Happy Spring

Today is the first day of spring.  I didn't have to shovel any snow today!    I am ready for bare sidewalks and light jackets.  Im ready for the odd sunburn and the sun being up until 9pm.  I am not even worried about sitting on the beach or putting in flowers,  I would just like to be outside longer than 1/2hr at a time.  I am really looking forward to working on our yard this spring.  There is much to be done, but it will be fun to see what we can do with it.

Below are some random pictures from the last month or so.

 Dino Jack.

 Trev was gone for a youth retreat a few weeks ago, so I made a tent and Brook and I stayed up late to watch a movie and sleep in it.  We made it until midnight.  I was sick of being kicked, so I went back to my bed.  It was a good time.

Joel, Laura and their family came for a visit on saturday.  Brook and Olivia had a great time together, and Jack loved having Judah to play with because he was so enthusiastic about hockey.

 Jack is now in a "big boy" bed.  We took the side rail off his crib and moved Brook into his room too.  So far so good.  He's been staying in bed and respecting the rules.  (Mommy is not much fun to hang out with in the middle of the night anyway)  Now he seems to think he is a big boy.  Everything is "I do it".  He even tried to put on Brook's panties today, which I am hoping is a sign that he wants to start potty training, but I am likely dreaming.

 The other morning the kids went fishing.  The upside down coffee table was the boat, the carpet was the water, and I made fishing rods out of wooden spoons, tape, string and magnets.  I spread a bunch of cutlery all over the carpet and they "caught fish" all morning.  Good times.  They generally play really well together.

So I just realized that I have no pictures of Trevor and I from this last month.  I'll work on that for the next post.  I have a few videos I'd like to post, but my Mac and blogger don't seem to agree, so hopefully I can get that figured out soon.  Until then, enjoy the pictures.

Around Here

I know, I havent posted anything in a long time.  

Im not too busy.

Im not feeling ill.

I just didn't have much to say.

Christmas was a mixture of illness and fun.  We really enjoyed all of our gatherings, but missed out on christmas day due to some high fevers and digestive pyrotechnics.  Once again we were very blessed by all the gifts and good times with family and friends.  I love christmas.

January ... was cold, and dark, and generally boring.  I don't like January.  Thankfully it went by quite quickly, but I have to admit that I didn't have motivation to accomplish much.   We had a church leadership retreat at the beginning of the month that was really great.  We got to know the members of our church so much better, and it gave us a new connection to the leaders we are working with.  Trevor and Dad did a little more work on the wiring in the basement, so it is one step closer to completion.  I can't wait to be able to use our basement!

February has started out quite busy.  Trevor has had a lot of meetings, and has a lot of things planned for the next few weeks.  It likely won't slow down until the beginning of March after his youth retreat.  I have been a little more motivated to get out, have people over for dinner, and organize some play dates.  It has been good for me to spend more time with people, and the kids love it.  Wether it is having a lady over for coffee, or going to the rec center to play with friends, the kids love people!  It is  a beautiful character that they are blessed with.

Brook is really excited about valentines day tomorrow.  She loves pink, making cards, and giving people hugs, therefore Valentines is right up her ally!  After christmas she started eating like a horse, and now all the sudden her clothes are all to small.   Her legs are covered in bruises from falling down and running into things.  Sometimes I wonder if she'll be 6ft tall.  We registered her for kindergarten a few weeks ago.  I'm still processing that.  I'm not ready for her to go.  She is ecstatic about school.

Jack has started talking!  Right after christmas he started and he hasn't stopped.  All of the sudden he points out colors and names.  I guess he knew it all but was waiting for the right time to let it all out. Yesterday he said "more apple cheerios".  I almost fell off my chair.  3 words together!  Of course I had to decifer his mumbled dialect, but he said it.

Trevor built the kids a snow hill in the back yard.  I am trying to upload a video of it, but that is what we have spent most of our afternoons this week doing.  Lots of fun sliding and digging.  Finally they have something to do back there.  The yard is really boring.  No fence, no swings, no sandbox, no nothin.  Now there is a snow hill.

 So that's what has been up with us.  We are "settled", unpacked, and getting into the groove here. I only have one box upstairs that is not unpacked.  I just don't know where to put it, and it has sat in the living room so long that I don't even notice anymore.  We are getting to know people and making friends.  Trev is working hard and the youth are really starting to enjoy the youth program.  He has made some really good connections with a few of the guys already and has a great group of youth leaders that are really dedicated.

