Remembering...

That I may never forget the little one we never knew, who would have been due four years ago today.

For Meditation

Today I'm too tired to even think straight after being up every two hours through the night for Reuben who's got a bad cough right now.  May these words strengthen my soul and yours as we get through this day.

"...For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we may boldly say: 'The LORD is my helper; I will not fear.'" Heb 13:5b-6a (NKJV)

"Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise His holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits --
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion...

For as high are the heavens above the earth,
so great is His love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us."   Psalm 103: 1-4, 11-12 (NIV)

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Heb 15:13 (NIV)

Don't mess with the morning chi

The postal strike is ruining my morning chi. 

I know it's a bit sad, but getting the mail is close to being the highlight of my day.  I don't know why.  There's just something thrilling about opening the mailbox, finding there's mail in it, and then looking through it to see if there's anything more exciting than bills.  Generally, there's not.  But I can honestly say I would rather get even just one piece of junk mail than no mail at all.

And the days when there does happen to be something other than a bill, like say, a paycheque, or an unexpected tax rebate cheque, or the postcard from Starbucks that tells me I get a free drink for my birthday, those are the sweetest days of all.

I'll be the first to admit, I don't know the a whole lot about why Canada Post is on strike/locked out.  I did some reading on the Canada Post website and on the CUPW website, and I have to say, I understand Canada Post's side of it significantly better than the CUPW side of it.  Sorry CUPW, I love my mailman, but you are not doing a whole lot to make me understand why I don't get to see him everyday anymore.  Show me that you have a good reason to be on strike, and then maybe I will be a little more understanding about why I'm now having to look at switching to e-billing for all of my utilities.  I've managed to hold off this long for most of my bills, and the prospect of relying on my email to tell me how much money I need to pay to keep my hydro running does not fill me with joy.

So stop messing with my morning and the small things that I take pleasure in to get through my long days at home with small children.  Bring me back my mail service!

Have I found our new church?

It's been about six weeks since our last gathering with our "old church", and I've now had the chance to visit a "new church" for a few services.  I thought I'd give you all a bit of an update on how that's been going.

The church we've been checking out is the Presbyterian church down the road from us.  It is literally a five minute walk from my house, ten with the kids in tow.  I can honestly say the proximity to my house has been a real draw for me to make this our permanent church home.

The first service I attended was their Good Friday service, which also included participating in communion.  It was a little daunting because they perform this sacrament by having everyone file to the front pew by pew to partake of the bread/cracker and wine/grape juice, and I felt a little out of my element just because it was a new church, and I didn't know anyone.  Awesomely, it turned out I did recognize someone there as our neighbour from across the street was also in attendance that morning.

I found out later that it was also her first time visiting the church, and they are also looking at perhaps making it their church home.  We've gotten to know those neighbours quite well since moving here, and I find it really cool that we might end up going to the same church together right here in our own neighbourhood.

Since that day, we've gone to three more services, and each time I go, I am more and more convinced that this is the church God is leading us to make our new church family.  They have amazing kids' programs there, which is something I was hoping to find in our new church, and the kids have handled the adjustment really well.

I feel such a sense of community and togetherness from these people during the services, and they have been very welcoming to me and my children.  Several people have already introduced themselves to me, and I'm looking forward to more chances to become part of this church family.

And all that aside, this past Sunday during the service it really struck me that this church is a place where I sense God's presence, and it's a place where I feel comfortable to worship and meet with Him among these other believers.  They have an incredible praise team, and since music has always been a big part of my life and the way I worship, this has helped significantly in making me feel at home here.

Have I made a firm decision that this will be our new church?  Not quite, but I'm getting close.  I haven't spent as much time in prayer over it as I need to yet, but that will come.  I'm also hoping that at some point Tim will be able to come to a service with us, but given that he works on weekends, this might be a while.

Anyway, I could write more, but the kids need breakfast.  Till another time...

Birds in the Morning

I have a love/hate relationship with the birds outside my window.

Sometimes, I think they're great.  I love to hear birds chirping, especially in the spring after they've been relatively quiet all winter.  They remind me of those early morning hours when you're camping, when everyone's just starting to wake up, but the birds have been awake for hours.

And sometimes, when it's 3:45, and the birds are so loud they're waking me up with them, I'm ready to buy a gun and shoot them all.  Okay, maybe I wouldn't actually shoot them, but I'd sure like to find a way so that they're not disturbing my slumber quite so much.  It really doesn't help that the branches of my lovely birch tree are directly outside my bedroom window, and said birch tree seems to be the preferred dwelling for several birds.

Because let's be honest here, people, my kids get me up at ridiculous hours as it is.  I don't need endlessly chirping birds ruining my good night's sleep on top of that.

I'd invest in ear plugs, but then I wouldn't be able to hear my children when they wake up.

Wait.  Maybe that's not such a bad idea...

God Doesn't Need Coffee

"I lift up my eyes to the hills--
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip--
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep." Psalm 121:1-4

It's good to know that God doesn't need sleep.

I don't know about you, but when I find life the most challenging as a mother, it's usually because I haven't gotten enough sleep.  When it's hard to be patient, it's usually because I'm tired.  When mornings are difficult, it's because I just want to go back to bed and get more sleep.  When I'm grumpy, it's often because I've been or am being woken up at some ungodly hour.

