Picture Update!

I'm back! And very much alive! Life has happened for our family at an incredible rate this month! In the last two and a half weeks, I have experienced Mother's Day, tons of planting and yard work, a visit from my family, and a plane trip to Michigan for a girls' reunion and visit with more family! Wow! All of these things were a huge blessing in my life! Here are a few pictures to give you a small peek into all the wonderful happenings. I would never have the time to adequately share in words everything that has taken place. I think these pictures will help. I'll put the explanations below each one.

I had a wonderful, happy Mother's Day with my two precious children! It ended with a delicious meal at a local Greek restaurant! Opa!

We are so excited to finally have a tree in our front yard! It's so nice to look out the window and see green leaves! Thanks to my sweetheart for all the hard work! Joshua also planted two more trees in the backyard and numerous perennials. I had fun putting in a rainbow of colourful annuals in different containers throughout the yard. It was picture perfect by the time my family arrived!

This is my dad enjoying a carousel ride with Sara and Sky at Heritage Park. Those happy smiles say it all!

And here are Sara and Sky with their 4 aunties! In order from left to right, Hannah (7), Sky (4), Heather (15), Sara (7), Holly (10), and Heidi (13). This was on the train ride at Heritage Park. I finally got to treat my family to my favourite place in Calgary! It was a long, but fun day of exploration!

My family, being from Texas, had never been to an IKEA before! Half of the things in my house are from IKEA, so I HAD to take them there! It was another fun day, in spite of wind and rain! They especially enjoyed the Swedish meatballs and $1 frozen yogurt cones!

Last Friday, I flew (by myself!), to Michigan for a very special reunion. For those of you who are just getting to know me, I travelled with Life Action Ministries (based in Niles, MI), from 1995-2000. This was a girlfriend's reunion for those of us who travelled together in this ministry. A very special bond of the heart was formed between those of us who shared so much together. It was absolutely wonderful to hug on all these "girls" again, and catch up on each other, and see pictures of husbands and kids, and laugh and cry over memories we will always share. This picture and the next are the girlfriends who were in my bridal party 8 1/2 years ago! It was really neat that we were all able to make it to the reunion! From left to right, you see Jan, Jennifer, Meghan, Karen and Pegs. (That's my former nickname!) Oh, and I also got to hug and spend time with another blogging buddy, Judith. But...I never got a picture with her. :-(

It was so good to laugh together again!

After the reunion, I was able to spend a day a half with my brother, Scott, his beautiful wife, Andrea, and my two cute nephews, Luke (2) and Caleb (7 months)! They are with Life Action Ministries and Scott heads up the computer department at the headquarters in Niles, MI. Last year, they majorly renovated an old, fixer-upper home in Niles. They did an amazing job and the house is beautiful! The guest room was just like a bed and breakfast - Andrea thought of everything! I felt very pampered and loved!

I found the boys like this after breakfast on Monday morning. Luke got ahold of the blood pressure monitor and was taking Caleb's blood pressure! It was so cute! But, then Daddy found out and we had to put the machine away! :-)

These are my two buddies, all snug and ready for bed! It was very special to spend this time with them and get to know them better. And I was able to take 2 BIG suitcases full of Sky's outgrown clothes for them to use. It was like Christmas for Scott and Andrea!

I want to say a HUGE thank you to Joshua for watching the kids for me while I was away. He was pretty much Super Dad and I couldn't have asked him to do a better job! He took the kids to piano/music lessons, washed all the sheets and towels that my family left behind, gave baths when needed, kept the house clean, fed them decent food, and even took them swimming! All with no prompting! My parents and sisters helped watch Sara and Sky on Friday, while Joshua was at work and I was flying to Michigan. My family left on Saturday morning, and Joshua and the kids were on their own for the weekend. Then Joshua's parents drove down on Sunday evening so they could do the childcare while Joshua worked on Monday and Tuesday. It takes a village.... Thanks to everyone who helped out!

My heart is full. I am so thankful for these special moments that God gave to me this month. "Thank you Lord, for my beautiful family near and far, for my girlfriends and all their love and support, for springtime and new life! You have given me so much and I just want to praise You!"

Fresh Colour and New Life!

Well, I can stop being bitter now....the weather has been absolutely beautiful for the last two days! The sky is totally clear and blue, the sun is shining, and the snow has almost completely melted. It was actually really great moisture for the newly awakening trees and shrubs. The grass is really starting to green up too! Our bean plants are growing like crazy as you can see. They are still hiding inside for the time being.... Maybe next week we can plant them outside?? Today, after Joshua came home from work (he works one Saturday a month), we made a trip to the greenhouse/tree nursery that's close by. It was so fun to see all the trees blossoming and budding! Joshua gave me some money for Mother's Day to spend there, so I bought a wooden antique bucket to plant something in and a few baskets of flowers. Aren't they pretty? We'll be bringing these things into the front porch every night for a week or two yet, but I'm so excited to have some colour on the front porch to greet my visitors! We're also planting a few new trees in the backyard to replace those spruce trees Joshua chopped down a few weeks ago. We liked too many different kinds at the nursery, so now we have to decide which ones to buy! Tomorrow afternoon we'll be going back with our truck to pick them up. As I'm writing this, Joshua and the kids are out digging the holes for planting! They're having so much fun, I think we'll have a bit of a late bedtime.Today is my parents anniversary and I wanted to say "Happy Anniversary" to them! It's been 34 years! They are in Niles, MI right now visiting my brother, Scott and his wife Andrea, and my two sweet nephews, Luke and Caleb. This will be their first time to meet little Caleb, who is 7 months old! After their visit with them, they and my sisters, will be driving all the way over here to Airdrie, AB! They're arriving on the 19th. This will be the first time we have seen them for 2 1/2 years, so we are super excited! I washed my guest bed sheets last night, so the preparations have begun. This week will be busy with extra cleaning and schoolwork so we can be ready to take the next week off and enjoy our company! Here is a recent picture of my family, for those of you who know them. Heather is now 15, Heidi will be 13 next month, Holly is 10 and Hannah is 7 (8 in July).
If I don't have a chance to post tomorrow, "Happy Mother's Day" to all of you mommies out there! I'll look forward to reading all your blogs to see what kinds of fun and sweet things happened for each of you!

WHY??????

I'm sure you don't want to hear this.....anymore than I want to see this, but.....it's snowing again. Seriously, it's a blizzard out there right now. There are no words to describe my bitterness today.