Mexico, here we come

So we took the opportunity to go to Progreso this weekend, since the hurricane veered off our path. Thank you for all your prayers in that matter. We got our first taste of Mexico, although it is very much a touristy town. But it was fun for us, because we have both never been to Mexico, and there was a lot of hustle and bustle. It was plus 40 when we went, and we didn't take our stroller because of the crowds, but everyone had fun. We even managed to get some lunch, even though we didn't have a menu, and we have no idea what the food was called that we ate. Some other things we did this weekend were spending some much needed time as a family playing games, etc. As you can see, Brooklyn is really getting into playing UNO.

Just a note about the ship that was caught in the hurricane Ike, that we had mentioned this week. All the people are OK, and I believe it is appropriate to give God the credit for that, because a lot of prayers were being said on their behalf.

Looking back on this week and all that has happened, I just want to say "God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good".

LeRoy

Our Weekend Has Changed

At the beginning of this week we were expecting that we would be hiding in our houses today listening to the roaring wind and pounding rain. It's amazing how things can change. It hasn't rained even one drop here. And we are not expecting it to rain much at all. It's looking like we are on the dry side, meaning moisture is taken from us to feed the storm. We do want everyone to continue praying for the hurricane situation though, as 1000's of people are affected by it. We heard today that there is/was a cargo ship stranded within the storm, and it was far too dangerous for anyone to go and rescue them. We pray that the 22 people aboard are able to ride the storm out and survive. God can do anything so we are praying that he'll protect them.

Because of this change in weather expectations, we now are able to do stuff. Since we expected to be stuck in our houses with no power, we are planning things very last minute. Tonight we decided to go for ice cream. We're planning on going into Mexico tomorrow morning to check it out. They recommend if you've never been to Mexico to go to a certain town (forget what it's called) about 1/2 hour away. It's more for tourists but gives a good taste. So we want to go check it out. So we will drive there, park on this side, walk across and pay the 25 cents it costs to cross. Once we've experienced that town, we'll go to the closer town called Reynosa (more like real Mexico). If that makes any sense. Oh, and of course once we get back we'll dive into our books to study while the girls nap. Weird to think we can go to Mexico for a few hours. Never thought I'd say that.

We do think we'll get some rain over this weekend yet, but not nearly enough to bring damage or flooding. Only 30% chance tomorrow opposed to yesterday's forecast of 80%. So we'll see how the rest of our weekend pans out.

Thank you for your continued prayers for LeRoy. I just asked him how he was feeling and he says "I think it's almost gone". YAY:) We have no idea what it was, but are praising God that he is feeling so much better.

We are having a great start to our weekend, and I hope you are all too.

Faith

Another Update

Thank you again for all your prayers. Today LeRoy can still tell there is something not quite right in his stomach area, but he is so much better than he was. We pray that things can continue to improve, and soon he will feel completely healed.

Praise the Lord

LeRoy is home and all his tests came back negative for appendicitis. We are feeling so upheld by God through all your prayers. We have received so many emails from you who are praying for us. Thank you so much. Even an offer to babysit all the way from Steinbach. God has taken my worries of today, and I can breathe again.

Another change this afternoon is the direction of the hurricane. We are not in its path at the moment, meaning we may even be on the dry side of it, and not get any rain. If I am reading it right anyways.

I am thinking that LeRoy's change in health has been our miracle for today. God is so good. Thank you again for all your prayers.

LeRoy

Those of you on our prayer list recieved an email on this already. But in case some of you did not recieve the letter here is what I am asking prayer for. LeRoy is at the hospital with an inflamed appendix. He had extreme pain yesterday, but had a great night. The retired doctor on campus here wanted to see him this morning anyways. He sent him to the hospital right away but offered to go with him to help with paperwork and such. That way I could stay in class, and be here for our girls. Now I am trying to decide exactly what to do. We have had many offers of help which is awesome. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors looking after him.

Faith

Our Crazy Life

Since we have not posted much in the past week or so, I figured I would post on some things we have been up to. Last week was a short week with our wonderful long weekend due to Labor Day. I love short weeks. It helped classes go by much quicker. Unfortunately one day I spent an afternoon in bed, sleeping off an aching body. The weekend came, and like every weekend, we try and do something fun as a family, especially for Brooklyn's sake. This weekend we found a local park 2 minutes away (depending on these frustrating lights), that has 3 play structures in various sizes. She loved it, and keeps asking to go back. So one of these days we will need to do that. On Saturday we left our girls for a couple hours and went out for supper by ourselves. It was desperately needed after going about 4 months without a date. It was so good to be able to focus on each other and talk about how we are really doing with all these transitions, without kids calling for us at the same time. Sunday is our no-homework day of the week. We decided this before we came and are holding ourselves to it. We need that day for relaxation and family and friends.

This week has come, and is going by as we prepare for another threatening hurricane. Right now Hurricane Ike is heading straight for us, so this afternoon I went grocery shopping for non-perishable foods and drinks, just in case it does hit us and we're without power for a few days. We also filled our van with gas, before prices sore, and in case we have a emergency evacuation. We sure never thought we would ever be in a hurricane, but here we are learning what they are all about and trying to stay relaxed (LeRoy is not worried at all, but I am a little different) with it heading our way. They say hurricanes can easily change direction, speed up, or slow down. If you are at all interested in keeping up with this hurricane to see where it lines up with where we are check this link. Just click on Ike on the map and it will give you a bit more info. We are the most southern tip of Texas.

Today LeRoy spoke to another student that goes to our church, and who understands all Spanish, regarding what is happening with our pastor and church (LeRoy mentioned this in the previous post). I am not sure of any details, but it is sounding like we may be needing to find another church. So please pray for this as it will be yet another transition for our family. Most likely we will be just assigned to another church rather than us actually have to find one.

I have a very quiet evening today. The girls are in bed for the night, and so is LeRoy as he is sick today. Keep him in your prayers as he is having lots of stomach pain, not sure what it is. There is something going around here, but he has not been sick like this in many years. I do not think I have ever seen him like this. Some wonderful neighbors/classmates of ours even drove to the local grocery store for us to buy him Ginger Ale.

Since it is a quiet evening here I better stop procrastinating and get to my homework. Hasta Luego.

Faith

Thoughts about Church, God, Life and Mennonites

I have a feeling this post might be a bit of rambling, and possibly a little hard to follow, but if you stick around to the end it might make sense. That's what I'm telling myself, anyway. I've got all these different thoughts running around in my mind and I'm trying to snatch and gather them into something coherent. They seem to all be related.

