Who is your church family?

I went to a congregational meeting the other night, voluntarily.  I am not a member so can not vote but wanted to go to listen in.  You can learn alot in those meetings (my dad taught me that).  Anyways before the meeting, they were showing a slide show of pictures, historical pictures of the church and the congregation.  I had so much fun listening to peoples ooohs and aaahs...that is so and sos son...oh that is Rev so and so....wow remember her....look that is so and so, is she here, she is so young in this picture.  I only knew a handful but it was really fun and then as I listened, I got a little sad.  The church I am going to is a family church; families have gone here for generations.  They know each others stories and sons and daughters of different families in the church have married and merged the families.  They pull together to prepare homemade food for funerals and special occasions.  They send cards to people on their birthdays and anniversaries.  This is something I heard about with my parents but not something I hear of very often anymore and then I wondered if the "family church" is an anomaly.   Maybe not but my history in church and what I see and hear people do is..go to this church until it doesn't suit my needs and then I will go to another church.   Where is the investment in the church, where is the commitment?  Don't get me wrong, I think that changing churches is completely appropriate at times but I wonder if we have begun to treat churches as disposable due to the amount of church choices we have??  When people say where I am from...I don't have a great answer.   I was born in Africa, lived in Illinois, lived in Colorado, live in Canada and I have gone to many churches in my life.   I can't even claim a denomination, I was raised non-denominational.  None of these things are bad, they are why I am who I am but I have always craved a church home, a place to belong, a place where I am from. So is this church it?  I don't know, but I know that I am enjoying being a part of First Baptist Church, Smiths Falls. 

Tiana had her dance recital last night and tonight and it was really great.  It was all of the classes at the school putting on a story, one dance at a time.  Tiana was a minion as part of a hip hop class and they did a great job.  It was a fun night, she did an awesome job.  She is already looking forward to the next year of dance.

The last couple of weeks has been focused on mowing and getting the yard in order and doing some planting. I have some tomato plants going and am trying to do some green chile plants since I can't find green chiles to save my life.  I have planted some new flowers, a new iris and a couple new lilacs.  When I get back, I will do strawberries again and a couple more plants and then I will focus on upkeep for the year. 

I had a wonderful mothers day.  I premade all of my meals and Tiana and Tabitha helped with what I hadn't done.  I got a lovely little elephant for my collection from Tiana and a new zero gravity chair for the front porch from Wil (he left it in the trailer for me to find).  I also got this great handmade card from Tiana with Happy Mother's day written in a ton of different languages.  So sweet!

The next couple of days will be busy with laundry and packing for our trip to Colorado.  I am hoping it will go slowly but I have a feeling the week will fly by.  I am excited to share some great pictures when we get back.  In the meantime....love to all!

My beautiful Family



My family....ok....can you tell someone hates smiling???

Fast and Furious

Well, I am so sorry for the long absence.  I will try to fill you in without writing a novel.  It was a fast and furious 2 months of having Wil home again.  There were highs and lows and everything in between.  Let's see...where to start?  I guess that I will start where I left off.



Pikes Peak



The groom, his mom (my sister)
 and my mom

Quick trip to Colorado.  I headed out for a last minute, quick, weekend trip to Colorado for my nephews wedding.  I was so excited to be able to make this trip.  I knew that this wedding would be as unique as the couple getting married and I was blessed to be able to be there.  I think when you live close to family you take for granted being able to attend weddings, graduations and births.  I don't take that for granted any more.  It was a fast trip but so fun.  I spent some time with my close friend Michelle.  She has really been a huge support for me and a great sounding board on many occasions.  We spent the night in Denver, went to the Melting Pot (oh how I have missed you) and then went to the butterfly pavilion the next morning.  On Saturday, I headed up to Denver for the wedding festivities.  We stayed at the hotel near Mile High Stadium and had a great family time.  We had fun at the rehearsal dinner and just hanging out and talking.  Then the wedding.  What a great time.  A great mix of traditional and nontraditional and a perfect reflection of the bride and groom, complete with the Star Wars theme and light sabers, a tux with tennis shoes and fantastically bright colors.  It was lovely.  Then to a hotel by the airport, met Michelle again for a drink and flew out bright and early then next morning.  It was a wonderful break (first time I had been alone since July of last year) and great to see family and friends.  What was interesting to me is my sister asked me "so how is it coming back?"  and for the first time I verbalized that Colorado isn't home anymore.  It is where much of my family is, it is where I have lived since 6th grade and it is a place that I hold close to my heart but it isn't home.  Home is Canada, it is where my beloved family is, where my church is, where I sing in the choir and play bells, where I garden and feed birds as much as possible and so much more.

