Ooohh! My Poor Little Boy!

Wow! Last night was a rough one. Why does Matt always wait until Barry is away to get sooo very sick?!

Last night was "Girls Night" at the church. We decorated it all up for Christmas, then had some great snacks and played a few games. It was about 10:00 when my dear friend Char dropped me off at home (she was going to drive my babysitter home for me) and I was greeted by the most heartbreaking scene when I walked in the door. I could hear Matt crying for me from down the hall. I went running. Matt's antibiotics have done a number on his bowel. The poor little boy had an accident and was sooo upset. This is a huge embarrassment for him, he hasn't even wet the bed since he was 18 months old, and he was horrified. I got him all washed up, Char brought over a pullup, some children's Imodium (just in case), Powerade, and my laundry detergent (which currently resides at the townhouse). Bless you Char!! What will I ever do without you?? Matt went back to sleep fairly quickly. I, however, was up disinfecting the bathroom until almost midnight.

Matt slept soundly for the rest of the night, but I heard every cough and every time he rolled over, I was up a lot checking him, and am happy to report that he's still sleeping. It's a very good thing the sub service didn't call me today. I feel like a zombie. I did, however, manage to squeeze out a smile when Matt came out of his bedroom this morning with nothing on his bottom half, (he wanted that pullup off!!) and a pair of underwear clutched in his hands. He triumphantly told me that the "bad" night is over, and he wants his "unders" back.

Wishing everyone good nights, because good nights mean good mornings!

Hugs,

Laura

Sick Boy

So, last week our boy started to cough, and by Sunday night we were all exhausted. When he gets congested like this, he wakes up LOTS in the night, unable to go back to sleep because every time he lays back down, the coughing starts again. Poor Barry had to leave for Crossfield on not very much sleep.

Each day he seemed to get a bit worse, until on Monday he woke up and whispered to me, "Mommy, there is no voice."

I couldn't help teasing him a little bit, so I whispered back, "Matthew! Where did it go?"

For the last two days the only thing that got a smile out of him was when I told him that when mommy was a little girl, and her face got all pale like his is right now, Grandma would look at me and tell me, "Your eyes look like two pee holes in a snowbank." He would grin and wheeze out a little voiceless laugh.

We managed to get in to see a Dr. yesterday, and he told me that Matt has tonsillitis. I'm not shocked. So, he's on antibiotics, and is already starting to be too rambunctious for the small little space we're living in right now. I'm sure that he'll be well enough to head off to school tomorrow and then he'll be feeling 100% within a few days.

As far as the Peach Tree is concerned. I have called a contractor and he came to give me a quote yesterday. The quote was within the budget and the best part is that he said he had a little gap in his week, and the only day he could fit me in is...TODAY!! He should be there right now...putting up window casing, door trim and baseboards. I can hardly wait until I can go clean it and then it'll be DONE!

That's about it for now.

Blessings,

Laura

Finished??

Wow! I can hardly believe that it's the 26th of November already! Barry and I didn't end up getting the townhouse renovation finished, and he started his new job in Crossfield TODAY. YIKES!! Here's what happened:

We got home on Thursday night to a very deflating message on our answering machine. The people who we thought were going to purchase our townhouse are unable to proceed because it looks like the wife will be getting laid off from her job. So, we were not feeling particularly motivated on Friday. We had no viewing to "hurry up and be ready for" so we didn't hurry up at all. We did some cleaning up, drank lots of coffee with some great friends who just happen to live right next door to our townhouse, and just enjoyed being together. While that was a very nice day, I'm in a bit of a pickle now. The window and door trim and the baseboards need to go up, and then we really are completely finished, so it's not like there's a ton of work left. The problem, however, is that I can't use a mitre saw. I've asked Barry to teach me on numerous occasions, and he always finds some sort of reason that now is just not a good time, something about all of my arms and legs staying attached?! Hmmm.

So, I guess I have a couple of choices. There are a few guys from our church that have offered to come and help out, or I could phone one of the renovation/contractor people in town and hope that they would have time and not charge me an arm and a leg. I'm sort of heading down both paths and whatever works out first is what I"ll go with. I've called the contractor and have been unable to get an answer. I suppose we'll see if he calls me back. In the meantime, I'll talk to the friends who have offered to help, and will let them know that I'd very much appreciate a hand.

