Monthly Archives: August 2008

August 20, 2008 · 3:03 pm

Hoping

Today seems as if it is a big day – in the sense of potentially important.

The building appraiser came by this morning.  We’ll have a report from him in by the end of the month on the value of our building and land. 

Tonight we sit and talk with a couple of young guys that are interested in our practice.

And we want so much for this to go through.  Sure it means a few more years of work as a transition happens.  It seems hopeful.  But we’ve been hopeful before and it is hard to let oneself hope too hard for something that is uncertain still.  As if, in such intense hoping we somehow act against our hopes.

 

Update

Well, Marc and Toni and anyone else that reads this I guess,

I am getting tot he age when I would like to retire.  Retiring is not just a matter of one day saying, "I quit" and walking out the door when one owns the practice and the building.  So, Roger and I have been looking for someone to buy the practice for the last couple of years, having our practice evaluated, etc. 

And we have a couple of young guys who are sort of interested.  They are not finished school yet but if they commit to purchase, we’d be able to retire in about three years or so.

So, that’s what is happening.  I guess I have been living with this so much on my mind that, although I haven’t blogged about it, it seems as if I have.

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August 17, 2008 · 11:55 pm

Hey, we made the news!

The Covenant News at least.  And that is not bad.  Check it out here.

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Filed under In the News

August 17, 2008 · 11:48 pm

Confessions of a closet speaker

I spoke today in church as Randall is away on vacation. My text was Romans 11:1, 2a and 29 to 32. I guess I would have to say that I also incorporated some of the verses in-between as well. My topic was on how we are grafted into the old story – the old covenant that God established with his chosen people; how important it is for us to know this history that we now have our roots in as well, how those ties with this old story of faith enrich us and nourish us as branches grafted in by our faith in Jesus. Well, there was lots more said and the details I may post over under my words section.

I have a confession to make – I like speaking. I like preparing and the way it takes me deeper into my study of the Bible. I like the way God shows up and guides me along as I delve into the scriptures.

Romans is a book pretty heavy with theology. If nothing else it stimulated my awareness that it is a subject I would like to know more about. I wonder if this interest in theology arises out of my own awareness that God is way beyond my understanding. So then, why bother trying to understand God? I am not sure why but it feels a bit as if he/she is beckoning; inviting me, if you will to discover more.

This is a bit of the sense of the “weirdness” that I alluded to in an earlier post. I find myself in a period of unsettledness, as if I am waiting for the next step to become clearer.

I am trying to take things one day at a time, being attentive to what God is moving me towards. I could jump in and start into a next project but I am still not sure if a new project is what I need – or what God wants for me. How do I respond to this itch in me, this drive to move towards something more? It is pretty much retirement time and why develop these desires now of all times in my life? And there are also all the other parts of my life that lay claim to some of my time. So, I am trying to be reasonable and patiently await a bit more clarity as to what the future might hold.

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Filed under Dealing with stuff, Reflections, Worship events

August 17, 2008 · 2:15 pm

Psalm 67

May God be merciful and bless us.
May his face smile with favor on us.

May your ways be known throughout the earth,
      your saving power among people everywhere.
May the nations praise you, O God.
      Yes, may all the nations praise you.
Let the whole world sing for joy,
      because you govern the nations with justice
      and guide the people of the whole world.

May the nations praise you, O God.
      Yes, may all the nations praise you.
Then the earth will yield its harvests,
      and God, our God, will richly bless us.
Yes, God will bless us,
      and people all over the world will fear him.

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August 16, 2008 · 10:36 pm

30 Degrees

Its a scorcher out there. 

The air conditioners we invested in are paying off today. 

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August 14, 2008 · 8:43 pm

Weirdness

It is a bit weird around here these days.  I’m back at work so my days are busy.  Then I come home and the house is pretty much empty.  Sara comes home at 5:30 and informs me she is going to her boyfriend’s mother’s birthday supper so won’t be eating.  Leo comes home a bit later and by that time our supper is ready.   

Of course I’ve cooked at least twice as much as I needed to.  My fridge is quickly filling up with leftovers.

Obviously, I am going to have to learn to cook differently. 

Then the evening settles in. I had errands to run last night so was kept busy till about 9.  Then, there seemed as if there was a sort of vacuum in my schedule.  I had no papers to write, no books that I had to read.  No grandchildren dropped by.  I was sort of lost.

Time to rethink that rule of life I worked on a year or so ago.  I don’t want to just drift along through life aimlessly from now on.  And I am not sure that I am quite ready for more serious studies, although there is an itch in there that may drive me to that.

I seem to still find myself in some sort of an in between time – a time of waiting and unsettledness.  Stuff is brewing but it is hard for me to put a name to it – I think I may be afraid to.  I seems that something I feel pushed towards, I am feeling too old to start.  And yet, what does it mean to be too old?  I likely have another 20 years or so of pretty good quality life – although that is never certain. 

