We Sat Around the Table and Talked for Almost 2 Hours

Today was Max's birthday so I took the boys to the Keg for dinner. I spent $75 per hour to have some conversation.

A good deal, no?

Then we went to Chapters. And as we walked in the door, the greeter said to Clint, "Are you here for the Anne Murray book signing?"

Hahaha. He had no idea who she was. Burn.

1 point for the greeter.



Three things I'm thankful for:

1. The internet. Not only did Dooce use her blog to showcase Rebekah today, but John Acuff (Stuff Christians Like) and Abraham Piper (22 words) used their blogs as well to raise $30,000 to build a kindergarten for kids in Northern Korea today.

Makes me proud to be a blogger.

2. Wednesday is Remembrance Day. Which is like getting a Saturday in the middle of the week.

3. Rays of sunshine on wet, blusterly days.

Shalom,

So Proud ...

... of Rebekah. (Rachel's sister.)

Those are her cards being showcased on Dooce's blog today!

Have you bought a set yet?

Happy 19th Birthday, Max

He was born in 1990, but digital photography wasn't an option for me until 2005, so this trip down memory lane is mostly recent.
Here he is in Versaille:
Max and Jon being badass:

I think this is in Austria:

And Venice:

France (Mt. St. Michel):

Germany:

Paris:

Eiffel Tower:

New do. The mohawk:

Getting the long hair cut off:

Hanging out in the attic at Billie's:

Feeding the chickadees at the Tynehead Park (birdseed on his head):

Grade 7 band concert:

Òn the farm:

Love his smile:

Our last trip to Stanley Park to ride the train:

Playing hockey on the driveway at the farm:

Heading into the Salt Mines:

At the lake with Zac:

Racing the ride-em lawnmowing through the streets of Lindell Beach:

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. Max

2. Clint

3. Drew

Shalom,

Rainy Saturday

Saturday is my sleep in day. I can never understand people who get up at 6:30 on Saturdays. Seriously.

What could you possibly do before 7 that can't wait til after 9?

Drew called me this morning shortly after 8 am, needing a ride home from his sleepover at Brett's house because "he was soooo sick".

I got right out of bed and drove over to Brett's in my pajamas. It was obvious he was more overtired than anything, but I humored him and got him some Cold FX, Advil Cold and Sinus and a One A Day vitamin along with a juice box and said sweetly as he got into bed, "get some rest, hon".

I promptly went back to my own bed determined to fall asleep. Unfortunately the thought of having high blood pressure was messing with my brain, so I forced myself to imagine a tanned, slim, me on a summer day at the beach with a book, on a lawn chair with the waves lapping and a breeze blowing.

Mostly it worked. Til the phone rang again.

And then again.

I got up at 10 and started to read blogs.

My master blog list is bookmarked on my desktop computer, but when Drew is in the house, he can be found sitting at my desk with his hand on the mouse. (My mouse.) I rarely get to use my office space. What's mine is his.

Anyway, with him sleeping, I cruised blogs for hours. I made a point of actually DOING something at 1 pm... and that was cleaning the furnace filter. Yay me. I did one home maintenance chore today.

The boys (Max and Drew) got up after 2, so I moved to the living room where I read this book

(Silver Birches by Adrian Plass) because at my last book club meeting, Kim recommended it.

It WAS good. I can see how we would have had a great discussion if we had chosen it as next month's selection.

Adrian Plass was in town (from England) tonight, and I wanted to go. Not badly enough to put a bra on and actually leave the house, but part of me wanted to be that person who goes to these sorts of things.

The thought of walking up to Shopper's Drug Mart to pick up bubble bath and toilet paper crossed my mind, but it was raining. So I played facebook Scrabble all evening long.

I tell ya - this has been a waste of a perfectly good Saturday. It's close to 2 am now, and my legs are feeling antsy. I don't think I've walked more than 20 steps all day.

Gnite.

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. There is only one month of November per year.

2. Tomorrow is another day.

3. Pretty sure he just has a head cold.

Shalom,

Heading Into the Weekend

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. Friends who have daughters who make BBQ chicken pizza FROM SCRATCH and share it. Thanks, Tori - oh my goodness, that was delish.

2. Yellow and Grey. Those were the colours in my world this afternoon, and somehow it looked fabulous...

3. Bubbly baths and good books.

Shalom,

I Start to Think and Then Change My Mind

You know how that goes ...

