Let's Catch Up, Shall We?

Ok Ok Ok, I know it's been a loooooooooooooooooong time and I really have no good reasons but a lot of excuses as to why I haven't blogged but have faithfully read all of ya'll blogs and really enjoyed them but also had a bit of a naggeling feeling that I just wasn't doing my part.  Excuse #1 that I just need to throw out there because it is a legit reason is that for some reason my ipad won't let me blog from it (also I don't love typing on the touch screen and am forever harassed by the auto-correct) and it's the device I have around me most and Jonny's computer, if not with him, is waaaaayyy up on the 3rd floor across from Owen's room, and Owen likes to wake up at the slightest noise at the most inconvenient times so I just stay away all together.

Result of this and may other excuses - no blogging.  (sorry Aves......)

Now that that is off my conscience let's catch up.

Ever since we've gotten into the rhythm of Amy being off to Kindergarten 5 days a week and Jonny doing his school-thing the weeks have seemed to just fly by.  Almost every week we look at each other on Thursday or Friday and say, "wow, how can it be Thursday/Friday already?!"  For me it's an exclamation of joy that the weekend is approaching and for Jonny more of a groan because he realizes another school week is coming to an end and he still has so much to do/catch up on.  Graduate school seems really full on.

Saying that, Jonny is really enjoying Regent.  We were just saying tonight that being here at this time of our lives feels right.  We had some hesitations about going back to the school thing - no income thing with 3 kids in tow but it's been good so far.  I like to remind Jonny that there is a lot of really good tradeoffs being a student with a wife and kids at home.  First of all, that while he slogs away in the library with his fellow students, he gets to come home to a hot and delicious home cooked meals, clean laundry and adoring children while they heat up noodles alone and wear their undies inside out just to try to be sanitary.  Granted, those fellow students have more uninterrupted study time in their day but I bet the time spent with us would equal the time those others spend on smoozing around ubc trying to pick up chicks.  Even steven.

I am really enjoying living where we live.  Out our front door looks like this:

The funny thing about having our first fall/winter here in Vancouver is that I am still surprised every morning that even though it's November outside still looks like this - just minus the leaves on the trees.  It's green here all the time.  But as one old guy in a church told me this summer, "there is a reason we're so green!"  It really really rains here.  Really.  Amy has already worn out a pair of rubber boots.
UBC family housing where we are is all blocked off to traffic - we park not too far away and the rest is all walking only.  Its been perfect for the kids.  Ben rides his strider bike all over and it's quiet and good.  Our house has proved to be just what we need and we are all feeling like it's home.  God has once again (why do I worry?) taken care of the details way beyond what we could have hoped for 6 months ago when we sat in Camrose wondering what on earth we were thinking of moving out here for school.

Most of the things I can think of to blog about I've already thrown on to the World Wide Web via facebook but I need to mention that Amy's dance recital was yesterday.  It was 2 1/2 minutes of pure parental joy.   She loves ballet.  And, in my humble, very unbiased mom opinion, was incredible.  :)

Ben has had the hardest time adjusting to things with all this moving around.  He just has been off a bit.  Whiny.  Acting out.  But the last few weeks have been good for him.  I think he's feeling settled.  Having Amy off at school has given me a chance to do more things with him that he gets to pick and enjoy.  Lots of bike riding - puddles are in endless supply here and offer hours of fun on a bike.  He loves to bike over the roots and bumps on the forest paths.  Line up his cars (as long as I can keep Owen from destroying his hardwork).  Football.  Soccer.  Boy stuff.  It's been good for him and for me to get to know him better without a sister running the show.  Don't get me wrong, he is super excited when Amy comes home and raring to play with her.

Owen walks!  And is almost 1!  What?!  He's a fun little guy.  Doesn't sleep great at night still, but we're working on it.  It's been hard to get tough on this little guy.  He's my baby! He had a crazy flu last week.  He threw up a bit at the beginning of the week and then was just completely tired out.  Sapped.  It wore him in the Ergo for 4 days and he would just sleep on and off and nurse a bit.  He ate 4 crackers and a handful of grapes over 4 days.  I was very thankful I am still nursing him and he would do that.  I tried to sit him down a few times and he would just flop over and lay on the floor.  Or flop forward in his highchair. 

He was a sick little guy.  I took him to the doctor and they said it was just a flu but if he didn't perk up soon to take him back - mostly worried about dehydration.  But he did perk up and is fine now.  It was a tiring week.

