a new adventure

life is interesting...to say the least. i have been blessed...truly blessed. i stand beside a brave and wonderful man...a man that i am proud of, a man that i am honored to call my husband. scott and i are about to embark on a new adventure, one that will take us who knows where and begin who knows when. but we trust. we have enjoyed our time in lethbridge greatly. we have learned how to survive in the cold and wind, and we have tried to understand the grandness of the open, flat lands. we have had the oportunity to partake in the lives of some wonderful people... but our journey moves us beyond these moments and off to greater things. we have been introduced to new thoughts on ministry and have pondered the greatness of our God with people who seek to know Him as we do... but we have been asked to continue on and serve our Lord in other ways. this we can say... we are heart broken. we are troubled. we are getting ready for what is next. this i can say... i am proud. i am honored. i am delighted in my husband who has had days of tears in this news, but who has held his head high and been true to himself and those around him. i am proud of this man as he has served our God with passion, and maintained a character that is honorable. i am so thankful to find my days beside him, and i look forward to what we will do next. i have found in him a man who loves the Lord our God first and in doing so, loves his family very well. for this i will be forever thankful. it is this that is so hard to find, but it is this love that makes me fall more deeply in love with him daily. i would like to say to scott; thank you for putting the Father first in our marriage and in our lives. thank you for loving me before any other. thank you for loving sophie after myself and being a wonderful father. thank you for taking adventures with me and maintianing your gifts through difficulties and heartache. thank you for being a man that is honorable and full of wisdom. thank you for taking me by the hand and sharing your life with me. i love you.

a video clip

no words today

i don't have many words for you today, so i thought i would just post a few pictures of sophie.
we are getting ready for our trip to the island for thayne's wedding, and are really excited.

sophie is trying to help me pack, and make the bed...


a picture to prove she really is doing okay after her dad took away her first love...the second bear is seeming to go over well.

our little girl...she really is growing up fast.

a little something i found

so...
i was doing a little spring cleaning today and look what i found...
leg warmers...
i love leg warmers...
it was so hot today, but i don't care...i wore them anyways!

scott was very impressed with my outfit. he came home for lunch and just smiled at me...he is getting used to me.

and this was sophie today...
she is soo cool...
lots of fun...



this is a video for sophie's auntie shannie.
she was upset that the last one was too short...
so here is a longer one.

old and new

some of us have a hard time letting go of what belongs to us.
some of us have a special place in our hearts for that which once made us happy.
some of us don't want our daughters to play with those things.

poor sophie.

she was introduced to freddy. freddy was scotts bear once upon a time, a bear who waited for him to come home from the hospital and stayed by his side every night...even in college. freddy is a yellow bear who is worn with love and has travelled through time with his compainion, scott.

so scott, out of the goodness of his heart, allowed his little girl to meet this one and only freddy. this was good for a little while...it lasted two days...until scott noticed that poor freddy has a little hole near his ear. scott looked at me and asked, "did sophie do this?" i replied that freddy has had that hole for some time now, and was surprised that he did not know...but regardless of whether he knew or not, he went straight to sophies room and came out with a bear of her very own. no more playing with freddy, scott said that freddy is his bear and sophie can't play with him. so out with the old and in with the new...here is sophie with and without freddy.

old
new

in other news...

we are still waiting on knowing if we can stay in this house...it's killing me but i am reminded to trust and obey (that song has been running through my head all day).

we are heading to the island really soon and are very excited to see our families.

in closing here are a couple more pictures of sophie.
much love to you all.

make no fun

now you all may be thinking that there is nothing to these pictures...but let me tell you this little girl is telling you all a beautiful story...she is tired! something that does not happen very often but can occur when her dad insists that today is garage sale day...are you kidding me? yesterday was the bbq and today garage sales, what a weekend. (please note the chin resting on the seat, and arms tucked down by her side...she is pooped).

