Category Archives: Day to Day

You know how it is when you are faced with a dilemma – all sorts of time is spent thinking about it without a lot of helpful results?  I have been engaged in this sort of thing this week. 

We have kids that attend our church.  Not a huge number but some.  Some come with their parents and then a few less come just from the neighbourhood.  “Walk ins” as we would say at my office, meaning that they come for what they need but don’t have a real connection to the rest of the people who attend.  In actual fact, they may come for the cookies – what self respecting kid would pass up free cookies and juice on a Sunday morning when mom and dad or whomever cares for them are still sleeping.  We also offer them a lot of good music prayer and a sermon but, you know, I doubt that those things really draw them in. 

You know how it is when you are faced with a dilemma – all sorts of time is spent thinking about it without a lot of helpful results?  I have been engaged in this sort of thing this week. 

We have kids that attend our church.  Not a huge number but some.  Some come with their parents and then a few less come just from the neighbourhood.  “Walk ins” as we would say at my office, meaning that they come for what they need but don’t have a real connection to the rest of the people who attend.  In actual fact, they may come for the cookies – what self respecting kid would pass up free cookies and juice on a Sunday morning when mom and dad or whomever cares for them are still sleeping.  We also offer them a lot of good music prayer and a sermon but, you know, I doubt that those things really draw them in. 

The kids from the neighbourhood and the kids attached to parents who attend do not really like to be confined to a small space it seems.  And a few of the kids may be FAE or FAS and can’t help but not be attentive.  They seem fine with that but we adults have other ideas.  We like kids who sit still and listen.  We like kids who take their little craft paper and complete it without needing a lot of help and then actually take it home gloating over their achievements to their parents, maybe reciting the Bible verse as they hand it to mom or dad. 

Instead of this we have kids whose parents we never see.  We get no help from them if the kids run off and spend the class time in the washroom. (if we sent them to the washroom I am sure they would not want to go there, but who can argue with a kid who says he’s got to go?)

We have trouble with burn out.  No, not the kids, the adults who decide to take on the responsibility of teaching these kids stuff about Jesus.  I AM BURNT OUT TRYING TO FIND ADULTS TO HELP! 

That is one of my duties. 

So this Sunday, I don’t know.  I suspect I will be in that room with the kids.  Because I do care about them and I do want them to learn about Jesus.  I wonder if they most times think of Jesus as just another adult.  I doubt they understand how much he cares about them.  I doubt they know how much I care about them – especially when I am desperately trying to keep their attention with stern words.

O God help us. 

This morning I was reading in Mark 6 the story of Jesus feeding all the people that came to listen to him.  What struck me most about the story was not the feeding part, or the amount left over.  It was the fact that Jesus and his friends were tired.  Jesus knew his disciples needed a rest and so he says to go with him to a quiet place.  They take off together across the lake but instead of quiet on the other shore, they have a huge crowd waiting.  Jesus and his disciples need to debrief but out of compassion, Jesus puts the needs of the crowd first and spends the time instead teaching the people many things.  Maybe this taught the disciples a whole lot about service and the kind of life style they were in for.  I think the feeding part also taught them a huge lesson – that no matter what they needed, God would provide in abundance.

I know that lesson.  God has been teaching me that one too for years now. 

Surely he will provide for me and for the kids who need to listen to him teaching them many things.

We have a grad dress.  Beautiful and orange.  It was the best colour among all the many many colours we looked at.  And we looked a many. 

We went down to Saskatoon with the intention of buying the dress we did in fact end up buying.  It was the first she tried on but not the last.  We went to at lest another five stores.  Some we knew right away that there was no point in trying anything.  One other store had a dress in orange that may have been just as beautiful but it was in some stupid size – a size 4 I think and she could not even get it on to see what it was like.  It was also more money. 

In the end we went back to the beginning. 

She will look gorgeous.

I have been plagued with spam lately.  It comes in as contacts from this page.  I have been unable to rid myself of this problem so far.  Every time that I check my e-mail I have to delete a bunch of useless and very undesirable stuff.  The danger is that I inadvertently delete a real message – a contact from a real live human  out there that I would like to talk to. 

Tonight I almost hit delete but caught myself just in time to pick up this very interesting message:

I know this book.  It was a fabulous cookbook.  It was thick and ugly and brown but I used it for years.  I too would love to have a copy of it.  Mine was left in the Congo when we left in a hurry. 

Can’t you just see what would happen – “Missionary wife loses her mind – evacuates with dirty brown cookbook.  Leaves clothes behind!”

Anyway, I can appreciate the person’s wish to get a copy of this book.  One does have to be of a certain age to recognize the book we are speaking of.  The newer versions were not half as good. 

