Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Our Girl is Here!


Our daughter, Baby K arrived three weeks early on Saturday, December 15th. She weighed in at 4 pounds, 7 ounces. A very little bundle indeed. My labor was not long compared to others, but plenty long for me. I can post non-graphic details in another post for other moms who like to compare experiences. :)

I was discharged from the hospital on Monday evening, December 17th, while Baby K was transported to a local children's hospital where she is currently receiving milk by a feeding tube and bottle as she works to gain strength in her sucking.
She is still at that hospital and we are anxious to have her home, but more importantly, we want her to have the energy and wakefulness to eat. My milk supply is good and she receives all her milk from my pumping which is wonderful. I have breastfed her several times now, but she falls asleep quite quickly and it is hard to rouse her to continue nursing. Who can blame her?!

She was born with Down's Syndrome also called Trisomy 21, but by the grace of God appears to be healthy and strong in all key areas. We had been advised early on in the pregnancy that this was a possibility, but chose to forego the offered genetic counseling and invasive amniocentesis. We were also given a timetable of abortion options even though we had made it clear that we had no desire to end the pregnancy. My husband and I thought it seemed prudent not to share all the known details with family and friends. We hoped not to give cause for concern until she was delivered knowing the high false-positive rate that many other expecting couples have experienced. We praise God for a safe and healthy delivery as we look forward to bringing her home with us to care for and enjoy as part of our family.
Thank you to all who have prayed for her and us throughout the pregnancy and birth. We are so thankful for both of our children given to us by a sovereign and gracious God.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Thoughts from a mom

When I'm a little old lady

Noel Piper Experiencing God's Providential Care

With winter, comes many more opportunities to rely on God for His protection and power. Involuntary audible prayers with small children listening from the backseat or as Noel Piper recounts, finding yourself on your snowy back confident you'll be seeing heaven in a moment.
I Almost Died

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Piper Series

For the past several weeks on Sunday evenings, our family has gathered in the living room to watch John Piper preach via our computer.
The latest series we are going through is entitled Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ.
So far we have listened to the first five messages and we have two more to go.
The last two sermons have covered the Tower of Babel and Joseph and are absolutely jammed-pack with excellent teaching and amazing insights.
I keep my Bible close and follow him to the various passages he uses and find myself thinking, "I never read that verse with that in mind".
Anyways, take some time and listen to the sermons as you have time. You can download them or just open up a window and watch them.
If you do listen to the series, leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Monday, November 05, 2007

Checking in

I have no idea where the month of October went. And November is already five days in and picking up speed. Christmas and our baby's due date are just around the corner. I wish I could have posted more of the ultrsound pics, but we still don't have a scanner and my attempts to take a picture of them with our camera were too blurry.
I do have some short items to post about, but my mom is on her way up today and my house is a disaster area. I'm recovering from a stomach bug which lasted all weekend. Needless to say, my to-do list is completely undone.
My mother will be visiting for about a week and then my son and I plan on returning home with her for a week or so before my husband joins us for the Thanksgiving holiday. After that, I'm home to get ready for Christmas and our baby, due January 7th.
If you know me in real life and have not received our new phone number activated last week, please let me know by either leaving a comment here or email me. Thanks.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

A collection of pics

Where Nico spends 99% of her day. We call it cat tv.

Ever wondered where the phrase,"sticking your oar in" came from? I think I know.

Local summer medical staff. Experienced and ready to help. Doctor, nurse and 'blood guy'. Specializing in doll care.

A family first for us, amusement rides and village fairs, starting with the ferris wheel.

The ferris wheel went a lot faster than I remembered but we all enjoyed the ride and the view.

Down the giant slide with Daddy...two times!

This one was a favorite, the ever popular merry-go-round.

And now for something a little more daring...a dragon roller coaster ride!

Here we go! (Unseen is one of our son's girl playmates who we happened upon at the fair and wanted to go on some rides with him.) No wonder he could be so brave!

'Johnny Appleseed' checking the harvest. He also mentioned wanting a ladder like this for his new bed. Yeah, we'll get right on that!

The 2nd Annual Get-Lost-In-The-Corn-Maze-And-Take-A-Cheater-Path-To-Get-Out-The-Same-Day Victory Cheer

Monkey is 'still the one'.

An opportunity to pray

Felicity Margaret Piper

Thursday, September 20, 2007

And speaking of shopping across the border...

