Amazing what a haircut can do...

Okay so I had a lousy crabby morning - my nerves were even twinging. Went out to meet with a company about printing a document up fancy smancy for us, stopped to get a Booster Juice (those always make me feel better) and came back to find everyone at work standing in the Nutana Curling club parking lot (our meeting place when there is a fire alarm). I pull into the parking lot, roll up to one of the staff, roll down the window and comment - "So I leave for 15 minutes and you burn the building down hey?" LOL Turns out it was a false alarm.

This afternoon I went for a cut and color and now I'm feeling better. Girls got their hair cut too, Kristie's got her's shorter and she almost has bangs - Sarah just a trim.

Tonight (Murray is out of town - just got home a bit ago) I'm constantly getting the "mom"... "Mom"...."Mom" I finally told Kristie I'd never make it as a single parent being the only one that gets called for help and answers! Then 2 seconds later Sarah calls "Mom..." I couldn't help but burst out laughing - I mean really want else can you do???

Oh and the other thing that made me laugh - I was checking blog sites and reading Monica's. Roy is doing the bike thing for MS and is raising funds. Turns out the ladies he works with convinced him that if they raise a certain amount of money, he'll wax his legs. I burst out laughing when I read that. I'm going over and donating money cause I just have to see that!

Melancholy....

Yep I haven't posted lately I noticed, don't really feel like emailing people, just want to go to bed and pull the covers over my head but I can't sleep .... I'm tired but still up... people are annoying the .... out of me. What is wrong with me????

I know that Sept 1st is creeping up on me and maybe that is why. A year since mom passed away. In some ways the year has gone by quickly, in other ways it feels like so long ago. The memories of that day are still very close to the surface but my memories of mom as mom seem so far away. I would really prefer the memories of mom as my mom be close to the surface and not the other way around!! But we don't always get what we want (at least that is what I tell my kids all the time).

On Sunday I drove out with dad to Davidson to see the plague/marker (don't really know what you call them) for mom's grave site. It was really nice. My sister and bro in law also joined us. We decided to go into town and see if my Uncle Harold was around. Turned out his son and wife were visiting, so even though Uncle Harold was out at the farm, we got to visit Aunt Joyce, Wes and Evelyn. Hadn't met Evelyn before and it's been AGES since I've seen Wes. Very nice couple and it was nice connecting with them.

Tonight we were over at Dad's to see the marker/plague for my sister, Diana's grave site. Not as fancy and dad was disappointed in it and worrying if it was too big, etc. He is taking it to Edmonton this week to have them install it - 45 years later but better late than never I told dad. I always thought they never did one back then was because they couldn't afford it, turns out they just never got around to it. Go figure on that...

sigh....

Okay, enough wallowing in sadness. Tomorrow I get my hair colored again and that, if nothing else, should brighten my day :-)

Back from Camping...

Well for me it was a successful camping trip, even with rain, a mattress that kept deflating, and my non-stop headache. I got to catch up on some of my reading PLUS my youngest not only finished a book she has been trying to finish forever but read another entire book! My favorite moment of the camping trip was stopping to talk to Kristie in the car and having Sarah in the back seat ask us to quit talking because she can't read when we are talking and she is trying to read! The weather was so so - some hot days (we only went to the beach once), one canoe outing but we had lots of fun on it, some rain which meant we spent the next day drying out everything, worry that the van was broke (we had an interesting and loud noise erupted from it during the night but thankful it was nothing serious and we got home okay). took the dog for lots of walks so I got some exercise in along with my reading and a camp fire every night. Funny story is out canoeing and there is this person on a seadoo just tearing up the water, going around and around all alone. I was thinking how boring it must be to be out on it by yourself. As we got closer we realized it wasn't some young man goofying around but a grey haired elderly lady, who stopped and asked if we wanted some waves - of course the kids said yes and she gave us waves before she headed back in.

Books read:
The Da Vinci Code - Heather (completed Sunday night at 10:00 by flashlight in front of the camp fire because Kristie wanted me to hurry up and finish it so we could talk about it).
It's Not About Me by Max Lucado - Heather (good read and will most likely read it again)
Keeping Quiet - Sarah
Vampire Beach Bloodlust - Sarah
Can You Keep a Secret - Kristie, Heather (who burst out laughing on several occasions)
I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince - Kristie
The Preachers Daughter - Heather
The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey - Kristie (finished on the way home)
Books attempted but gave up on:
Wuthering Heights - Kristie and Heather (we both thought it was too weird)
The Secret of the Stonehouse - Sarah (2 attempts at reading it both times said she didn't like it)
Books started but not finished:
Love Worth Giving by Max Lucado - Heather ( got to about chapter 6 - very interesting book)
Unstoppable Force - Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind - Heather (into the last 1/4 of the book, another interesting though provoking book)

"The local church is to be God's expression of his radical commitment to change. God is about changing history, or perhaps better said, about making history. His ultimate goal for the church is not to follow cultural change, like a water skier behind a boat, but to be the dynamic, catalytic community that brings change in a world that is so desperately needs the God of change.

We must never forget that we serve the changeless God of change. God is not statisfied with the status quo. He is not trying to keep up with culture. His greatest ambition is not for the church to become a great imitator of generational trends. He is the God of creativity, the God of imagination, and the God that chose - through his Son - to ignite a revolution. " Unstoppable Force

Love is Patient, Love is Kind...