And me?  I'm good.  Life is just the right amount of full.  I've met friends.  I like Vancouver.  We are coming back to Alberta for Christmas and it will be great to reconnect with friends and family.  We are happy.

It's been nice to do a quick catch up.

Tag.  You're it.  :)

Settling In

We are starting to feel at least mostly settled in to our new, improved larger digs!  The last few weeks have been cra-azy.  A good crazy, but still a bit frantic and nuts.  So it has felt so good the last bit to be figuring out our new neighbourhood, routines and house.  I think we are going to love it.

We even made a klub supper yesterday and have apple pies in the oven right now.  There is just something about comfort cooking that makes a home homey. And, although Vancouver is still pretty green and lush, the maple trees are turning red and there is a nice chill in the air when I walk Amy to the bus stop in the mornings.  I love autumn.

I can think of a million things to report.  Like how I had to carry Amy onto the school bus kicking and screaming twice the first week of kindergarten but now she does it like a pro.  Just the last few days I haven't cried on my walk home from the bus stop.  There is just something very hard about sending your little one off on a big bus without you.  But now I'm a pro at it too.  (Mostly).

We put up our pictures yesterday which to me marks that we really are staying here awhile.  A nice feeling.

Our new neighbourhood is rad.  Everyone living here has kids and its a no car community.  So all the streets just outside our place are cobbled walking only streets with parks and playground and sandboxes scattered around.  We can park our van close enough, just through a wee tunnel, to be convenient too.  Win win.  And so quiet..

It's very multicultural and Amy is quite taken with the women who wear headscarves.  Auntie Laura showed her via Skype how she too wears one and Amy thought that was just neat.  I have had a secret  wish to talk to one lady in particular who I see at the bus stop every day.  She has the full deal going on.  Dark blue head covering, long dark robes coat and kind eyes.  I just feel like she was plucked straight off the streets of Afghanistan.  Today I got my chance thanks to Owen who was walking around holding my hand and just stopped right in front of her and stared and wouldn't budge.  And no one can handle not gooing and kissing our oh-bo-ee-o including her so we talked mom talk and I was quite satisfied. There is something intriguing and mysterious about head scarves.

We've been getting a good feel for what being regent college people will be like too.  We headed down states side for their autumn student and faculty retreat this past weekend.  I had little to no expectations of doing much more than hanging with my children and wasn't too surprised that we didn't get to take in all the sessions and funtivities but did meet some great other families and students which made the trek worth it.. And the food was out of this world delicious.

My pie is done and Jonny is taking a break from the books to enjoy it with me.  Oh one more thing, squirrels run rampant here and sit in the oak trees and chuck acorns at us down below.  It's soooo funny.

Moved

While I'm waiting for Jonny and a friend to come back for one last load of stuff I just wanted to scratch off a last quick note from our house here on Iona Drive.  We are excited to move.  We're ready to "nest" a bit in the place we will spend the next 3 -ish years.  Even if it has coral colored walls, lots of stairs and has a bit of a weird smell.  I just keep thinking - a grassy backyard area, a dishwasher and 4 bedrooms (one being a guest room!!!) and a eating space not over carpet.  :)

This place we are leaving was an answer to prayer - as is the place we are moving to.  Neither are palaces but both are definiately sufficient and appreciated.

God is good.

See you next time from Acadia Park!

Ready. Set. Go.

Ok, here we go tomorrow everything starts.  This summer has been a mix of good, challenging, frustrating, rewarding and full of adjustments.  We survived living in this little "hotel", as we like to call it and on thursday move into our new bigger digs.  Jonny survived and conquered suicide Hebrew and never has to Alef Bet ever again if he so chooses.  We explored Vancouver and found it to be quite beautiful.  We can find our way around and feel a bit sorry for all the new and lost looking UBC newbies who are wandering around campus now.

Tomorrow is Regent Orientation and it's supposed to be a family friendly affair so we'll go but I don't have my hopes set too high on sitting in on much, or any of the meetings.

Amy starts school (what?!) on Wednesday.  Because of our move she is going to a different kindergarten then we had first thought but this one seems to be just as fine.  She is excited, but nervous.  Today we were joking with her and said if she was so nervous she could just stay home with me and the boys.  She looked thoughtful and then said, "I'm nervous but am very interested in going."  As is Jonny. 

We get our new place on thursday and have been peeping in windows to see how the painting is going.  It's another new neighborhood and house and neighbors and routine.  We are really hopeful that it will be good.  Regardless, without being million bazillionaires it's the best place we'll get on campus. 

