A LOOOOOOOOOONG weekend

Today I am so thankful for friends and family. Why? LeRoy is working all weekend, so it isn't even hardly a weekend for us. He worked late last night, tonight, tomorrow (Saturday) and even on holiday Monday. Yes it is hard knowing you won't see your husband as much, but thankfully I have a few friends and a sister who are helping me with Brooklyn and helping to keep me busy. Yesterday 3 girlfriends and I went swimming in the afternoon, went for supper and then came to my place for the evening. This helps pass the time so well, and it is a little easier to take care of Brooklyn when there are other people around. Today my sister Lisa is coming over to babysit Brooklyn while I go to work, then staying the night, and watching Brooklyn while I work again tomorrow. So I guess I am thankful that I can work this weekend too, since LeRoy isn't home anyways. But I am very excited that it is my last weekend working although it feels weird knowing I will not be going back to Hull's after this next baby is born. Anyway back to the weekend thing. Sometimes it is so good to keep busy, so I don't have to think of the fact that I have Brooklyn more to myself this weekend. It's tiring running after a toddler. And I know Brooklyn will be really excited to see her daddy again tomorrow, as she hasn't seen him since Wednesday night. All in all it should still be a great weekend, because we're going to make it a great weekend. And weekends like this make me thankful for such a hard working husband as LeRoy is. We sure do love him.

As I read what I just wrote, I think I was a bit jumbled with words today. But that isn't so unusual for me, so hopefully it at least made sense. Have a great sunshiny day:)

Keep on Praying

We wanted to say thank you to all of you who prayed for us last week as we met with Uncle Ken regarding missions stuff. It went really well and our nerves settled quite quickly as we began to visit. Although we do not have 100% affirmation yet if we are accepted (we'll find out in October), we were given more affirmation that things look good. Our references need to get their papers in, and then the board of missions will discuss us, and we'll have an interview with them in October. And then we'll know 100% what our future lies. Or at least whether we are for sure going or not. What we do know pretty much for sure is that once we're accepted and have done a year of language school, we will be living somewhere in the Chihuahua State area of Mexico.

We ask that you would keep on praying along with us as we are not wanting to go alone. EMC Board of Missions really would like to send a team, but as of yet, we are the only ones who have applied for Mexico. We have been told there is some interested but still not 100% sure. We would really like to go with someone, as it would be a little less scary. So we are praying that someone will feel God calling them to Mexico with us, to serve in some way down there.

That is really all we know up to this point, so please keep us in your prayers.

The Gift of Giving

Some of you may have already heard, but last weekend Faith bought me the most extravagant gift ever. It was something that I'd had my eye on for a while, and we went and looked at it while it was on sale, but i had decided that i was okay with not buying it. It was a new camera. For one thing, I thought it was quite selfish of me to ask for a new toy, when I knew that wasn't exactly something that Faith would prefer to spend money on. AND even though it was on a great sale, it wasn't cheap. I was just telling Faith a few days earlier that I had come to terms with it, you know, we would be wiser to save the money, or spend it on more important things, not so selfishly. Personally, I sometimes struggle in this area, and maybe some of you do too, that when you set your mind on something you want to buy, or see, or do, you find a million different ways of justifying it in your own mind, even when the conscientious, or sensible side of you says otherwise.

Anyway, back to the gift. Actually no, the gift-giver. I have been marveling this week about Faith's wonderful gift of giving gifts. She loves to do things for others in this way. The way that she so unselfishly outdid herself by surprising me, well it amazes me. She wanted to see the joy in me, she said, when I saw her surprise me. You know how sometimes, or is it often, how our experiences with other people can color and change our perception of God? Well in this case this experience made me think about how unselfishly God blesses us with His gifts, some which we take for granted daily, just so that we may acknowledge Him and bring Him joy. Wow, I need to take time to be more thankful for what God has given me! It also again brought me to ask the question, "Am I an unselfish individual, willing to give of myself for others?"

And yes, on a lighter, less philosophical and theological note, I have had an awesome time taking pictures with our new camera. Faith says she was helping me fulfill a dream of mine, and yes she has.

Nerves....

