God is great!

I woke up this morning to the most beautiful Christmas morning I ever could have hoped for. It is only odd in that it is the day before my birthday and a little white for the spring, although I love the beauty of the winter.

Here is a sight to be seen, the summer sandbox and pool, lazily left in the yard through all of winter, the window dressings for easter up and the most snow we have seen so far this year. What a joy it is to live in a town of non stop surprizes! I happen to love it!

So I woke up this morning to a toasty house, although others had not had power since last night and most of the town was out of power for the night also. Our street was one of the only ones in town with lights on last night. My sis and Blaine spent the night on our couches as there was no heat anywhere else and thanks to the ploughs they couldn't even get into my mom's driveway! So, I got up and made Adam his coffee, Thank God for that because almost as soon as it was done the power finally went out. Adam was already at work so it must have been 8am. I was supposed to babysit but since the whole town was shut down, I am free of work today!

We decided to do a little of this,

Under some nice warm blankets and then I thought, we should pray. So, the kids and I all closed our eyes and I said a prayer for safety, and warmth, and that the lights would come on. That was at 10:45am. The
came back on by 11:00 am!

So, now I am enjoying one of these

Next to

And the kids are enjoying a little of this to celebrate...

The one time of the year I really look forward to mail I see this but...

I thank God that all this is still frozen and we are warm and snug again.

I pray we won't have to cancel the night out tomorrow night...

I remember as a kid just loving the power outages and it being such an adventure but as I get older, I get more concerned about the food going bad, the kids getting cold and such. I really thank God for taking care of us. Even if the power is only on for a couple hours, we will warm up and be ready to face the cold again. What a faithful God we serve! I just love the spring!!!

Please comment

Okay, I made the reservations for the wonderful girly night out... can you all email and let me know who is coming so I know the final tally to tell the restaurant? That would be wonderful! I can't wait!!! Any questions??? Email me! :)

Culinary Meme

Most used gadget: It is possible my cheese grater, garlic press and veggie peeler would be tied for most used
Most used item in the whole kitchen: wooden spoon
Last time I cooked for a crowd: Stealhead dinner for the family when my sis was in town
Who had the most influence on my cooking: my Mom I would think
Most used spice: I guess garlic or dill
Favourite ice cream: Definately Breyers Maple Walnut But a close second is Breyers Mint Chocolate Chip
Coffee... ground or whole beans? Ground just for the ease of it
Peanut Butter... crunchy or smooth? Smooth
Pet peeve in someone else's kitchen: I guess 2 things, but I am not free of these peeves in my kitchen most times... clutter on the table, and crumbs underfoot. Almost impossible to avoid either though with kids around.
Too many in the freezer: Freezies. It would be too little though if I had my deepfreeze. Just waiting and waiting and waiting till I can get one again from insurance!
Wine... white or red: White, but I am not really a wine fan
Evian water? No, but we buy the walmart bottled water.
Favourite fruit: Fresh pineapple
Vegetable I hate: You know, I remember not liking parsnips as akid but I have not tasted them lately. I pretty much like all veggies.
Food mispronunciation that grinds my gears: I guess the only thing I can think of is onion, like ongion, it bugs me.
Favourite sandwich: Tim Hortons garden veggie sandwiches, love them!
Indispensable condiment: olive oil
Seafood? Yes, I am a huge fan of seafood.
Salsa... with or without cilantro? Not sure. I only buy salsa so I am not too sure what is in it. I just know I love it!
Carbs: I eat carbs whenever but I just am not big on carb filled food. I have nothing against the carbs though!

There you have it Gwen, not too interesting but, done for your reading pleasure!

The wish list

The list of wishes...

-I love baths and really nice bath stuff that smells yummy.







-Candles that smell yummy especially those Debbie Travis ones










-I love to give foot massages and always want to buy nice stuff to do them with. Like a long time ago I had this sloughing cream and peppermint lotion stuff for doing feet and I just loved it. But I can never seem to find the moolah to get any.










-As there is rarely money to buy makeup, I really need some Maybelline dream matte mousse foundation in classic ivory colour. I am running on empty.














-Jammies : comfy ones












-panties : nice but comfy











- So I got the flyer from the christian bookstore and there were a couple things that I liked in there. First, there are these cute courduroy wallets and they say words in embroidery on them, like faith, love, joy, etc. I love them and really need a new wallet.







-Inspirational key rings from treasure house


-they have these cute bags that are corduroy and reversible. I like them in the picture although I never saw them in real life yet.







