Quick Video

I know I already posted once today, but I just had to share this short video of our little Leila dancing.  She loves this little piano that used to be Liam's.  Every time she puts the music on, this is what she does!  I think it is cute how kids, even at this early age, can enjoy music!

The Big Move

I finally did it. I moved Leila to her own room. I know, some of you may think "Its about time!" I always said I was only going to keep her in our room until she started sleeping all night without waking up. Well, she is just now kinda doing that. This is kinda new to me, because Liam started sleeping 10 hours at night just before he was 2 month old. Leila is now almost 4 months old. She is waking out of habit. I would just get up and give her the pacifier instead of feed her, which is what I did with Liam. But is isn't seeming to work with her. She wakes up wanting to play - not eat. So, since I am SO tired most of the time, and really, really want more sleep, I moved her out of our room on Sunday night. That night, she slept 10 hours! And almost that much every night since! So, I guess she just knew I was in the room and wanted to talk to me! I am so happy because we all are getting more sleep now. I know Matt is probably happy to have a less cranky wife! :-)
Other than that, our week has been pretty status quo here. This weekend will be busy, though. It is Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday, so we are having a special Praise Service on Sunday, with a potluck meal afterwards. We have pretty good potluck dinners here. I am going to make mom's delicious Refrigerator Rolls. I made them one other time and they were gone in a flash, and everyone loved them!

We had a great time at youth group last night. We had 17 teens show up, which is just great! At the beginning of youth group, we divide up into girls and boys, and have about 30 mins of time for devos and stuff. I love this time with the girls. Most of the girls are 12 or 13, so it kinda makes me feel a little old. They are so giggly and hyper all the time! But it is a fun time to talk and pray together with them.

Liam and Leila are great. Liam is talking so much! He is saying longer sentences like, "I get the ball," "Here you go," "Mommy come here,""Ride in Daddy's car," among other things. He likes to say "Good-bye" to everything. Like when we get out of the car, he looks up to the roof and says, "Good-bye light." Or while driving he says, "Good-bye trees, good-bye cow." And when we get out of the bath, he says, " Good-bye bubbles. Good-bye toys!" It is really cute!

I hope you all have a wonderful day! Below is a video of Leila laughing. Today I just started to kiss her feet, and she thought it was funny. Of course, she was laughing a lot more before Matt got the carema out, but we still got some giggles!

Leila playing with her gym thingy. She is looking at herself in a mirror.

I think she really looks like Liam in this picture!
Liam sporting his new outfit from Aunt Michelle and Uncle Chris.

Thoughts by Emily

I have been thinking a lot lately. I know, that is not only unusual for me, but highly dangerous! But seriously, I have been thinking. I got my absentee ballot today from Escambia County for the elections, and I was looking over it and it "gave me pause." What is our world coming to? Do you think our founding fathers would have ever imagined that we would one day be "voting" on the definition of marriage? I think if John Hancock, George Washington, and all the others would return from the grave today and see what our country is like, the would be in absolute shock. They would be astounded at the "education" or shall we say LACK of education among our children. When a child is automatically passed onto the next grade whether he deserves it or not, just because we don't want to hurt their self esteem, something is wrong. When a teenager is unable to read, or can only barely read, something is majorly wrong. Sometimes, it is just depressing to think where our world is headed. I am talking about the USA and Canada in this.

That is why I think it is SO important that all those eligible get out and vote. It is not only our privilege, but it is our responsibility! I truly believe that if we do not go and vote, then we are letting the "bad guys"win. We are letting someone else control our future. We are giving in to the "enemy." And I also believe that if someone does not vote, then they have no right to complain or be upset about what is taking place, because they did not do their part to change it.
If you are anything like me, you are getting tired of hearing all the name calling, and slandering, and discussions and debates, and empty promises, and people's opinions. Matt and I are getting a double dose of it here because New Brunswick is having elections now as well. I can't wait till it is all said and done. But we are both going to do our part and vote. No excuses!

Okay, so you may be wondering where all this came from. Well, it mainly started in my own little mind the other day as I had a "discussion" with myself. I have been getting VERY frustrated with the Canadian government lately. We are still dealing with me becoming a permanent resident, Liam getting his citizenship papers, and Matt and Leila getting their health coverage. Liam and I can't get our health coverage until we get our citizenships taken care of. It is taking forever, and just when we think we have it all squared away, we find out we need to do something else, pay more money, or something. It is so frustrating - we are going to talk to our local representative this week to see what he can do. Since it is election time, most people are willing to be more helpful in order to gain votes, so we are going to use this our advantage!

