good to do some cards today. Sarah was my chief present wrapper. I miss her playful self. The house is clean as she hasn't played with toys in days. She enjoyed using stickers today that I found in the house for her.
That's all for now. Sarah and I are reading lots of books. She lays in bed and I read.

sick time

2008-12-16T17:28:00.000-08:00

Here's what we've been up to (from emails to family).

Written Dec.13:

Dear family,Please pray for Sarah. She's been sick since the evening of the 11th...throwing up and complaining of stomach pain. We took her to the hospital this evening where they gave her (me serving) a rehydration drink mixed with OJ and also doses of 3 types of drugs (tylenol, motrin and gravol). She perked up considerably during our 2 hour stay at the hospital, as did her blood sugars rise while we were there. We were doing a hospital activity book later on while we were there after reading Bill Peet's "The Caboose Who Got Loose" (thanks James). She is sleeping now and we have a follow-up appt. on Mon. and instructions to bring in another urine sample (they took one tonight).So, please pray for her. She's just been laying in bed for the past 2 days.Thanks.CaraP.S. We just had a dump of snow yesterday, the 12th...about a foot, I'd say. So driving now takes more time too...and it is cold. Mom K., we brought the quilt you made for Sarah to the hospital.

Dec.14:

Stayed home (no church) and Sarah was in bed all day, except for one time on the toliet (her little one I brought to her bed). She was complaining of a hurting tummy in the morning so we gave her the drugs the hospital sent home with us last night. We just didn't want her to throw up again. We read lots of books today and she's had gas (stinky!:) and been eating smooth oatmeal, applesauce and even some pumpkin pie (I think that was supper). Drinking that rehydration drink mixed with applejuice and water too. She had 2 naps today, one small, one big and is sleeping now again for the night hopefully. Last night she was up at 3am for food and drink.We have mastered how to brush teeth while laying down and we are going through a lot of straws. The doctor phoned around lunch to see how she was doing so that was cool. We'll go into town tomorrow to drop of her urine sample and have another doc's appt.I went for a lovely walk today out to the beaver ponds. Nice that that trail is protected by the wind mainly...in the snow (maybe not quite enough to ski in yet)...COLD. Minus 15 C.Thanks for your love and prayers.

Dec.16:

Hello,Here's an update on the last 2 days. Yesterday we went into town in the morning to deliver a urine sample (had to get there by 10am when our lab closes). Then we were supposed to make and have a doc.'s appt. that day so I walked into the clinic to see if they had any openings that morning. Nothing till 3 pm, so back home for a rest. Then back to town (I do not like going in twice in a day...and it was snowy on the road, so I'm taking it easy). Sarah was having trouble walking too, so that's tricky, but she managed. I'm not carrying her anymore, she weighs too much.The doc. said her urine sample had keetones in it, which means her body is in starvation mode and is breaking down fat. Also trace amounts of blood in the urine - could be from the dehydration. He was still waiting for results on knowing the 'culture' of her urine - like if it had bacteria in it. She's not peeing tons, but I think she's not dehydrated anymore. Her color is back, her lips are moist and she is peeing maybe twice a day. The doc. recommended we try and get her to eat more, she needs more nutrients. It's tricky, cause she's often complaining of stomach pain. Anyway, we tried feeding her more last night and she went to bed at 7 pm. I went to bed at 8:30 pm I was so tired. Then as Andy is coming up the stairs at 10:30 pm she barfs as she wakes up and the water sound splashing on the carpet wakes me up. So, it felt like we were back to square one, cause she hadn't barfed since Sat. night. Anyway, back to sleep after much cleaning. Then up at 4 am for a snack and drink and her tummy hurt again. She fell asleep with me holding a bowl under her mouth, on the side. Then today, she still be laying in bed all day, but her color is still good, she had a 2 hour nap and now I hear her singing 'there's a spider on my head' with Raffi, very quietly. We were working on Cmas card together...her drawing pics inside and putting stickers on envelopes and writing her name inside. It's just tricky, cause she's not really into eating, but we think that's what she needs. We've given Tylenol once these last 2 days to help with the pain too.The doctor said her tummy pain is probably from all that throwing up at the start of it all and now it's hungry and all jumbled up (something like that). Her stomach is soft not indicitive of appedicitis, twisted bowl or other things (I think he mentioned). You can pray for me, as my energy is waning. I can't believe she's been sick this long and you can pray specifically that she has a bowl movement, cause if she doesn't today or tomorrow she was recommended to have an abdominal x-ray. We also are bringing in another urine sample on Thurs.Andy had taken on kitchen duties and is doing a really good job at it. We are running low on bread and snacks (baking) though. I made pancakes today...those are good snacks :) Andy shyly asked me for some of my chocolate bar in the cupboard (my secret sister from church gave me an enormous one), after he said days ago he wouldn't ask me about it anymore. Sure, no prob., I said. :)Well, that's all for now. I am trying to trust Jesus and not worry. I am imagining myself sleeping in his big palm under my body when I fall asleep, cause my mind is prone to think/wonder/worry....Thanks for all your prayers and messages back and love, Cara

more dec. stuff

2008-12-11T21:17:00.000-08:00

Here is some of what has been going on. I copied this from an email I sent my mom-in-law with a bit of new stuff on the bottom:

We put up our Cmas tree yesterday and even found a 50 cent tree stand at the thrift store that it is in. We have a full sized tree (our first) so all the ornaments fit. Only Andy could decorate the top. We bought a string of LED lights too. "We put ornaments and lights on it and it's big" (from Sarah.)Sarah and I were at Strong Start yesterday and she enjoyed making pipe-cleaner and bead snowflake and a candy cane and singing Rudoplh the Red-nosed reindeer (with reindeer head-band on) while tapping ryhthm sticks and Jingle bells while jingling bells.We also had gym time and circle time and she was smiling at some of the other kids antics (Jonah jumping as we counted every number up to '10' on the calendar).Sarah's been enjoying the advent calendar you sent last year...usually opening the flap every morning.We have our church's Cmas banquet tomorrow evening.

Thanks for the email about Bonnie's (Andy's cousin) new baby. I showed Sarah the pics and she asked if he is newborn in real life and I said, 'yes, he was born just a few days ago.'We also got to meet the new baby's in our town. Alesha (Jonah's Mom) had another boy. Her and I were due within a week of each other. Also Renee Hartwell had a boy about 3 weeks ago or so. She had a little girl too, who is 2.My friend Alyssa (Faith and Rhema's Mom) and her family are moving to Burnaby at the end of the month, for her husband's new job. We'll miss them, but her folk's are there too. We plan to see them next Thurs. before they leave, at the Family Place.

New stuff not in the email:

We've had to say no to a lot of things this week, but that has been good. It seems all the special things our town has to offer happens in December. We said 'no' to being involved in the elementary school cmas concert, going to a children's play, Songfest, and Cmas craft day at the library. We said 'yes' to going to the Community Band Concert on Monday (actually combined beginners all the way up to community band), ladies cmas night at our church (for me) and hopefully going to our church's cmas banquet tomorrow. Sarah barfed three times this evening, so we'll see. All I could do was pray God would help her get better, hold her hair back and pray she would know Jesus is with her right now. She said, once, in between heaves, "I don't like doing it over and over.' I know. I almost cried. This was the 3rd and last time before bed she barfed. She is sleeping now.

We're still trying to get to our kid's programs (Strong Start or Family Centre) once a week too.

Andy is making pumpkin pie with the last pumpkin and was in the house and Sarah now just barfed 4 times and is back to sleep after I cleaned her up etc. Awh...dry heaves now.

Anyway, sorry to end on such a sour note. Hope you are all well (really).

Dec. so far

2008-12-04T14:45:00.000-08:00

sorry about the format issues...

From Dec.3:
Sarah was sick (sore throat) all yesterday and did a lot of laying around. She even
had an earache at night and today is so much better and seemingly 'normal' with
regards to health.

Last night we brought dinner up for everyone to eat upstairs and she looks at her
plate and throws up on it. After that she seemed to improve. We brought her
mattress into our room so she could be with us and lay down after she threw up and
feel better enough to eat, which she did later...enjoying pickles and shepherd's
pie Andy made.

Andy and I have been making desserts lately. AA - pumpkin pie, apple pie. Me -
apple crisp, which I think I'm single-handly eating.

We are enjoying reading some advent readings from the book "Seeking the Christmas
Lamb" although some of it's for older kids, but Andy does a terrific job reading
slowly and explaining things about what he's reading (from the Bible). So, I think
we'll mainly focus on the Bible readings. Sarah had the idea of drawing about what
we hear while Dad reads, so that'll be cool. We have a book we could use for that.

That' Ladies Cmas night at church was postponed to this Friday, so that should be
nice.

No snow seems so weird and not-Christmasy.

Andy and I are having a tea time tonight to finalize ideas for gifts/etc. for
Christmas. Should be good.

Talked to Mom A. yesterday on the phone. That was nice. All her family will be at
her house for Christmas. James is working at my Dad's bookstore - House of James.
Sometimes I miss working there. I loved working there. I feel connected a bit
reading some books I know they sell there. I'm reading 'Safely Home' by Randy
Alcorn currently. Andy read it a few months ago.

Mom. K., didn't get to tell you how much we are enjoying that hand-me-down fish
shower curtain you gave us. It does let in more light. Sarah and I also enjoy
"Alaska's 12 Days of Summer" book you gave Sarah, yesterday, during sick-time reading.

Written Dec.4:

Yesterday Andy sprained his ankle and when Sarah and I came back from town we discovered him on the couch. He'd stepped down off the tractor on to some rough and
frozen ground. He told me he laid on the ground 6 or 7 minutes and made it back
onto the tractor to drive home.

So, since then, I've retrieved his helmet and chainsaw that he'd left in the woods
before it got dark, chopped wood, started fires, gave the chickens new water (hauling
it from the house) and feed, delievered meals and snacks to Andy upstairs. It was minus 7 this morning. The chicken's water had frozen and they were thristy. I got some collards and kale and carrots from the greenhouse as well.

