Bits and Pieces

This post was originally posted on Thursday night (Jan. 29), but it got buried under my Aloha Friday post and I didn't want my regular readers to miss it! So, I'm re-posting this again today!

I haven't posted much about daily life around here, so here are a few random snippets of what's been going on lately...

1. Remember my new rule about not turning the T.V. on in the mornings? I really thought it would be an issue, but I heard next to no whining or complaining about it! I've had a couple of requests, but when I say "no" and remind them that we're not doing that anymore, they are quick to go find other amusement - happily! It's almost like they are relieved that they don't have to watch the same old dumb shows on T.V. every morning! Now I have to tear them away from building with Legos or their imaginary play, when it's time for school to begin. I like that so much better!

2. On Saturday morning, Sara and Sky had their second Nation's Cup ski race. It was a brutally cold week, so as the weekend approached and things didn't warm up at all, we kind of assumed that the race would be cancelled. It wasn't. I checked my e-mail every 5 minutes between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Saturday, and there was nothing. Joshua had volunteered to help with the race, so he felt like we should be there. It was -36 when we left our house and -34 at the hill when we arrived at 8:45 a.m. I couldn't believe they were going through with it! I mean, really, what was the dude in charge trying to prove?? As I bundled up the kids for warm-up and course inspection, I was so stressed out I was fighting back angry tears. The two runs were an hour apart, so we kept the kids inside until it was absolutely necessary to go out. We had toe warmers in their boots and hand warmers in their mitts. I am definitely thankful for those little inventions! Sara and Sky both did well. There were a lot of missed gates this time, but we could tell they were doing their best - especially under the circumstances. I still don't think I've completely recovered, but we did survive....

3. Joshua lost his wedding ring (again - this is ring number 3) on Monday morning. He keeps it in a basket by the phone. The problem is, the basket is full of coins, old receipts, spare keys, a few screws, paperclips, etc. Joshua's ring is made out of tungsten carbide (same thing they make chainsaw blades with), so it's able to withstand the abuse, but it also blends in because it's a silver gray colour. As Joshua was getting ready to go to work that morning, we both looked through that basket very thoroughly and came up with nothing. He looked several other places and finally had to leave for work. Later, I emptied the basket onto the floor, went through all the change and couldn't find it. I checked the pockets of everything he wore over the weekend. No ring. Joshua came home at lunchtime. He looked under the couch, we checked in both of our vehicles. Nothing. I even checked inside his gloves to see if it had slipped off in there! We looked through that basket a couple more times, hoping it would magically appear. It didn't. That evening, Joshua took Sara for her music/piano lesson at 5:45 p.m. I looked a few more places after he left and then gave up. I decided it would just have to turn up on it's own. After Sara's lesson, Joshua decided to take Sara out on a date. Sara picked Swiss Chalet to eat. When they were done, they went to the mall. Joshua called when they were on their way home. He said he found a ring on sale and went ahead a bought it. It was a final sale, but that was O.K. - other ring was just nowhere to be found. When they got home, Joshua was missing his old ring, so decided to go through "the basket" one more time. He dumped the entire contents on the kitchen counter and there was THE RING!!! What??!! How did we miss that?? The next day Joshua took the ring back to the store and was able to exchange it for something else.

He said it was an early Valentine's Day present! Isn't he sweet?! (It's times like these I decide it's O.K. to keep him! Just kidding - I'm not that shallow!)

4. Today it's raining! What's up with that? Rain? In January?! The roads are a mess with all the melting snow and rain! There is so much water! It's going to be pretty scary out there when it freezes tonight.

5. School has been going well. We are in week 3 of our new schedule and disciplines. The first two weeks were a fight. It was difficult and exhausting for all of us. But, I didn't give up and we got so much done! This week has seemed a lot easier, so I'm hoping we're getting into a rhythm and learning some good habits.

6. In just 4 days, my wonderful friend, Karen and her husband Bryan, are coming to visit for a whole week! For 3 of those nights we will be at the Gingerbread Cabin in Jasper, AB. Sara and Sky are very excited about having an extended sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa! Mommy and Daddy are just as excited about having an extended sleepover away from the kids and the normal routine! I think I can say the same about Bryan and Karen! The weather forecast is beautiful, so it should be a great week!

7. I played Candy Land with the kids before bed tonight. It's always a competition to see who can get the most "candy" cards! They haven't quite grasped the concept that sometimes those cards can knock you backwards on the board and should not always be the most desired!

That's all I can think of for now! Hope you enjoyed the update!

