West Coasting

LOOK AT ME!!  I"M AT THE OCEAN!  

With MY KIDS!!

 I am often filled with longing to spend good quality time with these three - to be some kind of a family unit, as small and as "different" as it is.  And I'm so grateful that Daniel helped me figure this trip out. I had grown very weary of trying to find affordable, accessible housing on the West Coast but Daniel stepped in and just made it happen. And Patrice overcame some major hurdles to be able to join in. And Nicole was just her exuberant, eager self, ready to have fun.

It's been hard and it's been beautiful - the traveling and moving about is just a huge challenge.  I'm exhausted after simply using the unfamiliar washroom and moving about on the carpeted floors in our room...my hands feeling bruised where the arthritis has set in. I'm wishing I could be a bit more mobile, but there are multitudes of hindrances.  There's carpet and there's sand and there's a hill that's just a little too steep on the path down to the water.

But I choose to focus on the fact that I am at the ocean with my kids!!  This trip actually happened and I can hear the waves rushing in on the beach as I lay on the bed with the open door to our room letting in the beauty.  Thankful.  Overcoming.

We've seen so much beauty out here and have experienced the weather swings of the wild west coast. The forecast was daunting - rain and clouds - but we've been pleasantly surprised.

Yesterday was hot and sunny!!  I sat on Long Beach watching the steam rise from the sand while the sun beat down on me, burning my face.  Daniel and Nicole headed out with their surf boards and I meandered down the beach taking pictures and enjoying the scenes. The cry of seagulls pierced the air as kids ran laughing and playing in shallow waters, dogs lept over the sand with wild abandon and people walked in ones and twos on the long stretch of sand, drinking in the wild beauty and breathing in the fresh ocean air.

The day before we explored another end of Long Beach and were surrounded by clouds and misty rain.  We needed layers of clothes to protect us from the cold wind that blew in off the ocean.  It was fun wandering on the beach finding little shells and rocks while the waves crashed in.  The kids have loved beachcombing and hunting for wild berries on the bushes along the trails. 

We finished our day yesterday in Tofino and had a nice supper at a place called "The Shelter".
That's what I'm needing God to be for me.
Shelter and Helper and Strength and Shield.
Always when traveling I am super challenged, but the adventure calls and I head into the storm, hoping it will be worth the cost.

And it was.

Really Needing Traveling Mercies

Today I was thinking a lot of thoughts that I wished I could be writing down as I was on the ferry and traveling across the island to Tofino.

There was a great deal of overcoming that was transpiring through the previous night and into the day.  You see, somehow I managed to get another bladder infection so my spasms were going nuts in the night hours.  As I got up to use the washroom at three a.m. I lost my balance and really wrenched my upper back and right shoulder, making movement even more difficult than it already is. It actually hurts me to swallow too which I think is kind of weird.  Could I have strained the muscles around my sternum?

Anyways...

The intensity of my disability is definitely increasing and it has me thinking these profound, sometimes frightening, thoughts.

Thoughts about my broken body and the grace given to live and keep pressing through all these various adversities and infirmities.  Sadness that my dear daughter has to carry so much of this burden and that she is definitely feeling it at this point in her life.

She's looking after her clients for work and then when she comes home, there I am, often needing her to do something or other for me because I just need a lot of help.  I want her to know she is free to go and to travel and to experience life apart from me because I KNOW God will send others to help me.

So anyways, I'm grateful for overcoming grace and mercy and for friends who pray. Today I experienced the mercy that comes through the Body interceding for me and my girl.  Traveling mercies for life.

And there were breakthroughs today for both her and I.

There was such joy in meeting up with Daniel and Nicole here at our hotel and in sitting out on the sand with them, watching the dogs running on the beach while the sun was setting over the ocean.

I'm tucked into a super comfortable bed with a heat bag and they are off enjoying the hot tub.  This is a trip that looked like it wasn't even going to happen last night, but joy came by about noontime.  And Daniel and Nicole are here with Patrice to carry the burden of "me".

I wish I didn't have to be that needy part of "the Body", but it seems that I am, so I'd just better deal with it and be thankful for the good plans that God will put into motion through my life.  Through this brokenness and neediness,  through the pain and the sorrow and the joy that keeps breaking through and buoying me up.

He's just SO GOOD.  Truly.  All the time. Even when it doesn't feel like it.  In His kindness and in the midst of all of this we managed to get to the aquarium and saw amazing things.  It's all tangled together like that... the pain and the beauty, the joy and the angst.

Crazy, unreal beauty. 