Sarah had another nap yesterday and today she is doing much better. She is still in
her pjs though but is not very interested in going outside, although we just made a
plan to do that now.

Andy is hobbling around with a walking stick and even put a few logs on the fire. He actually put a bit of weight on his foot just now. We decided we are going to order food in (go pick it up. I don't think anyone delievers out here) tonight...we are all really excited about that. I asked Andy what he wanted in his tea and he said, 'pizza' (funny guy) and that's how we got on the topic of ordering in (out).

We also recieved a package from my Mom. She'd ordered a kettle for us for our anniversary and we are really digging it. Large, beautiful (copper I think) and we've used a couple times right on the woodstove. We also have our ceramic kettle on the woodstove so it boils water throughout the day and let's it into our atmosphere and makes it more humid.

Mom also had included misc. things we'd forgotten at her place in Nov. Thanks. Sarah likes the bib (pink with big dots) too and is excited to have the angel back for the nativity set.

So, to help Andy's foot stay warm I discovered the flexible ice packs we have can sit in boiling water for 5-7 min. and be used as a hot compress....nice. So we have that going on as well.

Story from the other day:
Sarah wanted to have a piggy-back ride down the stairs and I didn't want to give her one, so I said we can hold hands. She says, "We can do this in any season." "Yes we can," I say. Later we hugged and she said something like, "We can also do this in any season." Hugs and hand holding for any season. Sounds good. :)

bits from the past few months

2008-11-26T14:22:00.000-08:00

Sarah and I went to church Sunday on our own cause there was a rental group in and Andy was working. Half way, Sarah says she has to poop and cannot wait. We turn off at a place we've used before, for pee only. I always debate what to do...leave the poop (trying to bury it of course), or pack it out. I opted for the quickest opinion, which was to pack it out. So I bagged it up and while getting up I noticed some of those nasty burr plants - the ones that are the size of peanut m and ms...each burr is that size. We get to church late and go to the bathroom to wash up. I notice my hair is sticking to my sweater and I have 3 or 4 puff ball burrs melding my hair and thick wool sweater together. I had to use a paper towel covered hand to get them out cause these nasty burrs stick to skin too. I later found a few burrs on Sarah too. The highlight of the day was going to the river after the service and tossing a few rocks (SA) on the ice...it's just starting to freeze up. Then a quick climb at the playground and back home for lunch.

Monday, Andy had off so we went to Merritt to swim and shop a bit. I got $40 free groceries from Extra Foods...you know those points that add up...nice.Sarah was enjoying walking the shallow end while paddling with her arms with a look of delight on her face.

Today we got a load of playground chips delivered from Valley Pulp and Sawdust Carriers - my grandpa's business. The driver was Roger, my Dad's cousin. It was good to see him and take a look at the truck. Sarah and I had recently read a book at about long haul tractor trailer trucks. I got to pull the air horn as well.
Sarah got a little gift from via Roger from his wife Rhonda. A hand-sewn very colorful pillow case, a top and a pack of strawberry mentos. Very sweet. I had just been thinking of making her a pillow case, so now I don't have too :)

I was feeling very thankful yesterday. Can't remember all the details but I was feeling thankful while washing dishes.

We have no significant snow yet.

We do have somethings happening soon at our church - like a Ladies Christmas night this Friday. I look forward to this very much. There is a little silent auction, music and baked goods, a simple craft and probably a group carol or something.

I am feeling like Dec. and Christmas is sneaking up on me...as if I've missed a month somewhere. Maybe I did.

October was a tumultous month in that Andy needed to consider and sign a new contract. There were some things in the contract that were significantly different from past years (like the need to word 6 days a week during the summer). Well, there was a lot of communication through email and phone calls and no face to face meetings between him and the camp board and director, during this whole process, so I think there were some misunderstandings. The contract got revised and he signed and we are feeling good about where we at with that now...but October was very weird with not knowing how the whole process was going to end up.

I've done a few house helping outish things (minor renovations) lately. Ever since we've moved in, the half-on silicone in the bathrooms (tubs) has bothered me and Andy said this year if I can get it off, he'll put new stuff on. I did it in two days - scrapping the old stuff off. Sarah helped me. I used some tool they sell for that purpose and a square of acrylic plastic which was harder than the tool and ended up working better. So, the downstairs bathroom is done...we'll get to the upstairs one in a few weeks I hope.

Then I was noticing how murky and dark and unwipable the under the sink area is. So, I cleaned it best I could and laid mac-tack down. There may have once been paint on the shelf but it has worn off, so the wood absorbs some moisture. Anyway, now the mac-tac is down and I can wipe it clean much easier. I also mac-taced my upper cupboard, today, which had my baking supplies in it. I had been having things come crashing down on me lately while trying to retrieve the baking soda bag which was behind this and that...crash. There was all sorts of stuff up there including apricot pits (we used to eat the inner seed in them), pysillium husks we haven't used in ages, birthday candles, food coloring, candles, icing sugar, little bags of vitamins I'd use for trips, sample liquid iron, little bags of fish crackers from my Mom from when we'd visit. So, I sorted through there and we decided to put the mugs and cups there and put some the rarely used items in a not so accessible spot. I mean the pysillium husk was taking up prime real estate. So, I mac-taced the shelf for the mugs and cups too. The mac-tac is white with light green squares on it, really quite pleasant.

I also got a litte square of hallway runner from Irly Bird for catching spills from Sarah's eating area. We have carpet under our table, so I have found the little mat catching spills has helped me calm down a touch during dinner.
Andy and went away for our anniversary early Nov. for 4 nights while Sarah was babysat by both sets of grandparents. We were at Hemlock Mtn. for 3 nights at my aunt and uncle's cabin. Then we spent one night in N. Vancouver. The hotel had a pool and weight room that I could use and the next day we checked out Lynn Canyon. Lovely. The day before that we shopped a bit at MEC. We met my Mom and Aimee and her family (minus Lance) and Sarah at Aimee's and had lunch with them and hung out.
I also had a 30th birthday party with some friends here at our house in Princeton the night before we left for our getaway. I have a friend in town, Alyssa, who shares a birthday with me (same year too) so we both invited friends to my house for an evening. We had 6 ladies come (no kids) and Andy made turkey burgers and fries. Each person brought either a salad or a dessert. I had fun buying a few party supplies like purple and blue napkins and deep purple dessert plates to match and also those number candles to make a '30'. I also made punch with club soda and nice juice. I discovered we had some beeswax candles that matched the napkins so we burned those too. It was a lovely time and many of the ladies stayed till 11:30pm or so.
That's all for now.

The full story of the death of our second child

2008-11-23T21:36:00.000-08:00

I typed this (the following story) shortly after the death of our little girl, who was 15 weeks old. She died on May 23, 2008.
Now I am releasing the story, on the 6 month anniversary of her death. A short 6 month update (including her name) is found at the bottom of this story.
I should WARN PEOPLE that this story contains DETAILS of womanly parts/etc (not sure how to word that) that some may consider TOO MUCH INFORMATION. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. PEACE.

Hello,
I thought some of you may like to know the full story of what happened with our miscarriage. Since I am getting tired of telling it over the phone I thought I'd type it out so there is a starting point from which to talk if we do.

Sarah (my four year old daughter) and I had a big day on Friday. We had been trying to go the Strong Start program at the elementary school and Sarah was very much looking forward to trying out the water and sand stations. We got there and there was a sign on the door that said there was a field trip to Swan Lake, a local lake in our area. So we decided we'd try and join the group. I saw a sign that said 50 meters (or 100m?) to Swan Lake Bird Sanctuary. It had arrows pointed in two directions and I thought it must be a loop trail. Well, we walked down a straightish gravel path for 30 minutes! We had brought no snacks, only water, because the sign at the school said they would provide snacks, but to please bring water. We ended up at a view of the Mill and I knew we were in the wrong place. We had another 1/2 hour ahead of us and Sarah and I were pooping out and hungry. We had made it thus far with her walking on her own and us singing and making up interesting animals (make-believe) to keep our minds off the long walk. I ended up piggy-backing her part way back and then we found the real trail and the kids. We arrived just as the group was packing to leave. We had a little time in the bird blind with binoculars. We also got a ride back to close to our car in the back of the truck. We went out for Quiznos - had a wonderful time. I was enjoying looking beautiful in my maternity clothes and ever showing tummy. Sarah counted (1, 2 - me and baby and 3, her) when we were in the line. Also went to the library and then home. So, that was Friday.

The day before, Thursday, we had spent relaxing, cleaning and taking a walk to the swings. We had a later supper of veggie soup I made but Sarah didn't prefer. That evening I helped Andy in the garden after S. was in bed. We planted squash and then moved the greenhouse covers over them. I was exhausted that evening.

The previous day, Wednesday, was a trip to Kelowna to the midwife. I was still a little nauseous from my Monday sickness where I threw up 2 or 3 times (was the frozen OJ concentrate to blame for food poisoning? I had forgot it in the warm trunk and made it anyway). At the midwife's we heard the baby's heartbeat right away. Elizabeth, the midwife, thought I had a yeast infection so I took some Canestan cream Wed. and Thurs. nights. On Thursday my labia felt bruised, sore, not just itchy. I thought my body didn't like the cream. On Fri. and Thurs. I noticed more discharge and Fri. it was tinged with blood.

After coming home from town on Friday I laid down for a couple hours - very tired. Then started having pain in my lower back and abdominal area around 3 pm. This increased to cramps that would range from every 5 min. to every 2 min. and they wouldn't last very long - 20 seconds sometimes. A call to the nurse line and the midwife and they suggested getting a vaginal swab soon to see if I had an infection. I called when I had mild pain.

Then I called my midwife later because the cramps were getting worse. She said to take 2 extra strength Tylenol and take a bath and tea and go to bed. I did all that. The water was nice relief from the cramps, but the pills didn't do anything.

