It's Confession Time Again

So, my blogging has been a bit, uh, nonexistent since we moved here to Alberta.  That has been for many reasons.  We've been busy.  We've been adjusting to a new church, new places, new everything.  We love living here.  We love our new church.  We love the town. We love the area.  But there was one thing we haven't loved.  And I need to confess.  I've had a very bad attitude about it.  Let me explain.

When we left New Brunswick, we knew the church we were going to, but beyond that, we didn't know much more.  We were still taking a step of faith.  Our home there had not yet sold.  But we knew this was what God had for us, so we knew He had a plan.  Well, wouldn't you know that just a few hours down the road after we left, we got a call from our realtor and we had an offer on the house!  But, it was not enough to cover a down payment on a new house, so we knew we would be renting for a while.  We had a house we were planning to rent for at least 6 months.

After 8 days of travel we arrived in Ponoka and went to our rental.  I knew it wasn't going to be the Plaza or anything.  Some people in the church had seen it and told us it was in need of a good scrubbing.  The house came furnished if we wanted it to be.  Well, we walked in and my heart dropped a little.

It was quite dirty.  It smelled.  The furniture that was there was not much of what I would want to use.  And there was junk everywhere.  We went down to the basement and saw even worse.  The carpet was ripped and stained all over the place.  Dog hair and, um, "droppings"  were on floor too.  It was even more stinky than upstairs.  We walked into one of the rooms and my mouth dropped open.  It was floor to ceiling, all four walls covered in black chalkboard paint. And that was covered in all kinds of inappropriate phrases, words and drawings.  We immediately had the kids leave as we did not want Liam reading any of it.  There were symbols that I'm to sure what all they mean, but don't want to.  It was awful.

I was very disappointed, but knew we had no other option so I would just have to deal with it.  So we did.  We had a deal with the landlord that we would paint the interior of the house if she would drop the monthly rent by $300.  So, we obviously knew which room to do first.  Now, let me tell you, if you ever get the notion to paint a WHOLE room with chalkboard paint, DON'T DO IT!  It is very, very hard to paint over.  And you have to use oil based paint.  And you have to sand it first.  It took Matt several days to do that one small room.  And oil based paint is very potent in the fumes department.

So, that was the house when we moved in.  But more than that, the next few months were not the best experience house wise for us.  There was a lot wrong with the house, and our landlord didn't do much about it.  In truth, I don't think she had much experience as a landlord, and she now lives out of town, so I don't think she really had much of an idea as to what she needed to do.  But I had a bad attitude about it all.

I had a bad attitude that we had to clean the house, and the carpet when we moved in (And when we moved out).  I had a bad attitude when she just told us the dishwasher didn't work, that the back door  was broken, but didn't do anything to fix it.  I had a bad attitude when we agreed to store all her things for her, so we couldn't use any of the storage space or the garage for our things.  I had a bad attitude that several windows were broken, and that the kids' room in the basement had a mildew smell that just kept getting worse and worse.

But I think the straw that broke the camels back was last month.  We had a major rainstorm with very strong winds.  So strong, that the next day, we realized one of the already sickly trees had cracked and one part of it was laying on the house, right over the front door and ready to completely fall to the ground at the next big gust of wind.  We texted her and sent her pictures asking what she wanted us to do.  Her answer? "I don't have any money, so just leave it."  Um, no.  Wrong answer.  My children, along with about 10 other neighbourhood children play in our front yard each and every day.  It is not safe to just leave and that would not be an option. 

I got quite upset, but Matt handled it well, much better than me.  He told her that if she gave him written permission to take care of it and that she would not hold us liable for any possible damage to the house, then he would see to it.  She gave him permission and he called a few men from church and they came with ropes and chainsaws, etc. and cut the whole tree down.  I was so relieved that it was taken care of, but still really irritated that she didn't seem to care about our safety.

That happened on a Thursday evening.  On Saturday morning, one of those men came back to finish cleaning up all the debris.  I was so thankful that we had such willing and ready helpers in the church.  And talented people....

Later the next week, Matt came home from church with a gift for us.  It was a bowl.  Not just any bowl, but a wooden bowl.  Made from the tree that was taken down from our house.  Its a beautiful bowl that will have a great function.  And the Lord has used it to teach me a lesson.

Sometimes we have frustrating and difficult circumstances in our lives.  Whether it be a work situation, a family issue, or a landlord thing.  It can be upsetting, frustrating, difficult or just plain unfair.  It can make absolutely no sense to us.  It can be devastating.  But in all that, in all the trial and turmoil, the tears, fears, and frustrations, God can and will, if we are willing, take that "bad" thing and turn it into something beautiful and useful. 

Like my bowl.  It was a weak, old tree, that wasn't much use for anything but blocking our view from one of the rooms.  But it is now turned into a gorgeous bowl useful for a number of things.

Now, although we had a frustrating 6 months, God has allowed us to make good friendships with the neighbours in that neighbourhood, especially our kids.  God knew our kids needed to make friends their ages to help the transition.  God knew I needed that.

And now, as of last Saturday, we are moved into a beautiful home.  One that is TONS nicer and a much better layout for us.  One that we are renting until January, then going to buy (more on that in another post).  One that we LOVE.  One that is beautiful and definitely fully functional.

So now, I keep that bowl out on my counter top so that I see it - often.  It is a constant reminder to me that something beautiful can come out of something not so beautiful.  That God can and will make something beautiful out of the hard circumstances in life.

So I confess.  I have had a bad attitude.  But I am trying to do much better.  God has made sure to remind me of that.

Until next time...

Fun Times....

So, this past week was a busy one.  Last Thursday we had youth group at our house.  Since I have the four kids, and not really anyone to babysit, I had not yet been able to make it to youth group.  I want to start getting to know the teens, so we had them all come to me! That night we had about 16 teens and one leader besides our family.  It was nice to talk with them and put names with faces.  The kids loved having the teens here, too.  One of the girls seems to have "caught Libby's eye" and Libby is usually attached to her anytime we are at church.  So she was excited to have Tianna in our house.

Sunday as a big day for us.  It was Matt's induction service for the church.  The church we are at now is a part of the Associated Gospel Churches of Canada.  Whenever a church hires a new pastor, they first put them through an interview to see how doctrinally sound they are and how well they know their Bible, and to be sure they will be the right fit for the church.  Then, once the pastor is hired, they have a service for him, publicly asking him if he will uphold the teachings of the Bible, live a life according to what pleases God, etc.  After Matt has publicly committed to this, the pastor, the elders,  and the head of the AGC prayed over Matt and myself, dedicating us, our family, and our ministry to God.

It was a very special time, and we very much enjoyed the service.  There is something very special about godly men laying their hands on you and praying for you and your family.  So now, everything is "official" in our position here at the church.

Besides the youth group, our ministry is to the young families ( which basically means anyone with children still living at home).  Our kick-off meeting was Sunday night for a Super Bowl party.  Now, football is not really a big thing up here (hockey pretty much trumps every sport).  But, it was still a good excuse to get together.  We had a total of 42 people over that night.  A bit more than half of that was kids!  But, we planned ahead, had some of the teens over to oversee the kids playing downstairs. It was a nice time of food, fun, and fellowship.

Halfway through the party, Leila came up to me and I knew right away she was not feeling well. Her eyes were very puffy and when I hugged her, she was burning up.  And that was just the beginning.

It starts with puffy eyes and a fever.  Then a runny nose.  Then a terrible cough.  And lots of interrupted sleep, whining, and aches and pains.  So Leila started with it on Sunday.  By Tuesday Liam started.  Thursday Libby started.  And today (Friday), Lexi has a fever.  It's been a long week and I will admit that I am quite tired.  Matt has been in and out with work, and we have had my brother in law, Sean, and his 3 year old daughter, Charlie here, too.  Thankfully Charlie hasn't gotten sick, at least not yet.  But she left today to go back home to her moms so we are probably sending her home just in time to get sick!  Oh well.