So, this stuff is stewing around in my head and heart and I am not sure why.  Weird.  I must be patient and see what comes.

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August 13, 2008 · 4:05 am

Pretty Easy Really.

This morning – my first day back at work after vacation – I got a rather desperate call from another dentist in town.  He had been called by one of the pediatricians to see a baby with “natal” teeth.  That is what teeth are called when a baby is born with them.  These teeth are usually really loose.  The roots haven’t developed yet so there is only a bit of skin holding them in and they wiggle all around.  It makes nursing difficult and the doctors are always afraid that the baby will aspirate on of them and get into real trouble.

So this dentist is on call and the doctor calls him.

I could hear shades of panic in his voice as he talked.

This seems to have been the first time he had ever heard of babies being born with teeth.  Wonder where he was during that lesson in school!

He had all sorts of concerns:

  • that if he tried to take the teeth out at the hospital without all his equipment that he might be putting the baby at risk.
  • that he might be putting himself at risk legally
  • that this was not something which an ordinary dentist should be doing
  • that he didn’t know if he could give a baby local anesthetic
  • that he had never done this before and had never heard of it (this was repeated a few times)

Well, we just happen to have a student in the office this summer who I am sure will love to see a case of natal teeth.  The parents will bring this tiny little newborn to our office, I will inject a couple drops of freezing and pop the little tiny teeth out.  Very, very simple really.  It is not as if this child will run away!  In fact, when a baby is so small, they are pretty easy to get to sit still.  We just wrap them up tightly like a little papoose.  They don’t actually know what is coming till it is pretty much over.

And I have done this before.  Pretty easy really.

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August 12, 2008 · 5:30 am

Frost family reunion

DSCN1492 I arrived back at home by about 4pm local time.  Zaka traveled so well.  Seven and a half hours of traveling is long for an adult, let alone an almost 3 year old.  The DVD player sure did help make his trip easier.  I think he must have the cars movie pretty well memorized by now!  Its his favourite and the fact that he received a gift of two little cars from the movie while he was at the reunion made his day – made his whole weekend, I think. 

The reunion was fantastic.DSCN1500 

It was very relaxing.  Nobody got too stressed over the glitches in the schedule – although the cinnamon buns which were a couple of hours late – well.  If they hadn’t been ssooo good when they arrived we might have been upset.  Instead they simply became brunch and we didn’t eat lunch.

DSCN1490

 

 

 

 

There was no hectic schedule.  The only event that has a time attached to it that had to be respected was the golf game.  I hear that everyone that golfed had a good time.  I enjoyed babysitting so that Michelle could golf and Kimia was a perfect angel for me – really. 

I think Zaka’s favourite activity was blowing bubbles and he made some great ones.  We all had fun with that.  He met a couple young cousins that he had great fun with. DSCN1516 And Trent was so good with him and the other little kids!  And then there was Glen – he has grand fathering in his blood!  

 

 

 

I think I am blessed to have this kind of family in my heritage. 

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Filed under Day to Day, Photos, Reflections, Travels

August 8, 2008 · 4:18 am

Family reunion coming up

Tomorrow I will head out east to Manitoba, along with Zaka, to the Frost family reunion.  The family place is Minnedosa but there aren’t many Frost’s around that neck of the woods these days.  And it is not as if one can book a Hotel there and use some sort of conference facilities – there is only one rather small and basic hotel in town.  Well, I suppose there are some rooms in town over the local bar but we are not really the boozing type and well – I have heard from reliable sources that there are occasionally creatures in such places that make one itch.  Not good.

So this year we are all going up to Covenant Heights Bible Camp for a few days.  The weather should be nice and that lake is beautiful.  The beds I imagine will be campish – bunk beds I suspect.  Since there is a fair to good chance that there will be no romantic encounters in a bunk bed, I figured this would be a good time to take Zaka along for a little outing with Grandma and Grandpa. 

So I am packed.  Batch of cookies made.  Snacks packed for the road.  DVD player.  Bathing suits.  Insect repellent.  Books and computer to work on my talk for next Sunday. 

Won’t likely do much blogging.  I can’t imagine that there is any wifi up in the bush.  It will be a good break.

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August 6, 2008 · 9:00 pm

Photos

In defiance of this nasty cold I caught somewhere on the way back from Chicago, I managed to get my photos from my camera to the computer.  I’ve uploaded the best to a Flikr set titled Chicago 2008. 

And I did a few of the ones Leo and I stopped and took on the way back from a couple of art shows on Sunday – these are found in my set of Water Birds

And finally Saying Goodbye has some recent photos of Rachelle and Ronin just before they left for Toronto.

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