You get a thought, and you start to explore it, but you don't like the path it's leading you on, so you abandon that line of thinking and go off into fantasy land instead and before you know it, you've got a second husband and a newer vehicle and it doesn't matter if you're the next one laid off because he can support you. And he sings. Plus he knows what to do about the light fixture in the kitchen that keeps flickering and the lawnmower that doesn't start. And if you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound - so you carry on with the fantasy and guess what? You weigh 120 pounds and have perky boobs too.

Escaping into fantasy land whenever life gets complicated is no way to handle reality. Some people drink. Smoke pot. Take pills. Spend money. Some cut. Some cut out.

I take a mental break and imagine all the very best parts about having someone love me to bits.

Know what the problem with doing this is?

Actually, what the two problems are?

1. As the fantasy gets more and more detailed, I set myself up with expectations that can never be met. I think I wrote an entire romance novel in my head this past week, starring me, a blond bombshell with no issues and some faceless, perfect man who loves me passionately.

2. I stopped praying.

Every time I had some free moments, I had a choice. I could pray. Or go to that happy place in my mind.

Yeah. So that was mostly a waste of a week.

And I'm left feeling guilty.

I rock at guilty.

Sometimes life is hard.

Our kids make decisions that horrify us. Our spouses aren't who we thought they were. Our parents aren't super heroes who can swoop in and make it all OK. Our friends let us down. Our jobs aren't secure. Our things fall apart. Our bodies get old. Life on earth sucks sometimes.

Rather than zipping away to that castle-fun-park in my mind, I should have dealt with my crap head on. Plugged my nose and just waded in.

Added to my own self-imposed failure, I had someone I love say, (in regards to a totally different issue), "You call yourself a Christian? HA!"

Yeah. I call myself a Christian.

Huh.

I lost my temper and used an angry voice to say some strong words that offended the listener.

"You call yourself a Christian? HA!"

He knew he was pushing a button when he said that. The original subject of our conversation got de-railed (as was his intention) and my "christianity" became the object of discussion. And from his view point, I was a pretty lousy one. I started to defend myself (which of course is pointless) and ended up defeated and weighted down by the burden of being a failure at working towards being described as Godly, prayerful, compassionate, generous, and encouraging.

You know what? I just crossed Canada learning about conflict.

There are 4 ways to incorrectly respond:

1. Be passive (be silent, be in denial, play the victim/martyr)

2. Be evasive (flea the scene, minimize the issue, smooth over without dealing with it, shift the burden to someone else.)

3. Be defensive (claim a status or position that places you above correction, puff yourself up, blame others)

4. Be aggressive (attack or threaten, be intimidating, shame others through excessive guilt, sue or bring about legal action, make sure you "win" because you are RIGHT.

I think I used them all in that particular interchange.

Oy.

But in the end? I backed down.

Because my need to be loved is stronger than my need to be right.

I agreed that I sucked at being a Christian. And added that as long as I still live on earth, I'm going to suck at it. And I'm going to love Heaven because I'll be perfect there.

This morning at work, I read a prayer and the last sentence was this: "May all my walk and all my talk (and all my thoughts) be such as becometh the gospel of Christ, amen." And I knew that I had to stop my escapism daydreaming and take hold of my thoughts. And instead of filling my mind with fantasy conversations and situations, I need to ponder those things that are pure and good and holy.

Carson's facebook status all day was made up of "tweets" from the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Conference he was attending. I let each statement percolate in my brain for a while:

• Sabbath = a 24 hour time frame without anxiety or "have to's".
• Your exterior life flows out of your interior life.
• Anger masks two things. How have you been hurt or what are you afraid of?
• The blessings or sins of the family extend for three or four generations.
• Discipleship is the process of putting off the negative patterns of our family of origin and re learning how to do life in God's family
• An emotional allergy is a reaction to something in the present that reminds us of something similar to the past.

Yeah, thinking about those things is way more fun thanthinking about romantic interludes on a private tropical beach with hubby number two. Who can sing. :)

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. God is patient with me.

2. If I ask, He will help me deal with all those things I'd rather not think about.

3. God is more concerned with our holiness than our happiness. Which is a good thing in the end, no?

Tonight's prayer from " A Diary of Private Prayer" by John Baillie

O God, let Your spirit enter my heart.

(And as I pray this prayer, let not any room within me be closed to keep you out.)

