So What is Colt Up To?

I have not posted about Colt, and I feel bad because I have had people asking me. Honestly, blogging time is at a premium at my house. Anyone who knows me knows that unless I am passionate about something that I am blogging about I don't blog very often. I do my 'sit down and blog session' about every six weeks: I blog an entire evening and schedule them to post over the next six weeks.

When I get excited about a topic then it makes a good time to write off the cuff. Finally, with the buying of the land you will get spontaneous new posts!

But all the same, I know I have been really delayed in updating you on Colt, and I am sorry. He has had an interesting seven weeks.

When Colt left home he had plans to enlist in the military and also to spend some time just working like a regular person or doing a little travelling. He didn't really know what he was heading out for; he wanted to just see if he could handle it on his own in the real world. Colt did apply for work at the Banff Springs Hotel a couple days before he left home, and he expected to hear from them right away, as the job posting that he applied for was ASAP. And I do know that Colt's letters of reference were exemplary, plus he was well suited for the job he applied for.

Colt arrived in Banff and spent a few days living out of his car. He checked in at the Banff Springs Hotel and he was told he would be contacted by head office if there was a job opening. So being in Banff didn't do him any favours. While he was there he had a problem with his new car (new to him) and he took it to a garage for a check up. $100 later he left the garage with no real answers and only a little peace of mind. Life lesson #1 in the real world handled. *smile*

He was working on his last paycheque from his dad, and so he had to be very careful with his money.

After a few days Colt asked my opinion on him heading to a town a number of hours away to visit a friend. He made his decision and headed in that direction early, early one morning. Right after he got there he encountered his first speeding ticket. Ouch! $368 later.... Life lesson number 2.

I was very proud of Colt because he immediately paid off his ticket rather than letting it sit on his record. He also began driving like a little old lady. That made me happy. I was also pleased that he had been checked so early in the game. It made me feel a little more reasssured of him being more aware of driving speeds after that hefty fine. Him being a new driver and all.

Colt visited with his friend and her parents made arrangements for him. He stayed at the grandparent's house for the nights and being the great kid that he is he volunteered and did yard work and whatever he could to thank them for their 'roof' that they provided for him. He lived in their travel trailer for a few weeks. He also spent time at his friend's house for dinners, and so he helped out at their house, since the dad was often on the road as he is a trucker.

While visiting his friend, Colt tried to get a job to pay off his speeding ticket. It was interesting because during this time I was going through some growing pains of learning how to parent a a child out of the nest. I screwed up a few times, and so did Colt. We had to learn to give and take on the talk and advice section of life. *smile* I had to learn how to listen and nod a lot, and talk and advise way less.

Before I learned this Colt told me he had a job picking apples...

Apples.

My boy who I think could be an officer or the head of any company. *smile*

Hmmm.

Well, then Colt told me he thought I would be proud of him. He was picking the apples to pay off his speeding ticket, and he didn't have any other options for work at that time. He was pleased to be on his own and fully independent and yes, at the end of the day he was making $44 compared to $150 working for his dad, but it was *his money* from a job that he picked up and he was being responsible paying off his bill.

So, yes, I quickly realized it was a good thing. *smile* I also had to remind myself that when I was travelling any type of job, no matter how menial, was a great experience on my trip through life and around the world. They all added to my memories! And perhaps it was time for Colt to take a job that was truly just plain fun/easy!

By the end of the first week, Colt took his friend to a bigger town nearby to try to find her a church to go to when he went on his way. She had become a Christian last summer through meeting Colt, but she has had noone in her life that is a Christian, so she has not been to a church or anything. He did a great job and they found a nice church with some great programs.

While in this town, Colt contacted a friend of mine and had a chance to visit with her for lunch one day. She had never met Colt, only heard about him through me. She and her husband have been fabulous in helping Colt out. They have taken Colt and his friend under their wings.They have totally discipled them both. I feel so blessed that my son, who is trying so hard to just get on his feet, has these friends to guide him.

Everyday he was driving an hour to get to this town (as it is a bigger centre) to try to find work. Every morning he would show up at the unemployment office to check the job board. No matter how hard he looked he could not find a job. He told me that the woman that was dealing with him had told him that he was the most motivated young man she had met. I told him that I could certainly believe that.

By the end of two weeks looking for work (now gone from home for 4 weeks) Colt was getting a little desperate. He had no work and his money was coming to an end. One day my friend very kindly found Colt a place to stay in her town, so he could be nearer to the work centre. This has been a tremendous help for him. But he still didn't have work. He kept on pounding the pavement putting in resumes everywhere. As well as this, he has been attending a church regularly. He goes to Youth one day a week, Cadets every 2nd Saturday, plus he attends a College and Career group once a week with his friend.

One day I got a text from Colt. He told me he had found a job. Actually, he said, my friend had gotten him the job, but he didn't think I would like it.

Hmmm. This left me thinking.

He called me that evening, but by now I already knew what the job was because I wasn't waiting to be told. I called my friend, so I was 'prepared' in case it was a 'not good' job. He said to me, "Did ----- tell you about my job? Did she tell me where I am working?"

Poor guy! Seriously, it was not a bad job. It just wasn't what he wanted.

He got a job at McDonalds.

I am so proud of Colt. He tried so hard to get a job of his choosing, but he couldn't. And his money was running out, so he had to take what he could. And of course, knowing Colt, he put into that job every bit of hard work and integrity that he would any 'great' job. In the meanwhile, in his first two weeks at work he won two awards for 'Perfect orders and till' (a hard to come by award) and 'Most certificates sold'. He sold 79 and the runner up sold 12! No kidding, that is Colt!

I asked him if he was thinking of enlisting in the military, and he told me he was not at the moment. I left it alone to see where it went.

A couple weeks into the job, Colt told me he was really not sure what he wanted to do. He was not really enjoying the job. The people complain a lot and 'the customer is always right' (even if they aren't). And boy, can people be rude! *smile*

He was wanting to enlist in the army, but at the same time he doesn't feel ready to buckle down and begin attending a four year program in college, which would be part of his program. He doesn't want to keep at his job - it is just not him. Even his friend, who risks him leaving town, is telling him that this job is not for him; he needs to enlist in the military where he will be challenged.

So at the moment he is really needing some good prayer and direction. I think his heart is torn with his feelings for his friend, which makes it hard to leave town. I think a little head space would be a good thing, because he is so young, but really he has to make the call. Also, heading off to a heavy four year program is a huge committment. He just needs some real direction. In the meantime, I am so blessed to have my friend and her husband giving him and his friend such amazing mentorship, hospitality, and friendship!

Colt is feeling really lonely and homesick right now. He doesn't want to come back to our little town because it really doesn't have anything to offer him. He doesn't want to leave where he is because of his heart connections, but at the same time he really knows he has to make some decisions.

So he is at an impasse where there are a lot of things going through his head. I would ask that any of our friends that read this blog, please pray for God to clearly guide Colt, and give him clear signs as to what he is to do next.

He wants to come home for Christmas, but to do so would cost him about $500 one way. It is ridiculous. That is because he is in a small town and so are we, meaning connections. We shall see what happens, but in the meanwhile, whatever happens, he is in God's hands and I know he will be just fine.
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Let the Fun Begin!

Climbing an Ice Storm Tree

Today Ray and I and the six younger children headed out to the land. We wanted to drop off Ray's old work truck and the travel trailer. The plan is that next June we will move into the trailer and will work from there. That is if the house has sold. If it has not sold, then we will still stay here for convenience sake. (Showers)

Ray's old truck was going to sit there and eventually be used by Dane. It is 20 years old with 500,000 km on it! Well, it has just been given a new lease on life. It will have a snow blade attached and become our new snow plow. The older boys will love it because they will get to drive it, since our driveway is so long.

Okay, I have to answer some questions and make some statements. As to what a well-witcher is, Kelly, ask your mom! :o) She knows of them from in the States. They hold a willow stick or a metal stick and they can feel the pull of the water. But trust me, we will be blessing our land before we move on to it! To cover all bases! *smile*

Denise, just imagine this land filled with daisies and dandelions and wildflowers!


There are so many poplar trees that it will be gorgeous with the lime green leaves filling their branches! I know that the land looks barren and butchered right now, but you have to imagine it when we have cleared so much of the dead wood and when the spring comes! It will be a sight to behold. And trust me, I have already made it clear the things that I plan to do. I am not going to worry about relying on Ray, who will be much too busy. No, I am going to hire myself the people I need to finish the landscaping. It might take a while, but I will get it done. I intend to have a beautiful lawn leading into a glorious meadow!

And as far as internet goes: My heart almost stopped on Sunday night when a friend dared to suggest I wouldn't be able to get internet. HUH?! Nope. Not. Never. Yes, I will! Do you think God would take me back to the country and then strand me without my dear friends at the end of my email? Or my blog! Not likely. *smile*

I called a couple places today, and I have a guy coming out on Monday to see if he can get it. I then have a back up of a satelite guy coming out after that, if necessary. I warned Ray that I didn't care if I had to build a tower myself - I am getting my internet. *grin* (and just for you all to know, I barely use the 'net' - I simply blog and visit with friends via email, but then the kids need the internet for their schooling - so I am not addicted, but I could not imagine going without it!LOL!)

When we arrived at the land today, the first thing we did was decide to try to measure out how many power poles we would need to get from our property line to our house site.

Our trailer, truck and all the kids land toys delivered for winter. The timing is remarkable. We put the house on the market and were able to remove the undesirable items from our property and park them on our land. This way our home looks nice and uncluttered.

We decided to walk to the entry way to our property to measure the power poles, and it was so neat. Anyone who knows me knows that I am the type to have a golf cart in my home to walk from one side to the other. Much to lazy! *grin* So what was I doing buying a property where I might have to get some exercise?

Because there is something to walking through a park that you own! As we walked past this great big pond we could see that the ice has begun to form on the top. Oh, how heavenly this will be in the winter: ice hockey at one end and figure skating at the other. Actually, if you could see the pond, it is like a large curved tear drop. So the hockey rink will use the big rounded portion and the skaters will get the rest. What you see above is part of the hockey rink. God is so good!! We have tried for the last 10 years to make a rink in our yard. First we started with plastic and 2x4's and it sort of worked. Then the last three years we have used the sports court we build. It was pretty good, but it wasn't iced property and it didn't get thick enough. Now, we have a real skating rink!

We had a 200 foot tape measure and the guys took turns holding one end of the tape and measuring out 150 foot sections. We had budgetted for nine poles at about $2,000-$3,000 per. Well, by the time we were finished measuring to our preferred site location we were up to fourteen poles. Ouch!

The plus side of this is how wonderful it will be to be this far from other houses! But yet, remember, we are only 5km from a main highway and 10km to town! How radical is that! Dreaming, I must be dreaming. *grin*

But we are willing to do this because we really want to be off and away from the road easement that runs through our property, plus we don't want to be near the fence, nor too near the train track, nor stuck in the woods. So that made it a bit more limited. Besides it is a beautiful spot!

After we had finished measuring out the poles we plotted out where we wanted the house. We put it in such a way that my kitchen and schoolroom look out onto the meadow. It sits so that that part of the house faces the setting sun. We will have a verandah running off the master bedroom overlooking the meadow and the setting sun. The other side of the house will face the distant lake in the valley. That too is a beautiful site. I have told Ray that we really should consider putting a verandah on that side of the house too! He commented that we could later connect the two verandahs with a verandah on the south side.


This is our view of the lake from our property. This is what we will see from our east side verandah.

These are swans that we saw on the lake. Austin had written a note to a friend asking for pictures of swans so that he could draw them. He is an amazing little artist with a talent that was just discovered. So it was wonderful when we drove past the lake and saw swans!

After we had done plotting out the house Ray asked if we wanted to go exploring. I can't describe the feeling when you clamber through grass and trees and brambles and know that it is *all yours*!!

As we mosied along I was looking for a hill. I was hoping to find an area that the children could sled on. I found it! I could envision it when it was cleared and full of snow and children. How small our little hill would look in our present back yard! laugh! And they have been so content here. Just imagine!

Traipsing Through the Underbrush

A very wide hill full of mess. Yes, one more project to clean up. But oh, so worth it! While we were clambering back through the 'jungle' and exploring other views and hills, we heard a "toot toot", and someone exclaimed, "That's the train!"

We began hot-footing it. Actually, everyone but Briton and Ray, began hot-footing it as fast as we could up the hill and across the mess in the general direction of the train track. Since we had no idea where the train track was other than 'It's coming from over there?' we weren't very speedy. We could hear it rumbling past, and I stopped to listen to the squeak of some part of the train, and I just loved it. I couldn't believe that that wonderful sound was coming from our property!

I could just see my children out there waving to the conductor, as he travelled across the meadow and marsh.

Young Boy Watching the Train Passing

As I arrived back at the truck I saw a site that I am sure to see again. Boys on the land...

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Those Last Few Days of Summer

August 30-September 4

This last week of camping has surely been a blessing. Each day, as I awake and walk out my door into the still warm early morning air I can’t help but speak out loud thanking the Lord for this unexpected late summer holiday!

If you could feel the quiet and calm in the air that I feel as I gaze around me.

This campsite is such a wonderful difference to the last one in that we are right on the beach. This is the view from my bedroom window.

The View Out My Bedroom Window (no zoom used)

The first few days here it was hard to see the land on the other side of the lake, due to the heavy smoke layer that was cast over the land. There is a forest fire about one hour from here that is still 0% contained. Thankfully, it is in a forestry area, but still, the nearby town has been evacuated as they have not been able to get it under any form of control.

The kids have enjoyed having their bikes here and even though Briton is not big enough to ride his own two-wheeler bike, he had the pleasure of being a passenger on Cassidy’s bike.

We discovered this amazing foam on the beach. At first, I panicked (literally) thinking my children had been taking bubbles down to the beach. So funny! Turns out it is sea foam and the collected buckets and buckets of the stuff!

When I went and bought groceries for this impromptu trip I bought blueberries, pineapple, and cherries. Oh so wonderful!! I bought three big bags of cherries, since it was a holiday after all. I had no clue how expensive it was until I got here and checked out my receipt - $24!! LOL!! Oh well, they were wonderful.

