Vote for Terrace (of course) HERE
I timed 10 votes there at 3:36.
You can also vote by phoning 1-866-533-8066. I timed 10 votes there at 6:55.
Test messaging would be the fastest but I can't time as I can't text message.
Text- Vote Terrace to 222111

Since original post a couple of hours ago I've voted 200 times. My goal is 3,000 votes.
Maybe I'm not crazy about hockey but this will affect the community. I've also really enjoyed the free skates at the arena on Mondays 3:30-4:30pm with the kids and look forward to the kids enjoying the arena. Hopefully with a $100,000 upgrade, eh?

Watkins?

OKay, I know this is a little strange but for anyone who loves Watkins, I have a friend who sells it and she was telling me that there is a free shipping offer till the end of this month (Friday) on orders over $50!

They have about the best spices and extracts around as well as many natural medicines (cough syrup, muscle pain relievers and much much more). I need to get some chili powder and a few other items so I was thinking I will put out an order on Friday and if anyone wants to get anything when I do, I can add it on if you have some money for me :) Let me know ASAP.

Valentines Day

Valentines day for our family is a great day for me and Adam to help the kids understand how much God loves them and how much we love them. And that God's love is greater than any other that a person will have. Also that we learn how to love by the example of Jesus life and the word of God, who is Love!

Adam and I have never really celebrated Valentines day for us as our anniversary is 3 days later so we choose to celebrate it instead. This is fine by me because I always found it a bit cheesy anyway. Although I never really minded the attention it brought. ha ha.

Here are a few pictures of our day. Adam and the kids did buy me a big Valentine balloon and some beautiful flowers but we didn't remember to get pictures of them before the balloon was demolished. And my mom bought the kids a board game and chocolates that, as well, got overlooked in the photographs but the kids are enjoying the game everyday since! We also got a babysitter in the evening and went out to the church where there were wonderful desserts, great friends and conversation and a speaker in from out of town to talk about marriage. It was a nice evening.

We read 1Corinthians 13 and explained it to the kids. Then we gave them these. The Bernstein Bears books are the christian series of 4 that they have out. They are wonderful stories!

Also my Dad and his girlfriend sent some gifts for the kids and they just loved them. Here is Joshua with his markers and cool paper. Very neat.

Annabelle with her princess hair stuff and jewelry!

And here is Joel, you can see how excited he was for these two cute sports Curious Georges!

And Joel didn't get valentine cards because he is not in school yet so Joshua and Annabelle made sure that they gave him one each. He was so pleased!

Annabelle holding Daddy's chocolates from all of us. And Adam will be giving Annabelle the heart box tomorrow. That will make her as happy as can be.

Yum! They are good quality chocolate. Almost equivalent to Purdy's!

And then our last project of the day... Adam and I finally conquered the boys border for their room. We have had it for the last 2 months and just finally put it up. The boys picked the border and the paint colour. I think it looks great! My mom and I will be picking out material for curtains soon and my mom says she will make them! What a blessing! I can't wait! She made our last ones too but then we had the water damage. We could keep the old ones but she said she doesn't mind making new. The others were space theme and were awesome! But would not match too well with the room now. Thanks Mama!

The boys admiring their border. They were so excited! You can't really tell in the picture but they honestly were!

And while we were doing that, Annabelle was working on this. Then she decided that this is how she wants her hair for wacky hair day. That is this Friday! Should look cool!

Other than that, we headed over to Adam's mom's house for her birthday on the 15Th. Was a blast and she made supper for all of us and Adam's brother's family. Was so nice to all be together! Then we played some dice and headed home.

Yesterday Adam and I went out to the Hot house for our 8 year anniversary. Then we headed to the theatre and watched Mall Cop, very funny! And then went and shopped for gifts for each other. Was fun. We bought a few movies from Wal*mart so when we got home we watched School of Rock and that concludes our last few days... Hope all is well in blog land! God bless!