O God, give me the power to follow after that which is good.

(And as I pray this prayer, let there be no secret purpose of evil formed in my mind that waits for an opportunity of fulfilment.)

O God, bless all my undertakings and cause them to prosper.

(And as I pray this prayer, let me not be still holding on to some undertaking of which I dare not ask Your blessing.)

O God, give me chastity.

(And as I pray this prayer, let me not say to myself secretly, but not yet, or but not really.)

O God, bless every member of this household.

(And as I pray this prayer, let me not still harbour in my heart a wrongful feeling of jealousy or bitterness or anger towards any of them.)

O God, bless my enemies and those who have done me wrong.

(And as I pray this prayer, let me not still cherish in my heart the resolve to revenge them when the occasion offers.)

O God, let Thy Kingdom come on earth.

(And as I pray this prayer, let me not be still intending to devote my own best hours and years to the service of lesser ends.)

Amen.

Three Things

I'm thankful for:

1. Craft Night. And I use that term very loosely. Someone just came for tea n talk. Someone came and cleaned out receipts and papers accumulating in various boxes and bags since 2002. Someone put a photo album together. And someone started a file of pics she wants developed into prints because Costco has a sale on: Get 300 prints developed for only 12 cents each. Mostly importantly, we talked and listened.

2. Reading glasses.

3. Left over Halloween candy.

Shalom,

I Need Light, Bright, Warm Evenings.

Otherwise I just put on my pajamas at 5 pm and hibernate all night.

This could be a long winter.

Randomness

1. New photos of my cousin's twins, Anna and Noah:




2. I'm not sure how I feel about the new "all natural" coloured Smarties. No blue. No green. Just alot of brown and red.

3. Must every party have alcohol? And then must photos be taken of all the empties? And must those photos be displayed on facebook?

4. On Oct 23 my home alarm system (which I've never activated) started beeping every 7 seconds. It's still doing it. I've made two calls about it, but clearly I'm not being aggressive enough about needing a service man to come during the later afternoon hours. So, I turn on the fan, the TV, the washer, the dryer, the dishwasher, some music, anything to mask the noise.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

and so on.

4. Are you getting the H1N1 Flu Shot? There's a poll on the side, over there ---->

I'm still undecided.

6. Drew's car, when it was parked in the driveway overnight, got broken into. His deck was stolen. Last week Max's truck, which was parked on the driveway, was broken into. His deck was ripped out of the dash, but left behind. They DID take his ipod and accessories though. New rule at Jane's house: LOCK THE FRONT DOOR WHEN YOU LEAVE. Seriously.

7. The sadness that dropped on my head last week when I found out that three of my friends/coworkers were getting laid off at work is still lingering. I hate change. And I don't like it when people leave my life.

8. That sadness lifted for a few minutes earlier this evening during a new Scrabble game with Nelson. My second work was a bingo (used up all the letter tiles on my tray) and then my third word (which was ANOTHER seven letter word) spanned across TWO double word score squares, giving me 102 points for that single word. He won't take another turn. Apparently he's sitting in a corner stewing.

9. I had a doctor's appointment last week and he told me my blood pressure is high, just like the last time I visited him which was in December 2007 when poop hit the fan regarding my parents' health issues. This time my visit was on the day of the layoffs. And the fear that I am next on the chopping block might have translated into high blood pressure. I have two weeks to get it down to normal or he'll put me on meds. Which might not be a bad thing? Wondering if anyone knows a wonder cure for situation-induced high blood pressure...

10. I was thinking about my daughter-in-laws the other day. I can hardly wait to meet them. I hope they like me. And want to do things... things like, oh, I don't know, maybe sit around and talk after supper? Or watch a show on TV that is not animated? Or let me babysit their babies? Or talk? Or play Yahtzee and Skip Bo and go on holidays?

11. I miss having Clint live at home. Since he moved out two months ago, he's been home three times for three very quick visits; mostly just to pick something up or trade vehicles. I suppose this is the way of life. If the idea is to grow them up so they'll be self-sufficient, I have succeeded.

12. Does anyone look forward to this business of turning the clocks back? All this daytime darkness - its a killer, man. Someone needs to plan a sunshiney holiday I think.

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. I'm going over to Janice's house for tea in a few minutes.

2. I have a job.

3. Spring is only 5 months away.

Shalom,

Canuck's 3. The Other Guys - NOTHING.

