Fall Activities - Catching Up on the Blog

Well, I have definitely been neglectful in keeping you all posted about what is happening here in Canada, as well as checking up on all the other blogs. Hopefully this week, I will catch up on the blogs. It seems that since school has started that the weeks have flown by and now it is almost December. So, here is a brief overview and lots of pictures.

Halloween: Our church does a Trunk or Treat. Last year we created our trunk to be the Bat Cave. This year we called it Pumpkin Explosion. Mackensey was an Egyptian Princess and Conor was Hillary Clinton Gone Bad. This was his title - not mine. When we came home from the store with a Hillary Clinton mask, Shane just about died, and then we saw the screaming knife - he really did die. I told him the mask was only $1.66 - and he said that he could understand why. Conor was so excited, so how could I say no. Of course nobody in his class got it, and they all wanted to know who Hillary Clinton was - too funny.

Thanksgiving: We had two Thanksgivings this year. One was our Canadian Thanksgiving in October and the other - our American Thanksgiving. Our young couples Bible study meets on Wed. nights and they were saying that we need to have a social night, so Shane opens the calendar and says, "Let's have an American Thanksgiving!" I just about fell out of my chair. One, that is a lot of people. Two, I have only cooked two turkeys in my life and one was good and one was not so good. So, of course I smiled and said, "Sure - that would be fun!" Well, it was a lot of fun. My friend Michelle volunteered to cook the turkey if I bought it and I said that would be terrific. We had thirty people in our house not including babies and small children. After the chaos of organizing and getting tables and chairs from the church, I sat back and soaked in all of the blessings that God has given my family this past year. Although we miss our families, we truly feel home here in Canada and the people surrounding us at dinner as part of our extended family.

First Day of School

I am sad to say that I have not been taking many pictures (after my summer camera happy self). Time seems to fly by these days and I cannot believe that it is already October.

What is happening with us? Well, school started for us September 8th. Conor is in grade 6 and Mackensey is in grade 3. This is Conor's last year before Middle School. At church they call them the Sixers. Both have great teachers but they do not keep the same students in each class (public school). Mackensey was quite upset about that because most of her friends are in the other two third grade classes. Her best friend did end up in her class so that has helped.

What else is happening? Mackensey is in musical theatre and is practicing to be in the play "Annie." She is very excited about this. She is one of the orphans and this will be a full blown out production with tickets sold to a real theatre. I think I hear "It is a hard knock life..." at least a hundred times a day. For a while she was singing "It is a hard enough life..." Conor became quickly frustrated with this line until she got it right. She is so "fun!" Conor is playing the drums, but we had to take a month off due to his broken finger. Normally this would not be a big deal but it has broke on the growth plate and the doctor says this can be serious because his finger could grow crooked if it does not heal properly. I feel really bad for him because he had to miss soccer. Thankfully, he plays football in the spring so he did not have to miss that.

What else is happening? We are back in full swing with MOPS, young couples Bible study, young single adults Bible study, Saturday services, Sunday services, ministering in downtown Duncan to the homeless, Christmas craft fair, Christmas Jump Start - the list goes on.

Especially for my family - I will do better at posting some pictures to the blog. I love everyone and miss them lots. Thanksgiving in October and making a turkey for the four of us (and one guest) just didn't seem right or normal. Holidays will be a bit harder this year but that is ok. Oh well, I know this is where we are suppose to be and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Nanny Woodlief Visits

It is always nice to have family visit and it was even more special to have Nanny here to help release the balloons to remember Jael. Although, the day and days leading up to it were sad, going places and shopping with Nanny were a nice distraction.

Some of the highlights were our trip to Butchart Gardens. We took the ferry and got there around 4:00 and stayed for the 9:00 fireworks. We were glad that we set out our chairs and blankets to claim a spot, because it was mobbed with people. In fact they said to give ourselves an hour just to leave the park after the fireworks. We were glad that Dad did not come - he would have had a melt down with the crowds. The show was amazing, and it was so precious to see Mackensey as close as she could get to Conor when the fireworks began.

Another highlight was our trips to Youbou. I wish now that I would have taken Nanny Adams and Great Nana to this place. This was Mary's favorite. Both times that we went, we went later in the day into the evening and practically had the place to ourselves.

Nanny really like Genoa Bay and we found a great place to eat on the deck over looking the bay. We can't leave out Rock Cod, Hillary's Cheese, The Bread Shop and lots of back to school shopping. Mackensey was hysterical walking through the mall (insisting) carrying all of her bags. She is quite the shopper.

The visit went by too fast but it was a wonderful visit with beautiful weather.

Balloons

September 1st, 2009 - three years

Three Years

I was debating whether I was going to post anything this year but decided that it was important because this day is apart of us - whether we like it or not. Today would be Jael's third birthday.

The last few weeks leading up to this day have been hard. I thought that this year would be easier but it doesn't seem to be the case. Memories of the month and the day and the funeral come rushing back (I guess because I suppress much of it throughout the year.). Conor got up this morning and told me that he "hated today." He said that the day makes him sad. He is much like his mom and does not talk about it, so I am glad that he voiced what he was feeling. On the other hand Mackensey wants to talk about it all of the time. In fact, the other day she told me that she and Conor have been talking and that they want another brother or sister - now that was funny! Seriously, she loves and adores the babies at our church and in our young couples group. It really breaks my heart at times to watch her and know what a great help she would have been. She would have adored her sister.

Today we will go down to our favorite spot, Maple Bay, and release some balloons in her memory and we will thank God for the blessings that he has given us.

HOT, HOT - SO HOT

The island has broken all records this year. We had a crazy winter and now a crazy summer. It has been so hot here - in the 90's. For those TN people - you would say - so what - that is normal for us? Well, you have central air. Not too many homes have that up here. They say that it is not a necessity. We have had to close up all windows and put sheets over our back windows to keep the heat out - not that it has worked. Last week our house stayed in the 90's. This is inside our house!!!! Thank goodness for a basement home. We slept there at night but the day was spent at lakes and even the nights at the lakes or beaches. Dad would come home from work as we were pulling in from being at the lake all day, and we would jump right back in the car. We have discovered once again some new spots. We found a new beach (was not our favorite) and a new lake that is a bit further of a drive but very nice. I am not use to seeing the bottom of lakes, rivers and oceans so it is a bit daunting to see crabs running everywhere and fish swimming around your feet. The lake has plants at the bottom (well duh!); however, I have never been able to see them before. Conor and I were taking a long swim and I looked down to see these green things coming up from the bottom. I screamed and headed for shore. Conor said, "I hate to tell you this, Mom, but they are all around you." Shane could not believe that I was freaking out over plants. I told him that it is his fault for all of the scary ocean movies that we have watched over the years. Our next adventure is going to be swimming in the ocean (Maple Bay)at midnight (If we can talk Dad into it). They say that at night the ocean is lit up by plankton and it is beautiful to swim in. It stays light here till around 10:00 PM so we would have to go at midnight. They assure us that there is no sharks and that they swim in this all of the time. I think we are going to try to do it with our singles group. Hey, this blog is about our adventures so we need to keep looking for new ones.

Up There Down Here

VBS week has come and gone and I am exhausted. This year I was in charge of the games which brought back so many youth ministry memories. Conor was too old (Can you believe it?) for VBS this year so he was one of my helpers. The games were a success and the final night was family night with highlight games and inflatables. Some of the highlight games were spaghetti heads, human bowling, plasma car races and the dough sling.