Before Spring Comes.....

.....I better post these pictures! It just would not be a Canadian blog without at least one post about Winter and Pond Hockey. And seeing as I read somewhere that Spring is (only) 39 days away or so, we better make sure we use that pond of ours.

3 days after we came home from Mexico, we noticed our pond was frozen over and had been for awhile. Yahoo!!! The best part though was that thanks to the wind, we didn't have to shovel a single snowflake off! And when you've got a pond this size, that is *such* a relief:

Last year we couldn't practice our skating skills, as Keziah had bubbles in her head (expanders for her birthmark). So we had some catching up to do! Keziah did very well and was quite thrilled with herself:

We learned quickly that if we wanted Lincoln to try to skate, we had to leave him alone. Every time we tried to help him, he would give up. Every time we left him alone, he would get himself off the chair and give it a try - all on his terms.

It wasn't long before Keziah ditched the chair for a hockey stick!

Lincoln thought it'd be fun to play as well:

It was a fun 10 minutes out on the pond! Actually, that's how long I thought we might be out there, but we actually were out there for over an hour. We ended looking through the ice for the fish :o)

It's a good thing too that we enjoyed the pond that day. A couple days later it was covered in snow. I was then feeling ambitious and shovelled off almost half of it - well, once the kids gave up:

I was so proud of myself, I showed Nathan at night the above picture. He looked at me with pity and asked: did you not see the weather forecast for tomorrow?

Sigh. We were hit with another snowstorm the next day.....and a few days later......and well, again some more snow this past weekend. So no more skating on the pond. The ice is ruined because I shovelled it, which allowed the sun to melt the top layer, and then with the next day's snow, it just is now a big huge rough mess of ice.

Well, there's always painting in the snow!

Before and After

When we moved into our home, we right away took out the existing carpet in the family room and replaced it with very light coloured carpet. Who knew our lives would be changing drastically a few years later, with the adoption of our children?! We sure didn't - otherwise we would *never* had put light carpet in a main room!!

Well, after a number of years and stains later, we knew it was time to do something about it. Having asked around as to what is best, we settled on hardwood-looking vinyl. We needed something that was most durable, that could withstand water, and all that comes with a busy family.

We tackled this project back in the Christmas Holidays, and thanks to a good friend, we were able to get it done!

But before we could get rid of the carpet, we had to empty the room, starting first with this book shelf.....which didn't stay empty for long, thank you Keziah!

 

 

No, your computer screen is not dirty - those are the stains on the carpet. See that big smudge in the middle, slightly to the left? Yeah, that was in front of our couch. Let's all say "Ewwwww" together....

With lots of help, getting this yucky carpet out was no big deal!!

 

Then the kids were dismissed as the real loud tools came out. We took out the tile that was in the room, so that it would be all one floor once completed.

Despite no couch and carpet, important things were still done, like cheering on our team at the World Juniors - especially seeing as there was so much too cheer about (missing that - cheering. My poor Leafs.....:o(

Thankfully, with the help of a good friend, the new vinyl flooring was laid within a day:

And it's done!!

 

And what it looks like today, after all the furniture is back in. We love it!!! And we are very surprised that it is *not* noisy either! And the best part? It is so easy to keep clean.

 

Christians Get Depressed Too - Chapter One

Welcome to my Book Talk, where we hope to "meet" every Thursday for the next month to read, review, and hopefully discuss the following book:

I hope you were able to order the book and receive it in time. And if you did not order the book, I hope that my reviews on each chapter will give you a good idea as to what the author, David Murray, is trying to get across to his readers. I hope you all are brave enough to comment as well, as we can all learn so much from each other.

On we go!! The set up will be:

Summary of Chapter
My Thoughts
Your Thoughts
Prayer Points
Next Time

Summary
Starting in the Preface, David Murray explains why he wrote this little yet promising book. His choice of title "Christians Get Depressed Too" was to deal with the lie and belief that Christians just don't (and shouldn't) get depressed. Murray describes his book as an emergency guide, using 6 chapters to "explain the condition, the causes, and the cures for both the sufferers and caregivers." He also includes an Appendix on the sufficiency of the Scriptures.