For Val's birthday, I took her to the 'nuck's game. Drew and a friend celebrated with us as well.
And the Canuck's? Got a shut out for her.
Going to the games is always fun. Seeing a winning game is even better. But getting a shutout? Well, that's just like getting an early Christmas present, isn't it?

Of course, the best part in the whole 7 hour event is the drive to and from Vancouver... so much time to talk.

Three things I'm thankful for:
1. A great weekend. Thanks for letting me talk yer ear off on Friday night, Andrea. You are a good listener.
2. A fun (and mostly safe) Halloween party on Saturday night. Thanks mom and dad for letting us invade your place (again, for the 24th Halloween in a row.)
3. A great evening in Vancouver. Thanks Val, for having a birthday at this time of year.

Shalom,

Power Outage + Eight Hour Battery in Laptop = Movie Night

"After his entire department is outsourced, an American novelty products salesman heads to India to train his replacement."

Know what? I liked this movie.

Halloweenie

I'm over at my parent's place, somewhat overseeing Drew's first mixed party. The view from the deck was stunning earlier this evening: Mandi, too, is having a party tonight. Hers is taking place upstairs, although they did come down and ask, "Aunty Jane? Can you take some pictures of us?":

My dad is sitting in the family room watching Romancing the Stone, my mom is beside me in the den re-rolling balls of yarn.

Drew and his friends have sat by the fire, played hidenseek, played XBox, played pool, skateboarded, and talked and laughed.
Three things I'm thankful for:

1. I have a 15 year old.

2. My parents still have (after all these years) a good party house.

3. A breathtakingly beautiful day. After last night's storm, and subsequest 8 hour power outage, I fully appreciate the blue skies, high temperatures and soft, soothing colours in my world. (I think the wind blew away all the red and orange leaves. All that we have left is green or gold leaves. So pretty.)

Shalom,

Didn't go to U2 tonight like the rest of my facebook friends...

I went to a book club meeting and I bet it was wayyyy better.
Don't you love good discussions?
This book prompted quite a few of them:
Three things I'm thankful for:
1. Books
2. My job
3. The country I live in and the century that I was born in.

Shalom,

Cutest Greeting Cards, EVAH

My friend, Rachel's sister, Rebekah, is the artsy one. (Wayyy too many commas, yes?)
I encouraged y'all to buy her art class's calendar last year, member?
Well, she's finished school now.
And illustrating children's books, painting stuff and designing cards.
These are too, too cute.
Get some.

Go here get the deets. Then order a set... all the cool kids are.

Time to Update the Cabin

Mandi, Drew and Daryl spent Friday night at Cultus so they could be upandattem first thing in the morning. Cint, Max and I arrived in the afternoon. Julie had been there during the week to get things rolling.

The cabin, which has been showing signs of wear and tear these past few years, needs some love. Tough love.
So with hammers, screw drivers, elbow grease and determination, dad`s `gingerbread` mouldings were removed. Despite the fact that I took 300 photos and kept being called back out to the lake to see how the sun was lighting up the trees on the far shore, I DID contribute to the project by weeding the gardens. It`s an annual job, sadly.

The stairway is going to be redesigned, so the hedging cedars needed to be moved.

Ps 133: 1 How wonderful it is, how pleasant, when brothers live (work) together in harmony:

They were replanted on the other side where a partnership was formed... Mandi held the tree; Drew used the shovel:

Is there a verse about how awesome it is when cousins get along?

This morning we sang a song with words that said something like, "if we didn't sing praises, the rocks would shout His name"... and that's what I think the trees do in the fall. They are using all their splendor to praise His name:

(The neighbour's weeping willow)

(Our weeping willow):

Happy kyackers on the lake:

Happy boy walking on his hands:

The O Boys, working together:

Their proud mom is holding the camera.

A barenaked house:

All my life my dad had a workshop filled with sawdust, tools and mouldings. He was happiest when he could putz around in there, being creative and messy, designing 'gingerbread' for the Victorian homes he wanted to build.

In the end, he only built two... the first one became "Billie's Country" and the second one is their retirement home. All those extra doodads got attached to any structure he could screw them to. So the cabin at Cultus ended up getting laden with Victorian extras.

We removed them all this weekend.

And burned them.

It was sad for me because none of us really appreciated them, and we were only too happy to get rid of them. This was dad's signature. It's what brought him joy. And it was his 'gift' to us... a cabin that was not 'plain' - it was fancy.