I'm amazed at how nerves can control a person's day. Today I (Faith) am full of nerves about our future. I find it strange how a person can feel extremely nervous but also excited all at the same time, about the same situation. If you have no clue as to what I am refering to, I am meaning our future in missions. Tonight we are sitting down with Ken Zacharias (my uncle but also the head of EMC Missions) to find out what and how steps start to happen. I am so nervous about this meeting, but I'm not totally sure why. I guess it probably has to do with what our future exactly holds to get to the point of going on missions outside Canada. We are hoping to have some questions (we're not sure what those questions are exactly) answered, and just be informed as the progress of our application. For those of you who hadn't heard or read earlier, we handed in our application early July. So hopefully after tonight we can answer some of the questions we've been asked by others, a little more clearly. One question I think we can answer quite confidently is that we are hoping and planning to start language school at the Rio Grande Bible Insitute in Texas in August 2008.

I don't know if I have ever been so full of different emotions all at once, with the exception of waiting for Brooklyn to be born. Fear, nervousness, excitement, anxiousness, clueless, etc. These make me think back to when I first felt "called" to be a part of missions. It was before LeRoy was in the picture, back in my second year of college. It happened quite quickly, one morning. I woke up after a short night of sleep, and I was all of a sudden extremely excited to get out of Canada to spread the Good News. I started looking for orphanage's who needed help, Haiti was my dream. That dream ended once LeRoy came into the picture, but he also had a huge heart for missions. So together after years of pondering, praying, thinking, thinking, thinking, we felt that God wanted us somewhere else. A new dream. To live somewhere outside Canada, using our gifts to minister to the Spanish. So our journey and adventure has begun.

I am terrified to bring our little family to a place we've never been, to leave our family and friends, but at the same time extremely excited to begin a new adventure in a new land. To give what we've been giving here, to people out there. We've been shown over and over again that God takes care of our every need, and because of that fact I know God will be with us every step of the way, before we even ask for His help.

Please pray for us as we continue on this journey.

Memories

It's amazing how much time passes by since the last time LeRoy and I have just sat and talked. Yah we talk everyday, but the deeper stuff only comes out once in a while. Thursday was that day. LeRoy decided we were going to sit by the fire once Brooklyn was in bed, with some hot chocolate and catch up with how each other was doing. Well of course that type of situation makes a person talk. So we talked and talked and got a better understanding of where we were at individually and as a couple. We definitely need to make it more of an effort in the future.
Saturday was fun filled day of harvest time helping my parents. LeRoy drove the graintruck all day, back and forth from the field, while us girls hung out in the house, and joined the guys for supper on the field, a harvest time tradition. Here is a couple pics of Brooklyn enjoying the time on the field.




Yesterday was another great day with my family. The guys (Dad, LeRoy, AJ) went to Teulon to enjoy the tractor pull. LeRoy had never been which is foreign to our family as we use to go every year. Us girls took in an afternoon of shopping and supper. It's great to be able to make memories with family, to go out and do stuff, instead of always just sitting around visiting. It was a nice change.
We hope you are all doing well enjoying your summers as much as we are.

Camping

I (Faith) now know I hate setting up camp for only one night. That is what we did this last weekend, but it was not planned that way. This last weekend was our annual SBC camping trip, for whoever is around from our classes to come. The plan was to go to Birds Hill on Friday evening but because of a huge storm that went through there the night before, they had to close the park till Saturday. We were so dissapointed as we were almost out the door. Understandable though as trees were uprooted and they had a huge mess to clean up. Saturday morning came, and they almost didn't open then either, but finally decided to let us come. So we left late morning and got there shortly after 12 to make the most of the day. It ended up being an excellent weekend with friends, hanging out and just having fun. Brooklyn did so well (this was our first time camping this summer, so we weren't sure how she'd handle it) we are hoping to go at least one more time yet this summer by ourselves.
This week is just another week, hanging out at home. With the exception that I get to go shopping tomorrow with a friend. YAY:) A much needed outing for me.

Miracle

Yesterday we heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time. It was so exciting to finally hear it, to know there really is a baby in there. Thankfully the heartbeat sounded healthy and strong, along with some kicks. I first felt baby kick Monday night, and now every evening I can feel he/she do a dance for us. What a miracle babies are. Even after having Brooklyn, this baby feels just as much a miracle. To think that God created this human being, using me in the process to give it a home, and in 9 months a baby is formed and ready to enter this terrifying world. Amazing.

