So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, adieu....

No, I haven't joined the cast of the Sound of Music but the countdown will start shortly for us to say goodbye to Wil.  Wil found out yesterday that he will be getting a posting in March to the HCMS Vancouver.  The Vancouver is based out of BC so unfortunately he will be heading to the other side of the country and very soon.  We are being told the end of April right now.  WOW!  Last we heard it would be July or sometime in the fall so we are a bit surprised for the early departure but he is very excited!  From what he is being told, the ship is going to be very busy which is what he wanted.  He figures if he is going to be separated from his family, he would like to be out of port and not just sitting on land away from his family.  Makes perfect sense.  What will he be doing...I will tell you more as we find out but it looks like he will be heading towards Somalia to fight pirates.  Yes, I said pirates!  ARRRRGHHHHH!  LOL.  Sorry, couldn't resist.  Anyways, that's our news.

How am I doing with this?  Fine...no really..it is ok.  This is what he wants and he is so excited and we may as well get him gone so that we can get him back.  Am I worried?  Of course...that is what I do...worry.  Am I scared...not for him really (that may change once he is gone) but just for the unknown.  Yes, I have been a single parent before but I always had a superb support system that if anything happened I had people to call that I could count on to be there for me.  I don't quite have that here yet BUT I am in such a better place for him to leave now then I was last year when he was supposed to leave.

How does that change any plans for the summer.  It doesn't really.  All it means is I will have to tweak my trip to the family reunion because I can't drive it all in one day..so I think we will make a stop at Niagara Falls on the way (oh darn) and then just take it slowly.  Everything else should be the same.  We will take it one day at a time.

So that is our news right now.  I will keep you posted.  Ha ha posted..get it...punny.  Not even intentional.

Here is a picture of his ship and a link to some information on his ship.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMCS_Vancouver_(FFH_331)

Soft Kitty....Broken Kitty

If you watch Big Bang Theory (which we love) you will recognize the title as a take off of their song Soft Kitty but for us it has real meaning right now. Well, poor Simba kitty. We noticed a couple weeks ago that Simba was limping and we were worried. Now, let me back up. Simba has been in our guest room. He couldn't roam the house when he moved in because the dogs are kenneled at night and he was sitting in front of their kennel and teases them. So we put him in the guest room with a gate in the door to keep the dogs out of his food and litter box. Anyways, we thought he had injured himself jumping the gate and so we took the gate down and thought he would get better. Well, he didn't so we took him to the vet and the vet found that his back leg is really swollen so we still thought he had sprained it or Molly had bit (pinched) him. So we took him home on an anti-inflammatory. Then 2 days later, he was sooooo much worse. He was holding his leg up and just crying all the time. What was amazing was as we were trying to pet him and carry him...he would cry in pain but NEVER once lashed at us or bit us. That is amazing if you know animals. When they are in pain they don't always have that control even with their owners. He is a sweet, fantastic kitty. So on Monday I dropped him off at the vet for them to take x-rays and guess what? It looks as if he has a fractured hip. How? I don't know and neither does the vet but he does. Luckily, the vet thinks that he has a good chance at healing so we are keeping him on an antiinflammatory and just watching him. When the vet went to get him...he meowed in anger...not a happy cat after being manipulated and poked all day. We brought him home and the poor thing was so much worse. He couldn't get comfortable...he meowed and cried and tried to lay down and tried to stand up...oh it was horrible to watch. So we put him in his room and closed the door. Each day since the vet visit he gets a little better but it is still soooo painful. It is hard to watch him go through this. The vet said it could take a month so we will watch him and see what happens. The next step would be to do surgery to remove part of the hip. I hope we don't have to do that.

First semester finals start this week so if the girls don't have finals, they don't have to go to school. I guess that is a high school thing. So Tiana is off tomorrow and Friday and part of next week and Tabitha is off Friday and some next week. Tiana was excited this week because she got second highest on a standardized math test. I told her this just proved she was smart. Tabitha will take hers next semester.

It has been very, very cold still. I guess that is winter here but it has been abnormally cold even according to the news casters. The cold though isn't as surprising to me as the fact that is snows all the time and yet it doesn't seem to get much deeper. But I would say everyday for the last 2-3 weeks it has snowed all or part of the day. It does make it very pretty..covers up the ugly with a fresh coat.  If you look closely in this pic..you can see the ice rink Wil is working on building for us.  This picture is from our front door looking right...that is all our property.  I will put some more pics of the house and the fresh snow below.