Here's a story

Most people know that I babysit this little cutie. Check out this link to a little story and maybe go show your support at the garage sale this weekend!

PATHWAY OF PAIN

If my days were untroubled and my heart always light,
would I seek that fair land where there is no night?

If I never grew weary with the weight of my load,
would I search for God's peace at the end of the road?

If I never knew sickness and never felt pain,
would I search for a hand to help and sustain?

If I walked without sorrow and lived without loss,
would my soul seek solace at the foot of the cross?

If all I desired was mine day by day,
would I kneel before God and earnestly pray?

If God sent no winter to freeze me with fear,
would I yearn for the warmth of Spring every year?

I ask myself these and the answer is plain,
if my life were pleasure and I never knew pain

I'd seek God less often and need Him much less,
for God is sought more often in times of distress.

And no one knows God or sees Him as plain
as those who have met Him on the "Pathway of Pain."

-------Helen Steiner Rice

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A blog giveaway

Well folks, my good friend Darci is doing a give away. It just happens to be for 12 candles and the Fireproof movie!!! I just got mine in the mail today and I am so looking forward to watching it with my Love tonight. Head on over to Darci's blog, leave a comment and tell what you will be doing for Valentines day, to be entered in the draw.

Fireproof

I wrote about the book a while ago and now am waiting for my movie to come in the mail. I am looking forward to seeing it so much. What a powerful message it holds. People in our small group were saying that they have already rented it and that it is an awesome movie!

Loves not a fight, but it something worth fighting for. This is a song in the movie and I just love it. It is truly the heart of marriage.

I loved listening to this on my way to work on my Ipod. Be encouraged!!!

Pride

PRIDE
My name is Pride.
I am a cheater.
I cheat you of your God-given destiny...
because you demand your own way.
I cheat you of contentment...
because you "deserve better than this."
I cheat you of knowledge...
because you already know it all.
I cheat you of healing...
because you're too full of me to forgive.
I cheat you of holiness...
because you refuse to admit when you're wrong.
I cheat you of vision...
because you'd rather look in the mirror than out a window.
I cheat you of genuine friendship...
because nobody's going to know the real you.
I cheat you of love...
because real romance demands sacrifice.
I cheat you of greatness in heaven...
because you refuse to wash another's feet on earth.
I cheat you of God's glory...
because I convince you to seek your own.
My name is Pride.
I am a cheater.
You like me because you think I'm always looking out for you.
Untrue.
God has so much for you, I admit.
But don't worry...If you stick with me,
you'll never know.

READY SET LEARN!!!

For anyone with preschool age kids that think they might want to have their children in Centennial Christian school, check this out. It was in our news letter. Try to sign up soon while they have spots. It is a very enjoyable time. I have obviously been there for the past 2 years and this year I get to go again as my little Joely is starting kindergarten in the fall!!!


Ready, Set, Learn 2009
On Thursday, March 5, we will be hosting
our fourth “Ready, Set, Learn” open house.
Children ages 3 - 5 and their parents/caregivers
are welcome to the library from 10:30
- 12:00 pm. There will be a story time and
playtime for the children in the preschool
classroom and opportunity for coffee and
discussion for the adults in the library.
Lunch will be provided. If you have a child
or are friends with one, you are encouraged
to register them for this event. Please call the
school at 250-635-6173 by Monday, March
2 to sign up for this free event.
Bev Mantel - Ready, Set, Learn
Coordinator.

Thank you Uncle Andrew!

When Adam's brother Mark went to their brother Andrew's wedding he brought back a few little gifts. This was given to Annabelle from Andrew and she just loved it! So cute too as we were watching Anne of Green Gables and Annabelle really wanted a puffed sleeve dress, which this is a little bit. Thanks so much Andrew for thinking of our beauty. She absolutely loves you... and the dress!