As of now, I think Liam and Leila are doing a bit better.  And Libby doesn't seem to have gotten it as bad.  They are still coughing, but not nearly as bad.  Over the past few years, I have really been changing my thinking on how we treat sickness.  I am never one to just jump to medication, especially with my kids.  But sometimes, when they are struggling, I give them ibuprofen or Tylenol. But this time I decided to try and let their bodies fight the fevers naturally.  So we didn't give any meds.  I have, however made good use of my essential oils, using them in The humidifier and rubbing it on their chests and temples.  I also have recently been introduced to elderberry syrup.  So we got some of that and I can see a noticeable difference.  Almost immediately it helped Leila's cough.  At first I was concerned about it settling into her lungs.  It just sounded horrible! But once we started the syrup it changed and sounds much better.  The same with Liam.  With Libby I started giving it to her even before she showed signs of sickness and I am sure that is why she is not getting it as bad.  Also, the EOs are helping a lot too.  I use eucalyptus in place of Vicks, along with several other oils for other ailments.

So, although these remedies didn't completely take away the sickness, they significantly lessened the symptoms and I feel very good about not putting "junk" in my children's bodies!  Now, if I can only find an essential oil that completely removes whining, all would be great!

Yesterday we took Lexi in for her one year well baby check. She is doing great - 50th percentile for height and weight.  Her eczema still flares up some, but has been a lot better since I switched her to goats milk and started probiotics.  AND the last four nights have been better!!  She has slept from 7:30  to 5:30, 7:40 to  3:30, 7:30 to 4:30, and 7:30 to 5:30 these last four nights!  I can only hope this is our new normal.  It is a VERY welcome change to waking up two, three, and four times a night!

So, that's been our life lately.  My saving grace this week was a long chat on Skype with a friend.  It was a nice little "getaway" for me!  Ha!

Well, I think that's it for now.  If I have the time, I plan to post pics tomorrow from our move and other stuff, so check back!

Until next time.....

New Furniture and Other Exciting Things

So, moving is a big deal.  I mean, if you "just" move across town, it takes a lot of organizing, etc.  but moving across the country takes more organizing and planning than any one person can do!  That's what is so great about having a husband/wife team that work together to get things done.

You may remember me talking about selling a lot of our stuff.  That was such a busy time.  I never realized it would take so much out of me to coordinate prices, meeting times, etc.  But, I stuck with it and all the money I made I had set aside to use here when we settled in. So the past several weeks or so we have been able to purchase things that we needed.  And it has been so nice to pay cash for things and know that I worked hard that cash!

The first thing we bought was a dishwasher.  The one here on our rental did not work (I think it was older than I am!).   And, although it is a considered a luxury to many people, it is a necessity to me.  I have enough to do in my day besides stand at the sink three times a day and do dishes.  It takes too much time, and it's hard on my back to just stand in one place for a period of time. So we were able to purchase that.  We told the landlord we bought it, but that when we move out, we are taking it with us.  Sorry, Charlie.  I'm not that generous! (By the way, her name is not Charlie! Haha!).

Then we were on the hunt for living room furniture.  The landlord had a set, but they are falling apart, pretty dirty and smelly, and I wanted my own set.  So we were constantly looking at Kijiji (that's the Canadian version of Craigslist, for those of you who didn't know) for a good deal.  But we weren't finding one.  Either it was a great price but in not great condition, or just plain ugly that would cost a lot to recover.  So, we decided to just buy new.  And, with it being not too long after Christmas, there were some great deals.  So off to the furniture store we went (yes, with all the kids I tow).  We were there for quite some time sitting down on couch after couch.  I had almost decided on a couch when all of a sudden, I walked over to another side of the store and immediately saw the one I wanted. ( I say "I" because Matt was just saying, "You get what you like.  I'm fine with whatever you want."  He's of the mind "happy wife, happy life."  Haha! I'm so spoiled!).

I sat on the couch, loved it immediately, as did Matt.  Liam even said he liked it best, so we did up the paperwork, paid for it, and it was delivered three days later!  Can I just say I LOVE them!  Love, love, love them!  It was kinda funny at one point.  We were giving the lady our info, and another worker who had also helped us was standing nearby.  When they heard our last name, they both smiled and said,  "Sealy - are you related to the people who make the mattresses?" (We get this question a lot!)  We just looked at them and said, "If we were, we certainly would be buy a genuine leather sectional instead!"  Haha!

So, we had the couches, but, now we needed a coffee table and end tables and lamps.  Since this house is about 30 or more years old, there is no overhead lighting in the main rooms, so you definitely need lamps.  And I sold/gave away all of mine!

That Saturday we headed off to Edmonton, the big city about an hour north of us, where there is an Ikea.  I had never been to one, but have wanted to go for a long time.  So, we loaded up all of us (we don't really have anyone that knows the kids well enough yet to babysit), and went to Ikea.  On a Saturday.  It was crazy busy, but kinda fun.  And we found a coffee table, two lamps, and some Expedit bookshelves to use as end tables.  I love them too!  I'm quite happy with our purchases!  And again, so thankful to be able to pay cash for all of it!

The next thing we wanted was a dining room table.  Again, there was one here, with four chairs.  So, since we had moved we hadn't been able to sit together at the table as a family.  So we had been just looking for some cheap chairs.  But, we would need a table when we moved from here anyway, so we again looked around on Kijiji.  Well, we had emailed several people about stuff, but either it had already sold. Or we never heard back.  Until one Monday night, two weeks ago.  Matt found a table and six chairs set for sale for $200 OBO, so we emailed them, gave them our best offer, and by supper time the next night we were sitting at it - all together as a family!  I love the table and chairs, and love that we can all sit together as a family again!

I think that, for now, we are good an furniture.  We still don't have beds for Liam and Leila (we have mattresses, just not bed frames) but that can wait for a while.  We actually want bunk beds but I want a good, solid wood set and those are hard to find and often expensive.  So we will just bid our time on that for now.

Now that holidays are over, we are settling in to our new normal.  Its funny, over the last 5 months I got so used to having Matt around all the time, that its really different with him back to work.  I miss him! :-)  He is pretty busy, but not as busy as before.  I can't tell you what a world of difference it makes with having two pastors in a church, and not just one.  If you are in a church with only one pastor, I hope you pray A LOT for him (actually, I hope you pray for your pastors, no matter how many you have! :-) ).  But if you have only one pastor, he has an incredible load to carry.  Pray for him.  Encourage him.  HELP him in whatever area you can.  Believe me.  A little help and encouragement goes a LOOOONNNNGGGGG way.

Well, we have lots of other exciting things going on, which I plan to write all about soon.  Plus, I have a big change coming up with this blog.  Stay tuned..... ;-)

Until next time.....

Go West, Sealy Family, Go West!

11:40 p.m. last night we got the call.  The church had just voted 100% unanimous to ask us to come to their church.  the phone call was put on speaker phone and Matt said everyone clapped and cheered for him! Haha!  Anyways, because they had it going through the speakers, Matt was able to accept the position as associate pastor when everyone could hear.  They are excited, we are excited.  As soon as we heard, a huge wave of relief covered us both.  After months of not being sure of pretty much anything, we now have it all official and now are making plans to move.

So my feelings went from being a little tiny bit nervous all day, to huge relief, to utter panic mode.  Panic because in just under four weeks, we will be pulling out of our current home and driving across Canada to make a new home in Ponoka, Alberta.  We have much to do - things to sort, organize, pack, sell, plan....  But I know it will all get done.  Its just going to be busy, busy, busy!