Avey and Corrine and Theo and little Finn are driving out to our part of the world tomorrow.  I can't wait to hang out and catch up.  It's a long long drive with little ones.  I hope that we are worth the trip!  No pressure right? .... :)

My lovely parents are driving out our furniture soon too.  This place we have been in came partially furnished but our new place is bare so we need our stuff.  We are really grateful that they want to make the trip and are looking forward to showing them Vancouver, having the kids have some sweet grandparent time - which I think Ben will especially like.  If only Bumpa could drive his tractor this far, Ben would be in heaven (or the quad...). 

And to top it all off our soon to be God-Son Beck is bringing his family out for his baptism and a good romp of a visit. 

We've been feeling the last 3 weeks to be a sort of calm before the storm.  Or being in an eye of a hurricane.  Or the great dark before the dawn.  Or.... hmmm,  I'm out of analogies.  We are glad we came out here for the summer, despite how hard it was at times.  We like that we are more or less familiar with campus and Vancouver and how life looks here before we get into it all.

Ok, here we go oooooo ooooooooo oooooooo .......

Memories

About every six months or so I have a bit of an emotional breakdown and the thing that sets them off is browsing through pictures.  I just start thinking about how fast time has gone, how quickly and irreversibly my babies are growing up, how much I love so many great people that I don't see near enough of or see ever.  I miss people who have passed on and try really hard to remember exactly what we did and said to each other the last time I saw them and wish I had taken pictures and videos of them.

And then that all snowballs (and quite quickly) into how I can't remember just what Ben's smile looked like when he was a baby, or the last time Amy snuggled her blankie masses, or I can't seem to recall so much of the time between pictures, how Amy acted when she was little, the last time I nursed either her or Ben, or my last real family vacation with my parents and brothers or the last... the last... the last....

And then that snowballs into how tough it must have been and still is maybe for my parents who worked so hard to raise me and all the fun things we did and just everyday life growing up stuff that went by so quickly and then I feel sorry for them and just want to run home to the farm and be 12 again riding my bike and playing make believe in the woods.  

And then that snowballs into how eventually people I love dearly might be gone forever,  orwhat if something ever happened to Jonny or my kids and then I would one day not remember what they sound like or smelled like or smiled or... or ... or....

And that snowballs into me wondering why we every leave places in the first place, or leave people and places we love and why do we meet such great people everywhere that we just need to say goodbye to and have fade a bit in our mind as time passes?

And that all results in Jonny finding me crying in bed grieving for all that has passed so quickly and grieving in advance for what is to eventually come.

It's a rough night all round.

Always the result of such nights is I feel the need to feverishly get my pictures in order and printed out so we can look at them and remember and have that concrete evidence of life lived in my hands.

We have had computers crash in the past and I don't think I have much trust in my memories being on iCloud or cyberspace or on a fallible hard drive.

So, saying all of this, I have made an almost complete family albums for us from when Amy was born till now and am very satisfied with that.

And also just so everyone I have ever met or will meet in the future know: I miss you already and love you to bits.

I am very thankful.

Adeiu

I feel like I should do a quick update on us here.  The people who were going to rent our suite here decided not to take it so it looks like we will still have it in September which means a few things, good and bad.
It means we pay rent on two places in September.  That's the bad news.
It also means we aren't in a rush to move out and won't be sort of homeless for a week.  That's good news.
A lot can change in a week still but this is how its looking.  It's a bit of a relief to have time to breathe as we move.  It's a busy week even with out adding a rush move, storing everything, and bunking in somewhere.

We have been doing lots of exploring around this fine part of the world.  And I hope to tell you of it but right this minute I have kids calling for water and pee breaks from bed, Owen cutting his front teeth and crying from bed and my back hurts and i wish I was in bed.  Also, I'd like to add pictures.
So, till then, adeiu!

Limbo

We are on vacation ~ or a staycation of sorts since we are still enjoying exploring Vancouver and have no money to do anything else.  Ha!  Jonny finishd his suicide Hebrew (aptly named, we discovered) with glowing results and I am so glad to have him with us all the time now.  I don't think I realized how tired I was getting until I've had his extra pair of parenting hands here.  Love it, love him, love staycation.

We are also headed into a bit of limbo.  Things have gone good with our move to bigger living quarters.  Our place here seems to have been rented out as of Aug 31.  This is good news as we were told that if they couldn't find renters for it we would have to keep paying the rent even if we were gone because we were breaking our lease.  Bummer - imagine paying 2 rents in Vancouver!  Sick.  Anyway, it worked out.  God is good.