Here's what wonderfulness my shopping efforts afforded me last week.



Missing from the picture: paint trays, liners, and rollers, and let's see, two dozen eggs for $2.72 and some black oil sunflower seeds for the bird feeder. It was a good day. Even if I had to produce a driver's license and signature for the purchase of Advil Cold & Sinus from the Walmart Pharmacy counter, it was worth the process. I only paid $8.12 for 40 capsules. That's cheap and since my husband took the last two capsules to work this morning, it was a timely purchase.
And the Airwick refills are less than half of what our Walmart charges. And who wouldn't want to buy greeting cards at the American rate? The soap pump is a good catch that I've been meaning to have in our bathroom.
And the Bright Starts baby linking toys in the plastic canister are the best little toy ever. I highly recommend them as a baby gift!
My husband loves his peanut butter crackers and lo the pantry cupboards were bare this past week, so at 2/$3 I picked up two big packs. Those brown Sterilite storage baskets on the left are exactly what I've been looking for for our storage shelves in the laundry room. And at $2.17 each, I grabbed up the last four on the shelf!
The tablecloth pictured in the back row is a make-do for now. It's a reversible print and for $12.99, it will get me through the fall season. But I intend to keep looking as my tablecloths have dwindled down to only two and they both show signs of use, which is why I picked up that new tub of OxyClean. With baby "juices" looming on our horizon, I needed to restock that perfectly marvelous stain remover before the new bibs and burp clothes show up.
I don't think my husband can enter into the joys of my American shopping, that even a stroll through the grocery store brings a thrill to my heart. The brands I grew up with and the prices that make yummy stuff affordable. It's a perfect match.
Want some examples of what I'm talking about?

How about these three delicious imports?


Breakstone Cottage Cheese, best ever for firm yet creamy small curd. This is part of a four-pack of individual serving sizes which means you only open the one you're going to eat! Breakstone also makes the best sour cream.
The Milky Way bar is probably my favorite chocolate bar. Nougat with a layer of carmel enrobed in chocolate. The Three Musketeers bar is similar except it does not have the delicious carmel. Here in Canada the Mars bar is apparently the same as the Milky Way, but I have yet to try it.
And finally, Pepperfridge Farm frozen cakes. Yummy. The two we had most often at home were the Coconut and the Devil's Food which has a white frosting. And since my husband usually passes up on cake, I get to eat it all, one delicious piece at a time. The Coconut one pictured above was immediately cut in half and shared with my neighbor as it was her first introduction into Pepperfridge Farm cakes. She has since bought two more in the last week in subsequent border-crossing trips. I think I've hooked her!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

The Changing Face of the Church

This article by Richard Land entitled Growth in Orthodox Christian Faith has Roots in 'Global South' provides an interesting peek at who is currently making up the universal church and what changes will take place in the years to come.
Jason from Conversations In Calvinism wrote a similar post earlier in the year that he links back to here

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Avoiding Children

Being Cast as Predators by Tim Challies is about men being seen primarily as predators and what affect this has on children is along the same lines as what my husband and I have discussed before in our home.

As parents, we have a responsibility to protect our children from harm, while at the same time promoting an atmosphere of stability and security. My neighbor looks after a nine-year old girl amongst others, whose parents have become unbalanced in their parenting outlook. Due to fears of child-snatching and related crimes, they have created an unhealthy view of what it means to protect their child. Her outings have been severely limited to only what they can and will accompany her to and the childcare provider(my neighbor) has been warned repeatedly about not taking their daughter shopping to any malls or stores or other public arenas. Other mothers who are friends with this family have been disallowed to have this young girl accompany their families on special occasions. In discussing this with my neighbor, she sees this current style of parenting as overprotective and unreasonable.
We too are careful with our son, but I also trust in the Providence of God. We act responsibly yet we commit our son and ourselves into His care. The aforementioned parents are not believers and have allowed fear to rule in their hearts and have committed trust to no one but themselves.

That all being said, part of our carefulness is to choose carefully who our son associates with and to whom we ask to provide childcare for us. And my husband is not comfortable with asking young men to fulfill this need. I respect my husband's decision and so far this has not been an issue for us. Our son does not show fear around men of any age simply because in his innocence he is not aware of any potential danger coming from them or any other person. For now, as his parents, it is our job to be vigilant and allow him to experience life without such concerns.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Still moving...

