Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Thursday, April 16, 2009

They're growing up.

I'm not sure how God accomplishes this, but our kids are growing up. It's fascinating to see them develop, learn and change. It's fun to watch their excitement and hard to see them learn in their dissapointments.

Justin is 6 now, in grade 1. He enjoys school...I never liked school. A few weeks ago we were listening to CFAM to see if school was on or off. "Is my school closed?" he asked. "No. School is still on." "Yessss!!" he replied. (If I had done this, my parents would have rushed me to the hospital to have me checked out). It's fun to see Justin enjoying his friends and classmates. He's very social. Justin is a little man with agressive play habbits but with a soft heart. I love to listen to Justin pray. I'm always amazed at the depth of his prayers, prayers that are not copies of what we pray but prayers that reflect his own gratitude and concern.

Kaitlyn is 3 going on 15. She's a girl. She likes to dress up, she likes to be cute. When she get's dressed up for church on Sunday she likes to present herself to Dad. Dad enjoys approving of his little Cutester. I think people view Kate as being older than she is because her speech is very advanced for her age. Though she pretends to be shy sometimes, in reality none of our kids are. Katie is very bold and has a powerful personality. We're excited to see how God will use her in the future. In the present it creates regular showdowns when deciding "who's the boss". Dad vs Cutester can look very similar to planets colliding.

Charity is our resident 1-1/2 year old goof. She's at that stage where she's either sleeping or "on the move". For quite a while we've noticed that Charity has a twinkle in her eye (I can never figure it out, she's got very dark brown eyes that are...bright) and a smirk in one corner of her mouth. Over the past two months or so I've heard Charity say "Daddy" to her mom (when I was out of sight), but she would never call me Daddy to my face. "Can you say "Daddy"? I ask. "Mama" she replies...every time. When we're praying together, often she'll say "Amma" (her version of "Amen") a few times before we're done. I guess she's not a fan of long winded prayers.

I'm blessed that I can honestly say that I like my children. I like talking with them and being with them. I enjoy their characters and personalities. I find it exciting to watch them turn into something new...daily. In the past I've been scared of praying for faith because with faith comes trials. I'm seeing that the benefit of faith far outweighs any trials that God may put into our lives. My prayer for my kids is that they will become people of faith and people of prayer.

CP

Monday, April 06, 2009

Our long weekend

This last week I took some time off of work and we headed to the Winter Fair in Brandon on Thursday. The kids had a good time with the "Through the farm gate" portion of the fair, petting animals etc. We were happy to be able to spend some time with Grandma Pauls, Grandma Irving, Trevor, Jamie and Brooklyn. Thursday evening we made the second leg of our trip to Saskatoon to help Netties sister Anna move back to Manitoba. Since everything was full in Brandon anyway we spent the night in Virden. As I was checking into the motel I asked about the "Infestation Warning" with a picture of a maple bug that was on the wall. The lady cut eye contact and then said something about how good it is that they die in Winter...I decided not to tell Nettie until we left the next morning.

On Friday we headed out to Saskatoon with a 3 hour lunch break at Chuck-E-Cheeses in Regina. The kids had a great time playing games though we'd all had our fill by the time we left.

We had a good time visiting and packing stuff up with Anna, our van was full to the ceiling and we had some extra stuff roped to the top. We left on Sunday after the farewell lunch at Anna's church. We'd done a 4 part drive to Saskatoon which we did in one shot on the way back. The kids were good the whole way back (the movies helped...Thanks grandma P). Nettie had to talk to me to keep me awake toward the end of the drive. We arrived home shortly after 1am. Even though she was asleep we could hear Charity quietly giggle as we put her into her own bed. I didn't blame her, I felt the same.

CP