Pickles and other sour things

It has been quite a week, almost a sour week, that being the reason we haven't written. When you come back from holidays you hope for a quiet week, full of nothings at home. That was not the case for us. Brooklyn got sick with some kind of viral mouth infection which also came with a fever. She was miserable all week, and finally today is back to herself. She had canker like sores all over her mouth, inside and out. This made her feel horrible as it was painful to eat anything. She also had a hard time sleeping, the pain kept waking her up. Through all this she is also teething all four of her eye teeth. I am so thankful for health and glad this last week is over. This week was harder than when she had the chicken pox.
On a more cheerful note, I was so proud of myself last week. I canned pickles and peaches for the first time ever using LeRoy's great-grandma's recipe. It is so quick and easy that I had 4 jars of pickles canned in half an hour. Yes that is from start to finish. For those of you who have no idea why that is impressive, it is known to take hours. And yes they taste great.
Yesterday (Sunday) LeRoy and I went on a long overdue date. We went to see Bourne Ultimatum. What an awesome movie. We loved the first two, and this one was even better. For me it made the first two movies make a lot more sense.
I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend as much as we did, and have a Blessed week.

Through Fresh Eyes

Well, lets say that having a holiday is quite different with a child than it is when there are only two. Definitely more tiring, but not neccessarily worse. It is a joy as a dad to experience things freshly through the eyes of Brooklyn. For example, I enjoy picking fruit and stuff from the garden, or standing in the mist of a waterfall. But it takes on a whole new meaning watching the excitement Brooklyn gets from doing these things.
I'm reading a book "To own a dragon" by donald Miller and it relates the excitement a dad has for participating in life with his kids to the joy that God receives when us, his kids, enjoy Him and everything He has given for our enjoyement. This is especially true when we involve our heavenly Dad in our daily joys, Miller says. It reminds me of a line from a Kutless song. "can't you see that freedom is sometimes just simply another perspective away"
Sometimes we all just need to look at life through a kid's eyes. It makes life less complicated

Our Holidays and New Pics

We have now added more pics of Brooklyn, and also from our 2 week Alberta trip. So what did we all do on our trip? Right now it feels we did everything. We (as in LeRoy, Brooklyn, and I, along with my mom and dad and sister Lisa, my brother AJ could not make it) started off by spending the first weekend in Edmonton, being with family and attending my (Faith) cousin's wedding. On that first Sunday we met up with my cousin Holly and her husband Scott, and enjoyed the day at the West Edmonton Waterpark. We had so much fun, as some of us had never been there. We also did a little bit of shopping, but not too much. The next day, lets see, that would make it Monday, we drove to Drumheller in mom and dad's van (we left our car in Edmonton) to see the hoodoo's, and a canyon, and continued on to Calgary for night. I was more excited for the next day as we spent the day at the zoo. My favorites were the hippos and giraffe's and elephants as we can't see those here at home. We then went to Canmore where we spent the next 3 nights. From there we did lots of driving to different canyons, waterfalls, and of course spent a day in Banff. While in Canmore one evening we had a huge hailstorm. We've never seen that much hail at one shot. Thankfully no one was hurt, and no windows on our van were broken, so we didn't need to take time to fix anything. It was so loud on the tin roof we were under, I can't believe Brooklyn slept through the whole thing.
From Canmore we stopped at the Columbia Icefields Glacier, and did the tour thing, on our way to Hinton. That's where we spent the next 2 nights. On our last day we drove back to Jasper and spent some time looking around as well as did a boat tour on Maligne Lake. After our last night in Hinton we drove back to Edmonton to pick up our car, and say goodbye to mom, dad, and Lisa. They were now on their way home, and we were heading up to La Crete to see LeRoy's family. That first week with my family was so much fun, but not very relaxing at all, as we had packed our days full, and had to drive lots to get to different places. Brooklyn was not impressed with all the driving, but we do have to say she did really well. Of course that might also have something to do with the fact she wasn't always in her carseat. But who can drive all the way to Alberta and make their kids stay strapped in the whole time.
Our second week of holidays was much more relaxing as we caught up with LeRoy's parents, brothers, and grandparents. LeRoy even got to golfing with them, and quadding which is always a highlight out there. It was the most exciting to see how easily and fast Brooklyn wanted to be with them. She would rather be with them than with me. That felt strange, but I was glad to have it that way.
Overall our holidays gave us many awesome memories with both families, as well as our own, that we will always cherish. It was filled with many adventures, as well as quiet relaxing times. I'm not sure what else to share right now, but I'm sure more things will pop up in our minds that we would like to share with you. That's all for now.