It's been several months since I first watched this video of Paul Potts' performance on the British Talent show and yet it still brought tears to my eyes when I viewed it again today. I couldn't help but think that the indescribable thrill that millions of viewers like me have experienced is just a tiny foretaste of what heavenly worship and Christ's eternal presence will do for our souls for all eternity. It causes me to long for heaven in a new way.
Britains Got Talent-Paul Potts

Paul Potts' debut album One Chance is available here.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

My little man

Sunday afternoon on the river




Want to avoid buying foreign-made toys?

Here is a small sample of the type of kid's playthings you can make at home whilst assuming the role of Quality Control Manager. Then you can issue your own recalls!
Safe Toys You Can Make

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Strange Maps Indeed!

I decided to check out this website after reading about it in World magazine.
(And I thought they might be boring maps! LOL)

Does My Brazil Look Big in This?








Does God permit sin?

One of the contributers over at the Desiring God blog has posted a four-part series of posts taken from John Frame's book, The Doctrine of God. I'm linking to Part 3 Does God permit sin? but I think all of the posts are worth reading.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Life as seen from a four year old's camera Album 2

If you missed Album 1 click here.




Flowers celebrating the strong possibility of a baby girl.

Someone is impersonating Chops...Andrew Whitman, is that you??



Good friends

Mem-mem and a little canoe monkey

Mem-mem and Mommy

Mem-mem by the garden

Feed the Birds


Not the best picture of one of our resident bluejays but considering they grab and fly in a flashing flutter back to the fence for the seed-cracking ceremony, I was fortunate to get him there at all.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Understanding the Spirit's Work

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)

As we are teaching and training our four year old son, we are praying, like all other responsible Christian parents, that God will save him and that it might happen while he is still young. So it was while I was reading Dr. Martyn Llyod-Jones book, God's Ultimate Purpose, An Exposition of Ephesians 1, that I found his teachings on Ephesians 1:3 lifting me above my usual understanding of what spiritual blessings we have received.
Here is Pastor Lloyd-Jones teaching on how a person can ever become spiritual.
Man by nature is not interested in spiritual matters at all; they seem strangely remote to him. He is interested in the life of this world, in things that can be seen and touched and felt and handled; but when you begin to talk to him about the soul and the things of the spirit he really does not know what you are talking about. This is so because he is dead and his life is governed by the 'prince of the power of the air'. He is interested in houses and in horses, in dogs, in animals, in furniture, in pleasures of various kinds and business and great affairs; but begin to talk to him about communion with God and the life of the Spirit and he is at once in an utterly strange realm. And he will remain in that condition until the Holy Spirit begins to quicken him and to put a spiritual principle in his life. He needs a spiritual mind, a spiritual outlook and a spiritual understanding; and the Spirit gives these blessings in regeneration. These are preliminary blessings that come to us through the Spirit to prepare us to receive the fulness that is in Christ. He then proceeds to convict us of sin, to make us see something of our utter emptiness and woe. He makes us see how appalling it is that God should be of no interest to us, the things of eternity utterly remote, and these great things of the Spirit boring and unattractive to us. He makes us see the enormity of our sin.

And it's those last two sentences that gripped me as I seek to explain to my son how terrible sin is and what it has done to us.
It has gouged out our spiritual eyes and left us to see only ourselves and our selfish pleasures. It is only by the Holy Spirit that we recoil from ourselves and see what our sin has caused us to become and do.
Martyn Llyod-Jones calls this act a "preliminary blessing that comes to us through the Spirit to prepare us to receive the fulness that is in Christ." This initial work of the Holy Spirit is what Reformed theologians speak of as regeneration. Our minds are being given a spiritual awakening as to our true condition. We see with a spiritual mind and a spiritual understanding what our sinfulness entails.
But thankfully, the Holy Spirit does not leave us there to drown in the tsunami of the wretchedness of our sin. He moves to provide another spiritual blessing for us. Dr. Lloyd-Jones continues:
Next, the Holy Spirit gradually leads us on to contemplate the Lord Jesus Christ and his perfect work on our behalf. He gives us the faith by grace. 'By grace are ye saved through faith'(Ephesians 2:8). The Spirit creates faith in us. 'The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned'(1 Corinthians 2:14). So the Spirit enables us to exercise this gift of faith and thus we come to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
...The Holy Spirit then leads and guides us and keeps us in this union, so that we are enabled progressively to receive Christ's fulness, and 'grace upon grace', 'grace after grace'.
...This is what happens to us as Christians; this is God's way of salvation.