CHURCH
Lets start with church. We have had a tough time these last weeks trying to find ourselves at home with our Spanish congregation. They are nice people, but you know, it's not familiar. We don't know if we should look for an English service on a different time to supplement, or nourish our spiritual tanks. This leads to asking ourselves good questions. What is church really for?, and thinking and realizing that it is fairly selfish to think that church is about me, and what do I get out of the service? Isn't our purpose to worship God, in community, and bring Him glory?
We are to praise God through everything, and that was partially was this morning's message was about. We were able to sit together for the message today because the kids were in the nursery with one of the ladies today. PRAISE GOD for that. Psalm 8:2 states that "from the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise" and it is incredible to see Brooklyn begin to do that. This week she learned Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Also she has begun to pray "Thank you Jesus for this food, amen." To know that she praises God in such innocent ways. How awesome.
Back to our church again. We were both thinking about EFC this weekend, and how it is going through the changes of 2 services. May God refine His people through the stretches and challenges that this implies. Our church here is also about to change. We think. As best we can make out (we asked a 2nd semester student who knows a lot more spanish and was also there) but our pastor is resigning. After his message today he announced that he would be stepping down, there is a membership meeting Friday, and next Sunday might be his last week of preaching. So if you can remember our church (Iglesia Bautista del Cordero) in your thoughts and prayers would be appreciated.

WALKING WITH GOD
Thursday in chapel we were blessed to have a few talented fellow students sing in English (the first things English we have heard in a month). It brought tears to my eyes. It was "I can only imagine". I think the theology might be a bit off, because I am beginning to see more clearly that it is possible to not only "imagine" what it will be like to walk in God's presence, we can experience it now. But in heaven it will be so much clearer. Here's a link for the lyrics if you want.i-can-only-imagine-lyrics. Anyway, our small groups time, our spiritual life class, and mostly Jesus through the Bible has been meshing these different thoughts in my mind. Jesus is real, and He wants all of me, and He wants to take this messed up, broken piece of trash and be glorified through it. The "Lord I am a vessel" round song from EFC popped into my head as I'm writing this, as kind of my sentiment.

LIFE
All of this to say that God is at work here in our lives, and we are doing more than just learn a new language. Life is very stretching at times, and we don't know what lies ahead, but we look back and see that God is faithful. To be honest, the transition is difficult at times, but the beauty of it is that we find it drawing us to God. Praise the Lord! I think I've said enough for now, I'll save my thoughts on menno's for a later date. If I forget, remind me.

CUL8R from LeRoy

Surfs up, Dude!

We went to the beach and Faith, Brooklyn and Emma got to see the ocean for the first time. Very exciting. The weather was great, and it was a lot of fun. As Faith put it "it was absolutely beautiful!" As you can see from the pictures I had so much fun playing in the surf with Brooklyn. It took her about 2 hrs to want to go in the water, but after that she absolutely loved it. It was nice to get away and go have fun, away for a while from our normal daily routine. We probably won't be able to get out to South Padre Island, which is an hour and a half away, very often because of studies, so we really treasure this opportunity.

By the way, you can see some more beach pictures that we posted today on our web albums.

Also an aside, thanks for all the encouraging notes and emails that we have received from many of you. They have been very meaningful.

Friday Night Festivities

So we decided to do something more exciting than study on Friday night this week. We invited over another couple from our class, "companeros de escuala", I think is what you might say in Spanish. Their names are Rob and Laura and they have 2 kids, ages 3 and 5. The kids seemed to enjoy playing together, and Faith especially enjoyed cooking and hosting again, something we haven't been able to do in months. It was neat to talk and hear about how God leads and provides for all our needs as we trust Him. It was also neat to find out that they also love to play Settlers and Ticket to Ride. Whohoo!

A funny, or not so funny thing that also happened was that we received a note in our mail about some meeting at 7pm, but since we had company, and since it didn't seem that important, we didn't end up going. Well, it turns out that we missed out on a big party that the returning students threw for all us newbies. Oh, well, maybe next time.

This weekend we finally got our van fixed (the AC needed recharging) and so maybe we'll go to the beach tomorrow before the hurricane hits. Also, we have both been really struggling to find time, energy, and motivation to keep up in our studies. It seems like such a tall mountain to climb at times. We know that it will all be worth it in the end. I say that on my own strength I can't do this, but I really need to begin to believe it and put it into practice.

We trust that all of you are enjoying your last long weekend before school starts. We are definitely anticipating the extra day off, although it is too bad that we can't watch any Labor Day football!

New Pics

Check out our new pics of August. Click on the slideshow to the right.

7 Months Old

This time is Emma's turn to be shown off. So here is our baby girl at 7 months old.

Make a Smilebox postcard

A is for Apple

That is what Brooklyn has been learning in daycare this week. It is so exciting to see her mind expanding, and that she is excited to be learning new things. She loves that she can bring papers home on the stuff she's learning and tell us about it. It's amazing how thrilled someone can be over an apple tree. So I guess her experience of "school" so far is good. We'll see how long that lasts.

Emma Update

What an answer to prayer. Emma's fever broke sometime over night, and thankfully she slept straight through and had an excellent sleep. Which means we had a very restful night. She woke up with no fever, and she's been so happy today. She is still really stuffed up, which makes it really for her to eat and drink her bottle. But slowly that too is improving. So I am sure in a couple days it'll all be cleared up and she will be able to have her whole bottle before growing tired of sucking and breathing. Thanks to all the prayers going up for her.

Prayer Request

Our poor little Emma has now been fighting a fever and congestion for 3 days. The fever comes and goes, but she is feeling awful. She hasn't been the biggest eater at all, so we were quite excited tonight when she finally had 3 oz (she usually has 6) of milk at one time. Her nose is so stuffed she can only have tiny bits at a time, so it takes awhile for her to eat. Poor girl. If nothing is better by Monday I will take her to the doctor here on campus. But we sure thought the fever would have broke by now. This is the longest either Emma or Brooklyn has ever had a fever, so I am starting to get a little anxious. So if you can pray for Emma, and for us (we don't have much energy left), we'd really appreciate.

We'd also like to ask you to pray for us as we are feeling exhausted half the time from school, culture shock (it's very latin here in Edinburg), and still getting used to being away from home. This does feel like home, but not like home. I'm sure you know what I mean.

Well, we are enjoying a quiet evening today. Brooklyn was sleeping before 7:30 since she wouldn't have a nap, and Emma just went down. I think we will enjoy some reading, yummy iced tea, and quiet. Y'all have a great weekend now, you hear!?! (We're so far down in Texas we don't even here the Texas accent we were expecting.)

Rain, Rain, Rain

Okay, so we thought it was never suppose to rain here. And as much I love rain, it doesn't cut the humidity and mugginess. There has been rain in the forecast everyday this week, and it's suppose to rain all weekend again as well. It hasn't rained all week, but at least one hard stretch almost every day. With thunder, lightening, the whole bit. It's fun, but I really want to go to South Padre Island, and right now it's looking like it may have to wait at least another week. Bummer.

Huge Thank You

Thank you so much to every one of you who has prayed for Brooklyn, and her adjustment to daycare. Today no tears were shed when we left her, and that is a huge accomplishment for her. We are so proud. Over supper this evening, she was even asking if she could go to daycare right now. So it has moved from a fear to a very exciting venture for her. I think next week she will start on a curriculum with numbers, alphabet, colors, etc. Right now she's in the younger age group, 2 and unders, but if she keeps this up she may move to the 2 and up age group. Either way she'll get to learn tons of new stuff. So thank you very much for praying. We know there were many of you, even one of Brooklyn's friends from church. Thanks Julia.