Chapter One: The Crisis:
Not wasting any words, Murray delves right away into the 'why' we need to study this topic, depression (and depression-anxiety), giving 8 reasons:

1. Because the Bible Speaks about It - not only does the Bible play an important role in the treatment of depression/anxiety, there are many examples in there of others who seem to be down in that dark deep pit of depression. We think of Hannah, Job, and various psalmists.
2. Because it is So Common - "studies show that 5.8 per cent of men and 9.5 per cent of women will experience depressive episode in any given year". "An estimated 121 million people worldwide suffer from depression"
3. Because it Impacts our Spiritual Life - we are made up of body and soul, but those two are linked and overlapped by our thoughts and feelings. When one of those suffer (body, soul, thoughts, feelings), it will affect the other 3, which impacts our spiritual life, often leaving one with false guilt, and feelings of worthlessness
4. Because it May Be Prevented or Mitigated - while many are genetically disposed to have depression, others can also suffer from it as well. Having helpful techniques/strategies can be very useful in preventing, mitigating or shortening the illness, even if that includes medication, which does *not* mean that is a rejection of God and His grace!
5. Because it Will Open Doors of Usefulness - understanding depression will help us to more sympathetic and useful to those who suffer; learning that to listen the most and speak the least is being most useful to the sufferer
6. Because it is So Misunderstood - terrible stigmas attached, misunderstandings of its causes, symptoms and possible cures available, due to it being such an invisible disease (no scan will be able to find it like it can find cancer)
7. Because it is a Talent to be Invested for God - God often uses broken people to bring others to Him
8. Because We All Can Improve our Mental and Emotional Health - while many of us are not disabled by depression, there are many that experience long-term, low-level depression/anxiety. Learning some strategies that will improve our mental and emotional health is beneficial to all of us.

My Thoughts
The one reason Murray gives that resonates with me is Reason #3. I think I underlined pretty much that whole point! I think that Murray has this one dead on - that body and soul are linked and overlapped by two elements: thoughts and feelings. And I do believe that, in my case anyway, it is such a domino affect. If I get just a simple cold (body), this can result in many unwelcomed feelings (frustration, impatience)  and thoughts (why am I sick now?! I can't be sick now! I sure don't enjoy my days being sick!), which then affects my spiritual walk of life. And that's just with a common flu bug! Those who suffer with more put me to shame.

Murray gives 8 very good reasons why we should learn more about depression, and I hope more of us will become educated on this topic, so that we may be a hand and foot to each other in the Body of Christ.

Your Thoughts
Do any of the reasons strike you? Has Murray missed any reasons? Do you have a reason that he did not write about as to why we should know more about depression/anxiety? Can you think of more examples in the Bible of those who were struggling (that Murray doesn't mention)?

Prayer Points

• thankful for authors like David Murray, who will tackle this topic with the Bible open
• thankful for the Psalms
• for all those who suffer varying degrees of depression/anxiety
• for wisdom to be able to know when to just listen and keep my mouth shut
• for the ability to stop judging
• for God's grace, mercy and love in never letting us go while we are in those darkest moments

Next Time
"In the next chapter, we will consider the attitude and spirit in which we should study depression." pg. 10

It's the First Week of February....

....which means we start our Book Talk! I am quite excited about this book, Christians Get Depressed Too. I can't remember where I heard of this book, or who told me about it, but I do remember thinking last November that it is the book I want to do for Book Talk.

Unless your head is in the sand, er, snow, you will have noticed that over the past few years, awareness about depression has definitely been a lot more on the forefront - the myths, the stigmas, the misunderstandings of it all. I am very thankful that more and more people are talking about it.

I will admit right off the bat - I don't understand depression, and I am very uneducated about it all. Well, uneducated when it comes to the very dark-deep-in-a-pit-can't-get-out-of-bed depression. I do believe that I have a bit of SAD: seasonal affective disorder. The weather definitely can affect me; the lack of sunshine can weigh me down.

I don't remember noticing it so much when I was teaching. The only thing I really noticed in regards to weather was whether the kids could go out for recess or not. That's all I really cared about. It wasn't until I was home fulltime that the grey days got to me. But it'd come and go. I'd be restless, lonely, moody and antsy for a day or two and then that would be it.

