Category Archives: Day to Day

October 19, 2011 · 10:26 pm

It’s a wonder

Kids Klub this week was pretty tame compared to the last couple of weeks when the young men who are really too old for kids stuff dropped by anyway for a free supper and an occasion to try and drive the supervising adults crazy.  Tonight it was just kids.  The boys who made themselves unwelcome last week were nowhere to be seen.  Thank you to their parents for some great help. 

We were about 23 kids tonight.  I had the story telling and craft duty tonight and the story was Jacob and Esau.  Twins but not at all alike.  So we looked at things that were similar but not quite identical.  Then we talked about the things we are good at – our gifts and how we are all different.  God loves all of us even though we are all different and have different skills. 

Taught the story once to the older kids and then again to the wee ones. 

Then I came home exhausted. So I veged out in front of the TV for a bit with Nan.  We laughed together at the Dumbest Things on Wheels and wondered how they arrange to get such crazy videos.  I wonder if people are really that desperate to get their failed stunts on TV that they would risk injury to do it? 

People never fail to amaze me. 

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October 3, 2011 · 10:07 pm

Fishing

Massa arrived quite early this morning to help me catch my fish.  I came home from a trip up to the high school giving Nan an extra chance to drive to find Massa already at work draining water from the pond.  (Nan is trying hard to improve his driving skills so that he will pass on his next attempt at the drivers test.)

On the weekend, I purchased a used fish aquarium – 55 gallons, 48 inches long with a stand to put it on.  Not a bad price except after we got it home we found that the light had broken.  Purchasing a new light made it a little less of a fantastic deal.  I would have talked them down a few more dollars if I had known.  Oh well.  What’s done is done.

Any way, the fish spent the day in a large pail.  Nan helped me fill the tank when he came home from school and then we went driving again – this time to the pet store for the light and to get some more water conditioner.  Fresh water was added to the pail so the fish could begin to adjust to new conditions but they were still in the pail.

After supper, Zaka asked every few minutes if we could put the fish in the aquarium yet.  Finally I figured enough time had passed and that the moment of transfer had come.  We netted the three fish that we had in the pail and off they went in a plastic bag to their new home.  But I knew we had put four fish in that pail.  Zaka and I went back to double check that we still didn’t have one fish in the bottom of the pail.  Nope, nowhere to be found until — I began to search around the kitchen.  On the floor, under one of the counter stools, there was one drying out fish gasping for air.  I scooped him up and into the tank he went. A few minutes went by before he began to swim.  Now, just by looking, you wouldn’t know he’d had a brush with death. 

I think fish jump.  This one surprised me with more vigour than I thought.  He’s a survivor.  So far.  We will hope for the best overnight.

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September 24, 2011 · 9:30 pm

And the Band Plays On

It has been a day. 

The Veritas Seminar has been well worth our precious Saturday morning time.  Gerald Froese led us through the process of assessing where we are as a church – Healthy Missional, Stable, Critical Moment, or At Risk.  That was very interesting.  Seems the general feeling is that we are somewhere between a Critical state and Stable with a strong desire to move towards healthy and missional. 

Now may God give us strength to follow his lead.  There seem to be some things we are working at that definitely are getting us out into the community around us. 

I, personally have been fighting off some sort of illness.  I thought that I had simply picked up a cold and that yesterday it was pretty much over.  Then last night and today the aching started.  So after getting home from the seminar, I headed straight to bed.  Only got up to go for a practice drive with Nan, who drives his driver’s test on Monday. Parallel parked at least six times.  If he keeps his wits about him I think he will pass. 

Then home, grilled a few smokies for supper and went to bed again.

And then the band showed up.  Makeshift Innocence.  Playing at one of the local pubs tonight and then at On The Rocks in Edmonton  on Sunday night.  They will all find some corner to sleep tonight.  And the rest of the smokies are history.

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Filed under church, Day to Day, Family, Music

September 22, 2011 · 9:36 pm

The plan. What plan?

Some days I think I am losing it.  Not sure what “it” is but I think it is my mind.  For sure it is my sense of organization.

Last week I missed a deadline for a class paper.

Today I discovered that I booked myself out of the office for the next two weeks.  Totally forgot about it.  So I now have two weeks to let my brain catch up with the rest of me.

I really do wonder what that says about my brain.  It’s not like it has to move fast – just wish it would move in an orderly fashion.  A non-administrative out of control spinning brain.  Quite a scary picture.

So I will attempt to stop the spinning, prepare for the marriage ceremony I’ll be  performing in two weeks, catch up on my class work and spend some serious reflection time with God. 

Sounds like a plan. 

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September 12, 2011 · 3:17 pm

Cool days ahead

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Today, being a “day off”, I took some of my class readings outside, sat in the lawn chair and read for awhile.  It looks like a day of mixed cloud and sun but there is a certain nip in the air that forebodes cooler days to come.  The sun is not as hot as it was last week.  Will we see temperatures in the 30’s again this year?  I doubt it.  The leaves are already beginning to turn and I saw a prediction for frost this week.  I like the cooler weather but  it also brings the promise of winter.  Which is long. 

