Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Lets Get It!

There is so much out there for children that almost everywhere you go you can be tempted to buy one more thing which is really unneccessary. I know that I am tempted often with cute little shoes (my weekness for sure) or an adorable outfit. For Dave, it was this:
We were in a store looking for parts for Dave to build a ride on car for Matty and we came across the last one in the entire store. And, it was on sale. So we talked about it and it went like this:
Dave: we should get it for Matty for Christmas.
Kate: How about we just put it away and give it to him on his first birthday. (keep in mind this tractor is for the ages of 2-6 and matty is 3 1/2 months)
Dave: well, if we got it, we would have to give it to him tonight. (5 days before Christmas) I dont want it sitting around in a box.
Kate: It wont get hurt in the box. We can leave it in the basement and it wont be in the way.
Dave: No, we can just get it another time.
Kate: Are you sure? The sale is really good.
Dave: no, if we cant have it now, we can wait.
(we then walk to the front of the store resume talking)
Dave: How about you get it for me and it can be my Christmas present?
Kate: I already got you something I know you would like.
Dave: I want to build it now and the kids can play with it until Matty is old enough.
(the conversation continues like this-get it, no dont get it, get it... until finally)
Kate: Ok, lets do it. The other kids will enjoy it and we can just make sure it is taken good care of.

So we shoved the box into our Golf and headed back to Jo and Aidans house. Dave got right to it building the tractor for "Matty" and all of the kids enjoyed it.
Matthew fits better in the shovel than on the seat. Ha ha ha!


Apparently, Jo and Aidans kids ask about coming over now because they know we have the tractor. They always have a good time here but now tey arevery excited about it. What can I say? one gift made 5 people happy and hopefully it will last quite a while.

Look at my happy boys after playing with their new toy:

It was definetly worth it just for that beautiful moment.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

So Much Christmas!!!

To begin with, Merry late Christmas from Dave, Matty and myself. These days I have been terrible at updating my blog.
Our Chirstams tree cut down from Dave's parents yard.
It's been up since the 5th of December.

It was such a fun Christmas. We spent Christmas eve at my parents place playing games (a game called WHAT? from chapters. It was a hoot) and visiting friends. We also ate some yummy appetizers and boy was I STUFFED.
The Millar Christmas Tree

We spent the night, and the rest of the family arrived early the next morning to begin the present opening. This year we chose to pull names when buying gifts to cut down on the expenses. Each parent was to take care of gifts for the kids (still) living with them and had a persons stocking to take care of and a persons gift. My sister had my stocking and my brother had my gift. My husband spoiled me rotten and so did my mom. The name pulling didn't stop us from feeling so increadibly spoiled this year. I think it was mostly because we were all together. Like Dave and I were saying the next day, it wouldn't have mattered if we only got one gift or even none. It is being with family and having a nice, happy time with everyone. I praise God for such an amazing family.
Matty in his Christmas outfit. Sorry for the quality.

Matthew slept through most of Chritsmas morning since he woke up pretty early but we had a chance to get a few pictures of him opening his present from us.
Matty wondering what this shiny green things is
and why it is that we are putting it in his face.

We Bought him some cloth rings that make up a turtles shell.It has a mirror on the bottom.

Once gifts were done, my dad prepared the traditional Christmas breakfast (ham and eggs) and I did up the dishes. Then, it was relaxation time until Jo, Aidan, Dave and I along with all the kids went to the tobbaganing hill. Dave, Matty and I just went for a walk while the others went sledding (we hadn't thought to bring nice warm clothes). Then it was time for dinner. Roast, Yorkshire pudding, gravy, a yummy new green bean recipe my mom made, squash, roasted potatoes... so good. The men tidied up and after a bit of a break we broke out dessert.

It was my responsability to make the dessert so I made two new recipes. A peach pie with candied pecans and a chocolate truffle tort. They were both good but both had room for improvement.

Boxing day was Christmas with Dave's side of the family and it was so warm and wonderful too. It began with visiting in the van der Meer home and meeting the new neice (Brenna) and enjoying those around. Then we opened gifts slowly, each person getting their chance (nice having everyone relax and just take their time). We pulled names here as well for the first time. It was a success I think. I got a breadmaker that I am excited to use.

Again, Matty slept through most of this since he was so increadibly tired and crabby. He received some really nice gifts too (he was more spoiled than I thought he would be for his first Christmas.

Once all the gifts we opened, it was off to the Helmer's (Daves Aunt and Uncles house) for the Chritsmas dinner. Imust say YUM! as always. Candied yams, turkey, duck, stuffing, mashed potatoes, creamy vegetables, ham...salads and buns and dessert...Needless to say I over did it with the eating again but boy was it enjoyable. more gifts were received which was so sweet. I had no idea we would leave with another 5 gifts. So generous.

Uunt Angela bought one of her boys a talking Elmo and Matty was very... confused? fascinated? terrified?
Here he is talking back to Elmo... or trying to bite his nose.

It was late by the time we got home. Matty was a wreck (he had been most of the evening too) and it took us a while to get him to sleep again. Once down, I had a very good nights sleep.

Today is a very down day. Dave is home, relaxing and he helped me tidy up. Matty is getting back into the habbit of going for naps without being rocked or walked (lots of screaming later) and I finally have a moment to sit down and share this post with you.

My sister and her family will be arriving soon to spend the night with us. Can you tell we LOVE being around people? Jo and I will go do a bit of bowing day shopping and maybe find a deal or two to put away for next Christmas. Until then, I have some pictures to get uploaded and catsgorized.

Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Learning...