Wonderful that is until they hit my stomach. Oh, my dad used to tell me, “Don’t eat too many cherries. Not good for your stomach.” Aggghhh!! What could they go to me? HAHA! Well, let me tell you. DON’T eat too many cherries!!! My stomach was in knots for the next two days. I consumed Rolaids like nobodies business, until thankfully my friend gave me a homeopathic remedy and my stomach got back to normal. But I have to tell you those yummy cherries were worth all the trips to my second home – the outhouse!! *grin*

As well as the yummy fruit I also stocked on a few junk food items: chips, pop, and lollipops. I was trying to be a bit careful when it came to letting the kids eat too much pop, because until this summer they really didn’t drink pop. This summer they have truly enjoyed the luxury of those forbidden sugar drinks.

Always a Poser!

So I selectively bought three new kinds of canned drinks: Brisk fruit juice – that was a hit; Brisk lemonade – also enjoyed by the kids; and then my second mistake: Nestea Vitao Mandarin flavoured. It *sounded* good. I mean, mandarin flavoured drink. Yum.

Not! It turned out to be an antioxidant!! *grin* It was so healthy that it didn’t even have a list of calories, calcium, sugar and all!! It simply told me to drink one as needed for antioxidant purposes! Cassidy begged to try one, so I told him he could. Later he told me I could keep it. Too healthy for him. Now, I told him, I have to do my research and find out if it really was healthy.

And the other item, the one the kids love, was the lollipops. Each day the children line up and I ask them how their day has gone. Have they done anything not so good today? They wrack their brains for their ‘sins’. *grin* And then I ask, “Did you make right?” They very earnestly tell me how they made it right with the person they wronged.

Or I will ask what they did that was loving and kind this day? It is nice to see them looking for ways to bless their brothers and sisters, and then hearing and seeing how nice they are treating each other.

They then happily take their lollipop. It is all done in good fun and they love it.

One day, I was looking for something and I said that the person who found it could be the one to give out the lollipops the next time. Savannah was the one to find it. You should have seen her grinning!! She often has the hardest times with her questions, so to be the interrogator was fun for her.

And she took full advantage of making it as hard as possible on her big brothers:

We arrived on Saturday afternoon and had possible good weather til Thursday, at which time it would get cooler. There was also a possibility of rain one day. Well, we did not expect the rain we got!

We woke up on Tuesday morning to grey skies, but warm temperatures. It began to rain and the children kept themselves occupied indoors while the rain pelted down.

About lunch time the weather cleared up and it got beautiful. Bright blue skies, and just in time for some friends that decided to visit us.

During the morning’s rainstorm, Cassidy and I took the opportunity to learn a new game: Milles Bourne. It was great fun and when our friends arrived, Cassidy taught their children also. It has been a lot of fun learning new games this summer. There is more time to play games while camping than there is when you are at home and feeling the need to do all your ‘work’. I love that!

My boy Briton, who doesn’t eat enough to keep a fly alive, decided he liked the look of what our friends were having for dinner. He perched himself on their table and as “Fisher”, as he calls her, cut up her dinner he would happily share the pieces she gave to him. When I came to ask him if he wanted more of *our* dinner, he said, “No yucky dinna. Yummy heah.” He preferred her dinner to my tasty burritos! Too funny. Thankfully, she was happy to share with him.

The children all brought their bikes and Briton and Savannah brought their trikes. They have lots of fun on those, but today I decided there was no harm in seeing if my ‘4’ year old Savannah could learn to ride a bike.

When Raine was given her bike it was given to her with training wheels. I mean, after all, she was four years old, right? Then this spring we took the training wheels off and on her first time riding it she took off. No effort. Simply got on and rode. I was impressed! Cooper did much the same thing when he was four years old, but the rest had taken ages to learn. Colt was one that insisted on having one training wheel before he was willing to remove the last feeling of safety! *grin*

So this day I gave Savannah Raine’s bike and told her to go to it. Do what she could. I watched her for a while, and she had it all together. The only thing she didn’t have was gathering enough strength in her leg to get the bike going and keep it going. So that was when I decided to get involved. I gave her instructions, balanced her, and then gave her a push. A few wobbly rides and she was off. No problem. Another born athlete, or at least born bike rider! No training wheels. From trike to bike when she has her upcoming birthday!

Of course, she had to be the one to have her first bike owie. Crash Savannah we called her. But she was a tough girl, after the initial tears.

Cooper came up with some new fun: riding down from the campsite, through the sand and into the water. Great fun!

The boys have enjoyed finding golf balls in the lake and diving to retrieve them. One day I saw Austin paddling out to sea with a trike on his kayak. I asked him what he needs the bike for?

“I’m going to dive for it.”

Okay, that makes sense! Why stick to golf balls when you can have more interesting things to retrieve!

During our evenings, after the little ones were in bed we would watch a dvd from the old Daniel Boone seasons. The boys are really enjoying it and it is a fantastic boys type movie! We were discussing making the boys some buckskin jackets and coon skin hats, so they can play at Daniel Boone. I would prefer that kind of play to army play any day!

Usually I don’t give the kids chips to eat while we are watching the show, but last night I did. Silly mistake! When we came out here we forgot the speakers to hook up to my laptop, so we are struggling to hear from the tiny internal speakers on my computer! If you breathe you might miss what is said!

And can you imagine, we brought the Little House on the Prairie Season 6 season finale with us and we had to listen to the big Does He Does Me movie between Laura and Almanzo in whispers!!! We will definitely have to rewatch that episode!

So last night, it was so hilarious because the kids all had bowls of chips and were sitting on each side of me. They didn’t eat their chips while the people were speaking and the moment the scene changed or it showed distance land or something, I could suddenly hear a bunch of movies chomping and crunching down on chips, and then in simultaneously they would all stop on a dime when they recognized someone was about to open their mouths to speak. It was so funny! I will remember my speakers next time I go out! *grin*

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Blindsided By God's Amazing Goodness!

When we left our beautiful acreage 3.5 years ago, my heart was broken.

We had originally moved from a suburban home to the country, so that we could ‘raise our boys in the country’, as my old blog used to be called. For seven wonderful years, we enjoyed glorious flower-filled meadows in the summer, gorgeous hues of brown, tans, and greens in the autumn, and a winter wonderland in the snow. Our children learned to ski on our gentle slopes, and enjoyed a 500 foot luge that their daddy groomed every winter.

The View From Our Back Veranda

Our Little House in the Big Woods

We made that move because it was in the best interest of our oldest son and my husband. For Ray it meant being closer to work opportunities, and for our son, he would be able to be more involved in town functions.

But I knew that my little ones would never know the freedom of running through fields of long grass with daisies and wild flowers swaying in the breeze. They wouldn't have the joy of rambling through the bushes picking berries. They would never know what it was to pretend to be Tom Sawyer, while floating a boat in our marsh. I cried silent tears into my pillow late at night when all were asleep. I didn't want them to know how sad it made me.

Running Free in Our "Back Yard"

The Summer View From Our Back Deck

Including the Marsh the Boys Boated On

It was however, something that I needed to do. I really felt that we were being called and so, in obedience, I stepped out in faith. I knew that God would never leave me nor forsake me, and honestly, it didn’t take long for me to begin to enjoy the benefits of living 10 minutes from town.

It did take me a while, though, to stop feeling like a goldfish in a goldfish bowl. After a while, I began forgetting the neighbour that liked to sit on his lawnchair watching us as we worked in our yard *smile*. I began not worrying about the neighbours wondering why I was out in the yard in my pajamas. Hey, if they wanted to look, let them!

About six months after we moved in Ray built us a very safe six foot privacy fence. I now had my own little sanctuary. I was content.

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It is really mysterious how God works. He knows the deepest longings and desires of our hearts, and He is so faithful to reward our faithfulness and obedience. God is so amazingly good! I said I was content in my home. I was.

At least I thought I was!

But perhaps God knew what had buried itself down deep below the surface. Something I thought was gone.

One day, Ray told me he was building a house for a real estate agent. He had built for them once before five years earlier, and they had recently sold this house and were rebuilding. He told me they had bought 80 acres. When I heard this, I thought how nice that sounded. Also, to boot, it was closer to town than we were! What chance of finding a piece of land closer to town! Goodness! Our other house was 45 minutes from town. I asked what they paid and was surprised. It didn’t sound too bad, but was more than we could afford. Not that we were looking!...

Shortly after this, in a very coincidental situation, I ran into a woman and she ‘happened to mention’ that she and her family had just bought a huge acreage in a similar vicinity to where the other people had bought. A few miles apart, but still - *near town!*

My reaction? It surprised me, as I looked back at it in hindsight. I was very oohing and ahhing at it. I had no idea that I had such a longing locked up inside me. However, apparently I did!

I left that day thinking about these two families that would have the blessing of raising their children on acreage. When I went home, I spontaneously said to Ray, “If you will buy me a hundred acres I will sell this house.”

Ray would *never* expect me to say this as knew there was no moving me. He is always making noises of selling our home and rebuilding. All about profit. But as I keep telling him, I am a mother and it is all about roots and a home to me. I am not moving. I am sick of building. I am done. (Ha, says Denise and Renee! grin)

Well, he was surprised I would say such a thing. He put out his hand to seal a deal, (not one to lose an opportunity that wasn't likely to arise again!), and his eyes registered shock when I actually reached out and shook his hand. He then said, "Well, it doesn’t have to be one hundred does it?"

I replied, "I want 100 acres, but no less than 40." I was throwing out this number simply because - hey! If I was going for the big one, I was going for the big one! If God had a plan, He could make it work. Do you have any clue how much 100 acres would cost?

He looked at me skeptically, as if he figured, No chance.

That was the end of that discussion. Wow! What was I thinking and saying??

This conversation was left alone and we didn’t discuss it any further. One day, about a week later, as I was driving to a town about an hour from us, I saw a sign that I hadn’t seen before. It was for acreage of 160-800 acres. I decided to take a drive through and see what I could find. The long and short of it was – it was nice, but too far from where we presently lived, and honestly, too expensive.

During the course of the previous week or so, many different feelings had come up. Strong feelings against moving because my beautiful home was not even totally finished and I loved it!! It is a gorgeous house with unique special features, and I had to work hard to get Ray to finish all that is done! He is a hard worker, but there are only so many hours in a week.

As time went by, I knew it was going to take a miracle to find property that would satisfy what both Ray and I wanted: no more than 10 minutes north or south of our town, and not east or west. My children were not going to lose their friends, as that was of utmost importance to me, and Ray had to be near town for work, plus Ray and I have friends we gather with a couple times a week, and I was not going to lose out on that, plus of course, our church is here.

Therefore, that didn’t give us a very big area to find a reasonably priced piece of land in. Actually, it was nearly impossible, as I already knew because I had gone on the internet and there were only three pieces of land available in my choice area! Two of these were above our price range. Not that we really had a price range! LOL!

Late on night, I went on the internet and did a search. I didn’t tell Ray I was doing this, as I didn’t want to get him too interested, because honestly, I did not want to move. *laugh* That probably doesn’t make sense, since it sounds like I was the interested one. I was really stepping out in obedience when I felt these old desires resurfacing. I thought I might have been getting a nudge from God, and so I just took the steps that were obviously next.

I believe in being obedient when I feel that God is impressing on me to do something. I know in the end I will be happy I do. In addition, if it is God He will work out the details. Therefore, there is no harm in doing the research, as my prayer is always that He open or shut the doors accordingly. Actually my prayer was that he would SLAM the door shut if it was not meant to be.

That evening I found a property a third property. It was cheaper than the rest (ridiculously so), and through the course of a few emails, I discovered it was in the same vicinity of the other acreages I had heard sold recently. It had a pond and was nearly 170 acres in size. There was meadowland and forest, and a beautiful view of a distant large lake. There was however, an offer on the land.

We sat on the information for a while (after I told Ray), and then one day, while I was thinking that this was all a bad idea because I didn’t want to lose my beautiful home, I suddenly had a thought: I would rebuild the same house! I didn’t need to lose my home. *smile*

One day, Ray asks me, So if we were to build again, would you want to build the same house?

I adamantly replied, Yes!

We went out to see the land and both of us really liked it. We went and took another look at it and felt we might like to make an offer. Our realtor was leaving the following day for Australia for six weeks, so that put a little pressure on us. Ray had an idea of a bid and I felt we should offer $6,000 less than he said. I felt we should hit them low. He agreed. We put in our offer and the people countered by dropping a few thousand from their asking price.

Ray and I agreed on a firm final offer – merely a few thousand more. This would be our first test to see if God wanted us to have the land, we would get it for cheap. It took them 36 hours to come back and accept our price. During this time, I was having a variety of feelings – ups and downs. As it ended up the people dropped their price hugely and we barely budged. We got a remarkable price.

When we heard they accepted it was quite exciting, but I didn't let myself get too excited, because it was really just the beginning. Now we had to get the financing and sell our house.

Miracle of miracles, we got our financing arranged in a matter of days. Short of writing pages of details, which I don’t want to do, just let me tell you, we got a strong Word to go in a direction of financing we had never done before.

Here is an example:

I opened both my devotions books on October 30 and they both were headed: FAITH and the other one was GROW FAITH.

One had an opening verse: "He who trusts in me shall possess the land and inherit my Holy Mountain." Isaiah 57:13

The other one spoke of taking risks. Well, the financing angle that Ray wanted to take was one that I wouldn't have done. It was perfectly 'fine', but not the conventional way I would have done it. I got some more pretty clear words that showed me I was to agree to it. I did.

We were approved within five days and we didn’t even have to sell our house!

We headed out to the land with a well witcher one evening. This man had witched our last house and had been accurate with our water source – right down to the exact foot – so we wanted to try him. We found grade A quality water, with a running stream of water 92 feet below the surface, putting out 8-10 gallons a minute. We actually found more sources of water, but this one was in the area we want to build. When we take the well driller out there we sure hope that our witcher was accurate!

This is driving onto the land. We own everything you see, including the forest in the distance, plus the pond in the foreground.


