Year in Review

New Years' Eve

The final day of 2007, a good time to review the year.

January - I 'officially' started my new job as Office Administrator for the Zurich Mennonite Church. I say 'officially' because I did actually start in Dec/07 but for some reason, I didn't start on the payroll until the new year. I absolutely love my job. It fits me to a "T". It allows me to use the God-given gifts to glorify HIS kingdom. I work 5 1/2 hours a day from Monday - Friday which is such a good balance, for work & home. What could be more perfect!

February - we celebrated my Dad's 65th birthday by taking the whole family to the states, and Krystle received her 'promise' ring from Gerard.

March - I started blogging, a dear friend thought I would be good at it so I started sharing my thoughts. (I am glad I did) Darcy also started his first job at the Little Inn of Bayfield.

April - Wayne & Kyle took a father-son trip to Cuba They had a wonderful time together.

May - We celebrated Darcy's 17th

& Krystle's 20th birthday.


June - Wayne finished another year of driving bus for St. Anne's Catholic Highschool.


July & August - we enjoyed our summer sitting by the pool.

September - Krystle moved back to Cambridge for her 2nd yr at Heritage. Darcy started GR 12 at Central Huron Secondary School. Wayne & I celebrated our 21st anniversary, and last but definitely not least Kyle celebrated his 19th birthday.


October - I celebrated my 40th birthday, with a delicious turkey dinner and all the trimmings. Got red roses from Wayne, a digital camera from my kids,


and got myself a tattoo.

Here is a close-up.


November - Wayne & I enjoyed a week of holidays in the Bahamas.


December - I celebrated the 1st anniversary of my job.
We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas season with our family.


Jeremiah 29:11 says 'For I know the plans I have for you' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for a hope and a future'.
Now, while I may not know what the future holds, I do know the ONE how holds my future.

Blessings

Christmas Joy

We had a wonderful Christmas, the whole day was filled with such joy. We ate a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit & dip, cinnamon rolls, muffins, cheese & hashbrown potatoes.
We opened stockings and the kids took turns giving out their gifts.

I got a new friend, her name is 'Bella'.


I got a plaque that has my favourite scripture verse from Jeremiah 29:11 on it.

This one won the 'crying' present. Each year the kids "compete" to see who can make me cry over their gift. And Kyle has won three years running.

I also got slippers, they are very warm & fuzzy.


Wayne got his chocolates.


And a new sweater from Heritage.


After Wayne & I opened our gifts we gave out ours.

My Mom & Dad came up and Gerard came over too. We played games ate oodles of munchies (nacho dip, tortilla wraps or "spudge rolls" as Kyle likes to call them, veggie pizza, cheese ball or salmon ball & crackers, and more fruit & dip.)

Krystle & Gerard had to leave a little early because they were going to the Zielman's to enjoy a delicious turkey dinner.

And of course before Mom & Dad left we ate our ever so yummy Christmas supper tradition of Limburger Cheese & Spanish Onion sandwiches.

Blessings

Boys and Toys

We got Kyle & Darcy the Guitar Hero III, Legends of Rock for Christmas. Both were pretty excited. Wayne & I went all over London to EB Games, Future Shop, Wal-Mart and we couldn't find it anywhere.
So I had resigned myself that we would have to give a gift certified to them for it. (It's not quite the same.)

But then 3 days before Christmas, Wayne & I went to Goderich to finish Christmas shopping for other stuff and as chance would have it, there were over 20 Guitar Hero games in Wal-mart. As I am cashing out at the register, three guys (mid 20's) were in line behind me and as I am placing the Guitar Hero III up to purchase it, the one guy looks at me as gives me 'the nod.'


We got Kyle a Futon for his room. (Only the cover is pictured here)


We got Darcy contact lenses,

and of course Aviator sunglasses.

Pretty cool dudes.

Blessings

'krys' mas angel

Krystle received a new 'Willow Tree Angel" this one is the 'Angel of Learning'.
I thought it was very appropriate since she is still in school. This is her 3rd angel so far for her collection. She has the 'Bright Star Angel' & Sign of Love Angel'. I just love these figurines. (even have my own collection)


She also got a gold watch, oh boy, was she excited.
Plus she also got quite a few little treats in her stocking.

Krystle is home for only two weeks during the Christmas break. So we've been tying to cram alot in with family dinners, meeting up with frineds and just hanging out. We still need to share her with Gerard but that's a given.

