Thursday

Finally made it over to my friends Charlene's for a visit with the girls. Had a really nice catch up visit and then headed home to put Amara for a nap. Caroline came and picked Adessa up for a play date so I could do some cleaning up of my house for my ladies night this evening. 

After school we came home and I attempted to give the girls hair cuts and do the big lice check. Danika was up first. Here is her hair pre-haircut...

I didn't bother with an after post because it was the most painful experience ever and it looks exactly the same!! 

She is so obsessed with her long hair that she was crying and way over reacting at my cutting skills. Anyways I ended up taking off two inches but you cannot tell!! It was also my first time cutting hair... But after shelling out money to hairdressers who take an inch or less off this mane of hers I figured how hard could it be?! 

Adessa was next- she is so sweet. She was very excited and very encouraging of my skills and wanted a whole new look. She was hoping for bangs "up to here" ( holding hand in line with the top of her forehead) and shorter hair so people could tell. But I started trimming and just couldn't do anymore. So hers also looks the same!  

Amara was a little pruney at this point and wanting out of the bath! 

For dinner Joanne, who is Mike's wife... Who is travelling with Steve to the Dominican brought us dinner. It was so lovely! She brought us a thing of sloppy joe meat, homemade buns, homemade loaf of bread, homemade cookies and a bag of carrots and chocolate! She spoiled us! 

We have been utterly blessed by our church family! 

In the evening Steve called us on FaceTime and it was so wonderful to see his face and hear his voice! He was able to figure out wifi but apparently it isn't super reliable. 

They are doing well. Not sleeping great, but working hard in the hot sauna like conditions. Everyone has been safe and healthy so that was a good update! 

They got off work a bit early and were able to go out snorkelling for a bit. I guess a few young guys in the group took Steve to a reef about 20 minutes from shore and they were out snorkelling for about 2 hours without stopping... With no life jackets! A little terrifying. Apparently they had floating Pepsi bottles full of bread though and they sprayed it out and thousands of fish would swim under them. 

I guess when they were swimming up to the reef, there was a charter boat and the man in the boat was yelling "shark! Shark!" And Steve said he has never been more terrified! But the guys with him said he was just trying to scare them off... Thankfully!!! 

The girls were so excited to talk to daddy and had lots of questions. Where Steve is building the church there is a little girl who is 8 years old and Steve says she is always around. I guess they have a special hand shake that they like to do! And the girls wanted him to give her the baseball gloves they sent along. I guess Steve is the only one down there with any framing knowledge, so he has been busy building the trusses for the building. So proud of my hubby! 

After I got the girlies tucked into bed, 5 of my girl friends came over for a hot tub and a movie. So much fun! Hung out in the hot tub for an hour and then came in to pop popcorn and we watched 'moms night out,' super cute film! We laughed our heads off as we can all relate!!! 

I went to bed feeling very content, and so blessed by all God has placed in my life! 

And thankful that I did NOT find any bugs in my girls hair... *huge sigh of relief* 

Today was another busy one! Woke up at the crack of dawn to get ready for the day... Had to wake up 2 out of the three girls for breakfast... Adessa is always my early riser, so we get some morning snuggles and she gets a bit of iPad time while I get ready. 

After I dropped the girls at school, we did our grocery shop then met some friends at Wendy's house for another play date. 

Amara just loves it- she runs from room to room playing with everything and not caring where I am so I can sit and visit wih my coffee! 

We went home for naps I attempted to clean my microsuede sofa for her entire nap... Looks a bit better but not much! 

During that intense cleaning time I got a phone call from Steve. Soooo good to hear his voice even though it has only been 2 days. It's funny how you take things like his voice and his cuddles for granted when you have them all the time!

He said they are doing well. They hadn't slept much- first night they were traveling on a jam packed plane and then the second there were no alarm clocks in the hotel room so him and his dad slowly waking up throughout the night thinking it was time to get up. He said the hotel is pretty ran down, the food is decent and they were told to make sure mosquitoes don't come near them! ( they brought deet spray) but apparently when they went into their room there were a bunch of mosquitoes in there! Quite the adventure already I would say! 

They did there first work day today in +35 shovelling gravel and lifting bricks and were all dead tired. Day 1 out of 7 down. Praying lots for them and their team! It was a quick phone call because apparently it cost $1.50 per minute and the wifi isn't working at the hotel! 

The girls have been pretty bummed that they can't talk to daddy... But we just make sure to pray for him lots! 

After school amara insisted on carrying our friend, Ava's booster seat out to the car even though it probably weighed as much as her! She is one determined little chick. I love that about her... She also insists on wearing her own backpack so she carries her own diapers and changes of clothes! 

We were invited to a friends in crofton for dinner- the ways who have two darling little girls ages 4 and almost 2. The girls played wonderfully... Except the youngest two who kept fighting over toys! 