I guess it would be like having my kids burn all the photo albums I've prepared for them. The process of putting them together has brought me joy. The evenings spent editing and deleting and ordering images has been time consuming and costly, yet I'm doing it as a gift to my kids so that someday they can look back and see how good their childhoods were.

Maybe caring for the albums, prints, and framed pictures will be a hassle none of them want, so they and their kids will have a bonfire and burn them all?

I guess I'm OK with that.

Photography is my thing.

It might not be their's.

Dear God,

Thank you.

For the fall and the trees and the leaves and the colours and the lake and the gift of seasons you gave to us.

Thank you.

For the kids and their energy and their enthusiam and their youth and their ideas and their contributions to our family.

Thank you.

For dad and mom and all the gifts they have given us - gifts of love, of faithfulness, of service, of opportunities, of family.

Thank you.

For this cabin and all the memories it holds, for the love with which it was built, for the times of happiness still to be had there.

God, we pray that you would feel welcomed in it. That we would use it for Your purposes and Your glory. That you would be pleased by all the activities that take place inside it. God we pray that all those who enter through its doors are welcomed by Your spirit of peace.

Amen.

Friday was Pro D Day.

So Drew and his friends went to the driving range:

For me, it was a perfect first day back.

Leading Through Conflict Tour:

On Monday we were in Moncton, Tuesday we were in Toronto, Wednesday in Edmonton and Thursday in Calgary.
Here are some images from the busiest week of my life:
Sunny and warm in Calgary:

This is Jim. He did most of the teaching. We tired him out. He opted to rest instead of have lunch: (When he's awake, he's very funny. And dynamic. A great speaker.)

Twas frostly in Edmonton:

I drove a 2009 Dodge Caravan in Toronto (red), in Edmonton (silver), in Calgary (black):

This is Sharon. She also taught. She rocks:

These are the dutchmen I work with. They like each other :)

Calgary, behind the church:

... and across the street:

So.

What did I learn?

I learned there are about 20 ways to respond when in conflict and THEY ALL ARE WRONG. I am guilty of using those wrong ways 100% of the time.

Yay me.

No wonder I'm single.

:)

I bought some 'conflict assessment' forms for me and the kids to do together. It helps us identify those responses that escalate the conflict and prevent it from being resolved. Knowledge is power, right? Once they KNOW how NOT to respond, they won't, right? We WILL be a happy, functioning family after we fill out those forms, right?

Right?

The whole experience (from traveling by myself, to being the traveling administrator, to learning about conflict) was a good stretch for me. Nothing like spending 7 days outside of one's comfort zone to appreciate the coziness of one's comfort zone.

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. I live in a beautiful country.

2. I learnt something.

3. You can add more hours to your day by travelling west every 24 hours.

Shalom,

I Heart Prince Edward. The Island.

For the three of you interested in the rest of my photos from last weekend's adventure on PEI - here are a few of my favs.
I left my cute little inn at 11 am and made my way back towards New Brunswick. Not wanting to drive out on the same road I drove in on, I took little detours whenever I found a highway that looked interesting.

Mostly I was hoping for a shoreline drive.
Found one on Hwy 19:
Loved these big homes on a penninsula. Obvious lack of large trees: Don't you love this:

Nary a mountain in Atlantic Canada. Just rolling hills. I could live with that:

When the sun came out, it lit things up brilliantly:

Some folks sell pumpkins at the side of the road, others sell fire word at the cemetery:

Max's camp name at Stillwood was Argyle:

(Seriously. I must have passed 100 graveyards last weekend. They have an awful lot of dead people there.)


A little ways down the road was this park, and seeing I was hoping to get some Atlantic beach pics, I thought I'd drop in:

I drove down this road:

and was the only car in the parking lot.
Clearly this park is for families with children, right?:

I mean, there IS playground equipment here.

But you tell me. What kind of scarey-ass park is this?

That grass? Just ends.

AT A CLIFF.

No fence. No warnings. No barracades. Nothing.

Just let your kids swing on the swing set, then run off the cliff:

There is a set of stairs INTO THE OCEAN.

The water is deep there. Like way over your head deep.

The entire park is on a bluff that drops into the ocean.

WHO BUILDS PARKS LIKE THAT?

I got vertigo just peering over the edge. .