Thank you to those who have been praying and we ask that you continue to pray.  Our house has not sold, although our realtor just called and is meeting with someone who wants the house and is right now meeting with a broker to try to work out a mortgage.  We don't have a place to live out there just yet, but several church members have places we can rent for a month or two until we can find a house to either rent or buy.  Pray that we can find the least expensive way to move.  We are looking to buy some trailers to buy that we can pull behind two vehicles.  We could rent from uHaul, but the price is a bit outrageous since we live in a bit of a rural area and there is not much competition for them.

Pray for me to be able to sell all that I need to.  We have such limited space to take things with us, so I am selling all I can.  Its keeping me so busy just doing that!  Already my girls no longer have dressers, our swing set is sold, and lots of toys and other things are sold.  But I still have a bit more I need to get rid of.  Pray for me as I am still having to take it slowly.  Now that I can move my arm, it does get quite sore.  That's cause for a bit of frustration for me.

Pray for us as we drive.  Its pretty much winter time and that can be dangerous for travel.  Even this week the place we are moving has had well below freezing temps and snow and ice.  Pray for our safety.

We've had a long few months, but have seen God work in ways I would have never imagined.  All I can say is that He is good, all the time, no matter the circumstances.  And, His timing is always, always perfect!

Well, gotta go.  So much time, so little to do.  No wait, switch that.  (Haha.  Know what movie that is from?? :-)

Until next time....

Okay. So, Here's the Scoop....

Well, we went out to Alberta and have come back again.  It was a great trip.  It started with a very loooooooong day of travel.  We left our house at about 9a.m. And after two and a half hours on the road, six and a half hours on a plane, another hour on the road, and a three hour time difference, we finally got to our destination - completely exhausted.  By the time we went to bed, it was about three in the morning our time.

The next day we got up, met with a local bank, then headed out to look at houses.  We saw five that day and found one we really liked.  The next day was the "big" day when Matt had his final meeting. The church we have been looking at is a part of the Associated Gospel Churches (AGC) here in Canada.  A requirement with the AGC is that a pastor has to have an interview with other pastors from AGC churches.  It's a time where they question the candidate about his beliefs, doctrine, philosophy of ministry, etc.  I suppose it's very similar to an ordination council, except that it isn't these men confirming your calling to preach, just confirming that you wold be a right fit in the church.  Anyways, this meeting lasted from about 10 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.  I was out with the pastors wife and one of the deacons wives getting lunch ready during much of this.

As I knew he would, Matt did very well and the pastors were all very impressed (many of them told me this personally).  After lunch we looked at more houses and found another one we liked.  The next day (Saturday) there was a ladies brunch at the church where I was able to meet a lot of the ladies.  I had a great time.  Each night we ate at different houses of church members.  Sunday morning Matt preached for the service.  Then we had lunch at church then headed with a group to a retirement centre where they go every five or six weeks and hold a service.  That night we went out to eat with a couple in the church and had some wonderful fellowship.  It was great.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time, but was very ready to see my kids!  I think they missed us too.  The first whole day I was home Liam kept coming up to me and hugging me and holding my hand.  Aww!

So, as for the church - I loved it.  I felt very at home there and definitely saw the ministry we could have there.  Both Matt and I agree that we still feel this is where God wants us.  All that is left is the official church vote which will occur this Thursday, November 1.  As far as we can tell, and for what we have been told, it is expected that we will be voted in and asked to come on staff.  We have not sold our house yet, so that is the only thing that will be holding us here.

Please pray for us.  Pray that our house will sell.  Pray that we will find the exact house for us.  There are a total of three that we liked, but can't make a move on anything until this house is sold.  We do have a showing on Tuesday as well as an open house on Saturday.  Pray for our move.  In case you did t know this, Alberta is VERY far from New Brunswick.  Almost across the country!  Because of that, it's a big deal moving so we are trying the least expensive way to do this.  We are going to sell most of our furniture and lots of other stuff.  Whatever won't fit into two small uhaul trailers isn't going with us.  Pray that the move will go well.  We will be moving - during the winter.  In Canada.  Pray for safety.  Pray for our children as this is going to be a big adjustment for them.  Well, for all of us. Pray for me as I am still recovering from my surgery. I still am not allowed to move my shoulder. I do see the surgeon on Tuesday and will start physical therapy then as well.  But I am looking at weeks of therapy.  So that will definitely add a little fun to the mixture!

We are very excited for where God is directing our lives. It's not been an easy few months, but we have seen God work and provide in such amazing ways.  It truly is wonderful to be right where God wants you!  No better place on earth I would rather be!  Check back in on Friday if you care to know what the official "verdict" is from the church! :-). There is always the chance they could say no!

Paid In Full

It's been eleven weeks now since we had our last Sunday at our church.  So much has happened, and yet not much has happened.  Make sense? Let me fill you in a little....

So, we finished at church, and that afternoon we headed off to Nemeska, Quebec, for a week.  Then we came home, and over the next few weeks we did more travelling for fun as well as Matt speaking at camp.  It was so busy we didn't have much time to think about our future.  As I have shared before, we knew we were doing exactly what God wanted us to do, so we weren't too worried.  Although we had our moments, me especially, of sheer panic.

Then it was getting into September and we still didn't know what was going to happen.  Our house was up for sale and gaining lots of interest. But no offers.  We had no income for more than a month. The first week after we were done, we received several incredibly generous gifts which had been providing for us so thus far, but no money since and the well was beginning to run dry.  Matt had been in contact with a church out in Alberta, and he had a weekend all set to go out there to meet the pastor and church.  But we still didn't know if this was going to be the place for us.  I was looking at surgery and quite a few weeks of recovery time.  Things just didn't seem to be going the way I had envisioned them.

Matt and I talked about how we felt like our lives were on hold and being patient was getting harder by the day.  I stopped checking our bank account every day because I would get a knot in my stomach watching it get down lower and lower.  I found myself worrying about it all.  Matt was feeling the huge burden of needing to provide for his family.  He had applied for unemployment, but was denied because he didn't have a good enough reason for leaving his other job.  The government doesn't understand the whole following Gods leading thing.  Matt was beginning to look for a "regular" job that he could start soon.

It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me- why God would lead us away only to "leave us hanging" so to speak.  I was praying for His will to be made known to us and soon!  We were just a few days away from not being able to pay our bills.  What are you doing, God?

Here I was, in the same place I always seem to get when things don't go my way.  Questioning what God was doing.  And there God was, in the same place He always is showing us His perfect provision and plan.  Matt flew out West and the weekend went great.  He loved the church and the church loved him.  My surgery went well and my recovery is going well.

One night about two weeks ago, I was just praying, telling the Lord how worried I was over our finances.  I was trying to trust Him, but was having a hard time doing so.  Wouldn't you know that the very next day we received yet another very generous and very unexpected gift in the mail?  And we received a phone call telling us our former church had taken up a love offering for us!  That right there would provide over two more weeks for us.  Then, the next day we got a bill in the mail.  As soon as I saw it my heart sank a little.  I had forgotten this was coming and we didn't have the extra really to pay it.  But as soon as I opened it up, I saw it was stamped "PAID" and at the bottom, in someone's handwriting it said, "Paid in full."  I stood there for a minute, looking at it, confused.  We didn't pay it!  But someone did.  Right then, I paused and in my heart thanked God for His perfect provision.  And asked forgiveness for my continued worry and lack of faith.

So, these past eleven weeks have not been the most fun time of our lives.  There have been some trying times. Some scary times.  But even more so, we have had some wonderful times.  Matt and I are seeing God completely take care of us with no help from us at all.  He is stretching our faith and trust in Him far beyond I would have ever thought.

Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada.  And I want to just thank the Lord for His goodness. He is so, so good.  We don't deserve any of this.  And yet He still showers us with His blessings.  As for our future, Matt and I fly back out to Alberta in a week and half for one more formal interview, but really the job has been offered to Matt and we have accepted.  We are really just waiting for me to recover and our house to sell, and we will be moving out west to start our new ministry.  Until then Matt has a job working for his dad which he is able to do from home.  We are being spoiled by having Daddy around all the time!

This has been a hard time for us, at least me.  But God is so good and taking such good care of us.  And in case I find myself starting to doubt again, I have a bill hanging on my fridge that says "Paid in full."  Thank you, Lord. Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving .  Until next time.....

The One-handed Monster

Okay!  Here is my first attempt at typing a WHOLE post with one hand.  My left hand at that.  Lets see how it goes.  If my post just suddenly ends abruptly (yes, I know that was a bit redundant using "suddenly" and "abruptly" but frankly, I don't care!) then you will know I got tired and gave up!

Anywho, here we go.  Lets go back to when Matt left for out west. It was a looooooong four days with just me and the kids.  We did school.  We ate food.  We played.  Libby covered her arms, face, stomach, and legs, with coloured dry erase marker.  Libby put all of Mr. Potato Head's face parts in the toilet - after she peed in it but before she flushed it.  I got to stick my hand in toilet to retrieve said toys.  Libby got a hold of my phone and decided to dial while I was in the shower.  She brought it to me and I saw it was calling someone so I hung up fast, afraid she had called China or something.  The phone immediately rang, I answered and the person on the other line said, "911 emergency, is everything okay?" So I got to explain that we were fine and it was just my two year old playing with my cell.  The next day she got my phone again and called my sister in New Hampshire.  I am having to remember to keep it locked now.

Sunday my parents arrived.  We were so happy to see them! I was happy to have more help keeping an eye on Libby!  Then, Monday, Matt came home!  He had a great time at the church out there.   More on that later!

We had a nice day on Tuesday and then Wednesday we got up bright and early to drive two hours to the hospital where I was to check in for surgery at 8:45 a.m.  I went to the day surgery department and got all ready.  My parents came a few hours later and arrived just in time to say hi before I was taken back into surgery.  A little after 11:30 I was rolled into the operating room.  I chatted with the nurses and students that were in there.  I climbed over onto the operating table, laid down, looked up at those big lights.  The last thing I remember was saying a quick prayer that they would be able to take out the whole tumour, and prayed for my kids.  Then the anesthesiologist said, "here comes the sleepy stuff!" And I was out.

Next thing I know, I'm waking up in recovery.  I'm vaguely aware that my I can't move my arm.  The dr. Is standing right next to me.  I ask what time it is.  It's shortly after 2p.m.  Then I ask how it went. The dr. says it went great, they got the whole tumour!  Praise God.  Then I asked how big it was.  It was the size of a baseball!  Wow!  It was just about this time that he saw I was bleeding pretty heavily from the incision area.  So he immediately grabbed on to my shoulder and held it tight.  Let me tell you - that hurt!!!  He was trying to compress it to stop the bleeding.  He called over the third year student who is assisting him and she held on to stop it.  I tried chatting with her some to get my mind off the pain, but that was hard.  I'm pretty sure every fourth word was "Ow!".  But after almost an hour, it wasn't stopping so they decided to take me back in operating room to go back in to find the source of the bleeding.  I was in much pain at that point, but glad they were gonna figure out what was wrong.

When I was wheeled back in, the dr said, "Well, the decor hasn't changed much since last time."  I smiled and said, "Ya, I'm having major dejavue right now!"  I remember on of the male nurses laughing a bit at that, then on came my "sleepy stuff" and I was out again.  Next thing I know, I'm waking up to a nurse calling my name, asking me how I feel.  I'm in a lot more pain now.  I ask what time it is.  It's now after 5 p.m.  I was back in surgery for a little under 2 hours.  So, lucky me got to technically have 2 surgeries in one day!  They were able to take care of the bleeding.  I will spare you the details of where it was coming from.  But the dr. said in his 26 years of being a surgeon, he'd never had that particular thing happen before. Yup, that's me.  I do things out of the ordinary all the time!

Because of the bleeding, I had to stay two nights in the hospital.  But Friday afternoon I came home.  I had missed my kiddos.  The first few days were hard.  I was so sore.  But it's getting better.  I'm mainly just uncomfortable now.  Its hard not being able to move my arm.  Its literally tied to my waist right now and has been since surgery.  I will be like this until Tuesday when I see him again and I will get a new sling.  The reason for my current sling is because he had to cut through and pull back part of my pectoral muscle to get to the tumour (yuck, right?).  So he wants that to be immobile for two weeks to have time to heal.  And I can't get it wet.  Which means I can't take a shower.  This, my friends, is pure torture for me.  Tuesday can't come soon enough.  We will just leave it at that!;-)

Its been very nice having my mom here to help Matt out.  I'm pretty much useless with most things.  I am getting better at putting my own socks on with one hand, though! ;-)

There's lots more going on,  but I will leave it at this.  It looks like God is still leading us to the church out west, we may have an offer on the house in the next few days, and a move in the very near future.  Its busy times, but exciting to see God working and providing for us.  He is so good!

Thank you to all who prayed for me.  We ask for you to continue to pray as we continue in this time in our lives.

Until next time.....

Random Thursday

So, I suppose it's been a while since I posted on here.  Been busy.  What else did you
expect?  Haha. I really, truly thought that after we were finished at church and were looking for another ministry that our lives would be really relaxed and quiet.  Ha.  Ya right.

We recently spent about ten days inNew Hampshire visiting some of my family.  It was
a really nice time with lots of adventures.  All of which included an emergency dental procedure for my brother which involved my sister and I picking up a total stranger at 9:00 on a Sunday night and driving him to his dentist office about twenty minutes away.  Now why would we have to pick up the dentist you may be asking instead of him driving himself?  Well, because he has gotten two DUIs in the past six ,oaths and has his license suspended.  Duh!  Ya, that was an adventure!

While we were there, we celebrated my niece, Evie's birthday.  She turned four and like my own girls, really likes Hello Kitty.  So, as part of her gift, Matt made Hello Kitty cupcakes for her.  Look for a picture in an upcoming Scenic Saturday!

Also while we were there, Matt and Andrew got to live out one of the things on their bucket list.  They were able to be spectators at a PGA tournament.    And they had the time of their lives.  They got to see Tiger, Phil, Ricky, Web, and all those others.  I am so glad that they were able to do that.

Matt left early, early this morning to go to Alberta to visit the church.  He has a busy weekend and we are praying that maybe this will become clear if this is where we are to go.

School is going well so far.  It is definitely more tricky having two in school and two not.  And Leila doesn't always seem to want to sit still for a whole class, but we are working on it.

I think it safe to say that Fall is definitely trying to push its way in.  Our evenings and mornings are so wonderfully cool and refreshing.  I am loving haing the windows open and feeling the breeze.  The only thing missing is the smell of Fall.  I can't wait for that! I love, love, love Fall.  My favorite!

Last night, in her prayer before bed, Leila prayed for all those "in Canada, the Americans, and the French people.". I thought it was pretty cute.

Lexi has decided to start this fun game.  It's called, let's start waking Mommy up about three times a night.  I have no idea what the deal is, but she stopped sleeping through the night.    But, I guess we will figure it out.  Hopefully.

My surgery is going to this coming Wednesday.  I'm glad cuz I want it to be over and we can get on with the recovery and such.  My parents are coming in on Sunday to help and be here during the surgery.  We are all very excited to see them.

Did I mention Matt is away? I really miss him.  Is it Monday night yet?