I now have all girls tucked in bed and am warming up in the hot tub... Hoping I don't drop my cell phone! 😊

Goodbye My Love

Tonight we dropped Steve off at the airport... And my heart hurts. This trip was planned quickly and came so quickly and now he is gone. I have total peace about him leaving, but as I lay in my bed, with both girls here (sleeping with me because I can't sleep alone!) and no hubby I am kind of sad. I have been the one to take off on trips- when I went to El Salvador a couple of years ago, Las Vegas for my sis in laws bachelorette, every summer driving back to Alberta. Never have I been the one left behind. He always told me how hard it was because I am a terrible communicator when away, and now he doesn't have a phone but I will hopefully be able to connect once a day through Skype, as he brought his laptop. 

Our church family has been so generous and have donated $2200 towards the trip that will cover the costs of the three compassions suitcases Steve, mike and his dad are able to bring down. They filled them over full (like 75lbs) full of hammers, nails, hundreds of socks and undies for the children in the school,Steve's suppliers donated some new tools, vitamins, bags of prescription and reading glasses, and sports equipment. It was amazing! The girls both have baseball gloves and put them in Steve's suitcase as well as they were excited to be able to give something. 

 Today I helped Steve pack up his last minute things, he had a bunch of emails to write and he dropped his phone off with one of his guys so they could run the business while he was away. After the girls were done school we went for dinner at white spot for our best family meal out in a long time! Amara actually sat and didn't scream... Too loudly! 

Steve wasn't sure how he was feeling  as he has been so busy with work and life, he hadn't really thought of the trip too much- it just came! He was a little nervous of working in the hot heat- so lots of prayers for strength and health are needed. 

I am excited for my husband and excited to see what God will do in His life. God wants us to live a radical life and to tell others about Him and "to go and make disciples of all the nations." Matthew 28:19 

I am thankful he heard Gods calling and took the challenge! It will be a long couple of weeks but I am also interested to see how I can do without him. The week is already filling up with things to do, so I'm sure time will pass quickly! 

Quick photo with dad before we say goodbye! Amara said bye and then ran for the doors... Which open automatically... Not cool with a runaway child! I got the girls in the van and they cried their eyes out for most of the trip home. Thankfully Steve flew out of Nanaimo so it wasn't too bad! We will miss you my love!!! 

First Day Solo

Today was extremely busy. Woke up at 7:50 am due to not sleeping well... I can thank my squirmy little girls and lack of husband for that! Panicked a wee bit and got Danika up and ready for school, texted Caroline to pick up Danika as Amara was still sleeping. That baby girl sleeps like a rock star... Ever since holidays she has been sleeping until 8 or 8:30 am. She keeps me on my toes all day but she sleeps so wonderfully both at night and during naps I really can't complain! 

Caroline picked up Danika and dropped off kailey for the days as mark and car were headed to Vancouver for the day to start the adoption process as they have been feeling like their family isn't quite complete. 

In the morning the girls jumped on the trampoline, we baked cookies, cleaned the house a bit and then my girlfriend stopped by with her two kids for coffee and a play date. 

We then took the girls to an amazing new building in Duncan called "Wendy's house" it is a large mobile building that has been transformed into kids play land. 

After school pick up we headed home, Amara went for a nap and the girls played on the trampoline for a solid hour. 

Hot chocolate and cookies to warm up! 

I had a crockpot meal cooking away all day thanks to my wonderful friend Sharon! Who stopped by last week and told me she was making me some freezer meals and then went home that day and packaged everything up and dropped them off for me the following day... Amazingly awesome friend or what?!? I am a blessed woman with wonderful friends. 

Dinner was a big hit... Parmesan pizza pasta. 

Then the girls got ready for the hot tub and we played in there with Amara for about an hour with glow sticks... Pretty awesome! Steve turned the heat down a bit before he left and it felt more like a big bath... The girls loved it. 

Showered the girls off and then as I was brushing hair to braid I found some unwanted guests in our friends hair! I remained calm and proceeded to pick out eggs from their hair as the big girls took turns reading. 

I read up a lot on lice tonight and everything says the same... Don't panic! So I got the girls all tucked into bed until their parents picked them up at 10:30pm. They are so sweet when they sleep... 

I am currently sitting in bed typing this with an itchy scalp and praying we can somehow avoid getting these awful little critters! But I do know that the girls have been sent home with notices of lice in the classroom for quite some time. I guess my new job in the evenings is peeking at the girls scalps! 

I received a small little text from Steve today from someone else's phone, saying the wifi isn't great, but that they arrived safely and are getting settled and that the time difference is 4 hours. Also that he loves us and misses us! 

End of 2015 recap!

Once again life has been insane and I feel like it's been a race these last few months. The girls are doing wonderful at school and December was busy with p/t interviews, field trips, Christmas concerts and parties. I was also asked a couple of months ago to preach a sermon at our church during the month of December. So between all that and a very busy, working husband it's been insane. So I am thankful for Christmas and a chance to rest and catch our breath. My sermon went very well and I am hoping to get it uploaded to remember this opportunity. I put in so much time and research and it was amazing how God spoke to me while I was researching. My topic was Joy and how as Christians we should all be living our lives in joy as it is a fruit of the spirit that is produced in our lives from havingChrist in us. I was pretty nervous to go up, but had wonderful feedback as I was quite comfortable once in front of everyone. God gave me His peace. 