-bible trivia games of all kinds














-cool tall mugs









-fancy socks









-I need silverware but it is a bit on the costly side and I want setting for 8 so I can get rid of the cheapy ones that are falling apart that I have. I want the kind that have some shiny metal and some matte, something like this













Last but not least anyone who falls into some










can pay off my








hahahahaha

Thanks for tuning in! A bunch of my wants and a few needs. God bless!

Just random stuff going on

Well, not much to say accept this.
I went to see Jenna in the hospital the other night and was blessed with a great honor. I was able to spend the night there with her and help her with the baby. You can't imagine how wonderful it was for me. Jenna and I have not got to get to know each other much and this was a great opportunity to bond and get to know baby Isaiah. Jenna got to learn lots about me as she is a little quiet and I happen to talk a lot! haha. I can not say for sure for today because I have not seen her yet, but when I left her yesterday, she was doing great! She is starting to get the hang of the nursing and was just absolutely adoring her new little guy. We got about 4 hours of sleep and lots of nursing practise. The baby hardly cried at all and when he did, it was so cute. He is gorgeous! Thank you so much Jenna for letting me stay and trusting me to help you. You are such a blessing and so is you baby.
So, I have a few things today on the "to do list". It is wildly frustrating when I get totally unmotivated and don't do anything for a while so today is a little catch up day. First of all Adam and I have been talking about finances lately and I have realized that my, once very well done, budget is lacking these days in new additions to income and expenses, so here I go to update it. We really need to pay off some debt that is lingering before the kids are all in school. That give me 3 years but I would love to do it in 1 and a half... this is going to be quite the budget, hey hun!?
Next on the list, Tamara asked if I could tell her what I wanted for my birthday (details for party plan? email me) so I said, hey I will put it on the blog. This is funny though because I have never been so greedy sounding I think in my life! Except maybe with Adam, who I just tell what I want. So, I want to do this. Even though I know that people don't often bring gifts to adult parties, and I am the ripe old age of 26 this week, so, without expectation in the slightest, I wanted to write down a few little things that I could use or have wanted for a while. I have not actually had a party, accept a little girly get together last year for my 25th. So when my good and faithful friend, Jenny (whose blog is now not for public veiw, hence the no link) brought it up at cell last week for all to know, I was so ficken excited! (I use the word fricken here, just to make my bro in law Andrew laugh at the substitution!) So, we planned, and I can't wait!
Okay, so last on the list, after my much needed list of wants, will be... drum roll please........... Getting crap together for my taxes. Yippee, in the most sarcastic voice possible. If you know of our basement situation, and that all my nicely filed tax stuff was jammed into my room in some obscure place, then we got more which is unfiled in all kinds of places, you can probably understand about half of the frustration and work I am facing! So, this is by far, the most unwanted on my list, but I will update this as I go.
Hope you feel better in this day just knowing that I am facing this much work, and you are not! haha
God bless everyone!

Update... My mom is here and wants a walk! Yay, something to procrastinate a little, it will insprire me to get my butt in gear when I get home!

Isaiah

Well, many already know but I thought that I would post, too.
Jenna had the baby! After quite a long time labouring she had a BOY!!! I am so happy for her. Isaiah Stuart... what a strong name, hey? Congrats Jenna, you are such a trooper. So proud of you!!!

Jenna... baby time!!!

Looks as if our friend Jenna is in labour with her little one. yahooo!!! No one knows if it is boy or girl. It is so hard to handle the waiting game! If you think of Jenna at any time today, say a prayer for her delivery and her spirits to be high in this time as she awaits God's blessing for her. She is hoping it will go reasonably quick. Her family and Ruth will be with her so she is in good hands. God bless you Jenna, we can't wait to see your beautiful little one!

Yippee for family!

Some know, some don't, my wonderful sisters have been in town! So, Virginia is visiting till the end of April, then I will harrass her like you wouldn't believe to start a blog so I will know what the heck goes on in her life! So we are catching up, big time and loving every minute of it! I will be so sad to see her go when she does but here we go, enjoying it none the less!!!
So, last week I got a call from my biggest sis, Bernadette, and she said that her and her beautiful boys were going to come out for a little visit, for a week. So she says, yeah, we will be leaving here the day after tomorrow! I was so excited! So she arrived and we have had some really nice visiting. I love having sisters! It has got to be one of the best and most unique relationships. We are best friends, even in the worst of times and we can just be "girls" together, and talk and talk till we are worn out from talking! I just love it! So glad my bro in law sent Bern and the boys for this little surprise and it was so great to have a little reunion between all us girls with my mama, the origional gal! So here are a few cutie pics from the other night when I had the family over for supper. Blaine was working but showed up just after and was here for dessert. Was wonderful! I cooked half of the marvelous stealhead! And we ate it all and probably could have eaten the rest of it if I would have cooked it. So, I say again, God has blessed us, family, friends, food, and fellowship. What more could anyone ask for!
Joshua and Annabelle graciously ate on the kitchen floor to give seats for everyone else. He doesn't look any worse for wear hey?
Eric, didn't eat much but just having such a cutie at the table was such a blessing! The first day he saw Annabelle he pointed and said "cousin cutie". What a sweet little man!

