Learning another culture

Many of our friends and family have had the privilege to visit other cultures or even live elsewhere to learn about other cultures. Although I have had a brief glimpse into the UK or even shorter time in Cuba I think I have learned the most through missions fests or missions weeks at church over the years. Not to say that I haven't loved living in a country where we are becoming a minority. There is a lot more to be said about learning a culture through immersion but cultural awareness is very much eye opening too. We are curently learning about China as Grandma is there right now, and we have learned about India through Grandpa and Grandma going two years ago.

This last week was missions week across our city (5 major churches involved). I really enjoyed the concerts and speakers but the biggest impact on me was going to the Sikh temple - seeing, learning and participating in a grand opening and memorial service. Friday we also went to a Sat Sung put on by our church. It was fun to get dressed up in a Punjab cur ta(spelling???). We listened to classical Punjab music in a christian worship setting. Aradia did an amazing job. Crossing two cultures together.

The food was a great way to end the night with a Indian restaurant providing the samosas and sweets.

The vine

This week Mark's sermon used the verses in John 15. It seems even more fitting that my sister Marianne and I went to the Mission winery for a tour while she was visiting for the weekend. We came up as a family and it was a beautiful day but Marianne and I came back for the tour as it was too much for the kids. Living in wine country it doesn't take long to drive to a vinyard and see the vines. They are just showing new growth at this stage but as the season changes it will be covered with beautiful fruit.

John 15:2 "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."...vs4 "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." ...vs16&17 "You did not choose me, but I choose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other."

Angel

Every day we need to look into the mirror and see ourselves as God sees us!!

Spring Time

The flowers are budding and there is green almost everywhere. I love the sounds of birds and it's hard to believe it's only the first week of April. We remember the days of snow till May and phone family members to hear about snow storms still brewing but grateful for our warmer weather here. Since this spring we have just moved, I will have to enjoy our beautiful gardens from the other side of the fence. We were lucky enough to have the previous renters plant some tulips, and roses and a few other plants that we will appreciate in the front bed. At this point it looks like a dirt bed with plants scattered throughout. We also cut down the cedars so there is another empty dirt bed right in front of the house. I hope to put a bistro table or bench there and add some grass to the front yard making it less of a parking lot out front.

Here's some pics of our kids spring photo shoot.

Mark turns 5

I thought turning 30 was a big deal but having your son turn 5 somehow makes things feel older. That number seems so grown up for a kid. Life changes huge for them or at least it seems like it. Mark had 5 friends at his 5Th party and had a hard time deciding if it should be pirates, batman or spider man. Finally it just became all three themes at a bowling alley. The kids were all asked to dress up in costumes. Three girls and Kyla all were princesses and there was a Knight, a Spider man and Mark was Batman. All very fun. Bowling with 4-5 year old was fun to watch. One of them had never done it before and one is in a league bowling on a weekly basis. The skill level was all over the board, but I was totally impressed with Mark and he actually won (no cheating either for the birthday boy). He got some great gifts and loves the computer games, many spider man toys, Nerf gun (smaller version of Joel and Josh's) and hot wheel cars.

We had got him a baseball bat and t-ball set and a batman toy car.

Thanks to Auntie Mel and Uncle Don and J&J for the cool cars and nice sweater

Thanks to Grandpa Ernie and Grandma Carolyn for the Sorry game and CD player to listen to music and stories on CD. I think we've played the Sorry game 4 times this week already. He loves it! Even Kyla can count so she plays too.

Grandma Joan had got him a jump before leaving for China and Mark was very excited. He asked for it last year and we said no your only 4. At Christmas we said no again - too much snow and he only mentioned it once just a day or two before his birthday when he saw his buddy with one.

From Marianne and Mark he picked out a very cool new helmet and a Tonka truck set. (sorry no picture yet)

Man this kid got blessed this year!!

my BIG birthday

Turning 30 for some reason was a big deal for me. I've been dropping hints for a few months that I wanted something big for a celebration but Ray was adamit that he doesn't do big birthday parties. I had ideas or was willing to plan my own party but everything was no,no, no. I actually believed him even up until the evening of my birthday. The girls that I craft with monthly had thrown a small surprise birthday party which was super nice but even than I belived Ray was going to put it off. Along he said we were too busy and with the reno's and all we could celebrate later.... The night of my birthday I was so mad we were not doing anything I went to excercise with some girlfriends and was totally planning on going out some where with them. Some how Ray convinced me to come home for cake with the kids so I did. Ray actually baked the cake himself and Mark and him iced it together. We couldn't find candles with 3-0 so Mark went looking everywhere and ended up having 3 tall candles, and the #3 and the respite girl I look after put on the # 1 and 2 other candles. In otherwords there was tons of candles on my cake and it was funny...I walked into a house full of family and friends. Man they totally got me. I'm obviously not a good one for surprise parties as I was sooooo grumpy but EXTREMELY happy they pulled it off. I think that will be the last surprise birthday Ray will put on for me for awhile - I had to appoligize huge. Thanks to everyone who pulled it off.

