"Challenges give us the opportunity to reveal ourself to ourself. In the midst of struggle, is it fear or faith that is winning? Do we trust in man's ability, or are we trusting God? How we react during a challenge or crisis reveals much, and can teach us much towards adjusting to Father's world-view. See with His eyes, love with His heart, and let fear subside, because the Lord your God has your life in His hands."

My Baby's 12th Birthday

Yesterday my baby turned 12, tomorrow he'll probably get married and leave me...just kidding. But it sure seems that time goes soooo fast. The days sometimes seem like forever but the weeks are flying by. Pretty soon it will be Christmas.

We had a fabulous day, first a tea party in bed, then homework (not so fun) then lunch out with his birthday buddy Dakoda (born the same day 15 hours apart) Then a party with 7 friends. Including pizza, a lego cake and lots and lots of gaming.

Happy Birthday Buddy, I'll love you forever!

So much going on in our home right now. Sweet Baby S is still with us. She is 15 1/2 months old. And everyone LOVES her. Seriously, anyone that has met her falls in love. She is cute, sweet, sassy, independent and so funny! Her favourite game right now is to climb on a chair, and hoist herself onto the kitchen table. Once she is on the table she does her happy dance. Then looks over at whomever is around and grins from ear to ear. You can't help but laugh. Which obviously doesn't help curb her behaviour LOL!

Within the next 2-3 months she will be transitioning home to live with her mom and dad. We have a great working relationship with them. We have watched them change, and work hard and do everything they need to in order to bring their daughter home. We are so, so proud of them. But then we have to look at our side and the closer they get to having her the closer we are to losing her :( That parts the hard part. We adore and I know we will get to visit, cause they live only 30 min away. But...it won't be the same.

2 weeks ago at 1am in the morning we had Cute Baby R dropped off on our doorstep. He is a smiley little thing too. He smiles at everyone, doesn't matter who. He is adjusting well, visiting his dad 3 times a week, who is his primary caregiver. He is cutey pie but its not the same as bringing a newborn home from the hospital. I love the bonding time of having them in the nursery. I go up every morning before my family wakes up and feed, burp and change them.

So I have missed that this time. But nonetheless he is an easy baby to have around and I don't have to get up for middle of the night feeds, so thats a bonus!!

This weekend is Tianna's dance competition. She dances afternoon on Sat and morning on Sunday. So it will be busy. We are gearing up for Faces West, a model competition in Vancouver Nov 12-15th. She is busy getting her monologue and commercial memorized. We have to get hair cuts and organize all her clothes. I still don't know where I am staying at this point. But hopefully not too far. She will be at the hotel with all the other models but we can't afford both of us to stay there. So I will be commuting back and forth.

Samson has belt testing before we leave, Nov 4th. He is looking forward to testing for his GREEN belt. GO SAMSON!!

Oh ya and we MISS this GIRL! Can't believe she lives so far away now!

So thats our world, I'll try to be more diligent in my posting.

In the mean time, please keep praying for steady work for my hubby. This month has been really slow.

Loves to all, MUAH!

September 2009

So we are almost ready to get back into routine this Sept. A new start, a fresh year, the excitement and planning. I love this part. Its the staying strong, plugging along, not getting bored I have trouble with.

We usually start Sept with a bang and by November I'm bored of the curric I chose, the kids are restless and we all need a little encouragement. So I'm trying to keep things interesting by adding new read alouds, art history, and SOTW at different times through out the year. Hopefully we will be able to keep on keeping on!

The kids head back to their 2 day school week after next. They will attend Monday and Tuesday leaving us schooling at home on Wed, Thurs and Fri. Dance and TKD areo n Tuesday Thursday and music is also Thursday. So Monday Wed Fri its quiet afternoons for us. Well planned out by myself:)

Off to supervise the 10 + kids that are in our house right now...YIKES!

TaeKwon Do

My son loves Tae-Kwon Do and we are very impressed with the club we are a part of.

Its called Skyline Martial Arts, locally known as Northern Tae-Kwon Do.

Our instructor Mr. Kyle Amos is absolutely top notch and I couldn't be more pleased with the amount of passion, time, and energy that he puts into each and every student.

If you are interested in learning more or checking us out, please go to our website.

http://ntkdkelowna.com/

Disappointed

I have this feeling of disappointment. I'm just not sure what to do about it. There's more than that too. Its rejection, abandoned, unwanted its a feeling that I am all too familiar with.

It sounds bigger than it is. Its not consuming me in any way, just making me ponder and think.

Yesterday it made me feel really sad, close to tears, today its just a dull feeling in the deep part of my heart.

I wish that I could climb in Jesus lap and sit and feel His arms wrapped around me. I know He's there, I feel Him there but this "feeling" seems to creep up and want to cling to me. I wish it didn't feel so familiar, I wish I didn't know how it felt to be left-out or unwanted but...

