Psyching myself up for next Monday

A friend of mine has been doing this One Thousand Gifts thing for the last half year or so and really enjoying it. I never thought I'd join in, and she still doesn't know that I am, but the idea of it is nagging at me.

It's time I think.
Time to start counting the gifts God has given me,
not the gifts I'm waiting for;
time to learn to be grateful and really aware of all the ways
God shows me he loves me every single day;
time to start seeking his face - not his hand.
I know I'm not going to be able to keep up blogging every day
but I am hoping to keep my list growing with Multitude Mondays
and I'm praying that counting my blessings in this life will change me,
and change my outlook on what I really want/need in this life.

I'm also praying that actually writing these things down,
things that I know are gifts from my loving Father,
will allow me to fully enjoy
just. being. loved.

Go Canada!!

The Olympic Torch was relayed through our city today - and, as part of my job as an EA, I got to go watch!! Our grades 5&6's actually went to the whole ceremony thing early in the day but the younger grades got to walk about 4 blocks to Main St. to see the torch run through town. Although it was small and quick...it was nonetheless impressive and I was glad to have seen it! I'm pretty sure none of the kids even got it - that they may never see this again - especially in our city.

ETA: One of the radio station guys got this picture of Mica and her friends at the ceremonies early this morning. I think they were all a little buzzed from all the freebies (RBC tambourines, Canada Olympic flags, commemorative Visa cards, travel mugs full of hot chocolate and Coke in these cool aluminum bottles).

Best roast beef ever

I don't have a recipe or anything b/c DH made this and I'm pretty sure the recipe is in some secret food-network-type archive in his brain but I had to share a picture. I am NOT a big fan of Roast Beef. I'm thankful beyond words when someone makes us RB for dinner or we have extra stored in our freezer but this - slow roasted beef turned into a big chunky-meat chili and then served with tortilla chips...oh man....now we're talking. I didn't even have to get ketchup out for this roast beef meal :) The picture's not the greatest either - I didn't have time to mess around with presentation and all that - I was hungry!

My new walking buddy

I'm sure he doesn't know it, but Lincoln Brewster is my new favourite walking buddy. I have a treadmill that has an ipod dock on it and I just realized scrolling through that Lincoln Brewster, aside from having great, great songs....also sings a lot of them at about 4.0 - 4.2 mph! That's just about perfect for my no-running exercise regiment :) And is there anything more inspiring than getting to the end of your own energy and hearing, "in you, in you I find my peace...in you, in you I find my strength...in you, I live and move and breathe..." 'nuff said.

Hear it here: Lincoln Brewster "Let the Praises Ring"

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!

I'm excited about what this year will hold.
And I'm deciding that this is my year to find Joy.
This is the verse I'm claiming this year.

"You have made known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence..."

Psalm 16:11

Daily: Dec. 22 - I love the MCC store :)

My MCC finds of the day - a Tim Hortons teapot (for my Dad if he wants it) and a snowman hot chocolate pot - so much cuter than the pyrex measuring cup I've been using :)





And a couple of these. I used to call them tracing wheels - my Mom used to use them to mark patterns when she used to sew clothes and stuff. More recently, in the scrapbooking world, you can buy these and variations of these as "pounce wheels" and they make the cutest little marks on your paper :) The pink one looks like a toy but it's really, really strong.

Daily: Dec 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 Ooops.

OK, so.....I missed a few days. I forgot how busy the end of the school year usually is and add to that a Christmas banquet for DH's work and the Christmas gathering for my family over the weekend...well, ooops. I'm almost embarrassed to admit it but I forgot to pull out my camera at all this weekend at my parents house. So, a few days of my December daily album will be journaling only - but I knew that starting out :)

Dec. 17.
Thursday: second last day of school; quickly wrapping teacher gifts; friend over for coffee; MCC trip with my Dad (from whom I got my love of treasure-hunting by the way); supper (I made teriaki meatballs so I'm the hero around here!) with Mom, Dad & my brother (who hasn't been to our house in years), and then I stayed up till 2am helping proofread some projects for Clear Scraps.

Dec. 18.
Last day of school. I took these truffles to school with the note attached. I heard from more than one staff member that possibly they should have read the sign BEFORE eating what looked like simple chocolate truffles. This recipe is awesome. The first few moments all you taste is rich, dark, smooth chocolate. And then a few seconds in, the cayenne hits, right in the back of your throat. Not so burning hot that you need water, just an "Oh-yeah....there-it-is" kinda kick. Mmmmmm.
My day was fun today too - my student was away so in the morning I got to make help with Gingerbread houses in Kindergarten and at lunch, I helped out with a nacho/quessadilla/taco meal in the Grade 3 class. Yummy day! Tonight was also the Goldenwest Christmas banquet. Mom & Dad picked up the kids from us and DH & I went to his banquet. He had asked a few on-air people from Mix & CHVN to sit with us - a very good mix of people apparently because we laughed the entire time. It has been a long, long time since I've laughed so hard my stomach hurt.


Dec. 19
Saturday at my parents. No pictures to show. A very low-key day but fun to be with family. The kids all did their Christmas piano pieces for Grandma & Grandpa and they also took turns reading from the Christmas story (our tradition before gifts). I love that they all know how to, and love to read. They make me proud on a very regular basis. I also love that they insisted on this tradition - even to the point of wanting MORE of the Christmas story - we often stop before the wisemen come but they wanted to read the entire thing. ***mental note: right now at this moment in time, they are sponges....take advantage of that!!!!!


Dec. 20
Sunday. Church was so full this morning. On Christmas we do one service instead of 2 and so when we got there (just on time, not any too early), there were no seats downstairs, and definitely none on the balcony...but from the balcony I could see that the front 2 pews were still sparse, so we went all the way back down, and during a video, we snuck all the way to the front. In fact, I sat with the boys and DH sat with DD in front of us. During lunch at home later, we voted and decided that today was going to be Christmas for us. That is turning out to be our "Tradition" - that we don't have one and that anyday we can be together before Christmas is a good day to do presents and spend the time together. So, we napped, DH took the kids snowboarding/tobaganning and after a Christmas supper of take-out Chinese food (mmmmmmm), we did gifts in the evening and played :) This picture is the kids in their new Christmas PJ's - a tradition that usually happens Christmas Eve but in this case, happened just before supper.



And today, Dec. 21.
No school. Kids' friends over for the morning and plans to go to another friends for the afternoon. Coffee on and nothing on my agenda except some scrapbooking projects for Clear Scraps for CHA. It's already shaping up to be an awesome day!!
Plus, my blog's caught up :)