Big changes afoot...

I don't even know how to start this post.  This has been the craziest month of my life and I am exhausted and very emotional about it.  The long and short of the matter is that I've resigned from being a pastor and we are moving out of our city to the suburbs.  There is no ONE reason that we are doing this, (though people keep trying to pin me down to one) it is a whole host of things:

• It is family and marriage, 
• work and play, 
• extended family and friends, 
• church and ministry, 
• camp and responsibilities
  
• new job and school dreams

See?  It is so simple...

My family longs for space and green, a new place to worship and connect with community, to be closer to grandparents etc.  I long for space and green, but I love my church and my ministry.  I love my community.  And it is tearing me up to leave.  But it is time.  Our season here is done.  12 years.  There IS joy mingled with sorrow.  We are moving to a good place, a bigger home near family and good friends.  Pookie will be going to a good school, and Bear will start preschool near us.  There is goodness in the move.  But first I need to mourn.

An update

Sorry for being missing in action.  Allow me to present the ever popular bullet point list of what has been happening these last weeks:

• Spring cleaning and de-cluttering.  This is so good for my soul.  I think I could live with less stuff.  
• Finishing all those little projects that we started when we first got the apartment. Patching, painting, closet doors.
• Sorting through the masses of clothes that the girls own.  It is ridiculous how much they have.
• Deep and profound conversations with Hubby.  I think that we are starting to really hear each other and develop some core values for our family.
• The ever-present job of mothering 2 highly active little girls
• 3 day trip all over Alberta.  The highlight was seeing a good friend and her 4 kids!
• Work and all that involves

I promise to post more around some big changes that are coming down the pipe for our family.  Stay tuned for that post this Saturday!  Till then, for those of you who read and know what those changes are, please don't comment on them.  Just pray!

Photography

I love taking pictures. I especially love taking pictures of the girls. What I'm not good at is printing the pictures and putting them into an album. The digital age of photography is great, but I have thousands (no exaggerating here) of pictures and less than 200 in print. This year I decided to print 12 pictures each month and stick them in an album. It's April. No pictures yet.

And I'm still wary of putting pictures of the girls on this site. I think I'm being a bit over cautious, but I haven't gotten over it yet, so I'm trying to take creative shots that don't reveal all of them...which is fun. Here are some shots from a recent getaway to the Sunshine Coast.

The view from our cabin

Hubby's creation

Pookie building a rock tower

Rocks and water at Hard-to-come-by Bay

****Literally, 2 minutes after I posted this, I got a creepy comment from an unknown person! This is why I don't post pictures of the girls!!!!****

Night Hike

I just got back from an amazing night hike with some of my youth. We headed up to the North Shore's Deep Cove and ended up on this great lookout that overlooked the river and city. The best part of this hike was that it was fully organized by one of my youth.

I've been teaching my youth that we are all uniquely wired to interact, encounter and worship God. Which is why Sunday mornings in a pew don't always float some peoples' boat...you aren't wired to worship that way. Luke is wired to engage God in nature. His mom is the same way and actually inspired a doctoral thesis which turned into a book called 'What's your God language'. The first Friday night of every month has been an exploration of worshipping in different ways. We've done prayer and quiet reflections, singing, playing crazy games and sharing a feast around a table. It has been so encouraging to see these teenagers try and figure out where they encounter God and how to incorporate that into their lives. The last 2 Fridays have been run by youth that are excited to share with the others how they see God. Luke had planned the hike, found verses that he shared along the hike and just taught us how he walks and how he sees God in creation. For some inner city teenagers, that is some good stuff!

I love my job.

FYI: For those that know the saga of the Achilles...it did pretty good on the hike. Feel strong and stable.
My lungs, however, begged to be torn out of my chest and laid to rest on the side of the trail!

The dreaded ear infection

I have lived in a world free of ear infections. I listened to stories of friends and their children who seem to get them every 2 weeks with sympathy and a tiny bit of smugness at my ear infection-free life. Then it happened.

Bear has been snot nosed and coughing for a few days. This afternoon she went for a nap and woke up screaming about her left ear. So, we packed up and headed to the walk in clinic. Sure enough, it was infected. The doctor made me look. "See that all that red? That's not supposed to be there" OK, good. So prescription in hand, we trekked down another block to get the medicine. The whole time Bear is crying, 'I'm really sick Mom'...Ugh, it breaks your heart! The problem is that Bear hates taking medicine and right now doesn't want anything. So, Hubby (who by that time had gotten my message regarding Bear and wisely came home early) had to hold her down as we forced the meds into her. Then she promptly fell asleep on his shoulder after covering his shoulder with mucus.

It was right about then I decided to order pizza for dinner.

Earth hour

Yesterday we celebrated/observed/did the hipster thing, Earth hour. We planned all day for it, even leaving our friends house so that we could get home. Of course that meant putting the girls to bed in the pitch black, only to hear Pookie cry out for her night light. (Eco friendly bulb in nightlight thank goodness!)

So, girls to bed early, bedroom aglow with candlelight and what do we do? Set up Ikea furniture of course! Yes, just like in the olden days....oh wait...Any way, we had bought a new desk at Ikea that day. Of course, we only went to Ikea for a picture frame and came home with bedding, a bodum, chalk, a roll of paper, an as-is dining room table and a desk.

Needless to say, it was an adventure. Hubby and I have very different ways of going about things. I like to look at instructions, he doesn't. I like to do it step by step, he leapfrogs. I like to use finesse, he uses brute strength. And nothing is better than looking for that last thingamajig by candlelight! However, amidst giggles, sighs, a few curses, a bit of compromise and a frantic search through the packaging for the missing piece, we set it up. And it is mighty fine.

And today I managed to frame one of my favorite Pookie creations...which is why we went to Ikea in the first place!

The Open Door

Every Wednesday morning for the past 3 years, I've gone to the Open Door. It is a ministry for single moms that offers licensed care for babies and preschoolers, coffee, free clothes, bible studies and a great lunch. But it offers so much more than that...it offers a community where moms can come and share their struggles with kids, work and relationships. And almost every time I leave the church, I am thankful that I have a husband who loves me and his girls. Because I am often counting down the minutes until Hubby walks through the door and gives me "a break". More so when the girls were both in diapers, but still even now! I can't imagine going day after day without a break. Without someone to share the load of life with kids. That is what these moms do, day after day.

This January I was handed the reins to the program. The woman who started it 18 years ago got very sick and was unable to continue. In desperation, they asked me to take it on. Suckers. Any way, this morning I noticed that one of our regulars has been MIA for several weeks. So I gave her a call this morning and encouraged her to come. (for those of you who know me, this was a big step due to my phone phobia!) Olga is a Russian immigrant who is on disability and suffers from depression. She can be very difficult to be with and often asks for help but then doesn't listen. I taught on a Thomas Merton prayer that has been very meaningful to me for a long time and it sparked an amazing time of sharing, bonding and prayer. Olga actually left with a smile on her face. But the best part was how the other moms really came alongside her and encouraged her. Most of the moms who come to our program actually don't have preschool kids, their kids are in school. It is the feeling of community and belonging that keeps them coming. The sense that there are other women willing to hear their stories, give encouragement and to speak God's word. For most of the moms, this is their church.

It is my prayer that more moms find us. That they are able to let go of any 'fear' of church and come in to find a community. It is my prayer that we are a place that extends the welcome of Jesus and the welcome of the single mom. And it is my prayer that I continue to learn from our moms.