But.

We don't get our new place until Sept 6 so we have 6 days of homelessness coming up.  We can find places to put roofs over our heads but what we really are trying to figure out is where to store our stuff until we can move it in.  People have been generous already, offering corner and crannies for storage.  And it will work out - but for now we're tired of thinking about it.

We are really looking forward to, say Sept 7, when we can be moved in (well not really as our furniture may not be coming from Alberta for until the 10th or so), ok so we're looking forward to Sept 12 (ish) when we can look back, laugh and say "remember when we lived in that little house and then had no home for a week while starting university and Amy starts school too."  Ha ha ... fun times.

It will all work out.

I'm also looking forward to Sept 14 because I am going to audit a course at Regent on the Life and Works of CS Lewis.  It will be my morning away from home, a chance to meet and talk with adult people and get the old grey matter working again.  Auditing a course sounds like heaven as you get all the information with no assignments or tests.  And it's free.  Couldn't be better.

There is a ton of reading with the course, a Lewis book a week, so I've been starting this summer.  I know I can't get through a book a week and still be present to my kiddos. But the point I want to make is I just finished reading George MacDonalds "Fantastes."  This relates to my Lewis course b/c Jonny told me that Lewis was very much inspired by this George MacDonald book when he wrote fiction, like the Narnia Chronicles which I love, and I was curious as to how.  It was a Fairie Romance and full of imagination and new worlds and talking trees and goblins and heros and swords and such.  I could see the influence it had had on Lewis.

The ending has made me think a bit.  If you ever want to read Fantastes, beware as I am about to ruin the ending.  So the hero has journeyed far and wide and had life changing experiences and then dies.  And by dying he exits fairy land back to England (or Ireland...wherever.)  Then he is struck by how he is to live his normal like again with all these new adventures and experience under his belt that no one he know had any part in.  He came back changed - and now how was he to live as a changed man.

This theme is common among most of my favourite books - Narnia and the Lord of the Rings being the most well known.  Adventures abroad, the road home and then what?

I have no deep deep insight - it just made me look back at all that I've done and experienced in the last years and wonder how each thing has changed me and how I want to hold onto the things I have learned and have them shape me and shape my family.  I'm sure they already have.  But I'd like to be more aware of it.

Boy, I sound like a university scholar already, and I haven't even started the class.  :)

What are your favourite books?

Say What?!

Things have been a bit exciting around here recently and a bit stressful, I'm afraid.  Long story short (well kind of short) ....

We have been on a slow moving list for a space in family housing since last February.  And this last weekend we got the email we've been waiting for.  Well, it was sort of the one we've been waiting for.  It was an offer for a 3 bedroom apartment in the area of campus we want to be.  Oh no, we had been hoping for a 3 or 4 bedroom townhouse.  But, housing is crazy around here (in Vancouver in general but also on campus) and with this particular area of campus you take what you can get.  It's super stressful.  They give you 24 hours from receiving the email to decide and get back to them.  What?!  So, they emailed Friday at 11 am and of course, neither of us checked email at all until that night at 11 pm.  So we had the wee hours of the night and morning to hem and haw and decide.  The place was bigger, better lit, tons more storage .... but an apartment with no elevator.  So that's lugging kids, stroller and everything else upstairs and not having the option of kicking the children out the door when we are about to pull our hair out.  Hmmm... we didn't know what to do.

But, we haven't been very happy here in our 875 square foot 2 bedroom and a den townhouse.  It's too small for all of us.   We have done ok and really want to be people who can live just anywhere and make it work and with joy, but just are generally unhappy and uncomfortable.  And this is in summer when we can go outside but what happens when its raining all the time?  And having Owen in the office/den right off the living area is hard.   and there is a construction site out our front door (they are on level 5 of a 15 story tower.) and the list could go on.

So, we had pretty much decided to just take the apartment and deal with it.  We had heard that once you get in the housing system you can apply for a bigger place and move around.  And, here's the catch, once you say no to an offer (you have 2 chances) you get kicked off the list altogether and start way at the back of the line.  That's 7 months of waiting down the tubes for us!

So we called and said we'd take it.  And they said, "oh wait a minute, you would rather have a townhouse right?" "right, but we'll do whatever to stay in the system."

Then in an email an hour or so later,  "Well, a 4 bedroom townshouse just became available, how about that?"

WHAT?!?!?!?!?

Yes!  We took it. Quickly.  Paid the fee and are officially (well, hopefully, we still need to sign the paper paperwork) renters of a 4 bedroom townhouse moving in September.