There remains one game – the Grey Cup. 

Winning it seems to elude Saskatchewan.  Yesterday they bombed out in the semifinals (western finals).  So it ends for us Saskatchewanians.  It always seems to end at about this point.

Those of us who cheer faithfully for them year after year must be farmers at heart.  Next year!  There is always hope for the next year.

Sad news tonight.  A miscarriage. 

Two tiny angels now.

Little ones gone too soon.

Do the arms of the saints

Gather you in?

Do you play around

God’s feet?

I officially have droopy eyes. 

Yesterday I had an appointment with one of our local eye surgeons.  I like the office.  Very efficient and nicely laid out and decorated.  The assistant was also very good.  She did all the preliminary work including a test that I had never had before to check my peripheral vision – to see how much my droopy lids impede my vision.

The test was pretty cool.  Looking into this dome on a computer, concentrating on a yellow light while little white lights flickered around on the periphery.  I had to click a button every time I saw one of them.  I was surprised at how much concentration it took to keep my eye focused on the yellow light and not let my eyes wander to follow the little flickering lights. 

I guess it turns out that my left eye does have some loss of peripheral vision.  Now I can get this fixed and it can be billed to our medical coverage.  It actually is a family problem so I have been anticipating this for a few years. 

Now I wait.  In about three to six months I will get rid of these annoying droopy lids. 

I was told that I could end up fairly black and blue.  That should put the finishing touches on fear for a certain group of my patients!  I foresee needing a bit of time off.

A week ago while I was in the middle of my photography course I got a call on my cell phone – Sara.  “Did you have an appointment to get your hair done,” she asked.  My hairdresser had called my home when I didn’t show up.  And, yes, I completely forgot the appointment.

Monday, I arranged to send her a small bouquet of flowers.  I know what it is like to be stood up for an appointment!

Today, I was fortunate enough to get to see her.  I needed to badly.  My grey was really showing and what woman wants her grey to show.  I guess I shouldn’t be so vain but if I went grey it would add at least a good ten years to my appearance and it would look mousey and blah. 

She always offers me coffee while I sit waiting for the colour to take effect.  With cream.  Probably whitener most times.  But today – there was a shot of Baileys in there.  Delicious.

It is hard to understand how a year can go by so quickly.  A year ago he was brand new.  He was just getting his name.  Zakaryia.  So tiny.  Had to be encouraged to suck.

A year later – he recognises food and thinks anything edible must be for him.  He loves to get his hands right in there and is catching on quickly to holding a spoon. 

Happy Birthday Zakaryia! 

Being busy seems to be the bane of my existence.  I bring a lot of the busyness on myself.  Some is just stuff that has to be done – grocery shopping, laundry, food preparation, work.  But then again, some of the things that keep me busy are things I enjoy that I have added on to my already full enough schedule.   What would life be, though, if all it consisted of was the busy work that had to be done.

So, I am learning to play the upright bass (string bass, bass viol, whatever you call it – it is big and non-electric).  I am surprised at how much I have learned so far.  I am participating in the local strings orchestra – which is really way, way above me – and most of the time I am simply lost.  But I am beginning to get it!  I can play the open string notes with enough ease that I can keep up in speed.  Mind you, my bowing is a bit crappy!  Sometimes I am up bowing when I should be down bowing and then there is this sideways sliding thing the bow does when I am not looking – which is a good deal of the time since half the time I am looking a where my fingers should be to be playing the right note.

This weekend I bought a metronome.  My teacher told me I had to get one.  I am surprised at the difference it makes.  It is like having a teacher there telling me to keep up, to play faster and to not lose the beat when I am hunting for the note. 

I also found a book that shows all the fingerings for all the notes.  The first book I bought really only showed the fingerings for D Major and G scales.  There is a lot more than just those two scales to learn.  It also makes more sense to me seeing how all the notes are laid out. 

So I am on my way.  And mostly having a lot of fun.

Ten days ago Eric and Leo were in Regina together for a very important event.  Eric’s name was entered into the registry of lawyers for the province.  He has finished his bar course and his year of articling.  Now he has taken his oath and written his name in the register. 

Today we were invited up to the courthouse in PA for the induction ceremony to the court and the welcoming to the law society.  It was an impressive ceremony.  A bit long perhaps but I guess lawyers are known for their ability to ventilate hot air.  Today they had to be in their formal legal dress – robe, black pants, vest, special shirt kind of like a tux shirt (requires cufflinks if you remember what they are) and the tabs (white sort of tie thingies)

It was really pretty good to see one of my kids reach this kind of a milestone.  I will put a set of pictures up on Flikr and link to it here.