so this was today, up and going as normal, however, normal has sophie back in bed by around ten o'clock for her morning nap...but not today, she was feed and we were out the door to hit the goods in the sales. we got to seventh street, the whole street was garage sale goodness, so we took sophie in the stroller...carrying her backwards cause the sun was in her eyes, scott was trying to help but after he rode the stroller over my leg twice i decided it would be best if i just did it myself. not much there but a tin that scott got for free to put under his new bbq for the drippings... what a guy!
but...we did find an estate sale...sweet goodness we did find. so we purchased a few things to help us hold exchange students...if we can buy this house.
all in all a good day, scott had to leave us by noon to head to the church for a mother daughter tea fund raiser...not so sure of this being married to a youth pastor, i hardly see the guy...but when i do...look out world, we are one fun filled family!

here's another video for you...
now that i know how to do them i am sure you can expect lots more.

my first time

this is the first time i have posted a video, nothing special, i just wanted to see how it would turn out. enjoy.

a day for a boy

these are the last of my flowers.

today was a day for scott,

i mean it was fun and all, but by the end you should have seen sophie and i. we couldn't wait to just get home and sit for a second.

it all started when i had to go to "linens and things" to return some towels i got for a wedding gift, but when i got them home realized that there are two of the same names and i happened to get for the wrong girl...so i returned them and got something else. while we were there i suggested to scott we head across to home depot to look at plants...really i wanted to get him a bbq. he has been aching for one and when we go for our walk at night, our mouths water as we smell the goodness of other peoples bbqs. so, once there i took him to the bbq aisle and we looked at them...then we looked at them some more, i suggested one that i thought would be great for us and in our price range...(a price range made possible by the thirty dollar purchase he got with our lawn mower and rototiller, as explained in a previous blog), and aren't they just lovely looking?! nice.

anyway, we were looking at bbq's and i suggested one that i thought would do us just fine. but no, we had to go and price check somewhere else. i understand. so off we go, to this place than that, in and out of the van, carring around a little girl who is just trying to fall asleep but can't cause her dad is making her get out, it is hot out and there is no breeze, but we are price checking and loving it! our family day. long story short, we end up back at home depot and bought the one that i first suggested...what can i say!

we had a great dinner.it feels like summer here, really warm and beautiful...makes me a little worried about the heat of the summer. kinda extreme here....either hot or cold, no in between temps.

sophie is doing really well...i have pulled out the exersaucer for her and she loves it...so much freedom. i am a little worried about the day she figures out how to crawl, i will never be able to pick her up again, she is so independent.

if you haven't noticed...everything goes into her mouth...everything.

she continues to bless us with her sleeping habits, she is a handful during the day cause she is just so active, but come night, she is put to bed and makes no noise until the morning...which i might add she is pushing back, today she woke at nine oclock, that is twelve hours of sleep...yeah sophie.


so this is us for the day.
thanks for loging in to read about us.

update

sorry it has been so long since i last wrote...

here i go.

first things first.
scott and i are officially a family with a real family mobile. we are selling the truck and have purchased a vw passat wagon. this is a good thing as my legs were dying in the back of the truck...you should have seen me trying to get in and out of that thing...people actually laughed.

goodbye truck

hello station wagon

so that's that, we are a full vw family now with the van ('83) and the wagon (99).

let's see what else is new in our lives...

yesterday was our friends little boys birthday party and scott was asked to dress up in his star wars darth vator costume and come to the park to surprise the kids...crazy, i am not too sure about little boys...they were crazy. they were all so excited to see darth, and came tearing through the park to see him...once there they beat on him something fierce, are you serious, this is little boys? they were pulling at his costume and hitting him with their pool noodles, people were trying to take pictures...one of the little guys was so excited but a little scared cause he really thought it was darth (later when he saw scott he told him all about how darth was at the park...pretty funny), and of course some of the boys ended up crying. needless to say, i am glad i have a little girl!

and this is her.

i was playing with her today and her green boots...they were a gift from a very good friend shauna frank. they are perfect for our family and i waiting patiently for the day she can wear them and we can jump in some puddles together.