Except if God doesn't sleep, then technically no hour is an ungodly hour.

I need to get better at looking to Him for the strength to get through those hours when I'd rather be sleeping.  I need to get better at trusting in His limitless patience while I dangle at the end of my rope.  I need to get better at keeping my focus on His never-failing love when I'm staring bleary-eyed at my coffee maker trying to figure out why there's no coffee in the pot even when I scooped the grinds into the filter and pushed the button to make it go.  Oh wait.  It needs water?  (And yes, one morning I actually forgot to put water in the coffee maker when I tried to make my morning coffee.  See what being tired does to you?)

Because God's strength is the only thing that can overcome my desire for more sleep.  And the joy that comes from relying on Him is WAY better than any caffeine buzz...

On pests and homeownership

Something ate my garbage last night.

I don't know if it was a raccoon or a squirrel or something else, but when I looked outside this morning, our garbage can has been tipped over, the lid is off, and there's garbage all over the ground. Given that we're also having a lovely thunderstorm this morning, it's going to be very yucky to clean up later. Joy.

I strongly suspect that most homeowners have to deal with pests of all sorts, but it feels like the battle is never-ending. Whether it's bugs in my laundry, chipmunks in my basement, ridiculous amounts of spiders living in the corners of every room, and big black ants that crawl on me while I'm sleeping, I never know what to expect next!

Obviously, the next pest problem is whatever is tearing the lid off my garbage can to eat my garbage. Frankly, I'm surprised they haven't gone for my compost bin because that's where all the food scraps go. Although given the smell coming from said bin lately after all the warm weather, I can't say that I blame the poor bugger.

The neighbour suggested a way to rig up the lid so that it's tied down and nothing can get in. That sounds like a lot of work to me as it involves drilling holes in one side of my garbage can because we only have one handle. I think we'll probably just end up keeping the garbage can in the garage.

Stay tuned to find out which pest we get to deal with next...

About nothing

So I haven't been feeling a whole lot more inspired to write anything this past week. I'm sorry I can't be one of those bloggers that gets to write all kinds of posts in advance so that you still get regular posts even whe I don't feel like I have anything important to say. I wish I could do it differently, but of course, whenever inspiration strikes me, I'm usually nowhere near a computer or my kids require my attention so I can't write it out anyway. And then, inevitably, when I sit down at the computer in the mornings when I do have time, the inspiration is gone or the idea that I had just sounds boring.

Figures.

Unfortunately, it means you get stuck with either dull posts or no posts. Again, sorry.

In fact, the only reason I'm posting at all this morning is because I'm so tired of not having anything to post that I'm forcing myself to sit here and post SOMETHING, even though it means I'm posting about not having anything to post.

Anyway, I'm sure ONE of these days, some real inspiration will strike, and hopefully at the right time of day, and then you'll get some decent posts again. Until then, you'll have to make due with, well, dull posts.

For the last time, sorry.

The birthday girl always cries

We had a party for Kaylee's birthday last night. At one point, the irony struck me that there were actually only three children at the party, two of whom were mine, and the other 14 people were adults. I think my kids need to get out more and make some new friends...some younger friends.

But no offense intended to any of our party guests. In fact, all of them were specifically requested by my kids, and interestingly enough, the names of two children my kids have been asking about seeing all week didn't even come up. So there we have it. A child's relatively child-less birthday party.

And it was fun. At least, I think it was fun. The kids got extremely excited when the first guest arrived and got progressively more and more worked up as more people came. It was good the weather was so nice so they could spend some of that energy outside.

We had burgers and salad and cake. Kaylee opened her presents and said some really cute "thanks" to everyone. She kept asking for a Buzz Lightyear toy, and I'm not sure if she was actually disappointed or not that she didn't get one. I don't think I had even realized she wanted one. Do two-year-olds get disappointed when they don't get toys they want for their birthday?

And of course, the birthday girl ended up in tears when it was time for her to go to bed at the end. Can you blame her after having so much fun?

Lemon Rosemary Chicken

This is a recipe that I found a few months ago.  It is amazingly delicious and simple.  Not to mention, I always feel like I'm a real cook when I use things like fresh herbs and lemon zest.  :)

You will need a few sprigs of rosemary, a lemon, 2-4 chicken breasts, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Chop 1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary and put it in a small bowl.

Add 1 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of black pepper.

Add 1 tsp of lemon zest (about one lemon worth).  Lemon zest is ridiculously hard to measure accurately.

 

 Add 1 tsp of lemon juice and 1 tbsp of olive oil.  Stir it all together.

Rub the mixture onto all sides of the chicken breasts and place onto your baking pan of choice.  I have cooked these both in covered casserole dishes in the oven and also straight on a baking tray in my toaster oven.  I have yet to determine which way is best.  Cooking times vary depending on how many chicken breasts you use, but for those pictured above, I believe I cooked them in the oven at about 350 for approximately 30-40 minutes.  The trick is not overdoing them because chicken can dry out pretty easily when it's overcooked.

Unfortunately, I don't have a post-cooking picture for you as once the meal was done, I got a little crazy trying to put it all on plates to feed my hungry family.

So there it is in all it's glorious yumminess.  If you try it, I'd love to know what you think!