My childhood...

I've been tagged by Catez at All Things to All. I've been asked to describe five things that I miss from my childhood and I can tell this is going to be a little stretching as I dig back a few years.

1. I miss the days when I had nothing to do but head outdoors on a nice day with a good book and sit on my favorite rock beside a little brook. I loved the freedom and the sense of well-being. Now I'm lucky to find tiny bits of time!

2. I miss the days when cleaning the bathroom was the only chore I had all week...besides the dishes after supper. I was never too quick to get the job done and so I always ended up being the dish dryer. And most of the time I'd sneak away to play a little piano while my sister got started. She'd complain about it but I always figured that I may as well enjoy myself until there were some dishes to dry. I'm still not quick to get the job done and it's always tempting to just play a song or two before I get to work in earnest. Unfortunately, there's no one to get the job started but me.

3. I miss the days when I'd wander through the woods and come upon an unexpected clearing. One of those became my favorite place - there was a large black rock in the middle of it. I wonder if it's still there as I remember it. I wonder if I could even find it.

4. I miss those early days of school. I loved the school bus because my best friends were on it. We were silly, giggled lots and did this hand clapping thing a lot - the busdriver must have been so relieved to see us get off the bus finally. I loved life and I could be sillier than most. Now I should kick up my heels and be silly once in awhile...just because.

5. I miss the wonder... the wonder of Prince Edward Island, Cherry Brook Zoo, Magnetic Mountain, Kingslanding (New Brunswick) and other excursions we'd take in summer as a family; when everything was an adventure and new places so exciting; when going for a boat ride with my dad and sister in a little motor boat and being in a storm was the most exciting thing I'd ever done. Little things were a huge deal and it was so easy to see all that was 'wonder'ful.

Here's the procedure:

I pick four people to write on "Five things I miss from my childhood". I'd like to pick the following four. Let me know if you can't in the comments and I'll find another unsuspecting victim... er... participant. I have seen somewhere before so please let me know if I've tagged you and you've already done this one :-)

Kim from The Upward Call, Sparrow from Intent, Carol from Carol's Storybook and Gem from Roughcut Gems.

Remove the blog at No.1 from the following list and bump every one up one place; add your blog’s name in the No.5 spot. I've linked to their posts on childhood, with the URLs for you as well:

1. Just Ask Judy
http://justaskjudy.blogspot.com/2005/06/ive-been-tagged.html
2. Loose Leaf
http://www.looseleafnotes.com/archives/2005/06/meme_5_things_i.html
3. Black Currant Jam
http://blackcurantjam.blogspot.com/2005/06/meme-5-things-i-miss.html
4. Allthings2all
http://allthings2all.blogspot.com/2005/06/i-wanted-green-hair.html
5. Tales of a Farmwife
http://alynnmusic.blogspot.com/2005/06/my-childhood.html

And pick four people. Thanks!

Dark time in Canada...

I'm struggling this morning. I feel so discouraged about the marriage bill that may pass at any time...almost too discouraged to even pray about it. There are so many Canadians across this country who are against this new bill but the current government has made it their own agenda and is pushing it through regardless of the concerns of so many of its citizens. I guess the government forgot that they are supposed to be representing all of us... It's a dark time in Canada.

I love Mondays - a fresh new week is ahead of me. I've been working so hard outside that I need a good day or so to catch up inside. So I won't write too much as I need to get as much done this morning as possible - otherwise the day just disappears too fast! Blessings to all of you as you start a new week.

This Good Day...

Last Sunday I found a surprise in my mail box in the church - the CD "Home" by Fernando Ortega. A dear friend picked it up at our local Christian bookstore because she remembered that I loved hers when I heard it (and they were giving away all their older demos). I'm sure she had no idea how much it meant (I don't think she was aware of our flooding at that point). So I got home and was touched anew by the first song. Here's the chorus:

That this good day
It is a gift from you.
The world is turning in its place
Because you made it to.
I lift my voice
To sing a song of praise
On this good day.