I am in the process of going through cabinets. I have done the cabinet in the girls bathroom and the bookshelves downstairs. I have taken everything off and evaluated whether we use it and where it is stored and put it back on the shelf or thrown it away or in the case of books, put them in a box to take to a used book store. Now I am starting on the craft/scrapbooking area. YIKES! There is so much down there..but I have a good start so I will keep it up and hopefully finish in the next couple days. That may be wishful thinking but we will try.

So I had an interesting experience today. I have wanted to get involved with the American Cancer Society but never had the time. We I went to a volunteer fair a couple months back, before I had a job and signed up for a couple of organizations and then came across the Canadian Cancer Society. I remember turning to Wil and saying...I could spend my days volunteering. Then I got the job and I thought well there goes that idea. Well, they contacted me and they were so friendly and not overly persistent like organizations tend to be. I kept trying to make an orientation and they were always on a day I worked. Then I got an email from the volunteer manager and we set up a time to talk on the phone. Our 15 minute interview turned into almost 45 minutes. So there was finally an orientation today on a rare Wednesday off for me and I went in to see what was up. Well, guess what, they want me to be their new information outreach person. They have a new power point presentation that gives information to health care professionals about the services they provide and they want someone in that field to do some lunch and learns to present it and they want me. Really? I am not sure how I feel about it. It would be easy in the health care sense, I used to teach CPR so speaking in public on something I am schooled in is no problem but I am not Canadian and I am not sure how that will be received. I haven't had any problems so far but still I can see where it could be a stumbling block and I don't want to have that be a problem ...hmmmm. Quite an honor for the fact that they don't know me. Anyways, I have signed up to work in the office a bit and in the mean time I will review the "job description" and see what happens.   I look forward to being able to immerse myself in a worthy cause and organization.  BTW, the daffodil is their "symbol".  I love daffodils and always have, others love tulips and rose...I have always loved daffodils. 

Along the same lines there is one big difference I have noticed in the US vs Canada. In the US (at least in the larger cities) the question are you comfortable with computers better be yes or you are looked at as behind the times. Here (at least in this rural setting) if you say yes, people are so excited and happy. Then mention that you like manipulating spreadsheets and data and they look at you as if they just struck gold.

Keep us in your prayers as I pray and thank God for all of you often!

From our back door looking right

The house



From front door looking left toward road




From back door more left



Inspiration courtesy of Martin Luther King

Well, Monday was MLK day for the U.S. but it is not a recognized holiday in Canada.  I watched an Oprah show and she put up several of his quotes that really moved me and got me thinking.  The first one was:

We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
This has become very significant to me during this move.  I believe when this was stated, it probably was used in the content of racism and the people that did nothing when wrong was being done to blacks.  But for me it has been true as I have found out who my true friends are.  When you move, everyone says that they will keep in touch but usually most fall by the wayside.  I was hoping that in this day and age of technology that this wouldn't happen but in my mind, I had made some assumptions as to who would keep in touch and who wouldn't.  The surprise has been that although some of my assumptions were correct, some were very wrong.  I have been more than pleasantly surprised by the people who have stepped up and been so supportive and encouraging and yes bitterly disappointed by the ones who have been silent.  Although I know the power of friendship, I have really learned that friendship is not contingent on proximity but desire and effort.  Thank you to all of my friends who have not been silent, I can't express how much it has meant to me.  I hope that I can pass this gift on to others.


Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

I am not sure why this affected me but it did.  There is no injustice in my life except maybe 2 teen girls that hate me periodically.  LOL.  Anyways, it was just a good reminder to me that little things matter.  I have always been one to look out for the underdog.  I have stepped in to places that probably are none of my business, even stopping fights on playgrounds that have nothing to do with my kids.  I am the one that has stray dogs in my car on a regular basis because I don't want to see them hurt.  The desire of my heart is to help on a grander scale.  I would love to be a missionary of some sort but have not found the right opportunity so in the mean time I do what I can do.  If we all did that then the world would be a better place and YES, I really believe that.


Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
This is something I actually saw before we moved and it became a mantra before we left.  I have been using it in alot of circumstances.  God hasn't shown me the full staircase but I am still taking the steps..maybe not always as cheerfully as I should but I am taking the steps.  I have to admit, and escalator would be nice occasionally.



To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.
I found this one as I was looking the others up and what can I say.  It has become more and more important to me this last year.  If that is all I get from this move..that is enough.  I always knew prayer was powerful, never a doubt but what I didn't know is that there are different levels of understanding of that principle and I have a more personal understanding of that now.  I always prayed for others but very rarely prayed for myself.  I am doing alot more personal praying for me....working on me...or rather letting God work on and in me.