This is as you continue heading into the property. The road leads to the right and when you follow it you will end up in a large meadow. That is where you will look *back to* when you see the following pictures.


Looking right behind the truck is where the one side of the house view will go. It is a huge meadow. It was actually logged a few years ago, and they have left it pretty tidy. It will need some work tidying it up.


This is the other side of the truck showing the rest of the opening. You can see how the road/driveway will come from over at the far side of the picture. The little sandy looking spot near the right is where the road will head. You can imagine the wildflowers here in the summer! I didn't take a picture of it, but on the other direction you will see a distant view of a lake. It is also quite beautiful as it looks down into a valley.


These following pictures are taken in four directions.

There is a railroad that runs through the property. You can see the dark line in the picture above. Apparently it is quiet and only runs through twice a day. There is a low rumbling as it passes through. As soon as I saw the railroad I thought of the E. Nesbit book "The Railway Children". I can just see my children standing out there waving a white cloth at the engineer as he passes by daily! Oh the joyful adventures they will have!! When Austin heard there was a railroad he said, "Adventures!" Colt tells me the Railway Children was one of his favourite books.

I have an interesting story to tell about that book. When I was 13 years old I was electrocuted on an electric train track in England. I was a romantic child and I was always open to adventure. One day, my 14 year old brother and I scaled a fence and climbed down the embankment to the train track. We walked along the rails and enjoyed our independence. Our mother was in Canada, as she had still not emigrated back to England ( I was born there), and my father was out looking for work. Because I was not raised in England, I was not aware that the train tracks were electric and not coal or steam or whatever powers trains!

I decided to do one of the things I had read about in the book. I knelt down by the track and then put both hands down on the track and lowered my head to listen for the coming train. I don't even remember making contact with the track before I was flying back through the air from the force of the electrocution. My hands were burned and I was screaming. I was absolutely terrified! My poor brother had no clue what was wrong, as I just kept screaming. I thought I was going to die. To this day, I have no clue the amount of electricity that runs through an electric railway. I would love to know. I have been told that I should have been killed by this power, but yet I wasn't.

For weeks after this event, (which I didn't tell my parents about) I was terrified that I would yet die. Each night I would pray that I would wake in the morning.

So how's that for a memory of one of my favourite books! LOL!!

It's really quite remarkable that as far as the eye can see this is all ours!! How amazing is our God!!!! And just think - four short weeks ago, we had NO CLUE we would be moving and with VERY LITTLE effort on our part, it all came together. No stressing. Just walking in faith and opening doors and being at rest if they stayed open or slammed shut.

Two days ago, we put our house on the market. We received the keys and will be heading out to *our land* this week. Ray will begin figuring out the hydro poles and the well. Our goal is to sell our house, but that is one area I have no idea how it ‘should’ work out. I am leaving that to God.

If we sell now then we will be homeless until June, when we could move onto our land in our trailer. But last time we sold we sold in early February and didn’t have to move until the end of May. That was perfect as a brand new rental house became available on that very day, and we moved right into it (one block from the house we were building). So I know God has all the details worked out.

In the meanwhile, I am still reeling to know that we have bought this fantastic acreage, have approved financing, will be rebuilding our house with a few wonderful improvements, plus are making plans for a whole lot more excitement. (to be posted about later)

I should mention that when I presented this idea to Ray it was for *one reason only* and I made sure he was in agreement before we proceeded. We had had land before and because of the ages of our kids they had not been able to utilize the land fully. They were too young to hunt and we didn’t have the finances for buying snow mobiles or motor bikes. I told Ray that I was finding our very boyish boys were really feeling the crush of living in a town – nowhere to play Airsoft without offending neighbours, plus nowhere to ride dirt bikes etc. Our friends boys all hunt and Ray doesn’t. This doesn’t mean our boys can’t hunt, though. It simply means that we need to buy land where our boys can go hunting without their dad if that is their desire. The older ones are old enough.

So now the adventure begins.

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Country Roads Take Me Home ...

No, I am not a John Denver fan.




To be continued upon some guess work from my readers. And yes, Renee, that means you!! *smile*
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Two Weeks of Awesome Beach Time

We headed home for about six days and prepared the trailer for our next jaunt out. This one was going to be for two weeks to a beautiful bay that we had heard much about. We pulled in and found it nearly full, but I discovered a nice spot that was on the far side of a playing field. Many wouldn’t have liked this because it wasn’t lake front, but I did because it gave our children room to play, a playground to play in, plus the lake on the other side. It was a bit of a walk to the lake, but we got into a routine and it was simple enough!

The boys quickly filled up all the air toys we had purchased: mid-summer sales = ½ price toys! And then we headed down to the beach for a little late afternoon fun.

That night it turned out that it was the last time to have a fire because there was a fire ban on and there would be no more campfires. The girls had already gone to bed (they sleep longer than our boys, still, and so go to bed earlier), and so it was only the five boys. They had a wonderful time chowing down on s’mores until the coals burned out.

The next morning, not knowing if the beach would pack really quickly, I took advantage of having a large family and delegated. I had two of the children take down my deck chair and a box of toys and claim a spot! It was only about 8:00 am and noone was around but a couple of dog walkers. Perfect! Now I could arrive at my leisure.

As it turned out, we were down there by 9:00 am for our first *long* day of sunning and swimming and what a day it was!

During the day I asked Raine to hang up some shirts because they were wet. I expected her to hang them on the back of a chair because that would be ‘typical’. *smile* The next thing I know she is down the beach hanging them on some guy’s boat’s anchor line!! *laugh* I had to tell her it was not a washing line!! It is so funny when you see the little ‘gaps’ in their knowledge.

At some point that day Austin found a cell phone and brought it home. Later on Dane heard a girl’s name and he came running home to tell me he thought it was the girl that owned the phone. He turned it on and sure enough it had her name. Dane returned the phone and told her that his little brother had found it. She was so thrilled!

The next day her family let Austin and Dane ride the Sea Doos. They had a blast and did extraordinarily well!! Austin did not fall down once and Dane, who was out longer, only wiped out at the end. What a blessing it was to be rewarded for their honesty!

This was not the only time they were able to help someone out. Another day, Austin and I found a girl’s MP3 Player. When one of our friends returned it to the campsite that she lived at she was crying in the car, devastated at the loss. It was a neat lesson to a small boy the feeling you get when you do the right thing!

The children became so good at swimming!! Raine and Savannah learned to float on their tummies and backs without a lifejacket, and Briton got comfortable doing a starfish (front float) with his life jacket on. Whereas a week earlier he would not get wet, suddenly he was throwing himself into and under the water.

If you think back to the old days when children were thrown into the watering hole to learn to swim, my children learned in a similar method. *smile* Not that they were thrown into a swimming hole.

I have seen the results of swimming lessons: they slowllly move through the lessons and the levels. My older four didn’t get anywhere for years. It was a lot of money down the drain. And yes, it was down the drain because they simply didn’t get comfortable in the water.

I have found that where my third and fourth oldest sons gained confidence in the water was in hotel swimming pools – no lessons, simply immersing themselves as they came off slides and horsing around. This led to Cassidy taking lessons last year and flying from Level 3 Red Cross through Level 7, in ten lessons! He was comfortable and ready.

In the case of the younger four, my expectations of them caused them to do it. I was not going to own a trailer and have to worry about them all the time. So each day, they spent a few minutes doing what I ‘expected’ them to do. I found they were willing to try it and I think my confidence in their being able to, rather than being sweet and having a ‘we can wait til you are older’ attitude, caused them to believe in themselves.

Briton Loving Doing His Star Fish

Before we left that two week holiday, Raine, Savannah, and Cooper were all diving to the bottom of a three to four foot depth to retrieve rocks! They were all confidently swimming 30 + feet out to the buoys and back in their life jackets. And they were all floating on front and back with no difficulty. Not to mention, that one day Savannah surprised us all. The little one who was so reluctant became the frog. Literally!!

She was in the water one day swimming past me and I was floored. Her arms and legs were going rhythmically and she was shooting through the water. I asked her where did she learn that? She replied, “I watched a frog.”

What do you know! She seriously had the frog swim down pat! That was *exactly* what her movements resembled. Who’d a thunk you can learn from a frog! *grin*

The children got used to having bucket baths most nights. Sometimes, they got their hair washed as well. I don’t think they were too fond of the icy lake water!

Sleeping Hard After a Long Day

Within a few days of arrival we saw a girl coming around collecting pop bottles. I thought she belonged to the park, but then a few days later I realized she was just a camper! So I gave the kids the idea that when she left they could pick up her business. The first morning they were up bright and early and headed out on their bikes. It didn’t take long before people began leaving their bottles out for them.

They got into a system that Cassidy sorted the bottles into: beer bottles, beer cans, pop cans, water bottles, and wine bottles. They bagged them up and left them for their dad to pick up when he came to visit us. I don’t think he was that impressed when he saw the stack. It meant mess in the yard and it surely wasn’t going to give them more than a few dollars. So what was the point. Plus there were bees!

Cooper was always the first one up in the morning, ready and anxious to not lose a bottle to another ambitious child that might see what they were doing. He was bold enough to approach people at the lake where they might just throw their bottles into the dumpsters.

We had a busy time at that campsite with different friends showing up for a few hours to a few days.

The kids had lots of fun visiting with their cousin, Jaymie, who they haven’t seen for five years. It was wonderful to see her and they had lots of fun digging a pit and excavating a trench to the sea. When her dad told her it was time to go she was not ready.

Uncle Carl With the Girls and Jaymie

Cousin Jaymie with the Boys

Then the children discovered that some new friends they had made at the beach happened to fill the site next door to us. Previously to this some friends of ours had been using it for a few days. Now it was vacant and it turned out that a group of six children and their two sets of parents had moved in. New friends! The kids quickly became fast friends and spent all hours together playing games, DS, cards, and swimming at the lake.

Frog hole that the children made and contained their frogs in.

I held out for many years on the Nintendo DS front, but last year I gave in. I saw how the children could link up and play together and how it really was a social toy. I told Ray how it was a good ice breaker. He said how when he was a kid they had to rely on good looks! *laugh*

Ray Came Down on the Sunday.

They were also so kind as to give our children rides on tube behind their boat. Another friend dropped by and we had a blast that day. Sadly, I didn’t have my camera with me. But suffice it to say, memories were made. They had a high powered speed boat and a six man tube. Ray and Dane are both crazy guys, so when it was their turn for a ride, I made sure to tell Robin to “lose them!!” He worked very hard at it and we were laughing *so* hard!!! Eventually, the tricks that he was pulling with the boat did the job and they both went flying left and right! Too funny! We were busting our insides.

Hungry children waiting for dinner. Poor, little Briton (not) wasn't tall enough to see into the pan when all the kids were oohing and aahing at weiners and beans! *laugh*

We thoroughly enjoyed our two weeks at the lake and when we were done we headed home for a rest from all the relaxing!! *grin*

The boys loaded all their bottles into Ray’s truck and headed to the depot. We told them we would double whatever they got, because they are saving for a Sea Doo. Well, even Ray was grinning when they came home and showed me the wad of cash and the receipt. By the time they were done they had $374 in their Sea Doo fund! Not too shabby for four days bottle collecting! They know what they are doing next summer!

All the Boys Bottles From Those Few Days

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Cooper - My Boy Who Needs to Eat

Cooper is a boy that must always have food. We discovered this when he was a seven month old baby. He cried and didn't sleep. It was so difficult. He looked healthy enough! Seriously, the doctors saw nothing wrong with him, but he was miserable.

Then one day I gave him solid food for the first time. They say to give a couple teaspoons the first time. Yah, right! I began with that but Cooper almost ate the spoon. I kept on feeding him, until he was satisfied. That baby ate about 1.5 cups of home ground cooked rice in his first meal! And that was just the beginning. He continued to eat at this pace and has never stopped. But that night was the first time he slept properly for months!

The other day, Cooper was hungry. Cooper is always hungry. But I always say to the kids to get themselves a bun or some fruit or whatever I am offering for snack that day. But I figured it was time for Cooper to learn to make himself a sandwich, so I said, "Cooper, you can make yourself a sandwich."

He beamed. And off he went.

I expected him to make himself a Cheese-Whiz or jam sandwich. A little while later, I came in the kitchen and found Cooper with a smorgasbord. *grin*

Raine came into the kitchen while Cooper was making his snack and had a real giggle. No kidding! He was making himself a sandwich just like his dad would do for his work lunches, and he did a fine job!



Cooper is happy to know that he is now the Master Sandwich Maker and he can now make sandwiches like his Dad.
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Second Camping Trip of the Summer

Mid July

We took a few days to sneak away between the paid camping spots to a friend’s cabin site. We parked our trailer and enjoyed the break. It was so quiet and the kids enjoyed using the boat, waterslide and diving board!

Breakfast at the Lake

Our kids swimming abilities have grown exponentially this summer! At this site the children worked on their abilities to jump off the dock. From their they went to the waterslide where they had to trust their big brothers to catch them at the bottom of the slide.

I came up with a ‘level’ system to show them how they were doing. Level one was dock jumping; Level 2 was going down the slide and being dragged back with the lifejacket; Level 3 was doing the slide and having noone at the end of the slide to catch you and swimming back on their own; Level 4 was doing the diving board. Healthy competition is a good thing. Some people will disagree. I have to disagree with them. I saw how the competition pushed the children to challenge themselves. None of them went beyond their comfort levels, but they were willing to try where without someone at their heels on the level they were more inclined to rest at that spot.

Briton did this once and then never again!

Because of this:

Austin got Level 4 – jumping off the diving board.

Cooper got himself right to Level 4.5 on the diving board: jumping and doing acrobatics.

I Don't Know... It Looks Really Deep!

Raine got to Level 2.5: Slide and swimming back with noone touching her lifejacket, but not willing to slide without a brother in the water.

Savannah was Level 2: sliding with Dane catching her.

Briton was Level 1/2 *smile*. He did the slide one time and refused to do it again, but he was willing to dock jump with help.

Raine also learnt to float on her stomach and back with her lifejacket on. Savannah is not ready for this, and neither is Briton.