Las Ninas Que Bonitas

I don't really have much to say today, except that I'm hoping we can go to South Padre Island this next weekend, as our plans to do that this past weekend didn't work out. Rain and no air conditioning in our van made us change our plans. We still had an okay weekend. Only okay because we really missed home, so there were many tears. But we did take the time to go for a walk and take some updated pictures of our girls. I'm hoping, sooner than later, to put some up to date pictures of them on our wall. It's been almost 7 months since I have updated any pictures. Here is a couple of them, but I have no idea how we are going to chose the final ones. Especially for Emma, she had a blast being the center of attention for a few minutes. Brooklyn is 26 months, and Emma is 6 1/2 months. Oh how time flies.

What a Sunday

What a day it was indeed. It was quite stressful to say the least. We couldn't get ahold of anyone who could tell us when church started at the spanish speaking church we were to attend, so after much debating we still decided to go, and decided that 10:00am was probably a good time to leave. When we got to the church, (after accidentally ending up at the McAllen airport) we noticed that others were also arriving and entering the building. Good, we thought to ourselves, we're not late. Ah, very incorrect. We entered through a door that led us into the back of the sanctuary and the pastor was in the middle of speaking. We tried to slide unnoticed into the back pews, but since we are the only non-latinos in the building, and there were only 20 people inside, well, it was pretty obvious we were late. We kinda played follow the leader, standing when they stood, bowing our heads when they did, and pretending we understood.
The people were so gracious, though. Very friendly and encouraging us in our studies. They even invited us to the front and prayed for us alongside all the other students going back to school. We later found out that we had walked in on Sunday School and that the main service started at 11:00. By the strength of God and the graciousness of those believers, we were able to fellowship the same God together. We even got to sing my favorite hymn, 'How Great Thou Art' in espanol. That was quite cool. We hope and pray that this congregation can become our church family here this year, because in the unfamiliarity of Iglesia Bautista del Cordero, we especially miss our church family at EFC.

Until next time, hasta luego!

Early Morning

This picture is taken at 6:30 yesterday morning. The girls were so awake it was hilarious.

Yay for the Weekend

What a week. Full of classes, making this more like home, encouraging Brooklyn for daycare, and trying to find a little time for relaxing. Makes for a crazy week. Classes have been going good but overwhelming. Lots of repeating our vowels, over and over again. It gets quite tiring on the face, using muscles we're not used to using. It has been more or less the same class all week, phonetics, and orientation. On Monday we'll start our regular class schedule including chapels, and starting to learn a bit about Latin culture.

This week I also took the time to put some of your friendly faces up on our walls to make it feel more at home. Brooklyn was quite excited to have me put some pictures of her friends, and family. Naming each and every one of them. I still want to print more to put on her wall for her.

Today we spent part of the afternoon at the local pool with almost all of the language students and their families. It reached about 35 degrees today, but the sun is just penetrating. So it felt good to be at the pool and cool off.

This weekend we are hoping to go to South Padre Island, which is by the Gulf of Mexico. It's about an hour away and I am very excited to finally see the ocean. It'll be a first for me. So hopefully it doesn't rain like it is supposed to all weekend. It's also our first Sunday to attend our Spanish church. We've been assigned to a Baptist church, but I forget what it is called and exactly where it is. Hopefully we'll be able to find directions before we have to leave.

This is a long post but I may as well update you all on how our girls are doing. Emma is sitting extremely well, and has now eaten, other than cereal, bananas, peas, and carrots. She loves carrots. She does well in daycare, the biggest adjustment being having to have her morning nap while kids are playing and being noisy. So she will just slowly get used to that. Brooklyn has been having a harder week with daycare. The first day was okay, but it slowly got worse from there. This morning from the minute she woke up she cried that she didn't want to go. She stops crying a few minutes after we've left her there and has a great time. Today she seemed to have tons of fun and was hyper after because of the excitement. So we just need to get used to the actually going to daycare and have her excitedly running to daycare. That will make it easier on me to leave her. It's tough leaving a screaming child. Otherwise she is doing great, loving our home here, and learning so much everyday. Talking non stop, and extremely clearly.

Well that's probably long enough for today. Thank you all for your prayers throughout this week.

Our Texas Home

Here is a video to show you all our new home.

Spanish Here We Come

Very very slowly anyway. Today was our first official day of classes, and we felt overwhelmed. Trying to figure out which books go with which classes, and the starting of sounding out vowels, and practicing over and over again. I can tell already that I will be so tired of saying the same "noises" all day. That's how it will feel for me, but really the "noises" all have different sounds. We're feeling a bit better about it all tonight already, once we've had some time to study by ourselves, and time for it to process. Tomorrow and for the rest of the week we work mainly on our phonetics, so we start off the year saying things correctly. Or to at least get a good idea of what it is suppose to sound like.

What was exciting this afternoon was that I met another Canadian couple from the Bible Insitute here. They are from Vancouver, and she was quite excited to know there was a few more Canadians on campus. So now that makes it 7 of us. That'll be nice once Thanksgiving rolls around for our own little gathering. That's my plan anyway.

I better go get ready for bed, as morning comes far too early.

New Pics

I have finally had a bit of time to update some pictures from the last few months. So if you click on our slideshow to the right, you will find two new albums to enjoy. We have recorded a taping of our new home here in Edinburg, so hopefully in the next couple days we'll be able to post it. Have a great night:)

Something Old, Something New

Well the something old part of today is that we did more shopping and more unpacking. But I think we now have everything we need. Monday will definitely be the day for more grocery shopping, after some meal planning. We are also almost all unpacked and settled. A very good feeling since Monday we start with school.

The something new of today was that we were going to go to a rodeo with Dallas and Tara. A free one we read about. We got there and there was hardly anyone there so instead we went in search of ice cream. We found some and it sure was good. Now the kids are in bed and Dallas and Tara are about to come over to play a game. It's time to relax for the weekend. Hope you are all enjoying yours.

We've Arrived and are Moving In

So we thought we'd have more time and internet access as we drove down here, but it turns out we didn't. So here is a rough idea of how our trip went. The girls did really well with driving so much, thanks to presents from grandparents, and some friends. We had trouble finding hotels 2 out of 4 of our nights, which meant driving another hour or so till the next town to sleep. But we eventually arrived here in Edinburg Tuesday evening. Spent another night at a motel and more swimming, and then came to find our new home Wednesday morning. We definitely have it nicer here than we were expecting, with lots of furniture and a slightly bigger apartment than our house in Steinbach. I hope we can soon take some pictures (once we're totally unpacked and it actually looks like a home) and post some so you can all see where we're living. I would say the girls are already getting use to this being home. Brooklyn mostly loves that she can have her toys again, and that there's a slide in the backyard (that we can't play with cause the mosquitoes are so bad from hurricane Dolly). Oh, and she has her very own bunk bed. That was an extremely exciting surprise for her. She wants Emma to sleep on top, but I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon.

LeRoy and I are adjusting well. I miss home extremely much, and definitely have up and down moments. We are slowing unpacking and trying to get used to this heat. Thankfully we have AC that at least keeps us cooler than it is outside. Last night at 10:00 it was still 33 degrees Celcius.

We now have internet once again so you can all contact us that way, and we can update you all on how we're doing down here. We hope to have phone soon so we can let you all know what that number is too. If any of you have Skype, we do have that too.