When we understand what the work of the Holy Spirit includes, it is only then that we can truly say, "It's all of Him and none of me".
And this is why I continually need to take the gospel to my son and take my son to God the Father and intercede on his behalf. His four year old spiritual eyes are still dim, perhaps not even open at this point, but by the Spirit's awakening and convicting, we pray that he may soon see Christ in all His fullness and can experience life in Christ.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Examining Dispensationalism

Reformed amillenialist author and pastor Kim Riddlebarger critiques Pastor John MacArthur's lecture entitled Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is a Premillennialist delivered earlier this year at the Shepeherd's Conference hosted by MacArthur's church Grace Community Church. I found Pastor Riddlebarger's brief comments helpful in furthering my understanding of what difficulties there are with the dispensational premillenial view.
A Reply to John MacArthur

I have not had time to really study this next link, but I am including it with this post as it on the same topic and because I think it is a helpful list.
Dispensationalism Scripture List

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

This week...as it currently stands

I went in for a 20 week ultrasound on Monday(picture will come later)and so far I have had no follow-up call from the midwife which I am taking as a good sign. I haven't been gaining much weight yet so that has me a bit concerned as I'm just finishing my fifth month. But my tummy is getting bigger and the clothes are getting smaller, so something must be growing. :)
I've been gimpy since yesterday morning when I stretched my legs while still in bed and got the ever-popular leg cramp burn. And since late this afternoon I've noticed my other calf isn't feeling so hot either. Obviously it doesn't like having to do the work of its mate in addition to its own.
On a brighter note, I have some cleaner windows and doors that are letting the sunlight shine in with much gusto. My son spent much of the day playing at the neighbor's house, so I tackled the windows in his absence. He had helped "wash" them earlier this week, so I didn't want him to see me going back over them. The urgent to-do list is still too long, but having conquered quite a bit today, I will look forward to a hastily planned visit with some friends tomorrow.
I've decided to dig back into the book of Revelation for my daily reading and instead of trying to figure out my views on future events, I'm enjoying studying the imagery used to describe the heavenly scenes. I try to will myself to think outside that which is familiar and known to picture what the apostle John saw, but being that I am creaturely, I am limited in my imaginative scope. Much of the language has it's roots in the OT, which makes the book seem less mysterious and more grounded somehow.
My oldest brother turned 40 this week which reminded me that I turned 31 this past March, not 30 as I mistakenly thought for about four seconds this morning as I was drying my hair. I never understood until about two years ago how people could forget how old they were. Now I get it. My mind is in denial, so it retreats back to what is familiar...youth.

Friday, August 10, 2007

13 weeks


Baby B, originally uploaded by bookishgirl.

Since I am scheduled to have a 20-week ultrasound this Monday it seems strange to just be posting this one. However I only recently had access to a scanner, so there was very little I could do about the delay. Hopefully I can post the next pic a little quicker!

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Thinking back to Baby #1 while preparing for Baby #2