There is alot of pain in this world and I feel it.  Now, you may say, yes Brenda, there is alot of pain and I feel it to.  My question is do you really feel it?  I have always felt a little different because when I watch the news, I feel the pain, I feel the despair.  I don't just hear it or understand it, I feel it.  Let me break it down in something most of you can understand.  Joe Theismann and Ed McCaffrey are two football players that I watched break their legs during a game.  Both breaks were pretty bad although Theismann's was the worse.  I am sure if you watched either of these, you said "OW" and grimaced.  We all did.  But I felt it.  No not in my leg and not to the extent they did but I have a physical pain in the depths of my body with things like that.  No, not nausea, if you know me I love blood and guts...the gorier the injury the more fascinating to me.  On one condition, I can't watch it happen..then it hurts!  I see it happen once and then I don't watch it again, because it hurts.  I feel peoples pain when they are sad.  I cry at the silliest things according to my family but that is because I feel it.  I love this about me but it makes me want to fix things that other people just assume are out of there control.  Why am I telling you this..I don't know...it felt right to share and it fits with my last quote.  The time is always right to do what is right.

Now to a lighter but colder note.  We are in the middle of a "cold snap".  It has been sitting around -15C which is right around 5F.  But it has been as low as -20C (-4F) even -30C (-22F).  OK, now I know I am getting tougher but dealing with it on a one day basis is easy after about 5 days...you are just plain cold!  Brrrrrrr.  At least it is pretty.  We have about 8 inches of snow on the ground and it just stays white and pretty and pristine.  It snows regularly but doesn't always accumulate.  It seems to snow very slowly here most days. The snowflakes come down very slowly almost slow motion, it is very beautiful. 

Tiana and I went to visit the local Catholic school and it was very nice.  It has a better scholastic rating than her current school and I hope it will be a better fit for her.  They do have mass regularly but the kids are not required to participate only be respectful.  They do have uniforms but Tiana is kind of looking forward to not having to pick out clothes each morning.  Please pray for us as we make the decision as to which school both girls will be going to next year.

The doctor I work for is gone on holiday (vacation) the next couple weeks so I am working on getting some things reorganized.  I am planning on going through each cupboard and closet and shelf and seeing what is on/in it and reorganizing.  You know how it is when you shove stuff places to get it put away...now is the time to make sure I know where everything is and see if it is in the best spot.  Then it is on to spring.  My mother will be visiting in April/ May sometime and then we have a family reunion in July in Ohio.  Tiana will spend most of the summer in the states and Tabitha will spend most of the summer with her mom.  I will make a trip to the states to bring Tiana back and that is all I know right now.  There is Easter break, March Break (Springs break) and Victoria Day (the weekend before Memorial Day).  Those are the holidays coming up.  Oh and there is a family day...yest the province gives everyone a day off to spend with their family...cool idea!

I have rambled enough.  I hope to take some pics of the house in the snow and will post later.  My love to all.

Winter sports begin!

So this week was technically still Christmas vacation.  The girls go back to school tomorrow although Wil and I both went back to work on Tuesday. 

On Friday morning, we took the girls skating.    We have two arenas here, a youth arena and the hockey arena and they both have skating at different times for $2 per person for an hour or two depending on the day.  Tabitha had figure skates and we picked up a pair of hockey skates for Tiana on Boxing Day.  Yes, hockey skates.  We were going to get rec skates but she is still thinking about trying hockey next year so instead of buying two pairs of skates...we just went with hockey skates.  Wil and I hadn't found skates yet so we dropped them off and then headed to Canadian Tire and tried on skates.  By the time we found some and got them sharpened we didn't have time to skate so we went and watched the girls finish skating.   The pic above is the girls on the ice showing off the mittens that we got them for Christmas.

On Saturday after everyone got up we headed to Kingston to take Vicki home.  We hung out and had a wonderful dinner with Hilliards, it was nice to have some adult conversation.  We had a yummy ham for dinner and I realized I haven't made a ham in years...I think it is time for ham and raisin sauce sometime soon.  Then we came home to crash.