We're Home

Holidays are great, but it's always good to be home. After 2 1/2 weeks away, we got home Saturday night just after midnight. We will write some more later on, today hopefully, on our highlights and some stuff we did, we need to first try to remember everything we did. And we will be adding some new pics. We look forward to catching up you again, since it feels like it has been a really long time.

Our Future

Well, it looks like now our future is in the hands of God of course, but also our EMC Conference. Yesterday LeRoy went and handed in our EMC Missions applications. We've been working on filling these out for the past 4 months, and it was time to hand it in. It's an extremely scary thing handing it in, it's one step closer to doing what we feel God calling us to. At the same time it is very exciting for us, to begin a new adventure as a family. Please pray for us as we seek further guidance in the exact timing of when to leave (we are thinking August of 2008), and the steps needed to prepare ourselves, and our kid(s) for this full time ministry.

In the mean time, we are so excited to being going on holidays this Thursday for 2 1/2 weeks. We will be travelling side by side my (Faith) parents' van for the first couple days as we go to Edmonton for my cousin's wedding. Then we will join my parents and sister in their van to travel to Calgary (for the zoo), Banff, Jasper and back to Edmonton. This will take us a week. Then once we're back to Edmonton we will pick our car up and head up north to see LeRoy's family. We've been planning this trip for quite some time, so it feels weird that it is actually here. But we are very excited to be having a break. So hopefully Brooklyn will travel well and it can be a relaxing time even as we drive 12 hours on Friday. Now as for packing and getting ready, I better get going.

You know you're getting older when...

So our whole family, including Brooklyn, just woke up from a two and a half hour nap. It got me a thinkin'. It wasn't so long ago that I was complaining to my parents that they were old because they didn't want to do anything exciting on Sunday afternoon, all they wanted was to have Maduchsloop(nap).

Some signs that people get older are:
you spend your free time napping
your six-pack of abs has turned into a keg
speeding up your heart-rate consequently makes your pacemaker open the garage door
you have to write a note on your hand to remind yourself where you wrote that reminder note

Getting older isn't all bad actually. Along with aging comes the natural cycle of experiencing life events such as marriage, children, family vacations and naps. Memories are such a valued part of getting older, aren't they? Ever stop to listen to your grandparents tell stories of their past. It is the memories of days gone by, of ways that we've seen God being faithful, which oftentimes gives us strength to carry on through those days which seem difficult.

And remember, if you want to prevent alzhiemers, take a different route to work every now and then!

Scattegories

Another tag! It's like the game...use my first name initial to fill in the answers to the rest...Add up your points and win a prize!

Your Name: Faith

1. Famous singer/band: Faith Hill
2. 4 letter word: Frog
3. Street name: Fourth St.
4. Color: Fuscha
5. Gifts/presents: Food
6. Vehicle: Focus
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Friendly people
8. Boy Name: Frank
9. Girl Name: Fatima
10. Movie Title: Flushed Away
11. Drink: Frappachino (i think that's how it's spelled)
12. Occupation: Fireman
13. Flower: Fake
14. Celebrity: ?
15. Magazine: FASHION
16. City: Fort Frances
17. Pro Sports Team: ?
18. Fruit: Fraises (Strawberries in French)
19. Reason for Being Late for Work: Fire in my house
20. Something You Throw Away: Freezie wrappers
21. Things You Shout: Fudge!?
22. Cartoon Character: Fudd, Elmer

Ok, now I tag Carissa. I have 20 points! See if you can beat me....

Southern Fried Chicken

I tried this recipe the other day and we absolutely loved it. It takes a bit of time, but really it's quite easy. I think I even liked it better than KFC chicken. I used this recipe for about 6 drumsticks, and still had half the mix left. We thought it'd also be good with shrimp, or chicken breasts as chicken fingers.
1/2 cup salt
1/8 cup black pepper
1/8 cup garlic powder
Mix these three ingredients and just SPRINKLE onto chicken. If you rub it, it will taste too salty as was my mistake.
2 eggs
1/6 of a cup water
Hot sauce
Mix these three ingredients together and add enough hot sauce to how you'd like it, but at least till mixture is a light orange. This is the second mixture the chicken will be coated in.
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp pepper
This is the third mixture that the chicken will be coated in. Once the chicken has been dipped in each of the three coatings, fry the chicken in hot oil that goes till about half way up the chicken. For drumsticks it too about 7 minutes on each side, so chicken breasts and shrimp would probably take much less time.