It resonated with my heart that it was indeed a good day and that I had so much to praise God for. Here's a little list of blessings:

• I always wanted lots of mulch in my garden and flowerbeds - now I have plenty :-)
• I found the little weeding tool that I love so much - I was so surprised and pleased to find it among all the straw and debris
• My strawberry plants are yielding strawberries!!!!
• Friends came and gave me a hand with some of the hard work
• Every flower that blooms is like a little treasure
• God has filled my heart with joy

Mosaic...Fractured or Whole?

Independence and individuality are given such value in our society but at what cost? It leads to being 'disconnected' and fragmented. We've lost our sense of being part of a community as we strive and search for something to make sense. Relationships are valued for what they can do for 'me'. But that pragmatic view turns ugly when we see how quickly we discard any relationship that is not fulfilling 'my' needs. Divorce has become commonplace. Unborn babies are literally discarded.

But the truth is relationships are fundamental in our lives. We need them. It's true that every relationship has the risk of breaking apart and causing all kinds of stress and pain. But a good relationship is so valuable that most of us are willing to take the risk...drawn to the possibilities and potential.

It is interesting how many bloggers are stay-at-home Moms! That makes sense as working Moms probably don't have an abundance of 'free' time and have less need for adult interaction after spending a day with co-workers, customers, etc. But blogging allows a real network of friendships to develop and that's part of what draws us to it: a colorful mosaic of people and ideas.

Our need for community becomes more clear all the time. It becomes more important to invest in friendships..to not get too busy or to be satisfied with superficial friendliness. I spent a couple of hours with one friend recently and for sure I smiled the rest of the day - loving life and refreshed.

But above all there is one relationship that has no risk. It is a relationship that encourages and refreshes like no other. It is a relationship that should be sought out and invested in above all others. And it does take investment...time, effort, priority, sacrifice.

A close relationship with our Creator is worth everything. And it costs everything. It's counter-culture; sacrifice, undeserved kindness, need, brokeness, humility and unconditional love become the words we live by. And it will absolutely turn our lives upside down. But what have we got to lose?

Within that relationship lies the key to a rich abundant life - full of meaning and purpose, full of joy and refreshment. Drawn close to our Creator we find ourselves close to each other. Is the mosaic of our intertwined lives fractured or whole; ruined pieces or art?

Note: This was a post I wrote one day and then for the fun of it, sent it as an entry in Marla Swoffer's "Intellectuelle" contest.

On the wings of an eagle....

On the wings of an eagle we will rise
We will not grow weary, we will not grow faint
We will stand up straight

These were some of the words (that I can remember) of the first song we sang in church and they touched my heart in a special way as I thought of the troubles we've been facing over the last couple of days. It was so good to be with God's people! And I've been touched by the kindness of people - including all of you who have left comments!

A friend came by and shared that she'd had a dream the night before the flood. She dreamed that I was drowning and calling for help. And she felt God was calling her to pray for me. You can imagine what she felt when she heard we were flooded the next day. I still don't know what to make of it all. It makes me think that maybe I was in more serious danger than I was even aware of when I crossed through that water to reach my boys. And I'm so thankful for the prayers of my friend and for a God who loves me enough to impress others to pray that specifically for me.

We have a lot of cleanup ahead of us - some piles of straw are about 3 feet deep and cover large areas. I'm glad we have some tractors - that should take care of some of the biggest messes. And we have a large part of our lawn covered in gravel - look like a new driveway. That will probably be the hardest part to clean up. But again I am blessed because a group of friends are coming over tomorrow to help me out.

So today I think I'll go to town to buy some grass seed, some new plants and roses... I think I'll buy several rose bushes. My rose bushes all withstood the flood but I think I'll add more to remind me of how fragile life is and how beauty outshines the thorns. Our yard is starting to green up - everything was a dirty brown a couple of days ago. Every time I dug out a plant, I'd try to clean it off. Some times I sprayed the plants a number of times because as soon as it dried - it was brown again. And today I pray that I will rise on the wings of an eagle; my spirit soaring upwards even as I set my heart to the task that lies in front of me.

