I have some pictures of the girls, with many thanks to those who took the pictures and sent them to me! Both girls, making cookies with Aunty Kathleen. Bethany had fun! Carrie Ann dressing up in Aunty Kathleen's belly-dancing costumes. Carrie Ann dressing up in Hawaiian clothes at our friends' place. Bethany dressed up too. Carrie Ann playing dress-up last May. Carrie Ann did a good job cutting and colouring her name with a craft kit from the Library last spring.
Thanks to the generosity of some anonymous friends, we got a Christmas tree this year! We are very thankful to everyone who gave us gifts or money this year. It has been nice to be around family and friends, and enjoy the season! May God bless you all as you share His love with others and meditate on the miracle of his incarnation and birth.
By the way, I don't have access to practicadoula anymore, so if you've been trying to email me there please try at: (name of my blog) zero seven at gmail dot com. Hopefully you can make that out better than the webcrawlers that steal email addresses...
Hi there! Well, it has been a while (okay, 7 months). Sorry. Quick recap: in June, I could no longer hold together my marriage with Frank, moved to Langley. After a summer of living here and there (thanks to everyone who helped us out!), we now live in a subsidized apartment for single moms. Matthias is living with Frank, and having fun "unschooling." We will see how that goes. When I prayed about what to do with my life now that marriage was no longer an option, God reminded me of the MLE I didn't do 14 years ago. So here I am -- already done the first semester (the "Killer Pack" -- by God's grace, it didn't kill me!). If you want to talk to me about any of this, feel free to call or email (I'll be off email for the holidays, though). Dad and Deb both have my number, and Calvin College, or leave me a comment and I'll call you. I wanted to be intentional about celebrating Christmas this year, so we sat down and made a list of what Christmas is about. The first thing on our list was "remembering Jesus' birth," and I listed all the things we've done to celebrate His first coming -- playing religious Christmas music, reading the story, attending Christmas plays, programs and concerts. The one thing missing on my list was setting up a nativity scene. So we talked about how hard it is to buy one that matches my mental image. The next thing I knew, Bethany asked for my fabric scrap bag, and she created costumes for all her Barbie dolls and now we have a beautiful "Barbie Nativity." So much better than a store bought one! Close up
Yay! (or as Carrie Ann says, "Woo hoo!") Yesterday, she stayed dry all day -- not y me rememering to put her on the toilet, ut y going all y herself! That is a huge step ahead. Hope it will last, it's aout time! Sorry aout the key after a... the kids got it yesterday.
My ankle is getting there too. I can walk, even on grass, ut still have a limp, and it hurts at the end of the day. Actually, all of oth legs hurt from compensating! I'm very glad to e ale to get around, though!
Good news first... the other day I was babysitting an almost two year old at her house with Carrie Ann and Bethany. Carrie Ann went over to Luna's play kitchen, and said, "Now I'm going to back my favourite food! Spinach!"
Today I sprained my ankle -- I was rushing to walk to the school to get Bethany for a dentist appointment, and tripped when my foot hit the backpack on the back of the stroller. Then suddenly I had lots of time, because I knew I couldn't do the half hour walk anymore! I flagged down a passing neighbour and got a ride home, then called Frank's Mom who was happy to pick up Bethany and take her to the dentist. So it all turned out all right, I even got the fish tank moved to a shady corner with everyone's help (hopefully that will cut down on the algae overgrowth), but now I can't sleep because my ankle hurts. It's not at all like the worst sprain I had (in 1996) which took months to heal. This one will probably be better in a week or two. Such is life.
Well, it hasn't been too busy here the last two months, at least not for the camera!
In January we went skating, went to Torch day (Carrie Ann calls it "Canada", since we sang "O Canada" there), saw a baby calf, and I went to a fabulous concert by the Toronto Consort. I don't have pictures of all that, of course, but there are some pictures of the beautiful sweater MaryAnna made for Carrie Ann!
In February: We did a reading Olympics for school -- 2000 minutes in one month, per kid, and we just finished on the last day! We went to a concert by the Canadian University College Chamber Orchestra. It was incredible -- the music swept me away a couple times, and that hasn't happened in a very long time. We had a couple of flautists over for the night afterwards. It was fun! They were from Thailand and Seoul, so we could have spent lots more time talking if it hadn't been so late! Carrie Ann stopped sucking her thumb (with a little help). It took two weeks before she stopped saying "I really need my thumb" at bedtime. We watched a little bit of the Olympics (mainly figure skating). But I don't have pictures of that. I have pictures of the smile finder on our new camera, a new family picture, and the first shoots and flowers of spring. If anyone wants their own copy of our family picture, just let me know what size, what format (electronic or paper) and which one (this is number one, number two has Carrie's eyes open but everyone else looks bored). Click here to see the rest of the pictures in my gallery.
