The joys of an almost one year old...

Kaylee keeps reminding me to enjoy every little moment in life! I love her curiousity, constant learning and figuring out of new things, entertaining herself and finding joy in the smallest things like getting to the top of the stairs, her "brrummming" as she plays with her cars, standing with her nose mashed against the patio window talking to Tucker (our cat) as he paws at her, her singing to herself as I pull her in her sled and we enjoy the warmer weather and sunshine, as she bounces to the music of her little car and walks behind it, as she excitedly discovers that she can open drawers and cupboards and pull stuff out, and now as she is working on using her car as a step to try to crawl onto a shelf in our living room and giggles to herself as she makes progess:) Ahhh yes, she is making lots of progress these days including welcoming Dwayne home with "dada....dad..." the other day! Life is not filled with only innocent smiles but I pray that God will continue to give us wisdom and patience each day as we seek to love and guide Kaylee!

Back to the winter routine...

Over Christmas we were gone for just over 2 weeks out in Sydney and mainly Melbourne, Australia visiting a great friend from bible college who is originally from Australia and just got married out there this summer. It was a joy to have the opportunity to see her and get to know them more as a couple. We also met another one of our couple friends from college who flew over at the same time as us. We all share many precious times and conversations together, as well as lots of sightseeing, camping and time down at the ocean! Kaylee did great travelling and being flexible throughout the time...EXCEPT the first week home was a challenge dealing with jetlag - ie. the second night she decided that it was playtime from about midnight til 4am (this would have been early evening time in Australia)! But she (and us as parents) are now caught up on sleep and back to normal routines:)


After Christmas now we have got busy working on more fixup projects around our house. The latest projects have included: painting the upstairs office room, patching and painting feature walls in the living room, and painting and finishing up baseboards and trims throughout the house. Next items on the project list include: ripping out the old blue shag carpet in the living room and replacing it with laminate flooring, finishing some smaller patching and painting projects throughout the house, and as the weather gets nicer getting the new garage stuccoed and touch up painting on the outside of the house.

I think I always thought that I would have "more time" on my hands when I would be at home with children and would be able to accomplish a lot. However, I am finding that often I have a hard time putting into words what I did during the day. Right now Kaylee is learning, discovering and developing so much ever day that she keeps me quite busy! She is crawling and has such a curious spirit! Between her keeping me on my toes, I am able to get small bits of these fixup projects done around the house, and do my best to keep the house in order and continue to try to get it more in order. Maybe it is my itch for spring already, but I am feeling the need to begin cleaning more and organizing and PURGING! Not quite sure how much time I will be able to invest in that, but I long to figure out how to continue to simplify our lives and I believe one of those ways is continuing to downsize some of our possessions. I know that goes against what the world tells you, but one of the bible study books that I am reading right now talks of how our possessions often consume our time and energies and weigh us down. So we will see if and how I can work towards combating that in our lives over this next while!

Our little girl is growing up and has an opinion...

This last week Kaylee was playing with a piece of newspaper and trying to stuff it in her mouth. Needless to say we carefully took away the slobbered on, soggy piece of paper, and were quickly met with Kaylee vocalizing her lack of appreciation for this action - WWWAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! Nothing else would console her...she wanted THAT piece! Hmmm, I guess Kaylee is her own person with her own needs, wants, desires and opinions. May God give us wisdom as we try to guide her in developing these!

What can we all get done before the snow comes...

The nights are getting cooler and the frost has hit, the leaves are falling, but the sun still manages to make some of these afternoons quite enjoyable outside! We have been busy this summer working on fixing up different things around our house and yard. Like my grandparents said yesterday when they visited, "there is always something to fill your time"! Some of the projects we have been working on are:

-Restoring the massive decks on the main floor and 2nd storey (they hadn't been originally done with treated lumber so we had to replace a number of rotten boards, restain the floors, replace some of the railings and railing posts, and are working on finishing painting the railings)
-Giving all the upstairs bedrooms a fresh coat of paint
-Ripping out the lovely blue shag carpet that has graced much of this house (from the bedrooms, the stairs, the dining room, and soon it will be out of the big living/rec room!)
-Getting new carpet laid in the bedrooms upstairs
-Finishing and staining the beautiful wide fir stairs that we found hidden under the rug
-Installing a beautiful hardwood in our dining/fireplace room
-Trying to fill in and level the backyard where there was a old "duckpond", and making better drainage around the house so that water doesn't sit around the house and on the driveway
-And when winter hits we will be inside ripping out the last chunk of blue carpet in the living room and replacing it with laminate wood flooring, and doing some final painting projects like the main floor bathroom, the living room, and maybe the kitchen/dining room.