There's Eric, lounging on the cat house.
Mom and Joshua playing a game of battleship on Saturday night before out visitors came over, my Gramps and Unc.
The yummy fish dinner! Bet you wish you were there! haha
Joel, enjoying his bread, that is almost all he ate, but he was happy. Nan's lap is the covetted seat at any meal! So cute.
Alex, my little Al. I can't stand his cuteness, he is wonderful and he loves to give hugs and kisses. Today when I was saying my goodbyes to him, he hugged and hugged. It was like he knew exactly what I needed, just to hold him, because it will be a few months till I can again. Look at that face, he is such a lovie babe! So, Family is one of the greatest blessings God has ever given to me and I am just so glad to have gotten together for this time together. Night all!

Keven AKA-"The Fish Killer"

Keven and I went back to the Copper River last night. He landed this nice dolly. (I think it was 18") I was having so much fun it was hard to leave. We stayed late and when about to leave my coworker Ed showed up with his family so we waited till they walked down the trail. We met his wonderful family and showed them our 2 dollies. Hopefully I'll get the picture Ed took of Keven and me with both our fish to post soon. As a result, I was dreadfully late to pick up my family for cell. Sorry babe!!

"Ma, get the frying pan ready!!!!"

If there are two things you can't have too many pictures of they are BC Wilderness and pictures of fish caught on location. Pictures with both rock my world!!!

As cold as it was Keven seemed to have a great time out on the Copper. Thanks for joining me!!

I love the sun piercing the clouds in the background.

Psalm 133 in Action

What a great time fishing with Keven!! Went out for less than an hour of fishing. Caught the dolly first and after saying "Two more casts Keven, we have to get going." BLAMM!! Boom-shack-a-lacka!! This wonderful 15lb Steelhead hit my line! I was praying the whole time I was fighting it that it wouldn't get off but truth be told it was pure joy just having this beautiful, powerful creature on my line for 5 minutes. This stealy came out of the water for the tail dance a couple of times. Rock on dudes!!! And on a small trout rod I might add!! What an awesome way to start 3 days off!! When Keven and I first got there I lost a good sized dolly and the second fish on was the dolly you see in the picture. If I got the first dolly I'd be done fishing for the day, so thank God for that first lost fish!!!

I wanted to post this picture of just me so you can see how much Keven adds to the picture. I would hate to picture the day without having him there. Great company and a wonderful young man! Thank you Keven for joining me in this wonderful day, buddy!

Not too shabby hey! 6 good sized meals, chunk of eggs and I scraped excess meat off of the bones for some wonderful fish chowder that Charlene makes.

modem, potty and prayer!

Starting with something so unimportant to me except that I have missed checking the blogs. I would really not be upset if this computer was gone, but as I haven't really the option here is the low down. The past week we have realized there is a serious problem with our modem, consiquently I have not been to blog land in days but I thank everyone who commented about Joely and the potty because it was so encouraging to hear you all were thinking of us. So, Chris loaned us a modem last night so we could see if that was the problem and sure enough... that is it! So we will not ever be returning it. HAHAHAHA Just kidding Chris. We will need to have a much needed chat with telus in the next few days and figure out what can be done that will cost us next to nothing. Hopefully something!

So, as the potty goes, 2 days and he was having almost no accidents except #2 which may take a little while. But I can not believe it! Thanks for all the prayers. I am not even worried taking him out in just undies as he tells me every time he needs to go pee. It amazes me. Joshua was so hard to potty train and faught it every step of the way. He was one month younger than Joel. Joel was a breeze! Well, all the glory to God!!!