she is so much fun. so that is really all that is happening here...we are still working out the plan with this house, and we would really appreciate all the prayers you can offer on our behalf, things are not going as i would like...they rarely do...but i am trusting in the Lord...i am trying to trust in the Lord.
thanks for reading about our family.

thank you

so there is a long overdue thank you that i need to write about. the process of being in lethbridge has been really difficult. i have had my good days and my bad, i have wanted to return and been excited to stay. all in all there have been quite the mixed emotions. through this whole process there have been three significant women who have come along beside me and encouraged, challenged and supported both scott and i and our journey. i would like to take a moment to thank them. pam. pam is much like my friend sam from the island...note that even the name is very similar. scott says i have a hard time with change. pam is very hospitable and gentle spirited. she is one of those friends who make it easy to have to tea with on your worst day. no expectations. she is so very kind and has written me many notes of encouragement and the sort. she made cookies for me to mark my one month stay here in lethbridge, this is all coming from a woman who herself only moved here a few months before me with her family and is dealing with many of the same emotions. she has brought me countless london fog's, shared her view on women's roles in the church, and has had us to her house for dinner many times. she has a print on her wall that reads "i am fairly certain that given a cape and a nice tiara, i could save the world." i love it. i love it so much that she took a picture of it and made it into a card so that i could have it in my house too. this is pam. christine. christine is the wife of jeremy who is also a youth pastor at the church, but she is not a pastors wife...she is an individual who loves the Lord and supports her husband. christine has been a great friend, as she took me under her wing as we attended the "ministry wives" meetings on monday nights, she picked me up and drove me home, she mouthed the names of the ladies i didn't know so i could pray for them. she has challenged me on what a ministry wife is and what my role looks like inside the church. christine is a strong woman, courageous in her speech and mature in her actions. i have enjoyed a few walks with her and am excited for the day her and jeremy are called with the news they are having a baby...i look forward to spending more time with her as long as we are not making invitations! she has dragged me to step and dance class and has pursued a relationship with me, something that i appreciate immensely. she kicks my butt at ddr. this is christine. jen. jen's husband is sid, who hired scott and is his boss. jen shares a very similar heart to mine. she loves the mountains and adventure. we have talked about what it could look like to have a program that would facilitate young ladies as they understand success and Christ in creation. she is more of a type A person, who is always on the move and while i was pregnant took me with her everywhere. jen is easy to get a tear from, something that is real in my life as well so i find it comforting. she is easy to talk to, easy to sit with and easy to be around. she is one of those people you can pop in on and doesn't care if she is out of her pj's yet. jen likes the conversation that involves predestination and womens roles in the church. she encouraged me to attend woman's bible study but then i found out why she went...to get a starbucks from her sister pam. she is a little crazy and worries a bit too much about things, like whether or not her hair is growing back, or if she is going to have a lung disease after being on the island...but we find this funny, especially scott. this is jen. all three of these women have been so very kind to me, and have loved me despite my complaints about the weather and the fact that there are no trees here. both christine and jen were on the trip to banff with us a few weeks ago and it was there in the comfort of their friendship that i made the decision in my heart that i would like to stay here and invest some of my time and love back into these women. thank you for being so patient with me as scott and we have struggled to our decision. we are excited about our future and the friends we are making. thank you to our friends from back "home" who have also encouraged us and prayed for us as make this choice, you are key people in our lives, people we have been blessed with and are continually blessed through.

eating a popsicle

so i am just sitting here eating a popsicle and enjoying the beautiful sunshine...and my flowers. i have red and yellow tulips, daffodils and blossoms on my trees. i woke up to birds singing outside and a daughter who slept in until seven fourty-five, how lucky am i. the popsicle is reminding me of summer and i am so looking forward to that.

in other news...

sophie sat on her own yesterday for the very first time. i'm telling you she is amazing! i thought i would share some pictures as i was a very proud mom.

i am finished my popsicle and have to get on with "things" not too sure what those things are but i know i have to do them...perhaps i will clean bathrooms today and finish drying my sheets and make my bed. oh so much fun...maybe i will just go outside instead!