Wednesday 22 May 2013

May 21st, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. A lovely visit with Leah as she came to spend time with me this afternoon! Nice to have visits where you don't have to break up fights the whole time! :-)

2. A yellow and red tulip blooming in my front garden bed. I'm loving seeing all of the new things coming up now that we are getting some moisture!

3. Riley's excitement as she sees some of the little things I am doing to make her room special. "Oh, Mommy, look at the pretty pictures."  I'm loving what I have to far and hoping it looks as good in reality as it does in my mind. 


I wake Jackson up every night to nurse him. I was done with Ri at a year but because this little guy is always sick I've continued... Anyway... He has discovered his favorite thing is Chris' 15(ish) year old alarm clock. He thinks it is just the best thing. As soon as he is done nursing he is crawling over Chris and frantically signing please. His love for that clock just makes us laugh!


May 20th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. Went for lunch today to a couple's house from North Point. They are sweet grandparents that just wanted to show our family love and give us flowers from their garden. This was an unexpected add-on to the day but it was quite nice. 

2. Had a great home group BBQ on our deck this afternoon. I'm so thankful the weather cooperated because the kids had so much fun playing in the backyard. 

3, New seeds and blubs. - Ladies brought their extras and put them on the table so I got to add new things to my garden tonight. We also were able to borrow a lawn mower to get our grass under control! :-)


May 19th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. We had a baby dedication at our worship gathering on Sunday. I love hearing how people desire to raise their kids in a Christ centered home. 

2. Dave's message today spoke to my heart as I'm feeling hurt and unloved by some people in my life. I don't have a heart of love at all toward them and I am desperately needing to work on that. This was yet another reminder today to not give up but to continue to show love even when I don't feel loved in return. I want the love that I have for people to be so evident and different that it can only come because I have the love of my Heavenly Father in me. I want to reflect Him.

3. Tonight at dinner the kids were crazy... I love that already we can be silly together and just enjoy being a family!


May 18th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. Went to my brother - in - laws wedding today. It was very beautiful and I always love hearing the unique vows at weddings! Chris and I are about to celebrate 5 years together and the whole day reminded me of our wedding day. I'm so thankful that Chris and I were so committed to honoring our vows and despite the tough stuff we have, and will come across, we are both 100% committed to each other!

2. My sister gave up her Saturday to come and watch our kids while we went to the reception. I'm so thankful for a sister who loves being an auntie so much and seeks time to build relationships with my kids!

3. My biggest fan. - I know that almost every 3rd day I'm picking something about Chris that is a 'gift' to me, but seriously, he is the best! I can always count on him to take my side, to love me, to defend me, to cry with me... I'm so glad that he can be my biggest fan!


May 17th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. One year ago today my favorite little boy entered this world. I am so blessed by him and the joy that he brings to our home. He always gives his smiles freely and his crooked grin and mischievous eyes always remind me of the adventures that are coming! 

2. New found traditions! - Today Chris and I decided, 'officially', that on our kid's birthday's he will stay home a bit later than normal and we will do a special family breakfast. This will make their birthday's always exciting even if their parties have to be on another day! I'm so thankful for a daddy who makes his kids first priority!

3. Had a nice visit today with my grandparents before my grandma jets off to Malaysia. (Have to confess there was some jealousy when we talked about it! :-) I love that my grandparents can be apart of my kids lives. 


Same first birthday experience as his mommy.

Friday 17 May 2013

May 16th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. I felt very encouraged when I went for a run today. I've been putting off training for the race I am running and was nervous with how out of shape I would be. I was by no means fast, but I jogged straight for 20 minutes and I'm not sure I've EVER done that! :-)

2. Yesterday I was reading Deuteronomy as a friend and I read the same scripture every week and then talk about it. Today I was just reminded today of the fact that God does not hide himself from us, he wants us to know him. "If you look for me, you will find me, if you search for me with all of your heart". What a great promise he gives us!

3. Went for dinner with a former co-worker tonight and it was so nice, we didn't talk about our old job at all. Our friendship is now growing and we know enough about each other to let conversation just flow! It's so nice to have dinner with her once a month! 


May 15th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. A day with no plans outside the house so I could get caught up on all of the things that had fallen through the cracks!
2. Preparing the space where my brother will live this summer and getting excited for the time we will have together!
3. Family wrestling time on Riley's bed before she went to sleep! I felt so blessed and loved having crazy, fun times with the three people I love the most! :-)


Wednesday 15 May 2013

May 14th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts


1. A friend Sheila who quickly filled in when I needed last minute childcare for Jackson. So grateful that she was willing and that she lives so close. 