I better get back to unpacking. Thank you all for praying for us as we travelled down, we definitely felt those prayers as absolutely nothing went wrong. We miss you all.

I feel like Joseph

Yesterday we spent from 8pm till 11 looking for a place to stay the night. We were all quite cranky and wanted to sleep, plus we realized that we hadn't called back to Canada like we had promised and that was probably making some people anxious. Like I said in the last post, there were two instances where we really felt God beside us as we made decisions. This hotel searching was the second. Friends of ours recommended Holiday inn in Watertown, but since there was a huge free concert at the Ridlin museum (wish i could have gone inside, Trevor, it looks spectacular from the road) there was no room at the inn. There was also no room at the next town, or the next. Well, actually the third town had a biker rally (Sioux Falls), and we did eventually find one of the last available rooms in this town and that was nothing but an answer to prayer! (Sorry, Lisa, we didn't get to actually see the falls)

We hope to get to Dallas, TX tomorrow, and we will try to post a few pictures that we took along the way. By the way, the most interesting sign we saw today was posted along the interstate in Iowa and it simply said........ VENDING MACHINES

"We're not in Kansas anymore"

Unlike in the Wizard of Oz, we are actually in Kansas. We've had two long, hot days of travel. Actually, yesterday was overcast, only today was sunny and hot. When we left Mom and Dad Reimer's yesterday, I told Brooklyn that we were having tears as we were saying goodbyes, and that it was just like the rain that was falling. Soon the sunshine would come out and then we would also have sunshine on our faces.

Well, I don't think it is quite that simple. But the sunshine was out in full force today, and we have joy in our hearts knowing that God is going with us and ahead of us. Two very simple examples of this came yesterday. We were running low on gas and since we have never pulled a Uhaul before, I overestimated how much gas we had. So... to make a long story short, we took a scenic detour to a casino to find some much needed fuel. It's never a bad teaching time for Brooklyn so we asked if she wanted to pray with us for gas (she gets a kick out of "Daddy, buy gas?") Needless to say, God proved faithful, even in the small things.

Time is Drawing Near

So we haven't gotten to those pics that we said we'd post, and it will just have to wait a little longer. There is more important things on our minds right now. We leave for Texas in 4 days. Yikes. It feels like we could have so much more time to get together with people and say goodbye, but time just doesn't allow it. Some of you we have wanted to have coffee with one more time, but it just has not worked out. We continue to get ready, make sure we have everything we need to go. So yes, on Saturday morning sometime, we will leave home as we know it, with many tears, and head for our new home for the next year. We're hoping to be able to update you all as we travel down, but we'll see if time, hotels, and our girls will allow it. So, until next time, please keep us in your prayers as we travel and say our final goodbyes.

Pics

We are feeling a little behind in our picture updates and blogging. For now we have posted some pics from our camping trip earlier this week. Hopefully soon there will be more from our past couple months, including our Alberta trip in June, and some SOLID pics. Click on the slideshow to the right to go to our pics site.

Where Our Girls Are At...

It has been so long since I have updated anything on our girls. So it's time. Brooklyn is busy busy busy, keeping us on our toes constantly. She has struggled the last month or so with so much change and moving around, but now is slowly getting back to her usual self. It helps that we have finally been with her a whole week in one place. It was too hard on her with us leading SOLID and her going back and forth with my parents, and not seeing us much. So now we try and give her lots of attention. Another exciting note about Brooklyn is that she is still potty trained, even telling us most of the time when she has to go. We're so proud of her. And of course she is always making us laugh. Check out how she had to have her footwear in this picture. 2 year olds can be so much fun.


Emma is now 5 1/2 months old, and has just learned to sit on her own. I'm too scared to go far yet in case she falls but she's doing amazing. She also started eating baby cereal about a week ago and absolutely loves it. She has it twice a day already. And since starting that is giving me almost a whole night sleep. More of her personality has definitely been coming out the last few days, and I can tell she will try and put a lot of blame onto Brooklyn in the future. She's a very sensitive child, so she knows how she is feeling when, and can cry very easily if she wants to. Sometimes she won't stop crying until I am holding her. I kinda like that, Brooklyn never did that so it's kinda special. Emma is a cuddle child so we take advantage of that these days.


Tomorrow the four of us are going camping for a couple days. Spend time just the four of us, which we haven't done in quite awhile. After that we will visit a few more friends, and spend more time with my family. Then on August 2 we will be heading out to Texas for school. It is weird knowing the time is so close to say goodbye. We've been preparing for this for so long, and it's now here. I hate the goodbye part of leaving, I always wish we could just skip over that part. But I know that is all part of change, and coping with hard times. That is also why I never say goodbye. I say "see you later". For some reason it's much easier to say, maybe cause it isn't so definite. I'm going to start rambling soon as my emotions come, so for now I'm just going to say...talk to you all later:)

Our Day at the Zoo

So we got to go to the zoo with the Reimer family. We thought that Brooklyn would be enthralled by the animals, but it turns out that she only found interest when we were seeing things in water. She was rather enjoying making out with the polar bear.

Time For an Update

It has been a crazy 2 weeks as we have been co-leading SOLID. Now that it is finished, we look back over the time and see where God was working on the students' life as well as on our own hearts. Seeing different ministries touched our hearts and hit me especially in a different way since being a mom. To hear that some moms are so desperate for money they put their own girls on the street to prostitute broke my heart as I couldn't ever imagine being in that position with Brooklyn and Emma. One afternoon we helped clean up a few parks. We found so much glass, and even buried knives where kids are running and playing around. I sure hope kids don't take their shoes off while playing on the playground.

There are many other stories to share, but this would get too long. Now we are back at my parents, for 3 more weeks before we leave for Texas. So if you want to get a hold of us, give us an email at visibletreasures@gmail.com.

We Are Still Here

I thought I better just post that we are still alive here in Manitoba. We got home from Alberta this past Wednesday and have been busy getting last minute details ready for SOLID. It starts today. It's hard to believe it is actually here, and time to start leading it. We are excited to meet the students coming, and seeing what God is going to do through us all. So you won't be hearing from us for another 2 weeks. Talk to you then:)

Alberta Trip

We are in Alberta these days spending time with LeRoy's family. We arrived here on Friday in time for supper, and our girls traveled amazingly well. Emma slept almost the whole drive on Thursday, and only started getting too antsy when we had about an hour left to go. Brooklyn of course had her moments, but did much better than we expected. We took our back seats out of the van so we had a little room back there to sit with her, and to have her potty. Never thought I would have a porta potty in my van:) hehehe She sure didn't mind.

There's also some new pics from our Grand Forks trip a couple weeks ago. Just click on our slideshow to the right to see them. I'm now off to have a nap while the boys are all out golfing for the afternoon, and my girls and mom are sleeping.

New Pics

Check out our new pics. Just click on the slideshow to the right.

We've Moved

We are now officially moved into my parents, we just have to clean our house yet tomorrow. It's definitely hit that we're out of our own place. Another huge step closer to leaving. Anyway, I don't want to think of that right now. If you want to reach us, you can call us at my parents, or email us and we can give you the number.