We actually didn't have any pain pills that were not expired but Andy found some at camp. The cramps/contractions continued every few minutes. Sarah had been put to bed by her Dad at her normal time or a bit later and by this time Andy was in bed too. Sarah was still sleeping in our big closet and was 6 feet away from me and Andy beside me. Through each contraction I breathed and tried to relax and be quiet for my sleeping family. I was feeling kind of weak and I think that was from not eating since dinner and at 11:45pm I remember kind of thinking that I couldn't go on and was really needing some relief. I felt I heard God say it would be over near/at midnight. At 11:50 pm I felt a ‘pop’ in my vagina - something lowering, and then went into the bathroom because I had the urge to pee. As I was just squatting my waters broke and the baby came out. A big splash happened and I called for Andy right away and was noticing the baby was still attached to me (of course). The splash had woken A. up. I had A. bring me the phone and I called the midwife and she told me what to do - to cut the cord near the baby and to try and gently grab what placenta I could. I remember saying to the midwife on the phone that the baby was beautiful and fully formed. Little arms resting on the chest, the legs folded how they are supposed to be. I could see the heart beating through the skin. I had called for the camera too, as I quickly called my Mom to update her. As I adjusted the little leg to get a picture of the toes the baby flinched. He/she was still alive and I was probably cold.

I tried to savor a few moments with the baby and sang something about, "You are with Jesus now." I just kept bleeding and every time I thought I was ready to go to the car I needed to put more padding (cloth square diapers) in. I ended up wearing a pair of old boxers of Andy's with a diaper stuffed in and I tied a yard bag around myself. My jogging pants went over top. I was getting really faint at this time and I had thought originally that I would clean the bathroom before we went because Andy couldn't look at anything he said. No, I was too faint to clean (of course) so we just went. I got myself to the car and shortly after Sarah and Andy came. We didn't tell S. yet...just that Mommy was sick. I was sick when she went to bed too...Andy had put her to bed.

Sarah was a trooper again - upbeat and caring, looking for deer and rocks on the road. I used a wheelchair (A. pushing) to get to the building and felt very faint...like I might die, actually. I had my head hanging between my legs, with the container with the baby on my lap, in a bag. I remember one nurse came to hold the door or just be available and she had her hand over her mouth as we came in. We had called ahead and they said I'd probably go to Penticton. Andy had packed a bag quickly for me - Bible, socks, shirts, extra underwear, and my book I requested.
At the Princeton hospital they did vitals, put an IV in (blood pressure was low) and also checked my vagina. When they checked me vaginally, the blood was fused to hairs and the cloth I had on. Our drive to hospital had been at least 20 minutes. They soaked my vaginal area and the clothes with saline water and it came off easier soon.

When the doctor came they wheeled me to a room with the big light and he got out more placenta...the size of my hand. While I waited in the emergency room, I had still been bleeding - a gush every once in a while. His action of taking the placenta out was quite painful. There were no stirrups on the bed so the nurse held my legs. I talked to her and let her know when I was in pain, via groaning. I talked about how being here reminds me of my grandma because she's been in the hospital lots. I had to use a bed pan a few times which reminded me of her also. So did the nurses trying to find a vein for the IV but not having much success at the beginning (ouch). They called a laboratory worker in to do blood work (getting ready for possible transfusion) also and another IV was put in. This IV was a bigger one, and the doctor froze the site of it’s injection before putting it in. After the placenta was out my bleeding slowed considerably. I was ready for an ambulance ride to Penticton (no lights). It was a pretty relaxing trip and a little cold sometimes. The attendant helped me with lip gloss and heat adjustments and we visited some and I rested some. I remember having a smile on my face as I reflected on my little baby I had just seen...so intricate and amazing and peaceful looking. At 5:45 am we arrived at the ER in Penticton. I remember being wheeled, on the stretcher, through the cool morning air, trying to savor that, because I knew I’d be inside for a while. Once in the ER, I did a lot of waiting and this brought time for reflecting and crying. They left the light off, mostly, so I could relax. My 1st nurse was pregnant so that was weird. Anyway, more blood work, bed pan time (handy things), and way later then, they brought me a commode chair and some towels and water and I got to clean myself. It took at least 20 min. because there was so much blood dried on to my pubic hairs. That end result felt so good. The specialist - gynecologist - that I had I actually knew. I had seen her last summer about fertility issues - wanting to have another child and me not having my period back. She had recommended weaning to start. I had weaned Sarah by Christmas. In January I got my period and Feb. we conceived. I had been planning on writing her a letter to tell her this but I told her face to face, there at the hospital ER. She is a very outgoing, friendly, positive person and I am thankful she was caring for me.

Then someone needed my room so I was moved to the 'cast room'. Now I was waiting for the ultrasound to check for leftover pieces of placenta. The girl next to me was 22 years old and it sounded like she had had an abortion a bit ago and was having complications now. She heard my whole conversation with A. on the portable phone about our baby and what Andy told Sarah etc. This was the first time I spoke with Andy since saying bye at the Princeton hospital. Sarah and Andy had said bye back there at the Princeton hospital...she in his arms. Wow. Back to the present. Around 1:30 pm I was taken up for ultrasound by a kind young married fellow whose wife he said he'd practiced on. He had waited to do the ultrasound because he wanted to confer with the radiologist because he was kind of new at doing ultrasounds. Sounded good I thought. They found a 2 by 2 cm 'something' (blood clot or placenta piece). I was returned to the 'cast room' to wait and I remember that my bed was not pushed far enough into the wall to press my nurse call button. I was hot and my two bags were resting in bed with me. I also had to go to the bathroom. I am good at holding it but it was weird, not being able to call for anyone. The thought did cross my mind that I could call through the curtain to Ashley (the 22 yr. old) and she could use her call button on behalf of me. Eventually a nurse came in and I asked about having help to the bathroom. I went and that was the first time since the whole event that I went in a real toilet. I had help walking on the way in case I got faint. Later Karla, the gynecologist, came in and I was given the option to have a d and c (scrape the inner lining of the uterus with a spoon type thing - a surgery) or have some pills to stimulate my uterus to contract and get out the rest of placenta/blood clot that way. I took the pill option and was admitted to the hospital. The pills were inserted rectally. I asked my nurse if I could have something to eat. Yes. Would you like pb and jam toast? Yes, that would be great. (I was so excited). So I had that with citrus juice (first drink and food since the dinner the night before) and then they put on a liquid diet just in case they needed to do the d & C after all. So, I took note of everything that came out of me when I went to the bathroom - clots - the nurses had me pee in a upside down hat type thing that rested on the toilet. They wanted to be able to see if anything of significance came. On Sun. morning around 10 am, Karla told me that since my bleeding had slowed and some clots came out I could go home. She prescribed some iron for me and I called Andy right away. I had to leave a message and he and Sarah made it there by 2 pm. They worked on moving the chickens from our laundry room out to the barn because they were ready and the stink was getting bad. I remember asking my nurse if I'd get a meal (I meant solid food) and the nurse said,
‘oh yes, till you're discharged, you'll be on the meal plan.' But, sure enough, at lunch I had delivered a liquid lunch. I had helped myself to another pb/jam sandwich and apple and juice from the self-serve gallery (whole wheat bread, spreads, fruit and juice available there for patients) when I got the news I was not having the surgery. But I knew I'd still be hungry at lunch. So after my lunch was delivered I went back to the gallery for some bread to dip in my soup. My nurse was there and she asked if I got my lunch - 'yes, but it's all liquid.' She told me there were some extra trays here and I could help myself to anything I wanted. Wonderful. I grabbed a bowl of fresh raspberries, a tuna sandwich!, and a banana. The fruit went great in my non-dairy vanilla pudding and the tuna sandwich paired up with my 'creamy' broccoli soup for a good lunch to leave the hospital on.

Sarah and Andy stayed at home during my hospital stay and I would phone every once in a while. I was hooked up to an IV until a few hours before my discharge (that was lovely, being disconnected!) so I'd wheel it along wherever I went and if I was unplugged from the wall too long it'd make this ear piercing beep. I was so surprised I slept during my one night there, but I did. I had missed one full night of sleep with the miscarriage and hospital time etc., so I guess I was really ready for night. They turned all the hall lights off and everything. I had a hallway view room. It was odd not seeing outside unless I went for a walk. I was noticing new born babies being wheeled up and down the hallway and also seeing visitors to the new moms and babes. I wasn't jealous but genuinely happy for them and noticed how BIG there babies were. I enjoyed seeing a dad, a girl a year younger then Sarah, a new baby and a Mom leave the hospital too.
Just before 2 pm I was resting in bed and I heard Andy ask for me at the nurse station, which I was close to. That was a wonderful sound. So, up they come walking and Sarah gets a little distressed look in her face when she realizes she forgot the picture she drew for me in the car. It's ok. We all hug and I say I have a few things for Sarah. I knew I couldn't get down to the gift shop with my energy and IV and not knowing how to get back, so I made a paper bag cat puppet with some crayons I found in the TV room. Also, I drew a picture for her on the slip of paper that listed you got for your meal. I also had saved a cranberry juice and she enjoyed drinking it with a straw. Andy had brought a few things for me and I enjoyed getting changed into my own clothes, underwear, and brushing and flossing my teeth. They only had these single use dentifrice- infused pink sponges on a stick to use for brushing...better than nothing that's for sure. In my room there were two ladies in there 70s or 80s. One was in because of diabetes, the other in because her house was robbed or people in her apartment had been stealing from her. She'd get kind of distraught sometimes thinking people had taken things from her in the hospital. We had a good conversation one day, but I remember because she couldn't hear I had to share the details - the fact my baby was 15 weeks and had died - very loudly because she wasn't understanding what I had said. Oh well, the whole room knew then. It was ok. I think this lady may have suffered a bit of from age related memory loss. The other woman, around 35 or 40, had had her gallbladder taken out and was in a lot of pain. There are more stories about my roommates and their visitors but I'll leave it at that for now. One that I’ll add now, in my 6 month edit, is the fact that the lady with the robbed house had a visitor read to hear from the book of Jeremiah and somewhere in chapter 1 it says, ‘when you were in the womb I knew you.’ The lady commented on that verse and said she liked it and I, silently, through the curtain, agreed.