By the time our next two week holiday was over the kids were going so much more! Photos on the next holiday.

There was one funny incident that happened. The only boys that use the kayak are the big boys: Austin, Cassidy, Dane. At one point the big boys were out in the rowboat, and I was in the trailer and all of a sudden, I see little ole’ Cooper go kayaking past!!

He was totally in control with good use of the oars. It was so funny! At one time they thought he was going to collide with them, but he didn’t. I think he grew two inches that day. *smile*

Boys Enjoying a Quiet Reading Break

Dock Jumping

Briton "feeding" the Flowers (as he put it) With Pop

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Guns and Army Play

Trust me, I was a mother who always said my son would never play with guns. I was a new mum and was listening to those around me who were older and wiser and had been there before me. Thou shalt not play with guns became a rule in our house.

That was until the toast became a hand gun, the duplo became a machine gun, the soap a bomb. You know how it goes. Therefore, I decided they could have air rifles, so they could play cowboys and Indians and shoot snakes and bears. That was great and lasted well. Then I bought G.I. Joe type toys and lego and they became so caught up in it and had so much fun that I couldn’t very well take it away, as I could see the hours of fun and imaginative play they were having. And they weren’t being ‘violent’ per say.

Then they joined cadets. Out went any hope of stopping the military fun they were now having in the backyard! Any chance at owning camouflage gear they took it. I had a choice of stopping everything or letting it play itself out. It was hard to say no. Boys will always be boys and since the beginning of time, boys have played or used guns, swords, bows and arrows or spears to fight, defend, or play.

Therefore, I let the play continue. However, always, a part of me struggled with it. I knew I couldn’t stop them from being boys, and I *could* take away the guns, camo, cadets, and games, but did I really want to? Was I stopping them from being boys if I did?

Years ago, while in Tennessee, (or maybe before) our boys were introduced to Air Soft. This is a brand of gun play. The guns are plastic and have a regulation orange tip and they shoot plastic beads. They travel very far and very fast: up to 325 feet per second is what one of the boys guns is capable of. To buy one of these guns you need to be 16 or have a parent with you. You can shoot one if you are under 16, but you need parental approval.

For years I held out. Finally, about two years ago, when our oldest was 16 and the next 14, I allowed them to get the Air Soft guns. My big concern was that we had smaller children on the property, so as far as I was concerned there was nowhere to play with them. So, they didn’t use them. They owned them, but had nowhere to go and it was rather pointless.

But in the last year we have discovered that *all* the boys that our boys are friends with own these guns. And we are talking about nice, wholesome, Christian boys. The guns come in different powers, so they can be rather harmless, to very powerful. After having a few playdate invites and borrowing guns at their friends’ houses, I decided it was time to get with the times and allow the boys to get the guns.

One day, Cassidy and Dane decided to have a big excursion and rode their bikes to town (about 10 km) and made the big purchase. They deposited their pay cheques in the bank and then went to a couple stores to price check the guns. After they were sure which ones they wanted to purchase, they went back to the bank to get their money.

It was at the store that they discovered that they needed to have a parent with them or be 16 to buy a gun. Dane was old enough, but Cassidy wasn’t, and Dane didn’t have his ID with him. So, Ray kindly drove into town and helped them with their purchase. While there, on the sly, we bought Austin a less powerful gun. Earlier, when the boys were leaving for town he was heartbroken because he had enough money and he knew friends his age had guns and he wanted to have one too. I had told him that he would have to wait til he was twelve. Ray bought Austin’s gun and we put it away for ‘the right time’.

All three boys proceeded to collect their gear: masks, face guards, camou gear, boots. One day, Austin and Cassidy were invited to a thirteen year old friend’s house to play Air Soft for his birthday. That was Austin’s introduction to Air Soft. Considering the friends that were over were all ten to thirteen it didn’t seem right to hold Austin back. But we still didn’t rush into it.

With the boys having gun there would be rules. They are not allowed to play with the guns on the property. They have scoped out a great area near to our house where there are no houses and it has earned the nickname Snipers Point by the neighbourhood boys.

One day, the boys took their new guns to the Point to play with some friends, and Austin as allowed to go along. He was just thrilled to be allowed to go. It is off the property and my kids don’t usually traipse the neighbourhood, so this was a thrill for him. No gun or anything! But while he was there he was invited to use a friend’s gun, and so he had a ball.

He came home that night and there were no mishaps or sour stories from his older brothers, so I took note. The next time his older brothers went to play with friends, Austin was again invited to use a spare gun. Again, all went well. That night when he came home he was so happy. He told me that he would be the medic the next day because the spare gun would not be available. His contented attitude about not having a gun and being willing to be medic gave me the nudge.

I stepped into the entry hall closet and pulled out the plastic bag complete with gun and ammo and handed it to him and said, “Maybe you can use this.”

You should have seen his face. Glee. Unstoppable joy. He hugged me. He kissed me. He rubbed my arm. “Oh Mum! You said I had to be twelve!! Thank you! Thank you!!” His delight was something to see!

He has since proven himself responsible. The guns are handed to me when they come home, and I put them in my hiding place until their next exercise, at which time they gear up and go. It is quite the big deal for them!

As I was saying to my sister the other day: I remember being a kid and playing cops, robbers, and loving it. I can only imagine what fun it would have been if our guns were the type that we could shoot something out of them that didn’t kill someone, but simply made the guns seem more real!

And typical boys, one day they decided to dress up their littlest brother. He thought it was great fun.

Now my disclaimer: I know that not everyone will like or agree with boys playing with guns. Each to their own. And I don’t take gun play or violence lightly. My second oldest son has World War II army games for Playstation. He gets to use them *sparingly*. The children in line behind him will *not* ever get to use them. They might come across games like that at some time in their life and they may use them, but I will not be buying any such games, and my son’s games will not be shared by younger brothers. I will not stop the Air Soft, and I will allow the Cadets, but I will not encourage another one of my sons to go into the military by allowing them to spend too much time on that pastime. And also, the games the son has are not blood showing games. Those will never be okay in my house.

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Daniel Boone and the Bear

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in the livingroom doing some work, when I heard the back door slam, and Dane ask Briton what was wrong.

Apparently, Dane had heard Briton running up to the backdoor. He had been literally panting as he flew through the backdoor, turned and slammed the deadbolt shut.

"Bar, Bar." (bear)

He came running into the livingroom, with Dane close behind, with a look of utter panic on his face. I got up and figuring he must mean there was a big dog in our yard, picked him up and went to the backdoor, and asked him to show me where he saw the bear. We stepped out the door with Dane following, and headed around the side of the house.

I walked up the side of the house carrying Briton and there before me (about 14 feet from me) was a black bear.


I stopped dead in my tracks and simply turned and walked quickly back to the house, all the while telling Dane to "Get in the house!!!!"

I didn't clue in til later that there are two ways to handle bears:

1) if it is not showing signs of aggression then you *do not* turn your back, but walk slowly and calmly away from the bear. Do not move quickly!

Or 2) If it is aggressive then you make lots of noise and raise up your arms, while backing away slowly. Do not move quickly!

Okay, so I did the wrong thing. We moved quickly and we turned our backs! As I slipped into the house I noticed that Dane was not coming in with me. Warrior that he is, he had picked up a large stick and was about to go back into the yard to chase the bear away!!! Uhhh, NO!! I got him into the house and once I had the doors locked I got the kids to grab the phone, while I grabbed my camera! How many times do you get a bear in your yard?

(Actually, we have been the 'lucky' recipients of bear visits ten times! *laugh* Once a male bear knocked over our 5 foot chest freezer and stole our baskets of berries! He was huge!! The conservation officer came and trapped him and got rid of him. Another one reared up her head and stood at my window, while I sat a mere three feet away at a desk! That was freaky!!! That was while I lived in a trailer with four tiny children, while building one of our houses. She subsequently visited three more times with her babies before she and her cubs were caught, but not before they smashed in a windshield to get the lunchbox that was in the front seat of a car. And I was newly moved from the city!)

I called the police and told them I had a bear in my yard. They gave me the number to the conservation officer and I called him. He told me there was probably no worries about it, as there were often bear sightings. I could tell he was a pencil pusher!! *laugh* We are residential and this bear showed no fear of humans!

Shortly after, another local conservation officer that actually gets out in the field called me and asked for my location. I told him the bear had now left our yard and was heading north. About an hour later, he called me to tell me that he had found the bear and had to shoot it. It was actually a male bear of 3-4 years, not fearful of humans, in the least (he had approached it and it did not startle at all), was showing signs of aggression, and was eating out of garbage cans. Those are the worst kind, apparently.

The irony of this situation is that Briton has this fear of bears. Every night when I put him to bed he always makes sure the closet light is on because of 'bears'. He has never even seen a bear, until this bear incident, but for some reason he has a fear of them. So it is totally ironic that he should be the one to meet up with a bear.

We talked about how he had handled the situation and then he went out and showed me what he had done. He had been out at the log cabin playing when he had seen the bear. The bear was between him and the house. Briton was a smart little boy!! He ran down the fence line all the way past the garage and then cut around the back of the garage and up to the house to the back door. When I was having him show me, I asked him if he cut between the house and the garage and he said no. He had continued on down the fence line to stay as far from the bear as possible. I was very impressed to see how wisely he thought! Fear might have made him simply run past the bear to the house, but he didn't. And I am sure because of this he is safe today. So we are very thankful.

Briton tells me he is Daniel Boone cause he is not scared of bears. The funny thing is that after this incident, for a couple weeks, Briton thought bears were wonderful. No more fear of bears. Actually, I think to him, they were just big teddy bears. But then the childish fear came back and the closet light had to stay on, again.

You Are Only As Old As You Feel

I am about to talk about a subject that most of the parents of the Ethiopian children that I have met have encountered. This is a topic that seems to be either discussed very openly or is totally taboo. It depends on each person. For us it is an open topic that has come up repeatedly over the last year. It will continue to surface as time passes by and the girls bring it up or life throws it at us.

What is it?

The real ages of our children.

Often times I have been to a person’s adoption blog and they say that their child is such and such and age, and it is clear to any observer’s eye that the child is years older than they are claiming. It doesn’t affect any of us that are reading the blog, but it does seem curious that a person would hang onto something that is clearly different than they state.

Why would a person do that?

Perhaps for the same reason that we did. *smile* I am sure there are many reasons. One of my reasons was because I didn’t want my daughters to be older than they were supposed to be. They were referred as three and four year old girls, and for that you assume you will be mothering and nurturing tiny little girls.

Our referral was for girls 0-4 and 0-7, and when I heard the first was four years old, I assumed the second must be one or two years old. Yet, she was three years old. When friends and strangers saw the referral pictures they immediately told me they thought the girls were older. Except for with a close friend, who had experience in this regard, I denied the possibility. I said they just looked older because they had no hair. But I figured they were probably right, and they were at least a year older than their referral stated.

To be brutally honest, as much as I came to love my children, a tiny piece of my heart was saddened because I did not have a tiny one to bring up. The ironic thing is that when we began our referral process the request was for one child 18-30 months. In the end, we ended up with two very unbabylike, but wonderful not-so-little girls.

Therefore, that is why I kept denying that my girls were older than they were ‘supposed to be’. Even with this going on it never left my mind – this question as to how old they really were?

Some might say it doesn’t matter. For them they might be right. For me, I wanted to know. At least I wanted to try to get an idea. I have kept my interest in knowing more about how old they are under my hat, as far as the girls are concerned, but I *have* asked Raine a few times how old she thinks she is. This has come up because she has divulged information that contradicts how old we were told she is. Each time she has been given the gentle opportunity to ‘spill it’, if she knows she is older, she has stuck to ‘six’. No other answer.

For the last year, I have come to know our girls quite well. I would dare to say that I know them very well, but there are still areas that noone can know for some time yet. Areas that they keep hidden. Little vulnerabilities.

One such vulnerability came to light not so long ago. A friend was visiting and she had adopted Raine’s best friend, Fikru. Upon meeting Fikru’s mum for the first time she proceeded to ask, “How old is Fikru?”

When his mum told her how old he was and then asked her how old she was, Raine replied, “Seven.”

This was the first time she had shared this thought with anyone.

When my friend asked her why she told her mum she was five she stated, “My mum wants me to be five, so I am five.”

Later, when Raine and I discussed her admission, she broke down into tears. In her innocence, it had not crossed her mind that my friend would share her conversation with me! The long and short of it was that Raine had never told me that she suspected she was older because she 'didn’t want to get put back in Ethiopia.’ She figured we wanted a younger child because we had told her when we met her that she was four. After all, we were told she was four, so we presumed this information to be correct!

As it stands, many children in Ethiopia have any idea how old they are! If they are born at home, as our girls were, or in an area where they don’t take them to church to baptize them, or if they have no calendar, or if their parents are illiterate, then there is little way to ensure a birthdate. And each of these were scenarios that our girls experienced.

Raine had no clue how old she was, until upon entering the orphanage, she was told that she was four and her sister three years of age. A teacher at the second orphanage told them they were five and seven years, and that is what Raine held on to. And then our referral came with the original admission from her mother of three and four years of age. When I met the girls in Ethiopia that first day I asked them how old they were.

Her answer? ‘Five and seven.’

How very confusing for a child! No wonder she didn’t want to share what she thought!

The wonderful thing was that now this was shared with me I was able to tell her that no matter if she was a very short fourteen year old, she wasn’t going back! She was our daughter and we didn’t care how old she was!

We discussed her confusion and she told me that she really wanted to know. Was she five, six, seven, eight, or nine? Seriously, at times I have joked that talking to her is like talking to a ten year old!

I told her there were ways we could get an ‘idea’, but nothing concrete. She told me she was interested in finding out the best guess on her age.

So many of her stories didn't line up with her age, and we know she has a picture of her sister and herself when Savannah was a crawling baby and Raine a walking child (not toddler) that make us suspect that there is more than one year between them.

We have observed Raine’s development, wisdom, maturity, and behaviour for the last year. Close friends and family have spent ample time with her, and we have visited with other Ethiopian children that are supposed to be her age, and it is clear to us that Raine is not five years old turning six.