Not angels,
nor demons,
no power on earth or heaven
Not distance,
nor danger,
no trouble now or ever
Nothing can take me from your great love
Forever this truth remains
I belong, I belong to you
I belong, I belong to you
Not hardship,
nor hunger,
no pain or depth of sorrow
Not weakness,
nor failure,
no broken dream or promise
Nothing can take me from your great love
Forever this truth remains
I belong, I belong to you
I belong, I belong to you...

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Summer Happenings

So today my daughter is headed to Fairmont Hotsprings, with my bestest friend and her family. Kinda her cousin's (long story) She is totally excited and I am super jealous.

Thats ok, cause my friend Tracy, from Bible school, is here for the weekend for the Kelowna Apple Triathlon. So we are getting together to hang out today and just relax.

Samson is having his long time good friend Josh come over and the boys will no doubt, play video games, jump on the tramp and swim.

Robert is busy working at our little school. We had a major flood in one of the classes and he needs to move all the furniture and then rip up the carpet in there. The roofers are coming to patch the roof today and apparently will be replacing the whole thing in the near future. Phew! Its been a little touch and go when rain comes.

We still have baby Sarah with us, and our names are on the "bed list" but so far no new little ones for us. Which is fine by me cause I am getting lots of things done around the house.

I painted downstairs, reorganized the bookshelves, now to just get all our curriculum organized so we can start school in a couple weeks.

Girl Night

Tonight my wonderful friend brought over a movie, and Miss Vickies S & V chips. We hung out watched a very cute Zach Efron, in 17 Again, and just relaxed.

I was having a busy, busy day without much sleep. Last night I decided at 9:30 to shampoo the carpets downstairs. By the time I was done and cleaned up and relaxed enough to sleep it was 12:45am. So I only got about 6 hours of sleep...here's the reason why and the rest of the day too.

7:00am woke up b/c T had to be at work by 7:30am. Thankfully she had already made me a cup of coffee (THANKS BABE). After dropping her off I returned the shampoo machine and went to a couple garage sales with my friend Amanda. I got a pair of curtains for the other baby room and 3 pairs of socks for Baby S. Apparently I can't keep little girl socks in pairs!

9:00 am I picked T and R up from work b/c it was raining and off to home.

9:30 my sweet "grandbaby" J came for the day and Rob was off to set up the Rod Stewart concert so I took the kids to "hole-in-the-wall" and we ate blueberry pancakes. After that we came home

11:30 babies and mommy off to nap.

1:30pm woke up from nap, all of us

2:00pm Ashton (2yo) came for his 5 days of respite.

The afternoon was hectic but fun!

3pm J's mom came to pick her up

3:30 we decided to head to the pool for a little hot tubbin'.

6:30 supper for everyone, perogies, sausage and veggies.

7:15 bed time for littles

and now movie time for us.

10:30 beddy bye time for me...NIGHT!

Hope

James 1 ("The Message" paraphrase of the Bible)

2-4 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

5-8 If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

9-11 When down-and-outers get a break, cheer! And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don't ever count on it. You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that's a picture of the "prosperous life." At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.

12 Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.

13-15 Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.

16-18 So, my very dear friends, don't get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.

My heart is heavy and burdened today for several people that are struggling in their marriages. Good people, Moms and Dads, husbands and wives, children who must witness the unravelling of their security.

How I wish I could hold each one of them in my arms and encourage them to keep on pushing forward.

This past Monday my husband and I celebrated 18 years of marriage. WOW, even writing that down it seems incredible! There were many moments that are full of amazing connections, fun and adventurous, there were other moments that were so dark and lonely. Yet I have been inspired to be a better wife, mother and friend. I have had to examine deep within myself, why I act or react a certain way. I have had to go to places, deep within my heart, that I may not necessarily have chosen to go on my own. Places that have made me who I am, places that I will have to revisit again and again in order to live in a long term relationship with my husband.

We (my husband and I) have shared many times that relationships are messy. Wether a marriage, a friendship, or some other type of relationship. When two people live together, work together, relate together...it's difficult. It's challenging, it's stretching. To learn to give and take, forgive and move on. To not let little things grow into bitterness but to extend grace to one another.

My dilemma today is how do you inspire others to keep pushing forward? To not give up. How do you encourage others to see that its worth it? For themselves, for their marriage, for their children, for their family.

Father, listen to our earnest prayer
Jesus prayed it years ago
That the glory You had given Him
We would somehow come to know
So make us one according to Your plan
As in heaven it will be
Fill us with the truth and righteousness
You desire the world to see

Let Your glory and honor
Fall on our face
Holy Father
Rest in this place

The church is sick and need of God alone
And people we must seek His face
If we turn from all our unrighteousness
He�ll forgive our evil ways
So may the eyes of God be on us here
Lord, revive us by Your grace
Holy Spirit be forever near
Saturate us in this place

Let Your glory and honor
Fall on our face
Holy Father
Rest in this place

Let the fire fall
Let the wind blow
Let the glory come down