I think I will enjoy these last days when I can sit outside in Capri’s and sandals -  with no mittens on. 

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September 10, 2011 · 7:43 pm

Finally

I have not dropped off the planet.

It just feels as if the planet has dropped on me some days.  This house of mine has been so busy over the summer that I have scarcely had time to keep track of everyone and who would be here to eat the next meal.  so blogging has been on hold. 

We had great visitors though.  And it was a good summer.  Just busy.

There were Rachelle, Asen and Ronin for a few weeks, Father Marcel who as I write is on a plane back to Belgium after almost 3 months(where did that time go so fast?), Nan who has come to live with us, Christian in and out, soon to be back, Grace and Zaka as their house is renovated.  And then short visits from Faith and Hugh and their daughter Amie, Steve and baby Aya.  Other family members showed up to see them too.

Many, many barbeques have been held in our back yard.  Plus an ice cream social for the whole church.

Yep its been busy.

Now the busyness of class starts again.  Two weeks in already and as essay due next weekend.  Preaching tomorrow.  Internship part time, dentistry part time, full time mom and grandma.  That’s my life.

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Filed under church, Day to Day, Dental, Family, grandchildren

July 23, 2011 · 9:15 pm

Partied Out

The party was a success.  Two boys ate cake and opened presents and were happy.  The weather held out long enough for the kids to run around in the yard for awhile.  Long enough for them to make my mosquito zapper disappear.  I found it this morning hanging by its cord over the waterfall in the pond.  Maybe it is better to leave it on its very short cord than to hang it up with a longer one that could have let it be tipped into the pond. 

The house was quite literally full of people.  Last count I did came to 38. 

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We had enough food, two cakes sufficed and there are even leftovers. 

Part way through the party Christian and the band showed up – on their way up to Elk Ridge so they joined in for a few minutes as well.

Today was incredibly quiet.

R and A left camping with two of the boys.  I finished a late paper and sent it off.  Then after lunch I lay down for a nap.  And I slept.  Right through the come and go anniversary tea for friends.  I felt bad for missing it but I guess I had been partied out and needed the sleep.

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June 6, 2011 · 8:06 pm

What a gorgeous day

It has been warm with sunshine – a perfect day to work in my garden.  I spent part of my day acquiring some new plants and some good soil to plant them in and another good part of the day planting and fixing up in the yard.  As you can see from the photo, dogs are hard on grass and I will have to do some reseeding.

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But I love our yard.  If it weren’t for the mosquitoes I’d be out there now reading or maybe snoozing in the hammock. 

I got a few new pond plants this year.  My fish seem to have eaten almost all of the pond lettuce already.  But the other plants are fine and maybe the lettuce will recover.  I was in the pond this afternoon arranging rocks and plants and was surprised that the water wasn’t colder.  Summer is almost here I think.

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June 2, 2011 · 5:12 am

The Big Event

We spent yesterday celebrating with Sara.  She received her BSc in Kinesiology from the U of S and this wraps up four years of good hard work for her.  It was a good day.  Lots of pomp and circumstance

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and what seemed like endless hand clapping as 500 to 600 of the 3000 other graduates also received their degrees that morning too.  It was the 100th graduation from the university so there were new and distinctive gowns and hats for the PhD’s that also received their degrees yesterday.  You might just be able to see the gown worn by the person just to your left past the left podium.  I guess I missed getting a close up – there were so many people packed into the lobby after the ceremony that it was hard to move, let alone get a photo!  We stepped outside to take a couple of shots of Sara and Jory(her boyfriend) by the decorative banners.

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May 3, 2011 · 6:22 pm

Sick

It has been one week, well two if you count the Tuesday before when I was feeling shivery and my head was beginning to build up pressure.  But since last Wednesday, I have really had it bad.  I’ve had a fever every day, a nose producing enormous amounts of mucous, aching all over, etc.  You probably know only too well just what I mean. 

But I wake up each morning with hope.  The medications give me a false sense that maybe today I will be able to breathe.  And then it hits me again – those telltale shaky chills and I crawl back into bed. 

I did make it to work last Thursday and Friday and survived.  Hope I didn’t breathe any germs onto any of you.  My mask was securely in place and I washed or disinfected my hands thoroughly. 

I did make it down to Saskatoon for Sara’s grad banquet – couldn’t miss that.  She has completed four years of Kinesiology and now is qualified to …go back and take more classes to see if she can boost her marks up high enough to apply for physiotherapy again – or occupational.  She is worried about her killer class in Physiology which she does not have the marks for yet.  But anyway, she is off to Mexico with three of her girlfriends to holiday.

I did not make it to church Sunday, spent much of Monday in bed, have been up and down all day today.  I am sick of being sick!  I will miss tonight’s meeting at church and if all goes well will get out of the house to the school where I should be working tomorrow.  Everyday there is a miniscule amount of improvement. 

I seem to have hope for a return to normalcy sometime in the future.  Maybe tomorrow.  I suppose this cold is not fatal.

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