I got home and was surprised that Wil's friend was still hanging on.  Well on Thursday of the week I came back, Bob passed away.  So then, we were focused on Bob's wife Vica and helping with the funeral and whatever we could do after that.  Wil wrote a wonderfully emotional eulogy and there wasn't a dry eye.  Bob was the closest thing Wil had to a brother and his loss leaves a huge whole in his life.  I know God's plan is perfect but I have to admit the timing of all of this sucked.  Bob and Vica had just moved to Ottawa and we were looking forward to spending time with them once Wil came back.  Then he gets sick and dies before we can do anything with them.  I know one thing it has showed me is to not take time for granted.  9 months ago, Bob and Vica were talking vacations and future plans with no clue about what was coming.  What would we do differently if we knew the future was going to be short?  I pray for Vica and for Wil regularly.  For God's arms of comfort and healing to be around their shoulders and to carry them when needed. 

That pretty much took us through the first month.  The second month was trying to help Vica sort through things, and getting some stuff done around the house. 

We did squeeze in some great family moments.  We surprised the girls by going to the Harlem Globetrotters.  I was first taken to a Globetrotters game by my father when I was around 12.  I took Tiana when she was about 9 and now the whole family went.  Still just as fun and just a wonderful afternoon of laughter.  We also went to China Town and tried some dim sum.  Oh it was so yummy and cool to get to try a little bit of everything.  Wil has talked about it since we were in Colorado, so it was cool to finally get some.  We also had a great Easter, complete with an Easter egg hunt, my singing in the Easter Cantata and a house full of people for some lamb and ham.  It was a great day.  We will definitely have to go back there again.  It was interesting to see Wil go from growing a beard to shaving it to a goatee and then going clean shaven before heading back to ship.

So now Wil is gone again.  He goes back to the west coast of Canada.  He is still posted to the HMCS Vancouver.  They have a couple short trips for some training missions and then a longer trip in August that will probably take them to Hawaii.  When he is not at sea, he will be working aboard ship and staying in an apartment in BC.  I do not know how long he will be gone but we are hoping he will be home for good by Christmas.  I am not holding my breath because who knows what the military has planned for him but that is my slim hope.  Communication with him should be easier this time since he isn't half way around the world in a war zone but we shall see.  I am hoping that the girls and I might make it out there at some point before he comes home.  I want to see this great ship that has taken my husband from me.

So what is on the horizon?  Well, right now we are gearing up for Tiana's dance program.  She has been doing a hip hop class all year and this is the big finale.  Their dance teacher puts together a program where all the dance classes play a part in the big picture.  In this one there are dragons, unicorns, fairies and THE MINIONS.   Yep that is Tiana's class...it sounds like it will be very cool. 

Then we have another trip to Colorado.  We were hoping for 2 weeks but it will only be one.  The girls are still in school so taking them out for 2 weeks right before finals is not a good idea so we will make the best of one week.  The main reason is for my nieces wedding.  2 people in one family getting married in one year...my sisters did it to my mom and now my niece and nephew are doing it to my sister....what comes around??? LOL!  Anyways, after living in Colorado for almost 30 years, this will be my first wedding in the Air Force Academy Chapel.  For my Canadian followers, check out this link and you will see what the big deal is.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force_Academy_Cadet_Chapel  Anyways, I am very excited.  Annie's fiance will graduate from the Academy 1 week before the wedding (with Obama present) and they will leave on their first posting a couple months later.  What an exciting time!  We are starting to make our list of things we want to do and we will try to pack it all in.

Next is the finish of school.  Both girls will complete their 10th grade year and get ready for 11th grade.  I can't believe they are entering their last 2 years of high school.  Where does the time go.  Tiana has a job at a day camp for most of this summer so that will keep her busy and Tabitha will probably go to her moms for a bit.  That is really as far as I am looking at this point.  There are some things much farther down the line like a trip to switch cars with Wil and maybe a trip to BC (I hope, I hope, I hope). But right now, I do alot of one day at a time.  Of coarse, it is spring so I am doing a lot of mowing, gardening and yard work but I think I will enjoy it a bit more this year because I already know what to expect and have a routine in place.  I am looking forward to the activity of the summer.

I will try to get back into blogging.  My blogging  morning is Sundays and for fall and spring the girls were in skating lessons so Sunday mornings got busy.  Things have calmed down now so hopefully I will be more regular at updating you all.  Thank you for all of you prayers and thoughts.  I love hearing from you.  As much as I love the adventure I am on (ok I don't love it all the time) I do miss you.