After we left the hospital I picked up some 'good' pads from the health food store (non-chlorine bleached etc.) and Andy dropped me off at London drugs where I got my iron pills and ordered pictures I had on my flash cards and one from our camera of our baby. I knew I wanted it printed and first off had wanted a 3.5 by 5 size, but knew I'd need the employee's help for that smaller size, so I ended up ordering 4 by 6s so I could order more privately. Someone came up behind me as I was ordering and I shot up a little prayer that they wouldn't notice what was on the screen in front of me. The picture was looking kind of gruesome to me with all the blood in the background. We pick the pictures up July 9 when I have my appointment with Karla for some blood work, probably a vaginal swab and 'planning for next time' as she said. She said, come see me in 6 weeks. Classic. That is the time they usually say it takes for a woman's body to recover from childbirth. What a child birth this was.

So now, at home, Sarah and I are working on creating a scrapbook to remember the joy this baby brought through my pregnancy. We have a lot of joyful pictures of our family and memories of excitement and anticipation.

Sarah said she will miss counting the people in our family. She still counts but the number is one less and sometimes we remind her we can still count baby, he/she is in heaven. My Mom, Andy and I have all, separately, talked with Sarah about the baby and about sadness (it's ok to be sad) and she had a time when she cried with Andy about the baby being in heaven and us not meeting him/her when he/she was all the way grown.

Since being home I have been very happy to be alive and be reunited with Andy and Sarah. I have gone through disbelief at this event to some anger and also not knowing what to do with myself as I get more energy. I have noted that if I reflect and journal and read the Bible during the day I have less of a flood of memories to inhibit me from falling asleep.

My parents bought a new sheet set and light down duvet and eggshell mattress foam for our bed. I had been finding our bed uncomfortable and my parents said ‘God is the God of all comfort’ and they thought it'd help to make the bed 'new.' There are lots of memories from my side of the bed and the bathroom. Andy had ended up cleaning the bathroom, which was very sweet of him and my Mom did another clean when she arrived (corners, mirror, tub, 2 more blood spots on the wall). I found myself inspecting the bathroom on arriving home to see if there was any sign left of our baby.

My Mom came out on the Tues. after the Fri. miscarriage and stayed for 10 days. She helped with cleaning, hanging out with Sarah, making special crafts with her and baking up a storm (muffins, cookies, bread) for our freezer.

Since being home I passed 2 pieces of tissue (one walnut sized, one slug sized) which I think was what they saw on the ultrasound.

It is interesting that I still have a bit of a tummy but no baby there. I was thinking about this the first few days especially. I am choosing to not wear my maternity shirts anymore. I had one that was very fitted and I could where it post-pregnancy (wouldn't look odd), but I'm not going to. I wore that shirt on Friday, the day of the miscarriage. I am, however, wearing my maternity jeans still as my other jeans are not fitting.

Currently I find myself very tired in the afternoons and I can sleep like anything during my afternoon nap. I wake up very groggy and am kind of sleepy the rest of the day. Andy and I have divided the bedtime routine and I am keeping up in the kitchen. People from church our bringing meals every other night so this helps tremendously, minimizing dishes and giving more time to Andy for gardening etc. Andy tries to take Sarah for a while in the afternoon. Yesterday he took her to the dump and today outside while he is doing stuff.

I think with my Mom's departure, there is obviously some adjustment and we are finding Sarah to put up more of a fuss (sometimes screaming, yelling) if she doesn't get her way. I think I could spend a bit more time with her too. With Mom here I had more time for processing the whole event. So today I tried spending more time with Sarah, especially in the morning. We had a Sarah-led make-up birthday party for her stuffed animals that lasted for what felt like 45 minutes. We had a snack in between there too. Sarah's favorite snack is cereal at the moment. We don't usually buy cereal but bought some convenience items after this loss. We also had cinnamon buns someone brought us.

So, it is amazing how many people are praying for us. I have been generally upbeat and positive. I'm not that teary. That was mainly at the beginning. We would love continued prayers for my healing and also with having wisdom in raising Sarah at this time. We are talking about having a family (us 3) memorial time at Swan Lake and maybe releasing a biodegradable balloon. I think going back there will be emotional for sure. A beautiful place to remember though.

*********************

So, we did have the memorial on Sept. 23, which was the 4 month anniversary of Karina’s death. We named our little girl Karina Joy. We got a call on Aug.20 from the gynecologist, with the news that the baby was a girl and there was no defect found in her body or the placenta. She measured 13 weeks, although I had been 15 weeks along. So, they found no reason for the miscarriage. The memorial was wonderful and involved us getting a purple (Sarah’s choice) helium balloon and going out to Swan Lake and remembering together, reading scripture together and praying. Then we sang Jesus Loves Me as we let go of the balloon and watched it disappear into the sky. We’d written her name on the balloon and ‘we love you’ and “Feb-May, 23 ‘08”. I felt a sense of peace after that memorial. We gave Sarah a necklace, there at the lake, with some green shells in it, to signify Karina’s birthstone, so she can have a tangible reminder of her sister. We’ve been steadily working on the scrapbook and hope to have it done by Christmas.

In the middle of the summer I had blood work done and they said I had absorbed the iron really well and my blood count was back up to normal.

I’m getting tired now, so that’ s all for tonight. I wanted to post something and finally you are getting ‘my story’ – the full version.

Karina, we miss you and I’ve enjoyed thinking of you and writing in my journal to you this evening.

Our Holiday

2008-10-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

Starting our holiday to Galiano Island.

Seashore treasures.
Sarah collecting things.
Andy measuring crabs.
Sarah slept so well in the tent. 11 or 12 hours each night.

This rusty blob is a small washed up jellyfish. We saw many of these in various sizes. This is a small not very moist one.

I took this pic of Sarah at the closest oceanfront to our campsite (1 min. walk) the first evening we were there.
Sarah caught a flat fish. Being out in the canoe on the ocean was something else. So neat.

More Birthday Fun

2008-09-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

Sarah, Rhema and Faith down at the lake. The yellow sunlight is from haze from a forest fire somewhere.

Sarah and her plum pie.

Crafting and eating at Sarah's b-day. They are making faces whose mouth can change expression with a sliding paper.

2008-09-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

Checking out the hens and turkeys.

2008-09-18T20:09:00.000-07:00

The turkey's are slotted for slaughter early October.

Faith picked a really cool carrot. The girls enjoy the camp swings.

2008-09-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

Sarah's first birthday party with friends

2008-09-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely b-day party (celebrating her 4th b-day which is on the 19th) with Sarah's friend's over yesterday. Faith (6), Rhema (4), Justice (2) and Phoneix (3 months) and their Mom Alyssa over for the day. They came around 11:30 am and the girls made a simple craft and had some healthy shape cookies. Justice was right in there too. Then they played and it was lunch time. We ate in the front yard with the patio table and umbrella up. Andy made lunch. Chicken fingers, homemade fries, steamed brocolli and carrots and some raw veggies as well. Also cut up nectarines. It was fabulous. Alyssa kept saying how nice this was. It was the first time they were at our place so it was pretty special. Sarah also opened her gift from the girls before lunch as well. It was some sticker earrings and $10, to share with our sponsored kids & for Sarah (however we want to divide it) and some tomatoes from their tomato plant. Then back inside for dancing with decoration streamers. Sarah and I had put up red balloons and streamers in the morning and made her plum pie(s). Sarah had the idea of asking her friends in advance what kind of pie they'd like and I told there Mom the fruit options we had and the girls picked a plum pie. They all loved it and had seconds too. We walked to see the turkeys and chickens and also to the lake. It was great. Alyssa helped me clean up after too. Before the kids left we gave them each a birthday bundle which is a cardboard tube wrapped up with tiny gifts inside - small toy, candy, balloon. Sarah really enjoyed putting these together this month. The idea came from a book we got from Grandma Abrahams. The craft came from there too. We'll see if I can get some pics up here sometime.

little camping time...

2008-07-16T22:15:00.000-07:00

Hello,
Just thought I'd give an update on what we've been up to.We have been enjoying camp life, but have not been going to chapel lately. We eat meals, write notes and have a few staff over for a meal now and then.

Sarah is pretty excited about swimming these days and even talks about jumping in from the dock and going off the slide. She was talking about the slide first, but then we said she'd have to get used to jumping off the dock first before the slide should happen. I mean, she doesn't even like to get her face wet and that is definatly going to happen when we jump in, even with life jackets on. So, a few times shyness of the strong afternoon wind at the beach has detered us from actually getting into the water. We end up at the skatepark and she'll try her bike out. It is a little anticlimactic for me, getting all sunscreened up and not going in the water, but it's ok.

Tonight we went for an evening swim, and it was calmer, but there was a little breeze and Sarah kept saying after that we went swimming even when it was windy. And while we were swimming, her clutching the chest of my lifejacket, she is kicking and saying, 'We're swimming, we're swimming.' We'd go from the shore to the aluminum ladder and she'd climb up it. We did that 2 or 3 times. When she was telling Andy about it later, she called it the 'golden ladder' - cool.

So, yesterday evening we took off from our house with some camping gear and camped at a Provincial Park about 1/2 hr. from our house. It is called Kentucky/Alleyne, for the 2 lakes that are in it and we camped near one of the two children's only fishing ponds also between the 2 lakes. On the drive there Sarah fell asleep. We'd brushed her teeth at home. Andy set up the tent with a bit of help from me and when we got S. out of the car she was groggy and we managed to provide a successful potty opportunity and we waved goodnight to the full-looking moon and slipped into the tent. She commented about being hungry and I said we had no snacks in the tent and we all fell asleep - yeah. I heard mice around the tent, searching, for about 10 min., but they found nothing and left. I only had to get up once for the bathroom in the middle of the night, which was nice.

