Looking for the Sunrise

I haven't blogged in a very long time... part of it is that what has been happening in my life is difficult to put into words. Some of it is just too sweet to share, it feels like words will somehow diminish the profound awe-inspiring feelings I feel when I think upon the last few months... I could also say I haven't taken post worthy photography but that isn't really true either ;) I've just been too lazy to upload it... Anyway... life has been good, so very good. I feel like I am living in the light, no longer searching for the sunrise but basking in it... most days anyway. I have my days where life feels blah and bland but for the most part I am content and that my friends is a beautiful feeling. We've decided to turn the basement into day care space, it was time to reclaim the dream and use the basement for it's purpose so come September I will have a basement that is both fun and functional and full of little ones with some space for all those teenage

    So you think Abraham's will be intimidating? I know I did. If you got o EAC, you know what I am talking about. If you don't go to EAC... Abraham's is a group of prayer warriors that has been meeting together on Mondays for ... oh forever (20 years plus). I have long wanted to join their ranks but always felt a little... unworthy.   I was afraid to go, afraid I wouldn't even know who they were talking about and that I would have nothing to add to the group. Yes I know these are convenient excuses. Really it boils down to I thought I was too busy and well that I was... unworthy. Yeah I know, I said that already.   I have felt the call to go strongly for weeks now but I kept 'forgetting'. You know Sunday morning I would be all 'yeah yeah I'm going to go..." and Tuesday morning I would be going "oh yeah, I really meant to go last night..."   I had a visit with my pastor this week and we talked about all the things that w

My favorite day of the week, Sunday :) The day our schedule seems reversed a bit. Bobby sleeps and I get up early to enjoy the quiet dawn. I use the time to get ready for Sunday school, reflect on the week past and the plan the week ahead. I seem to be the most creative on these early Sunday mornings. Communion with God can be so sweet in these still moments before everyone else gets up. Sunday mornings are my favorite time for sure. This morning I awoke with my brain buzzing with ideas for bible camp this coming summer. I'm working on how to make the Bible seem not so intimidating to those young ones (and maybe myself in the process!) Working on a game for opening chapel and wondering how the the things God is teaching me will work their way into the 34 times I have to speak this coming July. It's an exciting process for me as the ideas form into pictures in my head and I get a really clear outline for a session. I am also pondering all that God has done in my heart the

One month of 2013 gone, finished, completed. It feels like it flew by and yet it feel like Christmas was FOREVER ago. I guess that old saying about time have having no meaning has some truth to it... Anyway, what happened in January? How am I doing with my goal of being present in the moment. January was busy with all the usual synchro and basketball, youth group, babysitting and all that other child related stuff with the added bonus of semester 1 final exams. Anna and Brenna survived even though they did both come down with a nasty flu bug right at the end of finals. I think I am doing well at living in each moment and allowing it to be. I am consistently happy and mostly headache free. I am sleeping well and tackling things like bible study and house cleaning. I don't succeed everyday, in fact I fail a lot but I feel like I am moving ahead so I'll take it. The highlight of January was probably Emily's basket ball tournament, they didn't win but it was fun to wa

Simply because my girl comes alive on the court. She is a fully connected with herself while on the court. She becomes a leader, a fighter and she has so much fun. She may not be the best at her sport but she never misses a practice and she works hard. It's great to see the hard work paying off in terms of baskets shot and points scored but more than that it's her confidence level. My once shy little Emily is now a light that fills a room. She even requested that we not go to the team supper with her last night! Made my heart glad!   And may I say her coaches are quite wonderful. Dee... my best friend from eons ago is one of her coaches. Now Dee is tattooed everywhere, smokes a lot and swears more than I like but she is teaching those girls that they can do anything. She yells at them and encourages them and convinces an opposing team to all but stop the game so the player who has never made a basket can take 20 shots until she scores her two points. She is an amazing

I can only pick one? Really? Can't I fill a banquet hall? There are so many people who have passed through my life I would love to have dinner with. My Grammie, my Nick and Lena, Jeremy and Lisa, Rhonda, and Mrs G... the list could go on forever... seriously... At the moment I can't really think of a person in history I'd want to meet. I'm afraid I would just be disappointed that they didn't live up to my expectations. I kind of hate finding out that the people I admire have faults and failings! I think I would have to choose Anne Graham Lotz though. She is such an amazing teacher and inspiration to me. I know she doesn't have it all together but she sure can teach the word of God like nobody else I have heard! To sit and visit with her would be an absolute privilege I think. I would love to tell her about the impact her teaching has had on my life. I'd like to tell her thank you for following the call of God. I'd like to talk with her about how to h

Yesterday we heard a powerful sermon on prayer... a reminder that prayer is a joyful thing, not a duty, not a discipline. We can make it a chore or we can relish in God's presence. It was just the reminder I needed. In Sunday School we talked about how David dealt with his anger by using prayer. I think I'm supposed to think about the way I pray! For as long as I can remember I have talked to God all day long. I always have a conversation going in my head. I'm not so good at sitting in the silence of God's presence though. Let's face it I'm not good at being quiet... period! But I'm learning. For the next few weeks I want to be more conscience of how I pray and what I'm praying for... not just a blip on the radar screen, a moment of oh hey God I was just thinking about... I want to be more intentional, more focused. I might use some journals or maybe I'll just set aside some quiet time in my day. I'm not sure yet but I'll keep you posted.