It's so hard to believe that another semester has come & gone. By the end of this school year she will be halfway through her program. I look forward to seeing where God will place her. With the program that she's taking and the new job that she has, the doors will be more open with so many more possibilities.
I get excited thinking about it, but then too, if I think to long, I get anxious.
I think that 'the letting go' is one of the hardest things about parenting.

Blessings

Three more sleeps.........

I remember when the kids were younger we used to count the passing of time by 'how many more sleeps' till the event.

.....ahhh how I miss those times.....

Christmas is such an exciting time of the year. But it also seems to be very stressful too. I've been talking to friends and there seems to be a common feeling of not being able to get everything (whatever that is ) all done.
I'm not sure why we put SO much pressure on ourselves (yes I am guilty of that too) to have it all together.

As our family is getting ready to celebrate Christmas, I try to tackle all the last minute preparations, without trying to get stressed, however, that is much easier said than done.

I look forward to spending time with my family and extended family. It's getting harder these days to gather together with everyone's busy schedules.

It's nice to have a holiday every once in a while to allow us the opportunity to slow down.

So in closing, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!!!

Blessings

Christmas Dinner

The annual 'Selah Family Bookstore' Christmas banquet.


Ironically none of us work there anymore.....LOL

I worked for Don & Susan Romphf from 2001 - 2004, while they owned the local Christian bookstore. Then they sold their bookstore, and the new owner chose not to have a Christmas banquet.

We decided that we still wanted to get together and we would plan our own annual Christmas dinner. We're now in our 3rd year!!!

I've always appreciated both Don & Susan. When I worked for them I knew that I could always count on them in times of ....well anything. And even though I no longer work for them, I still know that they are there for me, and vice versa.

Our times together are not as often as when I worked for them, but despite of no longer having the store connection, we're still very good friends. When we do get together, it seems like no time at all has passed and we're able to chat as always.

Even though they are close to age of my parents, I count them as one of our very dear and close friends.

Blessings

It's looking like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go.........
and finally in my house too.

I have our tree decorated and ornamental things throughout the rest of the house too. Looks pretty good.

For the past three nights I have been busy making Christmas cards. I was at a stamp camp with Jane and she showed us these cool little 3x3 cards. I thought to myself that is exactly what I plan to do this year for Christmas. I used to stress out so much trying make the full 4 1/4 X 5 1/2 card only to stop making as many as I would like to because of the time it takes.

So here are four of the designs that I have got so far.

Cute, aren't they?

Wayne & I plan to start Christmas shopping on Friday. This time it was not by choice to wait this long, but by circumstances. I cannot believe how busy our lives seem to get this time of year.

And on Saturday, I'm planning on meeting my sister to do our Christmas baking. Last year was the first year we started sharing this job. First off it is much for fun doing it with someone, and we can make more kinds and share them. A better bonus is that we do it all at her house..... so the mess stays there! I do help with the clean-up.

It's so hard to believe that Christmas is only in 20 days. I sure am glad that we have snow on the ground, somehow it just seems more like Christmas.

Blessings

Bahamian Holidays

Wayne & I left on Sunday November 18th at 2:30 am to arrive in Toronto with enough time to find the Conquest booth to get our flight tickets and proceed through the gates to then end up waiting until the 7:30 am flight.
The flight was very smooth and it was in total 2 hours and 51 minutes. We were only 15 minutes from the airport to our hotel destination. So it seemed like in no time at all we were there.

This is the main building of the resort.

After unpacking and taking a walking tour throughout the layout of the resort we settled into the relaxed mode of lounging by the pool.

Each day we had much the same routine: breakfast, walk about, lounge by the pool, lunch at the beach grill, walk the beach, lounge by the pool, have supper at either the buffet restaurant (pictured below) or one of the al a carte restaurants.

Play ping-pong, watch the evening entertainment, visit with the many friends we met, and then head off to bed.
I know....... sounds tough, but hey somebody has to do it. LOL


We had a wonderful time.

We arrived home on November 25th at 4:00 am, went straight to bed and woke up at 7:00am to get ready for work.
It's taken me about a week to get caught up with sleep, laundry, housecleaning and all the rest.
This holiday was great and I would highly recommend this resort to anybody. We had amazing weather, great food everyday, and the locals we met were very friendly.

Blessings