And the days march on

I am just getting into the Christmas spirit and have almost finished my Christmas shopping! I am so excited to start all the great traditions of the season.

To start off the reading (which happens to be about my favourite thing to do with the kids during this season), I read this book. By the end I was choking back the tears. I wasn't too sure about it at first as it takes place in the future, but it ended up being just awesome. It takes place in a time in the future when Christmas and anything to do with Christ is outlawed. Then the main character comes across a drum and it is the drum of the little drummer boy. He finds the story of Jesus and wants to play the drum for Him. The passion in the boy is portrayed so well.

As the days go by I will write about the things we are doing to celebrate the birthday of the King. The one who deserves all glory! Hope the start of the holiday season has everyone in awe of the wonderful gift that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords has given!

All about Joel!

I am not totally MIA after all hey? I have been so busy with school and life that I have not had the chance to come on and share it with the world! So here goes a little bit.

First of all, Annabelle and Joel are sick. they either have seasonal flu or H1N1, not sure which. Fevers, cough, chills, runny nose, tired, headaches. Joel is pretty rough tonight but over all such a good sick kid. Throw on a good Christmas movie and all they need is Advil and water. . Annabelle is on the mend now. We will be staying home from church tomorrow to reduce the spread of this but Adam will be taking Joshua and that will be a great time for Joshua, just to be with Daddy on his own.

My baby turned 5 years old this week!!! He is so amazing. I love that boy more than I can even say. He has been such a blessing in my life. I had the honour of presenting his VIP presentation at school where I talk about his baby days and younger years, show pictures, go through his baby book, and bake cookies for the class! That last one is just something that I love to do, not
something that is part of the presentation. What a great time that was!

Joel- God is willing and Jehovah is Lord! When Adam and I first talked about children, Adam wanted 2. I wanted 4. I prayed that God would either take the desire away from me to have more or put the desire in Adam's heart to have more. After Annabelle was born, while we were still in the delivery room, Adam leaned over and said, "You're made for having babies, we should have another one!" I was overjoyed. We both prayed about it after Joel and felt that 3 was our family. We had such peace with that. We were absolutely decided on calling Joel, Joseph until about 2 weeks before he was born and we both felt that was not what God would have us name him. As we went through the name books trying to figure out the most meaningful name, Joel gave us both peace, it was right. We also had a girl name chosen in case. We didn't find out the gender of any of our children as we love surprises and what better surprise is that?

So, it was about 5am, on November 19th, when I felt the first contraction and excitedly got out of bed to start timing. Being the third baby, I figured I had better be ready. After the third contraction with them timing 10 then 9 then 8 minutes apart, I called our babysitters, Henny and Moriah. They were to the house in about 15 minutes to watch the older two kiddos. While I waited I called my awesome friend Christy who was coming to watch baby be born and be a support for me. I also called my parents.

Adam and I left our house at about 6am. Had to get coffee for Adam, that was a pretty early morning! While we were in the drive thru getting the coffee I knew that it was not going to be a long labor. Adam hurried us off to the hospital where they checked me and found I was in active labor- over 4 cm dilated- so I was aloud to stick around. About 6:30 I walked the halls of the hospital supported during contrations by Christy and Adam. After about 15 minute I couldn't do that anymore and by 7:29 Joel was born. It was the most relaxed and peaceful labor I ever could imagine. I remember everything, had no medication, was alert and excited and the baby was born healthy and strong.

From that point on I was bonded to Joel. He is my third, just as I am the third in my family and Adam is the third child in his. Joel is a wonderful mix of Adam and I.

This year my baby started school. He loves it!!! He is learning well and making great friendships that I hope will last a lifetime. I love the school the kids go to! They will be with the same group of friends till the day they graduate!

Joel is a love. He loves cuddles and kisses. He is also a talker and has a great sense of humour! This summer Joel asked the Lord into his heart and he definitely understands what that means. I am so thankful! When he grows up he wants to be a worker (carpenter) or a tractor driver.

Joel chose 6 boys he wanted to come over for his birthday and he had a wonderful time with them. I still can't believe that I am 28 years old with kids, 5, 6 and 7 years old. Time is flying by and I am just trying to enjoy every wind that blows! I am learning what it means to cherish one another and to take time out for "moments" of love that will last a lifetime. Letting the rougher moments pass without breaking me and letting the great moments remain in my thoughts and heart. I am feeling pretty great about letting each season slip away and embracing the next and I feel blessed that God has given me each season to remember.

I feel as though a chapter has closed. I have no more babies, but now growing warriors in the kingdom of God. Lady and men who are being equipped to fight every battle and they are enjoying every minute of it.

My dream for Joel is that he grows strong spiritually and that he understands the "race" he is running and runs with all his heart!

Days Of Elijah

Robin Mark performing Days of Elijah in the REM Lee Theater. I had to tape this video for Annabelle who has always loved this song, especially the "There's No God Like Jehovah" part. I had the opportunity to thank Robin for his music after. I also got his permission to post this video in case you were wondering. :>)
I also thanked the bass player. He had such an original style and I really enjoyed watching him play.

