olympic vacation

here is a pic of me during this 2 week period - during our "olympic vacation"!!!!  


leo and i have been enjoying all the sports ...  we've been cheering on canada ... sometimes finland ... sometimes the US ... or Norways' amazing nordic skiers ... i just wish the whole world could stop from the wars, feuds and nastiness - and settle their differences in the gold/silver/bronze world ... wouldn't that be amazing ...


have you guys been watching them too?



The Olympics are a wonderful metaphor for world cooperation, the kind of international competition that's wholesome and healthy, an interplay between countries that represents the best in all of us. ~John Williams

maria good news

it is a good thing

to give thanks unto the Lord ...

and to sing praises

to His name ...

oh, Most High!

maria's cast was taken off yesterday ... and after x-rays and examination, they said that there is a wee bit of healing happening!!!!  that is just amazing ... she had been dealing with the very possible reality of losing her  foot (as i was, oh me of little faith!) - but now there is hope for healing!!!  they put another cast on ... this one is supposed to be on for 4 weeks  ... so we have all been rejoicing!!!  thank you for your prayers on her behalf - and i'm so glad to share some good news with you guys ...

blessings on ya!

cleanness of winter

i had a nice telephone visit with maria yesterday ... i read your comments to her, and you guys really boosted her spirits and blessed her heart ... thank you so much for that!  she was in such an up mood - AND she had slept through the night (which happens very seldom) ...

what a storm the eastern atlantic is getting ... we have missed it ... i was just out for a nice walk and took some pics from the town beach/dock ... thought i would share the cleanness of winter with you!

blessings on your weekend - and watch for those diamonds in the snow ...

maria's latest obstacle ...

i haven't given a maria update in a while because life has continued "normal" for her since the mid-december release from hospital ... her routines still contain dialysis 3 times a week, homecare help 5 days a week and a nursing visit every day (to change the dressing on her infected ankle and administer antibiotics via IV drip) ...


for almost 2 months, she has been enjoying a simple life at home ...


but the holes in her ankle aren't healing up ... we all knew that something would eventually have to be done ... yesterday, she saw 2 specialists and the gist of it is, they are trying one more thing - giving it two weeks - then if the ankle still hasn't shown any improvement ... amputation ...


when she phoned me last night, her voice was tired and sad from crying ... we prayed over the phone, with me feeling helpless as i tried to encourage her in any way i could ...


this morning it was the cheery maria,  energizer bunny that called me - bright and early too! ... she said that IF the foot has to go, maybe it'll take some of  her daily pain with it ... plus with no open sores, she could go swimming again (she loves to swim) ... she had found the positive ... and her BEST positive was/is being able to lean on Jesus... when we are troubled, Jesus is the Someone who knows all about our cares, understands our hurt and is there for us 24/7 ...


maria's bumpy journey continues ... and i thank you for your prayer on her behalf ...

back to the everyday ...

I'm pressing on the upward way,

New heights I'm gaining every day,

Still praying as I'm onward bound

"Lord, plant my feet on higher ground"

i love that hymn ... and i love that prayer ...

after being home for a little over a week, i am getting back to my routine ... also, back to the things that i am challenged with at home ... vacations are good, but when we get back - the same ole problems are still there ... hopefully,  we look at them with different eyes ... renewed patience?  ...

i am so very glad that i was able to get into the desert again ... there is something about the beauty of that landscape that draws me ...

blessings on your sunday!

vacation pics

take-off from winnipeg was exciting - especially with the thought of a warm weather destination! ... check out the winding red river at the top of the pic and all that snow covering the land ... it was a really good flight - both ways ... no turbulence, plus westjet ran absolutely on time - even a little early! can't beat that!!

as you can see, we did have good weather ... it was only after we left arizona that they got this terrible storm - lots of rain and wind ... and it was only when i was safely home in our condo that the snow started (and hasn't stopped!) ... i thank the Lord for His kindness in keeping me safe during my little vacation ...

doesn't this scene, taken on south mountain, look like a painting! ... i love the desert scapes ... soon the hills will be in bloom, because of the rain they are getting ...

i was able to visit with an old friend, who took me on some hikes (plus she lent me her bike and we rode around her neighbourhood too! ya!) ... that is me on the boulder trail at canyon lake ... i think i was smiling most of my AZ time ... i was so glad to be outside, enjoying a snowfree holiday ....

i couldn't get enough of the desert landscape ... i don't know what it is about it, but i truly love it!


while i was gone, leo and i chatted everyday  ... it was so good to keep in touch like that, i didn't worry about him ... and after a week, i was ready to go home and share all my pictures with him (which i've now done, i plugged a memory stick into the tv and we watched them like that!)