We just enjoyed a beautiful lunch with our church at the park. A yummy "disco"...the food not the dance. Now us girls are back at home for nap time, and LeRoy went off with the youth to Lilac for their windup. Couldn't have picked a nicer day to swim. We may even set up the sprinkler later on to cool off.

Making Memories

This past weekend we took a little holiday to Grand Forks. It was amazing. We had so much fun getting away from our stresses of life, and spending time as a family. We left first thing Saturday morning, and came home around supper on Tuesday. From the time we left Steinbach I hardly thought of SOLID or the fact that we're moving today. On Monday my family came too, to spend a day with us there. We shopped, swam, played at one of their many parks, shopped some more, and had to get a new battery for our van as it died on us in the park. All worked out in the end and we had a very relaxing (as relaxing as it can be with a toddler) weekend.

Today we are moving. So many emotions to deal with. We loved this house, and are having a hard time realizing that tomorrow it will no longer be our home. Last night we cried many tears as it has hit us quite suddenly. We kinda wished we had never said yes to all that we're going into. But then we look back over the years and see what has all brought us to this point and it all makes more sense to why we're moving. We haven't really had time to prepare ourselves for this, just the little bit that we've tried to prepare Broooklyn. But we need to finish packing mostly before supper. We plan on at least getting all the big stuff out of here while we have help tonight. My mom is taking Brooklyn for us during the day so we can get more done. Unfortunately we have a couple meetings this morning to deal with first, one being Emma's 4 month needles. I sure hope she takes them okay, as adding a sick baby to our life right now wouldn't be the funnest. Well, off to packing. Hope you are all enjoying the beginnings of your summers.

Party part 2

Eating cake with Dad
Blowing bubbles with mom
Brooklyn's friend Mary after getting her face painted
Saying thank-you for the gift

Brooklyn's Birthday Party

Brooklyn woke up to a surprise of balloons
Opening some of her presents
She loved her cake
And her watermelon!

WE SOLD OUR CAR

A huge answer to prayer today as we said goodbye to our car. But also hard as another connection to life here has been cut.

Potty Training Update

It's going amazingly well. Brooklyn is now starting to tell us when she has to go. And it has been 2 days with no accidents. And half the time she is dry after her naps. Now we need to get to the point of being daring enough to wear panties out of the house. We've done that for walks and short drives, but that's about it. So we're pretty excited and proud of her these days.

Update on AJ

He's totally fine. He came home after 2 days in the hospital, and the antibiotics are working to keep his appendix normal again. Thankfully he didn't have to have surgery and he's feeling great.

Exciting & Concerning Weekend

Our weekend has been full of various emotions. Friday we hosted a Bourne Party, where we watched Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, and Bourne Ultimatum. 3 of our favorite movies, back to back to back. We got babysitters (grandparents) for the kids, and watched into the night. It was so much fun.

Yesterday we went to my parents to have a work day, cleaning up and making space for our stuff when we move. We got some stuff done, but it turned out to be a different day when my mom took my brother AJ to the hospital. He was having signs of appendicitis, so he went to Ste. Anne hospital. There they checked him and told him to go to Ste. Boniface so they could check him out more thoroughly and possibly surgery. To this point he's had a C.A.T. scan and blood work done, and he has to stay in the hospital at least till tomorrow to see if Antibiotics are working. So he may not even need surgery. He must be so bored, poor boy, no t.v. in his room. We'll go visit him tomorrow.

This morning we shared in our church about our present life and future, and LeRoy preached. Tears were flowing, and we were humbled by everyone praying for us. Today we are at home relaxing, and I'm trying not to think too much of how AJ's doing. Trying not to let my imagination go.

Last Day of Work

LeRoy is officially done his work at Legacy Originals. It actually feels extremely weird, but really good too. It'll feel even better once he is finished preaching Sunday morning. Today his wonderful boss, and his wife, had a bit of a party for LeRoy, and I got to in to the city to join them. They ordered in Olive Garden for lunch, gave us a present to make travels a little easier with the girls (DVD player for the van. WOOHOO), prayed for us, and said goodbyes. LeRoy had it really good with his boss for the past 5 years, so I think after awhile he may miss it, or at least the guys there. We've been surprised and blessed by how many of them have asked for our update/prayer letters. That is very encouraging for us.

We have joined in with the new fad of cloth diapers. Maybe isn't a fad everywhere, but it seems to be with various people we know. Today we got ours in the mail, and now I am busy washing them, getting them ready for Emma to use. I never thought I'd use cloth diapers, but it seems I am doing lots these days that I never thought I would end up doing.

A Bunch of Things

What a weekend. Started off extremely stressed and thankful our garage sale is over. It is ending with a lot more peace, encouragement, and assurance that all really will be okay. We have really felt people praying for us these past few days especially, and it has helped give us peace. A couple people even brought us cookies, and muffins. It's amazing how that helps me, as then I don't have to make sure we have something for LeRoy to take to work. But it is encouraging knowing there are people thinking of us, in this extremely busy time of life.

On Saturday we enjoyed taking Brooklyn to the nearby school and seeing her excitement of being on a play structure for the first time. She screamed when we had to leave. So we went again the next day with my family, and had KFC chicken for a picnic. Yum Yum.

This weekend I was also crazy enough to attempt (for the 2nd time) potty training Brooklyn. Like I don't have enough to do these days. But it's working. YAY. She's actually excited about it this time, and today we have only had 1 small accident. Okay, we just had the second one. But I think that's pretty good considering it's only day 3. Plus she was totally dry during her nap which is a first. We practically throw a party every time she goes on the potty. Now we just have to wait for the day when she'll tell us when she has to go. Now it's us taking her and hoping we're timing things right. So far so good.

LeRoy only has 2 1/2 days of work left. We're so excited to have him home more. We're thinking we will be able to get more done once he's home, and therefore take some stress off of us. Hopefully. Brooklyn is going to love having him home more, as she asks for him every morning as soon as I open her bedroom door. But things will definitely have to change, as he is not as much of a routine person as I am. So I'm going to have to try and relax a little with our routines. Soon they'll be out the window anyways, so I may as well get used to it now.

Thank you everyone for all your prayers and encouragement for us. We feel them and appreciate them. Please don't stop.

P.S. I figured I should add something about Emma. We think she's starting to teethe as she's starting to chew on her hands.

It's Time For a Break when...

You start planning your life in your sleep. Last night I woke up to feed Emma, and I realized I was replaying everything going on in our lives, in my sleep. Life feels so crazy most of the time these days it's hard to stop thinking about everything. So I have continued thinking into my sleep. How do I stop? It's quite annoying and tiring. It sure will be nice to have at least one of the big things on our plates finished. We are feeling quite overwhelmed and stressed these days. We are having a garage sale tomorrow evening till Saturday, we need to be moved out in just over 3 weeks, and the continuing process of planning SOLID. I have just recently told myself it's okay not to have a clean house for the next few weeks. I need to rather spend my time (if there is any left over) with Brooklyn and Emma. It sure is tough, but they let us know when it's time to focus on them. Usually around supper time, and we're at our wits end. But it is somehow all working out, and we haven't had to pull our hair out yet.