The Day After...

We got caught in a flash flood. While expecting severe weather, we sure didn't expect this. After supper the storm produced big hail - the biggest I'd ever seen. I was starting to get quite concerned that windows would get broken. But after the storm abated I thought the coast was clear. But not so. All of a sudden Ladger said, "We have to get out of here now". We got the boys dressed and out the door with Ladger. I stayed behind to gather pictures, and diapers. And then I was out the door and in the time between Ladger leaving and me, the water was flooding our whole yard (except to the east). I dropped the albums off at our garage (higher ground) and then was really afraid of how I was going to find my way to safety. The creek to our east was roaring by and the overflow was flowing west of me (through our yard and home). So I prayed and walked through the front lawn in raging water up to my mid-thigh. And was so thankful to reach the other side!! And so thankful to be able to be with my terrified boys!

I really thought we might lose everything! But in a short time the water started receding and so we spent the night at Ladger's parents and started clean-up this morning. We are so fortunate that the water didn't rise a few more inches - it never made it into our living space. It did destroy the skirting and that's what Ladger's doing today - tearing it off and cleaning out pipes, wires, etc. I've been digging out trees and plants from under masses of straw (from the fields), manure (from neighbors with cattle) and who-knows-what-all. It's heavy work and there's so much to be done; I feel like I've cleaned out several barns today alone! So I guess we've got a project for the summer.

I think the things I'll miss most of all will be the strawberries, the corn on the cob, the flowers that got hammered just before they opened their buds. But to have our home intact is a real blessing. There were several tornados in the area that completely destroyed homes, etc. I'm so thankful we didn't have that on top of everything else. Will post more later. Gotta get back to my flowerbeds!

Dirt and Daisy...

Do you ever forget that you're too big for the playground? Rory and Paxton were having fun sliding at home and asked me to go down once. I sized up the slide and figured I should fit. I almost did! I didn't get stuck - worse I slid down and scraped a bit of skin off both sides. Ouch! Well I guess that serves me right for forgetting to act my age *grin*.

That night Rory was concerned about my 'owies'. He said he was going to fix me up tomorrow with some dirt and then a bandage. Yep, I said dirt. A couple of days ago I was explaining to him why we need to bury things that die (like the dead gopher he put in our halfton). I explained that God made the first man out of dirt. And that when we die we turn back to dirt. His eyes got big and then he said, "my skin isn't dirt, see?" But I guess he believes me because now he figures that a little dirt will replace the skin that's missing off my legs!!

We 'walk' the guinea pig just about every day. I know some folks don't get making a rodent your pet but we look at her and see that her face looks like a bunny (without the ears), she walks like a miniature hippo and that's enough to make her quite lovable. Plus she makes the cutest sounds and she can outrun the boys. But I have long learned that everything is a matter of perception. When I moved here, I thought the gophers were kind of cute.I don't see them in that way anymore since they've become such a pest on the yard (and in the fields). Even some mice are really cute if they're not running about in my house. So don't be afraid to give yourself permission to enjoy the rodents in your life! After all, they're God's creatures too - living out their purpose in the food chain.

The Sun is shining...

The living room floor is cluttered. The dishes from last night are on the counter. Laundry is calling my name. My accounting is behind. I need to bake buns this morning. The boys are up and the day begins. The sun is shining.

The weeds are growing. The grass needs cutting. So many things to do and so little time to get it all done. But the sun is shining.

I'll try to do the best that I can. And leave the overwhelming, discouraging feelings behind. Today's a new day. By God's grace, maybe He will help me use my time wisely today while the sun's still shining.

Drastic Measures...

