A VISIT FROM MY AUNT

Hey there! I really seem to be on a roll with this bloggin thing again! It's not like I have more time to do it but I've put a few projects on the backburner for awhile. Anyway, my Aunt and Uncle from Kimberley stopped by this week to visit us. I rarely see them but they came to see us when I was 7 months pregnant and now again. They wanted to see our baby girl while they were out to see my Grandma.

I grew up just around the corner from where we live now and it seems like just yesterday that I would be standing in the bathroom watching my Aunt Fenny put in her contact lenses and put on her makeup. She always seemed to wear more than my mom. I thought she was so glamourus! Bright shimmery blue or green eyeshadow and liquid blush was the big thing then. She had a special little greeny blue suitcase that she kept all her makeup and contact lense stuff in. I remember following her to the bathroom to watch her "put her eyes in" is what I think she called it. She probably wondered what the big deal was but all the same she would humor me and tell me step by step all the stuff she would do to clean her contacts before she put them in her eyes. I was mesmerized. Watching her put on her make up was just as exciting. Funny how that it's all still so vivid in my mind 30 years later.

Anyway thanks for stopping by Aunt Fenny and Uncle Ron. Hope you got your computer set up so you can read this!!

INTRODUCING LILY MARIE FAITH

It's amazing how fast nine months go! It seems as though we just found out we were pregnant and now here she is. Truly an unbelievable blessing! So far she is sleeping and eating well. Double blessing for mom!Here are the proud big brothers! Everyone is adjusting well and loves having her home!

Here she is in the special outfit Daddy bought to take her home in. I think Dad did a great job! I love pink and she looks good in it!

All for now!

Lori

FUN IN THE LEAVES!

It seems that the leaves used to fall in late September and they'd stay crunchy for weeks. The last couple of years it seems that the wind and rain come together late October and the leaves never seem to get the crunch here that they used to. Well wet soggy leaves or not, you can't let an opportunity to jump in a pile of leaves pass you by so yesterday Dwain raked up the side yard into a pile and the boys proceeded to jump, dive and bury themselves in an enormous pile of leaves. The giggles and laughter shared by the four of us is sure to imprint a permanent memory even in our smallest little person. I managed to get a few shots of the fun. Have a great day!

A GREAT DAY FOR A PICNIC!!

Lastweek we got our new camera so I've been having some fun
with it. I suprised the boys with a backyard picnic. Ryan and Jacob say it was the best picnic ever!
Our students are gone and we have the house to ourselves. How lovely to be just us again! I have posted a few pictures of the boys on their new bikes. They are mighty proud. We are hoping Ryan is brave enough to ride without the training wheels by the end of summer. He's gonna have to be cuz Jacob might be doing it himself! Have a great day!

BEST FRIENDS!!

I remember so well what it was like growing up an only child. I so badly wanted to have someone to play with. All my friends had siblings and it almost would make me feel like I wasn't normal. (no comments from the peanut gallery on that one!) I did OK though. I had close cousins and they would come over often. My mom would make a huge meal and everyone would come over for a feast. And of course, dessert would always be cream puffs! She's famous in our family for those.
My cousin Christine was my age. She's the one beside me. She had a younger sister Diane. She's the one front and center. Jeanette is the cutie in the picture on the right in the middle. She came along after they had moved away so I never got to know her as well. But I love her just the same. I was always a little envious of Christine for having 2 sisters. I remember one day when we were about 10 years old we were talking about being auntie's. We soon figured out that I would never really be one unless I married someone who had siblings. I was very upset about this! Despite the fact that we were cousins, Christine told me that if she ever had kids she promised that they would call me Auntie Lori. This really made me feel special. She doesn't know this but I thought about that promise all the time. Literally a decade passed and it was still just as fresh in my brain as it was the day she promised me. I never knew if she would remember that promise but hoped she would. Today Christine has 2 amazing boys, Jordan and Dylan(with help from a great husband named Dan of course). She never forgot her promise to me, for when Jordan was born, I was immediately honored with the title. Thanks Christine for always sharing your sisters with me and for giving me the honor of being an Auntie.