It was crazy.  We went from kind of grudgingly saying yes to a 3 bedroom apartment to signing up for the 4 bedroom we have been hoping hoping hoping for in a matter of hours.

We are happy.  But now there are many many details to work out. Like breaking our lease here (a bit tricky it seems - we would appreciate your prayers) and like our move in date in Sept 6 (due to the place being up for repainting) and our moveout date here could possible be sept 1.  And we need our furniture which is being kept nicely for us back in Alberta.   Hmmmmm.....

Prayers appreciated!!

But guess what?  The new place has a dishwasher.... I've never had one my whole married life.  I just may not know what to do with myself. :)

Oh, and a guest room.......

bits and bites

I thought I'd take a few minutes to bust off a quick blog just to reassure my few faithful readers that we are, indeed, still alive and kicking out here in Vancouver.  The weather has been great, we've been loving being so close to the beach and parks.  Life is full and good.

We are headed off a bit later to some friends house for a little visit.  Yes, we are making friends.  We've actually met quite a few really good people.  I've been thinking about how, in all the moves we've made the last years (and it's been many) people are generally really sweet and worth knowing all over the place.  This time too, with 3 kids in tow and family in the area, we haven't had time or felt lonely.  We do miss friends "back home" and the easiness and familiarity of those friendships but don't have the spare time to feel lonely.  That's a good thing, I think.

I went through a bit of a dark week last week.  Just thought I'd share this quickly.  I had started the minipill - nursing mothers will know what this is.  I had heard that some people had really weird emotional reactions to it, like going down in the dumps and getting snappy and grumpy, but I usually don't react to medicines anyway so I thought I'd try it.  But I got really cloudy on it.  I was grumpy, had the tiniest amount of patience and was just feeling dark and gloomy.  I didn't like it one bit.  So I stopped and the world got sunny afterwards.  No more mini pill for me!

And on that note, my sunday afternoon rest time is quickly coming to an end with 2 boys screaming from their beds.

Polish chocolate

Just needed to let you all know that although my blogging has been non existent lately I do have a few future posts stewing in my brain. I had a bummer of a summer cold this week and life is just full. I'm sure many of you can relate. By the time evening and quiet rolls around the idea of exerting energy to blog is just too much.

But just so I don't forget the ideas stewing may be posted under the following titles:

- the lean years
- provision in disguise
- let them eat bread

So please stay tuned.

Ok, oe funny story about something that happened while I nurse Owen before sweet sleep time.

There is an old Russian physicist, Nikolai, who is living 2 floors above us for the summer. He says hi and smiles at the kids. Russian accents are so fun. Jonny helped him carry a tv up to his flat and he consequently a few evening later invited him up for some vodka. He's lonely here. So over vodka shooters in a mug, caviar on bread, pickles and fruit jonny got to hear about Russia, physics and what have you. Sweet guy. Lonely.

So, just tonight, I was muttering under my breathe as I tried to wrestle a very squirmy 7 month old into his pjs, ' I would give my left arm for some chocolate...mutter mutter mutter...'

Then out the window I spot nikolai toss something onto our patio table and stealthily walk away.

It was polish chocolate!!!

Perfect timing and it looks liked he's become a friend.

He just must never discover how dumb I am at physics. Ratio over time plus distance to electro magnet.....what?

To learn more about how brilliant old nikolai is check out jonnys Facebook page for a link concerning his accomplishments.

Just a Typical Family Picnic Around Here

Today we become those parents.

You know, those kind of parents.

You know, the kind of parents who take their kids to a nude beach for a supper picnic.

It turns out the path down the stairs and the small forest path near it all lead to the same place - and that place is all naked.

Ok, it wasn't that bad.  We walked down the 300 stairs through a beautiful forest - the kids got to see their first BC slug - and then we came to the end of the trail and Amy said,  "Mom, I spy with my little eye .... a boat."  But my little eye spyed something much different that a boat.  A man in his, maybe 60's?, sauntered by and well ... it wasn't his boat that was showing. 

Then another to the left standing on a rocky out cropping.

Oh my.

But, by the time Jonny and Ben came along down the stair there were no more nude sightings so we settled in for a nice picnic.  Other un-nudey people came down the path to enjoy the view too.  Ahem, the view of the ocean, of course. We actually didn't see any more naked bums other than the two shockers at first.

It is a beautiful beach.  And we can walk there from our house.

It was paradise for Ben.  It's all rocks and he seriously threw rocks into the ocean from the time we got there until we left.