Highlight of the week: LeRoy is done work next week Thursday. YAY:)

Mother's Day

Yesterday morning I woke up to LeRoy and Brooklyn downstairs in the kitchen making crepes. I was told to stay in bed, they were bringing me breakfast. It was so much fun listening to them having fun making breakfast for me, and Brooklyn getting so excited that we got to eat breakfast in bed. The most special part of it all for me, was hearing LeRoy explaining to Brooklyn that it was Mommy's Day, and that's why they were making breakfast for me, and making me a card. At one point Brooklyn was laying in bed with me, and she was telling me she drew on a card for me. Oops so she ruined the surprise, but it was so cute seeing her excitement.

After church we went to my parents where Lisa had made lunch to give mom a break, and we brought chocolate cake and everything needed for a wiener roast for supper. But the afternoon consisted of our Mother's Day tradition. The boys go golfing, and us girls go to the green house. Hahaha what a tradition for mother's day. Those boys better be pretty happy we let them leave us on our special day.

At church there was a video shown (I have seen it a few times, but it's still so funny). I just have to share it with you all. Just click here and enjoy.

Perfect Poem

Last night I started a book called Little Blessings from a Big God: finding more of God through the lives of our children. It started off with this poem written by the book's author, Michelle Medlock Adams. It went just perfectly with my feelings these days, and I just have to share it with you all.

My Gifts From Up Above

My love for you grows with each day.
You've made my life complete,
my precious little baby girls,
so innocent and sweet.

You are the perfect works of art,
formed by the Master's touch.
You've taught me how to truly love,
you've given me so much.

Each time I hold you in my arms,
the world just fades away.
You're like two tiny rays of sun
who brighten every day.

How could I want for any more
when I've been given you?
I know that I am very blessed -
You are my dream come true.

Forever, I'll thank God for you
and shower you with love.
Because I know you're heaven-sent,
my gifts from up above.

Growing Up

I have been near tears much of this morning as I have realized just how quickly my girls are growing up. Emma is now 3 months already and Brooklyn will be 2 at the end of the month. How time flies. It really feels like we just had Brooklyn yesterday. It's amazing how much she has learned in 2 years, and yet there is so much more. Emma has definitely been more of my baby than Brooklyn ever was, I think cause now Brooklyn is older and can't cuddle her as much anymore. Last night I was out for a long evening without either of them. I was so excited to see them again this morning. I often look forward to going out without them for a break, and I don't usually think twice about it when I get home. This time was different, and I was glad I could come home and be with them today. During our time of leading SOLID this summer, we will be leaving them for a couple days so we can be in a camping setting without them, and I find myself almost dreading it. I normally would be ecstatic to be having a break from them. Just shows how much little people can have an affect on us bigger people.

New Pictures

Go here to check out some new pictures.

Challenges

Since our Sold sign went up things have really felt different for me. On one hand I don't really know how or what to feel, and on the other hand I feel every possible emotion there is. It feels a lot more real now, that we are actually leaving. I have already caught myself a few times saying out loud, "I don't want to go anymore". But then in the next moment I am excited about what is coming. I am not good with change and I dread it horribly, but at the same time of being afraid I am looking forward to what this change will all bring. I have started going through our house, mostly in my mind, and putting things into categories: storage, bring with us, sell, MCC. I already have 1 box that we will either try to sell or bring to MCC.

We have so many things, I am using the modo "Do we really NEED this?" It sure does help to know what we really need to bring along. It's hard for me to think that we can't bring nearly everything, as I am a little sentimental. I just keep reminding myself even though we can't necessarily bring stuff along, we can put it into storage.

I realized this past weekend that I don't let my true emotions and feelings out. Apparently I have changed over the last number of years, since getting married, and I like the happy easy life, instead of letting myself feel true emotions. But really this isn't the happy easy life as emotions catch up to me, and it's worse than if I would have just let things out at the beginning. I don't know if this makes sense, but it helps me to write this down. So I am working on learning how I feel on different issues that come up, and sharing them right away instead of bottling them up for future. It's hard for me to show people how I am really doing, so this is a huge challenge for me. Can you help me in my efforts by praying for me? I have a feeling prayer might help.

Sold - Tears

Our house is officially sold, and it already says so on our sign. To see that Sold sign out there, brings different emotions, and tears. It means things are really going to change soon in our life, and I am not so good with change. We got this email yesterday about tears, and it was so encouraging to us, I want to share some of it with you all. There was more to it, but I want to keep those just for me.

  Tears are joy
 Tears are sadness
 Tears are happiness
 Tears are seeing ones children grow up
 Tears are the unknowns
 Tears are seeing your children follow God
 Tears are facing the future
 Tears are saying "God,... Why?"
 Tears are love without limits
 Tears are seeing your childrens dreams come true for them
 Tears are laughter
 Tears are never ending , when there's love
 Tears are in seeing your childrens prayers being answered
 Tears are in the excitement of a movie or a hockey game
 Tears are in tucking a little girl in bed
 Tears are in being a family
 Tears are saying goodbye
 Tears are forgivness
 Tears are.....
 
 One could go on & on. Tears are good.
 Scary, but Good. 

LeRoy's Birthday

Today LeRoy is 27. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUBBY!! The plan was to drop the girls' off at my parents, meet him in the city after work, and go out for supper to Mongoe's Grill. He has yet to go there, and it's one of the best restaurants. Instead he is coming home to finish dealing with a van that we bought yesterday. So Brooklyn and I made a cake for him. It turned out alright so here is a picture. We will celebrate his birthday tonight by watching the Flames' play possibly their last game, so LeRoy's last game watching them for the next 4 years. But we'll cheer our hearts out in hopes of them winning.

Saskatchewan Road Trip

This last Saturday I (along with 3 aunts, 4 cousins, and Emma) drove to Maryfield, SK to throw a surprise wedding shower. It was so much fun driving in 2 vehicles 4 1/1 hours there, spend a few hours eating and opening presents, and then 4 1/2 hours home. We had never met this cousin to be, so it was great to meet her and show them our support of their upcoming wedding. Here are some pictures to show some interesting moments of our drive.


Emma slept the whole way there.

Aurelie on a bathroom break before being attacked by a stick.

Blurry, but you get the idea.

Trying to catch licorice that mom was trying to throw.

We have a strange family.

Spiritual Gifts

This past Sunday and this coming Sunday our church has brought in a guest speaker to talk about Spiritual Gifts. It has been very interesting, and we look forward to hearing more from him. He gave us a website to check out, to help us have a closer look at what our spiritual gifts may be. Knowing what our gifts our can be very effective, and can help us step out of our comfort zone and serve God in various ways. So if you want to know yours for curiosity sake, check out this online spiritual gift test. I (Faith) just took it, and I am told that my biggest gift is in the area of Helps and Service. I think I would agree for the most part with this test, of course there are some I may have to argue with. But maybe that's cause I wish a different gift was rated differently. One thing I know, we can't argue with what God has given us.

No More Lutch

Monday afternoon Brooklyn threw her lutch (soother) in the garbage. We've explained that soother's are for babies, and she's a big girl. It needed to go anyway cause it was ripping so we decided to see if she could let it go. She's taken quite awhile to get to sleep for naps and night. Yesterday she was in bed for 2 1/2 hours, and she just would not fall asleep. She talked and sang to herself, but no sleep. She has now been in bed for only 1/2 hour, and I think she's been sleeping for at least 15 mins. already. I guess she is starting to find other ways to help her fall asleep. Another big step for her. YEAH:) It is kind of sad for me though, makes me realize how fast she is growing up.