The Christmas Party

It's after midnight and I need to be in bed, but I wanted to give an update about the party. I survived! It was beautifully decorated, complete with ice sculptures on the buffet tables. (I forgot the camera again! Joshua took this picture of me after we got home!) The food was excellent. Each table seated 8 people, but our table only had 4. For various reasons, the other people were not able to come at the last minute. So, Joshua and I shared the table with 2 single girls. They were actually easy to talk to and we had fun with them. There was a quiz sheet at each table with Christmas-y questions to answer. We had to answer them all together and submit our sheet to the "judges." It was a lot of fun! Does anyone know the country of origin for the poinsettia? I took a wild guess, and everyone agreed to write it down. It turned out that I was right! I'll tell you what...If you leave a comment with the correct answer, I'll enter you into a draw for a prize. Seriously! I've been wanting to do a giveaway, and this is perfect! Tomorrow I'll let you know what the prize is.

Anyway, back to the party... No one that we talked to tonight was drunk and we left as soon as the dancing and loud music began. The presentations and speeches were a little long-winded and boring, but it could be worse! We didn't win any door prizes, but that's O.K.! Thank you so much to everyone who prayed tonight. My father-in-law, who has worked for the bank for 19 years, was the one who prayed before the meal. He said a little bit before he prayed about remembering true meaning of Christmas. It was nice to hear that.

Oh, and I have to apologize for unintentionally lying about the number of people at the party. Joshua told me 1,000 (he was totally guessing), so I just quoted him. Oops! The official number was actually 552!

Here's one more pic, a self-portrait we took after we got home! The kids did great at home with the babysitter, so all in all, it was a good evening. Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Tomorrow I'm going to post a bunch of pictures from the last week - and I'll post a picture of what I'm going to give away!

9 Years Ago

December 10th, 1999 was a beautiful day! We were married in Niles, Michigan in a little white chapel. I've been reminiscing all day about the wonderful friends and family who came to celebrate with us on our wedding day. I had to include this picture, because two of my bridesmaids are very much a part of my bloggy world. Jennifer, with the pretty smile on the far left, can be found at Life With The Burk Family. Karen, the cute blond on the far right, is the one who got me into this whole blogging thing! I keep up with her crazy life at Snakes, Snails and Puppydog Tails! Jan, my maid of honour in the middle, keeps up with me on Facebook.

This is one of our engagement pictures, taken just a few weeks before the wedding, on American Thanksgiving, 1999. This picture was taken, 9 years later, on Canadian Thanksgiving, 2008! We're still in love and I still melt when he smiles at me!
So much has happened in the past 9 years. Those stories can wait for another day. It has been a crazy journey, full of ups and downs. I'm not one of those people who would say that I'd do it all over again or even that these 9 years have been the best years of my life. There have been some wonderful moments that I will cherish forever. There have also been some moments that I regret and wish didn't happen. One thing I know - God has been in every moment of our marriage whether we acknowledged Him or not. And God will continue to be there, with His never ending grace. Today we celebrate! May there be many more years of celebration and love.

Edmonton Oilers Hockey Game

Some of you have asked about the hockey game we went to this past Thursday night. We had the greatest seats - Row 4 from the glass! We were right on the curve of the glass, actually, so Joshua complained a bit about the warped view... But, we already knew he was warped to begin with! :-) The game started out great, but began to deteriorate by the middle of the second period. The Oilers totally fell apart and the ended up losing 2-5 against Toronto. There were a ton of Toronto fans there, too! We were surrounded by their fans, but they proved to be a friendly enemy! No fighting, so I was glad. You never know with these games... Especially when my dear hubby does his fair share of taunting and trash-talking! I managed to get some pretty cool pictures. Here are a few, for those of you who might be interested.

Face-off

Joshua, watching intentlyHorcoff and Pisani

Rexall Place

Random Interesting Happenings

Well, hopefully they will be interesting to you, anyway! I realize I haven't been very "informational" in my latest posts, so some people may want to have a few more details.

1. Joshua is just finishing up a cleansing/fat burning program called Isagenix. There is a 30 day program and a 9 day. Joshua did the 30 day one. To date, he's lost 22 pounds and feels great! I'm very proud of him for sticking with it. I don't think I could have done it. Although, I'm entertaining the idea of the 9 day program (don't tell Joshua!) - I could use some more energy! I won't bore you with details - you can read about it on their website if you want more info! Mealtimes have been interesting around here. There are "cleanse days" where Joshua doesn't eat at all, so the kids I have to hurry up and eat supper before Joshua gets home so that the sight and smell of food doesn't drive him crazy! Breakfast and lunch have been really easy, though. I just have to mix up a protein shake for him and it's done!