In other news, Matthew was "helper bear" again at preschool. This will be his last time to have that very special honour at this pre-school. Being helper bear comes with many perks, Matt got to change the date on the calendar, and it was his turn to be the share bear at circle time, so he brought a favourite library book to show his class. It also means that it's my turn to be in charge of snack for 20 kids (peanut free and healthy). What fun!

As you may have noticed from the picture of Dixie in the snow from my last post, we have plenty of the white stuff here in Mackenzie, and Matt is NOT liking this winter at all!! Every time we get in the car to go do errands, he asks me, "Mommy, can we go somewhere so, so, so, so hot to a beach?"

I laugh and tell him that we can go to the beach in the summer, but right now it's winter time. In my head, I'm amazed that even though he doesn't know the right terminology, he's only four years old and already he's asking me for a tropical holiday!!!

Well, must head out and get the rest of the window casing that is put up painted and looking very beautiful for whoever is going to buy our newly renovated townhouse.

Hugs,

Laura

The Goings On

All right. I suppose since it's really going to happen, I should just go ahead and blog about it. I've been putting it off because I'm having a tough time.

Barry has accepted a job as the Director of Operations (fancy title, basically the same thing he does here) for Palliser Lumber in Crossfield, Alberta. He actually gave his notice at Canfor a while ago, and was finished work there on the 9th of November. Yup, I know, I've been in denial for a while now.

I haven't really noticed that he's not going to work, though, because I'm certainly not enjoying the benefits of having a "house husband." He's been putting in 12 hour days working to finish our Peach Tree townhouse before he leaves Mackenzie on the 25th of November. Talk about racing against the clock!

In that week off he was able to finish all the carpentry that needed to be done (cutting out "windows" between the living room and kitchen, cutting the wall away from part of the stairway, drywalling the basement...as well as finish the baseboards and window casing upstairs, and get more than half the flooring in the entrance and kitchen done. Man, I have a talented hubby!) Today, myself and two other ladies worked steady for only a couple of hours (I was so lucky to go and have an eggnog latte with a great friend after church before getting down to work - thank you Charlotte) and I was amazed at how much we got done ! We primed the basement, and got one coat of ceiling paint done throughout the kitchen and entrance way. It is amazing how fast things go when you have help (and great conversation makes it fun - thank you Char and Dawn!!)! We have a busy week ahead, and hopefully the whole place will be done and ready for revealing on Friday!!

The plan is to finish and flip that townhouse! Barry is heading out right away and once some more details are taken care of (like somewhere to sleep on the Alberta end, plus repacking much of our belongings for a longer journey than originally planned) Matt and I will follow.

How am I feeling? So, so sad, and yet, peaceful and calm too. We have got such an amazing church, wonderful group of friends, and "dream come true" type of loving care for Matt here, it is truly killing me inside to even think of leaving. At the same time, the forest industry in BC is in a scary place, and after much prayer, many tears, (not to mention some kicking and screaming on my part) and a lot of tough consideration, we still come up feeling that this is what we are to do.

I am so thankful for our season in Mackenzie. We have grown a lot, learned a lot, loved a lot, and made many "forever friends."

Things are very much up in the air, stressful, and just overall overwhelming right now, so all I can do is take things one day at a time, and remember, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Matthew 6:34 NKJ

So, with a heavy heart our chapter in Mackenzie is coming to a close, but I believe that the relationships God brought us into here are just beginning.

Be blessed,

Laura

Long Weekend!!

Okay, so judging from the amount of comments that get posted on my blog each week (VERY, VERY FEW!!) I sometimes wonder if anyone even reads this thing. I'm guessing that people do, because everywhere I go I'm getting comments like "there's nothing new on your blog" and "you say you blog at least once a week, well, it's been more than a week". So, here we go.

This has been a wonderful long weekend!! On Saturday evening Barry headed out for a men's poker night - these poker nights are the strangest phenomenon - there's no gambling, no booze and the group just keeps growing and growing!! The guys love just playing for bragging rights! I think it's the neatest thing! So, Matt and I headed out to a friend's house for a movie. Knowing that the movie would go past his bedtime I told him that he would need to go to sleep at their house and then I would take him home once he was sleeping. Bless his little heart! He did sooo well. He went to sleep with no fussing at all, and when I transferred him home he was out like a light as soon as his head hit the pillow! I am so lucky!