 Pretty cool thing that happened this month as well... Our life group has been doing the study radical by David platt and it has been pretty awesome for our whole life group and very impacting to Steve and I. 

I remember a while ago during the study I woke up and told Steve that I think he needed to go on a mission trip. It was random and that was it. But then fast forward a few weeks and Steve gets in contact with a man who does building projects in the Dominican. Actually Steve was talking to one of his clients (and now good friend) about how he wanted to do some kind of mission trip and this man has gone on one the last few years to the same area. So this man contacted Steve telling him he was preparing to go down right away- January 12th for 10 days to build a church and home in the community they have been supporting and have already built a school. So Steve said he was very interested. The next day Steve gets a call from the clients he was going to buy their trailer off of and they said they were praying and felt like they needed to give the trailer to Steve and would not accept any money for it. We were blown away and just knew we had to say yes to the building trip in the Dominican as the trip and the trailer were the exact same cost! Isn't God amazing?! I love how he works! So all that to say, my hubby is heading to the Dominican on his first mission trip and we are very excited/ nervous for him. Steve's dad as well as another man from our church has also decided they want to go. So it is going to be pretty amazing for them, to serve their God alongside one another. 

This fall we had a few visitors to our new place. Steve's parents came out for thanksgiving and cooked us a wonderful turkey dinner. They had also never been out to the west coast of the island so I found a good deal and booked a few nights away at a resort in tofino. We had an awesome time and some beautiful weather. 

For Halloween this year the girls were Elsa, Anna and Olaf... Obviously! We went trick or treating with our friends the dollmans, the girls had so much fun! 

Then my sister and her kids came out the weekend of Remembrance Day and we had such a great time. The kids played so good the whole time and my sister helped me make stockings! She is wonderful! 

End of November, beginning of December we got a dump of snow and the girls were loving it as we could toboggan in our front yard!! We spent the weekend and everyday after school for a week tobogganing before it melted away! 

I also just recently dyed my hair dark and am quite enjoying it! I have always just added blonde highlights for as long as I can remember, so it was nice to switch things up! 

For Christmas this year my parents flew out to the island on December 21 and are here until January 2 nd. So a nice long visit! 

2 days after they arrived I went into the Duncan hospital to get my 4 wisdom teeth out. I've been on a waiting list since the beginning of summer and my two bottom teeth were impacted so when they called and said they had a cancellation I agreed- even though it was awful timing being right before Christmas. But I called my mom, and she said she knew it! That she had a feeling that was going to happen while she was there. I was so very fortunate to have my parents here while I got them out. I went into he hospital first thing in the morning and didn't get out until 1:30- apparently it took me quite some time to wake up from the general anesthetic. I was quite uncomfortable for the first few days and my mom was my super hero. She took care of me and my girls the whole time I was useless and let me nap every day... I don't remember the last time I did that! She cooked up the whole turkey dinner and didn't complain once... And she was even sick fighting a sinus infection, she is truly amazing!!! I also have wonderful friends and had one drop off a whole kit with ice packs, movies, chocolate and stuff to make smoothies! And another home made ice cream. I am so blessed.  

Christmas this year came so quickly! And the girls and I had so much fun decorating our new house! We did a bunch of thrift store shopping and scored some beautiful garlands. The girls were so fun this year and decorated the whole tree themselves. They did so good! 

We tried to keep Christmas simple this year and started the season out with our advent that we do every day. I got a new one this year that had a new Christmas carol at the end for each day and it was fun listening to Danika sing them all! She was so off tune but sang her little heart out. She is in choir at school and loves to sing. This year we got ourselves a used hot tub... And it has been so nice! We love it! And the girls got a trampoline from their grandparents! We did simple gifts- a few things for their dolls and they got some new beautiful coats and crafts from their other grandparents. 

We always want to do simple Christmas but with so much family and everyone insisting on buying things it always gets to be so much! But this year we asked for the trampoline instead of things and so far the girls have been out there constantly! They love it! 

We also found out we could purchase nights away at the tigh na Mara with air miles. So we got a night away for my parents and a couple of nights away for us! And that is how I am finally blogging! Yesterday we came up to parksville and met up with my parents and they took the girls home and we stayed in parksville. Last night we tried out a cute little Italian restaurant in qualicum beach and then today was amazing! We slept in with no children waking us up! And then we went for a nice long breakfast at the resort and then a long stroll on the beach where we had a wonderful time of prayer for 2015 and thanking God for His goodness in our lives. We then relaxed all afternoon and then headed to the spa where we spent six amazing hours in their mineral pool, getting a couples massage and then dining in our robes at their endless tapas bar. The food was unreal! We were blown away by our time spent at the spa and it was all part of ourairmiles package! 

This has been so nice to slow down, re group and re connect! I am so thankful for my parents and their willingness to watch our three girls. I am feeling very thankful!!! 

 

This week Adessa has finally agreed to stop sucking her thumb! I can't quite remember but I think Danika was around this age when she started as well. We took her two blankies away and we are on day 4 of no thumb sucking. We are so proud of her!

Amara is awesome... she has such an outgoing, hilarious personality. She makes us laugh on a daily basis!