Last week I completely stripped Rory's room of all toys! He has to earn them back. But here's the funny thing - he really hasn't missed them. So while it seemed like a good 'learning' tool - now I'm not so sure. He doesn't really seem to care if he earns them back or not. All he has left in his room are books, puzzles, crayons and paint. Yesterday he found a nice round rock which he decided to paint for Grandma. He even found a pretty box and a gift bag to make it even more special.

If taking away toys encourages some creativity, I'll see it as a success either way.

The one thing I haven't taken away is his bike. We bought that for him last spring and he never got the hang of it. But all of a sudden this spring...he got it! And he just loves biking between our place and Grandma's. She hates it because he's on the road but Ladger and I have decided to let him as long as he tells us so someone can go out to the road and watch out for him. He knows that he is supposed to pull off to the grass and just stand there with the bike until vehicles pass by. And he's been doing well. We don't get much traffic but I want him to learn to watch for it. And he loves the new independence.
I'm taking this picture from the edge of our driveway - watching Rory on his bike. As you can see, it's not hard to see traffic from a long way!

Politics and Faith....

Church and state can be separated. Faith and politics
cannot. Something--faith, religion, world view or ideology--will guide
one’s politics. The political is not neutral territory.

This is an excerpt from an excellent article written by Bruce Clemenger. It's worth a read.

Cultivation, Leashes and Sparrows...

We're getting some sun! It was rainy and cool for so long, I was beginning to think we'd never see warm summer days. I spent most of yesterday in the yard pulling the bigger weeds that the rotortiller won't get in my orchard patch. Ladger started helping me and then he said it was too big a job and so he cultivated it for me. So that patch is taken care of....for now.

A few days ago Ladger and I were thinking it would be so nice if we could put a leash on Daisy to take her outside. To my surprise, there was such a thing and I bought it. And so yesterday I walked the guinea pig.

I'm up so early this morning - 6:30 am and the sun is shining so nice. I think I'll even have time to paint my toenails before I head to church. I'm excited because I get to play the prelude on the church's brand new grand piano - yippee! So I pulled out some arrangements of old hymns by Fred Bock. And then I'm 'jazzing' them up a little - swingin' the time a little on some of them. So I'll be playing some of my favorites: Day by Day, Just a Closer Walk With Thee, I've Got Peace Like a River, His Eye is on the Sparrow. Just curious....Sparrow, if you are reading this, you must love this last song....

And here's Daisy and the boys!

Here's our front yard. You can see a lot of trucks in my flower bed. The boys have 'roads' running between all my plants. They spend a lot of time here. Behind the evergreen (middle of the picture) is the gateway...

This is the gateway in our lilac hedge that appeals to the boys so much. 90% of the time when they've disappeared - this is where they've come.

Just through the gateway...here's Ladger and Paxton comin' home. Beyond the trees..barely visible...is Grandma & Grandpa's house.

Her name is....

Daisy. I would never have picked that name in a million years but Rory came up with it and so....it is. Our new little guinea pig looks anything but like a daisy to me; short and squat, black haired and plump. I've started calling her "oopsy daisy".

It's amazing the efforts we will go through for these little creatures. Yesterday, I went out...in the rain... and gathered up a pile of sticks and some straw bedding in the barn. And then I cleaned out her cage. And then washed the sticks, cut them to the same length and then roped them together and attached it to the cage so it hangs down like a rope ladder. That is her absolute favorite thing - she huddles underneath it and peaks out at us between the sticks.

The boys love Daisy and when I let her out of the cage they have a hard time being calm enough for her to approach them. She's still a little nervous of us all. I'm not sure I blame her. But Rory is really gentle in his own boyish way and I'm glad he has this opportunity to learn how to treat well a creature made by God.

Birthday thoughts....

Yesterday was Paxton's birthday. I could write about his birth story and how it was a rainy day just like yesterday. How I'd been having false labor for days before I just decided he had to come and walked three miles in sleet with such determination. That night he came...and he came quick. I woke up with intese labor (did I sleep through the easy part?) Anyhow, he was born 2 hours after I got to the hospital. It was intense but I'd take a short labor anyday to a long drawn out affair.

