Holiday Treasure #1

Hello Friends!

Well I know it has been a long time since I have really written a post but I am BACK! My family and I were away for what feels like forever. Over the next while I will be highlighting some fond memories I have from the trip we just took. I hope you enjoy what I share with you.

I want to say at the very start that after reflecting on this journey, my holiday has one theme to it: "Treasures in Heaven" The Bible says in Matthew 6:19-21 New International Version (NIV):

Treasures in Heaven
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

With this in mind I want to share with you my holiday treasures. The first treasure took place while I was back in my hometown getting to see 5 of my 6 nieces and nephews. We just hung out and caught up with one another. It was so strange to see how fast kids grow!!! After spending some time in my hometown, we travelled to where my Grandmother lives and it was there that we were able to celebrate her 75th birthday and my daughter's 5th birthday together. I realized that my Grandma had only met my daughter once before and that was at my daughter's 1st birthday party! How SAD is THAT??? Needless to say, the visit was so great. My Aunt made the party so special with balloons, old time games like pin the tail on the donkey (they use stickers now for the tails...how smart is THAT?), she made a ton of delicious food and it was so nice to see my Grandma who is blind play the game with my daughter. Turns out that Grandma won but in my Aunt's house that means BOTH birthday girls got a prize of $5.00 each! Too fun! I was able to catch up with two Aunts, an Uncle and my lovely Grandma. All are treasures that I pray will be stored up in heaven. It seems that time and life has a way of getting in the way of staying connected. This has made me think a lot and I pray that I will no longer take the treasure of my extended family for granted. I must do better at staying connected.

Well sadly, I left my camera at the hotel for this venture and my Mom still has not sent any to me so I have no pictures to share from this holiday treasure. Maybe just maybe if and when I get them I will be able to share this part with you.

I will end this holiday treasure for now. I ask you...Do you have a family member(s) that you have not connected with in a long time? Maybe it is time to reconnect! Think about it...They are treasures.

Holiday Blessings

It has been a while since I have shared. I am sorry to report that it will be longer still. I have one week of holidays left and one week of camp to attend before I can go into any details on the following holiday blessings:

- Birthday celebrations with family
- 40th Wedding Anniversary vow renewal
- "Circle Church"
- The passing of my husband's Grandmother (sounds odd as a blessing I know but wait for it)
- Visiting friends on Vancouver Island (Didn't get to see all our friends tho *sigh*)
- Chocolate Tofino
- Hiking Rain forests
- Walking many beaches
- Camping in the fresh air
- Spending time in BC with family

These are just a few of the blessing I look forward to sharing with you when I am back from vacation and we aren't even done yet! Hopefully you will be ready to hear some stories and see some pictures. See you in a couple of weeks. Hope your summer is as great as mine.

A Tough 4 Weeks

The title of this post is lacking creativity but then again so is my brain! It really has been a tough 4 weeks. My household has been battling sickness for the last month and I am soooo SICK of it...(no pun intended)! When we were away in Toronto both of my family members came down with strep throat. Needless to say it was a horrible flight home for our 4 yr old but like always she is a real trooper. She barely complained at all. After we got home I got her into a doctor right away and she was put on amoxicillin and after day 2 she was ready to go. My dear hubby on the other hand took 6 days of the same antibiotic and NOTHING! Poor guy had to suffer until we could get him in to see our doctor. As it happened our family doctor was away and because of this we had a strange blessing. Mike (hubby) was able to see a different doctor who explained why he always gets so sick. I was quite concerned because if someone gets a cold he will ALWAYS get it and for him it just hangs on for so long! When we were in college I felt so bad for him because he was sick so often. No one was more frustrated about it than him. Anyhow, back to the strange blessing. During his visit with this other doctor he learned more about the effects of his medical condition. Mike's blood is absent IgA (immunoglobulins) basically you (I am assuming) and I have the antibodies present to fight off upper respiratory infections whereas Mike's blood does not have this. So every single little "bug" that he comes into contact with sticks. This is horribly inconvenient for us because we have a kiddo who attends day care and soon school where parents will still send their sick children knowing they are not well. I am sure they have their reasons but it sucks for us. Yet, the blessing comes because now that we are fully aware of why he easily gets sick, we are able to take the proper measures to help build his immune system. We are not a family who enjoys taking medications so we will up the anti oxidants by eating certain berries, taking oil of oregano and different natural remedies. Also, we will be telling ANYONE who is sick and out to just GO HOME! People are just not aware that they may be harming someone else by being out while sick. I understand that some people may not have a choice and that they may have to work but I am sure something could be done.