Then, on Sunday, we were so blessed to have Barry's parents and his two sisters come for lunch. They drove all the way from Vanderhoof, so it was a lot of effort on their part, and we sure appreciated it. It was pretty crowded here in our little basement suite, but we all squished around our little table and enjoyed a wonderful visit. We were not at all surprised to note that our little Dixie stole the show completely, and we had to be extra careful to make sure that Barry's sister, Debbie, didn't smuggle her out the door. Later that evening I went out to a "girls' pj night" and enjoyed lots of great food, a sappy movie and some great conversation. Not to mention a wonderful foot soak with a foot fizzie and I got to come home with pretty burgundy toenails!! I don't spend time on that sort of stuff very often so it was a pretty special treat!! Thank you Andrea for hosting and to everyone who came and made it so much fun!!

Today saw us headed out for coffee and play dates, then off to family skating with a bunch of friends. We are so blessed to have so many people here in Mackenzie who love us! Our life is so richly blessed with great relationships. Matt had a great time skating!! He did serious laps around that rink for a full hour!! He concentrated so hard on running, then gliding, then pushing out his legs to scrape up snow and stop! I was VERY proud of my little man.

Well, as many of you have guessed, and lots of you already know, there's news in the making. I'm waiting until I have some more pics of our Peach Tree to post and some more details confirmed before I blog about it, but stay tuned!!

Blessings to everyone,

Laura

Happy Halloween!!

Well, Halloween has come and gone, and as usual I felt as though I limped through it, and I promised myself once again that next year I would make it much more fun for Matthew. Halloween is just not my thing. I truly don't have anything against it, and as a kid I LOVED the whole candy thing, I just seem to be so much more excited about Christmas that I forget Halloween is even happening. My poor son, I really do need to step up a bit more for him and give him some wonderful childhood Halloween memories!

Stephanie came to my rescue and brought a pumpkin over for her and Matt to carve. It was hilarious! She handed over the felt (does she know that Matt is 4?) and he drew ALL OVER it! She ended up just carving a nice smile into our pumpkin (the best she could do given the interesting face map she had to work with), and then her and I got to chatting and forgot about the pumpkin seeds in the oven!!! Oh well, Matt thought he did a fantastic job of helping her (he sat next to her and refused to get his hands "yucky"), so I suppose the pumpkin carve was a success.

Matthew decided to be Spiderman (again). I don't think he actually realizes that he can be something different, which suited me just fine as this year space for costumes and time for shopping, creating, and even deciding is desperately limited. We are so thankful that God has given us wonderful friends here in Mackenzie who came to our rescue and salvaged our "flopping" Halloween. We got to have "Creepy Treats" at the Jackson's and then we joined up with the Rachkowski's for the actual door to door deed, and the firework display at 7:00. After that it was home to check out the loot (man oh man, did he ever bring in a HAUL) and I was so pleased that there wasn't one single "unsafe" (homemade, no wrapper...) candy in the whole bag. Way to go Mackenzie, we are very Halloween savvy!

That was pretty much it, a fun evening was had by all and I would definitely call it one of the best yet!!

Blessings to you,

Laura

The Patient

So, on Tuesday our little Dixie dog had to go to the vet and have an operation. We had decided to get her spayed, and she had an umbilical hernia that needed to be repaired, as well as a couple of blocked tear ducts that needed flushing (plus they gave her a tattoo in case she ever gets lost). So, she had quite the ordeal, and I was so glad when I went to pick her up and she had pulled through just fine! The vet gave her an injection for pain that lasted 24 hours so it didn't wear off until the worst of it was over for her, and she's still in pretty rough shape! She has only managed to eat about ten rice krispie sized kibbles since Monday night, and she's having a tough time moving around. Her incision is pretty long and I think it pulls on her when she moves, she sometimes tries to trot along beside me, and then sits down really fast and tries to look at her belly to see what's feeling so weird down there. I decided to get her a "party hat" because I had a hunch that she'd be a licker. Sure enough, as soon as we got her home, she was fixated on that incision and COULD NOT for the life of her leave it alone. So, whenever I'm not able to keep a steady eye on her she has to be wearing it.

We have received a warning that there are three bears roaming our neighbourhood, and the other day I woke up to find our garbage can lid way across the yard, then a few feet beyond that (into the forest) was the can, then past that was the black bag, then the white kitchen bag, with not much garbage left. So, I put on the lovely yellow gloves, cleaned up what was left of our garbage, and I was snapping the lid back on when I noticed that the lid has actually been punctured by what looks like some pretty big sharp teeth!!! Okay, so Matt and Dixie DO NOT go outside alone anymore!

Well, that's all the pre-Halloween news! Will give you a Halloween update as soon as I can.

Bless you,

Laura