Category Archives: Family

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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Filed under Day to Day, Family, grandchildren, Photos

June 7, 2011 · 12:11 pm

My family

Today is just one of those days when my own kids give me lots to pray about. 

Oldest son is presently in surgery for an unhealed broken collar bone.  Praying it goes well and that he heals from this well and quickly.

One grandson has a rash of unknown origin – the internet is wonderful for grandpa’s on-line diagnosis.

One daughter just struggling with the challenges of life as a single mom with too little money.

Me struggling with loving them all very much and wanting things to turn out well for them all and knowing I am quite powerless to make it all better.  Was easier when they just scraped knees.

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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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Filed under Day to Day, Family, Photos

February 22, 2011 · 6:44 pm

Canadian, eh?

You bet.

And by this time tomorrow there should be two new citizens that have joined the ranks. 

Christian and Yaounde have passed their tests and all they must do is get sworn in.  Massa will have another go at the test but it will come.  Hard stuff to know for a struggling with English guy. 

Celebrations will be in order.

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Filed under Africa, Dealing with stuff, Family

January 28, 2011 · 1:02 pm

Looking up words

Every now an then I have to look up a word I am attempting to use, so I google it.  This time my search for curmudgeonly led me to the most wonderful blog.  If you are a mom, you will feel a kinship with her especially if your children, behaving just like children, sometimes draw looks of disapproval from proper folks without the joy of companionship. 

I would recommend this blog for a little cheer you up.  Enjoy.  Curmudgeonry.

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Filed under Day to Day, Family, Reading

January 23, 2011 · 7:59 am

I am still here, I think

I have just sent off the first essay to my instructor in Old Testament II.  It seems as if this will have to be a weekly occurrence and since this comes on top of responding to some on-line questions and several lectures plus readings in our assigned texts, this is going to be a fairly heavy class.

Such is the student’s life I guess.  Self inflicted punishment in my case.

Besides this class, I am also taking a class in Ethics and finishing up my research project for my January Covenant History intensive class.

This has been a pretty crazy week.  On top of all these classes, which I think I have mostly been able to keep up with, has been all the work of arranging the funeral for Auntie Florence.

Florence

And it was a glorious funeral.  Glorious in the sense that glory was given to God for her life – as her life itself had been one of following God and service to him.  I will post her eulogy under the pages section of this blog. Click here and a link should take you there.

This week will be busy with wrapping up her affairs plus the ongoing classes and preparing a sermon for Sunday.

After that I will continue on with my on-line classes on the beaches of Costa Rica.  I can hardly wait.  Maybe the time there will give me some moments to relax and finally process all that has happened over the past weeks.

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Filed under church, Family, Studying

January 16, 2011 · 10:38 am

Florence Dice

My much loved Auntie has finished this part of her life. At the end it was simply a fading away in the midst of pretty much constant pain and the fog induced by pain control. I would sit and hold her hand, play her some music, try to give her some water to drink. She seemed to enjoy the last visit oh her great, great niece Kimia even though I think it may have frightened Kimia a little. Now she is free of all that painful end of life stuff and with Christ who was her life’s friend.

Until we meet again Auntie.

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December 19, 2010 · 11:37 pm

Seven

tourtieres made and meat for the eighth ready.  I am short one pie shell. 

Tomorrow – last minute shopping and pick up some groceries.

Do some housecleaning and make a trip to Salvation Army or Value Village for a drop off.

Reading.  Much, much reading needs to be done for my January class.  And then there is the prep for preaching on Jan. 2.

It will be a busy day,

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Filed under Christmas, Family, Studying

December 15, 2010 · 12:44 pm

The first Seven Kilos

I bought our Christmas turkey today.  The flyer advertized the price at $0.99 a pound.  The fine print says the turkeys weigh 5 to 7 Kilos.

5 to 7 Kilos.  At seven kgs I would have had to buy at least two.  There was also a whopping big bird in the chest.  Almost 12 kgs.  About the right size for the hordes that will descend on our home Christmas Eve – especially since I supplement it with a ham and tourtiere. 

I will not have room to cook two birds in my oven at once.  Definitely not.  So, I put the big bird in the cart and proceeded to finish my shopping.  The price at the till was not what I expected – closer to $5 a kilo!  But it will feed us all so I looked on the bright side and pay the birds weight in gold.  I think that to be fair they should at least discount the first 7 kilos of the bird.  Or maybe I should read the fine print in the flyer more closely before I go shopping.

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Filed under Day to Day, Family

November 17, 2010 · 12:28 am

It’s been a bit of a long day

and now it seems as if  sleep eludes me.  So here I sit at the computer fiddling with my header and such.

First news this morning was that oldest son had rolled his vehicle on his way to a town about 4 hours from PA.  Made me very concerned for him as well as for my own travels home from Alberta. 

But he is OK, spending the night in hospital though.  I guess it is prudent for a hospital to make sure the young lawyer is adequately observed so as to avoid any pesky questions later.  He does have a broken collarbone and I guess is pretty sore. 

My trip home was uneventful.  There were some slippery sections along the way but nothing my trusty tires couldn’t handle.  And I really did not want to put them to the test so I was careful.

Made it back in good time for tonight’s council meeting.  Maybe that is what left me sleepless – not that it wasn’t good but sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed at the things there are that must be done.  Oh, volunteers, where are you?

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Filed under church, Day to Day, Family, Travels