before and after

bathroom downstairs was all green with a lot of tile on the walls. Now light blue wall and ceilings with bright fresh white is nice and calming.

livingroom now without a wall from diningroom makes the room much bigger

upstairs bathroom went from brown and green to dark red

Kitchen lost the closed in look to an open bright white with bold blue back walls and a much larger fridge (not shown in pic) and 1 1/2 times the counter width on the island.

moving day

I need to applogize that it has taken so many days for me to get back on here and update. How rude hey. I lead up to the big event with days of posts then forget to get back on and let you know how it all went. Obviously it's March and we are all moved in. The actually day of moving went well. We had dad and ray, mom and dad peters, and our friend Dan. Each person played a vital role in the whole day and we couldn't have done it with out each of them. We didn't actually start moving until noon as Ray worked in the morning. Wally and Dad were putting together some final touches before stuff came in. All the big stuff was moved that day and Thursday there was some small stuff that needed to be moved and cleaned up. I was blessed by my dad with a cleaning lady (a friend of mine) which made a huge difference to my week. Thanks Dad. The nice thing about moving next door is that you pick something up and it goes right into the house. We took out the middle step of going onto and off of a truck.

This is Mark. He was also a helper as he took apart most of his bunkbed himself.

This is Ray after the two weeks of working and the day of moving. He fell fast asleep on the couch

Moving???

Seriously are we ready to move??? I can hardly believe the move day is tomorrow. I can't believe how much has gotten accomplished in two weeks. OK, really it's already today as it's 12:45am and I just said good bye to our cleaning lady for the day. Yes, that's right, my dad blessed me with getting someone to come and clean up after all these Reno's before we move all our stuff in. She did a great job dusting and vacuuming everywhere a good once over everything. Ray and Dad were still working around her up until an hour ago doing more baseboards, touch ups and Ray and Jason put the counter top on. Things look great. of course there is still no toilet seats yet, or towel bars but you can't expect all the details to be covered. I wish we had counted how many times we entered home depot this week. A record I would not want to repeat or try to beat. The carpets were lay ed today, baseboards and trim around doors almost finished, all doors have been painted and I learned how to put a handle on (OK it's minor but I had never done it before so I felt like I contributed too and every bit counts right!)counter top on, appliances arrived but not installed (Terry turned the doors around for me on my fridge), taps finally working (only one toilet is leaking otherwise they did amazing with all that plumbing!) I even got my shelf hung in my bedroom which I have wanted to buy for years. One that is high like the top of a door frame from wall to wall to keep books up on displayed yet not taking up too much space.
Anyways, there is no pictures as it is late and I don't feel like staying up to load them on this blog. I hope to put some before and after pictures on tomorrow. Thanks again for all the help in this project. To people like April and Lisa and Trudy who have taken the kids for awhile to let me help or get stuff done, and to all the guys that have helped with all the little and big projects that brought this to completion

Saturday Feb.23

Today started with the guys going to the men's breakfast at church. They were at work by mid morning though. Lots accomplished again today yet they said it doesn't seem like it. I think things are going to slowly not look so drastically different (until moving day) as they begin working on the finishing touches of jobs. I took the kids to swimming lessons then dropped them off with Gramma (YEAH FOR GRAMMA TIME - IT IS SOOO APPRECIATED). I got to go play for the day at an all day scrap day. It was suppose to be 12 hours but I stayed for 7hrs. I got 12 pages done and 2 cards. And I won a good prize. If you do scrap booking I think you would understand the accomplishment I felt after all that work. I only got to go if I found childcare as there was no way Ray was going to take the day off the house today. Anyways, we're talking about the Reno's here. I got back and Terry had been working on lighting fixtures all day, baseboards were mostly around the upstairs thanks to a new friend Tom. Dad worked on plumbing and doors today and painting closets. Actually, I don't know what all got done today but I know those for sure were done. Things are really coming together. We took a break after supper to go for a well needed hot tub. Kyla had slept 4 hours this afternoon and Mark took a nap before supper so the kids were wired and fun of energy. It was fun to go swimming that late at night and the guys needed that hot tub!! Most people would call that a night and come home to watch the hockey game or news but not these guys. I don't have pictures to post right now 'cause they're still working. I'll post some in the morning or tomorrow. I have laundry to fold and dishes to put away and it's already 11:30pm.