An early morning, some cereal for S. and I and then a walk to warm up, because our campsite was a shady one. It was a nice walk by two ponds and then up past some huge ponderosas and down to our campsite. Then boiled eggs, nuts, bagels and brush teeth and a family walk along Kentucky Lake. Sarah was pretty tired by that point and wanted to rest in the tent. She was looking forward to swimming, but ran out of energy. We didn't bring our fishing gear - not enough time. So, S. and Andy rested in the tent while I enjoyed journalling and reading at the picnic table. Check out of the site was 11am and we got out of there by 11:30am. There were tears from s., as she wanted to stay longer, resting in the tent. Even when I put her to bed tonight she said she really wanted to stay longer and is really interested in a longer camping trip and says she can't wait till our vacation in Sept.

It seems she is really interested in all the exciting things this summer - swimming - even asking to do it when she is tired, bike riding, now camping. She told me at bedtime that she missed seeing the kids at the beach at freetime. We were napping during freetime today. She fell asleep in the car on the way home and then napped more on the couch inside.

I think I had more to say, but I'm feeling rushed a bit before bed, so it will have to come another time. I just wanted to check in and say that I am thankful too, for all the support and prayers we've had in the past little while. Thank you for being used by God, if that last sentence spoke to you.

Oh ya, also had a OBGYN appoint. on July 9. We didn't get any results back from the lab, re: the sex of our baby or if they found a reason for the miscarriage (she'll call us when they do), from that end. No reasons popping up. It was a good appointment and I felt listened too and all my questions got answered. Ask me specifically if you want more details ok?There was a lot of anticipation leading to that day, but it went alright. We also did a lot of shopping in Penticton that day and bought some fruit in Keremeos (cherries, apricots).

nice day - boring title :)

2008-06-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

We did it! Yes, thank you Lord for a wonderful day. I didn't know how it would go but it went great.

The day started with me doing more work on some rhubarb pies that I ended up not having time to bake in the morning before church. Then make some scrambled eggs for breakfast with Mark, Andy and Sarah.

Mark arrived late Fri. night cause of some bad traffic in Van. that day. He helped Andy with some more of the 'to do before campers arrive' list that he's been working on.

Then church. Camp Tulahead staff led the service - the worship and a few spoke of how camp has impacted their lives. Then our pastor shared a message focused towards the staff - about not getting discouraged, or what to do if you start feeling that way.

Then Andy and Mark caught rides back with some staff and Sarah and I went to a friend's house in town - Rhian and Martin. They have 12 year old twins and Martin works at the other camp near Princeton - Rockridge Canyon - as their maintenance/facilities person. Rhian has been working a few days in the office here at Tulahead. They also attend our church. We had a great lunch with them - chilli and veggies, bread and fruit. Sarah loved the cherries and grapes.We then played some with some 'littest pet shop' toys and visited and then time for our church picnic.

I got some money out of the bank for swimming, we had a potty break at Pharmasave and we bought some ice to keep our salad from wilting. I hadn't brought the cooler and Andy had picked the lettuce this morning. I'm including all the details because on a hot day like today (37 degree C) every thing you do seems significant.

We had put on swim suits and sunscreen at Rhian's house, so were ready to get in the pool right away. Rhian's family brought three girls from their neighborhood and the youngest needed an adult to be within arms reach of her at all times in the pool. Rhian and Martin were not planning on swimming, so Becky, the 5 year old, swam with Sarah and I. It worked out good because she was also a little timid of swimming. I said I could watch them if there was always one of them wearing a life jacket. We spent a lot of time on the stairs and then eventually did some 'tours' which involved me having a floating girl in each arm (wearing life jackets) and we'd talk about what we saw in the pool as we went to the other side and back. I'd encourage them to kick and at one point one girl was floating on her back and one on her front in the jackets. We pretended we were turtles on the stairs as the sisters and friend would pop by and say hi and encourage Becky to come further out (but not away from me:). I said they were fish and we were turtles because we weren't swimming in the water all the time. Don't they call beginner swimming classes 'turtles'? I remember in school not getting into the stingray group, I think. I remember taking one 'animal' class twice, cause I wan't ready to move to the next.

At the pool we saw my friend Alesha who is due within a week of when I was due. She is really getting out there (tummy-wise). I got to give her a hug and visit a very tiny bit.
Then it was time for our church picnic which was at the park next to the pool. Most of the people were situated under the shade of a large willow.

Becky didn't have a change of clothes and she was very thristy so we watched her walk to the picnic people and then we went back to change. I felt bad for those girls because they didn't have any parent to make sure they had sun screen on and they were so red and laying on the blankets after the picnic - I'm sure they had sun stroke.

It was very fun having the two girls to swim with and seeing both Becky and Sarah get more into the water in their own ways. Sarah liked making washing machines with me, with our hands and Becky was funny in that she would pretend she didn't like water one moment and sit on the deck of the pool and then she'd say, "I like water" and jump in.

The picnic was nice. A little more hanging around visiting would have been nice, but Sarah wanted me near by the swings to push her or whatever. The times she sat down and ate were the times I got to visit. It was nice overall. They 'remembered us' (they said) and made tofu dogs...nice.

Then home. Before we started driving I put ice cubes into S's waterbottle but they pretty much melted instantly. She was really good about drinking lots of water to stay hydrated. She was quite flushed in her face and I didn't know if she was burned, but once she cooled down at home I could see that the new 30 SPF sunscreen for kids worked well. I used the same kind because I'm suspicious the sunscreen I adopted from camp is out of date.

Anyway, on the way home she spilled on herself and she was wearing a hat and a thin scarf (not winter scarf) over the hat to shield the sun from her shoulders.

Then on our driveway, we saw Mark driving up to leave for home in his van. He had had trouble starting it and if he hadn't we would have missed him. It was very nice to be able to say bye and Sarah answered his questions about the picnic with nods or shakes of her head. He liked that she was finally communicating with her.

Mark had brought some leftovers from a potluck he had with his ESL students and it was a dish from Ethiopia...injera (bread) and amazing spicy sauce with chicken in it and also hard boiled eggs. We had that for lunch Sat.

On Sat. Sarah and I went to the "Racing Days Parade." There were horse races in town that day or the day before. The parade had a few too many loud sounds for her and she enjoyed the art show we went to directly afterward. We both got to vote for our favorite painting.

So then, this evening, I gave her some ice to play with in her little kitchen unit with a sink and some ice to eat. Then we had cold soup with rice cakes for dinner and a great bath to scrub sunscreen off and cool down more. Then fall asleep under a sheet with only underwear on.
She said today felt like an adventure. Definately. She said, "We spent a lot of time together today." Yes. Also, "You definately know about my day, today, because we were with each other lots." She said that just before I talked about her day, which we do every night before bed. I think she must have like being together all day. She mentioned it twice.

We also tried some of Andy's homemade iced tea when we got home and she liked it and said it tasted like juice...I guess that would be the sugar and lemon?

We had a message on the phone that Grandad is coming to stay the night/morning, as he will be star gazing in Manning Park this evening. Sarah asked what we were doing tomorrow and I didn't have anything special to share...now we do. We don't have any bread in the house, but we'll be ok. We have 2 rhubarb pies :)

Campers came today. The first age group - 8-10 yrs. Andy is watering camp or maybe our garden currently and I am thankful for the fan that was installed in our house a week ago approximatly. It is drawing cool air up to the upstairs.

I do need to slow down a bit more, but with increasing energy it is tricky.

Thanks for the great day God and for all the friends in town and those reading about my day here or there. Goodnight.

A few indoor pics

2008-06-26T10:34:00.000-07:00

One evening Sarah was sitting in a box and we were playing ball. We took this pic after that.

A special snack I made for Sarah one night.

Father's Day

2008-06-23T23:05:00.000-07:00

We had a picnic dinner at Allison Lake, 10 min. down the road. We tried to take a family photo and Andy was being goofy...we laughed so hard.
Which one do you like best?

today

2008-06-23T21:18:00.000-07:00

Hello.Things have been busy here with staff training, so I may not be releasing my detailed story for awhile.

I don't have any deep words of reflection about the fact that today is the one month anniversary of our 15 week old 2nd child's death, because I haven't been doing any deep reflecting/writing. We are doing camp right now. I can say that I am thankful for increased energy and when I compare the levels from post hospital to now, it is incredible.

I got to help lead a session on cleaning this evening. It was fun. I had the idea to draw different pictures of the different aspects of the bathrooms that need to be cleaned (sinks, counters, mirros, toliets, walls, heaters...) and Sarah helped me color them. I then had volunteers come up and stand in a line holding their sign and flip it when I was talking about their area. I love teaching and telling people things in interesting ways so this was fun. Then Andy filled in the blanks with where to find all the supplies. We are having breakfast and dinners at camp and that is a good time to talk to people.I made a rhubarb crisp with our own skinny rhubarb a few days ago which was also a lovely highlight, some of the first fruits of our area. Saskatoons are on the bushes and are green.Tired, should call it a night, so I will.

yummy bits

2008-06-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

Hello. Recently things have been really enjoyable:

Sharing my testimony at camp with the staff and worshipping with them. That was yesterday...and today, hearing other's stories. Sarah and I went to church today and I got to stand up and thank people for caring for us during this time through bringing meals, sending cards and cleaning our house. We get another house cleaning this week but said the meals could stop since our garden is picking up and we can eat at camp now.

Salad! Our garden is producing excellent lettuce and spinach. Also some brocolli raab we steam and we had our first brocolli tonight which received a thumbs up from Sarah. I weeded for 1/2 hr. in the garden before dinner. Bye weeds, let the veggies grow. Some were getting quite big...Andy can't keep up with them all.

Just finished "A Deeper Shade of Grace" by Bernadette Keaggy (thanks Denise). Bernadette is the musician Phil's wife. She had 3 pregnancies that ended before the child reached term. Then they had 3 other children later. I am starting Beth Powning's "Shadow Child: An Apprenticeship in Love and Loss". Very well written.

Tomorrow is the one month anniversary of the death of our second child. I am finishing editting the detailed story. I am thankful for being alive and getting more energy as time passes.