Marriage Moments

I hope we're not the only ones to have moments like this in the middle of the night. LeRoy sometimes likes to take over the bed while he is sleeping. The other night I (Faith) woke up to his chin right behind my head. So I sat up to get him to move over but instead he lifted his arms and decided to use my pillow for his arm rest. I grabbed his elbow to move his arm so at least I had a place to lay my head. He turns over grumbling something cause he didn't want to be woken up. I said to him "Well I need a place to put my head". With no hesitation he replies "put it on the floor". I couldn't believe he said that to me. I was so mad but it didn't take long for him to realize what he said and started apologizing. This type of thing is so frustrating when it happens but thankfully we are laughing so hard about it already. LeRoy can't even believe he said that to me.

Big Sister Love

Here's a cute story, according to us. We're trying to teach Brooklyn that there's a baby in my tummy. Of course, she's only 13 months, so she won't understand totally. Anyway, yesterday I told her there is a baby in my tummy. After we asked her "Brooklyn, where's the baby?" She thought a bit, and then lifted up my shirt to look at the baby. And then we asked her "Brooklyn you want to give baby a kiss?" She leaned over and kissed my tummy. It was so cute, if only we knew how much she actually understands. Aren't kids so precious?

I Was Tagged

Well I was told I was tagged by Tara, which means I have to answer a bunch of questions on this blog. So here goes.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
I would have been 14 years old, so probably really looking forward to summer vacation from school. And I think I was planning a trip by myself to visit my cousin Holly in Alberta.

What were you doing 1 year ago?
I was most likely feeding Brooklyn as she was only 3 weeks old, and I'm not sure what else I would have been doing at that time.

5 snacks you enjoy:
S'mores (even in the microwave), ice cream, crackers or chips with cheese melted on top, green frogs (the candy), and a nice slurpee

5 songs which you know all the words:
I don't know titles of songs so this may take awhile. Okay these are easy ones, I sing them all the time at home. Jesus Loves me, JOY JOY JOY (another kids song), Deep and Wide, Daddy's Girl (a song I sang to Brooklyn while rocking her to sleep when she needed it, a song me and my sister fight over hehehe), and If we are the Body by Casting Crowns

5 Things you would do if you were a millionaire:
Travel anywhere in the world with LeRoy
Put lots away for our kids
Pay off debt
Give lots to charities
Put away for retirement

5 bad habits:
Turn the computer on first thing in the morning.
Leaving the dishes till it looks overwhelming.(not as bad as it used to be)
Having our kitchen table be the place to throw things that don't have a place.
Leaving toothpaste in the sink.
Having the tv on just for noise.

5 things you like doing:
Reading
Listening to quiet
Making Brooklyn laugh
Surprising LeRoy with little things
Baking (if i have the time)

5 Things you will never wear again:
Patterned pants
Shirts that hang below the butt
Scrunchy socks
Scrunchy pony tails
Pink dresses

5 favorite toys:
Computer
any thing that comes new into our house
Camera
Swings
Barbies(as a kid, i couldn't think of anything else)

So, I don't know anyone else with blog, who hasn't been tagged, so I'll have to be the party pooper and stop this tag thing. Unless someone wants to continue it for me, that'd be fine too. Have a great day:)

Does Any One Else Love Life?

I'm sitting here on this beautiful afternoon, listening to peace and quiet. Brooklyn is asleep, and I should have my feet up. It seems that pregnancy makes me think about life, all the ups and downs. This week seems like a huge up for me.
Watching Brooklyn grow up so fast, lately it makes my want to cry all the time. She's running around everywhere, trying to talk all the time, and just learning simple things everyday that we take so for granted.
This week I have also been more in love with LeRoy. Yes I have to brag a bit. Monday he decided to surprise me and walked in the door after work at 4:00, instead of the usual 5:30. And it was a day I needed him home, as I've been exhausted with running after Brooklyn and this pregnancy. Then yesterday he came home and said we were having a date. To us this doesn't mean actually going out, but rather renting a movie and just being by ourselves after Brooklyn is in bed. When he came back home with the movie he also had some flowers he picked from our backyard. Isn't he sweet? These are the kind of things that really make me feel loved and cherished as a wife. The little surprises he does for me.
Right now life seems really great for the 3 of us, and we are so excited, more every day, that baby number 2 is on his/her way.