I thought of this story today as I watched my own boys look out the window together at the falling snow. I could feel their excitement and was so thankful they had eachother to share it with. I pray that they will always be close like they are in this picture. Best Friends! I love you guys!

CHRISTMAS DAY 2006!!

Well another Christmas Day has past! Overall I'd say it was a very relaxing day! We woke up around 8:00am. Dwain lit a fire in the living room and we sat down to open gifts. The kids were really excited this year. Ryan figured that Christmas didn't come when he woke up cuz there wasn't any snow on the ground. A little disappointment to start the day but seeing he had some presents to open all was forgotten quickly. I got fabric to make the boys Christmas quilts for next year. I have got a really neat idea for these quilts and I will share it with you when I start the process. Here's a photo of Christmas morning and my fabric.

Christmas Gift from Dwain

We went over to Dwain's parents place in the late morning where mom made us all a wonderful brunch. We then preceeded to the living room where we opened our gifts. I got fabric for my next years Christmas Quilt for our bed and a few other quilting supplies and gift certificates from my favourite quilt store. Here's a picture of my Christmas Fabric.

We went home mid-afternoon to prepare a turkey dinner for my side of the family. I put the turkey in the oven and had a short nap with the kids. My parents came over around 5:00pm and we ate just after six. It was a delicious meal if I do say so myself. The whole family was here so we took a family photo. Josh is in the red shirt. He's my cousins son but he's considered one of the family. After dinner we opened gifts and guess what I got!! That's right MORE FABRIC!!! YEEEEHAA! Here it is!! This will be for a Fall Quilt for our bed.

Yesterday Dwain's parents came over for lunch. My friend Michelle made me a quiche and so Dad and Dwain went out to do chores and then came in for lunch. It was very tasty Michelle. You're a good cook! Thanks! Tonite we are going out for dinner with my extended family. My grandfather takes us all out for turkey dinner to a local restaurant. It's nice to see all my cousins and aunts and uncles. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

A DAY OF REFLECTION!!

Today was one of those reflection days! One of those days when you go back to a certain point in your life and say WOW! look how I've grown! In my case that would be on the inside and out! It's ok to LOL at that one!!

I was sitting here today thinking back to when Dwain and I were first married. I remember how rich we suddenly felt when we officially became a couple and had two incomes. We had so much fun. We went on two great vacations. Once to Disneyworld and the other to Hawaii. We had some really great times but soon we found ourselves seeking riches of another kind. We wanted a baby!

It seems like only yesterday that I found out that I was pregnant with Ryan. We had waited so long to have a baby and now it was finally going to happen. It was a long road and a huge faith builder for us waiting on the Lord to prepare us and bless us with a child. It took so long that we started to think that maybe God had something else in store for us. This was hard for us to accept. I remember the very moment when I knew I'd accept anything God had in store for me. Dwain and I were talking about having a baby once again and Dwain could sense my discouragement. I knew how badly he wanted to have a baby and I knew how great of a Dad he would be. You all know that Dwain doesn't talk alot but that day he said something to me that changed my life. He said, Lori, if the only family of our own we ever have consists of just you and me, I would be content with that! WOW! I mean, I knew this guy loved me but....WOW!!! That changed me. I knew that the love God gave us for eachother was enough and so did he. It really took the pressure off of me as we knew that it was my body that wasn't functioning properly. I look back on that time and realize that I think there was more to the story of us not getting pregnant right when we wanted it. I think that God was developing our love for eachother, deepening it and strengthening it for the future. About five months later I was pregnant. We embraced our pregnancy with such a strong faith. We felt that we had literally received a miracle. We had.