Savannah was the hardest one to figure out because developmentally she struggles. Her English is far behind Raine, and we have discussed at great lengths if it is English as a second language that is her problem, or if she has a receptive or expressive language delay. We can’t be sure. So further testing is going to happen at some point in the near future.

But in the last two months I have had opportunities to see other four and five year old Ethiopian children, plus spent time camping with a six year old little girl, and then had my six year old niece visiting us this summer. Since the girls have come to us, Savannah has grown in leaps and bounds when it comes to her abilities, as well as her size. It wasn’t until the last two months that I have been certain that she is not four turning five. Even in Edmonton this summer, there were three other mums with little girls from Ethiopia that are in the same age range as Savannah is supposed to be, and all of us pondered and discussed and went back and forth based on her size and her abilities. No one could be certain as to what they thought.

While we were camping this summer, I had the wonderful blessing of meeting another family that live near my friend S, in Edmonton! They also have an adorable little six-year-old girl who was adopted. It was so wonderful for Raine to meet her first adopted friend, and to make it better, this little girl was also a different colour than her family. She is a part Native child. We spent about five days visiting and camping beside each other and her mom had plenty of opportunity to observe Savannah. This was significant because her mom is a Special Needs teacher in a public school and is used to observing children. Her assessment at the end of the week? The girls are six and eight years old.

Hmmm.

We went home and I was ready to take my head out of the sand and admit they were one and two years older than I thought.

I made an appointment at the dentist to have a panoramic x-ray done of the girls’ mouths. This is the first of two x-rays that will help us get closer to determining their ages. I understand that the x-rays are quite accurate with their lower age, but they might be short on the top ages.

The results of the x-ray said that Savannah is between five years old (not four as she is supposed to be) and six years old. She has a birthday coming up in November and she should be turning five. As I said, it is quite possible based on the x-ray that she is even six already. She is a little more complicated because she honestly struggles with comprehension of the language and her cognitive skills continue to stay behind Briton, who is turning 5 in January. So to turn her six might be to her disadvantage because of her delays. For that reason, for the time being, we will just leave her as turning five.

Right now, she is not talking about how old she is; she is simply being a little girl and playing. This will buy us time to see how she does over the next year. Her disadvantage is that she is so much taller than other four turning five year olds, and so really, she can't be in their age classes at gymnastics and age segregated groups. Thankfully she is homeschooled so that takes some of the pressure off of her.

Raine’s x-ray was harder to tell. The dentist pinpointed her as being between seven and eight years old. She is supposed to be five turning six. The reason it was hard to tell was that she was malnourished for longer and much more so, than her sister ever was. Malnourishment can make a big difference in the teeth and the bones. Her history of growing height and weight wise so slowly is evidence of this.

So when Raine has her birthday in September she will turn seven and not six. We have discussed this with her and she is *so* savvy that at times we think we are dealing with a ten year old. People have even suggested she could easily be nine years old. Therefore, this is her decision. She will turn seven, and we will watch her over the next year, and if we feel it will benefit her then she will turn nine next year and not eight. The dentist has already written down that his assumption is that she will be turning eight this month. So he is ahead of us by a year.

The unfortunate thing is that this will not help her when she needs to prove legally that she is older than her paperwork states. Most places in our lives I do not have to show a birth certificate, but there will be times. Such as drinking and driving. *smile* And honestly, how many parents would love an extra year or two before their child has the right to take the wheel!?

If we get to Ethiopia we will do our best to see if we can track down some official documents that show her age, but if they are not birth certificates it will not help us any! We have a friend whose dentist proved his age and they later found his baptismal record (which lined up with the dentist’s age) but it was not accepted as proof, as it was not the birth certificate.

So what is the point of doing it then? Well, if a child clearly looks twelve and is being called ten, or clearly eight and is being called five, it is in their best interest to be grouped with children or in classes where their abilities are challenged! Raine is a quick learner easily fits in with my eight year old niece and my friend’s nine year old niece. Both girls had no clue Raine was younger than them when they were asked her age!!

So there you be. *smile*

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First Days of School

Well, school is back in session. Part of the reason I have been absent. I have not only been busy with that, but I have been taking my blog down off the internet and publishing it into our own table top coloured book. We are all thrilled with the turnout. It is a fantastic company called www.blurb.com - the prices are reasonable and the quality is excellent. So that took me about three weeks to do. I had three blogs to bring down!

And here are a few pictures of our back to school sessions:

Menus and Schedules

Initiated into Running Laps
Right now he thinks it is great fun! *grin*

Cassidy Cooking Dinners

Kindergarten Begins

Now THAT is a Dictionary! Websters 1828

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Happy Birthday to Our Girls

Happy Birthday to Our Girls! We are so happy they are with us. Every day we get to know them more and more and we are so blessed to have these girls as our daughters.
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Neat Night Shots

Extensions

(Click on the photos to get a closer look if you want to see how the braids are done).

When I was in Edmonton, I met a little girl who had extensions in her hair. I would never have known it was not all her hair. Her mum told me that a kind lady at her church did her hair for her.

As soon as I got home I got to thinking that I would love to do extensions in Raine’s hair. So when I headed to the ‘bigger city’ one day I began looking for extensions. It turned out that the salon’s all had only real hair and it was $75 an hour minimum to put extensions in. The drugstores didn’t even carry extensions and Walmart and those kind of stores only had colourful stuff that I was not looking for.

Finally, one lady suggested I go to the dollar store. And so I did. $3 later I was equipped with enough hair to do both girls!

I came home and cut it off the combs that were attached. This was so that you could simply hook it into your own hair. I then lay the ‘$1 a hairpiece’ hair out on the table.

Next, I took those tiny little black elastics that you get at the dollar store. They cost $1 for about 300 – 1000 of them. I ran the comb from ear to ear and made a division of Raine’s head. I then continued doing divisions parallel to this about 3/4” apart towards the back and then again towards the front. This way I ended up with many little rows.

I then took each row and using the end of the comb I divided those rows into sections. So now each section was a square, or as near as I could get to one. As I did each section I would put it in a little elastic to secure it at the base. When I was done the whole head I had tons of tiny pony tails all over her head. This kept it neat for when I was going to attach the extensions.

The other way to do this is to divide into rows starting at the front of the head – the bangs. Run the row from side to side. Then divide the opposite way, so that you have little squares. Then put elastics on. And then put on the extensions. This way you are only working with a small amount of the head at a time.

Now to put the extension in is a hard thing to explain, but I will try. One day I might get a video up. One day...

First: you have a tiny little sectioned pony tail.

2nd: Decide how long you want the extension to be. If you want it shorter, then you have to fold the extension in half. If you want it longer then you make a fold about two or so inches down from one end.

3rd: Lay the extension on the tiny pony tail. Have the long part running *down* towards the bottom of the ponytail, and the shorter part lying up to the top, up laying on the head.

4th: Take an elastic band and join the extension and the pony tail. You will have to do this *behind* the elastic that is holding the pony tail on the head. This way it will hold the elastic more securely against the head. Now you will have a funny looking connection. You will see that an extension is running *up* (or down, however you look at it) and doesn't look like it can turn into anything pretty. But it will.

5th: Now you will take the upper part of the extension (the part *above* the elastic band) and fold it down to connect / join with the lower part of the extension and the tiny pony tail. You will now have a group of three parts of hair: two pieces of extension (one may be longer than the other, depending on how you chose to make your extension length) and one pony tail.

6th: You now will gently blend the three groups of hair to make it look more natural. At this point, you will now begin to braid the three parts.

If your extension upper and lower are the same length, then the blend will be quite even. If you have the lower longer than the upper, then you will find that after you braid the hair you will see that the upper part of the completed braid is a bit thicker than the lower. But overall, in time, you will see that the braids blend.

Raine's extensions were done longer and you could see a change from the upper braid to where it was purely the extension. With Savannah's hair the extensions were equal in length on both sides of the joining elastic, and therefore the braid stayed pretty equal all the way to the end. Either way, they honestly looked really nice and people always thought they were real! People that new them knew they were fake but commented how authentic they looked. As time went by and they got a big messier (on Raine because she has more hair) they actually looked more like locks and she constantly got compliments from strangers, as well as friends.

All I can say is, Raine’s hair was not long, and Savannah’s even shorter. I was told that a tad shorter than my girls’ hair would have stayed in for a couple weeks. Perhaps they would have fallen out? Well, Savannah had hers removed by choice about a week ago. Raine still has hers in, by choice, and will leave them in until the bitter end. She loves having long hair and does not want it short again. She has now had them in for 8 weeks! And only one extension fell out. There is no sign of them falling out. Period! I will have to remove them when they are too messy.

And speaking of messy. When they were first done the braids were tight and the little sections were clear and I thought they looked ‘right’. Well, the funny thing is that as time has gone by and Raine’s hair has grown at the roots (about 1 inch now) and the hair that is braided around the extension has unraveled slightly, it has grown ‘together’ more and actually looks more authentic!

You can no longer see the distinct sections and when it is pulled back into a ponytail it looks totally neat and real. Now, my Mum saw Raine about a week ago, and she forgot about the extensions, as she had not seen her for a few weeks. She was about to say, “Raine, your hair has sure grown,” when she remembered that it was fake hair! Her opinion, even though Raine’s hair was down out of a ponytail and somewhat straggly that day, was that it looked very real and just like braids should. And that is coming from someone that is very observant and I would think would be the first to see it was fake looking. So I am impressed!

So now, there is no excuse to not give your own daughter’s extensions, if they want them! They are cheap and if you do it my way, they last forever! Plus, apparently, with extensions you are not supposed to wash or condition them? That is what I heard. Well, I condition my girls scalps and leave the conditioner in there for 5 minutes at a time and no complaints. Plus, I also heard that extensions are itchy. My girls never complain of itchy scalps. And finally, Raine used to struggle with her hair because it is so thick. It was either worked through daily, or the days in between conditioning, when we were home, were left and not dealt with – giving her a messy look. Now, she is always looking tidy. So I must have found a great way to do it! Happy girls: Happy Mum!

UPDATE: I wrote this post in the summer. It is now October. Raine had her braids in for just over two months. I had no reason to take them out, but felt it was time for a fresh look. As the hair gets a little messier what I would do is wet it down, condition it, rinse it and then pull it into a pony tail. For care of the extensions: I would simply do what I did when it was loose: wet, condition and rinse. People tell me you aren't supposed to wash or do things with extensions. Well, this is not true of my extensions. My girls had their heads/real hair conditioned regularly. They also swam all summer with the extensions.


When I eventually took out the extensions, Raine had a *tiny* amount of build up from the not wonderful rinsings, but seriously, barely enough to see. So I think this was quite successful.
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Boys and Dirty Feet

My children bath. I promise they do. Actually, in the summer time they bath every day, and when they come in and go upstairs for quiet time, they stop and wash their feet in the downstairs shower.

And to top this off, they don't even go around the yard in barefeet. I would love them to do this, but I really don't like to *scrub* feet - add it up, I would be scrubbing 10 little feet!!! So they wear crocs. But crocs let in dirt. So their feet get dirty.

And you know, noone is looking at their toes when they are hiding in crocs, so when their toe nails begin to look a little grubby, it can slip by me. Especially, when we have been camping and I haven't been diligent about their toenails.

But still, I say, I *do* scrub their feet.

You wouldn't think it by the pictures I am about to show you!

Tonight, I was busy and I had told the kids to get ready for bed. The boys ran through the shower base and 'washed' their feet. I went upstairs and brushed their teeth. I was just leaning down to kiss Briton and tuck him into bed, when Cooper's feet walked by the end of the mattress.

ACK!!!

"You can't go to gymnastics with feet like that!!" I burst out.

"You mean I can't go to gymnastics!" His eyes filled with big alligator tears and spilled down his cheeks. Cooper is my puppy dog eyes little boy. Big topaz coloured eyes, freckles, and copper coloured hair. So adorable!

"No! It means we will have to *scrub* them. Go get the toe nail clippers, the scrub brush and go get in the shower. Sit down and scrub!"

Off he went to do as he was told. A little while later, he arrived back to me with the toe nails looking just about as bad. His big brother showed up at the same time, so I decided to enlist his help.

"Dane can you scrub this boy's toe nail?" Dane did not look impressed, but he knew I had leverage because he wanted to use his computer games that night, therefore he willingly went.

Moments later, they both arrived back with Cooper grinning and showing me his spotless toenails. Dane laughed as he told me that instead of using the nail brush to scrub his brother's feet, he had used the harsh scrubbing brush. Well, it did the trick.

A Little Red From the Scrubbing

And then I looked down at *AUSTIN'S* feet!!! YIKES!!!!!! Now THAT child I *d0 not* scrub, and yes, they are usually clean when he goes to bed, but as I said, tonight I was busy.


Time to enlist Dane again!

Beginning the Process on Austin's Feet

Cooper's comment when it was all done?