2. A great morning with Riley. Despite the fact that some of it was spent at the hospital I rarely get time with just her so we made it a special day. After her new cast was put on we did a quick shop through target and went for ‘chicken’. (Riley calls any special date “going for chicken”

3. A time of admitting anxiousness and feelings of defeat and failure in certain areas with Chris tonight was such a great moment. Sometimes it is hard to be vulnerable and honest but I always love those times once I start. 


May 13th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts


1. Great visit with the Spencer ladies today! Grateful that I feel loved and comfortable with them!

2. Today Jackson did his first unprompted sign of the word please. I have not been as diligent with him so it took longer than Riley but I’m excited that he has gotten it and I hope that until he uses words this will make things a bit easier! Now to work on some of the other ones!

3. Yummy stuffed peppers for dinner. Always love to find new recipes!


(she's doing fish lips!)

May 12th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts


1. Today I am reminded of what a gift it is to be a mom. I love my two kiddos that make me a mommy. Riley is such a ball of energy and she knows what she wants. I love that she is remembering what we are telling her about Jesus. I can see her desire to know more about him already and we pray everyday that she will seek him with her whole life. Jackson is such a fun boy. I love his infectious smile and the laugh that he has. He is growing so fast and I can’t wait to see who he will become!

2. Went outside my comfort zone today and introduced myself to two of our neighbors! Excited to get to know them more and hope that the kids around here can be friends for my kids! So thankful we finally have neighbors that we can know!

3. Got our zoo passes today and spent the afternoon together. Chris and I loved watching our kids get so excited about the animals!


Best shot I got of all three of my favorite people!

May 11th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts


1. We were so blessed today by our family. People brought gifts for Jackson and because of that we are going to be able to get zoo passes this year! 

2. Felt so grateful for my backyard and house again. Hosted the party and it was so nice to be able to spread out, have room for the kids to play and several places for people to chat. I am SO excited to be able to host more and more in the years to come!

3. A great afternoon hanging out with my sister. I rarely get time to spend with her without my kids. I love my kids but time without them is important too! She helped my pick a dress for an upcoming wedding, and we just got to visit uninterrupted. 


For how smile-y this guy usually is today we didn't get ANY smiles from him... So I picked a picture that he was stuffing his face! :-) He sure loved the cakepops!

May 10th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts


1. A full backyard of kids. Grateful for building friendships for myself and for my kids!

2. News about a new baby. So excited to meet baby Jude! :-)

3. Got to let my creative juices flow and decorated for Jackson’s birthday party. 


May 9th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. A tulip bloom!

2. Our first patio dinner as a family. 

3. A great chat with Kiersten talking about life and challenges. So grateful for a friend who I can be honest with and we can admit our sin to each other. She is a once in a lifetime friend and I’m so blessed by her!


May 8th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts


1. Felicia’s help figuring out what I have in all my garden beds! So excited for them all to grow and bloom!

2. Riley and Nayeli playing together. So thankful for a little friend for Riley that is a girl! Don’t have many of those!

3. Seeds! - I loved shopping and planning out what I am going to plant!


May 7th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts


1. A day working and getting to know a woman who I am really grow to love and admire!

2. A brave girl who is so tough. So sad that she fractured her elbow

3. Bringing home a whole dinner so I didn’t have to make it after making food all day!


May 6th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts


1. A vacation-like visit with a friend in the sunshine on the deck

2. An evening of working and making money... Felt great to get out and work hard in the different way tonight!

3. A husband who is so willing and able to take over and fill in when I was gone. 


May 5th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. Patio lunch with the kiddos!

2. A beautiful bridal shower for my future sister in law Marcia

3. Remembering the sacrifice and love that Christ had for us through taking communion during the NP worship gathering. 


May 4th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts


1. A whole day outside finding plants and flowers in my garden! 

2. A forgiving  gracious husband. I was in a bad mood today for some reason and I'm not quite sure why. He never ceases to amaze me how he continues to show me love and grace as I treat him poorly. So thankful that he shows me Jesus love when I don't deserve it!

3. Family swim night with our NP family. 


May 3rd, 2013


One Thousand Gifts

1. Seeing my dear friend’s baby belly! So excited to meet this little one!

2. A peaceful, child present, shopping trip... That NEVER happens!

3. Laughter... Not sure we’ve laughed that hard with friends in a LONG time! 


May 2nd, 2013

One Thousand Gifts


1. Jack’s completely decorated room! So happy that my vision for his room is as good in reality as it was in my mind. 

2. A mother - in - law who is so willing to take Riley while I have Dr’s appointments for Jackson

3. Jackson’s smile, I’m so thankful for how freely he give it to me!


May 1st, 2013

One Thousand Gifts


1. Riley’s excitement as she tried finger painting for the first time. 

2. Chocolate fondue

3. Child free trip to Michaels!!!


April 30th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts


1. Spent the whole day with my sister which doesn’t happen very often. Had a great time chatting, eating, playing...

2. Found a dark wood stain today for one of my home projects, quite excited!

3. An amazing moment while skyping with Dad. - Riley sat beside my guitar, strummed it and sang ‘ yes, Jesus loves me’ over and over. I pray that truth will seep into her heart and she will alway know about his amazing love for her. 