Sarah had a swimming lesson in the tub last night. She brought up the idea to do this. She floated on her back with almost totally relaxed head/shoulders and she blew bubbles out her mouth and nose. First try she got water up her nose so we practiced blowing out lots. She was so excited, after I dried her off, she jumped up and down in the hallway about 20 times, clapping her hands and then was asking when we could go to the Princeton swimming pool because, 'now I like floating on my back' and she'd raise her hands and put her head back in the air while saying, "like this, whoop" (like a little sound effect, you know?). We are making a plan although the public swim time are fairly limited...we are talking about our lake, but it is so cold...This is all very exciting for me because she doesn't like water in her face or ears, so I sees this as progress. May have been heavily influenced by the book we read last week many times a day about a chicken who learns how to swim and does blow bubbles in the bathtub. "Olvina Swims" by Grace Lin. I recommend it for people who are a little scared of water/swimming. It's a penguin who teaches her to swim while they are in Hawaii after the annual 'bird convention.' Cute eh?

On a less positive note, I am having trouble sleeping (bladder calls again and again) and my afternoon naps just don't seem long enough.

lay down already :)

2008-06-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

Hi. I'm physically getting better, but now I have the challenge of continuing to listen to my body and stop doing things when I feel tired/dizzy/headachy. And Andy is so busy with camp work right now that it is hard for me to leave a pile of dishes for him to clean up who knows when. We had laundry on the line for 2 days, for example...so, in a few ways I feel it would be nice to have someone here taking care of us again. But, the main thing is that I need to be disciplined to slow down and actually lay down. Andy takes Sarah to work in the afternoon and then I sleep for an hour or so.
We had a date yesterday. There are very few restaurants here in Princeton and out of those few, I can probably say none of them we are excited about going to, so we got pizza and ate it in the car by the river. Sarah was crying when I left her at the babysitters and then she ended up sleeping for an hour while she was there. We had had a big day in town for some appointments as well.

We had visitors today - A Mom I know from town and her 3 boys. two 3 yr. olds (twins and a 5.5 yr. old.) The boys loved our trails, chickens, we showed them our brocolli plants and went to the beach. They all left with wet feet :) They also really enjoyed playing with the Playmobil set in the house. This was the first visit I had from people from town and it was great to see them.

I'm getting a few pictures in the scrapbook and it's neat to see it come together.

Seeing my Mom's camping trip makes me long for an away from home break/vacation, but that will have to wait, as we are heading into our busy season. We watched a kayaking video from the library...one day it would be fun to try that.

So, we appreciate prayers for me to rest when I need and us as camp starts. Staff arrive this evening.

Ever since putting the greenhouse plastic on, Sarah has been afraid of the wind...even if hearing the trees way up above being blown by the wind. So, for our sanity and hers we are avoiding the extremely windy times of day outside and still getting out there, of course, to hopefully get her used to the wind again. I end up wrapping her up, but even the breeze on her face she doesn't like...hmm. We talk about what the wind is good for - keeping the mosquitos away...and I introduced the song with the line, "...and the trees of the fields will clap their hands..." which can only happen with the wind's help. Taking the pinwheel outside has been good too.

Lay down time :)

spring brought joy, summer remembers

2008-06-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

Hi. Well, I'm checking in here. A lot has been happening with us.

I never got around to sharing that I was pregnant. I kinda wanted to tell people more personally, rather than make a blog announcement, but here is the announcement I was working on, but never quite got posted:

May 22, 2008
Hello, It's been a long while. I suppose I have lost my heart for blogging in a way, with spring (equals lots going on with garden, camp prep, chickens (chicks growing in the house - 50 of them). Anyway, the big news that I wanted to share is that there is a little one growing in me. I am pregnant and we heard our second child's heartbeat yesterday when we visited our midwife. The heartbeat was picked up right away on the doppler because I am already 15 weeks along. We are so thrilled and thankful to be on the journey again to having another child.

June 13, 2008
So, we were due mid-November and looking forward to cozying up in the late fall and winter while getting to know the new member in our family.
But our little one's life has already ended, here on earth. On Fri. May 23rd I miscarried our 15 week baby at home. The doctor in Princeton stablized me and then I took an ambulance (no lights) to Penticton.

From an email sent probably the week of May 26th:
"I got back from Penticon hospital Sun. (May 25) and am pretty low energy because I lost a lot of blood. The doctor said if I take it easy for 2 months I will probably be feeling my old self again.
We are grieving yet are so thankful for the amount of joy this baby has brought to our family during my pregnancy. Sarah loved counting all the people in our family including our baby, as she'd point to my stomach.

So, I am resting a lot. My Mom has been up for over a week and has been a super big help with cleaning and baking etc."

June 13, 2008
Latest physical things are a few short headaches and some dizziness. I usually get these when I'm too tired, even prior to this sad event.
We are working on a scrapbook - Sarah and I - to remember the joy brought to our family during this pregnancy.

People from our church are bringing us meals every other night and today, well, read below.

I am steadily increasing in strength, for which I am very grateful. I contrast that with the fact that I thought I might die, when we arrived at the Princeton hospital, directly after loosing our baby. Our baby's body is in for testing to see if they can determine any reason for the miscarriage from that, like abnormal chromosomes. I was in my 2nd trimester and miscarriages in the 2nd trimester are fairly rare, so this was a shock to us and others. More details may be coming in the future...Andy and I will confer. Now I will move on to a little story/reflection from today.

June 13, 2008
Thankful today. The pastor's wife, Shawn, and daughter, Bethany came today and cleaned for 2.5 hrs. Bathrooms, kitchen, vacuuming, even the fridge, which had been bothering me.

Tonight as we were getting ready for bed Sarah was arranging her dolls in the cradle we just moved upstairs from being situated downstairs for some time. She helped Isabelle go pee on the training toliet we still have kicking around because I'm hoping to locate the missing piece and give it to the thrift store (it leaks, so I'm not saving it or passing it on to Aimee). So Isabelle got tucked in with a purple satin blanket and Elsie got propped up at the end of the cradle because, 'she's still having her snack.' Isabelle was wearing a newborn shirt my Mom had sent up for our anticipated November baby. Then the dolls got eye covers too. I sleep with an eye cover, for darkness, so Sarah's dolls all get them too. Then she gave them each a toy to sleep with. Isabelle got two toys. The flying squirrel was found and given to Elsie. 'See,' Sarah says, 'weee,' while making the squirrel fly. And then, "I can even wipe my face," and she makes the arms (it's a pupet) move the hands to wipe the squirrel's face. I was sitting on the edge of the bed watching her the whole time and I said, "You know what Sarah?" "What?" "If we have another baby I know that you are going to be a wonderful sister." "Why?" "Because you are so gentle and kind to your dolls and you like to show them things that are interesting." "If we have another baby I could bring this talking bunny and show how it can go like this," she says as she holds the bunny up by the ears with one hand. I got tears in my eyes. The conversation probably went a little bit differently, but that is the gist of it. We are hopeful and resting in Jesus care.

A prayer item is for us as parents, because since my Mom left, we've been dealing with outbursts of crying and sometimes screaming when Sarah doesn't get her way with a few things. We had a conflict and resolution time today which involved all three of us and for that time I am thankful. We've had lots of practical life situations to talk about obeying and apologies and how throats become sore after screaming. I know a few are praying re: this already, so thanks.

Another 'Sarah note' is that she has become more sensitive to how other's are feeling. She always says, "I hope you have a good rest" as I'm laying down and she asks how my rest was after.
One day she decided to come give me a hug before she went downstairs after I apologized for saying her name too loudly. I said I was sorry and she paused and then said, 'I'll give you a hug.' Then she came over and we hugged. It was beautiful.

Thanks for listening. We know a lot of people are praying for us and if God has been leading you to do this, thank you for being used by Him. We truly are in Jesus' hands, just like our little one is, but in such a different way it seems.

To see pics from my Mom's visit to go www.consideringlilies.blogspot.com/

**************************

Computer advice?
Inexplicably, a month or so ago, we've not been able to open any webpages with Firefox. We had to load I.Explorer again, so we can use the internet, but now I can't post pics on my blogs with this set up. Any one have any ideas? thanks.

this is how we plant the seeds

2008-04-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

Sat. Wonderful day. Sarah and Andy planted some peas. I love the action hoeing shot...got some great video of this too.

2008-04-29T10:46:00.001-07:00

Sarah in the dress Grandma Kathy sent and a picture she made this morning.
From Sarah

2008-04-02T19:23:00.000-07:00

Sarah and I hiked the the tree houses the other day because we can now. We don't sink in the snow. She's holding up part of the picnic (snack) we packed - easter chocolate egg.
On Sunday after church we drove to the other end of the lake to see how much ice has melted. Sarah is doing a 'trick' on the dock. Fun. She really enjoyed discovering these 'new' old shoes (white ones in 'trick' picture) in the closet too and wore them for the first time to church.

melting snow, bring out the sand toys

2008-03-01T07:40:00.001-08:00

Sarah helped me pick which pictures to post here.

One evening Sarah wanted us to have a party and part of the party was backpacking.
Also, every day, someone at our house has a birthday. Sarah gathers up some toys and puts them in a little bag, makes a card and sings happy birthday and says, "Here," while handing one of us the present. Then we open it and thank her and life continues on.

She's been also into planning parties. Yesterday the after dinner party consisted of read a story with Mom, who was too sick to to anything else, and dance and color with Dad.

Two days ago we were outside for a long time. We took our last GT Sno Racer ride and found some sand near the Skinner's garage for playing in and had our snack outside also, watching chickadees dart about. More birds are here and huge chunks of snow are sliding off our roof. One chunk slid off and busted an old support for a walkway to our porch off and it made a crack in the basement window.

Ya, our 'sickness season' this week, started with Sarah sick and then Andy (had to take 2 days off) and ended with me. So, our plans to visit Harnett's in Kelowna this weekend have to be postponed.

Here's some stuff I typed a few days ago...kind of like 'winter's almost over reflections' kind of idea.

Andy and I have joined a small group at our church and we are watching the H2O video series. It is a good opportunity to get to know people better from our church and have a night out while Sarah is babysat.

