Family Fun

Rauchelle caught the train down to spend the weekend with the family to celebrate my birthday.  Its a challenge for her to find the time from work to get down to our place via the train, but it beats the bus!!She treated me to beautiful bag of wholesome, natural goodies in a great natural fabric bag with says about 'A Wise Woman......'  I was a bit giddy opening the packages as they were daintily wrapped, and we aren't big on Gift Giving.  I think Rauchelle had as much fun watching me open it as she had shopping for it!

 Then....what Mama wanted to do was for the Family to go out for a walk together.  I see this hill from the children's bedrooms and I was curious as to what was up there.  So, the rain had stopped and we trekked out.

Toveli found a four-leaf clover.

Rauchelle had brought 

bandana's for Maret and Mitchell, and was wearing some herself, but 'Jesse' was feeling left out so he mooched one off of Rauchelle to be a Bandit.

Always somewhere's new to climb and conquer.

Rauchelle is always up to fun and a challenge. 

 She did stand on this and roll it.  This is where she fell off.

Two Buds at the Top

We found a water reserve at the top of the hill, and it had a ladder..........so of course we had to climb it.  Only of course, the bottom had a metal cover to discourage climbers, but we got over that, one way or other.

The littles climbed up the backside, squished between the ladder and wall.

Evaluating how much farther he had to climb.

He got right up to the top!

Even Mama did it!

There's most of us, at the top.

Rauchelle and Toveli

Taking a leap of faith.

Thanks, family, for making my day a special, love-filled one!  I am Blessed.

A Sweet End & a New Beginning

We had the privilege of having my eldest brother and his son spend a few days with us, along with our own dd Layne, and last night we were joined Momentarily (1 sleep) with Rauchelle.  But it was a sweet way to spend part of the last of 2010 with some of those that we love.

And tonight was Shabbat so we celebrated with a Special Meal.

A wonderful way to go into the New Year of 2011.

New Years Apple Challah

(Toveli's Request)

Blessings to all of you,

and all the best for you and your loved ones

in the New Year.

(DPP) Big Sis Little Bro

Mix together Big Artistic Sister with 4 year old Little Brother and some colourful nailpolish the other Sisters just got from Santa's Early Elves and you have Happy Faces!

Crazy Day for a Party

We had it all planned out.

Saturday we would meet Rauchelle in Nanaimo and pick Layne up at the Duke Point ferry.  We'd go for lunch and spend some family time celebrating Layne's birthday which was actually the day before (Friday).  Then Chelle would return to O's where she lives, and we'd take Layne home with us for the weekend.

Then we made the Birthday call to Layner Friday morning and sang "Happy Birthday" to her.  She announced that what she had planned for the afternoon had fallen through so now she was free and could come over today (Friday, her actual birthday).  So with some quick phone calls we changed plans for the day. 

Instead of a fairly quiet day at home preparing for Shabbat (bake bread, vacuum house and clean bathrooms) we whipped into action, got the bread rising, baked a cheesecake, did the house work, made a bed up (on the floor) for Layne, packed changes of clothes for the little guys, ate quick lunch and hit the road by 1 pm to pick Layne up at Duke Point 22 hours ahead of our original schedule ;)  and proceeded to travel up to O's for the One-Day-Late American Thanksgiving Dinner intended for an American who had to cancel coming and which turned out to be a Birthday Dinner for Layne instead!!  With fresh challah that rose beautifully in spite of getting a few chills en route, and an Oreo Cheesecake Danaka baked before leaving home, and an awesome meal put on by Lisa and Rauchelle.  It was a huge Success.

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAYNE!!

Unattended Children

Add caption

Unattended children

will be given

an espresso

and a free kitten.

photo by Saleh Al-Ghaith



~Quote from a plaque at the coffee shop where Rauchelle works

An All Around Energetic Life

"As you raise your energetic vibration by being raw, you have to up-level all the areas of your life to keep up. Otherwise that is what causes people to sabotage themselves and bring their energy back down. This really made sense to me and I am totally ready to make the changes in my kitchen, home, and life to keep up with my higher vibrational energy."
~ Megan Mauger, member of the Raw Food Rehab

Here & There

We had a good week with my mom in White Rock where we shared, and argued (just a little!), took the children swimming at least once a day, brainstormed ideas, and ate lots of blueberries.  I thought it went amazingly well for 10 of us in her 1-bedroom condo with a den.  And she graciously child-sat so we could attend a demonstration/meeting Tuesday night, and again Wednesday so we could meet up with a lady to do some business. 

