Gratefulness

I woke up this morning and I feel an overwhelming sense of gratefulness. Gratefulness to God mostly.

I am grateful for so many things, my husband, my kids, my health, that I have a job that meets our needs and pays our bills, for a great church family that loves us and is mentoring Rob into becoming an even better pastor. I'm grateful for a wonderful group of pastor's wives that are so different, married to such different men, but still working together to meet the needs of our congregation. Thanks Ginny, for setting up our time together on Sat. It was wonderful!

I'm grateful for a great extended family in which we can be ourselves and spend great times together [some of which are coming up shortly :-) ]. I'm grateful for good friends near and far that love and support even when you don't know it.

I'm grateful to my husband for loving me even though I can't manage money to save my life and all my other faults that he simply overlooks each time he tells me " it's easy to love you". Because it definitely is NOT easy to love me. I know it takes a lot of work to love me, but he does it with such patience.

I'm grateful for my children that are not perfect, but have made my life a rich and interesting collage of stories, experiences, memories and adventures yet to come. I have found that being a parent is the hardest job I will ever, ever have...and there are days that I am still shocked that God has entrusted me with little people to raise...but I wouldn't trade it for all the world. My children have made me a better person, and for that I will always be grateful to them.

Most of all, I'm grateful to God for sending Jesus to die on the cross for me even though I in no way deserved it and can do absolutely nothing to ever deserve it. I am looking forward to heaven with such expectation. Eternity is going to be great - way, way beyond great!!

Thanks for sharing my day of gratefulness with me. Sometimes I tend to spend more time with my focus on the things I don't have or would like to change instead of placing my focus on what I do have and appreciate about my life.

Facebook

As you can see from the badge to the right, I have gone into the Facebook world. It is rather addicting really. There are SO many options....live chat, writing little comments, sending whole e-mails, adding pictures and I'm sure others I haven't quite figured out yet.

So, if you do Facebook and you haven't found me, look for me and we can connect over there.

I love technology.

Good Friends

We recently had some very good friends from Wisconsin visiting us for about a week. Chelsea and Ryan were just jr. high kids when we started youth pastoring in Wisconsin, now they are our friends. They drove 26 hours each way to see us! We had a wonderul time catching up and spending time together. I am so thankful for good friends that you can just be completely yourself with. Chelsea and Ryan, thanks for the visit. You guys mean the world to us.

We spent a great day in the mountains! More on that in a future post...

Several soccer games were played.

We played many games of Catan!
There were also many nice talks and one episode of frantically searching for Seth. [Thanks Chelsea for your help with that. You really kept me calm! :-/ ] All in all a great time with truly great people!

14 years

On Wednesday it was our 14th wedding anniversary. We were busy with company here from the U.S., so I didn't have the chance to hop on here and blog. As I look back on the last 14 years, I am really shocked that we have been married this long. It sounds like such a long time and yet feels very short. But, as I look at the ages of our children and I look back at all of the places we have lived and done ministry in, I can see that 14 whole years have gone by.

I sat for a while on Wednesday and spent some time thinking about my life. I have been so blessed! Being married to Rob has been a wonderful journey. To have someone who knows everything about you and still loves you, is a very special thing. People who have met Rob have often said to me, 'You must be a special person to be married to him. I could never do it.' Those comments always make me smile, because in so many ways Rob is so much easier to live with than I am. I just look nice and kind on the outside, but living with me is not always easy. For example, Rob is much more flexible than I am. He is very quick to forgive, and that is often difficult for me. He is spontaneous and a lot of fun. He pushes me to try new things. He is faithful. He trusts God without wavering. He does his best to spend time with the children and with me doing things that we enjoy. He is very often the last one to get anything new, putting the needs of the children and myself ahead of his own. He works hard and goes above and beyond providing for his family. Rob balances me perfectly. Our relationship works because we balance each other completely. His strengths are my weaknesses and his weaknesses are my strengths. Together we are better than we would be alone.

That does not mean that there are not times that we struggle. We definitely do. But at the end of it all, we recognize that God put us together to help each other. To bless each other. And yes, at times, to challenge each other and to help the other one look at our issues and deal with our stuff.

I recently heard someone say that their marriage ended because they just didn't have what it took to make it work. That saddened me. It saddened me because this individual didn't recognize that no couple, no matter how wealthy, healthy, committed or in love they are, just inherently have what it takes to make a marriage last a lifetime. I have discovered that at some point every couple comes to the place where they feel like they don't have what it takes to keep going. That's when you both have to roll up your sleeves and build what it takes. This is the work of marriage. It involves spending time together, doing things that matter to the other person. Talking about the real you...the you that is hard to share. It involves letting someone else point out your weaknesses and to challenge you to work on those things. It involves LOVE.

Thank you my darling for 14 great years, I am enthusiastically looking forward to 14 more. I am excited to walk this journey of life with you holding your hand and experiencing all that life has for us.

