I believe this week is Infertility Week......I am taking a guess, but I know it is sometime in April.
I wrote this letter two years ago, and I am digging in the archives to re-post it. I like to read it every once in awhile as a reminder to myself as to how *not* to react to those who are fertile. Yes, I do sometimes need reminders......sigh.
Anyway, I hope if you are fertile that you take my letter seriously and that you know I mean every word. And if you are dealing with infertility (whether that be primary or secondary), I pray you may also come to a point in your journey where joy for others may be there despite the sadness.
Like I end off in the letter, may we all be encouraged to walk side-by-side, Christ-like, no matter the situation we are in.
A Letter
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Monday, April 25, 2016
April Thus Far....
Thanks for all the comments on my painting! I'll be taking orders in the Fall :o) All kidding aside, I confess I like it too and look forward to another session.
My weeks are flying by. Now that I am at school one full day and two half days as an EA, my days at home are eaten up fairly quickly with visiting people in the church, making meals etc. and taking care of my own household. I do love it though - all this structure. While I loved supply teaching, knowing each week what days I am at school is right up my alley. Makes it easier to plan my weeks.
Here's a little catch-up on some of the happenings the past weeks:
Bear with me as I speak for a moment about the man in my life. I can't help but be proud of the award he received a few weeks ago: Employer of the Year in the region we live in. What a huge honour for him! While he knew he was a finalist with one other company, he honestly did not think he would win it. But win it he did!! What a great way to celebrate 10 years of owning Gelderman Landscape Services. All the honour though does go to our God, who has blessed Nathan very much in his work.
We were excited to dress up for this event
Now that I am working a bit out of the house, everyone needs to pitch in and help. Just kidding - I am just enjoying this age where helping mom is fun yet! Lincoln loves to dust!
Our school community is pretty excited as last week we had the groundbreaking ceremony to officially start the digging for our new school. This has been a long time coming, and we are so thankful to God we have reached this point.
One night Nathan and I saw a black garbage bag that had blown into the pond. We had fun convincing the kids that it was a hippo :o)
Lincoln really enjoys to colour and do paperwork. I am so thankful for this - eases my worries a bit with him starting kindergarten in September! His fine motor skills have come a long, looooong ways in the last few months. I think the tongue has something to do with that.......
While Lincoln loves to colour, Keziah loves to craft and makes things out of things. This has been gracing my counter the last week or so, and the intention of it looking like a cow's head just is not the first thing that comes to mind every time I walk by it...... :P Those are eyeballs, people! C'mon now.....can't you see the horns?! And the nostrils at the bottom of the orange circle?! But yeah, pretty um, eye-catching, huh?!
Last Saturday, Keziah was at a friend's house and Nathan was working. That left just Lincoln and I so we decided to go for a hike. He is such a great little hiker! We hiked for 1.5 hours!
Can you spot him?! Just look for some fluorescent legs....
All though we are lacking the colour green, I was struck by the beauty of all the different browns. The picture doesn't do it justice, but when I actually took the time to open my eyes and observe my surroundings, it was quite serene and beautiful.
And just a funny to end:
One supper, Lincoln kissed me right on the lips. He then stated lovingly, "We are married now." Lincoln promptly turned to Nathan and said very seriously, "You need to move out to a new house, dad, and find a new wife, 'cause I am married to mom now."
What a clown! Loving it though as I know it can switch in a heart beat and he'll be so embarrassed to show affection. So I am soaking it up as long as I can :o)
My weeks are flying by. Now that I am at school one full day and two half days as an EA, my days at home are eaten up fairly quickly with visiting people in the church, making meals etc. and taking care of my own household. I do love it though - all this structure. While I loved supply teaching, knowing each week what days I am at school is right up my alley. Makes it easier to plan my weeks.
Here's a little catch-up on some of the happenings the past weeks:
Bear with me as I speak for a moment about the man in my life. I can't help but be proud of the award he received a few weeks ago: Employer of the Year in the region we live in. What a huge honour for him! While he knew he was a finalist with one other company, he honestly did not think he would win it. But win it he did!! What a great way to celebrate 10 years of owning Gelderman Landscape Services. All the honour though does go to our God, who has blessed Nathan very much in his work.