Lexi is unofficially officially crawling.  She gets up on all fours, rocks back and forth , then  slides down to her belly and does an army crawl type thing.  It's pretty cute to watch.  And. The most exciting thing is...... She now says "Mama.".  Yay!!!  Finally.

Guess that's it!

Until next time!!!

Random Thursday (even though it is Friday...)

So, this week I feel like we have been running every where we go.  Next week is VBS so were are super busy getting everything ready.  Yesterday, Matt and I were at church for close to 7 hours decorating the auditorium.  We still have a few last minute touches, but then it is done!  And I think it looks awesome!  Matt is so creative when it comes to that kind of stuff.  I'm so proud of him!  I'm the "could you hand me that piece of tape" kind of person.

The kids are super excited about VBS (or BBS as Leila calls it).  We love that week, although it is an exhausting one.  We have to all be up, ready, and out the door by 8:30 a.m. every day.  Usually on Saturday we all crash and crash hard.  I know a lot of people have started doing VBS at night.  I think that is a good idea, but it seems to work best here in the mornings.

We don't have any new news on the job/our future.  But that's okay.  Really. :-)  Actually, we have some plans that will keep us traveling and busy most of August.  Matt has a few speaking engagements, which is nice.

Yesterday and today were exciting days as our school books came in!  Liam and Leila are so excited.  We won't start for another three weeks or so.  I need time to get organized and such.  Its gonna be different this year doing two kids instead of one!  And wowsers, is there a huge change in the amount of work from kindergarten to Grade 1!  But Liam is excited and I'm excited too!  The funny thing is, some of his readers I remember reading when I was in 1st grade!  Go me for remembering that far back!

Not only have Matt and I been busy with church stuff, we are still trying to get the house ready in case we need to quickly put it on the market.  The living room and hallway is freshly painted and lovely green, new trim work and baseboards are on, new ceiling fans are put up, etc.  I'm living how it all looks.  I'm now on the lookout for some nice curtains for our living room.  Its hard to find stuff like that here in our limited selection of stores!

The kids are good.  Lexi now says "Da-da" about 256 times a day.  She has even said "Hi Da-da" a few times - I kid you not.  She is such a smiler and unless she is super hungry, she is smiling and giggling and so happy!  We are still being blessed with free formula from our dr.  Just today we picked up three more cases.  What a blessing!  They have literally saved us hundreds of dollars!

Liam is fascinated with how much he is growing.  He will eat lunch, then run to our measuring chart to see if he has grown any since the last time we measured him, which probably was the day before!  But I actually do think he is going through a growth spurt.  He is hungry ALL THE TIME!  I can't keep him full!  Which also means we have a hard time keeping food in the house!  We go through bread, fruit, yogurt, etc. faster than I can blink!  Ahhh!

Leila has begun having some nightmares and having some other fears too.  We are working through this.  Actually, the Lord has been teaching me some things in my own life through this, which I plan to write about very soon.

Libby is - uh - busy.  Just in the last week I have spent many hours cleaning up after her.  Lets just say some of the cleaning involved peanut butter - lots of peanut butter.  And shampoo - lots of shampoo.  And crayons - lots of crayons.  And highlighter.  Oh, don't even get me started on the highlighter!  Good grief.  That girl can't be alone for 10 seconds.  Seriously! :-)

On that note, if something like, say, yellow highlighter is scribbled over a 5 foot span on a freshly painted wall, the highlighter doesn't just rub off when cleaned.  It spreads.  And spreads.  Ask me how I know this. :-)

So, ya.  We've been busy.  But we are good.  Hope you are too!

Until next time....

More Than I Can Handle?

I know I've been pretty quite on here lately.  That's mostly because it has been all-out, crazy, super-duper hectic around here.  In my last post I let you all know that big changes are coming in our lives.   We have only two weeks left, and then our ministry here at our current church will be over.

Before we made our announcement public, we bathed our decision in prayer.  From all human perspectives, it didn't make sense.  We are a family of 6.  We have 4 young growing children.  And now we were going to just "quit" what we are doing in order to move on to something else.  Only we have no idea what that something else is.  I know this makes no sense.  But we knew then, and still know it is the right decision.  We KNOW God has plans for us.  So we told everyone and began our journey to the next step.

I don't really know what I thought was going to happen.  I suppose I thought that, once Matt resigned from church, that the next job would immediately open up and we could make our plans towards that.  Well, that hasn't exactly happened.  And I'm going to be honest with you.  I have been struggling a little with that.

I'm a person who loves schedules.  I take comfort in know what is coming up and when.  I have my kids on schedules from pretty much the second week of their life and on.  I don't like being in the dark about anything.  When I sit in an office with a dr., I want to know all the ins and outs of everything.  I don't really like surprises.  I want to plan.  That's where I feel most secure.

But I can't do that right now.  We know that, July 29th, after the morning service, we will be done with our ministry here, which also means we will be out of a job and have no income.  When I really let myself think about that, I start to get anxious and worried.  What are we gonna do?  How are we going to pay our bills?  We don't really live extravagantly.  But we have a mortgage.  Power and car payments.  Insurance.  We have to pay those.  We sorta like to eat at least once a day.  Our kids need nutrition.  What's going to happen?

In thinking of all this, I just started praying very earnestly about it all.  And I felt that the Lord wanted me to do what I can to help prepare for the financial issues.  So I have been oh-so-busy gathering things that I can sell.  We had a yard sale which went well.  But now I am busily putting things online on a local classifieds page on Facebook.  When I started doing this I didn't realize how time consuming it was going to be.  But let me tell you - it takes up so much of my time!  But it has been so worth it!  I am amazed at the fact that I can put something up that I will start getting inquiries and offers withing 5 to 10 minutes of posting it.  It really keeps amazing me!  And so not only are we busy posting things online to sell, but we are busy meeting up with those who are buying our stuff.  And because of all this, I have been able to make enough to cover almost two weeks worth of what our pay checks would have been!  Praise God!

So, I can see God providing for us, even in that "small" effort.  But then I am struggling in other areas.  Like patience.  You see, as I said before, I like to plan.  And its driving me crazy not know what we are doing?  Are we going to be moving?  If so, how far?  If we move across country, then we plan to sell pretty much all of our furniture, as it would cost way too much to move all of it.  So should I be selling things now?  If we do move, where we gonna live?  Will we find a house big enough for us?  Will we rent or buy?  Will I be close to anyone I know?

All these thoughts are whirling through my mind.  And Wednesday of this past week I was really feeling anxious.  So I was praying that God would continue to give me the peace and calmness of heart that I had been having.  And it was then that He sent another confirmation that He has it all under control.  I'll maybe talk more about that possibility soon, but until we know more, I won't say anything now.  But it reminded me that God has it all in His plan.  It's like he is saying, "Emily, I got this."

And then I was further encouraged on Saturday through a conversation I had on the phone.  I was talking with one of the missionary wives our church supports, who has also become a good friend.  She, if anyone, can understand exactly the feelings and thoughts I was feeling.  Then she made a statement that got me thinking.  She said, "You know, we Christians are so famous for saying things like, 'God never gives you more than you can handle' but I don't think that's the case.  He never gives us more than He can handle."  Hmmm...  You know, I believe that is true as well.

We, in our weak, human strength, can't handle much on our own.  But, incredibly, we have the all-powerful, all-knowing, awesome Creator of the universe right here with us ready to take control and handle anything that comes our way.  We are told in His word that nothing is impossible with God, that He will never leave us, that His way is perfect.  We just have to hand that control over to Him.