Bible verse of the day

I was just checking the bible verse of the day and it was so funny because I just finished prepping for teaching Sunday school tomorrow and I am teaching on trusting God and having faith. What an encouragement to see this! It is just so true and I am blessed to have these reminders. Sometimes I think that teaching Sunday school teaches me more than it teaches the kids. All the prep work and I really understand the concept more than I ever have before.

Bible Verse Of The Day
Saturday, January 31, 2009
— 2 Thessalonians 3:5 —
May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.

God is fully trustworthy. I am finally learning this. I'm finally learning His sovereign plan is the best plan. That whatever I entrust to Him He can take care of better than I. That nothing under His control can ever be out of control. That everything I need He knows about in every detail. That He is able to supply, to guide, to start, to stop, to sustain, to change and to correct in His time and for His purposes. When I keep my hands out of things, His will is accomplished, His name is exalted, and His glory is magnified.— Charles Swindoll

Elikia Village Project

Cammie Clarke shared in our church last Sunday. It was encouraging to see what God is up to in the Congo. Check out this video which she showed at our church. The site about the Elikie Village Project is http://elikiavillage.wordpress.com/

New Years fondue

We didn't do it on new years eve this year but the fondue was a great success. It is my all time favourite meal of the year. I love it. It was delicious and I think I gained about 5 pounds that night! Here a just a few pictures to show a bit of the greatness of it. We were too busy eating to take many pictures.

January 4th

Joshua was supposed to go to a birthday party after church but this snow managed to keep us home from church and the birthday family had to pick up Joshua and drop him off in their 4x4! The path to our house had about 3 or 4 feet of fresh snow when we woke up in the morning and it was snowing so hard that the plows could only clear the highways so there was no way to get our car out.

It was so amazing for the kids! I love the snow so a day of being snowed in is just awesome! Joshua had a blast at the party and they got to play out in the snow the whole time. How great! I must say, I can't imagine living anywhere but here. How beautiful it is!

Games

One of Joshua's favourite things to do is play games. For Christmas he got a few new ones including Sorry, Mouse Trap, and Twister. Here is us playing Sorry for the first time after Christmas. So much fun and even Joel will play through the whole game.



But Joshua's game of choice these day is definately chess. Adam has been teaching him the basics and he is quickly becoming about as good a player as Adam! They love it. it gives them something fun to do to pass the time together. I love seeing them building their friendship. Here is Joshua and his Uncle having a great game.

Marble Run

My dad and my sister sent Joshua some money for his birthday so I took him down to his favourite store, Teaching Tools. He chose this as his gift. They have similar things in their class in school and he has always loved them. So, you can build it however you want and then let the marbles go at the top and watch them go through the whole contraption to the bottom. Adam helped them build this first one. It was great!

Hours of fun!

Thanks Dad, Deb and Virginia and Blaine. Joshua loved picking out this cool gift for himself. What a treat!

Well the day has finally come!!!! My little twin brother is getting married!! I'm very excited for him and will be staying up to pray for him and Che, that all goes well.

4PM Manila time which is 12AM here.

Beauty

Just a moment of beauty that Adam managed to capture last time he was out fishing. Just thought that I would share it as Adam has not had the time.

My Baby is 7!

Hard to believe the time is flying by so quickly! My first wonderful blessing from God turns 7 years old today and I am astounded at the man he is growing into.


Joshua blesses me every day. He is a gentleman, and a "boy" in the best of ways. He can climb, swing, run, jump, play sports, wrestle, make a huge mess and eat as much as me. He also cuddles, reads, sits still, cleans his messes, and laughs as much as possible.


Joshua loves the bible and God. He is a good friend to many, even his siblings and most of all, Adam and me.

He loves the snow, sun, rain, and wind. He is learning to cook, clean, fish, play soccer and much more. He desires God, purity, and true friendship. He is a true friend and an extremely genuine child. To sum up my little love, he is passionate, kind, strong, and brave. I thank God for this wonder all the time. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSHUA!!!

Let the pirate party begin!!!