I could talk about how I marvelled at him. And just what he has brought to our lives.

But I'm not a poetic writer and I'm not sure I could express what I feel about him. Words just don't do it. But yesterday, I held him and felt incredible love for this little boy who is so quickly growing up and leaving the baby stage behind. He's starting to say more words now and I adore his little baby voice.

He unwrapped his presents with the greatest care and enjoyed it thoroughly. He blew out the candle on his cake with the cutest little puff and we all thought he was so adorable. He watched the sparklers on the cake with awe.

He laughs with such abandon.

He uses his own fork to eat and manages to eat more than Rory lots of times. He lets me feed him when it's something like soup and he opens his mouth surprisingly wide and goes after the spoon - looks like a starving baby chick.

He can disappear to the next yard quicker than I can blink. He runs so fast and far and it's amazing because he still has that awkward baby gait. He always looks like he could topple over any minute...but he seldom does. He is daring and busy.

He's perfect for our family. And we thank God for him.

The Most Amazing Story....

I decided it was time to tell Rory the whole story; the reason that lies are so very bad.

A long, long time ago there was no earth, no people, no sky, no animals; nothing......except God. And He was enough. Vast and powerful, Beautiful and perfect. One day He decided to create a being that would be also big, strong, powerful and beautiful. This was an angel and He made many angels and they all lived together so perfectly. And the angels loved nothing more than to tell God how much they love Him and be with Him - friends of God.

But one day, one of the most powerful and beautiful angels had a new thought. He thought he was just as strong and powerful and perfect as God. He forgot that He was created by God and owed his very life to God. And by thinking these things, he became an enemy of God and God had no choice but to make Him leave. He became known as the devil.

After that, God decided to create a little world that would become the home for a new creature. This time the creature would not be so powerful and strong but still much like God himself. That was man. The devil hated the man because God loved him and the devil hated God and all friends of God.

God gave man a choice: would he be a friend to God or would he turn his back on God and join the devil in his hatred?

Can you believe it? The man chose to listen to the devil's lies and became an enemy of God. There is a good reason that the devil is called the father of lies. He is the biggest liar this world has ever known. Ever since then, all children ever born on this earth are born as natural enemies of God with rebellious hearts towards Him. And the devil thought he won. He had ruined God's new creation.

But God had an amazing plan. He wanted to give these children a chance to know Him and choose to become His friend instead. But how could He do that when these children had hearts that were proud and full of lies and bad things. God decided that He would send His only Son to this earth and be punished for all the sins of all the people that would ever live. His Son would show the people the heart of God; goodness, kindness, love. And so He showed people how to reach God. When people realize that the Son paid the price so we could be free to love God, we can accept it as truth and accept Him as our friend. Then we become friends of God and He sees us as if we had never had bad hearts.

As long as we live on earth we will struggle between doing what is right and believing the lies of the devil and doing what is wrong. But God has found a way to be with us and help us if we are willing to admit we are wrong and determine in our hearts to do what is right. He loves nothing more than to help His children if they look for help.

One day, all the people who have chosen not to be friends of God will be separated from God forever along with all that is beautiful, good and perfect. For those people, the earth will be as close to heaven as they will ever get because there is still some goodness and and some beauty here. But it is not perfect and there is much that is bad and ugly here too. But can you imagine everything bad and ugly with not a bit of goodness and beauty?

But all the people who have become friends of God will one day join Him in the beautiful place where God is. It will be so much better than anything we can imagine. It will be incredible and there will be no tears, no sadness, no ugliness, no lies, no hatred; not one bit of badness. We like to think on earth that we can do anything we put our minds and hearts too. We can only do so much. But in heaven there will be no limits to what is possible. It will be amazing and truly we will live happily ever after.

Carmon at Buried Treasure is a new read for me but I just had to mention this post.