However, last October, October 30th to be exact, we had experienced a number of grey days. That particular day we also had some snowflakes. And with each snowflake, my heart became heavier and heavier, to the point of my crying at the supper table. I couldn't breathe when I thought of the fact that it was *just* the beginning of the season and I was already absolutely dreading Winter. Whenever I thought that we have at least 4.5-5 months of this, my chest constricted and it felt like someone was sitting on it.

My anxiety rose as I was quite worried that if I was feeling like this now already, at the end of October, how in the world am I going to get through this winter??!

Well, by God's grace, that out-of-breath, quick to tears and tight chest only lasted for 24 hours, and with thankfulness to Him, it has yet to come back again - praise God!! And that even includes December, where I don't think there was a single full sunny day the whole month!

Well, here we are, with January behind us and February upon us. Winter is still in full force and so the book, Christians Get Depressed Too, seems like such a fitting one......especially this week. Last night and today we were dumped on with snow, and there is more coming in the next days.

 Don't get me wrong, I *love* the snow - when the sun is shining! With that sun shining, it is just so glorious out there!!

So, come join me this Thursday, having read the Preface and Chapter One of Christians Get Depressed Too. My plan is to write a review of the chapter, then my thoughts, ask for your thoughts and end with prayer points. I so look forward to this - to learn more about depression so that I may not only help myself, but those around me.

See you Thursday!!

Hola!! Cerveza?

Well, the article is written and sent off, as are the minutes for the committee I am on. Priorities are back on track. I better punch out a blog post about our trip to Mexico though, before I get my article back from the editor, with the words "Please re-do - not what we were looking for."

So yes, on Wednesday, January 14th, Nathan and I boarded a plane that took us to Mexico. We left in -20 weather, and 4 hours later we were trying hard not to complain of the heat from standing on the tarmac, waiting for the Mexican officials to process the nearly 5000 people in front of us. Yes, I am slightly exaggerating, but we certainly felt like cattle, being prodded along. I guess that's what happens when every plane that was headed to Mexico that day, all landed at the same time.

2 hours later, we were in our van, being transported to our destination: El Dorado Seaside Resort. Once there, that experience at the airport faded rapidly, thanks to this:

and this.....

and, well, all of what I am to show you. The grounds were beautiful, the food - fantastic, the weather exactly what we were hoping for, the room nice, cool and large, and the company wasn't too bad either ;o)

You could pay extra for a romantic dinner in one of these things. We didn't bother, as we thought having a dinner without kids was romantic enough!

We spent the first day at the pool and the rest of the days at the ocean:

Just a snapshot of the time Nathan would take his first of three naps of the day. Yes, that is 8:44 am, and he is sound asleep at the beach.

We did have one day of cloud; it looked quite threatening for awhile, but it mostly by-passed us, leaving us with just a short shower. I was completely oblivious to what was coming, as Nathan wasn't the only one that napped on the beach......

Our room was on the top floor, with a larger-than-king bed - this thing was h.u.g.e!! Sure has made our bed at home feel and look like a single!

 

The food was obviously good if we go by our waistbands by the end of the week......

And a few more from around the resort:

It was blissful and such an enjoyable holiday. We had a lot of time together, which was *the* best part. We did also meet lots of people, mostly from Alberta and Ontario. There were a few die-hard British and Swedish people as well (die-hard because it takes them over 10 hours to get there!). We say 'hello' to Adam and Becky, a couple who left too early for our liking!! But we have more reason to visit England now :o)

I hesitated at first to post pictures, as I didn't want to make you envious. But then I thought by looking at the pictures, it may feel like a mini-holiday for you! And you didn't have to ship your kids out,
....or lose an hour
....or lather yourself with sun screen 3x's a day
....or deal with fish that nibbled at your legs
....or try to figure out where you want to eat for supper
....or swallow salt water
....or be woken up from a nap by the maid that wants to clean your room
....or try to get back into the clothes you traveled down in
....or .......well, you get the point.

You can thank me in the comments. :o)

But if you want a true holiday and are looking for somewhere to go? I highly recommend this place!!

Thank you so much to the two families that welcomed our children into their homes, making it possible for us to go. According to Keziah, it may be a very long time before we are allowed to do this again. And Lincoln? Well, let's just say being home for a week and I am almost needing another holiday thanks to my dear boy. Have I mentioned that he is three? 'nough said. :o)

Seriously though, we are very thankful for God's care while we were separated, and so thankful for bringing us back together again. Real life is a good thing.