my last pic in arizona ... what a wonderful break ... the Lord is so kind to His children - and all the people said "Amen!"

amazing holiday ... swimming every day ... good shopping ... great visiting ... even a wonderful trip to a wonderful AZ church!

i've talked to leo about twice a day ... he misses me, and i him ...

hopefully tomorrow i will be back in our little town and with my sweetie ...

we fly out tonight ... i sleep at  my cousins in winnipeg tomorrow ... and drive home after that ...

chat more later ... blessings on you all (written with palm trees swaying just in the yard right within view!)

arizona

i am in Arizona!!!

it all happened quickly ... the trip, the cheap fares .... and let me tell you, it has been wonderful!

i would have e-mailed about this last week, but i planned on surprising my cousin (who is a snowbird here) ... so in the off chance she read my blog - i didn't want to give away my own surprise!  the look on her face was priceless!!

the plane ride was great ... the weather has been in the 70's ... and the palm trees are swaying ... really beautiful!

leo and indie are keeping the home fires burning ...

i am visiting a friend tonight ... so must go ...

:o) ...

hundreds gather to protest global warming

someone had a cute idea!!! .... your smile for the week!!

bundle up ... the forecast is chilly

i know many of you will be experiencing extreme cold temps ... in places where those temps shouldn't be! ... i just wanted to encourage you ... and myself!!! ... the days ARE getting longer ... and winter won't last forever ... 

first post of 2010

the new year has started out with some baking ... i made a blueberry pie (one of my favs) and a chocolate pie (one of leo's favs) ... we are trying to keep the treats down to a minimum .. my excuse is that i just wanted to finish off the pie dough i had ... it was yummy - wish you could have come by for some!

 

well after eating the pie ... it was time to brave the elements and go for a walk ... my aunt gave me her old snowsuit which i put on for those EXTRA cold days, making the walk doable ... it was so cold that the snow made that squeaky/crunchy noise ... those of you who have spent any time in the north - know the sound i am talking about!

today i took down our card tree ... i really love Christmas cards ... soon everyone will only be sending e-mail greetings ... but while i can, i love to send greetings the old fashioned way - and feel blessed to receive them too ...

Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.  ~Hebrews 13:15

as the year closes ...

all of us "older" folks always say "where did the year go???"... but i mean, really, didn't it go by quickly?  i must readily admit to being glad that 2009 is DONE ... it was an emotional year for me ... filled with family anxiety... it was also a year of drawing on God ... leaning on His wisdom ... reading MORE of His word ... trying to live what i did read ... and my prayers would sometimes just be "Lord i don't know, but You do ... Lord Lord Lord ... please Lord ... have Thy way Lord ... " then many moments of silence, just not knowing how to pray ...

 

the year did hold joyous moments too ... serene times ... watching the diamonds glisten and dance on the river ... or seeing those same elusive diamonds in the fresh fallen snow ... diamonds that you can't grasp in your hand, but that you can feel in your heart ... a gladness that God was always there, despite sorrows ... reminding me that i couldn't "be God" to my loved ones ... i couldn't make maria better ... i couldn't take away leo's chronic pain ... i couldn't make others DO what i knew without a doubt God's Word tells them to, so that they could be freed from the chains that they battle against ...

which brings us to me - and how i want to control things ... you know, just to make peoples lives better ... ... as if that isn't something God wants for them too!!!  and what He wants for me, His child, is to lay my burdens down and rest in Him ... to continue talking to Him about all my concerns - yes ... but then leaving those concerns there and being free to see the beauty He's put in my world ... the glittering water diamonds ... His Word that i can handle and read ... the many  many blessings i have ...

i hope that i can live 2010 as a wiser child of God ... i pray i can be a witness to others who need to hear the things i've learned in 2009 ... and i hope i remember to rest in Him, Jesus - who has redeemed me for all eternity ...

blessings on your 2010, dear blog buds...

This is Christmas

copied from Decision Magazine, "Ruth's Attic" a selection from Ruth Bell Graham's writing:

Merry Christmas (in Finnish)

This is Christmas

It is just before Christmas, but perhaps you don't care anymore.  Something has happened, and now you find no joy or meaning to your life.  Perhaps the most you look for is some temporary form of escape.

Maybe you can't give anything.  There's nothing left to give - or there's no one left to give to.

Listen.

What's Christmas all about anyway?  Wasn't there a death, an emptiness, a need?  Wasn't there a  Love somewhere - infinite, eternal, unchangeable - a Love that gave His only Son?  That's what Christmas is all about:  God coming to Earth in the Person of the Christ Child to do for you and for me what we cannot possibly do for ourselves.