I just started my fifth month of pregnancy for our second child and since I'm starting to show, I am more conscious that I am "expecting".
Our first son was born just 13 months after our first wedding anniversary. I was living in New Brunswick for the duration of the pregnancy and had a close friend who highly recommended a parenting book. So I picked up my copy and started reading. I then loaned it to my mother-in-law to see if she felt the ideas matched the advice she had been providing to me, which was babies need a schedule. Sleep, eat, play. Sleep. eat, play. That was the main structure of the schedule. So with my newborn, I began to work on those three areas of baby's life. My son, however didn't like sleep. He liked eating often and sleeping little. Three months in, I was a wreck. I was operating on much interrupted sleep and tricky breastfeeding issues. Things were not going well. At six months, I wanted to strangle anyone who suggested we might have more children. Then the tide began to turn. Baby began to sleep for longer intervals at night and have solid naps throughout the day. I forgot about writing in my Baby's First Year Calendar, it was a struggle I didn't want to record. Life began to smooth out. Baby was sleeping in his crib for at least 6-7 hours a night and napping predictably without needing a car ride or a sit in the swing(which we adamantly avoided). If he cried when put to bed, it only last for several minutes and then he was sound asleep immune to the noise of the guests in the living room. We were able to have mothers and in-laws put him to bed without much fuss and he enjoyed seeing these now familar faces. We worked on keeping quiet for church and prayer times and he worked on sitting up without falling over. Every visit to the doctor saw progress on his developmental curve. Yes, he wasn't crawling yet, but his legs were sturdy and his manner was alert and aware. So we waited, hoping it wouldn't take him too long to catch up. Crawling at 13 months was late, and perhaps so was walking at 17 months, but he was learning and there was nothing medically wrong with him. I congratulated parents whose children were outdoing our son, knowing that although he might be slower he would catch up in all the right areas.
Today our four year old son is a endurance runner; he has staying power. And his steady hands make fine motor skills come easier. He's now working on conquering the first levels of phonics. "Mommy, what letter does f-f-f-f-ast make?" I say, "ffffff". He says, "f!". Two weeks ago, he didn't understand this world-of-letters-having-their-own-unique-sounds thing. Today he went to play with the neighbor girls. He asked if he could ride his bike there(another newly acquired skill!). The path to their door is visible from our door. I said sure, surprised to see the bike interest growing. "Can I take monkey too?" Yes again. So monkey is carefully stuffed into the zippered bike bag. I carry the tricycle down the front steps, put on the helmet and sandals and help him navigate the brief incline to the walking path. Off he pedals to the neighbor's walkway. He brings the bike to a halt, climbs down and slips his helmet off his head. Hanging it on the handlebar, he walks around to the bike bag and hauls monkey from his zippered spot. He looks back at me while I wave to him. Slowly he walks to the front door, clutching monkey. I call to him to ring the doorbell and soon a little friend is there to let him in the air-conditioned house. He made it and I just watched, a little sad but mostly proud of how far he's come in four short years.

Perspective

Putting my daughter to bed two hours after the bridge collapsed

Monday, July 16, 2007

Helpful Reviews

The Children's Hour

Just when I thought I might not need to get any more books.
Shame, shame.
Now that was just a terrible lie. I have never thought I might not need to get any more books.

Challies on Environmentalism

Tim Challies posted his thoughts on being a Christian and caring for the environment. Here is an excerpt that I particularly enjoyed reading:
As Christians we should have the highest view of the earth, seeing it as a gracious and generous gift of God. We should be first in line to protect it, to tend to it, and to attempt to reverse whatever damage we have done to it. Yet we must not fool ourselves into believing that we can save it in and of ourselves. The earth is not neutral or inherently good. Not anymore. We ruined it and have to be prepared for it to continue to decay, just as you and I will do. As our bodies rot and decay, so too does the earth. So while we tend to it, we do so from a perspective that realizes that this earth is only our temporary home. When the Lord returns He will redeem it, He will rebuild it, and restore it to its original perfection.

Click here to read the post in its entirety as well as the comments left by his readers.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Monday, July 09, 2007

A Prayer for Gracious Words

Lord, my mouth....

I remember when these kids were toddlers and we would laugh when they mimicked our tone of voice or an oft-said phrase. They are mimicking still. A dozen times a day I hear my impatience, irritation, and lack of kindness coming out of my children's mouths.

Read the rest of Tonia's prayer at her blog Intent

Saturday, July 07, 2007

I'm sure he didn't mean it that way...

My son was opening his mouth as wide as he could and then asking me if his mouth was big.
I said, "Yep, as big as a shark's mouth". We had just read a book about dolphins and sharks and we noted the large mouths they have.
He turned to me and innocently said, "Mommy, open your big mouth."
I burst out laughing and thought, "I'm glad your father isn't around to hear that one".
Kids, they keep you humble.

Friday, July 06, 2007

Canal Bridge Cranked By Hand

We stood with a small gathering of onlookers to watch the lock staff manager use a long lever to turn the crankshaft in the middle of the bridge. He literally ran around in a circle to keep the bridge moving. You can hear on the video one man standing behind me commenting that "I would've passed out." For more information on the canal and lock system, click the link below the video.
Also click here to watch a video from inside the lock. It gives you a good feel of how the low the water is initially, especially for the smaller boats.


Rideau Canal info

Boats Thru the Lock

This is the video I took of the boats clearing the last lock on the canal. The bridge that is usually across the road is "sitting" on the right side of the canal over the roadway.