Still haven't left for camping due to my stupid head cold. Kids are getting antsy but we figure cold or no cold we are leaving first thing tomorrow morning. My sister Twyla left on Thursday - the day of the terrorist threat but luckily her husband had called and given her the low down so she knew what to expect at the airport and packed her luggage accordingly. I was reading the "memo" they were handing out to all passengers and it talked about checking footware and thought "I'd hate to be the person that has that job". They did check her sandals though - as she is going through she had to take off her sandals and walk through without them. Still haven't heard if Holly has arrived home safe and sound. Loved to hear that before we leave but if not I'll call when we get back.

Reading a book by Max Lucado - " A Love Worth Giving". Using 1 Corinth 13 to describe what love is and what our love should be. What I have learned this week is that when I'm sick my love is neither patient or kind - especially when the kids are talking about wanting to go camping but not doing anything to prepare to go camping. Especially when I am finally sleeping and the phone rings and rings and rings and rings and no one picks it up, so I do to discover it my family calling to ask me a question about lifejackets.... and now I have a headache AGAIN.....

Anyway packing the book for the trip. Still reading The Da Vinci Book - not really my kind of book to read and with all the talk about it I'm still struggling to read it. Kristie keeps telling me it gets better and more of a "page turner" as you go along. Here's hoping it does. I have my stack of books picked out for the camping trip so here's hoping I get to read them all.

A day of stressors and blessings...

Well it's been a stressful day for me. Started by having to get up at 5:00 to help Sarah deliver her friends papers - only took us 1/2 hour and I went back to bed afterwards. Sarah was so concerned about getting up on time that she kept waking up during the night. When she says she is going to do something for a friend she wants to make sure she does it right. I am thankful that I have a daugther that is willing to do stuff to help out her friends and follows through. A blessing.

Then Kristie's dentist appointment. I am very thankful for our dentist and her staff, I can not imagine any other dentist we have dealt with in the past that would have accomodated us as well as this one did and have so much patience. After drugs, our dentist praying for her, talking to her about how she knows Kristie wants to do this and that she knows Kristie has the strength to over come her fears, spending 1/2 hour in the dentist's personal office so Kristie could cry in private and me finally telling her that she is having this done because she knows she wants to, Murray helping her back to the chair, we held her hand and she consented and got the needles. In fact, we all agreed to have all 4 pulled out since she had come this far and Kristie again pulled that inner strength I know she has and had three more needles. I am really proud of her - she was so scared and frightened and wanted to run, and she could have choosen to say no - we told her she had that choice - but she perservered and went through with it. She was even laughing at the end as we carried her to the car (yes her dad carried her to the car). She also wrote the dental staff a note thanking them before we left, which I thought was so sweet of her. The Lord certainly blessed me with amazing kids!

My other stressful note today was my sister leaving. I managed to only breakdown in tears when I gave her a goodbye hug at my house and kept it together at dad's when she finally drove away. I love that sister of mine and of course as a bigger sister I worry about her. But I must continue to remind myself that she is in God's hands and he is quite capable of looking after her - way better than I can. Her love for the Lord and for other people was a great example for me this past month. My sisters are my other blessing today. We had another picture taken of us four - still looking for the perfect picture for us all to have. Gail bought these really nice "sister" frames for us all and now is trying to get the best of the pics for us to have to put in the frames. On Saturday we also brought Carol (our sister in law) into the picture so Gail plans on sending her the picture of the 5 of us. What a sweet sister I have. Anyway here is a picture of today of the four of us....

PS - the full picture shows that we are all barefoot except Gail LOL - another hot day here.

Thank you Lord for family, for the support of family, for the love of family and the love you have for us all.

Family wedding is over....

First off I almost kissed a priest on Saturday - I didn't have to carry that book! My prayers were answered! It was a really nice wedding, the bride was beautiful, the priest was quite the funny man - joking about the shoes the wedding party was wearing, asking the parents/grandparents how long they had been married, etc. All in all a very nice service and my reading went well and was over right at the start so I could enjoy the rest of the wedding. Got to visit with family before and after. We took some sister and family shots though my camera picture's didn't turn out very well. Hoping my sibling's pictures were better. Here's a shot of the 4 sisters....

Holidays are already off to an interesting start!

I was officially on holidays as of 12:30pm Thursday morning. Started off good as I went for lunch with my sister.

Today has been interesting to say the least. Didn't sleep in as much as I wanted to - up at 8:30; went shoe shopping with my daughter and was unsuccessful (we're blaming it on my dad, we got his wide feet); picked up my sister Twyla at the airport in the afternoon and hung out with her all afternoon and evening which was great; my beautiful daughter arrived home from camp much to my delight and happiness; and we had a huge thunder, lightening and massive rainfall in the evening as I'm driving my sister back across town to dad's. I don't normally like driving at night and this just made it worse. But the most interesting was the dress rehearsal for my nephews wedding. Last night the bride called asking if I would do a reading. Sure I said. Go to the rehearsal to find out when and what. I'm the only reader that was able to attend so I got nominated to do the first reading. Turns out it's a catholic wedding - which I don't have a problem with except the first reader gets to carry the Book of Scripture to the front and place it on the podium. I'm like, okay I can do that. Then she hands me the book and explains I have to carry it in front of my face but above my eyes, down the aisle (slowly) and I'm the first one in the processional. Let me just say that this is not a light book, it's bloody heavy!!! And I have to walk down the bloody aisle!! FIRST!!! Slowly!!! Tomorrow will involve me trying on my outfit to see if it looks funny when I'm carrying the book and making sure I won't be showing off any tummy parts!!

If anyone reads this before 4:30 Saturday - please keep me in your prayers that I will not trip going down the aisle. Thank you......