2. We now have an alarm system in our house. There was already one installed from 15 years ago, but it was inactive. Since it was already there, we looked into getting it activated again. We also found out it would save money on our home insurance! So, we got some of the alarm components updated and added smoke alarms (monitored by the alarm company). So far, there have been no mishaps! If there ever are any, I'm sure it will be great blog material! I've already had a few minor panic attacks when the kids go barging into the house after we've been gone, forgetting that the alarm is set. Fortunately, I'm fast (I have 45 sec.) so I've been able to get it turned off in time!

3. On Tuesday morning (my birthday!), we woke up to a beautiful winter wonderland of snow! It was not forecasted, so we were a bit surprised! Finally, the first snow of the year!! I was so excited when I got up, and was out the door taking pictures within 5 minutes! It was the perfect birthday gift for me! It was one of those fluffy, sticky snowfalls that covered every little branch. After a late breakfast, we all went out to play in the snow. Joshua had the day off because it was Remembrance Day (same as Veteran's Day in the States) and it's a stat holiday. He always gets the day off for my birthday, and I quite like that! We built a little snowman (not enough snow for anything big) and had a snowball fight. The snow made great snowballs! Then we took a walk to admire the neighbourhood before lunch. I took lots of pictures, but you'll have to wait for them. Reason? That brings me to the next thing...

4. We are now the proud owners of a "real" computer! For all of our married lives (almost 9!), we've only had a laptop. It worked great for those years that Joshua needed to tote it back and forth between church and/or seminary classes. After he got the job with the bank, he didn't need to do that anymore. And I finally got to use the computer to my heart's content! That's when I joined Facebook and started my blog. I dare say I got more done before that! Anyway, last week, a new Future Shop opened in our city. Joshua works right by the new store, so he got in line the first morning they opened up. Our new computer was 1 of 25 available that day at an incredible price! Even my brother, the computer geek, said it was a really great deal and a decent computer. (We consulted him first!) So, we have this HUGE monitor now (O.K., it seems huge to me - it's a 20 in.), and I'm seeing lots of little details I've never noticed before! It's been fun, but not without it's hassles. I can't find the software that came with my camera, so I'm a little stuck right now with pictures...

5. Tonight Joshua and I get to go to an NHL hockey game to see our Edmonton Oilers play! Joshua's boss, Jeff, sometimes gets tickets from a lawyer that the bank refers clients to. It's is way of saying "thanks for the business." This time, Jeff offered the tickets to Joshua! So, we got a babysitter and will be heading out tonight! Hopefully they win! Poor Joshua - tonight is one of those nights where he has to drink a shake for supper (because he ate real food for lunch), so he'll have to watch everyone else eat at the game! He can snack on almonds...woohoo! Oh well, it's healthier and saves us money!

That's all I can think of right now that would actually be interesting to you! Hope you enjoyed the update. Now, to go figure out the photo/camera software situation around here....

Oh, I also wanted to make a disclaimer on my excitement about the snow... You WILL hear me complain about snow, winter, cold weather etc., as we go through the season. But, there is something very special about the first snow - even if we eventually get a lot of it! As my friend said the other day, it's the snowfalls between #2 and #100 that we complain about!

Happy 100th Birthday, Opa!

Meet Opa - Joshua's paternal grandfather. On Saturday he turned 100 years old and we were honoured to be guests at his birthday party! Opa immigrated from Germany when he was 45 years old with his wife and two young sons. His youngest son, Uve, is Joshua's father. Oma, his devoted wife of over 70 years, passed away about 3 years ago. Five of Opa's relatives travelled all the way from Germany to be at the birthday party! The party was at a local German restaurant where we enjoyed some very scrumptious, authentic German food! We definitely did not leave hungry! Opa with Sara and Sky, two out of his five (soon to be 6) great-grandchildren.
Hugs from Grandma, Joshua's mom.
Singing "Happy Birthday" - the 100th time he's heard that sung to him!!
It was really amazing to be part of such a momentous occasion! I've never known anyone else who lived to be 100! It was a fun-filled celebration! Opa was honoured in speeches from his two sons, Uve and Peter, and his two grandsons, Tyson and Joshua. Joshua ended his tribute with these words. "We respect you for what you have accomplished. We honour you for what you have taught us. We love you for who you are."

Happy 30th, Sweetheart!

Joshua is 30 now - finally! 2 years and 7 months ago, I turned 30 and he's been calling me an old woman ever since! Thursday was his actual birthday - today I actually have time to sit down and write this tribute! I married this man almost 9 years ago, never knowing all the adventures life would bring us. Joshua is a very passionate guy - there is no middle ground with him. Sometimes this can be a challenge, but one thing's for sure - it's always going to be exciting! Here are 30 things I can't help but love about him...