April 29th, 2013


One Thousand Gifts

1. Watching the kids enjoying the big fish swimming around at the mall!

2. A sale which saved us a lot of money on a new washer and dryer. 

3. Being able to help a friend plan her son’s birthday and getting to use my creativity to help!


April 28th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts


1. More finds for Jackson’s room!

2. Seeing Rachel on the worship team again for the first time in a while. 

3. Walking to home group in the sun. 


April 27th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. A free playplace for the kids and an amazingly skilled husband who put the puzzle together without instructions.

2. SUNSHINE!

3. A daughter who is learning about Jesus and desires to know more. 




April 26th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. New growth - found tulips all over our garden!

2. The older woman at the lab today. She engaged Riley and distracted her from the waiting time!

3. Thorough doctors who send Jackson for tests to ensure he is healthy. 



April 25th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. Value Village finds! - I’m designing my kids rooms right now and I’m looking for specific things, found some great wooden cars for Jack’s room today!

2. Tanya, who opens her home for mom’s group and invites tons of crazy kids in! 

3. Gardening tools. Can’t wait to get out and work in the yard!


April 24th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. First of many family evening walks to the park. - Can’t wait to make memories with the kids this summer. 

2. Riley’s first family portrait. Love her imagination and who she decides to include in the picture. 

3. The small taste we got of spring today!


April 23rd, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. Time alone. - I made sure both kids naps today completely lined up so I could just spend time reading and praying. Was so refreshing and relaxing. 

2. Cuddles from Riley - She fell and smoked her head pretty hard today, so after 3 hours of crying she fell asleep on my chest. I can’t remember the last time I got a cuddle like this from her. Sad she was hurt but thankful I could be there to comfort her. 

3. Older men in the church who are intentionally building into Chris’ life at Men’s group. 


April 22nd, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. A broken fever. Jackson had a high fever the whole trip and today he is finally back to normal!

2. Over his lunch break Chris took Ri to her final swimming lessons which freed me up to bring 
Jackson into the pool. I had a great time having one on one time with him!

3. A restful evening after a full weekend


April 21st, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. Being present for Oakley’s dedication to the Lord. We will be there beside him and his parents through his life!

2. Being home. We had a great weekend but nothing beats getting home and laying down in your own bed!

3. An extra measure of patience. - The kids were a little bit less easy on the way home. :-) So thankful that Chris and I were able to take turns dealing with the kids and we were able to respond to them in a more patient way!



April 20th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. Taking the kids to their first farm experience. They loved the chicks. Jackson could actually not even handle himself and his excitement. He seriously just wanted to crawl around and grab all the chicks! :-)

2. Kierst and I went out without kids for a bit and it was so nice just to enjoy being together. 

3. Long time friendships - Can’t believe that we have been friends for so long, but I so appreciate the comfortability, honesty and venerability that can happen in these friendships. What a gift it is to have someone like K. 




April 19th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. A great pool that we took Ri and Oakley to. 

2. Husbands who missed out on the family time to take care of a sick boy back at the house. 

3. Nap time! - So that we really could talk and be together as couples! Lots of games happened today!


April 18th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. A quick, easy drive to Regina. The kids behaved great! 

2. Meeting the sweet Oakley Taylor for the first time. What a cute wonderful boy. Love being his Auntie Sarah! :-)

3. Finally, after almost a year being together with my best friend Kiersten. 


April 17, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. Riley’s accountability. Some days I get lazy and know I should work out but I don’t feel like it. Today Riley reminded me and persisted until I started exercising. She is so good at keeping me on track! 

2. More free kijiji finds! How wonderful that people bless us with things they can no longer use!

3. Drain-o and a plumbing snake! - At 9:30 tonight our drain clogged. Took almost 2 hours to get it unplugged but we are so thankful we don’t have to call a plumber when we get home! 


April 16th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. Costco and lunch with Tanya and her kids! So thankful for her and our growing friendship!

2. Memories! - Today I looked through pictures to give some to my mom for a project she is doing. How fun our childhood was, so thankful for the family I grew up in!

3. A husband who is a great Dad. Chris came home from men’s group tonight and had a blast playing with Jackson before we put him back to bed.


April 15th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. Beginning to get our basement organized. I’m so thankful to have a basement, and thankful that my husband worked so hard over the weekend to move all the shelving around!

2. The fact that Jackson is such a great and happy eater! He is so easy to make food for!

3. The cheesy grin that Jack has started giving almost every time I look at him! He just thinks he is hilarious!


April 14th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. A great family morning. Couldn’t get off our street because of the snow so we just hung out in our PJs and enjoyed being together!

