Sunday best

Have you ever had those kinds of Sundays that all the world seems bright and blue?
No cloud in the whole wide sky and no tear to dampen the eye?
When the lawn is mowed and tidy, the flowers grow and the sun falls brightly?

Occasionally they happen here. It's calm and peaceful, we've had beautiful sermons and we are rejoicing in the life God has given.
Living in the moment.
Savoring health and contentment and not taking it for granted.

It is well with my soul.

Edmonton - March for Life 2017

In May we went to Edmonton overnight for the annual March for Life.  Although going away for one night isn't ideal by any stretch for a mother as far as packing and preparations go, we made it into a very good time.  Having a big van sure took the stress out of strategic packing and the luxurious seats made the five hour trip fun. 
Before we went we talked to the kids about abortion and Seth and Tristan were aware of what we were "marching" for and were pretty excited to stand up for the unborn.  In Seth's words "I was once that little too! Would someone kill me now? How terrible!"  We hope to instill in them activism to stand up for the vulnerable and to be a light in this world where God's word is more and more put under a bushel. 
We left Wednesday afternoon at 3pm and stopped for supper in the grass in Strathmore.  Pizza Hut for everyone!

We slept in Red Deer and had a big breakfast at the hotel bright and early before heading to Edmonton. We parked at the most south LRT station and caught the train into the center of the city.  To say it was fun was an understatement. It was thrilling for these farm kids and although Andy and I were a bit nervous to travel on public transit with the kids it went far better than we thought it would go, the LRT was close to empty when we used it.

We started in Churchill square at noon for speeches and opening words. The march took us to the Parliament buildings downtown. That was neat to see.  Andy took Tristan right up to the front doors and he was pretty pleased he got to touch the buildings. :)

While we were waiting for the march to start we could play Chess.  

Rowan is 5!

 On May 4th we celebrated Rowan for the day.  He turned a whopping FIVE years old.  What an excitement it was, the weather was perfect and so we had a fun party outdoors.
Rowan is a very energetic and smiley boy.  He loves to belly laugh and pull pranks on people. When Rowan is in the room you will know as he tends to be loud ;)  He has grown alot this past year in knowledge and stature and when he grows up he wants to be a "taste tester at Tim Hortons".  Xox.

Rowan had a birthday with all he could ask for!  Lego, lego and more lego!

One more picture from the day before.... this is how we bake a cake.  I hope no one is offended and refuses to eat here again ;)  It's team work at it's best! And personally, I love the good intentions and the energy that goes into helping me cook and bake.  Messes happen, but nothing that can't be cleaned up again and actually, I'm trying to work myself out of a job;)

All in a days work

Welcome to our life:)
Where the days are long and the years are short.
Where we run all day long after rambunctious toddlers and disciple high energy children.
Where we plan meals that take 30 minutes to make and 5 minutes to devour.
Where we change diapers, feed pets, weed gardens and read books like they are all going out of style.
Where we laugh and cry over life and the crazy turns it takes.
Where we learn and discover everything we can about the world we are in and Who made it.
Where we go to bed exhausted but we know that exhausted is a good thing, for we've worked hard.
And where we gaze in wonder at the beautiful little faces in this house and pray for strong growth in bodies and souls.
This is our life.  It's intense and full. Good and blessed.
  

 Marla at 2 months.  Such a sweetheart. 

The boys all want to hold her daily. She is cherished.

The best load of laundry :)

Dad and his girls!

I have to make time to do some sewing.  

Of course. 

Because who can resist matching leggings?

Andy bought a BIG van!  He says its for me, but he can't stop grinning when he drives it or sees me driving it.  Now we can throw in kids, strollers, water bottles, a potty and still all go to Costco for the largest pack of toilet paper. 

This van is fun, it's a  Nissan NV3500 so has some power (about the only things making me feel cool while driving it around haha). So far it drives like a Cadillac, and the best part: we can separate the kids on long trips ;) 

We finished up school last week in May. I got feverish yet to get some fun projects in, so we did a Charlotte Mason Picture study on Rembrandt van Rijn in the last weeks as well as a unit on astronomy.   All of it was enjoyed by Mom and kids.

Cousins Asher and Charlotte came for a visit during Easter and of course we had to make matching leggings.  ;) Such little sweeties these babes are. 

 

Beppe comes over

I am so far behind.
It's incredible really. ;)
BUT I really do want to keep putting and organizing my photos so here goes! 

We've had such a flood of visitors the past several months its been nothing but parties!
Middle of March led to the arrival of Uncle Auke, Aunt Carina and Beppe for a week, and we were really looking forward to it.
So, just for the record, we had a really fun time, and we are so thankful they could come, we love you all, buuuut not much went according to plan.  It was all quite funny and remarkable how that much could go wrong in such a short time but we made the most of it and were gracious and everything turned out well even though not as we had hoped.   Love good spirits:) 
First of all their flight was cancelled and they had to catch another flight later in the day from Toronto.   I had been sent a message thru 'What's Ap' telling me about the change of plans but my phone isn't up to snuff and so I never got the message. Here we were expecting guests for supper and no one showed up, we tried getting a hold of them but to no avail so we figured we must have had the wrong dates (or the plane went down??!).  Hours later the company finally arrived. Yay!
The next day was Sunday and we had a dump of snow, and of course we didn't clear the driveway or anything as we were not expecting such a big dump, and as we were leaving to church we got stuck in our own driveway.  Talk about cranky husband;)  Heavy, dense and cold, it wasn't a pleasant surprise!
From Monday till Wednesday we had booked a condo in Fernie BC to go on a ski trip. And we did go and have fun, but again not much went according to plan as it rained most of the time. We spent the day Monday at Castle Mountain and from there went on to Fernie but never once did the rain clouds lift off the mountain (insert sad face). Thankfully we had a really nice place to stay at and we did find other things to do - good thing we all took our bathing suits along! To make the adventure complete, Auke hit a deer on the highway which did some good damage to the rental car. Thankfully it was still drive-able although it did waste a considerable amount of time trying to get the police report done since it happened at a very inopportune location (on the border of Alberta while we were staying in BC). 
I don't have that many pictures as I feel like I have been so busy taking care of all the little and sometimes big people there's not alot of imagination left for taking pictures, but here is what I have.  Thanks for coming Beppe, Auke and Carina, it's always special for us to show people our part of the planet.  We are thankful you took the time out of your busy lives to invest in us. Thanks also for introducing us to the Mrs Vickies Kettle chips - which I have since discovered Costco sells in gigantic bags :D