If you come visit us we promise that a trip down the stairs to take in the wonders (of all kinds, apparently) will be on the to-do list.

Crazy Baby Owen

This is particularly for all the grandma, gramps, aunties and uncles out there. 

Owen is crazy.  He just started crawling 2 weeks ago and is now pulling up and this morning trying to go up the stairs.  Wild, but very cute, child.

A quick vid for ya'll.  This is last night.

Rainy Days

Today is bright and sunny but already we've had our share of rainy days.  So far they are still a bit of a novelty for us.  It's a fun challenge to get all rain geared up, put the cover on the stroller and tromp around outside.
Last Saturday Jonny had the kids put on a rainy day puppet show for our morning coffee entertainment.  Here's a sneak peak.  The problem is that the kiddos know when they are being filmed and don't act natural.  Drives me crazy.

Bonus of this movie us you get a glimps into our 875 square foot townhouse.  It's cozy enough.

We just laugh and laugh when Ben pops up.

Of This and That

This is a shot of the Rose Garden that we love to frequent for an evening stroll.  It's about a 8 minute walk from home.  The kids love it and so do we.  We visit it a lot.  This picture is from a look out above it, and although it's hard to tell beyond is ocean and mountains.  Very nice on a clear day ... or a cloudy, rainy one for that matter.  To get down to it with the stoller there an elevator.  So taking the kids there is like taking them for a carnival ride.  Win win.
Lately I've been very aware that when we go out and about on campus with the kids we are often the only people with kids in tow.  I went to the Student Union building today with Amy, Ben and Owen and was painfully aware that no one else hanging around had one kid, much less 3.  We make quite an entourage.  Our building has lots of kids though, and I meet other families at the playground so I know we're not the only ones, but it feels like it sometimes.  Saying that, I have been very impressed with UBC letting us use the grounds as a huge play field.  Ben and Amy love running around the Rose Garden, dipping hands in fountains we find everywhere and just being loud kids and we have never once been shushed, or told we can't be where we are.  Good on you, UBC!

Amy has had quite the 2 days.  She was literally taking time out to smell the roses last night on at the Rose Garden when she was swarmed and stung by a bee.  She flipped, and I mean, FLIPPED out.  And rightly so, bee stings, well, sting.  Then today she was stung again at the castle playground where we were having a supper picnic. (No rain today!  Kind of a first around here.... well, not a first, but it has rained a lot.  A nice old man at church told me, "Well, we aren't this green for no reason!"  Touche.
Anyway, after she got stung today I told her maybe the bees thought she was a flower and that's why they land on her and not the rest of us.  To which she replied that from now on she would wear her nice, colourful clothes in the house and change into plain old boring clothes like the rest of us wear when she goes out.  Problem solved.

She does look a bit like a flower in what she picked to wear today, I'd say.

A few posts ago we rejoice that Amy had made a new friend.  Sadly, that little friend has already moved away.  But here is a picture with a new new friend, Nion, a very sweet 5 year old from down the lane.  Amy also received an invite to another girls birthday party this weekend - she is very excited.  Living in this little community here has some funny quirks, but a lot of perks.  Hmmm... I see a post perculating in that sentence.

One more but of Amy news : today I got a call from University Hill Elementary School and Amy is officially enrolled to start in the fall!

I attended 2 evening speakers this week at Regent.  Both were good.  Monday's was The Economics of Enough.  I do like the idea of simple living and when I got home just wanted to pull out the good old WMPL handbook and read up on their stance on living simple.  Love good ol' WMPL mentality!  Tonight the lecture was Divining Spiritual meaning in Modern Art.  It made me wish I could paint.

Jonny has a Hebrew midterm tomorrow and is right now buried in vocab flashcards.  University summer Hebrew (known around here as "suicide Hebrew") seems very hard from what I can see.

And guess who is pulling up on furniture?

 Oh my gosh, I almost forgot.  Tonight walking home what do you think crept out from under the hedge?

A raccoon!  I know!  I don't think I've ever seen a real live one before, and let me tell you I was quite terrified.  They are sinister looking at dusk while walking alone.  Maybe it's the black mask they have.  I was expecting raccoons to jump out at me from every bush and tree after that and glad to get home.

Nudes Veer Left - or so we hope.

The kids and I took a walk just a ways from our place this morning.  There is a trail that heads down to the ocean.  We've wanted to try it but it's like 300 stairs so we haven't ventured too far yet, but today I discovered this sign :

Uh.