On Sunday we decided to skip church to go skating as a family.  Wil and I were anxious to try out our new skates.  So we headed to the arena for skating.  OK, so I have skated a bunch as a kid and some as an adult but always on figure skates.  This time I bought recreational skates.  More comfortable boot and easier to break in or that is what Wil said.  Well what he failed to tell me was that they skate TOTALLY differently.  First there is nothing to give you stability..no toe pick to stop you in front and no long straight edge in back to keep you from rocking backwards.  Needless to say my first time out was a bit sketchy but I did not fall however I also did not look very graceful.  We have since gone 2 more times and I am feeling better on them, although I don't like going out right after the Zamboni cleans the ice...I like it a little more roughed up.  I can actually skate backwards pretty comfortably but I can't get my crossovers going yet.  It is fun though.  Wil is thinking about making an ice rink in our yard so that we can skate anytime but in the meantime we are going to try to get more practice in at the arena because we live near the "worlds largest skating rink".  The canal that the boats go through freezes and they open it up when it is safe for you to skate on.  Here is the link if you want to see more about it http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/bins/ncc_web_content_page.asp?cid=16297-16299-10080&bhcp=1&lang=1.  It sounds really fun.  It just started opening up yesterday so sometime in the next couple weeks, we will go check that out. 

Thursday, I helped the church out and drove some of the kids to the local ski area and took them skiing.  It was kind of cool to only have an hour drive to a ski area, Mount Pakenham.  I didn't ski since I knew we were skating on Friday.  I didn't think that my leg could handle both.  So I watched.  That was hard..it was a cool little ski area..probably around the size of Ski Cooper for all you Colorado people.  I have always liked those little areas so that was not a problem.  Tiana strapped on a snow board again and picked back up on that very well and started polishing her newly learned skills.  Tabitha had never skied so she strapped on a pair of skis.  There wasn't a lesson for a couple hours so she tried her hand at learning on her own.  She did pretty well but couldn't quite master the turning or stopping but once she took the lesson, she picked up quickly and only fell a couple times.  What was the most interesting to me was that the runs that were called black and double black...I was looking at and saying..."really".  They just didn't look like the blacks I was used to seeing.  Well by the end of the day both girls had gone down both of them and confirmed my suspicions...not really black by Colorado skiing standards but they can still say they have done black diamond runs.  LOL.  I have told them both to realize the difference so they don't get in over their head at other ski places.  It was pretty reasonably priced so I think we will try to hit it as a family later this month.  I would like to get some skiing in.  It is one of the things that I actually do fairly well and feel comfortable doing and I really enjoy it.  Plus they have a small tubing hill and for $10 you get a tube and can tube all day..sounds like a fairly inexpensive family outing.

I continue to realize that even though my plan was not to work, this job was definitely a God thing.  (Well that sounds silly because isn't everything a God thing?)  I know I have mentioned that finding a doctor in rural areas in this area is impossible.  Many of them are retiring or just aren't taking new patients.  Anyways, a couple months after we got here I called around and found one that takes new patients.  I decided to go meet him to see if he would work.  I went and met him and didn't like him at all.  He gave me the Rx I needed but the visit was like...why are you here...what do you need...here...go away.  Anyways, I was very discouraged but figured I would look more to find someone else.  Then this job came up and the doctor I work for was able to find me a physician that I have met and like very much.  Anyways, the previous doctor died last week so even if I had liked him or stayed with him, I would be without a doctor now.  What a blessing this job has been.  My heart goes out to all of his patients because he had a huge practice and there is really nowhere for these people to go.  Oh the "benefits" of free health care.  PTL!

I got the most special surprise this week.  My family sent me some homemade green chili from Mountain Shadows restaurant in the Springs.  I have yet to find any good Mexican food here...honestly I can't find any fresh green chilis so I can't even make anything super good.  I am slowly finding some ingredients and I finally found some yummy salsa, although it is missing green chilis but it is still the best I have found and it has cilantro which none of the others have had so I'll take it.  Anyways, I now have 2 jars of green chili that I will hide and hoard until a special time when I will savor every bite.  If you are in the Springs and haven't been to Mountain Shadows ...they have the best breakfast and lunch and some fantastic people own it and work there.  Here is the location 2223 West Colorado Avenue, Colorado Springs, CO, 80904.

We rearranged the rec room downstairs.  We found some super cheap reclining couches and bought a couple so that each of us has a recliner and there is still room for the dogs and cat on the couches too.  So this afternoon I will post the old furniture on kijiji and get rid of it.  We went cheap so that if the dogs, cat or teens ruin it...we won't care.  It is a much more comfortable and warm room and now we have seats for guests too.

Last weekend was unseasonable warm and by New Years Day all the snow was melted.  Well it started snowing on Friday and by yesterday we had about 5 inches maybe so everything is white again and soooo pretty.  The roads were pretty slick but the plows are out regularly and even go down our road fairly early in the morning so that is nice to know.

