I'm baaack

Well, I've been shamefully absent from here for a year and a half now. Much has happened in that time; the greatest of which is the birth of our second daughter, to whom i will refer as "Roscoe". The reasoning behind this is that right now when she talks, she makes a rather gutteral noise, rather like Roscoe P. Coltrane from Dukes of Hazzard.

She is lovely and she is adored by all. She is now 11 months and says "mama", waves bye bye, plays peek-a-boo, and when asked "how big is roscoe?" she puts her hands over her head as we say "soooo big". She loves to be used as a back scratcher - it just makes her grin. She also adores her big sister and her dog, both of whom are particularly eager to protect her and both of whom are likely to inadvertently injure her.

I have about 3 weeks before I head back to work. I'm not as eager this time due to a combination of things. I believe I am less of a hermit this time and therefore don't need the adult stimulation that I may have needed following my first pregnancy. I think with my first pregnancy there were more people saying how much they wanted me back at work due to problems with the person who was replacing me. This time, there is a very capable lady in my position, who, I'm sure, they'll be sad to see leave.

Roo is now in Grade 1 and doing well. She and I just came home from our first weekend away from baby. We went to a Sparks/Brownie winter camp. Wow, was it amazing. It was as intense as TEC is for teenagers! The people who ran it were fabulous. I learned so much and am eager to continue! Next year I will be moving up to Brownies with Roo and hope that I have a Paddock with me! I'm getting kind of attached!

There are lots of youth things going on too - DYG continues, TEC will happen this spring, I'm on the camp committee again and I will be co-leading Teen Camp this summer. I'm happy to be involved in all this. I just hope it's not too much when I go back to work.

Well, that's the Coles Notes update. I will attempt to come to share more introspections as they enter my brain.

Blessings on Top of Blessings

It's time that I updated this blog. It's not that I haven't had anything to say, it's more that I either haven't known quite what to say or it wasn't time yet to say it. Make sense?

Summer is almost at an end. My girlie starts Kindergarten next Wednesday. She's cautiously excited. I simply can't believe she's old enough, although at times she's way beyond her years.

The last few months have been a blur of activity and thought.

In June, I had the great fortune to go to London, Ontario, for a national youth leaders conference with the Anglican Church. It was amazing. We got to go to different sessions that interested us, had all matter of worship, and got to meet great people from across the country. The Primate was there and was very encouraging to all of us. There was a general sense that what we, and the youth, must be heard, and that we're worth hearing. Many of us left this week feeling empowered, not in an excited TEC/Cursillo way, but in a pervasive constant way. I'm still not sure what it means. I'll leave that experience alone for now.

The beginning of July heralded Teen Camp. The youth and programming staff were wonderful. We had great weather and really seemed to bond. We had a number of younger youth this year, for which I'm very grateful. It's nice to see the youth of the diocese regenerating and the older youth take on more of a leadership role.

My family went on vacation for the first part of August. We got together a yard sale and went camping at Spruce Woods for a few days. I love it there. It's absolutely perfect for little ones - great swimming, bike paths and camp sites.

I guess the big news is that we're expecting again. I'm presently 3 months along and we're all very excited. I've been feeling ok, but tired and a little nauseous. That's to be expected though. Roo is so excited that she's going to "poop out her ears". She's really hoping it's a girl. They have a new place in Winnipeg that you can get 4-D ultrasounds done, and family is allowed in. If everything is ok, we might do that so that Mackenzie can really feel that this is her baby too.

Because of this new revelation/baby, I'm putting school on hold, which is both good and a little sad. After the youth conference in June, I was feeling called to go a little deeper with my studies but that'll have to be put on hold for now. This is the way things are meant to be. Family is first priority and I'm happy to be mom first.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Is this weird?

Ok, something I've noticed about myself: When I'm supposed to be doing something (ie: studying), and I'm actually doing something else (ie: procrastinating), I find that I will not do anything useful (ie: cleaning or knitting) because I'm supposed to be studying. ........one more month of this class....

Why is that? Firmer goals need to be put in place methinks.

So, you may ask, what do I do instead? I go on the computer (ahem - not counting now...........), call someone, do dishes, insist I be the one to put the girlie to bed, bathe said girlie, run to the grocery store, etc.

Boy - this weekend (after my exam) will be a whirlwind of activity!

BTW - awesome Diocesan Youth Group on Sunday. We made Ukranian Easter eggs. They did such a super job! I liked watching the boys especially, as they were soooo proud of their creations. Youth rocks!

Youth truly does rock!

I'm fresh off a youth weekend at our church camp. I have been, for about two years, feeling really uninspired in my faith. After this weekend, I'm a mile high. The group, which was 10 young'uns and about the equal number of staff were all amazing.

The smaller group allowed for less pretense, meaning the kids didn't have to act all cool and none were trying to impress anyone. The guys especially floored me. They were chatty and really into talks and whatnot. The girls were great too...we got to spend some girl time, which was fun.

What stands out for me from the weekend was how well everyone gelled, especially my co-director and I. We just really seemed to be in sync this weekend. Another favourite thing was singing everything we could think of, the bonfire, playing Mission Impossible and genuinely hanging with the kids and my friends. I asked them if they wanted to have a diocesan youth group once a month, run by me and my youth partner and they said "YES!" so we've started up a Facebook group to see where this leads....to check out interest.

They are a blessing, without question.