Happy 6 Month Birthday KAYLEE:)

Yesterday was Kaylee's 6 month birthday! It is hard to believe that just over a year ago we moved from Alberta where we had been for the last 10 years out here to Manitoba. At that time I was early in my pregnancy carrying Kaylee. We were beginning the new leg of this journey of life. Little did we know what would all be before us - we rented a big beautiful old house that Dwayne's parents graciously offered us, Dwayne worked on finishing his master's degree - he took a couple days each week to get away from behind the desk and do physical or other "mental" labour like renovation projects on the house or help his friend at the auto shop or property investments, and I did everything from canning to prepping for baby to supporting Dwayne in getting his papers by editing, etc. This time was also a time of rest and rejuvenation after many years of full time ministry having the blessing of working with the Explore students at Prairie Bible College! Then after a quick trip to Hawaii to celebrate Dwayne's completion of his master's degree in Business and Leadership through Trinity Western University (and an early anniversary trip before we had a child), Kaylee was born March 29th:) It was a blessing to have Dwayne at home during these early months as he was looking for a job! Early June we then moved to a house we had bought originally as an investment so that we could enjoy our own home again and do some more renovations and cleanup to the place for re-sale. And mid-June Dwayne started his new job as the Renal Health Program Manager of the Northern Medical Unit based out of Winnipeg. I am continuing to learn how to live well in this new season of life as a mommy at home in the country, and very much being reminded that we never get it "figured" out. So that is where we are now!

There is a lot more to this than feeding and changing diapers...

It is not that I didn't know this, but this hit me more today again as I had an 11 year old girl spend yesterday and the night over at our place! I know she looks up to me alot, and is full of questions as she watches my every move as an older woman and mom. "How often do you have to feed/change her?" "Do you get lonely just being at home?" "Aren't you SO happy to have Kaylee?" "I can hardly wait til I am 29 and can have a baby of my own!..." Yes, it is very different living in the country and being at home without a job all day. Am I lonely? - I would answer no, I enjoy some of my own solitude though I do thoroughly enjoy being in relationship with others. This last year has provided a lot of rest for me after being engaged in full-time life ministry, but I am itching more and more to be engaged more fully in community and in deeper relationships with others. What that all consists of I am yet unsure, but that is part of the deep processing God is bringing me through. Am I happy...? - Yes, I am happy...and very grateful to have Kaylee...like I responded to this gal though, there is also a lot of sacrifice, changes, challenges, and growth! A young woman's dream is to be a "mommy" when you are everything to your child, they only want you and are comforted by you alone...but there is so much more that is required of you like choices of staying at home to raise my precious daughter instead of placing her in a daycare and working outside the home. There are days I wish I could say that I did more than change her diapers and feed her, but as I shared the day with this 11 year old girl I realized how quickly the days, weeks, months, years would go by! I really desire to take the time to treasure each moment with Kaylee even now when she is young and it feels like I am not doing anything significant. Yet I know I am helping build into her life, and I pray it is in a godly direction!

4 months old...one year since my bike accident...

Well, yesterday Kaylee was 4 months old already! I can't believe how time continues to fly by! And it was also the day marking a year since my bike accident (when we found out I was pregnant). As these memories were heavy on our hearts and minds yesterday, we tried to take time to cherish the many blessings we share that it is easy to take forgranted and many people assume are their "right" - I am ALIVE and am fully recovered, and we have a precious daughter in our arms to treasure each and every day with. When I had my accident we were told that because of my brain injury, recovery would take a while and there was no guarentee about the extent. Praise the Lord we don't notice anything long term besides a couple little scars! And we were also told that there was a higher chance of a miscarrying the child (Kaylee) I was carrying because of the trauma my body had went through. Again, we praise God for preserving Kaylee's life - that is part of the reason we named her Kaylee Moriah...Kaylee means "pure, godly" and we pray that as she grows up she will seek to be pure and develop godly character as she is in relationship with her Creator. And Moriah means "God provides or God is my teacher" named after Mount Moriah in scripture where God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice. After many years and much sacrifice God did bless us with Kaylee, and we count to try to seek to hold her with open arms before our beloved Creator and Provider. She is not ours for the keeping, but we have been blessed with her for a time...and my life is not my own, but may it glorify my Giver of Life!