The fruit of my labors


Strawberry jam made with organic sugar. The jars and their lids were free at a yardsale I went to two weeks ago as was the wooden tray they are sitting on. I actually got two trays like that one which have come in handy several time now. They need to be stained which I hope to get done soon. All in all, I enjoyed myself yesterday as I listened to the book Anne of Green Gables on cd. I've been listening to this for the past week while I do various jobs around the house, and I'm really enjoying the story, even though I have seen the movies a bazillion times.
This is the second batch of strawberries that we have picked this season from a rural farm just a mile or two down the road. The first pickings were inhaled just plain as they were little and sweet. These firmer larger berries were better for making jam. I have some berries still left, but I need to get more jars if I'm going to use them for jam.
I still have a jar of freezer jam left to use that I made this past spring for my son who somehow got picky about his jelly last year. I have since convinced him to eat whatever kind I pair with his peanut butter. I think I prefer cooked jam as the chunks of strawberries are smaller and the jam is not as runny. But since I haven't sampled mine yet, I better reserve my final judgments until I at least open a jar.
I also have a small amount of raspberries which need some attention very soon. I might just make a pie this afternoon to use up the rest of the berries.

An afternoon at the locks

We took some time this past Monday to pack a picnic lunch and head over to a neighboring town where the Rideau Canal flows through. We parked the car and walked through a grove of trees into a park area right on the canal. There were many families already enjoying the beautiful weather and boats moving up and down the canal. There is more park area across the canal accessible by a bridge that swings out of the way to let the boats through the locks.
I took quite a few pictures and several videos as it was a very busy place this past holiday weekend.

As you can see in the picture, the boats in the lock start out very low and slowly(about 10-15 minutes) rise with the increased water level to the normal height of the canal. The boatees must hold ropes which lash the boat to the side of the canal to prevent them from floating into other boats and poles which are used to keep the boats from smahing into the cement sides of the lock. For bigger boats, it requires at least two people to man the ropes and poles, sometimes three. In the far left corner of the picture, you can see a man walking across the gates of the lock. They don't actually open the gates until the water level is high and the boats are almost ready to move through.

As is was a busy day, the boats were manuvered into position in order to accomodate as many as possible. While these boats were being lifted, there were several boats waiting at the top to go down the three locks. They had quite a wait as there were more boats behind these pictured here that would go next. And as you can see from both pictures, you are able to stand as close to the edge as you want to risk. There are no guide rails or barriers, which makes parents nervously hold back their children's inquiring bodies.

Here an American boat from New York is the first to exit the lock and is now free to continue their journey down the canal. Several other large boats that we saw also were from the States with one being marked as far away as Florida.

Here is the second load of boats we watched making their way through the three locks. As we stood and watched the boats being assigned places in the lock, I was able to give one Fourth of July greeting to an American couple who had a very expensive large boat and were both outfitted with headsets as they worked the ropes and poles at either ends of their boat. The man thanked me and passed the greetings along to his wife through the headset. He probably thought, "Canadians are quite friendly." The next picture is a close-up of their boat which is out of Washington D.C.

The locksmith manager had several boats he couldn't fit in this last load, but he said that the boaters waiting at the top needed to get down next as they had been there awhile. These particular locks are manually cranked but there are apparantly other locks in other areas that are opened hydraulically.

The bridge is swung back into place so that the waiting park traffic can cross before more boats are lifted up the lock. I have a couple of videos showing the bridge being manuevered back across the road which I may post later. We had a wonderful afternoon together in the sunshine watching the boats and people. It is only about 15 minutes from our house and is a great place to relax by the water.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Quotable Quotes from our house this week

On the way to the Med Clinic to get a bloody chin stitched up:
"Do I need new batteries for my body?"
Later the next day, "Do I need new batteries for my chin?"

Chasing a fly around the house:
"Where is the fly splatter?" (aka fly swatter)

Asked what he was doing out of bed, squatting down on the floor in the dark bedroom an hour after being put to bed:
"I'm sneakin' around."