These beautiful slippery white beluga whales... I am mesmerized by them.  

And jelly fish - what are they exactly?  Can they feel, do they have a brain? 

Mysterious and beautiful.  Like much of life. 

Hello Vancouver!

I've been having a most relaxing vacation here in Vancouver.
That is, apart from driving into this city and within the city.  I don't seem to do very well with that part. It's all a little too frantic and fast paced for me.

But the weather has been perfect and Anita has kindly allowed us to stay in her condo so there's been lots of time to rest and adventure.  And happily we connected with the Smith family who were here picking up Erin from her SA trip.  I am so blessed by this family and their kindness.

Just being near Gayle makes me feel cared for on a level that doesn't happen very often.  She goes out of her way for others, making many sacrifices to make life as pleasant as possible for the people around her.  Even though she's got plenty of her own struggles. (for instance, the migraine she was dealing with on this walk...)

We had dinner together and spent an afternoon at False Creek. Amazingly enough their lovely daughter Jenna is also temporarily disabled so I had a wheelchair pal to roll with. These dear people just quickly learn to deal with transfers and wheelchairs and make it feel like it's just all part of the program.  They are such a gift.

The Lebanese food at this little place called Nuba was soooo good!

I've had to adjust to living on the 11th floor and the stomach flips that come with watching window washers rappell down the sides of incredibly tall buildings and people standing out on tiny balconies way too far above the earth.  You can zoom in to see the little man dangling off the top of the tallest building below...

I loved my time exploring English Bay with Patrice - enjoying Vietnamese takeout on the Beach and listening to some hauntingly beautiful Jewish music being sung by a woman with an angelic voice who was accompanied by three men playing an accordian, a guitar and a beat box.

The sunset was spectacular and Patrice managed to get me up the endless hill that was Davie street till we found our condo and settled in for the night.

downtown

I'm always so very happy when I rouse myself to leave my cozy house on the orchard and head down the long hill into our wonderful little city.  In the summer months it's bustling with life and activity and music.  There are so many restaurants  with tables outside and it feels friendly.

Plus there's the lake!!!!  And the most fascinating people out walking their dogs, and wearing some outrageously amazing outfits and hairstyles.  It's really worth the trip down!

Not long ago I went for a fun outing with Patrice and my very dear friend Dawn and her daughter.  We went to a foodie kind of movie and checked out the sails and the lake on our walk home.

And last night Patrice and I headed down for an evening of music at the lake.

We found some of our tribe and settled in for a good time till the stars were out and everyone was up dancing to the music.  

I just love August.  And living here.  And...this dog.  

His name was Carlos.  Hard to believe he would let them give him a hairdo like this. 

Nanny Josefina

When Patrice was about a month old we had a sweet gal from the Phillipines come to stay with us to help us look after her.  Her name was Josie and she was a year younger than I.  She was loud, talkative, happy and very eager to look after Patrice and to clean and cook and to help out in whatever way she could.  She adopted us as her Canadian family and we tried to be good to her, making sure she had a vehicle and driving lessons so she could be independent and treating her with love and fairness.

Josie stayed with us for two years and at that point I was ready and eager to have my house and my little girl back to look after. I had been well spoiled with a super clean house and incredible meals but it was nice to be independent again.  Josie went on to work in Vancouver, and then got married to an American with whom she has had two children.  She's having a very challenging life and has wanted to come up to see us all again so we arranged for her and the kids to come.  Amy and her fiance Russel arrived on the same day so things were pretty busy but fun.

We loved on her and she was thrilled to see all of us again. She was very emotional and it blessed me that we were able to have a little reunion with everyone here in the backyard.  It appears that life has taken its toll on her as her health isn't too great.  She's really uptight, struggling to know how to manage her marriage and children, so thankfully I could pray for her and give her a bit of advice seeing as she doesn't have a mom to speak into her life.  I felt completely overwhelmed myself wondering how she manages to stay intact with her stress level and challenges, but I must release her into God's care and trust that He will intervene on behalf of that little family.  So she and her two kids are traveling home by bus today, and hopefully the memories of the kangaroo farm, dinners on the patio, shopping trips and visits to the lake will carry them through this long day as they bus home to Tacoma.

Here she is with two parrots and her two kids.

And here I am with a baby kangaroo. 

James is feeding tortilla chips to what appears to be a giant rodent.  

Wow.

And this is a flying squirrel sort of animal.  For some reason I have forgotten what it's called but it's terribly cute. 