We tried out the swimming pool in Merritt (a few weeks ago) and highly recommend it for young families. The kids pool is extremely warm and fun. They have a 'lazy river' that has moving water you can walk against for float along with. We also had a picnic that day as the weather was great. We also got to redeem some PC point at the Extra Foods and walked away with $40 free groceries. Nice.

We had a few sets of friends visit and that's always nice.
Sarah has been having fun trying out the Skinner's GT Sno Racer and enjoys it.
We also have an extremely friendly cat, which we named Sally, hanging around. We are planning on taking her to the SPCA though, when we go to Kelowna this weekend (not happening, we are recovering from sickness). She's ok to have around now, but another cat digging in the garden in the summer is not appreciated. Sarah has enjoyed the cat a lot and I think I'm getting attached too. HHmmm. Andy reinstalled the cat door on his shop door and we've been feeding it because it was (Andy said) getting thinner and thinner.

We've had few visits at the Skinners - Sarah and I - and they are busy preparing craft ideas for this summer.

On his off-time, Andy has been building a greenhouse for our personal use. We brought back some of the arches for this on our car in Feb. Our hope is to be able to have some fall crops next year. We are having to buy produce from the grocery store right now because our root crops and cabbage and carrots that were stored in the root cellar are almost gone.

Winter has been a nice relaxing, more family time. We have enjoyed eating our canned jams and fruit and I've also gotten into cross country skiing on the field again.

I updated the camp blog a few days ago.

2008-02-29T17:03:00.000-08:00

Family picture from our picnic/swimming/shopping afternoon day in Merritt. Sarah and her new haircut and drawing. The person on the left has such crazy hair because it is 'a windy day.'

2008-02-13T12:36:00.001-08:00

The Engler family visited us at the beginning of Feb. We took a walk out to the lake and the kids did some potato stamping. Good times.

sally the snow woman

2008-02-13T09:37:00.000-08:00

Saturday...we had lots of wet snow so we built Sally the snow woman or girl outside the office and shop. Andy came out with a dowel nose and eyes for us. He was working on our greenhouse in the shop.

yesterday

2008-02-13T08:43:00.000-08:00

Sarah enjoying one of the last kiwi's sent home with us from Grandad and Grandma's tree. We so enjoyed them. Thank you. Sarah loved them. I'd peel and cut them up and she'd eat them with a fork very quickly. She had one a day. She is sitting outside the craft building at camp here.
We've had a very friendly cat hanging around here for the last 3 weeks. Sarah named him Sally. We are still deciding what to do with him/her. Anyone want a cat? Sally really likes us Sarah says. She rubs her body against ours when we come outside and follows us to our door when we go in.
We went all over yesterday, including down to camp for a 'fantastic winter show' that we put on at the campfire pit. I did some dancing and singing and a lesson on how to build a snowman and it kept falling apart which sent Sarah into great giggles. Then she sang some songs - This Old Man and ABC. You can see the snowman and Sarah in the picture.

some goofiness

2008-01-22T10:31:00.001-08:00

Sarah last night.
I put the underwear on her head for underwear head - she thought that was very funny.
Then, hiding in the clothes hanging above her bed. She has her underwear in her hand now.

2008-01-22T09:06:00.001-08:00

We've been having fun in the snow.
We visited Mr. Dottie the snowman yesterday, who has changed a lot since we made him.

The pic in the doorway is us after having come in one evening after a few 'ridge walks' - walking the ridges of the snow 'mountains' Andy makes when plowing the roads. So fun.
Then yesterday we took the beachball out for a spin.
Yes, ball fun in the snow. Keeps us moving and warm. It was minus 21 this morning and yesterday morn.

one tired day we took some photos

2008-01-22T08:17:00.000-08:00

'so sweet' and Sarah's surprised look. We looked at this picture after we took it and she said, ''is that my surprised look?" Yes. Then we took a bunch more 'surprised' pics. :)

2008-01-19T08:39:00.000-08:00

Andy and Grandad and I played a game of Hi-Ho-Cherry-O with Sarah while he was over.
She was absoultely delighted that all of us played.
When her and I play now she points to the other trees and says, "If Grandad and Daddy were playing we'd use those trees too."
Last year we used an umbrella when it was snowy cause S. was sensitive to the snow on her face. She wanted to try it out again this year.

2008-01-16T13:52:00.000-08:00

Last week I pulled Sarah on the tobaggon while I was on my cross country skis. We tried part of my usual solo path on the field. It went pretty good, but she was kinda cold. I wrapped my scarf (thanks Mom A) around her and she was complaining of tumbleweeds hitting her. Sure enough, the scarf was full of tiny burrs which I have yet to pick out.
We pretended we were a train. It was fun even though it was short lived. She's not been much in the mood to go outside lately, but we did for a bit today. The days seem long when you're in all day.
Tomorrow we go to town and she's babysat for 3 hours while Andy and I go to a Food 4 All food security meeting. Two guest speakers speaking on healthy harvest boxes and community gardens in Penticton.

winter visits...

2008-01-15T12:48:00.001-08:00

...with Walden and Sara from Abbotsford and Grandad, reading, "Alfie's Feet." We are looking at the snow covered garden with Walden and Sara.

Daryl and Teresa came up for a night also. It's been nice to connect with people in our own home - friends and family from the valley.

our christmas at home

2008-01-15T12:10:00.000-08:00

2007-12-17T07:56:00.000-08:00

Andy took the close up shot. I think she must have something in her mouth. We found the tobaggan and it works WAY better than the orange sled.

2007-12-16T10:00:00.000-08:00

“For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made us understand that this light is the brightness of the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ…but this precious treasure – this light and power that now shine within us – is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God is not our own.”

~Paul, in 2 Corinthians 4:6-7, New Living Translation

really

2007-12-15T21:17:00.000-08:00

I wrote this on Wed. before supper:

When they asked who is a grinch at church a few Sunday's ago I raised my hand. I have started, in the last few years, to dislike Christmas, or at least some of what

leads up to it. I think it is the increase of things that seemingly have to be done. When getting through each day can be a struggle adding to that can be overwhelming.

I didn't want to get a tree this year, but post verses about Jesus everywhere. We did decide to get a tree. Andy did bring in a tree from our forest and we decided only ornaments that relate to the Christmas story and people ornaments would go on our 3 foot tree.

We also made Cmas cards in early Nov. (yet to be written in) and have stayed on our program of not buying gifts in the traditional sense of ‘buying gifts’.

I wrote this big letter to our families on Nov.1st, about gifts and accumulation etc., but Andy wanted to add to it and found it such a big issue in his head etc. that he didn't have energy to put towards it to add his two bits. He has had to put a lot of energy towards

working things out with work details since his boss, Carol, has been off since early Oct. Anyway, I'll include some of my letter for those of those who care to read it (below).

I had a Tupperware fundraising party for camp on Tues. night. It was fun to have all these people to the house (6) which is so unique for us. Andy helped make yummy food - we served quiche and stuffed potatoes, beet cabbage carrot salad and pasta salad and mini poppy seed muffins and mini shape sugar cookies with mint-choc.icing. We raised about $150 for camp so far!

Today we went to town and had tea with the pastor's wife and to the Family Place for lunch. We didn't get there last week, so it was nice to be there again.

Ya, with my grinchiness, I think it mainly comes from lack of energy and maybe all the commercial hoop-la that comes. Living out here, though, is a good place to be to avoid it.

I did attend the main Christmas 'production' that our town holds on Dec.5. It is called 'Songfest' and any group can come and perform a song, from the community. My favorite was a cowboy and a lady who shared a poem and song about what a cowboy Christmas would be like. Here are some things I remember from the poem “…his (the cowboy) Cmas trees are the snow covered trees around him. In the morning he tosses some snow and coffee grounds into a pot for coffee and spends the day chopping holes in the ice so the cattle have something to drink. He watches for early calves being born so they don't freeze before they get to stand. He wouldn't trade it for anything and he feels closest to God there in the wilderness.”

The other night a week ago, I said to Andy, "Maybe we should just do what everyone else does - just give into it all and go along with everything - spend a ton of money of everyone...blah blah blah." I guess it can sometimes feel we are swimming so much against the flow.

I was quite depressed there for awhile and have been feeling much better ever since that ladies nite at our church (tonight I’m having another down time). I played a song I wrote, Mom, that doesn't really have a title, but it could be called, ‘Jesus’.

I have noticed that it has been hard on me living here with being so far out of town. We try to make it into town 2 times a week for social-ness for Sarah and I. I don't have much to say re: that - I'm tired.

I miss going to the rec. centre and exercising with others.

Sometimes when Sarah is having her bedtime snack (read meal, it is large these days) I sing her a song about her day. She loves it. I'm trying to keep my calluses on my fingers since early Dec.

Excerpts from the letter I referred to earlier:

This year...I ...yet again, been thinking about Christmas and the amount of purchasing that happens at this time of year. We love celebrating Jesus' birth and we recognize that

part of that celebrating, here in Canada, North America, is giving gifts....

When I think of my house and what it contains, I think of the vast amount of resources with which to make, create, re-gift (:), and bake...

...we are not too excited about the impact (on the environment, on people's time, energy usage) of other's buying gifts for us.

I have been extremely encouraged by the www.buynothingchristmas.com website. We actually know (have met, talked with) many of the people who created this website - some Canadian Mennonites no less. There is a great host of ideas for giving out of what you have.

... want to challenge one to think of the impact of that action - environmentally (did you know wrapping paper cannot be recycled due to the high ink content? This was shocking to me, what kind of impact was made when the item was produced/manufactured), and where the money could have been given too instead....

So, part of the reason in bringing this up, is to address that question and perhaps free people up of spending money to release more relationship/connection through homemade gifts or even simply something they have written.

Here are some gift ideas I came up with:

-a picture and words about what you appreciate about the other person

-a spiritual discovery you had one day along with a scripture

-a family scrapbook into which everyone contributed a page about God’s role in their life/something encouraging he taught them…(could be compiled as a family activity)

-a funny story about something that happened to you

-a 'devotion' you wrote yourself

-an explanation of what you did with the time that would have been spent at the mall looking for a gift for us (I laid down and listened to music, I slept, I read an advent book, I prayed for...)