Baby update

I had a visit to the midwives on Thursday which was quite fun despite the multiple needles drawing blood samples. I got to listen to the baby's heartbeat for the first time. What an amazing sound! Babies heartbeats are typically described as "galloping" and this little horse was moving. The student midwife was very pleased with the heartrate and she was smiling with me. So in order to find the baby, she had to press firmly on my squishy tummy to determine baby from organs. After just a few seconds, she found it and caught up with it on the heartrate monitor. This morning, I thought, "Maybe I can find the baby too". Umm...yeah. I'm poking and pushing around. I have no idea how she could feel that itty bitty baby apart from all the other stomach stuff. Well she does have two years of nursing and I have zero.
But I am able to feel the baby moving around a bit. I have been for several weeks now, which is exciting.
I haven't put on any weight and my clothes still fit comfortably, but that shouldn't last too much longer. Also the student midwife said that underweight women usually put on more weight by the end than normal or average weight women. Sooooo, I probably will end up packing it on like crazy.
I go for an early ultrasound on Wednesday morning to doublecheck the due date as my cycle is not a typical 28 days and therefore the Jan. 7th date might need some tweaking. It will be wonderful to see this little person who is being "knit together" by God Himself.

I CANNOT Believe This!


The police have been investigating our next door neighbor's house and its occupants since last night. They first showed up around dinner time and were still on the condo property as late as 11pm with at least 12 officers seen by other neighbors. Today two returned late this afternoon. My best guess is that it is a guy they are looking for as I heard them ask about a "he" being around. When I saw them coming up the path which begins at the parking lot, I decided now was a good time to pick up toys outside, hoping to hear what was going on. One of the officers greeted me and asked if I knew if the neighbor was home. I said I didn't know as they come and go frequently during the day. They thanked me and knocked on the door. I heard a girl's voice answer and they ask if "someone" was there. Then they asked if they could come in. They were admitted, but were probably only there for about 5 or 6 minutes before they headed out. Over an hour ago, one of the same officers returned alone. Still no signs of anyone being taken away, so who knows what the final outcome will be.
No matter where we have lived in Canada, we have had troublesome issues with the neighbors. Police have been involved in many of the instances and many have been evicted from the properties by irritated landlords. The condo board here has outstanding issues with this neighbor including parking, garbage removal, and unkempt yards. So one can only imagine what the police are investigating.
I can only marvel, shake my head and ponder the reasons why we are continually plagued by unstable neighbors.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Trusting God with our Children

One of the young moms at Girltalk recently wrote about a very important lesson that she is still learning: trusting God with her children. Her son Liam struggles in several areas of development and is currently being helped by special education classes.
Kristin from Girltalk writes:
One small, yet often-too-big fear is about my middle son, Liam. At an early age, Brian and I began to notice some delays in his speech. When we would go to his doctor and answer the standard questions he was never falling in the “normal” range. In fact, the doctor’s developmental questions almost seemed designed to exacerbate my fears. (You know the ones I’m talking about - Does your child stack blocks? Draw a circle? Say twenty words or more?) By two years of age, Liam was still not talking much or answering my questions- he would simply repeat the question back to me.
At times, I would respond to these delays with fear and anxiety. I wanted him to be typical, just like any other kid. I would worry about his future. Would he be able to grow up and become a husband, father, and provide for a family? These are not bad things to want for our children. But I was not trusting God for the perfect way he had created my Liam.

As Kristin prays for her son and dreams about his future, she thinks about her son from God's perspective as laid out in Psalm 139. Our job as Christian parents is to align ourselves with God's purposes for our children which depending on the manner in which He made them and designed them, may be far different than what we idealistically plan for. I credit Jean Fleming's book A Mother's Heart for teaching me that concept.
You can read the entirety of Kristin's post here at girltalk.blogs.com

Life as seen from a four-year old's camera Album 1

So the little guy got a Fisher Price digital camera for his birthday, compliments of my mom. And he can take around 85 pictures before the camera needs to be unloaded, so yeah, some of them need to be deleted. Others you have to turn your neck at crazy angles to recognize the context. And since most of you have not been to our house and its surroundings you will be at a distinct disadvantage. However captions should clear things up a little. The resolution is not that shabby, however the focus is not always the clearest, but given the fact he doesn't warn you before taking your picture, it's probably a good thing. Enjoy his work.
His first picture ever!






Waiting in the car for mom...

Still waiting...


One of my favorites...

That's quite a zoom lens

Who knew concrete steps could look so interesting


Oh, of course, it's...?

Another favorite of mine


The photographer being photographed at his request