Anyhow, it has been a tough 4 weeks because so many people around my town are sick and do not have enough common sense to just stay home or keep their kids home. Our 4 yr old has been sick for the 3rd time now in 4 weeks and thus has given it to her Dad. I have managed to stay healthy...until now. I am getting over a cold that I just got the other day but I am happy to report that I am feeling better. Yet because of this cold I have been sleeping in a different room than Mike and that is not ideal. We have decided to keep our little one out of day care since we are so close to leaving on holidays and we just don't want to risk her getting something else to share with us. Could you please pray for us? Pray for health and safe travels. We leave really soon and we are very excited to be going. Also pray for this new baby growing. We were able to hear the heartbeat and the doctor was able to get a reading of 147 beats and she said it was a nice strong healthy heartbeat. For this I am thankful. God is good.

Since I don't think I will get to post anything until I get home, have a wonderful summer and remember...if you are sick...STAY HOME! :)

Getting Close

Hello Blogger Family,

I just wanted to drop in and say how excited I am that my holiday time is so close. It has been really busy around here lately with the flooding and everything else ministry related. I am looking forward to hitting the road with my family. It should be a good time. I have to admit that it is really hard to get into the office when our summer so far here has been so gorgeous! We have had so many hot and sunny days that sitting in an office is torture! However, there is so much to do before we go that we have to be at the office preparing for our departure. We leave pretty soon yet the list of tasks that needs completed before we leave seems super long. We are just taking it one day at a time. Today's work day was pretty good. We went to the larger city from here which is only about 1hr away and we shopped for new shelves for our food bank. We had lunch in the city and came home in time to pick up our daughter from daycare. That was a fun work day. When we got home my 4 yr old helped me make a yummy lasagna full of veggies and some ground turkey. It was really good. This reminds me of a funny I want to leave you with:

At the supper table our daughter was telling us all about her day at daycare. She told me that at quiet time she went to lay down but a boy named Devon tried to steal her mat. She said he didn't like her because when he was laying down he "gave her a dirty face." I couldn't help but smile...Even now I am smiling. He didn't give her a dirty look he gave her a dirty face! How DARE he?!? LOL! Too cute. Also she informed us after supper that she is "literally too big for the small potty at daycare because when she sat down on it her bum hit the water!" Kids have a way of really making you smile. Where did she get the word literally from??? Hmmmm, I am pretty sure I say it....a lot. I am literally going to have to watch what I say...Opps. Anyhow, Just thought I would let you know that our holidays are close and maybe we will get to see some of you on our travels??...Maybe I can experience a little "Hospitality Haven" along the way?...That would be nice. **Wink** Have a good summer.

Silly Hormones!!

So here is something funny that happened to me today. My dear husband took our little dog in to the vet today for a free check up before she gets fixed tomorrow morning. A little later in the day when we had some free time he told me about her check up and about the upcoming procedure. After he was done telling me the information he said in passing "Oh and I signed a form saying that if they get in there and discover that she is pregnant to just continue the procedure." Well THAT did NOT go over well with me! I immediately said something to the effect of "No WAY would I EVER let that happen!" and I burst out into tears. Poor hubby had no clue what he was in for. I sobbed for a good 20 mins explaining that abortion is abortion and it doesn't matter if she is a dog or not. Life is life and life is not ours to take away. Then I went on crying thinking about our poor puppy and how she could have lost her babies if that had happened without me knowing. I was all concerned about her feelings.

Anyhow after my little rant my patient and loving hubby told me that he understood how I could feel this way being pregnant myself and always concerned about the health of our little baby who is God willing growing strong and healthy. Well he has now told me he will make sure to change the paperwork at the vet tomorrow. So if my dog is pregnant they will hold off on the surgery until after she has her puppies. I mean it is very unlikely that she is pregnant but I couldn't bare the thought of a puppy abortion.

The funny part is that those silly hormones made me BAWL...I mean the ugly cry kind...snot everywhere and when I was done I had puffy eyes. I am just glad we were at home and not at the office when that happened! WHEW! I am thinking that if my hormones wern't so out of whack I could have just calmly told him my wishes. As it happened I was a wreck...Silly, SILLY hormones...I won't miss you!