In the recent past I have felt very far from God. Not due to anything I had done but mostly what I hadn't been doing: my devotions. I felt stuck, alone, frustrated and guilty. All the tings that should happen when one distances themselves from communion with Christ and His word. Then suddenly there was an abundance of studies and classes made available and I have become a part of many of them.
To learn is to gain knowledge and skill, to memorize and to find out.

Learning is exactly what I have been doing in my 8 studies/classes. Let me try to break it down.

A Woman of Worship: This is a womans study (obviously) that is going through several Psalms and teaching how to be a woman of worship. The book is certainly not the best part of the study. The questions are good sometimes, but other times are really basic. The best part is the leader. Her gift of teaching is very apparent. She manages to take from the questions and go much deeper. It is always through our discussions of her questions that God really teaches me. I've been reminded that God is always near, that it is we who can easily put other things in the place of God in our lives but that He never lets us go.

The Legacy of Biblical Womanhood: Here is another womans study. It occurs in Vanessa and my house but it is with the women of Vanessas church in Russell (same denomination but different place and pastor). This book has really been enjoyable. So far it has dealt with the idea of women being a help meet and how that is a covenant. We have looked at what a covenant is and it has really made being a woman a beautiful thing. In our society, it is very easy to see womanhood as something undesireable... that we should be like men, not women. It has also been able to keep me interested. I have read other books on womanhood that I have had to put down because somehow it presented its ideas in a way that has put my back up even though it's arguments were backed up by theology. I guess they have somehow managed to present ideas less beautifully... I dont know. This study is great because we have so many different women who have so many grreat things to say.

James: This is a study by John MacArthur that is going through the book of James. It is the study book that I am using to lead the youth group at my church. We have only done one study but it was really good. It dealt wit hthe idea of taking trials and making our situations triumphant. How God is there to not remove our trials but to help us through them so that we can grow. I am excited to learn and grow through this book some more.

Ephesians: Dave and I will be attending this study together most of the time. It is for young adults and we are going through the book of Ephesians together. The leader has decided not to do a really deep study of it but to do it chapter by chapter. I think either way we will be greatly blessed by this study. I missed the first one due to my other bible study (but it was just an introduction).

Sister to Sister: This is a study that is more of an accountability group. Its name is because it is a group of women who are realy close (Karin, Jo, Vanessa, Me and sometimes Katy). We get together and discuss what we have learned over the past two weeks and how we wish to apply things and then we pray together for many different things. This is a womderful time because there are no hinderances to share. When we are hurting we can openly cry and know we will receive love and guidance and prayer. It's a very warm, beautiful study that I always look forward to, even when I haven't been in the word.

Biblical Parenting: This is a Sabbath school class that Dave and I have been attending. A man from our church has had this on his heart and has put together a number of classes for us to discuss the way parents should parent according to God's word. Our manual is the bible and we have been looking at various themes and bringing it back to Gods word. The next few classes will be on discipline and I am interested to see what is discussed since there are so many different ideas about the right way to do this. (Is there a right way? I think everyone thinks there way is the right way. The biggest and most important thing to remember is that judging is up to God. People really love to judge parenting.)

Understanding Biblical Doctrine: This is another Sabbath school class that I am excited about. It is lead by two of our elders and it is somthing I know very little about formally. This does mean, however, that Dave and I will not be in the same class every other Sunday but it also allows us to talk to each other about what we've learned. It deals with how doctrine is really central to our Christian life and not just a part of it that doesnt really need to be learned. I can't wait to get into it more and more.

Kids Group: This is sometimes my responsability and sometimes others. depending on the activity that is being done, we choose an appropriate study. Last time we built treasure boxes so we discussed treasures in heaven. Kids can always teach us a lot and so I know throughout the year I will learn from them as much as they might learn from me. Plus, I love working with them. they are fun.

These are the 8 studies I am a part of and through them I am learning numerous things. unfortunately, the main thing that I seem to learn is that I have bad time management. The word of God always comes once everything else has been completed. Dishes done, Matty asleep, house cleaned, e-mails checked... If anything can be learned, its to be in the word daily and it should be priority. So, if in all of these studies I learn nothing new (which I know wont be the case), I have learned something very important.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Finally

Two ministries have been on my heart: Boys and Girls group and Youth Group.

Our church has many younger kids at this moment in time so I felt like I should try and start a ministry for them. Something where they could begin to get to know each other outside of worshsip and Sunday school class and also to make a nice transition from kids group to youth group. Others thought this was a good idea too.

When it came to beginning it, however, there was little support from many of the parents. I have two regular kids. We continue to meet every month. Why? They enjoy each others company and I wish to minister to the kids who wish to be ministered to. Really, they minister to me with their adorable comments and stories.

The youth group has had an even harder beginning. I lead it last year and we had some successful events, though commitment was lacking. Many events were cancelled. I thought that if I lowered the age I would get more people interested this year. The schedules were made and annoucements announced and the feedback was very disappointing. Eventually I had 5 people signed up for youth group and when we were ready to finally meet, I was told that three of them were busy until the new year. The lack of commitment had started again, I feared. I didnt want to give up though. It is really on my heart to have a bible study and some activities with them. So, every month I waited to get some feedback. Today, we finally succeeded in having our first meeting. Only three people were there but there are 4 others who would like to come but couldn't make it tonight due to illness, being out of town and having a hockey game to attend. I was so pleased with how it went. Our next meeting will be one of service of sorts. We will all be getting together to bake cookies to give to all the families in the church. This was one of our successful activities last year and so I hope it will be again this year.

There may be few people attending at the moment but I am happy. Lord willing they will grow and God will be pleased with us. I look forward to seeing how things develop. I'll keep you posted.