When I am busy worrying and being anxious, I am trying to "handle" everything in my own strength.  And I can't.  But God can.  God CAN!  Whew!  What a relief to know I don't have to keep up this charade of unrest, anxiousness, and worry!  God has it all figured out and is more than capable to take care of our family. He already has all the details worked out, right down to what is going to happen to all the things we need to get rid of if we do move!  What a relief.

So, even though we still do not have the full direction of where God is leading us next, we do have the next step.  And that is to just place our full trust and control in Him, - today.  And He will take it from there.  It is a daily thing, an hourly thing, for me to consciously do in my heart and mind.  But I am so thankful I have God to give all my problems and worries to.  More than I can handle?  Yes.  More than He can handle?  Never.

Please continue to pray for us as we seek the Lord in His direction for our family.

Until next time...

The Seasons of Life

I'm sure we all have heard the phrase "this season of life" or something similar.  As we walk through our lives, God brings us through different seasons. And each one is different from the other.  We go through a "season," then God directs our path in a different way, and we change into a different "season."  I suppose its time to "announce" that Matt and I and our family are currently in the process of changing seasons.

We have been in our current ministry for 5 years.  Actually, this past Sunday, July 1, was exactly 5 years to the day of when Matt officially became pastor of Belleville Baptist Church.  Its been a wonderful 5 years.  Oh, there have been some hard times.  We've experienced a lot, as you always will in life, and ministry.  We've seen people come, and go.  People saved, and people fall away from the Lord.  When we started, there were about 25-30 people attending on a Sunday morning (which is always the most attended service).  And now, just this past month, we have had several Sundays in a row where we had 75-78 attend.  We have been averaging around 70.  We've had a lot of younger families come out.  And we have fallen in love with our church and our community.

But God is working in our lives, and Matt and I feel the strong leading from the Lord that He is moving us on.  So, this past Sunday - 5 years after we began - Matt resigned as pastor of our church.  It had already been decided among the leadership that Matt would announce it to the church, then continue on until the last Sunday in July.  So 4 weeks from now, we will no longer be there at Belleville.

Its so exciting to see how God so clearly showed this to both Matt and I - separately.  Matt had been feeling a "tugging" on his heart for a couple months.  He wasn't completely sure what exactly that all meant, but he began praying all about it.  Meanwhile, I was feeling some strange "feelings" of my own.  I can tell you, that in the past, whenever Matt would even briefly mention every leaving this ministry for another, I would immediately get anxious, I would get a huge lump in my throat, and would feel very scared.  But recently, I felt God changing my heart.

We went away on vacation in May.  We had a great week with some family and we both got lots of time to rest, relax, and think.  We came back home and that first Sunday back, I knew.  I knew we were done here.  It wasn't because of anything bad.  The church is actually in a great place.  Its growing, the people are eager to learn and grow in their walk with God.  But I just knew God was moving us on.  I was a little confused as to this feeling.  It was actually a very strange feeling.  I didn't know what to make of it.  So later that day, I told Matt I needed to tell him how I felt.  And wouldn't you know that Matt had been having the exact same feelings that morning as well.

So we earnestly began to pray and seek the Lord's will in all of this.  We kept it between ourselves for weeks until we were certain beyond a shadow of a doubt. For a while we were just going to wait until a new ministry opened up, but nothing was happening and we knew that God was wanting us to take a step of faith and completely trust him. Matt let the leadership know this past week.  His first meeting with one of them was Tuesday morning, and not even 5 hours later, we received an email from a church wanting Matt's resume and more information about his ministry experience (Matt had been putting his name out there to several places.)  That right there was more confirmation that we were doing exactly what God wanted.

 At first we were unsure of how to tell people, a little nervous about the reactions we would receive.  But yet again, God has it all in control, and when Matt announced it on Sunday, the support we received has been amazing.  Yes, there were many tears.  I received more hugs (and extremely TIGHT ones at that) then I ever have in one day.  But most everyone told us that, though they were sad to see us go, they were so very glad that we were following the Lord.  That means so much to us!  There are a few who are not ready to accept it yet, and I think are upset with us, but we know God will take care of that as well.

So now I ask that you all would pray for us.  As of the end of the month, we do not have an income.  We maybe feel a little like Abraham in Genesis when God told him to go.  So Abraham did, not knowing where.  So please pray for leading in that area.  Matt is fully prepared to work a "regular" job if that's what needs to be done for the time being.  I feel so at peace with all of this.  Oh, I do wonder how we are going to pay the bills, but I know God's got it in control.  I am trying to plan ahead, though.  We had a yard sale last Saturday, and I am putting up all kinds of things for sale online - already sold some stuff.  But again, I know God's got it all under control.

Also, please pray for us as a family as we go through this transition.  Our church here is the only one the kids have known.  This town is their home.  We've told them about how things are going to change, but they don't really know what all that entails.  Pray that, whatever the Lord has for us, they will be able to adjust somewhat smoothly.  They love our church, and all the people there.  They feel so at home there.

So that's what new with us!  We are excited at what God has in store! Stay tuned and I'll fill you in as we find out ourselves! :-)

Until next time....

Hi.

We are still here!  I suppose when I wrote that last post I was feeling very down and discouraged - can you tell?  Thank you to those of you who have contacted me letting me know you are praying for us.  That means the world to me.  And please don't stop.  We still are having some difficult times - not only with church and family stuff, but also just battle extreme exhaustion.  This happens to us this time of year - especially Matt.  We give and give and work and work and keep busy all year long, and there comes a time when you NEED a break.  Everyone is like that - no matter their vocation.  Well, we are there.  But we are taking a vacation soon which I am so excited for and can hardly wait until then!  American Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

I did want to clarify that we are all healthy.  What's going on has nothing to do with anyone's health.  Just to let you know!  I am doing well with the pregnancy.  Baby is getting bigger and bigger, as am I.  I'm already getting the questions from strangers about when I am due.  Uh - I have about 3 months left!  They always seem surprised.  I just smile and move on.  I am enjoying all these feelings (well, most anyway) of being pregnant as I know it is the last time I will feel the incredible and indescribably feeling of having a baby - a human life - move inside of you.  Its great!  I am getting more and more uncomfortable, but that's to be expected.

The kids are getting excited about the baby.  They pray at night for the baby to come - then I remind them we have to wait just a little bit.  Both Liam and Leila got to feel the baby kicking the other day and I think they were surprised, awed, and a little weirded out about it! HA!

Our weather, like most of you, has turned quite cold.  We haven't gotten our first snow yet, but that is a-okay with me.  When it snows this early it just makes the winter seem forever long.  We often have very cold and snow into April, so we can put it off a little longer.  But I am enjoying the cold and having a nice, warm, cozy home with Christmas music and candles.  I haven't decorated for Christmas yet - but I never do that until after American Thanksgiving anyways - especially since we get a real tree!  Actually, there are many people here who find it offensive to decorate for Christmas before Nov. 11 - Remembrance Day (Veterans Day in the US.)  They think of it as disrespectful, so I don't want to offend anyone!

We are noticing a big difference with our new windows and added insulation this year.  So all that money and work was well worth it.  We still need to add more blown-in insulation in the attic, but that will probably have to wait until the new year.  Next year we hope to have a wood pellet stove as our main heating source, which will save loads of money on the electric bill!

So, in a just a couple weeks we are planning on heading down to NH to my brother's house for American Thanksgiving.  We have done this the past 2 years and it is becoming a bit of a tradition.  Its always so fun!  We just have a fun, relaxing time together, my sis-in-law, Danielle, and I usually get to have a girl's night out (I don't get that here at home usually!), and then Matt, Danielle and I go out on Black Friday with all the other crazy shoppers (no, I do NOT get up at 3 a.m. and go out - more like 8 or 9.  Although Matt will get up - and we have gotten some pretty good deals because of it!).