Overtired

Last night we had Bible Study and by 9:30 Brooklyn and friend Carter were just a little overtired. They had us moms laughing almost uncontrollably. Below is a picture and video of them. The video has no sound, but basically Brooklyn is talking really fast as she goes, and Carter is copying her and laughing. Hope you can get the drift of it anyways. It's a bit dark, so that's why a picture is here as well. Enjoy.

What a Weekend

This weekend was so much fun. It started off with having supper at a friends' place, visiting and watching our girls' play. We came home mid-evening so we could get our girls' to bed, and then we watched Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe. Saturday morning we went for 1 1/2 hour walk uptown, to do some errands and just get out into the fresh air. The plan was to go to Winnipeg with my (Faith) family to celebrate mom and AJ's birthdays. We met at 5 at Boston Pizza and then went bowling. It was so much fun seeing Brooklyn's excitement and rolling balls down the lane, but one game was enough. We just couldn't keep up with her. In the afternoon it was about 2:30 when LeRoy says "lets go now and to the mall to walk around". Both girls' were sleeping, and I needed a shower yet, but I said "YEAH". So we started getting all of us ready, and by 2:55 we were in the car leaving home. Pretty good timing I have to say. After all the city stuff we went back to my parents to watch hockey, since our Flames' were playing. It was a late night getting home around midnight.
Yesterday we went swimming, even Emma enjoyed it for about 20 mins. Afterwards we of course had to get some fries and ice cream and then in the evening we had friends' over for a game.
Yes this is a bit of a play by play of our weekend, but it was so much fun I had to share it with you.
Today and tomorrow we have a house showing which is exciting, as I hope one of these people will want to buy so I don't have to keep my house this tidy and clean all the time anymore.

Change of Plans

We didn't end up going swimming yesterday due to Spring Break. You actually have to buy tickets ahead of time to swim. Weird, but I guess then they can control how many people are in the pool. So we bought tickets for this Sunday, and decided to make it up to Brooklyn. She was disappointed but we had fun anyway. We went for a walk to get a Slurpee (yummy) and had a wiener roast. LeRoy and Brooklyn roasted wieners and we ate inside. It was just as fun of an evening.
Oh, and it was pointed out to me by a certain person that I forgot to mention yesterday what great fun we had having my sister over for a couple days. Yes she only lives 15 mins. away, but we love having her here for sleepovers, and a girls' night for me. And it's a huge treat for Brooklyn having her auntie here to play all the time.

New Pics

I've posted some new pictures of our March. Just click on the slideshow to the right and it'll take you to them.

Busy Week

This week feels like it has been crazy, and so much fun. It's like even though I'm not in school, I have spring break. Tuesday I, along with 4 friends, was able to go shopping without our kids. The five of us had a girls' day out, like the old days. Shopping, and out for lunch, without the distractions of little people. It was a wonderful treat.
Yesterday I hosted a Discovery Toys party at my house. My friend Carissa Rempel just got into selling these toys and their great. Not even too much more expensive than regular store toys. So anyway, for this party we had 12 adults, and 9 kids (3 and under) in my small house. If anyone would be interested in more information on Discovery Toys, talk to me and I can connect you to Carissa. I may even get a free toy out of the deal for hosting. We'll see once all the orders are in.
Last night we had another meeting with Dallas and Tara regarding our internship. It was an extremely productive meeting, starting to fill in blanks for that actual 2 weeks we'll be leading it. It feels so good to be able to start putting ideas down, making plans permanent on paper.
We've also had a couple showings of our house this week. We haven't heard anything back yet, so we continue to pray and not try to get to anxious. We are so excited that Dallas and Tara's house sold yesterday. One less house for sale in our price range.
Today we are home, enjoying a quieter day, and then going swimming tonight as a family. Splash splash as Brooklyn would say.

And It's Quiet

It is 8:30 and LeRoy just left to be one of the crazy SBC Alumni who stay up almost all night to play soccer. If we didn't have kids, I'd be one of the crazy fans going to watch. But I am at home listening to nothing but my humming computer, and traffic driving by. Oh what peace. Brooklyn is in bed, hopefully almost sleeping, and Emma is sleeping on the couch. These are the moments I love. Do I do something needing to be done? Or do I enjoy my quiet moments by doing something I like? I do something I enjoy, play around on the computer. And savor this minute, as the next might involve a screaming child.

Our Little Prayer Warrior

I am amazed at the memory and understanding a 21 month old can have. Last week when LeRoy took Brooklyn and brought cookies to our neighbor, it impacted Brooklyn more than we thought it would. Every day since we have caught her praying for the little boy that she brought cookies to. We'll catch her with her hands folded, eyes shut tight and saying "Jesus ouwie boy cookies". With Easter here LeRoy was teaching her that Jesus had an ouwie, so that's where that part comes in. It is so cute I wish I can capture it on camera. But it's one of those things that will maybe just stay in our fond memories of her at this age. Yesterday she also started praying for the ouwie house behind our place. There was a huge fire, and they lost their home. But hopefully the family will feel the prayers of others lifting them up, even the little prayers being said from a 1 year old. If only we could all have the faith of the little children, and maybe we can all learn to as we watch our little ones grow up.

Crazy Morning

And it's all my fault. Sometimes I tend to try and do too much at the same time. This morning was another one of those times, and once again it made me go a bit crazy. I tried to get Brooklyn ready for the day, Emma ready to head out the door, make some phone calls regarding a few different events, and talk to a friend on the computer all at the same time. This makes me get a bit angry with Brooklyn, for absolutely nothing, and Emma starts crying cause all she wants is to be held. But I am too busy in my own world to realize this. So this continues until finally we are out the door for a walk to our friend's house for a relaxing morning of visiting. And now both girls are sleeping and I have a quiet house. Phew.

Family Ministry

You wouldn't necessarily think of giving cookies to a neighbour as a ministry, but really it is. And it is a great way to get kids involved, even under the age of 2. We had been meaning to do this for the past 2 weeks, as we had new neighbors move in across the street. So yesterday evening we made cookies, and then LeRoy and Brooklyn went across the street with a plateful. Turns out they are mennonites who moved straight from Paraguay, and don't know any English. Thankfully LeRoy knows German so they could still communicate. They were shocked, and found it interesting that we brought over cookies. They said they will just have to get used to that. Too bad it doesn't happen often enough. When LeRoy and Brooklyn got back, she couldn't stop talking about the little boy she brought cookies to. I need to remember the reaction that Brooklyn gave, so that I will continue to do this, as it's a way I can use my gifts. Plus I really want Brooklyn to grow up realizing the good things we can do for people, even those we don't know.

Overwhelmed

So much to think about, so much we need to do. That is how I feel today. There is so much needing to be done for our internship in the next few weeks, it is hard to know exactly where to start. Finding speakers, figuring topics, thinking of ministry opportunities to expand the students' minds. And figure out how we are going to do all this at the same time as being there for our kids. Maybe that is one of the reasons' for us to be doing this. To get used to doing ministy WITH the kids. Somehow getting them involved. Maybe not quite at our girls' age, but I am sure somehow it will all be fine. I'm not worried.