I thought Wreck Beach was a bit further away.  The sign at the trail head says Terrace Beach - and then the trail splits.  Left for nudes.  Right for the rest of us.  I hope anyways, the signage is a little unclear.  I guess we'll just have to try it.

Here are the kids:

Owen's Wild Ride

Our first weekend here was quite an emotional ride. 

Well, truth be told not just the first days here also the days before moving.  They were so busy and so full of "last times" and farewells and such, which we need to do, although my first instinct is to avoid those moments altogether.  I felt like I just wanted to cut and run, disappear into the next thing and avoid making people and myself sad.  But, since we seem to move every 3 years or so, I have learned the value in a good goodbye.  It's important. 

Then we left.  Left Camrose, the farm, Calgary, Alberta.  I got a bit choked up crossing the boarder into BC.  I have a lot of my heart invested in people and places in Alberta and it was a bit of a reality check seeing that sign that we are going far far away.  (ok, that's a bit dramatic.  It's not Mongolia far away, or Pakistan far away, but, well, you know.)

I had mentally prepared myself (and Jonny) that I would most likely burst into tears upon walking in the door of our new place.  And I did.  It's not a bad place.  It has it's quirks - but it's exactly what we need and fulfills all our needs and it's clean and well, functional.  But it is different than our little grey house in Camrose and I needed to adjust.  My first step to adjusting is crying.  waa waa waa.

As we unpacked and got to know the neighbourhood things looked up.  I realized this is good and will be good and got excited about exploring and getting my head around our new digs.

Then, just as my emotions had evened out Owen took a wild ride. 

I decided to take out the garbage and learn how to work the garbage compacter.  It turned into a family event.  Owen was plopped in the stroller, Amy and Jonny came along so we could learn how to take out the trash.  We threw in the garbage, keyed in the code, everything was find and dandy.  Then out of the corner of my eye I see our stroller buzzing down the street opposite us.

I love my new stroller.  A phil and ted sport with second seat, and big tires.  Apparently quiet tires.

Everything is on a hill here and while we were keying in our garbage code Owen just rolled away.  I have never ever run so fast in flip flops.  The road he was cruising down was a quiet back street but would eventually (at the bottom of the hill) cross a much busier one.

Just as I had almost reached him and by some miracle, the stroller tipped over.  My baby tipped over.  I grabbed him, scooped him up and burst, burst, burst into tears.  I was shocked, I was scared, I was so so so relieved.  He was ok - a bit of a goose egg on his head from when he tipped over, but was ok.

All I could think of was how fast that had happened.  It could of been bad - but it wasn't.  But it could have been.

I held Owen pretty tight for a long time.

And I have become an avid stroller break putter- oner ever since.

Prayer Poetry and Protest

Tonight I sat in on a free evening lecture at regent called prayer, poetry and protest. I admit, my first thoughts were cynical ones. I had just had a very trying day mothering our 3. We are still not quite at home here yet. Just enough so that things require a lot of energy and we have not settled into a routine. Some of today was good - I drove though Vancouver to a superstore and successfully shopped with all 3 kids, managed to make a yummy Danish meatball supper that everyone, including the kids (!) loved, and passed the before bedtime hour playing with the kids in the rose garden. But on the way home from superstore the check engine light came on in the van and I'm just hoping it was just a dash light glitch (it happens) and will fix itself. But it rattled me a bit. And just the usual afternoon of 3kids in a small space, a grumpy 2 years old who just does not know what to do with himself without a backyard so just whines instead, a baby who poops on the rug and crawls around in it while I'm trying to comfort said 2 year old who is tangled in the sheets on the top bunk, all the while really trying not to resort to just turning on tree house all day for Amy while I deal with the rest of it without losing my temper because I know all the neighbors around here can hear almost everything because all the windows are wide open because there is poop tracked all over. You know, a normal-ish day around here.....
Humph..
but in my mind this is real life. This is it ...getting down and dirty and dealing (hopefully somewhat gracefully, or at least not cruelly) with what comes at you on any given day.

So sitting in a quiet lecture hall with being told to reflect on the profound importance of looking deep into poetry to find insight into how to respond to injustice n our world was a stark contrast to the down and dirty, real life I had lived all day. I was almost offended by it. Who has time for this? to read poetry, much less think about it??

But, by the end i was completely, absolutely captivated by the topic and challenged and refreshed.

And my view of the value of higher education was restored.