Jesus lived among us and had the same kinds of problems that we do.  You haven't a problem - and I  haven't a problem - that He doesn't understand from close personal experience.  He spent His entire life meeting human needs.  He died on the cross to deal once and for all with our greatest need - redemption from sin.  This Christmas, God is asking you to come to Him.  Bring your failures, your sins, your problems, your fears.   Bring yourself.

This is Christmas.  Redemption's glorious exchange of gifts!

Jesus birthday thoughts ...

i'm allowing my own excitement to grow, as mankind soon celebrates another year - marking the birth of Christ ... i know that the real date is unknown - but that actual date isn't as important as the remembrance of the eternal gift we received ... i could just weep with joy at the hugeness of this gift ... the marvelous grace of God ... i pray that hearts everywhere will stop and pause, peer at the night sky, to see if just maybe the Angels are STILL singing ... and may all wise men (women too) seek the King of Kings and Lord of Lords ... sweet Jesus ... i am so glad You came... and gladder still that you now reside in my heart and home ... YAY for all eternity!

gingerbread creations

isn't this a great gingerbread display!  one of my cousin's from finland e-mailed me the pic today - taken at her kitchen table ... what great gingerbread creations ... i love it!  so homey looking ... you can almost smell the aroma of Christmas ... 

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. ~Washington Irving

home for Christmas

maria was released from the hospital on thursday!  she was in for 4 months this stretch (making it 9 months in total for 2009) ... when i spoke with her yesterday, she was so very very happy ... her husband had put up the tree and lights ... he was waiting for her to come home so that they could put up the ornaments together ... she realizes that she will be going back at some point (a nurse comes daily for the dressing change on her foot and antibiotic IV change) ... but hopes that this Christmas will be the best one yet ... i pray it will be too ... thank you for praying for her ...


Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.  Ephesians 3:20-21

a new look

well i finally updated my blog!!!  i like the new features ... they make fixing things up so much easier ... and fun! 

the picture that i used in my header was taken at our cottage home ... it was our "backyard" which bordered on to a channel leading to the river ... lots of opportunities for scenic photos! ...

we are still in the deep freeze here - hopefully next week it'll lift ... tho'even this bitter cold has a purpose - the ice fishing enthusiast are hoping for a quick freeze of the river, so they can drag their huts out there and fish ... awww, i remember those days ... not that i would go out, but leo would ... he would load up his ice auger and fishing gear on his little sled with a few pieces of wood to burn (in the pot belly stove in his ice shack),  then he would trudge out and spend a couple of hours trying to bring home supper ... which he usually did ... seems like a life time ago ...

just checking out the new posting method ...

blessings on  you guys as you prepare for your Christmas celebrations ...

chilly temps

the snow fell and so did the temperatures!!! it is officially a mind numbing -22C as i type this ... and tonight it will probably be -30C ... since it was so chilly - i made some chili ... yum ... it turned out great and helped to warm us up ...

my blues have lifted ... it seems they strike, make me sad - then they evaporate as i read the solid, real, Word of God ... "Thou has enlarged me when i was in distress ... the Lord will hear when i call unto Him ... put your trust in the Lord ... Thou has put gladness in my heart ... for Thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety." Psalm 4 verses ...

blessings on your tuesday ...

the Christmas blues

i get the blues around this time of year ... just when all the Christmas decorations are out ... when folks start to get into the swing of cooking, socializing, wrapping gifts ... i struggle to keep my head above water ... it seems to happen every year ...

i know i'm not the only one ... other blog buds have shared their experiences ... that's why i'm sharing my feelings now ...

i guess my little family (leo, me, the cat) fall so far from the norman rockwell scene ...

leo is at the stage in his chronic pain life where he doesn't want to go out unless it's a must - like the doctors ... we don't invite folks over as much anymore either, because leo can't visit for long periods (which is anything over an hour!) ... it feels odd to have these quiet years on us ... and it makes me especially sad at this time of year ...

there is also the missing ... those who aren't here anymore ... my dad, leo's folks, others who know no Christmas anymore ... and the missing continues to family far away ... my brother and sister in the west coast ... my mom and younger sister in the north ... maria in the hospital ...

i talk to the Lord about it ... and try to tell myself to "snap out of it!" ... but sometimes i think one needs to just walk through this valley of emotional turmoil and teary eyes before the sound of angels singing joyous songs can be heard ...

"And, lo an angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were very much afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people" ... Luke 2:9-10