We were excited to dress up for this event
Now that I am working a bit out of the house, everyone needs to pitch in and help. Just kidding - I am just enjoying this age where helping mom is fun yet! Lincoln loves to dust!
Our school community is pretty excited as last week we had the groundbreaking ceremony to officially start the digging for our new school. This has been a long time coming, and we are so thankful to God we have reached this point.
One night Nathan and I saw a black garbage bag that had blown into the pond. We had fun convincing the kids that it was a hippo :o)
Lincoln really enjoys to colour and do paperwork. I am so thankful for this - eases my worries a bit with him starting kindergarten in September! His fine motor skills have come a long, looooong ways in the last few months. I think the tongue has something to do with that.......
What he was working on....he can print his name as well now....just the 'c' gives him trouble and so it looks like an 'u'
While Lincoln loves to colour, Keziah loves to craft and makes things out of things. This has been gracing my counter the last week or so, and the intention of it looking like a cow's head just is not the first thing that comes to mind every time I walk by it...... :P Those are eyeballs, people! C'mon now.....can't you see the horns?! And the nostrils at the bottom of the orange circle?! But yeah, pretty um, eye-catching, huh?!
Last Saturday, Keziah was at a friend's house and Nathan was working. That left just Lincoln and I so we decided to go for a hike. He is such a great little hiker! We hiked for 1.5 hours!
All though we are lacking the colour green, I was struck by the beauty of all the different browns. The picture doesn't do it justice, but when I actually took the time to open my eyes and observe my surroundings, it was quite serene and beautiful.
And just a funny to end:
One supper, Lincoln kissed me right on the lips. He then stated lovingly, "We are married now." Lincoln promptly turned to Nathan and said very seriously, "You need to move out to a new house, dad, and find a new wife, 'cause I am married to mom now."
What a clown! Loving it though as I know it can switch in a heart beat and he'll be so embarrassed to show affection. So I am soaking it up as long as I can :o)
Monday, April 11, 2016
Artsy-Fartsy Wannabe
Earlier in the winter season, I was asked if I would be interested in a painting class in February and March. I jumped at the idea as I love to draw. And I have never painted a picture before. The paintings I did back in kindergarten don't really count.......
So I joined a bunch of other wannabe artists. I say "wannabe artists", but some of them lied!! They weren't wannabe artists - they were artists already!!! I hate them. Just kidding. :) It was a fun group to be with for four Wednesday nights, with a very talented (and patient!) artist as our teacher, Jodie Bouwman.
The first class was spent on deciding as a group on a set up to paint. Here were some of the things we played around with:
At one point, we even had placed the bowl on a doily. You have no idea how thankful we were 3 classes later that we decided to drop the doily and stick with just a wooden box, a bowl and 3 tangerines.
Once a set up was decided on by all of us, it was time to get to work. First things first, we had to draw it out on paper, using a grid, then chalk it out and press it onto canvas.
Once it was on the canvas, the nerve-wracking work began: painting using oils. Eek!! Let's just say there was a lot of wine intake........and not a drop by me!! Which is why I was probably the student that tested the patience of the teacher and peers the most. Sorry, guys!
But here is the transformation:
The backgrounds and shadows were painted using varying shades of browns, greys and greens, we then moved on to the bright colours i.e. the tangerines and leaves, as well as the bowl
After 4 classes of wondering what the heck I was thinking for signing up, the results of myswearing hard work paid off...........ta-da!!
Certainly not professional looking, but I am somewhat proud of how it came together. I am very thankful for the patience and artistic abilities of Jodie, as well as my fellow painting companions. I have a picture of all of us, but I didn't get permission from all of them to post the picture. It was a fun 4 evenings!!