And the grass-sod was not firm on the ledge ... it was breaking away.

I was freaked. So I left.

.

This spot was cute though:

(Hey! I thought. We have a Victoria on our side of the country's island too.)

More churches. But because the weather was overcast, and because it was uber windy, they stopped looking 'quaint' and started looking haunted.

Finally found a light house:

The town was desserted, but I bet these cottages are busy in the summer season:

View from the shore:

(Lonely, no?)

'nother church. This one wasn't baptist. Know how I can tell? THIS denomination added the red paint:

(I guess it matches the red roads.)
By the way, this was my travelling companion - a seat full of maps:

After I crossed back into New Brunswick, this is what I saw at the side of the hwy:

'nother cemetry.

This one was Methodist.

A little grander than the cute ones on the island.

When Clint was little he wanted to be called Bowser. (A Mario reference.) This headstone reminded me of those days:

Obligatory spooky grave yard pic:

This was the building next to the hotel I stayed at:

Unfortunately, due to the season, Hopewell Rocks Park was closed. But I did get to see this:

Know what? Red sand/rock contributes to the appearance of having a blood-soaked ocean:

From there, I kept driving past gorgeous hillsides:

and abandoned homesteads:

...determined to get to the Bay of Fundy before dark.

I barely made it:

(Low tide means that boats are not in the water.)

The park attendant told me I was the last visitor to the park of the day (and I think the only visitor to the park that day) so she let me drive through for free:

Have you heard of the Bay of Fundy? I hadn't. I only went because I wanted to take a picture of the word "Fundy" for Drew who is a fundy. (Student at the Fundamental school.)

Actually it's pretty famous. "Home to the highest tides in the world, the Bay of Fundy is a 270 km (170 mile) long ocean bay that stretches between the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia on Canada's east coast.
Each day 100 billion tonnes of seawater flows in and out of the Bay of Fundy during one tide cycle - more than the combined flow of the world’s freshwater rivers!"

Driving through the covered bridge was an experience I can add to my list of things I've done in this lifetime:

If you ever go to New Brunswick, check out the National Park. It's probably breathtaking in the spring and summer.

City of Alma on the Bay:

SOOOO weird seeing fishing boats resting on the ocean floor:

I was thinking I'd have some lobster while in this lobster-fishing-village, but there wasn't a single restaraunt open. So I had McDonald's when I got back into Moncton.

And just as the light was fading, one last church-with-steeple pic:

Based on my vast travel experience from sighseeing for 48 hours in the Maratimes, I recommend:

1. Visit this end of Canada before Oct 15. It gets dark quite early, so there are only so many things to see before the fading light limits your fun.

2. Get some good maps.

3. Don't eat at McDonald's. Come on... you're on a holiday...

4. Be open to exploring small seashore towns, dirt roads, country lanes and scarey-ass "family" parks.

5. Let your mom know you're OK because she's bound to worry.

I'm Home

Three things I'm thankful for:
1. Safe travel experience.
2. Clean house. (Thanks Max and Beau.)
3. Clint's willingness to pick me up from the airport.
4. Beautiful drive to Cultus this afternoon.
5. All three boys helped with clean-up day at the cabin.
6. Friends.

Shalom,

I Should Own Comfortable Shoes, Shouldn't I?

Oy.
You'd think I was walking across Canada on my own two feet the way they are complaining tonight.
And my eyes.
When did they get so old and tired?
It probably didn't help that I reading a tiny googled map (printed by a printer with very little coloured ink left in the cartridge) while driving on an unfamiliar highway in a foreign city through reading glass lenses covered in hairspray during rush hour in a vehicle that I had never driven before.

Other than that?
This has been a fine adventure. I've learned so much. My jedi-master believes I have been well-trained in the art of negotiating upgrades in car rentals and hotel rooms.
Glad I took the first two days to sightsee and explore. Because since Monday morning? All I've seen are hotels, rental cars, airports and airplanes, the interiors of a few churches and Darren, Jim and Sharon.

And ask me about conflict.
I've heard the first two hours of the seminar three times in a row. So I can identify it. And can list the four unhealthy ways that people respond to it. But I'm always on my way to the airport as they finish up, so I still don't know what a redemptive response to conflict is. Trying to avoid it is not the right answer, I'm guessing.

But tomorrow I'll sit through the second half of the teaching and will be an expert at conflict resolution by 4 pm Mountain Standard Time. It's just that easy.