Lately, Rory lies more often than he tells the truth. Most of the time he lies to get his own way, not out of fear of consequences. For example, he'll ask Dad if he can bring a toy to Sunday School and when he says no, he comes to me and tells me that Dad said he could. And he spins yarns. He told me one time that Grandma drove into the grain truck with the car. He told it with lots of details and almost had me believing his tall tale. Most of the time it's easy to spot his tall tales though - too absurd to believe.

I'm glad he has a good imagination and I don't want to stifle it. But I definitely have a problem with the lying that seems to come so easy to him.

I could go to books for help but how much more important it is that I pray for wisdom from our Creator who loves and understands us so much better than we ever could. But I also value the opinions of those who have been down this road with their own children. So I'm open to any suggestions from y'all.

Some Sunday Sentiments...

It sounds like our church will be taking us through Warren's well-known "Purpose Driven Life" in the Fall. I'm looking forward to it as I really enjoyed the book. This morning's message was about pouring out ourselves for others. I'm going to pray about this because I feel that there is so much more that I could be doing to invest in the lives of other people. I looked across the congregation and wondered just what my part is in being a part of this community of believers. Sometimes it's easy to hide behind our 'talents' and consider that our contribution but I wonder what else God might have for me to do - who I might pour out my life for.

Gardens and guinea pigs...

I don't know if I can write much right now because Rory is here beside me talking non-stop about his garden. His potatoes, peas and carrots are all up and he started watering them tonight. I love his enthusiasm. I just can't cocnenrtate...

The days are dragging a little because I want Paxton's birthday to get here. Ladger and I bought a cute little black guinea pig but we arranged to pick him up Tuesday so it wouldn't spoil the surprise. I'm ridiculously thrilled to have a pet in the house and thrilled that Ladger went for it. We decided to get a pet because we figure the boys have enough 'stuff' between them (plus they have generous grandparents on both sides).

So we're heading to town Tuesday morning to pick him up and then we'll pick up some pizza and a cake and head home for a little birthday celebration. Paxton will be two years old. In some ways it seems like it's been so much longer than that - it feels like he's been part of our lives forever.

A quiet moment in an active evening!

Ready for bed and cuddling his 'duckie'.

Inspired by Sparrow at Intent: Here's a few pretty shots from my yard this spring.

Can you see the bumble bee?

A rarity....

Today I took a call from a telemarketer and I was impressed. She didn't sound like she was reading a script, she was personable and sounded very nice (definitely not monotone). She actually asked if I had a few minutes and by then I was actually willing to grant her my time (I very seldom do that). And even though I was not interested in what she was marketing, she was able to let me know the basic features without getting into useless time-consuming details. I got off the phone and found myself wishing all telemarketers were trained to be like her. So many times even causes I support leave a negative impression with me because of pushy sales tactics. So kudos to Sasktel for a great employee!

Today Ladger and I are heading to town without the boys....I need to shop for Paxton's birthday plus I wanted to buy some bedding plants - both of which are near impossible with the boys along. I had plans to meet a girlfriend for coffee but that didn't work out as she got called into work - can't wait to reschedule!!

This Tuesday was Ladger's first opportunity to come in and watch Rory's soccer game. But we were running a little late so he was pushing the speed a bit. I asked him to slow down as I worried that the car couldn't handle it. You see, I've been driving that thing for awhile knowing that it could give me problems anytime (it did two Tuesdays in a row). Sure enough, we blew a gasket on the way into town - had to turn around and limp back home and finally get the halfton to get to town. We were late but it turned out OK. Rory was the first one who noticed the temperature light come on. He watches the dash like a hawk these days. And he says things like he'd like a hammer to smash the car up so we can throw it in the garbage and buy a new one. I wouldn't put it quite like that but... The problem is that it's not our car - it's Ladger's parents car and they don't move too quick on making a new purchase. Maybe now.... But this morning Ladger is picking up parts to fix the car and then we'll probably keep it awhile longer since he's gone to the trouble of repairing it. *sigh*