Tap, tap, tap.....Is this thing on?


My almost two-month absence here has left me intimidated as where to begin. So many stories, so many family memoires and busy sunlit evenings. For now I leave you with this.


Family trip for some freshly prepared ice cream from the Marble Slab Creamery

Where we waited in line impatiently for over 1/2 an hour. The anticipation was killing [one of] us.
Escaping the heat in shady places with a passion tea lemonade and an adorable comrade.


Endless pushes on the swings at the park.


Lovely summer walks.


Visits from Papa. He always brings the best treats.

A wonderful trip to the mountains


Where we dipped our toes in the frigid glacial waters

And lounged on the beach

We collected and sorted, and we actually weren't afraid of the rocks this year


And we said goodbye to Grammy for another year.


Summer has been busy but oh so full of memories. I'm looking forward to slowing down a bit.

I've really been slacking on blog posts lately, including our Secret-Secret Geography Club dinners. I finally wrote about our night of delicious Thai food at Meal Planning 1o1 if you want to read it. I also have our French night from April in the drafts waiting to be blogged.

Oh well, one of these days.

1. Making it out alive after two days of subbing middle school.

2. Finding out my baby's raspy rattly breathing is NOT in fact pneumonia, but a mere ear infection.

3. Generous babysitting.

4. An understanding husband.

5. Sisters who love each other.



Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 days of grace in small things.

My Mother-in-Law is a full-time missionary nurse in Guatemala, and is currently back for 3 months (check out her blog). The girls are lovin' having their Grammy home.

There's been lots of hugs and kisses around this place.

Grammy brought them back pretty Guatemalan dresses with ornate embroidery on them.

Welcome home Grammy! It's good to have you back.

I bought Eva the most adorable nautical red shoes with anchors on them. I found them online from a lady in town for only $2. Eva thought they were the greatest things ever.


She's such a girl in every sense of the word. She LOVES shoes and is constantly saying "shoes?" "shoes!" "shoes on, shoes on, SHOES ON!" as well as "hair, hair HAIR!" and "pony", "brush", "barette? peeeese!"

From the moment I came home with them she said "shoes on" in her teeny little mouse voice so I couldn't resist. She didn't take them off once yesterday, not oven to nap. I heard "clomp, clomp, clomp" everywhere she went....it wasn't until she was in Pizza 73 with Daddy and she barfed all over herself and her new red shoes that she finally agreed to take them off.

They're in the wash now, but as soon as they are back in commission I'm sure I'll hear a tiny "shoes on?"

Last week before we left Vancouver Isabella's eyes looked red and watery. By the time we arrived home she had developed a full blown slimey, green, snot-running-from-her-eyes eye infection. While it doesn't phase her at all during the day and she is her regular joyful self....nighttime is a different story.
Since the eye infection she has decided to revert back to a newborn schedule with her night feedings, waking up EVERY 3 HOURS. Are you kidding me? One phase of newborn wakings a year is my quota....twice in the matter of months and I stop functioning like a human being.

Yesterday after Isabella's 4am feeding I tossed and turned and realized, yes indeed I WAS WIDE AWAKE. By the time I was tired again there was no point in going back to bed since Isabella would be awake and demanding another feeding in no time. So I stayed up and folded laundry and washed dishes and baked bread....all before 9 am. It's a good thing I was so productive so early in the morning. By early afternoon Eva woke early from her afternoon nap to tell me "hurt". When I asked where it hurt she just flopped her head on my chest. All the sudden she threw back her head and BARFED ALL OVER ME. Stinky curdled milk barf. On me.

Despite my own urge to hurl, I managed to get us both cleaned up, get another load of laundry going and curl up on the couch with my girl and some movies. Neither of us moved until another round of bile made Eva lunge her shoulders forward and me make a mad dash with the bucket. That's pretty much how the rest of our afternoon and evening went. More changes of clothes, more laundry, and more episodes of Seinfeld.


We've had no explosions today, but after a rough night of sleep with Isabella and bad naps from both girls today, this Mom needs a latte.

And maybe a shower.

It's incredibly refreshing to be home.

The last two weeks have been a stressful, head-achey, heartbreaking blur. Just to recoup I spent the entire day in my sweats without showering or combing my hair and sipped coffee on the couch while doing my regular routine things like meal planning, grocery list making, budget balancing and drinking in the simplicity of hanging out with my sweet girls. It felt so good.

While I do plan on writing about the last couple weeks, my brother-in-law Shawn wrote an amazing tribute to his Dad (my father-in-law) and I wanted to share.

Barry you were so incredibly loved.

***

My dad died unexpectedly last Thursday (April 9, 2009) in a hospital in New Westminster. He was 57 years old. He died without pain. Basically, his heart just stopped. Barry James Birss had a hard life, and it did a lot of damage to his body. Though he has been very diligent to live healthy and active for the last eight years especially, some damage cannot be undone.

My dad was a relationshipsmith. That was his trade, and he was damn good at it. He loved deeply. He loved honestly. He was a man who wanted to know you as you were, and would take the time to get there if he had to. He spent a great deal of his life having all his weaknesses revealed. All of that pain and hurt was fashioned into a golden instrument of healing in the lives of all around him. You didn't need to pretend around Barry. He'd lived it all.

I have rarely seen a life of pain like I saw in my dad. It was said in this world that he would never return to us free. But he didn't remain there. Having been rescued and restored from the deep pits of mental illness and despair, he chose to return to the places of his greatest pain, and shine hope like a lighthouse to those suffering in the storms he had endured. He left his prison, and returned to it as a free man to show others the way out.

Every night as a child I prayed to my Heavenly Father that my dad would be healed. I didn't know it would take twenty years, but my prayers were answered. The last time I saw my dad, with his strong and gentle voice and his clear eyes, he thanked me for those prayers.

My dad was not a great man. He was not a man of vast accomplishment by the standards of this world. He was a simple man. A man who lived and loved and laughed . . . with outsiders, with people locked behind thick walls, with friends who'd lost everything. He kept a friend for fifty years, though his friend has no phone or address. He let his broken self be seen by the broken, and through his cracks spilled the healing life of a loving God.

He was a lover and a fighter, in the right measure of both.

***

Thankyou Steve. Thankyou Kate. Thankyou Uncle Rob and Aunt Dorie and Grandma and Sharon. Thankyou Stan. Thankyou Ken. Thankyou everyone at Burnaby Mental Wealth. Thankyou all who loved and were loved by Barry. You are his legacy.

***

2 Corinthians 4

7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

13It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken."[b]With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

I'll make this short because my patience and my energy have been ground very thin.

My father-in-law died on Good Friday. He was a good man and I can't even begin to describe how much he will be missed. We canceled our Easter plans and flew out to Vancouver. This trip has done nothing short of turn my brain into mush from all the funeral planning, estate settling, and nasty cold and flu Eva and I both got. She has been incredibly whiny and sometimes unbearable when our emotions have been especially fragile. After all the "business" we've had to take care of in the last week, our family finally got to enjoy some down time at Stanley Park. We had 3 blissful hours where we could laugh, smile and have our shoulders feel light again....only to return to our rental vehicle having been broken into and my husband's back pack stolen which held his laptop, bible that I gave him for Christmas, the girls birth certificates and a bunch of other stuff. On top of the huge load of things that need to be taken care of before we fly back on Wednesday, we will also be making a trip to the police department, dealing with car insurance and the rental company.

Vancouver is kicking my ass.