-Give a little treat to an employee at the mall (edible perhaps, but probably store bought so they wouldn't not be suspicious).

-wrap gifts using Christmas advertising paper/flyers. They are very colorful, seasonally themed  and recyclable.

Some say 'homemade' Christmas' take more time. They can, but they don't have to. I would be THRILLED if someone, in my name for Christmas, took the time they would have at the mall and reflected, spent some of it writing even a note to me. That would be encouraging....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think that’s it for now. I am feeling (feelings – those crazy things) lonely, very tired (I think maybe I shouldn’t mention that - like say if I don’t mention energy levels you can assume I’m tired.) like not wanting to clean the kitchen, like I cannot stop, like I have no motivation to exercise, like I am avoiding God and delving into my going going goingness…kind of. Last night was nice in that we had invited some people over for supper and they forgot to come, so we had a relaxing evening in our clean house.) I’ve typed too long now and ‘wrecked’ my arm.

I don’t want to write in my Christmas cards – and we are giving them just to immediate family. Sarah needs a sweater on, the fire needs wood, Raffi is singing, Andy is coming home soon.

This I wrote this on Thurs. or Fri..:

Hi.

I wrote that yesterday and now reading it I can see I must have been bitter and not feeling that great. Today I feel like my head is back on my shoulders and I can see things more clearly. Sarah was a little sick (hacky cough) and I cleared the ice on the lake again (Andy did first time) for skating this evening and had a bit of skating time before supper. Most of my 1.5 hrs. outside was shoveling. It was nice.

Yah, feeling much better today. Sarah napped for almost 2 hours this afternoon. Probably cause she is sick and was up at 6:30 am this morn.

I don’t feel so much like a grinch this evening. Still enjoying the clean house and the little lights on our Christmas tree. They are the second set, as the first set burnt out. Sarah and I have been enjoying reading a book the talks about how other people around the world celebrate Christmas.

Have you people taken a look at my camp posts I did a while back? I don’t really know if people read that blog, as I get little to no comments but I try to stick with it semi-regularly.

~Contemplated not posting all that, but hey, you all experience real raw not-everything- is-great life, so there is a slice of mine :)

Written today (Sat.):

Ya, just thought I’d share some writings from a ‘blah’ time. Today (Sat.) I went skating again and we were all down at the lake. We did a parade (walking in a line) on the lake too.

here's the snow pics

2007-12-04T12:34:00.000-08:00

All these pictures were from last week, except the snowman (Mr. Dottie) we built TODAY. The one of Sarah by our garage is her looking at the first deeper snow and trying it out slowly. One day off Andy had, we went down to the lake for ice skating. He is carrying the skates etc.

2007-12-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

This is me coming back after getting produce from our root cellar (the old pump/well area underground at camp). This picture also is not recent (no snow), but from mid-Nov.

nov. birthday

2007-12-04T08:42:00.000-08:00

This is my birthday party at home, after our Abbotsford trip.
Andy made homemade chicken burgers with our chicken! The pickles Andy and Sarah canned are on the burger as well, also our his homemade ketchup and some fried leeks we grew. It was good. Sarah and Andy also made a chocolate cake and homemade sherbet with our egg whites and frozen fruit from summer.

2007-12-03T20:08:00.001-08:00

Hello.
This is going to be our Christmas tree. Andy cut it down today and it's becoming more dry in the laundry room currently.
We've had a dump of snow and today Andy was using the snow blower in order for us to make it out the driveway and into town. The tractor's tire is being replaced.
I sang a song at our church's ladies night on Friday. That was a nice night. We had a silent auction to raise money for sending a gift to missionaries our church supports.
Also, we got a new 'secret sister' whom we are to encourage and pray for this year.
I was given a poinsetta for helping out and that was cool cause I was thinking it'd be neat to have one this year.
A lot of our Christmas preparations are done, which is really nice. We've started some advent things - candle, reading through a book, pulled out our 2 nativity scenes - the stuffed one I made to play with and our breakable one. Mary was upstairs last night in Sarah's room.
I don't think I mentioned on here that Sarah's sleeping in our walk-in closet. We closed off her big room in early Oct. to save on heating costs and the what heating costs our environment as well. We hung a curtain in the doorway and she sleeps under our hanging clothes and her boxes of clothes are at her feet. It's been working out very well - it's kind of cozy all being so close together. She woke up the night Andy babysat wet (we've been trying a few nights sleeping in underwear). She'd had lots of tea before bed and not much to eat he said. Then we were up at 6 am. "I'm hungry" she says, so we eat and go back to sleep again.
Oh yes. I'm feeling better in spirit. The bright snow is nice.
"One day I would like to make sausage." is the quote of the evening from Andy.
Sarah has been enjoying dancing and hanging things and reading book outloud that we've read in the past. Today we had wraps - we hadn't had those in a while. That was nice.

2007-12-03T11:16:00.000-08:00

Mark and Jack grinding grains for pancakes and Jack and Sarah mixing cookie dough.
Jack is Mark's nephew.
They visited with Anne, Mark's sister, in Oct. as well.

Oct.

2007-12-03T10:37:00.000-08:00

On our way home from Abb. in Oct., we stopped at the most beautiful pull-out, getting closer to the top of the hill before coming down into Princeton.

Visit with Shannon

2007-12-03T10:00:00.000-08:00

A few photos from my Oct. visit with Shannon. The view from their condo balcony - the Three Sisters, Canmore, AB.

2007-11-27T13:28:00.000-08:00

Hello.
It snowed last night - our first real snow...interesting how I was alerted to it, was my mom calling me and telling me it was snowing in Abbotsford as well.
So, this morning, we went to the lake and I went ICE SKATING. So fun. Andy shovelled the snow off and Sarah watched and went on part of the snow covered ice.
I just came through another bout of insomnia (or is it still here?) which has an incredible impact on my daytime functioning. The new thing is that Sarah has slept 11 hours through the night the last 3 nights instead of her 3:30 am wake up in the middle of the night. But now, she wakes up in a 'bad mood' instead of her chipper self. I think she didn't get enough sleep each night, but this is life right now. I mentioned to my chiropractor that Sarah wasn't sleeping through and she said to check her spine (near it) for tight spots (knots) and I did and pressed on some and since that she's been sleeping (related?).
Well, who knows when I'll blog again, but I do have a lot of pictures to share. Just one for now, I'm on the way to the chiropractor.
This is Sarah tired in the snow (from last week). She says she loves it and would sometimes crawl in it etc. "Let's boo-ssshhh-k in the sun for fun" she says and then crawls and lays and squirms in it. Boosshhk is must mean go funny and squirm around, eh?
The picture didn't work out --- another time. sorry.
The picture has been added!

in Princeton

2007-11-06T10:47:00.000-08:00

One fall day in Princeton...in the leaves with a stencil bought at the Elks Country Store (perpetual garage sale run by the Elks), the Family Centre, a craft made there, and walking with our post office in the background.
Our family centre is open 3 days a week and offers a free lunch for people and their kids who are under 6.
We like it there.

2007-11-05T10:58:00.000-08:00

About 3 weeks ago (?) we were out and about sweaterless (must have been awhile ago).
Sarah is showing me her dirty hands after jumping rope. Thanks Carolyn.

a hi to grandmas

2007-11-05T10:19:00.000-08:00

Sarah wrote these captions:
"There's Sarah holding a picture of Grandma Kathy on the Magnadoodle. There's Grandma Abrahams reading Sarah a story (with Great Grandma Abrahams.)"
Message to Grandmas:
"I love you."
Sarah wanted me to tell you she drew a picture of a design, a flower and a little circle (not shown).

question

2007-11-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

What do you think?
Hi. While at MEC in Calgary I picked up this pair of shoes for $50 (they were 40% off). They have a good return policy, so currently I am wearing them some in the house and trying to make up my mind.
You see, they are not fully functional for some activities...I guess you would say they are perhaps not very practical.
They are not waterproof, have no laces and could get dirty very easily (the mesh).
The pros are that they are extremely comfortable. They are more comfortable than my current indoor shoes. I have a pair of indoor shoes that I wear indoors. Because of my foot problems I get uncomfy feet very quickly unless I am wearing shoes with my orthodics.
They are quick to take on and off, making it more appealing to actually wear them. Sometimes I try to get away with wearing slippers indoors - too 'lazy' to switch my insoles and lace up my indoor shoes.
I think they would be my new indoor shoes which I would occasionally wear to dress up events (ya, ya, I could call these dress up shoes).
I just hope I haven't fallen in love with them because of their image. I had originally seen myself wearing them in town...maybe one day, but winter is upon us and then it's boot season.
See, the other fact is I actually need winter boots...and maybe hiking boots too, but we haven't hiked in years (hiking that I'd need boots for).
Andy actually needs shoes in a bad way...his shoes are falling apart. We are getting boots and shoes for him next weekend.
The company (Keen) who made the shoes, looks decent as well. For example, their box is made minimally as to not consume more resources than need be.
Comments?

one fine fall day

2007-11-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

Hi. Sarah has been sick this past 2 days. We are hoping to go out for dinner, if she wakes up in time. This picture was taken a while back (3 weeks ago perhaps) on a lovely fall day in town, just outside the library.

2007-10-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

Hi. Just wanted to say my greatest adventures lately were visiting my friend Shannon McIntyre (nee Kroeker) in Canmore for 3 nights, and having Mark J., his sister Ann and her son Jack (3 yrs.) over for a couple nights.
The Canmore trip was a good change of pace with walks, one run, lots of talking, hearing some good speakers (Brian McClaren one night), and their pastor another (has a passion for the word, is building a library in their church - with resources for studying the Bible).
Shannon is due with their first child end of Jan. and this was a good time to catch up in person before her life changes. :) Good to get to know Andrew, her husband, more as well.

back to the house

2007-10-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

From a 'hike' we took a few weeks ago...just on the trail from the barn to our house.