Crawl Owen Crawl Take 2

Here's the little video of Owen crawling I had promised before.  Already he has progressed so much ... he just motors around the house super fast and super cute now.  He's our first baby who crawls for real. It's a lot of fun.  But it also means he's just growing up so fast.  He'll never be just a sit and play baby anymore.  He's all about movement.  Next he'll be pulling up, walking, running, graduating college .... my baby.....

The Posh Grocery Run

Today I ventured out on my own into Vancouver to get groceries.  Maybe not such a big deal, but it was my first solo excursion in the van.  It was a piece of cake.  The funniest thing was I went to this posh little Safeway and seriously was the only one in the whole store with a cart.  Everyone else just had baskets and buys enough for one meal or something.  It was bizarre.  I had Owen with me and a huge load of groceries because we had just built a shelf into our storage closet to use as a pantry and needed to stock up.  I felt a wee bit out of place.  I think I need to next find a grocery store where the real people with kids who live in West Van shop.  I'm sure there are some somewhere....

Also, it really does rain a lot here.  It's still a bit of a novelty for us and the kids love to run around with umbrellas but I can see how you can get a little tired of it.

We were out all day yesterday hanging with Heather, hitting Ikea, and doing laundry and visiting Auntie Yvonne and Uncle Paul.  It was a nice day.  Nice to be in a home with more space and with family.  But you know what?  When we got back to our little university place, we walked in the door and it felt like home.  That was a nice feeling.

Beach Day

For fathers day we headed down to the beach despite the gloomy looking weather.  It didn't ever rain on us and was actually nice although it looked stormy.  We watched people crabbing off the dock, sail boats, big boats, tossed rocks, collected shells, waded a bit and were completely entertained by the novelty of just being by the ocean in just a quick 10 minute drive.

This picture of Owen is just to prove we were there and because he's just so dang cute.

Alef Bet

Jonny has his very own, home grown study buddy.
Amy is going to love university.

This is her very first Hebrew alphabet lesson.

Castle Playground

This playground is a 2 minute walk from our place.  The kids love it - sandbox, swing, and a slide.  I love the setting.  The building is the Vancouver School of Theology ~ we pretend it's a castle.

Photos

Here are a few photos of our first few days here.  We've had a lot of fun exploring Vancouver and there is a lot to discover.  We are 10 minutes from great beaches, watched crabbing, Ben loves the boats and sand.  Heather spent yesterday with us and we took in the Vancouver Aquarium.  Amy was so excited she was just vibrating and she wasn't disappointed.  Then we found the totem poles and cruised around our neighbourhood.
Today Amy made her first friend.  A little girl right next door named Brooklyn.

Oh dear, sorry they are sideways, I have a few things to figure out here.  But, there is a small glimpse of life here.

We are enjoying it.

Crawl Owen crawl

We are off to the Vancouver aquarium today and I'm very excited. Amy has a list of things she really wants to see in Vancouver. Killer whales, the ocean and totem poles are at the top of it. We have seen plenty of totem poles in our neighborhood already, spent an afternoon at the ocean for fathers day and now off to see the whales!

The kids have been doing good so far at adjusting. Amy especially is loving life here. Her enthusiasm has been a good reminder for me at times. Her big question is, 'how do I make friends.'. To which jonny answered that we will make friends and then she can be friends with our new friends kids. So now she is always on our case to get out and get some friends quick!

Benny does well as long as he's entertained but when he gets frustrated the first thing he asks for is to go home. Breaks my heart.

Owen started crawling as soon as we got here. You totally called it avey! Here is a short video.

Ok, hmmm. I need to figure out how to post vids..... Hold on a minute...

The Next New Chapter

Welcome to the Vancouver Chapter for the Aicken's 5! We've been here 4 days and I have a whole load of stories to tell. It's going to be great! I've been thinking lately of how, looking back, life seems to take on a chapters-like appearance. Since marrying Jonny 8 years (almost 9.... what?!) ago we've had:

Chapter 1 ~ Living in an old folks home finishing our undergrads in Calgary chapter c

Chapter 2 ~ Wetaskiwin basement apartment working the afternoon shift together to pay off loans chapter

Chapter 3 ~ the WMPL and Mongolia adventure ~ to the ends of the earth and beyond

Chapter 4 ~ there and back again ~ Camrose, WMPL, CLBI, babies..... oh my! and now .....

Chapter 5 ~ Off to Vancouver to live next to the ocean on the pristine UBC Campus while hubs goes back to school while raising 3 kids in 875 square feet with no money, lots of love and an enormous (although often wavering) amount of faith, and hope and trust that this is the next step our Great God has for us.

Let the fun begin.....