April Fun

Spring has been forever in coming and the sunny warm days are few and far between. There are still some nasty winter gusts blowing off the hills which stubbornly hold onto remnants of snow but I checked the weather forecast and it looks like we're in for some lovely days. I usually love April, but it didn't feel very Springy this year. Nonetheless, there have been opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors and I have loved being outside, especially on the Saturday night gatherings.

And surprise, surprise - I found some free dogs which are now happily roaming our backyard! I probably would have preferred just one dog, but these ones came as a package deal and they were Doodles!!! Patrice and I had been hoping to have one of those since we met one downtown several years ago. So I kept my eyes open and checked the classifieds every so often and lo and behold there they were!! I find that "used" dogs are preferable because they come pre-trained and broken in. Ever so handy. And they've brought so much laughter to our little family already. On Saturday I was nervous that they might run off so I had Daniel and Nicole attach each of them to one end of a heavy chain with their leashes. I thought this would keep them close at hand. Suddenly when the large Moose saw a ball flying by he took off like a Stallion and the poor little black dog came hurtling behind him completely out of control and helpless. We laughed so hard, but quickly released the dogs from the useless chain. We had to do some loving on the little lady to calm her down after her frightening ordeal.

We picked the Doodles up and tried them out for a weekend and then I phoned the family to let them know we were keeping them on my birthday. So it's kind of like the Lord gave me these big loving beasties as a 47th birthday gift!! The boy we are calling Moose because he's so gangly with a large head and the little Lady has been dubbed Gracie by Patrice. We'll see how many times the names change, but somehow the names Jazz and Maxi didn't quite suit our tastes

I also had a fun birthday morning in Peachland with Barb, Sue and Anne-Marie Helms to celebrate the occasion of aging. Anne-Marie showed up with a gigantic walking, smiling flower balloon which brought us all a great deal of delight. Until Sue decided to let the walking balloon walk outside and he suddenly took flight. Higher and higher he flew and I despaired of ever bringing my new friend home. Both Sue and I were praying as she ran across the street where he was floating happily towards the lake on a breeze. Truly it was a miracle to watch Sue open her arms and to see the giant smiling flower descend from great heights down into her arms. Unbelievable!!



In the evening I thought I'd treat us to dinner out at Milestones because I had been given a gift card and it seemed fun to go out. We all had delicious meals (mine was steak and shrimp - YUM!!) and then when I went to pay we found that we were at the wrong restaurant!!! haha!!! The gift card was for Moxie's and we had eaten an extravagant meal at Milestones!! Praise God for the provision to pay despite my lapse. I'm so grateful for the wonderful people God has placed in my life for me to celebrate with! Elsie popped by in the evening to wish me a happy birthday and I was happy to show her the beasties and to see her looking so well. We are having a family celebration tomorrow with Mom since the month ends with her birthday.

So very much to be thankful for. An extravagant God has lavished so many good gifts on me again.