I'm not usually a fan of shopping, but if its Christmas shopping I like it.  And there is just something fun about shopping that day.  I know, I'm crazy, but its the experience that we enjoy more than anything!  The cold weather, the decorations, the music playing everywhere - just makes shopping fun!  Every year Matt and I save all our change which we roll and cash in, we save cans a plastic bottles which we get money back for, and that is often enough to have a good start on money for the kid's Christmas gifts.  Let me tell you - all that change lying around your house can really add up fast!

Now, after I said all that, I don't know how much I will actually go out shopping this year.  I will be able to go for a little bit, but I know that 2 years ago when I was expecting Libby I pushed it a little too far, and paid for it pretty much the rest of the pregnancy.  I had mild contractions, etc. for the next 6 weeks which was quite uncomfortable (although when it came time for labor - it was only 4 hours and I only pushed for 5 mins, so maybe it was worth it....Hmmmm..... ;-) ).

Well, I guess I will go.  Just wanted to let you all know we are still here, still surviving, yet struggling some.  But God is good, and is definitely giving us the strength we need to get through our days and weeks.

Have a great day, all!

Until next time.....

So, last week we had revival services with Evangelist Ben Schettler and his wife.  We knew them from college so it was great to catch up with them and just fellowship with another ministry couple.  The services went great and they were received well by our church.  The attendance was much better each night then we expected!  Praise the Lord.  My kids did so well and we were all able to go every night (Wed-Sat, and then the normal services Sunday) which totally surprised me.  They were tired but very well behaved and I couldn't have been more pleased.  We ended the week exhausted but truly refreshed spiritually.

But it seems to me that whenever you have a "spiritual high" if you will, that the attack of the Enemy can come strong.  And I believe it has.  These past 6 days have been some of the hardest our family has had in I don't know how long.  It feels like we have been slapped in the face with not one but several very hard circumstances.  And its hurting.  I believe the Enemy is doing his best to get us discouraged, depressed, upset, and stressed.  And I have to say that, at times, we have fallen and felt those exact things.

I won't get into any details now, but I just ask that you would pray for Matt, myself, our kids, and family.  We are just going through some very hard times and we are crying out to God for strength, courage, patience, wisdom, and REST.  We are all completely exhausted - emotionally and physically.  But God has promised us that He will help us along the way when we fall, falter, or feel we cannot go on.

There have been times when I have been literally crying out to God about how I can't handle this.  But I know that He will not give me more than I can bear, and He is here helping us.

I know, I know.  I usually HATE it when people are really vague and give "unspoken" prayer requests and such, but right now there are things that I just can't or don't want to share.  But we do need prayer.  Lately I haven't felt like blogging, or even talking to people because I usually can't do it without crying (pregnancy hormones are NOT helping me in this matter!).  But I know that some of you who read this will pray for us, and so I decided to ask you all to do so.  I also know that we all have our trials that we are asked to go through, and that we are not the only ones feeling attacked.

Anyways, I guess that explains my absence lately in blogging.  Lord willing some situations will be resolved and these trials will pass soon, and we can move on to the next things God has for us! :-)  Thanks for "listening!"

Until next time...

Home, Prayer, and a Song.

We made it home safe and sound - though a little weary.  Yesterday (Monday) we left just before 7 am and didn't pull into a hotel until 15 hours later.  The kids did GREAT, and we were so happy to have made it that far.  That made today much easier and we only had a 7 hour drive.  We are exhausted, but so very happy to be home.  There really is no place like home.  When we left last week our roof was being put on, and was about 1/4 of the way done.  When we drove up today it was so nice to see it all done and it looks great!  I haven't taken a picture yet because it is raining, but hopefully I can take a picture tomorrow.  Of course, now our charcoal roof does not match our brown and tan house, but that will be remedied in just a couple of weeks!

In the next couple of days, I will post all about the trip and some pics, but for now just know that it was a great time, although very tiring.  It didn't help that we all got sick.  I think I got the cold the worst, and its still hanging on.  I am coughing up a storm, my voice is coming and going.  When I do have my voice, I think I could sing bass in a quartet!  Ha!  But, hopefully it will all pass soon.

On to other things, please continue to pray for my friend, Amy Bixby.  She has been moved to a hospice house due to the around the clock care she needs.  There are a lot of other things involved with this (such as her oldest daughter coming down with chicken pox and all the kids being kept away from Amy so that she won't come down with shingles) which is very hard on them all.  They are just praying that the kids will get to see Amy and say good-bye before the Lord takes her home with Him.  Amy is in a lot of pain, but is still keeping her outlook to the Lord.  Please just pray for the whole family.

As I pray for Amy each day, I find myself thinking of how we really don't know what tomorrow will bring.  It brings all things in perspective.  I find myself hugging my children a few more times each day.  I make sure I say "I love you" as much as I can to all my family.  I want to treasure each and every moment as we have no idea when our breath will be our last.  That being said, I recently heard a song that I fell in love with, which I want to share with you all here.  It made me cry, which is a big deal as that doesn't happen all that often.  So just to warn you, it may bring tears to your eyes, but in a good way, I think.

Anyways, enjoy the song and have a great day.

Until next time...

We Made It!

Well, after three days of traveling, we made it safely to Waskaganish.  It was a long trip and the kids are tired of sitting and I am dying for some "real" food.  Basically there is not much to eat besides McDonald's and KFC in between home and here.  We did pack some food like bread and peanut butter, but we certainly can't take the whole kitchen with us!  Anyways, we will hopefully get some good meals soon! :-)  Just to give you an idea of how "in the middle of nowhere" we are, our GPS didn't even know where we are!  The last 4 hours of the trip, it just told us that we were driving on "Road".  Haha!  The last hour is just on a dirt road, and the GPS just said we were driving north.  Funny.  Oh, and speaking of the GPS, its very funny to hear the guy try to pronounce all the french names!  It keeps us entertained!  Hey, on a long trip its the simple things that can keep your attention!

The kids are doing very well.  We are blessed with great travellers, for which we are so thankful!  Libby does seem to be coming down with a cold, so that's not cool.  Pray that it goes away soon! 

It is now about 10 p.m.  We are spending tonight in the hotel in the village, and will have different accommodations tomorrow and the rest of the time.  Matt and his parents are at the meetings, which have been known to run quite late into the night.  I was just too tired to go tonight, and the kids really needed to sleep.  Really the purpose of us coming is just to be together as a family.  When Matt and I got married, we decided that as much as possible, we would always travel together as a family.  We have broken that "rule" a few times, but don't like it at all.  Although in two weeks Matt is speaking again at a men's retreat back in Mistissini (where we were the last time we were up this way), and we will not be coming with him.  Mainly because it is a men's retreat at a camp and it really would be odd for me and the kids to be there!

But never fear, I will have my sister there to keep me company!  Yes, my dear sister, who lives on a tiny island in the Caribbean thousands of miles away is coming back to the "mainland" for a visit!  Yay!

Well, I think my brain has stopped working, so I will get some much needed shut-eye.  Hope all is well with all you reading this!

Until next time...

Scenic Saturday -Mistissini, Quebec.

After downloading a ton of pictures from our camera today, I realized just how much I've missed sharing on here these last few months!  Wow!  I think this happened last time I was pregnant, too.  I just lost all interest in blogging for a while.  But when I look back now at the blog from that time, I hate it that I didn't record much of our going-ons during that time.  So I am going to try to do better from here on out - mostly for my sake!  Ha!  I look at my kids and realize just how fast they are growing up, and I don't want to miss a second of it!  And here we are, adding a fourth baby to the mix and I just feel like this roller coaster ride is going faster and faster and I want it to SLOW down a lot!