And lastly, I have something wrong with my shoulder/ neck/ back. Don't know what happened. I did move around the living room a couple days before but have done that many times and never have had a problem. I also put together a bookshelf that was heavy and awkward and lots of arm and back energy went into that but that has never been a problem before either. Could be a pinched nerve or something but it is EXTREMELY painful. Enough that I have nearly passed out a few times. I have had times where I just start sweating and getting dizzy, too. It has been now 5 days. Okay, doesn't sound long but when you need to pick up kids and sweep floors and clean bathrooms and do dishes and etc etc etc. On our way out the door for church this morning, I was in tears. It is just so bad! Got to church and it was kind obvious that there was something wrong. I couldn't move my head much and I could hardly crack a smile. Well, my mom, the faithful woman that she is, said to me, I am getting Thomas (our small group leader and good friend) to pray for you. So she got up and got him. He, of course, came right away. He asked me what was up and I started to tell him and burst into tears as I have been trying to "suck it up" and be tough but it was just so painful! So he prayed, a faith filled prayer for sure, for healing. As he was praying I just felt my neck get warm and started to move my nexk around. I could move it quite well and the pain was a lot less. I already could feel God's touch on me. Unbelievable! In a totally believable kind of way. So, after he prayed he said he will keep praying for me in the next days. Another man in church and good friend, Randy, specifically told me he will be parying for me and of course my mom is praying for me. I feel so blessed that such people of faith are not afraid to step away from comfort and declare the glory of our God in my life and body. So, I can smile easily again and bare with the pain. I am praying in faith that in the next day or 2 I will have no more pain. God is doing a healing work and I am so blessed! So, I see again the faithfulness of God through prayer. Some may say, no biggy as I am still in some pain. Don't even think it! It is a very big deal. And I know that God is willing able to take the rest of the pain away. I just love it when He shows His power through these vessels!

Awesome party at Tamara's and Henny's on the weekend and I can't wait for the baby shower tomorrow. It will be so fun to get out with the girls and celebrate such a beautiful gift from the Lord! God bless you all!

Potty time!

Well, everyone who prays, start praying. I am endeavouring to potty train my last baby into a little man! Yippee. Started yesterday, pretty good day, only about 2 accidents. Today, not quite as good. More accidents than hits but we will keep going. I really think he is ready and he understands the whole thing of it so I think I will just tough out any frustration on my part and just do it! But in the meantime, as much prayer as possible would be great I am praying he catches on quick, he's a bit of a fighter when it comes to doing things I want him to.
WAHOOO... As I am typing, he came and said he peed. I felt his undies and they were a little damp but we went to the potty and he did a whole big pee on the potty. So he actually stopped himself! YAY!!! I love progress. And he is having a popsicle as a treat as they didn't have dessert anyway.

Snow in March... God is so awesome!

The other day, we were just sitting at home and it was snowing like you wouldn't believe! I LOVE winter and the snow as many already know. It is my very fave time of the year. I had this great idea that we would go sledding. So, the only problem was that we didn't have any sleds. So we went down to Walmart and I figured, if they were on sale we would buy the Dora sleds. I have wanted them all season but couldn't bring myself to pay $25 a shot! So, sure enough, they were on for $12! Yay! So we bought 2. We came home and ate and then I called my mom and sis and said that we were going out to Kiti'k'shan school to sled and then to Tim Hortons for hot chocolate. They were able to come and join us so we all headed out. What a great time! I never would have thought that my mom would join in on the fun. Joel went and walked up to her and said he wanted Nana to take him down and she didn't even hesitate! So we sledded and sledded. Nice that there were some other friends out there, too with their kids. It was awesome!
Joel and Nana, ready to sled!
Mom and Annabelle, they loved the whole thing!
Joshua and Nana, Adam secretly gave them a huge push to get them going fast.
Joshua, heading down the hill. He hogged the one sled most of the night. We really should have bought more of them!

This was an awesome night.
Comfy sledding!
Annabelle helping out her bro.

There is my sis. Her feet were freezing but she still sledded!And we are ready to go! Headed off to Tim Hortons where Blaine met up with us. It was nice. The kids had their hot chocolate and we had coffee. When we first went in I brought the camera. I had good intentions to take pics of the ordeal but... forgot it in the bathroom as soon as we got there. Okay, so I totally forgot I even had it with me. We ate and drank. Then had to rush out of there as Joel started throwing up all over. I couldn't believe it! So I stripped him down and rushed to the bathroom. Got him cleaned a little and then everyone packed up and out to the van. We cleaned up the table the best we could as to not leave any grossness. He did not have the flu, just a cold and a lot of flem that had been causing this effect quite a bit. I just didn't expect it right then. Anyway, got him home and my mom came over for a little visit. then as we walked in the door, guess what I realized was missing? The very nice camera of course! I was freaking out and praying frantically. How often do we really have $500 to spend on a camera! So, I called and guess where it was, still in the bathroom exactly where I forgot it. I can't believe it still as it was really busy that night! God is so awesome and just never stops amazing me!