Three things I'm thankful for:
1. Free upgrade to an executive suite tonight. I have two televisions. And haven't turned either of them on.
2. Going to be in bed by 11:30 tonight. Whoo Hoo. 7 hours of sleep.
3. Facebook chat.
4. My travelling companions.
5. Rachel's surgery went well. Thanks for praying.
6. Katie Ekkert is home, after getting H1N1 flu in Japan.
7. It's a Pro D Day on Friday.


Shalom,

It's Midnight. Am I in Edmonton?

Whoa.
My head is dizzy.
Just got back from picking up Darren, Sharon and Jim from the airport.
Need to call the front desk for a 6:30 am wake up call.
You should see the bags under my eyes...

Three things I'm thankful for:
1. Jim, Sharon and Darren
2. Hotel beds (maybe this has been mentioned already?)
3. Edmonton highways. So civilized, totally unlike the roadways in Toronto.

G'nite,

It's Like 12:30 am in Toronto and I have to get up in 6 hours.

The Toronto leg of this adventure has been less than satisfying, unless of course, you are my boss and you're sitting beside me in a Dodge Caravan on the freeways that you grew up on, laughing at my inability to navigate through 12 lanes of traffic at 10 pm at night in a vehicle that is foreign to me. Yeah, then this is all a funny day in the life of a traveller.

They gave me a Kia because the vehicle I reserved from Moncton, after talking to the National Car Rental clerk IN PERSON wasn't waiting for me at the Toronto airport. Oh, no. My vehicle? The one I ordered online and confirmed in person? Was waiting for me in some random city in NEW FOUNDLAND. So they gave me a Kia that "would be fine, mon" for 4 adults and a ridiculous amount of luggage.

I took the Kia out to Acton (an adventure all on it's own. I circled the Toronto Airport THREE times before I made it out to the highway) to sniff and snuggle baby Micah (who fell asleep in my arms) and then drove back to the airport to pick up Darren, Jim and Sharon. But I missed the exit because I was praying that God would somehow make the trunk bigger. So I had to go onto another three-thousand lane highway and circled back to the airport. And then I got stuck on the 4th floor of the parking garage and Darren and co. were on the main floor negotiating a bigger vehicle and I had to leave the airport and come back in again to get to the car rental return place and then I drove the van and kept turning on the windshield wipers when I really was trying to turn on the headlights and we all started laughing and I couldn't see the highway because I was laughing too hard and the windshield wiper would pass across the windshield every once in a while and Jim observed that "maybe it would start raining eventually and when it did we'd be ready" and the last thing I'd eaten was a bagel at 7:30 in the morning and traveling is just so glamorous.

Anyways,
I'm getting ready for bed.
Goodnight.

Three things I'm thankful for:
1. My traveling companions are good sports.
2. I got to hold Micah. And he was soft and cuddly and perfect.
3. Hotels beds. Have I mentioned how much I love them?

Shalom,

Please Pray for Rachel

Her blogs are over there ->
(books I done read and the bouyancy of citrus)

She's having surgery to cut that cancer out once and for all...

Thanks

Should I Blog? Or Deal with the Messages in my work Inbox?

Ok. OK. Just a quick one: Did you know that there are alot of dead people over here?
And they are buried next to the church.
Just like in the movies:

I can't even begin to tell you how many cute little white churches with adjoining graveyards I stopped to photograph. After about 3 dozen, I stopped getting so carried away. Seems little white churches with big steeples aren't all that rare around here.
This is the front door of my place in Charlottetown:

And I took these pics on my walk-about:

This was right across the street from the inn:

This was one section of The Great George (where I stayed):

This is the lobby where I internetted last night:

This is my living room where I watched TV:

And now I'm back in Moncton after driving around, looking at things and taking pictures of other things.

WISH, wish, wish I could upload more pics and talk about this adventure, but I have work to do, emails to send and sleep to make time for...

Will be in Toronto tomorrow. Hoping to post pics of Micah by midnight.

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. I live in an incredibly awesome country.

2. I am loved by the Creator.

3. I am a mom. And I have a mom.

Shalom,

This is a busy little town...

This is happening.
Plus a cruise ship pulled in.

Lots and lots of folks walkin around.
Feeling very safe.
This? Is not Harlem.


This where I'm staying, by the way.
I KNOW!!!
Airmiles is paying for it.