Thursday, July 29, 2010

Tender Moments...

We had nearly finished our night time routine with the boys. We read the stories and the boys and Don said their night time prayers. After Brady was done, he paused for a moment and then looked up at Don and asked him:

"Why did God give Nate a different heart?"

Precious moments! And they lead into wonderful teachable moments to talk about God's love and care.

And the neat thing is, I know this isn't only happening in our home. Family and friends have told me that as a result of Nate's story, and the family's discussion about and prayers for him, there have been many more teachable God moments within those families.

There is a purpose and a plan!



Sunday, July 25, 2010

Funny Reads!


Here's some funny reads I've come across lately. The first one is a hilarious blog that one funny lady has come up with. It's called Catalog Living, written by Molly Erdman - writer and comedian. She's created Gary and Elaine, the couple who lives within the pages of some of our favorite (and over the top) decor magazines. Hope they make you smile!


Our entryway set-up is great! Now I never forget my hat, burlap satchel, or life preserver.


Just in case anyone doubted that Gary and Elaine valued books over television, Gary brought in the secondary book stool to drive the point home.


While Gary and Elaine were in the kitchen getting popcorn, the brave yellow sweater attempted its escape.


Gary got the idea from a parking lot in New York. Sure the kids get rope burns climbing into bed, but their upper-body strength is amazing.


Sure Gary’s out of town, but I’m perfectly capable of starting a fire in the fireplace by myself, thank you very much.


Someday when Elaine is out of town I’m going to find out once and for all if those are sports balls or gourds.


Gary’s eyesight has gotten so bad he can’t even read an atlas with binoculars anymore.


And here's a funny from our local community college course catalog.


Advanced Guitar: "Barre chords will be studied, along with some fun songs like Joy to the World....."


Monday, July 19, 2010

How's Nate?

It's been awhile since I've done any updates on Nate and lots of you have been asking, so here's some quick info.

We've been home from Edmonton for 3 1/2 months. When I think back to the first 2 months, they are pretty much a blur...and rightly so. Those were some hard times. I'm so happy to say that the last month has been so much better.

His personality is much more to where he was before surgery. So thankful for that. He's still apprehensive in new situations and environments, but not nearly to the extent that he was. Even though he is still our night owl, going to bed after 10 or 11 each night, at least falling asleep is not preceded by an hour of extreme unhappiness (okay - screaming!) Either Don or I spend most of each night sleeping in his bed, and he still wakes frequently, for the most part, he's never awake for long periods of time. Another relief! He's back to his 2 heart medications: Enalapril and Lasix, and thanks to our wonderful pharmacy, he's back to enjoying his concentrated and flavoured meds! Oy, just thinking about that brings me back to a place that wasn't fun for any of us!

Other than our one trip to Children's in Winnipeg, health-wise, Nate has been doing well in our eyes! We haven't had another follow up with his cardiologist since his post-op check in April, but we are scheduled to see her in 2 weeks. Praying that the echo will surprise them all and we will hear awesome news, despite what the results were in Edmonton.

His language has shown marked development in the last month as well - so good to be hearing 2 words being put together. Brady was doing this easily at 1 1/2 years, but this is probably more so related to Second Child Syndrome ;) than anything else!

So, he's made great strides in the last few weeks. Thanks for keeping him in your prayers!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Suspicious!

Don's been acting a little funny lately! He's had something up his sleeve. His Blackberry was off limits for me...I wasn't allowed to plan any weekend activities without checking with him first....He made me look through the calendar with him and talk about potential busy weekends....

Yes, the boy was up to something. The only clue he gave me is that it was time for me to get away! Now, I LOVE surprises! Nothing gets me more giddy than knowing there's a surprise waiting for me! But the waiting......it's AGONY!!

So, anyway, the guy FINALLY told me what he's been up to! He's been scheming with my dear, dear friend on the west coast about shipping me out there for some overdue 'girlfriend' time!!! I'm so excited! He's made all the arrangements and I fly out in less than three weeks!

If the promise of that won't get me through my impending wisdom tooth extractions on Tuesday, I'm not sure what will!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Adventures!

We had a pretty fantastic week of holidays!! Mostly adventures, with only a few misadventures along the way (but we won't talk about my water skiing right now!).

There was also a diamond lost....and a diamond found - seriously!! A Blackberry drowned.....and was amazingly brought back to life within one day. A lot of scrumptious food, campfires, visits to town, a Mexican Fiesta birthday, pool/beach/boat fun, and you'll never believe who we ran into at the local Walmart!




We were beyond shocked and thrilled to meet my brother, sis and family from TO. They surprised us and had made arrangements to join us for the week of camping in MN!!



We stopped en route at Thief River Falls and spent the afternoon at the water park.







And we got to enjoy some 4th of July fireworks at Park Rapids, too!




The campground was beautiful, the lake nestled just down the hill from the campsite and pool.



Next to the pool, in the lodge was a very cool soda shop, where you could run up a tab during your stay!



Uncle Rich provided lots of fun - boating, tubing, skiing and docking at the lake's sandbar.



We set up a little (actually, rather large!) outdoor movie theatre. We laughed at RV one evening, and the kids enjoyed other movies during the week.


We went to the Logging Camp for breakfast one morning. We were transported over 100 years back, and enjoyed a pretty incredible breakfast!


Enjoying the shops, restaurants and boardwalks of Dorset.





A pretty amazing bike trail, this one is 27 miles long. It's an old train line that has been paved. Beautiful bike trip, which took us to the touristy area of Dorset.


Lots of pool time at the campground pool, too! Perfect weather all week!




Saturday, July 3, 2010

Packin' up!

I'm pretty excited about heading out for some family holiday time! We haven't done a big camping trip with Nate, so this could be interesting! As we get things packed and loaded and I have to laugh at how 'camping' has changed...it becomes very evident when I start looking at what is getting packed. Sure, you have your staples: beach stuff, camera, bikes, strollers....and then it starts getting interesting!
  • iTouch for email
  • Garmin and iPod for running
  • projector, for the outdoor movie theatre experience
  • DVD's for inside/rainy day entertainment
  • cables and chargers for all of the above
  • walkie talkies for campsite to beach communication
Someone please assure me, that camping is still camping,
even if you're sleeping in a motorhome with A/C, all the plumbing amenities
to make life comfortable and a full kitchen to cook in!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Canada Day....so far!



We've been having fun outside - I think this is the hottest day so far this summer!

There is more fun to come! Heading downtown for the Kids Carnival and some great musical entertainment!