1. His smile (Just ask Karen, it's one of the first things I noticed about him!)

2. His confidence that always makes me feel secure.

3. The wise financial decisions he makes.

4. The way he plays with the kids.

5. Listening to him play the piano. (He's AMAZING, for those of you who don't know!)

6. The fact that he's not a picky eater and loves my cooking!

7. The way he mows the lawn with stripes!

8. His hugs and kisses.

9. The way he can explain pretty much anything to me, in a way I can understand.

10. Because he's very romantic!

11. His muscles that carry heavy things for me - including the kids when they're tired!

12. The way he wholeheartedly throws himself into whatever he's doing.

13. The fact that he helps around the house.

14. For making me love the sport of hockey!

15. Because he takes me on regular dates.

16. For making me try new things - like camping and sushi and downhill skiing!

17. His love for the outdoors.

18. Because he's spontaneous and fun!

19. The way he puts a positive spin on almost everything. (Sometimes irritating...)

20. Because he always dresses neatly and stylishly.

21. For helping me to understand the rules of football!

22. Because he never forgets my birthday or our anniversary.

23. For quitting coffee the day after Christmas and never turning back.

24. His humour.

25. Because he fixes things around the house.

26. The way he loves a challenge and is always trying new things.

27. For always being interested in my day and what the kids are doing.

28. Seeing him snuggle with the kids at bedtime.

29. Because I fit just right on his lap!

30. For always being himself.

I love you, Sweetie!

How Do I Respect Thee? Let Me Count The Ways...

This post is part of a "blog carnival" about showing respect to our husbands. I stumbled upon this fun idea from a new blogging friend at Titus 2:3-5. The idea for this came from the book, "Love and Respect," by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. (To read more about the book and the original idea for this carnival, read this post. Saves me having to type everything!) Joshua and I had the privilege of attending part of one of their Love and Respect conferences about 4 years ago. It was eye-opening for both of us, and one of the most truly helpful marriage conferences we had ever been to. We bought the book a couple of years ago, meaning to read through it together, but that never happened... Then, I read about this carnival and I started thinking about this thing called respect again. It sounds so simple - to respect your husband - but why is it so hard? I was glad this was brought to my attention, because I know I haven't been doing the greatest job in this area lately. On Titus 2:3-5, ET had some questions to answer about respecting our husbands, so I'm going to just go with that.

What do you do or say that shows your man that he's "the thing" in your life? How do you make him feel special, valued, necessary, even heroic?

Like I said, I haven't been doing such a great job, so here are some things that I know I need to start doing or doing again like I did at some point in our marriage.

I can almost see Joshua stand up straighter when I simply thank him for doing things like mowing the lawn or taking the car to get washed or packing the car for a trip, etc. In the past, I've tucked little notes in his lunch box to say thank you for working so that our family can have all the things we need and even so many things we just want! I also try to listen closely when he talks about work and actually ask intelligent questions in response - you know, instead of "um-hmm."

Something that I actually do on a regular basis is to get up with Joshua every morning (O.K., most mornings) and make him breakfast. Nothing fancy, just tea, peanut butter and honey toast, and a piece of fruit. I also put together his lunch and snacks for the day. The girls at work are always teasing him about it and calling him a spoiled baby, but they're just jealous! I know it really makes him feel special and respected when I do that for him every morning.

Another thing that makes him feel respected is when I clean up and organize the clutter spots around the house. I'm not so good at this one either because I usually just get defensive or make excuses. This one is really important to him and I know it makes him feel respected when I treat it like it's important to me too.

I'm not sure about the heroic part - I'll have to ask him about that one! I'm pretty sure he felt heroic when he built the railing on our deck this spring, complete with built-in benches! (I made sure he read my blog post about that one so he could see that I was bragging on him to everyone!) And when he planted 3 new trees in our yard all by himself!

What mistakes have you made that made your loved one feel crummy, unimportant, and disrespected?

I don't like this one as much... I do way too many things to make my sweetheart feel disrespected, I'm afraid. Like when I correct his parenting - in front of the kids. Or when I don't make an effort to clean up the house before he comes home in the evening. (I said "make an effort" not "have it perfect!") Or when I criticize him when he's trying to help me around the house. Or when I just simply take him for granted and never say "thank you." Or when I ignore his physical advances. Or when I'm too busy with the kids to notice him. (His love language is quality time.)

So, I have some work to get done around here - it's called RESPECT. I'm praying for God to show me how to do this more diligently and consistently on our marriage.

How about you? How would you answer these questions? If you want to be involved in this RESPECT carnival, the instructions and questions can be found here. This is just a place where we can all gain insight, share ideas and encourage one another so that our marriages may be strengthened in some way. I hope you'll join in!