This is a new concept for me, not being worried at all, just overwhelmed, and a little stressed. Cause at the same time as all our internship business, we are trying to sell our house (meaning keeping the house clean just in case someone comes by today or tomorrow to look at it), thinking about what all needs to be done before moving, thinking of what we are going to take or put into storage, how are we going to move all our stuff, and do we need a new vehicle? I know there are more things on our minds with this whole process like how things will all work out, and we can't answer them right now, but we know everything will work out because we are learning more and more everyday to continue to lean on God. And prayer from others. I'm amazed at how knowing others are praying can help.

Sisters

I thought this was a cute video of our girls. Brooklyn LOVES holding Emma, and rocking her.

Picture Meme

I thought this was a fun meme...type in your answer to the question in google and the FIRST image that comes up you post...unless it needs a little censoring, then you can do the next one...



Age at my next birthday:

Place I'd like to travel (where I havn't been):

Favorite PlaceA cabin surrounded by peace and quiet.

Favorite Object:

Comfy pants

Favorite Food:

Favorite Color:

Nickname:

Fatima

Birthplace:

First Smiles

I can't believe I have already gotten one of Emma's smiles on camera. But I did, so here is our sweetheart smiling at 6 weeks.

Family Picture

Yesterday evening we went to church to have our picture taken for our church's directory. This is the first time we have ever had a picture taken professionally of us, and Brooklyn did not want to cooperate. We had to resort to bribing Brooklyn with a donut after. She slowly relaxed enough to smile and laugh at the photographer so we could get a few good shots. Maybe we'll even hand this one out to people. We're not sure yet. After we went for a drive to Tim Hortons and followed through with our promise. She got a Tim Bit, the perfect size of donut for her. She gets so excited when she finally has it in her hands, she doesn't even want to eat it. It's hilarious.

Tomorrow I am going shopping with my mom. I am so excited, but this also means I have to get up by 6. Because I don't have a vehicle at home, LeRoy drops me off on his way to work. It's too bad we have to get the girls' up this early too, especially Brooklyn as that means she's up for the day that early, but it's the only way these days for me to get out. So we do what we can, and we will have an excellent day of shopping as girls. Hopefully this time I can at least come home with something.

Thankful

Since Emma was born, I have once again realized how precious sleep is. If I don't get enough sleep I lose it with Brooklyn, by mid morning. I have to say I have been getting lots of sleep compared to most moms of a 6 week old. I am going to brag a bit now, intentionally this time. It's allowed, I am a proud mommy. This last night Emma was in bed at 10:30, and didn't wake up till 6:15 to eat. I was so excited to get this much sleep in a row. Sure makes a for a little easier day mentally. I am now done bragging. I hope I don't do this too much with realizing it.

We just had about 12 Realtors walk through our house in about 3 minutes. I guess Tuesday mornings is the time to show other Realtors so they can give their clients better info. So we had to have our house looking mostly clean and tidy, at this time of morning already, for 3 minutes. It's worth it now though, I feel I don't have too much to do with the house looking this clean already. What am I talking about? There's always more to do.

UGH Neighbours

Imagine this....You are at the dentist getting work done, and you need to be in that chair for 2 hours with your mouth open. Wouldn't make you the happiest person at that moment. Finally it's over and you are excited to go home and see your family. You drive to your house only to find your neighbour has nicely cleaned his driveway, getting rid of winter's worth of snow and salt, with a bobcat, only to dump almost all of it on your yard. You are thinking that when that snow melts, your lawn is going to die cause of the salt, and grass is going to flood because of so much snow. And you are thinking it doesn't necessarily look too nice for potential buyers.

This happened to us yesterday, LeRoy being the one in the dentist chair, and we were not too happy at all. LeRoy even went over to our neighbour to talk to him, and find out who his landlord is. This guy actually gave LeRoy his name, knowing we are going to call and complain about him. I thought that was kinda funny. This guy then says he could get his bobcat friend to come and clean it up, but LeRoy said he couldn't drive on our yard either (that's almost the only way to get this cleaned up, but that would wreck things too). LeRoy felt like saying, "I could bring you a shovel". There's no way any man could shovel all that snow. Hopefully it can be cleaned up somehow, and maybe the landlord will do something about this neighbour, we've had too many frustrations in the past. Thankfully we finally know who owns the place so we know who to call in the future.

I am sure glad it's Friday. Something about Fridays, makes life more enjoyable somehow.

For Sale

Just so you all know that our house is now officially for sale. So if you know anyone who is looking to buy, let them know.

No Longer Spoiled

Brooklyn has always let me sleep in, till at least 8:30 if not 9. But now the last couple weeks has been starting to get up between 7 and 7:30. I know this is probably a normal time for most kids, but to get used to this is pretty hard. Especially when Emma goes back to sleep just before that after eating. So I guess really I am sometimes up at 6 -6:30 for the day. Yikes, that sounds worse. I'll stick with the 7, even if only for my sanity. So I guess I am no longer spoiled in the sleeping in area of my day. Thankfully I usually have a couple hours of total peace in the afternoon, while both girls nap.

God Changes Our Thinking

As many of you know we are soon going to be selling our house. We had thought for a few months already that we would try to sell privately, to save ourselves some money. A couple weeks ago we had heard about a realtor doing free appraisals, so we called her up and had her over. We just wanted to have an idea of what to sell for, and maybe get some tips for selling on our own. We were given this info and told her we'd think about it for a week and get back to her. Well, in this week, God changed our minds about selling privately. We prayed about this, whether it was smart for us to tackle a private sale, as it is a lot of work. God laid it on our hearts that we needed to say yes to this realtor, so we'd have a little less on our minds. So that's what we are now doing. We have told our realtor that we are going through her, and our house will probably be up for sale in the next week or so. Kind of sad selling our house, our first home as a family.

Double Date

Yesterday LeRoy and I left the girls with my sister and brother for half the day and went on a double date with my parents. We have not done this very often but it was lots of fun. Plus it felt like we were on our own date (way overdue) all at the same time cause we didn't have kids with us. We went to the convention center to the RV Show to dream. My parents would love an RV so it was lots of fun dreaming with them. For supper we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory, and old time favorite. It was such an amazing day filled with good conversations. Unfortunately our day ended off with a bit of a bummer when we noticed our engine or transmission light (we're not sure which one) was on as we drove home. We prayed our way home as we were not totally sure what the problem was. Thankfully we got home safely, and LeRoy was able to make it to work (I'm assuming anyway).

God's Grand Creations

Did any of you get to see the lunar eclipse last week? For me it was something I had never seen before, and maybe never will again. I was quite amazed at it, and something I won't soon forget. You know, God brings us some wonders of creation, like flowers and sunsets fairly regularly. Others, like the northern lights, meteor showers and lunar eclipses are much rarer, and in this case, more enjoyable... at least to me. Of course I had to pull out my camera and see if I could pull off a couple of good shots. My previous experiences at night photography has had less than desirable results, but I seem to have gotten luckier this time. (Thanks ebay for the $10 lens)