"My toes look like girl's toes, they're so clean!" *grin* Boys! Gotta love 'em!
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Update on Colt

The morning after Colt left we texted back and forth a few times and he let me know how things were going. He had decided to take a night in a town about 4 hours from us. He had arrived early in the morning and spent the day finding a campsite, checking out the town, and simply enjoying being on the road. I had offered him one night in a hotel, in case he was tired and wanted a good rest before tackling the rest of his journey (remember the most he had ever driven before was 1 hour and that was on an automatic car, not a standard as he just bought). His reply was - thanks, but no thanks, I want to sleep in my car. *smile*

Here are parts of a couple of his messages:

Hey Mum, I drove to just outside of R., after I had a little nap in S. I found a campground that was free to stay at for the night. It's really nice and it's by a little creek.... Tomorrow I'm going to sleep in and just take my time and then I'll head to Banff in the afternoon. I love you. Have a good night and please don't be worried about me. I'll be fine.

~~~

My night was better than I thought it would be. I wasn't that cold at all, and I only used one of my blankets. I slept in til ten thirty cuz it was so quiet. I was the only one there. Then I listened to music and watched the T.V. I had a good time.

(I had sent my little dvd player along with him and he watched an old series of Hawaii 5-0, as that was the only series I could spare him. *grin*)

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I have been very good about not calling him. *smile* I will not call for a while. I want him to have the freedom to feel his independence. At the same time, I am so thankful to have texting! We communicated in the morning, when he was arriving after the first four hour drive, and then the following night.

He had told me he would be arriving in Banff yesterday, and he should have been there by about 5:00 pm, and I had not heard from him by 8:30 and I was mildly concerned. Very mildly, because I feel so sure that this is a trip that he is meant to take and I know that God's hand is upon him. But, every so often I would think, "Where is that boy?" *smile*

I have to tell you, it was sweet that the first thing my hubby asked when he arrived home from work was, "So, did Colt get to Banff?" Usually, he is not the big checker-upper on children. *smile* Then, throughout last evening from 7:00 - 8:30, Dane would ask me if I had heard from Colt. You could see the whole family was feeling like we had sent Christopher Columbus out into the big wide ocean. *grin* Truly!

Finally, when the phone rang at 8:35, I called for Cassidy to bring the phone, because I was reading to the small children. Cassidy said that Austin was already on it. *smile* They all were anxious to see what Colt had to say on his newest text, and ran to listen.

Hey Mum, sorry it took me so long to text. It took me forever to find a campsite, but the only one I could find cost me $10 a night. But there's also showers. The driving from Revelstoke to Banff was very scenic but the drive seemed to take so much longer than yesterday. Tomorrow morning after I get a good rest I'm going to head up to the hotel and talk to them about getting the job. Pray that everything works out and I get the job. I love you and I hope everything's going alright at home. I'll try and call you sometime tomorrow. Most likely after I talk to the hotel. I better go now cuz I'm really tired and I want to get up early. So have a good night, Mum. Bye

~~~

As I hear updates from Colt, I will post some of them here, as I have people asking me what is happening with him. I am very excited for him and pray that the desires of his heart are met. I have a feeling that the employment office will not be open until Monday, which means we may not hear anything more job-wise until then. Please be praying for God to show His will for Colt. We are also praying that he can find a good church in Banff, as that is one of his desires. A church where he can join a youth group and meet some friends.
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In the Cradle of God's Hand

I serve an amazing God. His heart of compassion is outstanding. The night that Colt was to leave was difficult. I knew that once he was gone it would be easier, but it was the buildup to his leaving that was so hard.

While waiting for the final hours to pass I had friends praying for me and Colt. I have heard the expression, "I could feel your prayers."

I have never been able to say that before. I can now.

My heart just settled into a place of peace that evening, and when Colt came home with his brothers about 9:30 pm (before he took off for his road trip), I was settled. For the next four hours, and then in the night when I got up to see him off, I had no tears. And I am so very thankful for that. I really did not want Colt to be sent off with me looking sad. I wanted him to know that I celebrated his new place in life. And I do!

It was quite funny actually, because at about 10:30 pm when Colt was packing up the last of his things, he said he was under such pressure. "I have so much to do! I have to clean this room. I have to get everything packed. I can't forget anything. And then I have to deal with all of you feeling so bad about me going."

To his last statement, I laughed. It was so sweet to see his concern for everyone's sadness. I was able to say that, "Don't worry about that! We are all fine!" I know this reassured him. He asked me if I wanted to say goodbye now, or if I would be okay in the middle of the night. I told him I would be fine in the early AM. I wouldn't break into tears. *smile*

I knew my friends prayers had worked. I felt so at peace with my boy going.

Now to show you further how good God is: Colt and I had talked about ordering Caller ID for his cell phone, so that he would know if I had called, and then he could call back. I knew that I had to call the cell company, but I was busy and I knew it would be a few days before I got around to it.

The evening following Colt's early morning departure, Ray came into the kitchen and told me I would be getting a text message any time. He said this with a smile on his face. I was curious what he was talking about. He told me that our cell phone company had called a few minutes ago, and offered us Voice Mail, Caller ID, and Unlimited Texting.

I was surprised. I had never heard the phone ring, and I have never had the company call in the ten years we have dealt with them!!!!

And to top it off, we got our phones (Colt and I) in March, and Ray knew that I rarely used my phone, so it was a bit of a waste of money. He didn't complain, but he knew it was costing us about $35 a month, simply for me to have it when I went out a few times a month. And then not that long ago, I added Canada Wide long distance to it, so that the five friends on my plan can have free phone calls from anywhere in Canada. Well, that added to the bill, so honestly, for someone that rarely uses their cell phone, it can seem a bit of a waste of money.

So you can see why I was so pleasantly surprised to find my husband had so sweetly put on these extra options, so that my son would not be too far from home. And I could see his pleasure in doing this for me.

And I see the hand of God in the fact that our cell phone company has *never* called and offered us any kind of change in programming in ten years! Not only that, but they called the day Colt left, before I even had a chance to deal with the job myself.

God is so compassionate!

And to top all this off, I had a friend call me and ask me if I wanted to go see a movie on Friday night. This was the day after Colt left. I have only gone to the movie with her one other time, and it wasn't until this writing of this blog that I realized the timing of her invite. It was just the right movie to make me laugh! It was a wonderful movie: Julie and Julia.

After the show, as I was driving to pick up Cassidy from Cadets, I saw a sign posted on the big billboard out front of the Cadet hall. I have seen messages there before, but they have never spoken to my heart. Today's message did. It was a message just for me. *smile*

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart.

My God is an awesome God. He knows my heart. He knows my love of my son. And He knows that I released him to do great things. But He also knows that it was hard for me and because of this, He reached down and cradled me in His hand.

He heals the brokenhearted. Psalm 147: 3a
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted. Isaiah 61:1

Thank you, Lord.
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July 1st

The kids had a blast at the July 1^st celebration.

There was water fights with soggy balls of wool.

And then the older boys got into the horse and rider egg fight. One rider would ride a horse and the horse would have an egg tied to his forehead. The opposite rider’s job was to whack the egg with a foam noodle and crack the egg.

It was hilarious when Austin rode Cassidy because of his size. He was the only rider that was actually thrown from his horse, simply because he was too small to handle his mount. *smile*

At one point, while we were watching the boys have their egg fight the younger ones got into a rolling good time. They started wrestling Austin for his shoe. I think they had as much fun on that activity as some of the planned games!

Isn't There Something Else We Can Do?

Now This is More Fun!

I've Got Austin's Shoe!

Okay, Enough With the Shoe Fight!

Run Cooper!

And then there was the wall.

Austin was so light that when he threw himself at the Stickie Wall he kept falling off.

Cassidy, on the other hand, was heavy enough that he stuck perfectly and had a hard time peeling himself down! It reminded me of a fly getting stuck on fly paper.

When I gave the kids each a cotton candy it was interesting to see that the girls did not like theirs and the boys did. Perhaps it is the lack of candy in their diet while growing up? Our boys don’t get a lot of candy, but they will take any that is being offered!

Over all a good time was had by every one.

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The Hardest Thing

This last week has been the toughest one in my parenting life. I knew this day was coming. I have known it for the last few years. Actually, I suppose I have known it since he was born.

But really, it was not until this last year that it has been creeping up on me in such a way that I knew I couldn't get away from it.

My firstborn son is leaving.

My heart is breaking.

When he went to Vernon last summer for six weeks, it caused me to cry at the airport. Me, who rarely ever shows emotion. I was surprised at myself. I think I knew our time together was getting short. Then this summer, he went to Ontario for five weeks. I knew that the end was near, but this time I held strong. While he was gone, I loved our chats on the phone, and it was fine. Fine, because I knew he was coming home again.

But when he came home from Ontario, I began getting emotional. It didn't take much. Just thinking of him leaving the nest was enough to draw tears. Then thankfully, he began working for his dad again, and for the last four weeks he has been hanging out, and I took it for granted he would be here for a while.

Then boom! The news dropped.

Last week, he told me he would be leaving for Vancouver, this Thursday (tomorrow). But worse than just leaving, he was planning on enlisting in the army. I know I said I was strong for this and trusting the Lord, but wait til it actually happens. I still trust the Lord, but it doesn't make it very much easier to say goodbye!

Your firstborn baby boy tells you he is leaving home. It is not as simple as thinking of all the good things he is about to do, and that you have prepared him for this day. It is so much more.

It is about all the things you think about: no more cooking him dinner, no more seeing him popping into the house, no more being there for him on a daily basis, no more spontaneous chats. Wishing I had spent more time sitting around gabbing with him about things that mattered to him. Knowing I had wasted so much time, being busy.

Now it is about seeing him when he wants to come home - if he can come home. This might seem trite, but trust me, until you have been here, you will *not* understand. I thought it would be fine. Easy shmeasy. Hey, it's all part of growing up right? Right. Wrong! It is hard. So hard.

This last few days I have dissolved into tears so many times. At the drop of a hat. At the thought of his last meal. Seeing him do laundry and knowing it wouldn't happen anymore. Watching him pack his car.

His Loaded Car

I cannot believe the weeping mess I have been.

But I love my son. He is an amazing young man. He has overcome so many hurdles in life. Each challenge he has turned into a triumph and I am so proud of him.

He is now the baby bird perched on the edge of the nest, and yes, he is about to raise up his strong young wings, and then plunge from the nest and soar out there into the world. And he will do well. He is prepared for this. This is something that I have been preparing him for for the last eighteen years.

And the 'sick' irony of it is what I have passed on to him! *weak smile*

I had/have a heart for adventure. I have raised my boys hearing me rave about my wonderful adventures backpacking solo around Europe and Mexico, and working in Banff, Alberta, for a year. Plus, of course, my exciting Road Trips!

Well, wouldn't you know. I have inspired my son to do the same sort of thing! I should be pleased. And yes, honestly, I am very pleased. Gee, if I, a 19 year old girl, could take on the world, then I guess an 18 year old guy can do the same thing. I seriously don't know how my parents survived me doing it though! *smile*

Colt's plans are not exactly the kind that would make a mother feel reassured. *smile* What would I like? Well, I guess if he told me he was going to get a regular job or go to college, get an apartment and a car, then I would feel satisfied. It would feel safe. Right?

It didn't actually turn out that way and I am partly to blame. *grin* See, Colt has been such an exceptional young man his whole life. Even when he was six years old, I would say he was a man in a boy's body. He had such a mind for working like a man. And he had integrity, loyalty, honestly, responsibility - and many other excellent character traits. Yes, I will admit, he also tried me sorely. He is a born leader and that is why he makes such an amazing RSM at his cadet corp! School was always so hard for him, but he attacked it and graduated with an 81% average!

So, when he began talking of going into the army and taking his Bachelors Degree, I suggested he take a year off and have some fun. He has been working in construction part time, and in later years, full time, since he was twelve years old. I felt it was time he simply relaxed and had some fun, while learning to live on his own.

So my suggestion to him was to apply to the Banff Springs Hotel, the hotel I worked at when I was nineteen years old.

Me, as a Night Maid at the Banff Springs

He loved the idea. Dane and the little boys and I, stopped in at the hotel when we were travelling through the area last year. Dane thought it looked like a fabulous place to work.

But Colt did not put in his application weeks ago when he should have. He didn't put it in until two nights ago when he and I sat up til 12:30 am finishing his cover letter and resume and uploading it to the site. They say that you can expect to hear from them in 2-3 weeks. Well, that is a little late, since he is leaving for Banff tomorrow (3 days later!).

So where is he going? Well, he bought a new car. A cute little car. I would love to see him driving a safe tank, *grin*, but this little matchbox car is what he bought. And on top of that, he didn't even drive standard until this week, when he bought the car.


He is heading to Banff, with no job lined up, planning on having a road trip. Where you ask is he intending on sleeping? In his car. And no, his car is not very big. But hey, that is what makes it an adventure, doncha know?

Testing Out the Trunk Room

Note to self: lay off the exciting stories of my adventurous youth!! *grin*

Austin (10) is already talking about how excited he is about when he can leave for his 'adventure'. At least, Colt has chosen my youth of travelling and not partying, instead!!

Tomorrow morning at 3:00 am (he had to choose 3:00 am, just so I had one more thing to think about), he heads out on his first long road trip. Up to this time, he has only driven the most of an hour.

Repeat to Self: He will be fine. He will be fine.

My prayer is that God will show Colt favour, and he will get the job he has applied for in Banff and he does not have to sleep in his car for many days! He made a point of getting his hair cut yesterday, so he would look professional when he applied for work. I wonder if he has forgotten that you can't shower in a car? *grin*

I am truly excited for Colt and know that this is simply a transition that I have to go through. I *will* get through it. *smile* But my kids have lately had a real good lesson in showing your emotions!! They are not used to seeing me show tears of any sort, so it has been good for them to see that Mummies have feelings too!

We had lots of fun tonight with last minute preparations for Colt's departure. I made Colt lasagne as that is a dinner he really enjoys. The children made goodbye cards for him and prepared gift ideas. And then before dinner, we took a bunch of pictures of the kids together. They had a lot of fun and it was a nice, memorable, non-emotional way to send him off.

My Two Biggest Boys.... Now

... And Now

Biggest and Littlest Sons

My Boy

Do you think that Briton knows that he is an important member of the family? *grin* He is such a ham. While the other children were obediently getting ready for bed, or watching us take some last minute Mum, Dad, Colt pictures Briton kept us company. He knows he is the apple of Colt (and everyone else's) eye! Click on the picture to see his hammy face! :o)

Each of the children have had a chance to go for a drive in Colt's car this week. Colt came into the house tonight before dinner, and told me he would be taking Dane and Cassidy out to Tim Horton's this night, after they had dropped in at the Youth Group. He then went on to tell me that he had taken his brothers for donuts different times in the week when he was chauffering them around in his new car. He was quite pleased with himself, knowing that he had been such a good brother, making time for each child to have a ride in his car.

I then pointed silently at Austin, who was washing dishes. Because you see, Colt had missed one child. Colt laughed and shook his head, and then proceeded to ask Austin if he wanted to go to town to get a donut. Of course, Austin was thrilled.