Ryan was due to arrive December 31st, 2001. I often talked to God during the day about the baby growing inside of me. I remember one day in particular, it was mid October. I was feeling somewhat emotional, sentimental, and goofy. What a crazy combination! I was soon to be finished my work and on maternity leave and I was anticipating Ryan's birth. I was reflecting on how deeply I felt God's hand in my pregnancy and thought how fitting it was to have a child born so close to the date we celebrate Christ's birth. As I talked to God, my thoughts went to ask him if he would give me our baby on Christmas Day! I told him how symbolic that would be to me. Although he knew he was already very real to me and I didn't need any validation that he was responsible for this entire miracle , I told him in my thoughts in a playful sort of way that that would be the ultimate if I had my baby on his own son's birthday. I giggled to myself and wondered if he shared my humour in the whole conversation I was having with him. The weeks passed and I forgot about that conversation until closer to the birth. I have never known anyone who would ask for their child to be born on Christmas Day!! But that was my heart's desire. I now know without a doubt that God really does have a sense of humour. December 24th in the early morning I went into labour. By 6pm I was at the hospital and the nurses figured that I would have the baby before midnight. I thought to myself, is this for real? I'm not due for another week and this is my first baby. This would mean we'd have a Christmas Eve baby and I thought, I guess that's close enough, I mean an hour or 2 before Christmas day is pretty unbelievable considering my prayer request. Well to make a long labour, I mean story short, Ryan was born at 4:29pm on Christmas Day! My prayer was answered. Not only that, he gave me a son! One thing I'll never understand though is why he put me through 34 hours of labour first! He could have just let him be born at 12:01am Christmas day!! I guess its his sense of humor kickin in again! Haaha Lord!! Real funny!!

In a few weeks Ryan will be 5. I wanted to share this story because it really shows how God is real in a very real way to us if we let him. He's not just there for us to pray to when we have a problem and we need him. He's there for us to talk to right in the middle of our greatest day ever! December 25, 2001 will forever go down in my books as the most profound spiritual experience of my life! I am sure I will have more, but for now, this one holds the record! Thank you God for the gift of my son! I Love you Ryan...4-ever!!

There is nothing we really need know

or try to understand

If we refuse to be discouraged

and trust God's guiding hand...

So take heart and meet each minute

with faith in God's great love,

Aware that every day of life

is controlled by God above...

And never dread tomorrow

or what the future brings,

Just pray for strength and courage

and trust God in all things...

And never grow discouraged

be patient and just wait

For God never comes too early

and He never comes too late!

by Helen Steiner Rice

A BLESSING X6

Well, I finally decided to start a blog. And here it is. A work in progress! (Just like me!). This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend a Women of Faith Conference with some of my friends. I had a great time and was very encouraged. Not to mention refreshed just having my thoughts to myself for nearly 2 days. One of the keynote speakers reminded us to not focus so much on life's little inconveniences, instead, focus on spreading contagious joy to others!! What a great message!
Recently I have been very blessed. And A Thankful Heart I have!! For quite awhile now I have been praying every once in awhile that the Lord would send someone my way that I could share my hobbies with. I am always busy making something. In a nutshell, here's how it came about. Just a couple of months ago I became an Auntie for the very first time. And I must say that I am a very proud one to say the least. I can still remember the squeal that came out of me when Dad said It's a Girl!! It was one of those moments when you think to yourself, "Did I just do that?!?" Most of you know that I can be one crazy chick sometimes but I think I really took Dad by surprise with the squeal and modest boogie I did in the back of his John Deere Gator. Let's just say I'm very expressive and leave it at that!! Well my niece had arrived and I wanted to make her a keepsake so I chose to make her a quilt. I gave it to her at her babyshower and several of my cousins said that they would love to be able to make something like that. At the time, I didn't think that it was something that they would all actually do. A few days past and I thought, why not email them and see if anyone wants to actually do it. To my surprise, they all did. So not only did my prayer get answered. It got answered 6 times!! Thanks Lord! Lastnight was our first get together. It was fun for sure! So far there are six of us. My sister-in-law Natalie (which in future entries will be identified as "my sister"), my aunt Lovella(which in future entries by request of the auntie herself be addressed as"Lovella"), cousin's Bea, Colleen and Tania. I wish my other sister-in-law (sister) Tammy could have been there but she lives in Barry, ON. I think I'll try praying her back here! Along with my niece! and Tammy's other half!!
Well I am pretty sure I will be writing most of my posts at insane hours. Right now it's 12:45am. I enjoy it late at night when all is quiet in the house. I'm signing off now, leaving you with this thought.

"Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves"

James Matthew Barrie