Friday to Friday

Thursday pictures...

Now that it is Friday...

Wow one week in and there has been sooo much accomplished. Huge thanks to Ernie (dad) and Wally (dad) and Ray for all their work. Also to all the others that have come and put in time and helped too. All lino flooring is finished. 90% of the painting is done, 90% of laminate flooring is done, 90% of kitchen is in. 90% of electrical work that was to be done is done. 90% of Ray's face has hair growing on it. One curtain rod is up, baseboards are painted but not installed, and lighting fixtures are purchased waiting to be put up. The list is long for tomorrow and hopefully more help is coming (as I'm going scrap booking for a couple of hours hehehe). As we have found so far, each step is depending on another and as each step is done the next is waiting. It is so impressive how much has been accomplished all ready. Each day Ray, dad and I sit down and write up the list for the next days jobs and the ongoing list to purchase stuff and each day it is exciting to see that most if not all things have been crossed off. Of course we're not ready to move in until after carpets are lay ed and appliances arrive (Tuesday) and we've done some major dusting!!!

Baseboards all painted in a row...

The lino floor brings out the colour in each room that it has been lay ed in - red in the bathroom, grey in the entrance, and green in the laundry room. Yeah it's beautiful!

The bathroom down stairs walls are even the same as the ceiling and I love it! They are a pale blue almost white with a touch of colour. The bathtub and surround look very white and crisp but the picture does not do it Justice.

Day 4 &5

Sorry I didn't get a post in yesterday. Ray felt it was a day of fiddling and driving but those days will happen. Dad got lots of painting done which was great - both bedrooms are done now. He spent time switching many plugs out too. Time consumming but necessary. We could never have expected the amount of electrical work needed until we got in here. Mostly it was electrical and plumbing issues for Ray but now that the tub is in place he seems more relaxed. Dan came with his truck to pick up/drop off the kitchen and Jason was in both nights placing the cabniets in place. Shinny was back both days working hard on the patching and sanding which was great but means we are still behind with painting the kitchen which means we still havn't started flooring but that's ok. My anal retentiveness wants them to stick to the "schedule" but I know realisitically it was only an outline. Anyways, I can't complain much since I'm hardly over there. I have been childminding kids again today and now Kyla is throwing up so it's not fun. Mom was here helping with supper and with kids - thanks I needed that!! I got to take a few door hinges off today and paint part of a wall. My biggests thing was buying all appliances today - YEAH!!!!!! That was fun and even better that we got upgrades without the extra costs. Ray got a deal on his lino today too but that won't go in for a few days. Anyways, lots accomplished in the last two days but not many pictures to show.

working hard, or hardly working?

This morning we went to church which we actually walked the 15mins up the hill to get to. Yeah, that means it's spring and walking has begun. We try to walk 75% of the time from March to October so it's nice to start earlier. There was more accomplished today but not alot of pics to show for it. Cleaning up, more mudding and drywall fixing, bathroom flooring removed upstairs, ceilings painted and 2nd coat on the kitchen. The little things still take time and each step needs to be done before the next.

Here's a cute one of Kyla taking her "coffee"/ water break



Ray and his brother working - so nice to have family helping.












but don't worry it hasn't been all work today.











We took another break this evening to celebrete Grandpa Wally's birthday so there was time to play too. The 5 grandkids put on a "play" for Grandpa this evening. A first of many cute preformences I'm sure with Auntie Lisa directing.

end of second day

The pile is growing by the hour. It is sort of crazy how fast things come out of the house and how much junk is in there. I don't know if you can see Ray in the left corner but it's almost chest height.
This is coffee break time. Lunch was outside on our patio today and now it's infront of the two houses. I tried making the Tim's coffee from a can but obviously not as good as going to get a real one so I've been told. Thanks to all 9 guys who worked today and the 10th who came with his van to take the pile to the dump this afternoon. Yeah for family and friends. I can't show pictures of everything but there was alot accomplished today. Wall gone, flooring out, bathrooms gutted (Karl did a ton of work with that wall of tile in that bathroom and it took 3 of them to remove the bathtub). Ceiling smoothed out and patched, kitchen painted, and a lot of electrical work. Anyways, we appreciate all the big and small jobs that everyone did and it's looking very different already.
Smokey blue colour - same colour we used in Wpg.
Bathroom down stairs -YIKES!!