Well, my pictures from December are up! It was a busy month. I got to go to a play with a friend of mine, in which another friend played Elizabeth Bennet -- in Pride and Prejudice. I had a great evening! Later that weekend I took the kids to the Mormon's display of nativity sets they have collected -- several hundred of them! Some of them were very beautiful, some interesting -- made of local materials or styles in far away places. They also had a great craft room for the kids! Two weeks later, my choir sang in the local Ministerial concert -- many churches from town sent their church choirs, and the songs were interspersed with readings and congregational singing. The choir members outnumbered the guests by almost five to one, I think! It's a really neat evening. Two days later, Bethany and the primary students at their school put on a play about the Mice who saved Christmas. I found out that you have to get there at least half an hour early to get a seat! I got there 45 minutes early, and found the auditorium half full already! The next day, the middle school students (Matthias' section) ran a Winter Carnival -- Matthias helped at the concession. That Sabbath was our church's Christmas program -- songs and readings interspersed with lots of special music. Creston is a very musical town, I think, and the SDA church is particularly musical. I had the privilege of doing one of the readings and leading one song -- why is it they always pick songs I don't know well? Bethany and her Sabbath School class sang Away in the Manger, and the choir sang our song again ("Twas the Birthday of a King"). By the end of all that, I was exhausted, and the next week first Bethany fell sick, then myself, then Carrie Ann, and finally Matthias as well. (Frank got it a little bit, two weeks later.) So Carrie's birthday was a quiet day at home, though Grandma came over with presents and strawberries to go with the cake. We did manage to bake a cake and blow out candles. Very important: always let the cake cool off before you put the candles in! I put them in right away and the bottoms of the candles melted into the cake! Then I had to scoop the wax out, creating big holes in the cake. Oh well, it tasted great with those nice strawberries! Hard to believe she's three already! When she was born, I remember looking at her and thinking, "I can't wait until you are three, and can walk and talk and feed yourself, and are done with diapers!" It is finally here! Carrie Ann Dancing on her birthday:
Christmas eve, we were still sick, so Grandma brought over some presents again, and from Aunt Kathleen and Aunt Deborah as well (Frank's sisters). (Rob and Hyang Ju's gift came earlier.) The Sunday after all the holidays (Jan. 3) we finally got to go to Grandma's house for hot cocoa! I got the kids all a toy and a pack of socks -- but after all the neat gifts from everyone else, mine were anti-climactic! Carrie Ann with her favourite present:
The next week, I realized that Carrie Ann had not wet her pants since the day before her birthday! A whole week, day and night! I had promised her a doll when she accomplished a whole week dry, so we went shopping and she picked out this Barbie. So many toys in a row! I was so proud of her, though, and happy to be free, finally, of diapers! (She actually made it three weeks before her first accident, awesome!) Now I just have to teach her to do it on her own, instead of always needing help. She is getting there. This week she showed me that she can undress herself -- she wanted a bath, and next thing I knew she was running around stark naked. And she managed to dress herself, at least partway. One day she got panties, tights, socks and a dress on all by herself, all I had to do was the buttons and bow! My baby is growing up, and finally I don't have panic attacks when I see other people pregnant or walking around with newborns. That doesn't mean I want another one, though! Last thing this year, the sweater MaryAnna was knitting for Bethany finally arrived! Bethany picked the colours when we were visiting in Niagara Falls. They agreed on a pattern together, and went shopping together for just the right yarn (MaryAnna said it was an eye-opener shopping with Bethany, because she knew exactly what she wanted and was willing to shop around until she found it!). The sweater turned out just beautiful. Other than that.... I'm trying to save up for my trip to Korea for Rob's wedding, so if you have any typing or transcribing you need done, let me know! (Or anything else I can do quietly on the computer at home for an hour or two per day. If you go see the December pictures, don't miss the girls' artwork, "Jesus Baby" by Carrie Ann, and "Baby Jesus" and the "Rose Princess" by Bethany. Carrie Ann has decided that she can make up new words as well! Recently she started using "innervating", which means something like annoying. Also, if it's not "his", it must be "shis" -- rhymes with his, means hers. Three year olds are so cute (but they still do cry, which she is doing right now, so I guess it's bedtime!).