Yesterday was a blizzardy kind of day. We didn't get as much snow as some but enough that my swing set got a bit buried :) I don't really feel like I have anything to blob about today but it's just one more thing to keep me from doing what I should be doing... dishes, laundry.. or wait I can't do laundry cause my machine is broken and I don't really feel like hauling laundry to my mom's in this snow. Guess I'll go shopping for a new machine...

For the last decade or better I have been involved with Bible Camp. Anyone who knows me knows it's a great passion of mine. There is just nothing like being at camp surrounded by kids who are loving life and being loved on by those who just want to share Jesus with them. It is my greatest joy to be a part of that every summer as a camp speaker. I love to hang out and tell stories and share my life with campers and staff alike. Some of my best friends, young and old have come from those precious weeks at camp. Anyway for many years I was very involved in EBC and for a lot of reasons that don't need to be rehashed I left the board about a year ago now. At the time it felt like I was cutting off my left arm or something. It had been such a huge part of my life for so long. I had cut my ministry teeth with this camp. It was so hard to let it go... only I didn't really let it go. I was still hanging onto it and not allowing myself to move on. Well, that changed this past wee

I don't have a lot of plans or ideas for down the road as I really want to be living in the present and enjoying each day as it comes. I know I will always be involved with my girls and whatever life brings their way and will continue to enjoy spending my life intertwined with Bobby's. Whatever God brings our way, we will face together. But just for fun... In 5 years? I will be in the midst of getting Brenna ready to graduate high school and probably planning a wedding for either Anna or Emily! My life will be phasing out of being a full time mom and in my dreams I will be phasing into some kind of full time ministry... 45 isn't too old to start a career! In 10 years? I will be loving having little grand-babies around, no one over 3 yet! Bobby and I will be enjoying our empty nest and probably still be planning a wedding or two... and my 50th birthday! In 15 years I will be approaching 55... wow. Enjoying grand-babies I'm sure! I can't quite imagine what

ready for it to be over... that is all :) but at least I can say I blogged today... but to make it worth the while of anyone who pops by... 3 things I'm thankful for 1) Friends that let me vent 2) A husband who will do anything and everything for me 3) being home after a long and icy drive home from the city.

21.If you could have one superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it first? Only one? Well I'd like to be able to teleport or at least have super speed so I can get where I need to more quickly... The ability to pop in and see my friends whenever without having to plan 7, 8, 10 hour drives? Yep I could live like that. Oh and the ability to be there for important moments in my people's lives and not plan a whole vacation around it? Bliss! Can you imagine, living on the prairies but just hopping over to AB to take a brisk hike up a mountain? Or just a quick run up to Prince Albert National Park to check the area for some wolves or buffalo and be home in time to fix dinner? Or to run up and go beach combing at sunset?Man that would be awesome Yep I'd want super speed :) But my family has to have it too! No fun to do that stuff alone 23. List your top 5 hobbies and why you love them. I can't say I have a lot of hobbies... passions might be

I was able to get out and take some photographs with a good friend today. These are some of my favorites. It felt really good to be outside! I forgot how much I love to tromp through snow! There is a certain beauty and stillness about winter that I appreciate. Could explain why I want to take my family to the mountains next Chritsmas break!    

I had post ideas all day long, I just didn't get here, not that anyone noticed ;) It's a good thing I blog just for me, though someday I'm sure someone will find my blog and get a chuckle out of some of my posts... even if it is just me

One of the best FB status updates I read this past couple of days went something like this... It's not what you eat between Christmas and New Year's that counts. It's what you eat between New Year's and Christmas... wise words I think. I also saw a picture that was all about eating better as soon as the junk food was out of the house so better eat all the junk food! I'm somewhere in the middle of those two ideas. Still eating the left over chocoalates and cookies and tarts... you know all the stuff that didn't go bad a couple of days ago! Must be the high suagr content that keeps it from going 'bad' lol. But I did drink my last can of Pepsi Throwback today so that means today was the last day of idulgence. Back to eating like a normal person and feeling better. It's amazing how icky I feel after eating all that sugar but yet I keep going back for more... crazy I know! My other goal is to get away from the computer and do more stuff during the day

I took a really long break from that 30 question list and it's bugging me that I haven't finished it so I guess I'll do a few more... if I can figure out where I was :) Ah yes, the final 10 :) 20. Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood. 21. If you could have one superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it first? 22. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years? 23. List your top 5 hobbies and why you love them. 24. Describe your family dynamic of your childhood vs. your family dynamic now. 25. If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you eat? 26. What popular notion do you think the world has most wrong? 27. What is your favorite part of your body and why? 28. What is your love language? 29. What do you think people misunderstand most about you? 30. List 10 things you would hope to be remembered for. Guess that makes today 3 significant memories from childhood... I've avoided t

A year of daily blogging? Probably not, a month? Maybe... I'll give it my best shot, just for fun :) Feel free to follow along... I've done a fair bit of looking back on this blog, tonight I want to look forward... What am I looking forward to in 2013? So many things! I'm most excited for another summer of speaking at Bible Camp, Luseland and Kenosee are on the list so far. If I get called to more I will go but if I only get these two that will be ok as well! I can't wait to work with Marilyn and the LBC crew, Brad and Kevin and the KLBC staff again this summer. They are all such blessings in my life. Oh and to be with the kids again! Can not wait for July! I am excited for seeing Anna swim her synchro solo and the group routine that she and Brenna will be a part of. Watching Em play basketball is high on my list of anticipated activities as well. There are birthdays to celebrate and vacations to plan. Journeys to travel and books to read. Lessons to prepare and