Anyways, I was complaining to myself the other day about how dumb it all was. Then, I went to check my email and a news thing on the internet caught my attention. It was about Skype, the internet phone service. The reason it caught my attention was because my family and I use it to talk to each other over the internet with our web cams. Well, apparently, the Chinese version of Skype was found to be giving the Chinese government transcripts of private conversations people were having, mainly through the chat part of it. They have "filters" that catch certain words and stuff that alert the government to anything that "goes against the rules." The article did not specify, but I am sure that religious conversations are a big part of what they are filtering. The author of the article said that it is most likely that people in China have been arrested and put in prison over something they have said in what they thought was a private conversation.

That's when I was reminded of what I was complaining about is something that many people in China and all over the world would give anything to have. I have the freedom to live where I want, work where I want, say what I want, marry who I want, have as many children as I want, go to church and own a Bible, pray in public...etc. The list can go on and on. I am so blessed to have been born in the USA. I am blessed with so many freedoms. You know, the China that we saw on TV during the Olympics is not the real China. It was an "act" they put on while the world all had its eyes on China. I am truly blessed.

So, as frustrating as it can be at times, I am reminded that I shouldn't take anything for granted. These freedoms we enjoy can quickly be taken out of our hands. That is why it is so important to vote, and do our best to get the government officials in office who will fight for our rights. Our generations today do not know exactly how hard our fore fathers fought to give us this freedom. We can't let it all go to waste.

Whew! Glad I got that out! :-) Thanks for "listening" to my rambling tonight! Until next time!

I can't believe how grown up he is looking! He is so handsome!

Leila loves to "stand" on her own! She has been doing this for about two months now! She will stand with just a little bit of support! I keep telling her she is too young to be doing this!

Looking Back

Well, it is Friday, and yet another week has passed us by. Today was a pretty good day. It started with Matt bringing me breakfast in bed! How sweet! I was pretty tired this morning, so that was a nice start to the day! I sure hope Leila continues to sleep longer and longer at night like she has been doing, because I have been really tired lately. I was trying to remember the last time I slept through the whole night without having to get up - but I can't remember when that was! Oh, well. It is worth having to get up to feed such a precious little girl like Leila!

After we ate breakfast and got ready this morning, Matt, the kids and I went out to Walmart to pick up a few things for our church. Since we moved here, there has been one "minor" thing that we have been wanting to work on at the church, but have not really had the time or creativity to do until now. That "minor" thing is our church missions board. It has been pretty sad looking. No one goes by it to look at the missionary letters or anything because it draws no attention. So, we decided yesterday that it was high time we changed that. Matt has really been trying to emphasize missions, since that is an important part of the church, yet often a much neglected.

So anyway, we worked on that for the majority of the day. We are almost done, and I am quite pleased with it! When it is finished, I will take a picture to show off our creativity, just so long as all the teachers out there are not too critical!

You may have noticed the title to this post. Here is the reason why I titled it that - I have been looking back lately, and thinking things that start with, "I wish I had..." I wish I had listened to my mom when I wanted to quite piano lessons, and she said that someday I will regret that. I do now because we could sure use that in our church. I wish I had paid more attention to my teaching classes and missions classes than I did in college so that doing this missions board would have been a lot simpler to think of an idea. I wish I had, I wish I had. Well, we can look back with what ifs and if only's all we want, but it does not change anything. So all I can do is go from here, do my best at the bulletin boards, etc. God already has filled the gap of the piano player with a man who plays well - by ear, only he travels a lot, so when he is gone, there is a need of a pianist. When we first moved here, they were in great need of a pianist, and I kept thinking I should have kept up with those lessons. Oh well. I guess the best I can do is try to get that point across to my children as my mother tried to do with me. But, they will probably be as stubborn as I am and not see the consequences of not listening to their mother will be.

That is all for now. Here is a short video of our Sweet Pea smiling. She is just too cute for words!
(Oh, and totally disregard my silly mommy voice - but that is how I get her to smile!) Oh, and Amanda, there is something in here for you! ;-)

Leila Claire Sealy

Here is a short video of Leila. I apologize for it being so dark. I took it with our little camera, and it is not the best quality! We can't believe how well Leila holds her head up and looks all around! I told her to stop growing up so fast!