Colt had bought his car just last week, and we had paid the insurance because he had not got enough money with him. He was going to pay us back, so it was a nice surprise tonight to find it written in his card that his car insurance bill was cancelled.



Dane then gave Colt $50 for a tank of gas - and Dane doesn't work that often, so that was a huge gesture on his part.



And Cassidy gave Colt a Tim Horton's card with $25 loaded on it, so he can have food when he gets hungry.


He also attached a picture of himself, Colt, and Dane from many years ago. They were covered in paint and acting like monkeys.

Just Like Boys

The littles all signed the cards and at the last minute ran and got photos to give Colt.


This was rather humourous because we had all put a photo of Colt in his cards. Austin walks in with three pictures of himself at various ages, so that Colt wouldn't forget him! *big grin*


Cooper was as pleased as punch at Colt's reaction to the picture he found to give Colt - a picture of Colt holding a great big toad! *grin* Colt had great memories of that frog incident!

Colt, Frog, Dane, Cassidy

As we ate Colt's favourite dinner (lasagne) each person prayed one thing for Colt's life while he was gone.


It was so sweet to hear the prayers that were laid at God's feet for Colt's care:

Austin - He wouldn't get in a car accident.
Raine - Thank you that Colt is here for dinner with us before he goes.
Cassidy - God would keep Colt safe.
Briton - Not to hit a guy's car.
Mum - That Colt would find favour and get the job he wants.
Cooper - That Colt would not get lost.
Dane - He would find a church and a youth group.
Ray - Colt would be safe, and no texting while driving.
Savannah - That he would not crash.



After dinner each person gave Colt a piece of advice:

Briton: Don't miss package time. (birthdays)
Ray: Save some gas money to come home for Christmas/ Don't sleep in your car.
(we all had a laugh at this one, since those are his plans.)
Dane: My advice is make friends while you're down there.
Cooper: Not to drink while you're driving or eat while you're driving. Don't drink alcohol. Don't start the habit.
Austin: Don't get the wrong group that starts you going to bars.
Mum: No cell phones while driving, and come home.
Raine: To go to Church on Sundays.
Savannah: Don't crash some peoples you're driving when you're not looking at somebody.
Cassidy: Listen to mum's advice.

At the end of the night, after dinner was done, gifting giving was finished, I realized that Briton had not had a ride in Colt's car. Colt buckled him in and took him for a spin around the block. He thought he was going for a 'done dut' (donut), but was quickly satisfied to discover that though he wasn't going with the big boys, he would be going for a ride. With a big grin he settled in as Colt buckled him in beside his big brother.


When they came back from their quick drive, he jumped out happily, and he and Cooper headed off to bed, while Dane, Colt, and Cassidy took off for a last few minutes together.




They stopped in at the Youth Group where Colt said his goodbyes and they prayed for him, and then the boys went out for a hot chocolate and some guy talk.

The night was not over when they came home, as Colt still had a room to finish packing and last minute things to prepare.

I have to say that things did improve for me, as the evening progressed. I text messaged a friend and told her I would not be coming to her house tonight for our Ladies Bible Study as it was Colt's last day. I asked her to pray for Colt, and also for me. I was so blessed by her text message response. Yes, it made me cry again, *smile*, but it was a beautiful message that I already *knew*, but it helped to be reminded!

Okay, he will be fine. God will be with him. :o) You will really start to appreciate them more when they just come home for visits! Trust me, I know! *lol* But I hear you. The first is hard, but this is what you trained him for... To fly. Now stand back and enjoy watching his solo flight. You should be proud. Some children never get their wings! You did a great job. Cheer as he takes off and flies. Your cheers help him lift off faster and higher.

And later that evening, I could tell my friends had prayed. My heart was at peace, even as my son came and went with last minute packing, and as we had our final chats, and as I gave him a hug goodnight. We both knew that I would probably wake in the morning to wave him off, but I could tell that my heart was at rest and that God had me covered.

Like the piece of a song I claimed at church on Sunday says: I will find my strength in the shadow of your wing.

Yes, God will take care of my son, and he will do fine things in this world, and I will recover *grin*. Thank goodness, I have all these precious children to love!! God is certainly very good to us in His blessing us with our family!

BTW, the children have also had a big of a hard time. There have been downcast faces and comments about missing Colt. Dane, tonight, said that he wasn't quite accepting that Colt was leaving yet, because he was okay with it, but he knew that he really cared. I told him I figured his heart was being protected from the pain, as those two boys are very close.

Dane Chatting With Colt One Last Time

I am certain that as Colt drives away to his Big Adventure that he will know that he is loved and has a family at home cheering him on!

3:30 am and On His Way

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Tire Swing Fun Again

Our kids love the tire swing. It is a great item that draws brothers and sisters together.

One day the boys decided to raise the tire swing. That was something to see. They had to climb up the ladder to get up on the swing. Then they had the fun of trying to untie the knot once it got tightened from them swinging on it!

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Children and Their Imaginations

Caveman

One day when I called the children to dinner I could hear a distant thumping sound. Upon investigating the sound I found a puffed up Briton standing by a pile of rubble. It didn't take long to figure out what was happening.

Briton said, "Daniel Boone," as he pointed to the pile of rubble. From below the pile I could hear a thump, thump, thump.

I said, "Are you Daniel Boone?"

To which Briton replied, "No, me yucky man. Daniel Boone here." And he pointed down to the piece of nearly hidden plywood.

Throwing Another Rock on His Pile

Cassidy has been digging himself a hole in the yard. This hole is about 2 1/2 feet deep and big enough for two children to hide in. Apparently, due to all the Daniel Boone stories we have been watching the children had been playacting. Savannah was Mingo, the Indian friend of Daniel Boone, and Briton was the 'Yucky Man', and Cooper was Daniel Boone.

It was really quite funny and surprising to see Briton in charge of the play! He is usually the tagalong and for once he was in charge. I was amazed to find he had covered the hole with the piece of plywood and then proceeded to cover that with all the rocks and logs that were lying around.

It didn't take long for him to let the kids out when I told him to. They were having fun and were right into the act. Of course, Daniel Boone was busy under the ground rescuing himself and Mingo - hammering a hole in the plywood.

Daniel Boone Knocking a Hole Into the 'Prison'

Daniel Making His Escape

Daniel Boone, His Wife, two Natives

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How Blessed is a Child With a Sister or Brother

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Spuds

I have a great husband. He doesn’t complain about what he is served for dinner. Usually it is a good meal and often it is different. But once in a while it is not very interesting and is not very different.

That once in a while was lately when I realized we had a new menu and it didn’t include much in the way of potatoes. I had a 50 lb box of potatoes, and I really didn’t want it to go to waste.

There began the Week of Potatoes!

It began with baked potatoes and ended with chicken and potato soup. My husband was very patient through it. You would never know from this posed picture, but he is just a good actor! *grin*


My motto – Waste Not, Want Not! Well, as it turns out, a bunch of potatoes did get wasted, but in the meanwhile we had lots of potato dishes that week!

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A Good Breakfast - A Healthy Start

I am a person that loves to learn from others. If they can enlighten me I want to learn. Of course, it is as long as I see the results in their life that I want. A friend came to visit me recently and she pulled out her breakfast making ingredients. Granola, yoghurt, sliced almonds, bananas, blueberries, wheat germ. You name it. Healthy stuff!

My breakfast is not bad, but certainly not that healthy. But I do enjoy my evening snack:

(Note: since I have written this blog I have given up my evening snack, and am well on my way to healthy living again!)

So I realized it was time to make a change. If I wasn’t yet ready to throw out my evening crutch, then at least I could start the day right:

I am enjoying it. And my kids are having it now once or twice a week. They, of course, love it! It is a break from the monotony of oatmeal and toast. *smile* And speaking of monotony of breakfasts. Lately, I have been trying to get back on the “Interesting Breakfast” bandwagon. So, now the new menu includes:

Smoothies and Muffins

Toasted Egg Sandwiches

Granola, Yoghurt, Fruit

Pancakes

Oatmeal

Toast and Jam

Let’s see how long it lasts! The kids are certainly enjoying the variety!

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How Does My Garden Grow?

One day I came home and found some flowers in a box on my front porch. I thought to myself, “How kind. Ray brought me some flowers.” I then found out he didn’t even know they were there. *grin* It turned out that a subcontractor that works for him sometimes had dropped them off. I haven't since seen the man, but I aim to thank him. He must have taken pity on my completely bloomless yard!

The next day, I saw him walking around the corner of the house with a garbage can that was cut off about 10” from the bottom. I thought to myself, “How kind. Ray is going to make me a planter.” Never mind the fact that it was a garbage can. It was somewhere to put flowers! I later saw him mixing concrete in it for the base of the house where he is applying rocks. *smile*

The flowers continued to sit there. I have not got a green thumb. I kill what I plant. I plant marigolds and potatoes. Why? Because I have no clue what else to plant. Oh, I have a great eye for flowers. I know what *looks* beautiful! I just have no clue how to create it. Nor do I have desire to create time for that. It is not my love. But I would *love* to have a garden like that

I have seen my sister’s and been envious. But she had enjoyed creating it and that is the key. You usually enjoy putzing and putting these things together. Not I! I would enjoy sitting and looking at one of these beautiful gardens, but I have no inclination to spend my summer creating it.

So, one day my dear, sweet, multi-talented son, Cassidy, offered to plant the pretty flowers for me. He was working on a vegetable garden at the time. A garden that would not be done in time for summer. It was already summer! Oh well. He could have it ready for next spring, when he could simply freshen the dirt and plant it.

Cassidy Let Briton Choose the Order of the Flowers

So now, I have flowers.

And don’t say, “How sad. How pathetic is her garden.” Because I know. It truly is. But at least there are blooming things in my yard. My sister came to see me and she said, “Are those ---- .” And I said, “I have no clue. They are colourful. They are pretty. That’s all I know.” And I do not even know what flowers she suggested they might be! *grin*

I have always wanted hanging baskets, and big container gardens, so when I went to my friend’s house the other day and saw her amazing garden I hired her on the spot. I asked her if she could take on my garden. She will tell my husband and sons where I want the containers built – and she will tell them how big, what design etc. Then she will pick the plastic containers when she is at Costco. She will be the one that tells me to order bark mulch or rock and she will pick and choose the flowers and plants that she thinks will look good. I, of course, will give her my opinion, but based on what she has done at her house, I will trust her judgement.

Dear friend that she is, she was willing to do it for free. What a blessing she is to me. But I so want a garden that I want to give to her, so that she can buy herself something just for herself, as a thank you for her kindness. So stay tuned for next years garden.

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Military Bound?

Colt is past the finishing gate of being in Cadets. He has been in for four years and has accomplished so much in that short time. He has completed six years of levels, being promoted to Regimental Sergeant Major, and succeeded in being selected for Para.

Para was a long time goal for Colt. When he was in Grade 10, he began his physical fitness training in the hopes that he would qualify. Para is short for Paratrooping. Every year, the top 20 cadets (out of a possible 7000) in British Columbia are selected to train over spring break for the Pre-Para camp at the Vernon Army Cadet Training base.

Colt was one of the 20 selected from BC. During this week, it is like the game show Survivor: each day you wait for a phone call from your cadet telling if they made it through another day of physical fitness and training. It was very exciting knowing Colt was doing so well.

Finally, we got a call from Colt telling us that he had received the 6^th place out of 20. Unfortunately, only the top 5 go on to Ontario where they train to jump out of airplanes. Colt then went on to tell me how he lost his 5^th place standing.

During the training/elimination week it is every cadet’s goal to graduate. Fourteen of them will not qualify for Ontario, but to have been selected to be one of the twenty is an accomplishment in itself. And so, each of these cadets wants to be able to graduate from the weeklong elimination round.

One day there was a 10 km run (there were many, many of these!) and Colt was doing fine, but he could see there was a girl who was not going to make it. If she did not make it, she would not graduate. He slowed his run, lost his place in the race, and encouraged the girl on until they crossed the finish line together. In doing this he lost his 5^th place winning spot and earned the right to graduate, but not go on to Ontario.

While, I was on the phone with him, I asked him a question, “Colt, I have to ask you, because others will ask you. What were you thinking when you pulled out of the race to encourage the girl to finish?”

“I wasn’t thinking. I just didn’t want her to not make it,” Colt replied.

My heart swelled with pride. I told him that God would see the bigger picture and his integrity would be rewarded! As the cadet who received the 6^th place standing, Colt would be on reserve, in case a cadet pulled out or could not make it to the training in Ontario. He would then be given their spot. I was dead certain that he would get that opportunity because I knew that God would reward his attitude.

Well, days before they were to head out to Ontario Colt received that phone call. He was awarded #4 spot in BC. It turned out that two of the five cadets in BC had not been able to pass the medical exam that was required to complete the course. Colt was flown to Vancouver, where he was extensively tested physically and medically to ensure he was capable of the physically exhausting program he was about to enter. It was at this exam that we discovered that he was almost deaf in one ear! Thankfully, his other ear was extremely good, thus allowing him through.

Colt left our house at 11:00 am for his flight to Ontario. His flight left Vancouver at 11:00 pm. He arrived in Ontario at 7:00 am Toronto Time. He was picked up at the airport and transported along with the other cadets to the military base. His training then began! The powers that be did not clue in that the BC cadets (especially the ones from outer cities, that had to take two flights!) had been traveling for 24 hours already, with little to no sleep!

The first thing he had to do was drop and give 325 pushups.. in.. a.. row.. !! And of course, he succeeded. Colt is a machine.

Over 2000 Pushups in the First Three Days

For the last three years he has trained night and day. While he was signed up for ‘PE 10’ or 11 through Distance Ed and he would write out his PE that he had done, it was easy for him to do enough to satisfy them because he was doing way more than a normal person would do. And *that* is why he made it to Para.

Colt said this was very painful. They had to hang, pull their knees together, and have all the strappings between the legs at the same time. Uggh!

During this exercise one guy fell asleep. From then on they were all required to hold out their helmets are arm's length to ensure they didn't get sleepy!