How to freak out your mom.....drink Tylenol!

Yes, you read that correctly. I have Spencer home with me today and while I was doing some much needed laundry, Spencer must have somehow opened one of those 'child proof' caps which apparently aren't actually child proof and drank about 25 mL - 30 mL of Tylenol Cough and Cold. I found the cap of the bottle under the ottoman in the living room and then started to get concerned. I then found the bottle under the couch in the living room .... empty! Now I was in panic mode!!!!!!!!

So, the panicked mother in me was ready to call an ambulance and wisk this now very sleepy toddler off to the ER to have some intervention and the nurse in me decided to call Poison Control to see if she had ingested a toxic dose. Thankfully the bottle didn't have all that much left in it.

Edward, the very nice man who answered my call at Poison Control did all of his investigations and calculations and told me that she had not ingested a toxic dose of any of the 4 medications found in the preparation. He just told me to check on her every 30 min to make sure she was still rousable. As long as she can open her eyes and look at me when I talk to her, everything is fine.

So, she slept for about 30 min. with me frantically checking her every 5 min. I just had to keep checking on her. I felt awful! Well, then Rob came home for lunch. He walked into the living room where she was sleeping on the couch, he kissed her, she opened her eyes and said, "More cake?" She then walked to the kitchen table, climbed into her highchair and proceeded to eat 2 whole pieces of birthday cake. I realize this was not the healthiest of lunches, but quite frankly, she was awake, alert, talking and walking so she could have whatever she wanted. If the kid had wanted a pony I likely would have tried to find her one!

So, I guess this is a crisis averted and a huge lesson learned. I always keep the medications in a bin at the top of the linen closet, so they are completely out of the reach of anyone by Rob or I. Last night I forgot and I left the bottle on the counter. NEVER AGAIN WILL THAT HAPPEN!

Filling you in on the birthday events....

So, I did mean what I said yesterday and I am going to blog more regularly. So, here I am to fill you all in on how the big birthday went.

We had pizza, chocolate cake and we laughed....a lot. I have a wonderful family, and they have taught me that life should not be taken so seriously and that laughter really is the best medicine.

My mother-in-law called and didn't believe me when I told her that I was 37. Thanks for that Mom. I really love that you think I am still so young and hip! :-)

My parents called and sang to me....that's an annual tradition for them and it really did make me smile.

The kids made me little homemade cards and things, and wished me 'Happy Birthday' a lot.

Seth even sang me an original song he composed! It was fabulous. He played his little toy guitar and sang and the song went something like this...

Yay, it's Mom's Happy Birthday.
And we're going to eat cake.
Yay, it's Mom's birthday and we're going to have candles and balloons.
Yay, it's Mom's birthdaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I realize that he's no Bob Dylan, Joan Baez or Peter, Paul and Mary, but it was a nice little tune and we all laughed and smiled along with him and when he was done we clapped for him like he had played at Carnegie Hall! :-) He was thrilled with himself. We were thrilled with him too!

My wonderful husband brought me something 'uplifting' like I had asked him for and I got the most beautiful roses. They smell lovely and they make me smile.

Rex and I played a pretty enthusiastic game of fetch.

Really, one of the best days ever!! A special thanks to all of you that e-mailed and called to wish me a fabulous birthday. You're the best and I love you all!!

Happy Birthday to ....Me...YUK!!

Hi everyone.

If there's anyone who still checks this blog since I haven't written for so long [I am going to change that starting today], today is my 37th birthday. All I can say is ...YUK!! Of course, being younger than me, Rob is enjoying this a little too much. I have asked him to stop or when his 34th birthday comes around this year, he will get a little dose of what he is dishing out on me. That brought him under control! :-)

While I do feel that I am getting way too close to 40, I do realize this morning that I have a lot to be thankful for. Here's my list:

- a loving husband who has stuck by me for 14 years [more on that on June 24th]

- 4 great kids who all told me 'happy birthday' this morning and that I'm 'the greatest mom in the world'...you can't beat that! :-)

- a new puppy [more on that in a later post too], who is lots of fun and something I've been wanting for a few years now

- a wonderful new church family and amazing group of pastor's wives like I've experienced no where else in ministry

- a job that pay such good money and provides for my family

-the nicest house we have ever lived in

-good health

- a wonderful family that is the best in the whole world

-good friends [most of whom are way too far away....I miss you all so much! ]

- a great country to live in where I am free to worship and live my life as I choose - YAY CANADA!!

- most importantly, a Lord and saviour who loves me no matter what and stays beside me in the difficult times and in the times of celebration

Thanks to all of you for celebrating my day with me even if you can't be here for pizza, cake, balloons and the presentation of my children's handmade gifts later today. You have all made my life so much more enjoyable and you make turning 37 bearable. :-)