Hopefully I don't wait another 3 months to post something.  I got a new camera for my birthday so I should just start sharing all the crazyness around here.  Jamie

Morden Town

OK, so we are moved, settled, and getting into life here in Morden.  There are a pile of random pictures below that you can take a gander at.  We moved October 20th, so we have been here a month.  It is hard to believe.  So much has happened in that time.  We did some painting.  Trev and Derick have done some renovations in the basement, which has provided Trev with a very nice and clean office in the basement.  Beth and Derick came out and stayed with us for 2 days to help with all the basement work.  Electrical, framing, insulating, drywall.  Lots of work.  We got our first snowfall while they were here so we went outside for a roll in the snow.  Nora spent the whole time sucking on her mittens.  Jack stood in one spot.  I think he was in shock.  Brook ran around like a crazy child.  Completely delighted! 

Most of the curtains and blinds are up, and the place is generally put together the way we want it.  Our new place is a bit smaller than our Boissevain house, so we have had to get rid of a bit of furniture, but we have CLOSETS! Yay!  You don't know how much you miss your broom closet until you don't have one for 4 years!  Trev has been trimming the trees in the backyard, but there is a LOT of work to do back there yet.  I think we'll wait until spring to do anymore.  Dad and Trev (and Jack) installed a dishwasher for me.  I am so happy.  I don't mind doing dishes, but I HATE the pile that sits on the counter all day waiting to be washed!  I feel very spoiled.  I only had to go 3 days without a dishwasher.

We went trick or treating, with the purpose of getting to know some of our neighbours.  (well, that was my motive, but I think other family members were after candy)  Brook was a princess, Jack was a tiger. We went up and down our block, and tried to meet our backdoor neighbours too.  It was fun. We had 85 kids come by!  We had to start turning them away because we ran out of candy.  Kid # 86 was not very impressed.  He had a huge pillowcase FULL of candy and when I told him I had no more candy he said "What? Owwhhaahh!" and stormed off.  Ha!

 There are not many people out and about in our neighbourhood because it is so cold, so it has been hard to get to know our neighbours.  Hopefully come spring we will have more luck. 

The kids and I are still trying to get used to our new life here.  Play dates, activities, and friends are all still new, but we are getting into it.  I have to admit I miss the comfort of visiting with friends that I know well. Brook has good days and bad, but so do the rest of us.  She mentions Boissevain regularly, and all I can do is validate her feelings and help her work through them.  We've been getting excited about christmas and all the fun that comes with that.  We have started some family routines and activities that Brook can look forward to every week, and that seems to help.   Trev's work is going well.  He's slowly figuring out what he wants to do with the youth program and how thing are going to work.  He's only been at it for a few weeks, so there is a lot more to be done yet.

So, that is us.  We are here and we are just figuring out life in a new community, new house, new church, new new new.  So far so good:)  

Trev and Brook with their laptops.  We made her one out of a cereal box and she loves it.  I catch her sitting on her bed typing on it all the time:)

So I have to admit, the last 6 months have been difficult.  Trevor finished his job at the Boissevain MB church at the end of April, and since then we have felt that we were in our own little "wandering in the wilderness" experience.  Although many lessons have been learned, it has felt very dry.  The frustration of not doing what we felt called to do, sapped our life, and made us question whether or not we were called in the first place.  Through it all, God has been faithful. Reassuring us of our calling, and teaching us some very important lessons, that God could only have taught us in the darkest of times.  As much as I wish he would have chosen to just write me a letter on the things I should work on, he knew this experience would be far more effective.  So in the mids of our waiting and learning, God was working things out.  Getting the next part of our journey set while we were getting ourselves prepared.

Two days after Trevor started his job at Western Archrib back in May, we got a call from Glencross Church in Morden, asking if Trevor would apply to be their youth pastor.  We were quite confused as we felt that God was asking us to wait in Boissevain for a while.  We were in no hurry to rush off to another job, as we were still healing from the last.  We quietly pursued the Glencross job in the spring, but once school was out the process slowed to a crawl, and we waited once again.  