A Great Song For Hard Times

Refocussing

Life got a little out of focus as we have had so much going on. I was so discouraged the other day because I had done poorly on my English test, I have got a cold, there has been so much going on that I can hardly keep things straight, I still have not actually received my student loan that the Lord has blessed me with and we have been needing it badly, etc. Then today we woke up to our back tires in the van being slashed.

The Lord started speaking to me about some stuff this week starting at home group. He was impressing upon my heart the need to sit at His feet and just be with Him. I have been busy to the point that I have to fit my times with God into moments during dishes or while watching the kids swim or any other activity that allows me to give Him half my attention. I was realizing more clearly what I was doing. That I have been taking little to no time just to sit at His feet. I started to realize again my need to write things down so I can let them out of my mind and just focus on God. We talked about Mary and Martha and how Martha was not doing anything wrong but she was given a great opportunity to sit with the Lord and she chose the lesser things. And on top of it, had a bad attitude about it. We actually need to make the time to sit at the feet of the Lord and then get back to the other things. Prefer the best thing.


My English test came back today marked and with all my sentence answers my mark went up to 86% and I was so relieved. It is not fabulous but much better than the 66% that was showing before the teacher had the chance to mark the rest.

Today my cold was much less intense and I was feeling more clear.

The kids were wonderful in Sunday school which is always a treat and a blessing! And I spoke about Jim Elliot who is one man who always reminds me of the verse in Genesis that says
"As for you, ye devised against me evil--God devised it for good, in order to do as at this day, to keep alive a numerous people".

The tires will get dealt with tomorrow and God reminded me so quickly that in 8 years of living in this neighbourhood we have never been the recipients of any vandalism! We have been very blessed! And this is minor in the big scheme of things.

Tomorrow I will be trying to make it a point to sit at the feet of God and really find myself in Him every single day at some point. He is the only thing that gets us through some days and He is so good to us!

Here is a little something to start things off

I found this little gem over at my friend Jen's blog. She is awesome and I thought that maybe I would try this out and see if it can sound at least a little bit as interesting as Jen's sounded. Here goes...

20 years ago:
1. I was the tallest kid in my grade 3 class.
2. I started drinking coffee... YIKES! That might have been 19 years ago, not entirely sure.
3. I wore Sprinter brand runners and was bugged relentlessly about the yellow glue showing on the outside. Hard memories.

10 years ago:
1. I started dating the man of my dreams (yes that is Adam) and fell in love. I knew I would marry him and that he was God's gift to this woman before that year ended.
2. I accomplished the great feat of graduating from high school!
3. I had dreams of being a mom and a wonderful godly wife and wondered if God would ever let me have those dreams because I had made so many mistakes (Yes I actually thought this and can remember it so clearly).

5 years ago:
1. I heard the great news that I was cancer free and was left with enough cervix to carry a child. About 9.5 months later, I gave birth to Joel.
2. I lost my grandmother.
3. I gained a beautiful baby boy nephew, Eric, who I had the privilege to see come into the world. I love that boy!

3 years ago:
1. I was still nursing Joel.
2. I was already starting to prepare myself for my oldest, Joshua starting Kindergarten.
3. I started thinking about taking some school myself.

1 year ago:
1. Life started to blur... so much going on and not enough time!
2. I brought my Annabelle to her first day of kindergarten.
3. We stopped driving our van and bought a car that has since left our hands and we are back in a van... we really got to feel why we need a minivan.

So far this year:
1. I took my little man Joel for his first day of Kindergarten and realized how quickly life has moved into a completely different season!
2. I started school (so exciting) and am enjoying almost every minute of it. Right now I should be writing a test.
3. I have made many new friends and have realized how wonderful it is to have many woman in my life to share with, be with and care for.

Yesterday I:
1. Fell asleep while watching a movie with Adam about the conspiracy of the moon landing. Very interesting, but not interesting enough to keep me awake.
2. Cooked a huge pot of fish chowder with Adam. It was very enjoyable and tasted awesome!
3. Talked a crazy amount on the phone with my wonderful sisters... it was a great day.

Today I:
1. Got a call about my student loan and they say that Adam has to sign a paper to allow them to deposit the money into his account, although it is in fact joint and has my name on the void check I gave. Strange, but okay, I will do it.
2. Have my Unit 3 exam in English. Praying for a clear mind!
3. Will pick the kids up from school, walk to the pool to watch swim lessons, heat up left over chowder, eat and go to home group, all while keeping in mind... tomorrow will be slower!


Tomorrow I:
1. Will walk with the kids to the skating rink and skate with them.
2. Clean my house so I don't have to Friday when I am having a few girls over.
3. Will start preparing for my course starting on Monday.

In the next year I:
1. Will finish my schooling for now and have an Office Assistant Certificate.
2. Hope to find a job I love using the skill I have acquired.
3. Will continue to support my children and my husband in school, work, walking out their faith, and growing in every way.

Well, that was truly enjoyable to write. Hope you enjoy reading it. Have a lovely day all. Off to write my test!!!