Track and Field

What a day, a hot day! It was the first hot day of summer and it hit the annual christian home school track and field meet! What an exciting day for the kids. Three hundred kids gather together, pray and then do every event possible from 9-4:30. Chris even entered the 800m race at the end of the day! How did he do that? I am not sure where they find the energy, I was dead and found out later the heat really got to me! I barely made it home and went into bed for a long time.

Each child was put into separate age groups and went through everything from triple jump to football throw. I was placed in Christopher's group this year and what a unique blessing. I am so used to going with the younger of my brood, but this is where I was placed! Chris was very excited and that was cool for both of us! All day together and I had a chance to watch him bloom!
The focus for the day is sportsmanship and I have not seen such a wonderful group of 9-10 yr old boys be more encouraging and inspiring! They always celebrated one another and not matter what and at the end of the day the other leader and I had to select one person for the sportsmanship award and that was the most difficult decision of the day! A little boy was selected and he was actually voted on by two of the boys throughout they day.

I had a great day watching the kids strive for excellence and so thankful that so many parents were there supporting their kids! Thank you Daddio and Papa for joinging us through the day!!

Double Digits has arrived

Well it is official, Chris is ten and I still can't believe that it is really true. He is growing up so quickly and we are so proud of him!

His party was amazing. We set off to Kelso Conservation and had a whole entire morning and over lunch discovering the great outdoors. God's gift to us. They ran around on a historical discovery hunt and then a pond study. What more could he want? A hunt and pond life. Truly he loves both and then to have friends and family surrounding him, he was in his glory. The only thing missing was Daddio! But that is for tonight. Dunc is taking him away on an overnight alone! He is going to celebrate this new part of Christopher's life and take him to Bass Pro shops and hotel for swimming and a special letter he will read to him. Dunc and I both had special letters written to us from our parents and those letters are special to us and marked different times in our lives. So, we begin with Chris!! Very exciting to see what God is going in his little heart! Today he reminded me of a part in a book (The Moody Series) about a boy that had a birthday and said he wanted to serve rather than be served. That is Chris. He serves and serves. He truly has a servant heart, after our ultimate example Jesus! I am so thankful for him. I will add more later! Lots more pics to come!

Bows and Arrows, Birds and Books!

Birds:

Well this morning we took Lady in for her annual haircut at our conveniently located groomer down the road and when we came back home we found a baby bird sitting quietly in our garden. completely unaware of the incoming traffic! We were able to take pictures and somehow the boys lured the bird into a large purple bucket and made it a home (until it flew away!)

Bows and Arrows;

Archery today was successful again! We have two robin hoods in our home now. They of course want their own set and an area to 'practice' shooting. Well, a few extra acres and no people around would help. I think we will stick with the class format for now!

Books:

Samantha loves to read and I love to watch her read to Sara! Sara wants her own book and makes that well known to all. A sweet moment!

I wonder what tomorrow will bring? Chrisopher's party (he is ten this week!) I have a busy day ahead of me!!!!!

A Faithful Garden

" When I look at your heavens, and the creations of your fingers , the moon and the stars that you have set in place-what is a mortal that you remember him or the Son of Man that you take care of him? You have made him a little lower than yourself. You have crowned him with glory and honour. you have made him rule what your hands created. You have put everything under his control; all the sheep and cattle, the wild animals, the birds and the fish, whatever swims in the currents of the sea."

Psalm 8: 3-9

I have watched the flowers bloom this year with a renewed sense of awe. I did nothing but prune the flowers back in the fall. Here they are again, beautiful and lovely to look at and pick too! I am thankful for a faithful garden. I am thankful for my heavenly father that is the ultimate gardener that is always faithful to prune us and ultimately delight in watching us grow into a fragrant garden for His Glory! It is not an easy process, we all know. But the end result is worth the pruning...

What goes on in the backyard!

Well, I sat here! Yes, covered in baby spiders. Chris ran to get the camera and was able to capture the many babies making their way down the chair! Yum?

Meet our bunny. We don't have to own one, we have one. We call him Steve! He visits almost daily! So cute and they love it ( I love it more because it is one less animal on their list!)

The above photos are a wonderful time that the kids have weekly. Our dear neighbour (she is our adopted Grandma!) comes over and teaches the kids art. She brings them so many cool things to do and the kids enjoy every moment. She always surprises them and I am so thankful for her. She has blessed us in countless ways! We enjoy lunch, coffee and good conversation. I love her for so many reasons. Here is one good one. She seeks out deals and will show up with coffee cream or something and I love that!! She is so great!!!

Exploring with Siblings!

Chris is so amazing with Sara. Here he is running toward her to help her (she was a bit miffed!) change her attitude by running and laughing and then he grabbed her and took her to the river to explore!

It's a jungle? No, actually this is the credit river in missisauga! The boys love to come here to hopefully find a snake or frog!

He cares for her!!! Always carries her and she calls him 'tis'. Pretty close to Chris! The kids all love the nick names.

I love to explore with the family (especially with a coffee and an icecream!!) We had a blast tonight.

Women of...faith, laughter, love, friendship & Coffee!

I have more pictures to come of our time in Rochester! What a great time we had together. The thrill of looking for a coffee shop and a place to eat will always make me laugh...more blog to come!

How can I summarize such an incredible weekend. Simply amazing to stand with 8,000 women worshiping the Lord listening to women speak from their heart about pain, joy and their love for Jesus Christ. I laughed so hard I cried. I cried so hard I laughed. My eyes were still stinging on Sunday. I am so thankful to be reminded of how loved I am by Christ and the Joy that He provides, when I am not joyful. Thank you to my four travelling friends for making this a moving part of my spiritual journey in life! love ya gals!!

Decorative Art in the eyes of a child!

"Mom, I want my own garbage can in my room please!" How many of you have had that request? I have to say that is a first for me and one that I originally ignored (poor thing!). She pursued it and well, we just so happend to have an extra garbage can due to our recent bathroom reno. So, out came the paint, the glue gun and all the diamond, sparkly items we have in our art drawers. Thanks to our artistic neighbour that blesses us with her gifts and abilities with the kids, we had plenty of goodies on hand. Samantha used the glue gun alone??? Not sure if that was a great idea, our carpet sure looks interesting now. But let me tell you how I know this impacted our five year old. At supper Duncan asked who would like to pray. Samantha ( a true prayer warrior) proceeded to pray without even saying she wanted to be the one and during her prayer she thanked God for the," garbage with Mommy."

I have to remember it is not about what I do with her (or any of the kids) it is simply being with them exploring life together. Even if it means decorating a garbage can that truly is an expression of our dear daughter (ps I love that expression because my Mom still uses that with me!! teary eyed moment!!)

It meant time with Mommy and she was elated to be alone with me (those moments to happen, although rare!)I too enjoyed the time and then had to make dinner so she continued with the glue gun...alone!!!!

Home again!

Daddio arrived to a crazy, wonderful welcome! The kids all ran out to meet him as he walked up toward the house (Sara was sleeping!) He was an hour early (how cool is that!) and right away they all had pictures to show him, a sign and Samanatha sent him on a hunt to show him all the pictures she made for him while he was fishing for the big one. Are you wondering if he caught the biggie? Dunc wouldn't say it was the biggest, but it was a good one!! The men all managed to catch their fill (and eat it too, apparently the shore lunch is amazing and fresh from the day!) We are all glad he is home and now it is my turn this weekend to attend the Women of Faith Conference with friends! Can't wait to be spiritually renewed, refreshed and some great time wtih amazing friends!