Beautiful Moments

Sometimes life gets crazy, or sad, or just flies by, but every now and then we get to have a beautiful moment to brighten everything up.

As you know I am a mother of two beautiful girls, one 4 1/2 and one 4 months old.  I was just holding my beautiful 4 month old daughter and thought, "What a lovely moment we are having.  This is it, isn't it.  These are the beautiful moments life is made up of".  She was asleep, and I could just gaze at her.  How peaceful.

In a time of heartache, I was grateful for a beautiful healing moment brought by none else but my dog.  She was new to our family, and would just follow me around.  If I was having a moment of sadness, it would quickly wash away when I looked down and saw a cute little dog laying down as close as she could get to me, waiting for me wherever I was.  That was exactly what I needed.  It was indeed a beautiful moment, even if it was with a dog.

I too have had many beautiful moments with my best girl friend.  Moments where I knew I could say anything, even crazy nonsensical things, and there would be no judgement.  We all need those moments, and they are truly beautiful. 

One of my favorite beautiful moments was a long time ago, my then boyfriend sent me flowers, one dozen roses.  There was no particular reason, but on the card he said he loved me.  It was the first time he had said that.  Now he is my husband.  That was a beautiful moment. 

Thank you to my husband, and children for all the beautiful moments you have given me. 

If you get a chance, take a little time out to sit and think of the beautiful moments you've had in your life.  Feel free to share any that you are comfortable sharing.  And, thanks for following this blog.  I never realized how helpful it is to me.  It's nice to know that people are actually interested in my thoughts.  Thank you.

Our faithful decision

Here's the true story of a decision we made completely based on faith.

My husband and I had been married for about 7 years, with  1 child who was 2 at the time. We had been living in the same city he had grown up in his whole life, with the exception of his mission, and I thought I was totally living there for the REST of my life.  (didn't really like big cities, or the climate) 

He started casually looking for a new job, and found a company that he thought might be good to work for.  One of the jobs they had was in a small town, in another state, where we had never been.  He felt prompted/inspired that we should move to that small town.

We decided to take a trip and check out the town, and see if we received any more inspiration.  We liked it. It was cute, small, a good place to raise our daughter.  So we went back home and prayed about it.  The answer we received was that we needed to move. 

We had a house that we owned, all of our family was around us, everything that my husband knew was there in that big city.  But we followed the promptings, and started making arrangements to move.  The housing/rental market was terrible, but we found great renters in days.  The company he wanted to work for never worked out, other than letting us know about the town.  So we actually moved, without a job to come to, when the job market was non existant.  He got a job in under 10 days.  The same job he still has now, 2 years later. 

We found a house to buy, to raise our family in.  He has always had a job here.  We feel like we will be here for years, unless we are prompted to move again.  In which case, we would.  We don't know why we are here?  But we feel that we are supposed to be here.  Sometimes we miss our family, etc. but we do not doubt that the Lord wants us here.  That brings comfort, and dismisses doubt. 

Our faith brought us here, and we believe in being faithful, and following promptings that we feel.  I think that we are blessed when we follow promptings.  I am glad my husband shared the prompting he received.  I found strength in him going through that process.  I look forward to learning why we are here, and know that I may not find out for a long time, but that's ok. 

That is our experience, and why we all of a sudden moved.  I hope you found it faith promoting.

Have a similar experience?  Please share it.

Ode to Fathers

Never afraid of big bad spiders,
Or teaching scardy cats to be bike riders.
Letting us beat you, or so we thought.
Eating the fish that together we caught.
Chasing away monsters from under the bed.
Giving a shoulder to rest a tired head.
Doing the dirty work that needs to be done,
to make sure the family gets to have fun.
You have a tough job, and I thought I should say
Dad's are amazing, so have a GREAT day!

Whether a father, grandfather, husband, or friend,
you men are important, and we are grateful to have you in our lives.

Happy Fathers' Day!!!

Summery Pictures

Ahh, it's summer time. 

Time to hang out in the Super Awesome Back Yard,

 

 or go out and about
( I took this pic.  Pretty good, eh)

and do some Hiking

then, finish the day off with a camp out.

These are the things we LOVE to do.

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

Strange Confessions

I thought maybe you might find some of my quirks entertaining. 

First and foremost, I am Canadian.  I know, some of you may not have known that.  I don't usually throw that in my personal introductions.  But here it is, for everyone to read.  I love Canada.  I miss Canada.  I hope one day my children will be able to see the beautiful land that I am from.  I AM CANADIAN.  (but I like the US too, we Canadians kind of like everybody)

I have a strange, uncontrollable love for Kraft Macaroni. It started a long time ago, when I was a child.  I intend to instill this love to my own children.

I highly enjoy hockey games.  I have not found another sport as exciting and thrilling to watch as hockey.  There are no mascots, or cheerleaders, and there are a lot of fights, but I love every minute of it.

I cannot run in a straight line. Weird, I know, and I think my 4 year old has inherited this from me.  I feel bad about that.  It's kind of embarrassing in gym class.

I eat english muffins with....... butter and ...... peanut butter.  Sounds GROSS, I know.  But try it.  Sometimes I just crave it. 

I love songs with a good whistling solo.  For instance, "Sitting on the dock of the bay", one of my all time faves.  (It's about fishing, also another reason why I like it)

I have eaten pancakes almost every morning for like 3 weeks.  It's like my new macaroni.

I can't do a cartwheel, or whistle (probably why I love whisteling solos), or pronounce the word "bagel" properly - I say bagel like fraggle, with a soft A.  Mostly, I try to never have to say it. 

Goodness, I know there are so many more.  I hope that maybe you laughed at me a little, I don't mind a bit.  I did too.

Summer Faves

It's the summer, (close enough anyways).  This time of year makes me think of wonderful things, because most of my favorite things happen during the summer.  I know you're dying to know what they are, so here you go.

I love: blue sky days, long long walks that tire us out, ice cream and popsicles, watching Megan swing, laying in the grass on a blanket reading books, laying in the hammock in our awesome backyard, picnics, BBQ's- my husband is great on the grill, butterflies (we have one that visits us everyday in our yard around 3pm), floating in a lazy river, sleeping in, taking afternoon naps, going for a drive, camping in the backyard, opening all windows in the house, visits with family and friends, getting vegetables from the garden, hiking, campfires, fishing with the family, baby snuggles, parades, fireworks, being able to wear shorts and sandals, walking to church, visiting National Parks, roasting marshmallows.  I could go on and on. 

I am SO glad we can finally get out there and do all these fun things.  I am so glad I have such a wonderful family to do them with.  It's going to be especially fun this summer with our new little baby. 
SO EXCITED!