So anyways, the next few days I am going to do a series of "Scenic Saturdays" if you will and mainly put up pics of what all has been going on.  We are starting back to June when we took our trip up north to Mistissini, Quebec to a Cree village for special meetings (by the way - we leave again on Tuesday for another trip to another village for a Gospel Jamboree!  This time we are going to Waskaganish, Quebec which is about a 17 hour drive from here!  But you will hear more about that later!)  I also have some very exciting things to share (well, exciting for us at least!) of things are happening here very soon, too!

Now, without further ado - Scenic Saturday, Mistissini.

Our housing. Very nice.  This is opposite corner from the front door.

The dining room.

So nice to be able to make our own food, especially since I was still really sick.

Walked to the lake one day.  The kids loved the plane!

Touching the water because "we" were too afraid to get in it! ;-)

Loving throwing rocks in the water!

Not quite sure what Libby thought of the COLD water - haha!

She got brave and put her feet in!

Matt's dad and Libby inviting a young Cree guy to the meetings.

 I just think this is a cuite pie!

My handsome little guy!

I don't remember if I ever mentioned getting a new style of hair cut, but here is an idea of  it.

Yes, I am blogging here.  This is my "blog face."  And that was back when I could still wear regular clothes!

Love the static hair!

The boat that "ran out of gas" when Matt and Gordon went fishing -  read about it  here

The fish they caught!

I don't care - fish are just plain ugly!

I Hate Thinking of Titles....

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been blogging lately.  I actually haven't been on the computer.  Just in the past few days I have been checking out Facebook and catching up on the blogs I read and stuff.  Its not that I don't have anything to tell you or to say.  I sometimes just don't feel like it or think no one really cares what I have to say!  Plus life has been a roller coaster of a ride lately.  And the ride isn't stopping anytime soon!

Let's see... I guess I will go back to the beginning of last week.  We had several dr. appts (which, for once were NOT for me! They were for Matt!)  Thanks to that my husband is now able to clearly see my beautiful face again now that he has a new prescription in his new glasses!  Then, early Thursday morning Matt and I headed off to the hospital for Matt to have a minor surgery.  Don't worry - he's fine. It was nothing major, but it did put him on bed rest for a day or two. 

While we were at the hospital in the waiting room waiting for him to go in, we started chatting with another lady who was sitting there two.  Shortly after that Matt was called back but I continued to sit there and talk with this lady.  It was really nice to get to know her and through our chatting we learned that she went to Northland Bible College for a year, and she knew my former youth pastor and his wife.  Then I learned that they had been in the camp ministry in Ontario for a few years until the camp was shut down, and they moved here and now her husband is a paramedic.  They have 4 kids right around the same ages as my kids(her youngest is 5 months old).  It was really nice to chat with her and we exchanged how to contact each other and I plan on getting to know her even better in the near future.  She actually doesn't live to far from my house!

Then the nurse called me back and I sat with Matt while he was waiting to be taken to the OR.  We were just chatting when I saw a sign that said cell phones should be turned off.  I will admit that I don't always heed these signs.  But it reminded me that I should make sure my phone had the sound turned off.  When I pulled it out I had several messages from my mom and sister both urgent and needed me to call right away.  I actually didn't have much reception so I just wrote back asking what was going on.  It was then that my mom informed me that my uncle had passed away earlier that morning and that my parents were on their way to Grand Junction to help break the news to my mom's parents.

This came as quite a shock as my uncle was pretty young - he was my mom's younger brother and was not really sick so it was totally unexpected.  He wasn't completely healthy - he had been a smoker and drinker for much of his life, and his liver was damaged from that.  But he hadn't been very sick recently.  He went to bed Wednesday night and sometime early Thursday morning he took his last breath and passed into eternity, lying in bed next to his wife.  We cannot know the true condition of his spiritual life - only God does - but from all appearances, we don't believe he was saved.  That is a hard pill to swallow, but we just have to remember that each is responsible for his own life.  My uncle had heard on many occasions the gospel, so he was without excuse.  But its still very, very hard to think about.  Besides my mom, everyone on her side of the family is unsaved as far as we know.  We are praying that God would use this sudden loss to soften my family's heart and bring them to Him.

Also lately, we have been having some crazy, crazy weather.  Last Monday we had literally the WORST thunderstorm I have ever seen in my life.  It all started with some very dark, suspicious looking clouds.  WE kept an eye on them, and sure enough, one just a ways away from our house was forming into a funnel.  Then the wind picked up, it started to hail, and the cloud looked more and more like a funnel.  We gathered the kids and went down to our basement for a while and stayed down there for about 30 mins until the storm seemed to pass.  It wasn't until later that we found out that we were in fact in an extreme tornado warning.  I will admit there was a few minutes there that I was a little scared!  One thing about living in the country like we do - there is no local emergency system to warn us of stuff like that.  If we lived closer to town, we would have heard the sirens and alarms going off, but we are too far away to hear any of that!

So then we went about our night, finished supper, got the kids in bed (I skipped baths that night due to all the lightning!).  The power had been flicking on and off all evening.  Then, around 9:30p.m. it went off for good.  It was then I realized that we really are not that prepared for an emergency.  Oh, I have candles - but they all are like Yankee candles that are scented.  I had to light all the ones I had so my house had a very strong smell of cucumber melon, apples, cinnamon, and spice.  Nice when you burn just one at a time, but not so nice when they ALL are burning at the same time!  We can't run any of our water with no power, so I couldn't do dishes or laundry or anything (rats!).  We decided to just go to bed and enjoy the sleep.  But that was hard because there was SO much thunder and lighting and it was so close and so loud!  I kept expecting the kids to wake up from the noise but they slept through it all!

It was starting to get really hot and humid in our house, so we were just praying the power would come back on so we could use our fans and our one portable air conditioner.  Finally around 12:30a.m. it came back on and I was so happy.  We really starting to get hot! But that was short lived because about 30 mins later it went back off and didn't come back on until 2 p.m. the next day.  We slept some that night with it storming almost all night, then got up first thing, called Matt's parents to find out they did have power (and they have central air!  Woohoo!) so we headed over there for the day.

Since then we have had lots of thunderstorms and rain and the power seems to flick on and off all the time (has several times today in fact!).  And our temps just seem to rise higher and higher.  I think I could take the heat a little easier if it weren't so humid.  Seriously, it feels like we are in Florida here!  And the next few weeks are just supposed to get hotter and hotter!  Some are even calling for close to 40's(which in Celsius that is HOT!). 

Next week we have VBS so we will be really busy with that.  We are praying that those hot temps don't come next week since we have no type of AC or anything at church.  The basement there does stay somewhat cool, but our auditorium is like a sauna!  But again, I really shouldn't complain.  Soon enough we will be freezing our tushies off.  I just find it harder to take the heat when I am pregnant.

Speaking of which, that is going well.  I am feeling mucho better, which is good since I only have one pill left to help with the morning sickness!  I am now 13 1/2 weeks along.  But I certainly look like I am a bit farther.  Lest you think I am exaggerating, I plan to take a pic tomorrow when I am all dressed for church to let you know that I am telling the truth.  I am already getting the, "Oh, when are you due?" questions from strangers at the store.  One girl literally let her mouth drop open when I told her I was 11 weeks along.  Apparently she was 2 or 3 weeks ahead of me and you couldn't tell yet.  I just smiled at her and said, "Well, its my 4th so...." Not that I enjoy having to explain why I'm so "big." Seriously, people.  Just don't make comments to a preggo woman about her size - no matter if you mean it to be good or bad.  Either way it can be taken offensively and put the preggo woman in a bad mood.  Just shut your trap! :-)  Okay, I'll get off of that rabbit trail...

So, I guess that is what has been happening here lately.  Lots more, I am sure, but I can't seem to remember at the moment.  I'm a little tired.  I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Until next time.....