2. The warm sunshine that melted all the snow by the evening! 

3. Still having community today because we were able to get out to get to our home group!


April 13th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. Today I met with Becky. She is the lead on the ministry for women that I want to get involved it. Loved meeting with her and hearing her heart of love! Still not sure exactly how I am going to be involved but I am for sure going to find where I fit! One thing she told me was to print off a letter and mail it to my MP because there is a lot going on in the area of prostitution in Canada right now. I challenge everyone who reads this to print of the letter in the URL I’ll attach and mail it to your MP. We need to be a voice for these women! http://www.defenddignity.ca/mp-letter/

2. Great dinner with Matt and Justine! The boys were boys and played mini stick hockey in the living room! 

3. Safety on our way home. Drove tonight on the worst roads we have ever been on! 


April 12th, 2013

One Thousand Gift

To be honest I missed today and just noticed it. So I only have one gift for today which is prompted by my picture for today. Riley and I had a great time building her first fort and she loved coloring and crawling it it. This will have to become a regular activity! 


April 11th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. Riley carried around a toy laptop today at mom’s group and kept talking to Papa and Nene on skype. Love that she knows my parents so well despite the distance. 

2. Dinner with friends. Love getting to know them and feeling like my friendship is important! 

3. A 2.5 hour Skype chat with Kiersten. What a blessing she is to me!


April 10th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. Cancelled dinner plans - We had people coming for dinner but they cancelled and after a full weekend/week we were quite glad to have a family night at home!

2. Listening to Riley read books and seeing the parts she remembers. I love watching her grow!

3. A healthy boy. These days are few and far between so I am so grateful for fever, runny nose, cough -free days!


April 9th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. Watching Riley ‘mother’ her animals. I see her tender side and get excited for when she chooses to show it more often!

2. Watching the ‘nainbows’ on the wall with Riley. She loves to sit on the stairs as the sun is shining through the glass on our front door. 

3. fresh, homemade granola for lunch. 



Tuesday 9 April 2013

April 8th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. A package in the mail - I had ordered something off of Etsy a while back and the tracking number didn't work so I had no idea when it would come, and it did!

2. A visit with a friend and a walk through the mall with no kids!

3. Paint chips - Love looking and dreaming about what colors would look good on our walls!




Sunday 7 April 2013

April 7th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. Today while serving in the NP nursery I got to chat with a couple that I haven't before. Quite enjoyed the opportunity to get to know someone new! Looking forward to having them for dinner and getting to know them more!

2. youtube... LAME I know, but today I used it to get my hairstyle and scarf tie right... Love that I can take these kind of ideas from people because I can't come up with them on my own. 

3. For a while I've been feeling the urge that I need to be serving, doing something outside of my normal life. I LOVE being a mom and feel so fulfilled and like I am in the right place, but at the same time I see in the Bible where we are called to minister to the widows, orphans, the poor and needy, and I wonder what in the world I am doing to follow that command. Well, today in our church bulletin there was a little insert about a fundraiser for an organization in Calgary and talked about how they help people who are coming out of the sex trade to have healing and a healthy lifestyle. That has honestly been the thing that keeps coming back to my heart as I've heard more and more about it in the past months. I've done google searches trying to find Christian organizations that do this kind of thing in Calgary and I have not been able to find anything. Seeing this notice though got me really excited. So today I sent an email requesting information and how I can volunteer, I want to try and make it a weekly thing! 
So I guess all that to say... Today a gift was the bulletin at NP that gave me the information I've been looking for and unable to find! I'll keep you posted on what this is going to look like! 


Tired, annoyed kids! We had to run a quick errand right before bed and they were QUITE done!


April 6th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. A sacrificial husband who took care of the kids all morning because I was feeling sick, so I could just lay and relax. 

2. A sudden burst of energy at 6 0' clock to get laundry done... Still working on our laundry from our 'flu days' and I'm anxious to get it done.  

3. The ability that Chris and I have to just BE together, we don't have to do anything significant, we just like be around each other! 


Man, we are such great parents... We tie our boy to a toy car and let his big sister push him around... :-)


April 5th, 2013

One Thousand Gifts

1. The Rocky Mountain Bible College Spring choir concert. What an amazing treat to see this great concert! 

2. Dinner out with my man soley bought with a gift card from Christmas and gift cards bought with Swag Bucks I'd earned a while back!

3. The car ride home after we picked up the kids from my in-laws after the concert. One of my favorite times with Riley is when she gets woken, if sleeping somewhere else, and then we drive. She always has the cutest responses and just is overly sweet! 

  
Snack time with the kids... Can't tell that most of this time was full of screaming and fighting over who's cracker was who's.... But they just look so peaceful! :-)