One of the exercises he had to do was run 10 km and be back in 60 minutes. They had to run 5 km, turn around, and run back 5 km. They headed out, and Colt hit the 5 km mark and there was no marking officer showing the spot, so he led the way and they kept running. At 6.5 km Colt decided to turn around and head back. He was the first one from the BC crowd back at 58 minutes, having run 13 km!

The packs the guys had to train to be able to wear while jumping out of the airplane. (This is not Colt in the picture.)

I have seen pictures of what it was like at this camp: nasty! If one person’s bed was a mess the officer would dump all the beds and the lockers.

Colt's Barracks After a Routine Dump

They would enter the mess hall and stand behind their chairs. When the last person entered, they would quickly sit and begin wolfing down their food. They were given 10 minutes to eat a meal and they were expected to have their plate clean when the time went off. If it was not clean then there was a consequence for everyone. Trust me, they finished their dinners!

As you can imagine, with the hours and exercise that these cadets were putting in, they needed their nutrition, but the military set it up in such a way to make it near impossible to get the food they needed into their bodies. Moreover, if they did they were sure to get indigestion!

Colt spent two weeks doing this exercise.

Each test, each elimination round, each endurance bout, Colt passed and did well. He made it through the first three weeks and two days of the four weeks of training. During this training time they were not making the actual jumps from the planes; they were practicing off towers and other exercises.

Jump Tower

Colt called me on Wednesday of his last week of training. “Mum, I’ve been RTU’d.” My jaw dropped open and my mind couldn’t compute. The word RTU and Colt do not go in the same sentence.

I watched the movie Annapolis about a young man training to get in the Navy and the intensity of the training. I saw this movie before Colt went to Para or was even accepted. When I saw this movie, I said to my husband, “That’s Colt.” He is the young man that has the determination to beat or achieve any goal he sets his mind to.

So when Colt told me he had been RTU’d I was stunned! RTU means Return To Unit. In other words: you are cut from the program. This does happen in the programs because only the very best make it through and they don’t want any dead cadets, so there is no room for failure or mistakes.

Colt told me what had happened. He had been doing a test jump and when he had jumped his hand had accidently touched something on his uniform. He had not even been aware he had done anything. When they called him over he walked over with a smile on his face, totally not expecting the shattering news he would be given.

As you can imagine, he was devastated. He had worked for three years to get to this point and in a moment it was all gone.

I talked to Colt and told him I really thought that God must have had a reason why it was not to be. He didn’t get Colt to Ontario for nothing. He had seen him through when Colt had given his spot to help a girl get through. It simply didn’t make sense that he would not be allowed to jump and get his “Wings”. But we had to believe that God had a plan and a reason for not allowing the jumps.

Colt then told me that he was terrified of heights. He had no idea of this until he had been jumping off the towers and super high diving boards. He said there is no rational reason for a human being to jump into thin air and it goes against everything his mind and body wanted to do, and yet, he kept on jumping. He kept on facing his fears and each jump he did it. It didn’t make it any easier, but he didn’t give in.

I tried to come up with reasons why it might have happened. I know what Colt is like and if he had made it right up to the jump from the plane and he had not been able to step through the door what would he have felt like? He would have been so upset. What if he had jumped and been so freaked that he forgot to open his shoot?! He would have been dead!

One boy that did make it through the training and was able to jump, ironically, forgot to open one of his shoots. He was the last one out of the plane and the first to the ground. Instead of 90 seconds to the ground, he was down in 20 seconds. Thankfully, he landed in a tree!

I have to believe and I think that Colt believes also, that God had a reason for him not making the jump. A friend of mine said that perhaps all that was required was that Colt *did* face his fears and did not give in on each jump he was presented with.

Any which way, Colt gave it his all, and should be nothing but proud of himself. He intends to join the military, and if he does, I see in him the qualities it takes to make a great officer: integrity, determination, great leadership skills, and compassion. He would be an asset to any organization or firm that he was to join.

Field Trip to a War Memorial

As a mother, I sincerely hope he doesn't join the military. However, some months ago, Colt came to me and asked me, "Mum, do you have a problem with me jumping out of airplanes?"

I simply replied, "Colt, I have no problem with you doing anything that God has called you to do.Even if it means jumping out of airplanes."

I really, truly meant that that day. I can see where I have grown. It all began when he was five years old. He was the love of my life (well, one of three of them *smile*) and my parents wanted to take him on a trip. That was the day I released him to God. I knew that I couldn't hold on to him forever, and I could stress every time he was out of my care, or I could give him to God, knowing that God had ordained his days before he was born.

So I did that. I can tell you that it has made my life so much less stressful in everything he has chosen to do. Of course, I pray for him, but I trust that God is with him and loves my son even more than I do.

It doesn't mean that when the day comes that he says he is signing up for the army that I won't feel a piece of my heart crumble. It will. Even as I write this my eyes are stinging with tears at the mere thought of my child being so far away and in such danger.

Colt is my first child to leave the nest. He already has plans to go to another province to work. I know the days of him living in my home and being home for dinner on a regular basis are fading away. I mourn the moments I didn't take to play more, read more, talk more with him. Thankfully, he is the son that will call home to chat, so that will ease the distance.

So now, as I release him to the world, I give him my love and prayers, and trust that God will hold him in the palm of His hand.
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Need Wood?

Recently, our boys had the job of splitting a huge stack of logs that were cut down last winter. Ray kept waiting for time to do it himself and I asked him why? Why didn’t he just get the boys to do it?

I am so used to delegating that I can’t believe he wouldn’t think that way himself. To me, delegating is a very important job. If you do not delegate jobs then you are not training your children, and you are setting yourself and them up for them to enter the world with less abilities!

Everytime one of my children learns a new skill I am pleased. It is like a checkmark in an invisible book of life. One more thing that they are capable of.

The boys all vied to run the machine and so they all took turns.

And you should see how strong my boys are.

Cooper Helps Out

Even the tiny ones like Austin! He may be the size of many seven year olds, but he is one strong little man! I was trying to wrestle him to the ground the other day *smile* and I could feel the strength in his arms! Having your boys haul and stack logs all winter long is a simple weight lifting real life activity. And it’s free!

I had a little laugh when I saw Austin’s attire when he was told he needed to have goggles if he wanted to run the machine. Swim goggles!

The boys won’t be very pleased when they find out that Ray is going to chop down a few more trees in the back yard this year!

The Finished Product

I like the free firewood and the labour it produces for testosterone filled boys! When my boys are full of energy, testosterone, or negative attitudes they run laps, do pushups, or haul logs.

And it pays off.

Our boys don’t think anything of running 4-6 km a day. It is routine for them. And the pushups have been happening since they were about five years old. It suddenly occurred to me the other day that Colt, who made it to Para, based on physical fitness that is mainly made up from pushups and running, was training since he was five years old! While other boys might have been jumping on furniture my boys were running laps. Ever since we moved to the country we have had a ‘lap track’.

In our old home there were four trees that created a square. Our boys ran however many times around the track. They’d hear, “Go! Five laps!” And they would come back much more ready to sit and do their lessons. Boys can’t be still. They have so much energy and as they get older it becomes aggressiveness. And not always negative. More often that not they are simply wrestling or rough housing. But not in a house! So now, in our present house the bigger boys hear, “Take a run! Two blocks!” We are fortunate enough to live on a street that borders two ‘circle loops’, so my boys can run in one direction in a circle, check in, and then run the other way. From the air it would look like a figure eight, with us in the middle. Each block run is about 2 km.

And when they learn to cut through the woods to shorten it, you learn to give another block run when you catch them or if you suspect it! *smile* They don’t often try that trick anymore! And when they are inclined to walk instead of run, you put time limits on it to make sure they are back in a reasonable time, or they end up getting given two runs. As it stands, it makes a fabulous PE program, because just our big boys do it. The older boys report their runs to a PE teacher, along with their pushups, and get credits for it. They also get the chance to get in shape by working in construction for their dad when they hit about age eleven. When our oldest son went into school for a year he went up against kids in arm wrestling. He beat them all. Though he is thin, he is wiry and strong.

The younger ones are in training, so when they hit grade 7 and up they will be quite fit. Right now, the middle-sized ones run laps around the perimeter of our property. One of the first things I noticed when we bought our property was how perfect a track it had on the fence line. Of course, the boys weren't impressed that I noticed. *smile* And the littlest two aren't far behind. Their training includes running driveway laps.

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Edmonton Road Trip - part 2

June 22-26, 09

Our road trip to Edmonton was wonderful. We were able to reconnect with old friends and meet some new ones. Our girls were able to visit children that they had known in the transition house. Raine was excited to see Ruthie (Kenean), Shay (Nardos), and Kai (Natnael). Ruthie was told that they would be seeing our children but I don’t think it really sunk in who they would be seeing, because when they walked in the door, Ruthie walked right past Raine.

Raine said, “I know you. You’re Kenean.” And it took Ruthie a minute to connect Raine’s face with the girl, Mesay, that she knew in Ethiopia!

Savannah, Raine, Maya

Kai, Shay, Briton, Denaye

Cooper and Maya

New Friends

We also made some new friends with Maya and Denaye, who also came from Ethiopia, plus their mum Debbie and their brother, Sam. It was wonderful for our girls to see other kids that have come to live here from their old country.

We only had about 2 hours with Tracy's family, because they had company at home and had to leave early, and that was too bad because we mums were having a wonderful conversation, and we would have loved to have visited longer. As it was, it didn't take long for Ruthie, Shay and Nardos to warm up to the girls and reconnect with them. Soon they were old friends.

Raine, Shay, Kai, Ruthie, Savannah

It is so sad that they have moved to Ontario. Good for them, but sad for us, as I was hoping to keep that connection alive for our kids. Hopefully one day we will get to Ontario and the children can meet up again. Who knows!

And of course, we mums had plenty to discuss with comparing the ages of our children: the ones we had received on paper and the ones we figured our children might be. It is really a strange phenomenon in the adoption world to not know the true ages of your children. I am guessing that in most adoptions from most countries the children are given accurate birthdates, but through the Ethiopian adoptions I have met, the majority of them have no real clue as to how old their children are. The ones that are fortunate are the ones that brought home babies that were referred within weeks of birth, so they can have a pretty for sure idea of how old their child is.

Sharla, Tracy, Debbie, Justine

What was very helpful to me was to meet two mums with girls who were supposed to be *older* than my four year old, but yet they were shorter!! *smile* More about that and ages in another post.

Savannah and Denaye

Our boys had lots of fun with sleeping on the trampoline one night, and crashing on the basement floor the other nights.

I am very impressed with Sharla’s hospitality considering I now know how stressed she was about her upcoming trip to Ethiopia that was *supposed* to happen in another three months. Ironically, it happened not in three months as she expected, but in one month when our agency collapsed in bankruptcy!

Now that I have a trailer I hope to haul it to Sharla’s next spring when 13 of our 15 children can get together for another yearly trip. And this time Sharla will have her two new Ethiopian children for our kids to connect with.

Driving Home

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A God Given Late Summer Holiday

August 30, 2009

I am sitting here in the serenity of a quiet late August morning. It is an unexpected reprieve from the humdrum days of the end of summer. I thought our holidays were done for the season, but then out of the blue we ended up taking a spontaneous trip to the beach.

Three weeks ago, I came home from two weeks of heavy duty camping: no power, water, or sewer! I was ready for some hometime, but at the same time, I was really wanting to get into a campsite that had beachfront. The one I had been at was wonderful, but I had to walk about 5 minutes to get to the beach. As I drove by the place we are at now, on my way home from our two week holiday, I could see it was chock-o-block full! There was no getting in.

I could come back on the Monday at 8:00 am and see who was leaving and grab their spot before the crowds came from other campgrounds, but I didn’t really have the umph to get up early and be here vying for a spot. It would mean asking people if they were leaving and then asking if they minded me dropping my gear at the end of their site to ‘claim’ my spot on their site. I wasn’t really in the mood to do this, so I went home.

While at home, I knew the summer was slipping by and I kept thinking, “I should go back and try to get in the site,” but I knew it was going to be near impossible. In my head, I also got this little message running through it, “When do you *want* to go?”

Honestly, I didn’t want to go right away. I wanted about 1-2 weeks at home before I went out again. Well, time went by and I figured camping was done. Then as I was lazily lounging on the deck in the hot, hot late August sun, a friend called and asked if I wanted to go to the lake for an afternoon break?

It was hard to get my butt up and do it. It meant packing up six kids, life jackets, rubber toys, boxes of beach toys, towels, snacks and on and on. I told her I would let her know. I walked into the house and lethargically made my way down to the tv room, where I lay down on the couch. I called Cassidy to me and told him that if he could pull the gear together in 15 minutes, we would head to the lake for the afternoon.

I then called my friend back from my couch and told her we were on. She had some friends of her children over and she made six kids, plus our six, and so it was going to be a party. I had to take one of her children, as she didn’t have enough room in her truck and off we headed.

I wish I had brought my camera! It was wonderful. We headed to the campsite where I had originally wanted to go camping and lo and behold, it was nearly empty!! There was just two campers. We spent the next three hours at the empty beach with the preteens and teens hanging on the large foam block, the big and little ones burying each other in the sand, and lots of chasing each other through the sand and water.

When I went home I told Ray about the site being open and asked if he would be willing to drive me down the next day. Of course, being the nice guy that he is, he was more than willing to take half a day to wait for me to get organized and then set me up.

So here I am in the late morning enjoying the peace and quiet of the lake. And here I will be able to catch up on all my last three months of blogs that I haven’t written.

I feel so grateful because as we were saying the blessing over a breakfast at a picnic table overlooking a beautiful serene lake, I was awoken to the fact that I feel that God blessed us. That little voice in my head that said, “When do you *want* to go?” rather than listening to my reason that said I have to go *now*, or I won’t get in.

Well, I put it off and off, but I think God blessed us, as He knew I wanted to get in and just in time for the last hot week of summer my friend spontaneously calls me and asks if I want to go to the very lake I wanted to camp at. We never go this far from home for a day trip! If I hadn’t been here for the afternoon I would never have known it was vacant for camping. Thank you Lord for knowing the little things in life that mean so much to us!!

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