Dance Recital

Bethany had her end of the year dance recital at the end of June. I got to be "backstage Mom", which was a lot of fun! It made for a busy week, especially since the parents were responsible for the stage makeup and I don't have a clue about makeup -- nor any around. But a friend from Homelinks who had a daughter performing as well helped me out, and I only had to buy a couple things that you shouldn't share. There are a few pictures up in my photo gallery (link at the right), but here is one of Bethany's class doing their "final pose":

The teacher liked the "hand pointing down" pose, and used it in a lot of the dances. Carrie Ann must have noticed, because on Canada Day, while the Creston Fiddlers were playing, she danced around in a circle with one arm up, hand pointed down! In fact, she danced around and around until she was so dizzy she couldn't walk in a straight line anymore. It was quite cute, and lots of the grandmas commented to me on it afterwards. She also walked through the audience, greeting everyone. I think she might have been looking for Grandma. She sure was excited when she finally found her!

Celebrate!

Wow! Last Thursday, we were playing with some friends who have a 2 ft baby slide, and Carrie Ann got up the courage to slide down all by herself, without holding my hand! Today, Matthias read four chapters in his chapter book (about 5 pages per chapter) without any nagging from me! I just suggested that he read, and promised I would match whatever he read (read him one chapter aloud for each chapter he read silently), and he sat down and read two chapters. Then I matched him one for the chapter he read yesterday, and two for the chapters today, and then he went ahead and read the last two chapters on his own! This is a real break-through for him, it is the first time he has read willingly, more than I required! I am so excited! It is common for MD boys to be a couple years behind in language skills when they are young, but usually the difference diminishes once they are able to read fluently. So he is almost there! (Well, we still have to work on writing!) And Bethany managed to swim about 2 metres head-up today! She has been practicing so hard, and could swim quite far underwater, but the need to come up for air always hindered her. So now she paddles like crazy and can keep her head up for a bit! There's still room for work, but this is a major step for her too. It is hard to believe she will be six in two more months. And I'll be 32 in two days -- 32 is one of my favourite numbers, so I hope that means it will be a good year!

Camping

We really enjoyed the campground in Keremeos on our way to the Coast. Here is a link from their pamphlet.
Ashnola Campground
The manager was very friendly, loved little children, and sounded a bit lonely. I hope she enjoyed the big powwow she was preparing for!
We went camping last weekend (the 21st), along Kootenay Lake. It was very nice -- the children enjoyed the water and fire, the neighbours were friendly, and even though it rained all night long, it only stormed hard enough to keep me awake for about one hour! The last time we were at that spot, the waves were so noisy and close to the tent that I hardly slept all night. This time, we were a little farther and higher up the beach, and the wind wasn't as strong, so I slept much better. It's a nice pebbly beach, so even though it was very wet, it wasn't muddy at all. The wild roses along the path to the beach were all in bloom! Sorry, no pictures, I didn't bring the camera (after 400 pictures in May, I had to slow down a bit in June!).

Wow!

Hurray! Last week, Matthias finally rode his bike all by himself,
and Bethany learned to tie a bow!

The kids are all learning and growing so fast suddenly! Carrie Ann is starting to use small sentences ("I want up" instead of "up" for example), and loves learning new words. This morning she woke up, pointed out the window, and said, "Boe-ta-bite". Any guesses? I thought Motorbike, because that sounds like "moe-ta-bite", but she said, "uh-uh." Hmmm... Then I remembered her pointing to a bug and saying the same word yesterday, and guessed, "Mosquito bite?" "Yeah-yeah-yeah! 'Tias!" In other words, "Yes! Matthias has lots of mosquito bites!" Where does she get these things from? Matthias does have lots of mosquito bites, but what did she see out the window that made her think of that? Lots of fun! Telepathy does exist--every mother uses it to talk with her toddler!

Our trip to the Coast

We did so much on our trip! For all the pictures, see my photo gallery (link at the side).

The purpose of the trip was to meet my sister Deb's baby Aria, and visit with Dad and Mary Anna (for the first time since their wedding). Isn't this a great picture?
My best one of Aria:

Deb and Brad are making awesome parents. It's never easy, but usually you are doing better than you think you are, at this stage! (That goes for you too, Dan and Caryn!)
We had lots of fun visiting our church friends, camping, going to the zoo, hanging out with Mary Anna's girls, and swimming in Trail. You can see lots more pictures in my photo gallery, but I couldn't resist putting this one in my blog:

It bloomed at Victoria's in Trail, where we stayed at the end of the trip while Frank set up a couple satellite dishes. (Actually, he was done late on Friday, so we stayed for Sabbath as well.)
It was a bit funny actually: we spent about 2.5 days with Deb, Aria, Dad, Mary Anna and the family; 2.5 days travelling and camping; 2.5 days visiting our church friends; 2.5 days in Trail for satellite dishes. Our week turned into ten days, split equally between our four different activities!
Please read the next couple posts, I'm posting three today.

What to do?

I have been thinking a lot lately about the climate change crisis and other recent events in the world (like most everyone, I guess).

Brad J put a link on his blog to a great little movie on the subject called The Story of Stuff. Please watch it if you have any question about what I'm talking about! (It's about 20 minutes long, very short, yet thorough.)

A couple verses have leapt out at me recently during my Bible reading, and I wanted to share them with you.

The first was Ezekiel 18:31-32: Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have not pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live!

What transgressions have I committed? Look at Ps. 24:1:
The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it;

So, my "footprint" not only hurts the earth -- it hurts the Lord who made it. In fact, it also hurts "those who live in it." We watched a movie about soaring cancer rates in China due to polluted rivers; but whose dollar is demanding the manufacturing which is polluting the river? Mine! Remember those starving children in Africa who we all wanted to send our broccoli to? Well, one of the documentaries we watched said that the drought which starved them was caused by the exhaust smoke from our parents' cars! What human suffering am I causing without even being aware of it? I may be angry about the rainforest being cut down -- but are they doing it to make my junk mail, and grow my bananas?

But what can I do? Our whole lives are steeped in this materialistic way -- how can I change everything (short of moving to Africa!)? Psalm 25:11-12 gave me this answer:
For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.
Who are they that fear the Lord?
He will teach them the way that they should choose.

I will make the small changes that are possible: flying less, walking more, recycling, changing lightbulbs, buying less (and more secondhand), saying no to junk mail. God will show me the "way that I should choose". (Please share with me anything you've thought of that can help!) The rising fuel prices will actually help us as a society get serious about these changes.

We had a beautiful, restful Sabbath day today. Ezekiel 20:12 says, "Moreover I gave them my sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, so that they might know that I the LORD sanctify them." He reminds me that I can't save the world, or even myself (or my children, family, and friends, who I love dearly). But he can save us all, and will if we let him. So come, Lord, and work your will in my heart and family!

In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that he will "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" -- in my Bible, it says, "do not bring us to the time of trial." Also in Gethesemane (facing a crisis) he twice exhorts the disciples to "Pray that you may not come into the time of trial" Luke 22:39-46. So when I fear the coming crisis, this is my prayer. I don't know if he will spare us from the awful events, or just give us peace of mind and heart throughout them; but I know I can't go wrong praying the prayer he told the disciples to pray!

And to all the children of the world: Sorry!

Tower of Bauble

Matthias' marble run came!

On our trip, we made a point of stopping at Science World to see the ball sculpture outside the front entrance. I didn't take any pictures because Carrie Ann was sleeping in my arms, but I found a video on the internet (sorry about the background music). It is called the Tower of Bauble, and runs from about 30 seconds to 1 minute and 30 seconds in the movie.