Tante Hilda is still recuperating at Cottonwoods so she was thrilled that I brought Josie and her kids by to say hello.  

May God's mercy surround dear Josie and her family.  

Mini Seminar

Last Saturday I had a really fabulous day teaching my Word By Heart memorization methodology to a bunch of very eager learners.

At first I was wondering how I would get back into the whole process, but it was the most natural thing to get up and teach what had become second nature to me over those three months at YWAM.

We did the passage about Blind Bartemeus out of the book of Mark and before the end of the class several people got up and said the entire passage by heart.  (I think we gave a bit of coaching to one or two).  It was so heartening and amazing to see these people pick up the method and get into the passage.  Here is Ruth and Lisa  practicing the talking and listening bit.

We had a great time doing textual analysis and, as usual, so much of the story sprang to life that I had never noticed before.

Textual analysis is sort of like doing a noisy Lectio Devina for me.  So enriching and gratifying to get into a small passage with so much energy.

We did some acting out, some idiot interviewing, lots of talking and listening, a bit of walking and talking which no one actually found helpful, and then the presentation.

So that was just an awesome way to spend a few hours.  The class even ended ahead of time because they were just such a great bunch of keeners.

I felt fully alive and in my element which was hugely encouraging.

Home Day

This is my home.  

And this is the field in front of my home.  It looks like this in June with a myriad of wildflowers waving in the breezes under the big blue sky.

I hardly believe I get to live here.  

Yesterday our sweet house guests left for Victoria.  I felt so very blessed that they stayed here to be close to Becca and that I got to experience one of my favourite blog authors and her entire family up close and personal for almost two weeks.  I love to have this house well used and to know that it is a blessing to others.  And I love to know and experience people.

The children were delightful, Chinua was so gifted and easy to have around, and Rachel?  She is a queen among women.  Seriously, I was so taken with her and with how gently and kindly she does life.  She has a very noble, dignified spirit about her and she is just incredibly kind and good.  She treats her husband and children and all those around her with so much honour and kindness and patience.  I know now why I am so drawn to her writing.  She is as authentic in real life as she is on paper.  And even sweeter than I could have imagined.

I was thrilled to have Chinua do a little backyard concert the one evening and here is a picture of Rachel leading a group in a time of meditation at New Life.  It was a very rich time of looking into the passage of Jesus resurrection and how he appeared to Mary.

So today was a home day and it was just so pleasant to move slowly through the quiet house, cleaning a little, making a smoothie, doing laundry, talking with the puppies and having my shower. I also started to prepare for a mini Word By Heart seminar that I'm putting on tomorrow. I'm excited about the passage we will be learning (Blind Bartemeus) and to be able to pass on this methodology so that others can be blessed by it.  The story is new to me as well so it's been fun digging into it a bit and it will be nice to be working on something new.

I also had Matthew and Abi Baker drop by for a little ice cap and visit on the back patio.  Such a nice visit with two people that I admire deeply.  Matthew struggles with cerebral palsy, but his spirit and faith are very, very strong.  He gives me courage and brings me so much delight.

This afternoon my massage lady came up and ministered to my back, shoulders, arms and hands.  It was such a relief to just lay there and have someone look after me, even if just for a little while.  She is just wonderful and I am grateful that I can afford to do this.  I need to do it more often - like regularly, before I get too twisted up!

It's been a good home day.  Pretty much a favourite day as I felt so much peace and calm.  Knowing I have the seminar to teach tomorrow gives me a sense of purpose and joy.  Having my Ladybug laying nearby all soft and sleepy makes me incredibly happy.  I love that steady little breathing alongside me and that I can reach out and touch her warm curly far.  Very, very soothing. How kind is my Father.

August Ambience

I am just loving the ambience of August.  The long days continue, filled with the loveliest moments, prayers, visits with friends, meals on the back patio, times on the beach,

I'm trying not to think about summer being over, as I begin to panic with the thought of the long dark winter that looms a few calendar pages away...

So I'm documenting the beautiful events of August and I'm drinking in the moments and breathing in the sweet smell of apples as I drive along the roads.  Just reminding myself to live in the moment and trust God.
All the time.

This afternoon was just delightful.  

Visiting Tante Hilda as she waits for her heal to heal!  

Chelation to freshen up my veins and stuff while visiting with my lovely friend Celia.  We are always on a mission to find out how to get healthy. 

Elsie brought over some friends and we enjoyed some iced water and a visit one afternoon.  My sister is an absolute gem.  I just love her so very, very much and wish my life was different so I could run into her house easily.  Sigh.