Next week we will get the girls back into school and into a routine.  I would ask for your prayer for the girls school situation.  There have been some incidences that I am not really happy about and so I am going to look into what other options we have for them.  One of them is the Catholic school in the next town.  I won't get into it but just know this is an area we could use prayer.  I can tell you that the schools in this area...I don't know about the whole region but these schools have not learned the lesson of Columbine yet.  They are not as "safe" as they need to be and it worries me to see the road that they are traveling.  Don't get me wrong, both girls are doing fine in school but I am not sure that this school is the best school for them.  But I am not sure there are alot of choices.

Well I need to go get ready for church.  Talk to you all soon and know that you are on my mind..each and every one of you.

2011 is here!

As I sit here on the 2nd day of 2011, I reflect back on what has been an extraordinarily stressful and challenging year.  I have to say that I hope 2011 will be a little less about adapting to multiple changes and more about enjoying the life I have been given.  A little less about putting out fires and organizing dramatic chaos and more about routines and fun exploration.  I started 2010 excited about the change that was to come and I ended it exhausted and thankful that the family survived and was having fun during the last moments of the year.

I sit here realizing I need to get a notebook to start my lists of to do for next year.  Wil and I go back to work on Tuesday, while the girls still have 1 more week of vacation.  The decorations are down inside the house...we may work on the outside today as it is warm and rainy, then I need to put them in the storage area.  My first project for this new year is to pick a small part of the house each week and go through it thoroughly and organize.  There are alot of areas where stuff got put as we were unpacking and we don't know what is there..so I am going to go through it, find out what is there, organize, clean and get it done.  It will be interesting to find out what we have forgotten we have.  (Pic is of Simba...he was playing with stuff in the cup holders and then just sat there like that for the longest time)

We spent the first several days of break painting Tabitha's room.  She loves twilight..so she wanted red and black.  So that is what she got.  It was her first time doing a full project and she learned some good lessons, but her room is very pretty.  We are looking for a border to go around the middle so it is not quite done but it is nice.

We had a nice New Years Eve.  We had a friends daughter come hang with us for a couple days so we got up on New Years and took the girls skating.  Tabitha had skates and we bought Tiana skates on Boxing day so it was 2 bucks a person so we dropped them off at the rink and then Wil and I went looking for skates.  We didn't find them in time to skate but we are going skating today so they will get used.  Then we went and hung out at home.  We had pizza and I made a couple dips for crackers and such and just munched the night away.  Tiana's boyfriend came over and we watched a movie, played some rock band, played some games and then started watching the countdown.  It was my first year where I was in the same time zone as New York City.  Then a little before midnight we went outside.  It was a gorgeous day and a warm evening so we took some sparkling wine outside..and we got the fireworks left from our mosquito failed 4th of July celebration and lit off some fireworks and toasted the new year.  Then the girls did some 2011 hot tubbing and we all went to bed.  (if you look close in the pic...you will see Wil behind the hot tub cover)  Overall a very fun last day of 2010.  Yes for all of you who remember it was also our anniversary.  Wil and I talked a while ago and we have decided to make it a family anniversary and hopefully spend it as a family for the next couple years while the girls are around...we will do something just the two of us at another time...maybe just combine with Valentines..we'll see.

This next week will be about getting back into routine.  Wil returns to work on Tuesday as do I.  The girls have another week.  There will be some ice skating and then they will be going skiing/boarding with their youth group and I am hoping to go see the new Narnia film at some point.

I had forgotten to mention that on Christmas we skyped for the first time.  My mom was at my sisters in the Portland area and so we skyped with my mom, sister, brother in law and niece.  It was very fun. Tiana has also skyped with her big sister.  What a neat technology.  If you ever want to skype...let us know.  The family account is tusanadah (a combination of USA and Canada with a t for Thomas and an h for Hutchings).

So, overall we survived.   It wasn't easy, it wasn't fun and it wasn't pretty but we did it.  I am very proud of what we have done, I am proud of how the girls have done although I  am not proud of how I have handled it all the time, I did my best.  As we look towards 2011, we look forward to more change but hopefully not quite to the degree as last year.  Wil will get his posting in March and we should find out when and where he will go to sea.  We think it will be July and we are hoping that it will be to Halifax (close enough to come home on long weekends).  We look forward to a family reunion in June and Tiana will make a trip to Colorado and I hope to join her for a quick trip home.  That is all we know but we know that there is more in store...God just hasn't shown us all of it yet. 

 

Happy New Year everyone...thanks for your support and your comments and your emails and texts.  I treasure them all and couldn't have made it through without you.

 

2011 HERE WE COME!!