Mid August we had a formal interview, mid september Trevor candidated, and last monday, he was offered the job.  He accepted.  Our candidating experience was wonderful.  We had a great time getting to know the youth, parents, and other members of the church.  What a warm and welcoming place.

Here is where it Gets crazy.  The last week and a half have been nothing short of a miracle!  On Monday evening Trevor got the job.  Tuesday afternoon we put our house up for sale. By wednesday noon we had sold our house!  18 hours on the market.  In Boissevain that is unheard of.  Thursday we got pre-approval for a new mortgage.  Friday we took a deep breath.  Saturday we went house shopping in Morden, found a house we love, and made an offer.  They accepted our offer that evening.  Wow. I have signed a lot of paperwork this week.  Monday I got a stack of boxes and I have been packing ever since.  

In the last year, it has felt like we were swimming upstream.  Every step forward was met with a shove backwards.  It has been difficult.  Thankfully it looks like we are done with the wilderness for a while.  The road has been cleared before us and we can see where God is leading.   I'm not saying Morden is the promised land, but it sure is nice to know where God wants us to go.  

Our Summer

So we have had a super fun summer.  So much so that I have not had any desire to blog. Family gathering #1 - The Pauls gathering was a blast!  Kids everywhere.  Food, and great weather.  We had so much fun.

Brook spent some time at Lake william with Trevor's parents enjoying their new camper.  She didn't sleep much, but who needs sleep when you can have fun with Grandma and Grandpa?

 A sunday evening visit with Mike and Jeanette and Mom and Dad.  It was a grew wiener roast too.

 A visit to see Ryan and Jackie in Winnipeg.  Feeding the ducks at the Forks and enjoin the spray park.

 LOTS of afternoons at Lake William.

It's been a great summer!  More pics and information to come once I have more time (or desire) to start blogging again:)

So I didn't realize that I have not posted anything in a month.  Sorry about that.  I know there are a lot of you that are wondering what we are up to.  We got a Mac computer and I am lost!  It has taken me a month just to figure out what I'm doing.

Trev started a job at the beginning of May at Western Archrib, a beam and truss manufacturer here in Boissevain.  There are aspects of the job he likes, and others he does not, but it pays the bills.  The nice part is he has regular hours and has all of his weekends off.  We are enjoying that we have every evening together as a family and that we have much more freedom with two days off in a row every week! I have felt a burden to pray regularly for Trev and a few other Christians that work at Western Archrib as they have a challenging work environment.  If you wish to join me I pray at 9:30 am (coffee break time at W Archrib)  I am really excited to see what God is going to do there.

Two days after Trev started his job at Western Archrib we had a church from Morden approach us about their vacant youth pastor position, so we are slowly pursuing that, but taking our time as we feel we need to be careful about where we head next. Personally I am quite nervous about moving with our young family, but I know that God has plans for us and he will look after us.  It is sort of a nervous excitement. I am gearing myself up for the next adventure!

Other than that we have just been enjoying the beautiful May weather, soaking up all the sun we can and enjoying what God has blessed us with here.  Below are some random pictures from May around here. The last few are from our trip to Elgin Reservoir today.  What a beautiful day. J

We are back.  We kind of fell of the face of the earth for the last few weeks, but we are home and getting back into “normal” life.  April was really good to us.  We spent time relaxing, hanging out as a family and generally taking it easy.  I am amazed how quickly a month can slip by.  We were sad that there were a lot of people we wanted to visit with that we didn’t have time for.

5 Teeth.

  Our trip to Vancouver / Abbotsford was wonderful. It was not exactly what we had expected, but that was likely good.  We spent the first day in Vancouver sightseeing, visiting the aquarium and generally feeling out of place in downtown Vancouver.  We took a bus to Abbotsford and spent the rest of the week at a Bed and Breakfast taking part in a retreat run by Power To Change.  The speakers and leaders were really great!  We learned a lot from them and from our fellow retreaters.  It was a priceless 5 days.  The kids did wonderfully at Mom and Dads.  I don't think the even realized we were gone.

 

Jellyfish at the Vancouver Aquarium.

Along the Seawall downtown vancouver

Our B&B.  Wow!

So now we are home and Trev is starting the job hunt.   We are not limiting ourselves to jobs in Boissevain, although we are not making plans to move right now.  We have no idea what is coming our way, but we are thankful for the time we had this last month.  J

 

Westminster Abby - Abbotsford Monastery