So I joined a bunch of other wannabe artists. I say "wannabe artists", but some of them lied!! They weren't wannabe artists - they were artists already!!! I hate them. Just kidding. :) It was a fun group to be with for four Wednesday nights, with a very talented (and patient!) artist as our teacher, Jodie Bouwman.
The first class was spent on deciding as a group on a set up to paint. Here were some of the things we played around with:
At one point, we even had placed the bowl on a doily. You have no idea how thankful we were 3 classes later that we decided to drop the doily and stick with just a wooden box, a bowl and 3 tangerines.
Once a set up was decided on by all of us, it was time to get to work. First things first, we had to draw it out on paper, using a grid, then chalk it out and press it onto canvas.
Once it was on the canvas, the nerve-wracking work began: painting using oils. Eek!! Let's just say there was a lot of wine intake........and not a drop by me!! Which is why I was probably the student that tested the patience of the teacher and peers the most. Sorry, guys!
But here is the transformation:
The backgrounds and shadows were painted using varying shades of browns, greys and greens, we then moved on to the bright colours i.e. the tangerines and leaves, as well as the bowl
After 4 classes of wondering what the heck I was thinking for signing up, the results of my
Certainly not professional looking, but I am somewhat proud of how it came together. I am very thankful for the patience and artistic abilities of Jodie, as well as my fellow painting companions. I have a picture of all of us, but I didn't get permission from all of them to post the picture. It was a fun 4 evenings!!
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Ice Storm Pictures
Like I mentioned in my last post, there was an ice storm in our area. We missed it due to being out west but we came home right after it was done, so there was still lots of ice everywhere. While having an ice storm can cause so much damage, there is just something beautiful about seeing ice stuck to everything, especially when the sun comes out. My camera doesn't capture the true beauty of it all but I still love taking pictures of it.
Nathan's truck was covered.....his hub-caps made quite the beautiful ice circle!
Nathan's truck was covered.....his hub-caps made quite the beautiful ice circle!
All of these pictures were taken 3 days after the ice storm. It looked so sparkly outside for a number of days! There were a few victims though of the heavy ice....
The damage to trees from an ice storm can be so sad to see! So while I love the sparkle of ice, I am thankful ice storms don't happen too often.
Monday, April 4, 2016
I Shall Never Complain of BC Weather Again.....Part 6
So this happened over the weekend....
Keziah even had a snow day today! Well, so did I as I am now working at the school a few days/mornings a week. It was an enjoyable pajama-wearing day. These two spent hours together, and I mean, hours. They only stopped to eat and then they were right back at it. Such a blessed day.
But back to finishing up our trip to BC. Tuesday and Wednesday of our trip were spent at home for the most part. Lincoln was really sick, and Keziah was starting to become homesick. So we spent those days playing in and around the house.
The road our rental house was on was a busy one, and I often found Lincoln sitting by the window watching all the big trucks go by.
Across the road from where we stayed was a school with a pretty amazing park
Nathan did meet up with my cousin, Jonathan, who was able to get the two of them into the Abbey to play on the organ there.
Tuesday night was spent with Doug and Karen, and then because we just weren't ready to say good-bye yet, Keziah and I went on Wednesday to visit Karen and Eden for a few more hours yet, while Nathan stayed home with our sick little boy.
Karen kindly made us some of her famous raisin bread after Nathanbegged asked nicely for it many a few times when we were together. It was inhaled by all of us and gone within 2 hours!
Who needs Netflix when you have a front loader?! The kids were quite fascinated by this machine!
Alas, the laundry was done, the house was dusted and vacuumed and our time in BC was coming to an end. It couldn't have come any faster for our girl, who had some sobbing moments as she missed her bed so much. "I even miss my bathtub!" she sobbed the last night while taking a bath :( I woke up on our last morning to find her packing. She had the whole bathroom packed already! Yup, she's a homebody :o)
So back on the plane we went.....only to find out there were no TVs! Oh no! What were we going to do with the kids? We were pleasantly surprised by how well they handled the flight back home. It did help that this kid can sleep anywhere and at any time....(well, that and I gave him some decongestion medicine because he was so plugged up...didn't want his ears to bother him)
And it's a good thing he caught some winks of sleep! Once we landed, another adventure was waiting for us - our luggage disappeared! It was finally found 2.5 hours later. It was all mixed up at the airport due to so many cancelled flights, thanks to an ice storm that had happened earlier in the day. We finally found our luggage (our kids were champs!! the whole time while we waited....so proud of them!), got bussed to our car only to find out we couldn't open up our car as it was covered in inches of ice.