Like usual, we drove away with teary eyes and a bit of a choking feeling in the throat.  There's unspoken words of "I wish you weren't leaving" or "I wish we didn't have to say Goodbye" and yet its part of being separate and clinging to your spouse.  Instead, we say "I know it will all turn out Good" and "God will take care of you."  And we believe that.

We sat waiting for the Nanaimo ferry from Horseshoe Bay after missing the 3:10pm.  Unfortunately, there isn't much for options of activities to do while waiting.  And over the years the novelty of riding the ferry has worn out on this mama.  I keep checking my watch or cell phone, hoping that we are transported thru time and space & we suddenly find ourselves at our final destination in the next five minutes.

Destination last night was at our dear friends, the O's.  Our families have been friends since we had only 2 children, and they had 1.  And now between us we've had 12 more children (not including both of our losses).  Our children really don't remember life without each other's family.
 

We ARE family.

We didn't plan it.  It wasn't something we aspired to create. 

It just was.

It is. 

We are.

So, we expected to spend the night, leave most of our children here with them (and with Rauchelle, who lives here with O's now) and head to Victoria today to try and find a rental place for our family. 

We had left the Island last month in anticipation of driving to Mexico and living cheaply down there, and eventually travel through Central and South America in the years to come.  But that grandiose idea is put on the back burner for the present time.

Today we spent brainstorming more, with O's giving a little input.  And it's been helpful.

Maybe tomorrow we'll head to Victoria and look around for a place. 

The right 'house' is waiting for us.  It will materialize.  God will connect us with what we need, and where we should be. 

The timing will be right, and we'll step into the goodness that is in-store for us.

I can Rest in Him because I know that He cares for me!

Hanging with the Fam

Rauchelle had a couple days off from work so she was able to spend 3 days and nights with us here at my mom's condo.  And it just so happened that Layne also had 3 days off, overlapping Chelle's, so she was able to come back out here from UBC to spend her time off with the family.  We always LOVE it when we can have all the family together in one place.

We didn't keep overly busy at all.  Actually, very low keyed.  Played some games, watched some movies, had tea together, played with each other's hair, got/gave foot massages, had some Spanish lessons, went for walks, picked berries, all those lovely interacting things to do with those you care about.  And we ate, and cried, and shared our thoughts and love. 

It's been great.

So here's just a few pics (I forgot the camera!!) from the past few days.

Laars is Three Today

He smiles as we sing "Happy Birthday To You" while we drive to Long Beach for the day.

It was cold when we arrived, or so we thought.  It was good to have some of our heavier coats along.  But it didn't take long to throw them off.

First duty was to eat, all huddled together.  We had a few children we needed to teach etiquette when surrounded by sand, like
~ don't shake your towel near where people are eating their food
~don't step over the eating area

But you can cover yourself up with sand, away from where the adults congregate.
And you can pretend you are a turtle digging a hole to lay your eggs.

And be thankful you have a kind sister to rub the wet sand off with dry sand.  Somebody is smart!

Thanks, Tov.

Lots of sun-bleached logs for building a shelter.  When it started to drizzle it was a good place to tuck some of our clothes and towels.

Everette invited me for a walk down the beach together, but the littles invited themselves along, and I got this cute huddle of the guys.

We drove up to Radar Hill for some Rock Climbing

some nice views

some sisterly attention & instructions

and a futile wait for some water to boil in a kettle we just bought today that Everette used an adapter for.  We need a different adapter to use for further travel.

Home for a hot bath, and a late movie since the children slept on the windy road, and it was a successful family day at Long Beach.  Laars was happy even without a cake.  We actually had over-baked organic brownies that were more like a tasty brownie biscotti.  Yummy!