Oh, and did I mention that our ice scraper was in Nathan's truck......back at home?! Well, after lots of banging and cracking, we finally were able to get in and drive home. As we drove closer to home, we noticed our town had no power. Sure enough, neither did our home. Oh well......we really were too tired to do anything except find our beds and fall asleep. By this time it was 3 AM!!
Our 12 days in British Columbia and Lynden, Washington were days filled with so many blessings....blessings of time with friends, family, with the 4 of us, and time to take in some of God's amazing creation. We are so thankful we were able to take this trip together as a family. We praise God for granting traveling mercies there and back. It was a great 12 days and we hope and pray we can do this again - there is a whole world out there to explore!
Keziah even had a snow day today! Well, so did I as I am now working at the school a few days/mornings a week. It was an enjoyable pajama-wearing day. These two spent hours together, and I mean, hours. They only stopped to eat and then they were right back at it. Such a blessed day.
But back to finishing up our trip to BC. Tuesday and Wednesday of our trip were spent at home for the most part. Lincoln was really sick, and Keziah was starting to become homesick. So we spent those days playing in and around the house.
The road our rental house was on was a busy one, and I often found Lincoln sitting by the window watching all the big trucks go by.
Across the road from where we stayed was a school with a pretty amazing park
Nathan did meet up with my cousin, Jonathan, who was able to get the two of them into the Abbey to play on the organ there.
Tuesday night was spent with Doug and Karen, and then because we just weren't ready to say good-bye yet, Keziah and I went on Wednesday to visit Karen and Eden for a few more hours yet, while Nathan stayed home with our sick little boy.
Karen kindly made us some of her famous raisin bread after Nathan
Who needs Netflix when you have a front loader?! The kids were quite fascinated by this machine!
Alas, the laundry was done, the house was dusted and vacuumed and our time in BC was coming to an end. It couldn't have come any faster for our girl, who had some sobbing moments as she missed her bed so much. "I even miss my bathtub!" she sobbed the last night while taking a bath :( I woke up on our last morning to find her packing. She had the whole bathroom packed already! Yup, she's a homebody :o)
So back on the plane we went.....only to find out there were no TVs! Oh no! What were we going to do with the kids? We were pleasantly surprised by how well they handled the flight back home. It did help that this kid can sleep anywhere and at any time....(well, that and I gave him some decongestion medicine because he was so plugged up...didn't want his ears to bother him)
And it's a good thing he caught some winks of sleep! Once we landed, another adventure was waiting for us - our luggage disappeared! It was finally found 2.5 hours later. It was all mixed up at the airport due to so many cancelled flights, thanks to an ice storm that had happened earlier in the day. We finally found our luggage (our kids were champs!! the whole time while we waited....so proud of them!), got bussed to our car only to find out we couldn't open up our car as it was covered in inches of ice.
Oh, and did I mention that our ice scraper was in Nathan's truck......back at home?! Well, after lots of banging and cracking, we finally were able to get in and drive home. As we drove closer to home, we noticed our town had no power. Sure enough, neither did our home. Oh well......we really were too tired to do anything except find our beds and fall asleep. By this time it was 3 AM!!
Our 12 days in British Columbia and Lynden, Washington were days filled with so many blessings....blessings of time with friends, family, with the 4 of us, and time to take in some of God's amazing creation. We are so thankful we were able to take this trip together as a family. We praise God for granting traveling mercies there and back. It was a great 12 days and we hope and pray we can do this again - there is a whole world out there to explore!
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