Grandchildren

It has been a while since I have posted any grandchildren pictures and so in this thanksgiving month, I decided it was time, because I am so very thankful for the grandchildren we are blessed with. We presently have 5 grandaughters and 1 grandson, and waiting for another grandchild early in the new year. These little ones are such a source of joy and fun, and each one is special, and needless to say, we love them all to bits. They always make a smile come to Grammy and papa's faces, and their hugs and kisses are treasured.

Hailey

Hailey is growing up too fast, and now she is in school. She is quite enjoying being in Kindergarten and loves the whole learning process. She enjoys coloring

and still likes Gramma to read to her.

She is often on her own at the island coloring, while the others run around and find other things to play.

Jayda

Jayda is growing up so fast, and getting to be a good little helper. She does a pretty good job of dishes.

Having fun with Madda in the vast open spaces of our house.

She tried on Papa's glasses one day, and made sure I took a picture of her in them.

Madelyn

Madda is a character, but such a loveable one! She loves life and is usually busy at it.

Enjoying her soup and giving gramma a sweet smile.

she always wants to do what her big sisters are doing and painting is one of those things. Notice the little pony tails? she is very proud of those and makes sure I notice whenever Mommy makes ponytails in her hair.

Putting her feet up and enjoying a snack of an apple, one of her favourite snacks.

Nolan

Nolan loves to play hide and seek and one of his favorite places in our new house is the pantry in the kitchen, and he runs into there and waits for me to find him. Once we get shelves in there the game might have to change.

not sure about this whole hot tub experience.

Just being a goof!

Norah and Shae

I borrowed these first two pictures from ones that Kristy sent us. We don't get to take many pictures of the girls what with them being so far away from us now. This first picture is Shae at about 3 wks old. Our newest little grandchild and already taking up a big chunk of our hearts. Just wish she was closer so this grammy could cuddle her.

Big sister Norah and Shae.

Norah likes to be in the kitchen when there is baking happening, and of course she likes to lick the beater.

Norah has great bed-head in the mornings (just like her mother used to). We enjoyed the time we got to look after her in BC while Kristy and Shae were in the hospital.

Season of Thanks!

You shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household. Deuteronomy26:11 It is the season of Thanksgiving and we celebrate what the Lord has done for us and given us. This year we have many blessings to count, maybe more precious because in previous years we have taken many of these for granted. This first picture shows the beauty that is so often out there, right in front of us and we don't stop to look or give thanks. Thank-you God for the beauty of the sunsets, and for coloring the world for us to enjoy! We also give thanks for the completed harvest for 2010, and bins that are full again of grain.

One of the things that we often take for granted are our homes. We learned this year that sometimes those things are taken away from us. Being homeless, even just for a season, is a hard place to be, and yet, even in this God was with us and gave us strength and wisdom and provided for us in sooo many ways. He sent people to pray, and care for us, and support us in numerous ways. He was in the planning and building of our new home, and has indeed given us "beauty instead of ashes" (Is. 61:3), and we say THANK-YOU and stand in awe of what he has provided for us.

We are enjoying our new home and celebrating seasons with family, and we are THANKFUL for our children and grandchildren who have stood by us and loved us and provided us with some normal in this season we passed through. We celebrated Thanksgiving with a soup and pumpkin pie lunch out in our screen porch. It was a beautiful Sunday and it was good! We wish Kristy and Graham and girls could have been there with us as well.

We have been in our house for about a month now and it is good, and we are feeling right at home here. It still feels a bit unreal at times, especially when we remember where we were just 6 months ago. God is good, and again we say Thanks!. There is still lots of work to be done to get the house finished and we keep puttering away at it. Now that harvest is over there will be more time to finish up some of the trim work, and putting shelving in closets and working at various things in the basement, and shopping. We need to furnish our home and that will take a lot of shopping hours, (and a right attitude), but thanks to having good insurance, we will be able to get furniture and the things we need. We are indeed privileged to be able to afford and have good insurance for times like this and are thankful for this too.

We hope you all have been counting your blessings and giving Thanks for what God has blessed you with in this the season for giving Thanks. God Bless!

Continued progress

We are living in the house but there is still work happening. The bathroom vanities are finished now, and on Saturday, the trim work in our ensuite was finished, so now I can do more putty work and the touch up paint, and then our bedroom/bathroom will be done.

We have done some work in the basement as well. With the cooler temps happening we needed to move the washer and dryer into the house so that things wouldn't freeze. We painted the walls in the laundry room, and put down some flooring, and then moved the appliances into place. There is more work to be done in there but I am doing laundry there today.

The basement bathroom is also making progress, with a finished vanity, and paint on the walls. We need to get some flooring in so that the plumbers can come back and install the toilet.

And we have also painted one coat in the guest bedroom, but this week looks sunny and dry so hopefully we can get lots of harvest done. That means house stuff will be on hold for a bit but I can still keep working on projects that I can do alone while Kerry is out. There is trim to finish, and closets to paint, the garden to clean out, paper work to keep on top of, and pumpkins to cook up so that we can enjoy fresh pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. We are back from our trip out to BC to meet our new little granddaughter and back into the swing of things at home. Shae is doing well, and is in the Abbottsford hospital since Thursday, but we are all hopeful that she and Kristy can go home soon. She is eating well and gaining weight and we miss her already. It was fun to be with Norah and we quite enjoyed our time with her. After not seeing her for 3 months we noticed how much she had grown and how much more she was talking. It was great to see Kristy and Graham too, but wish we could have spent a little more time with them at their place, but were glad to be there with them in Kelowna. We enjoyed the lovely weather in Kelowna, and the exploring we could do, and especially the friends who put us up, and fed us, and other friends we met for coffee or lunch.

Screen Porch

One of the other things that is done and we have already been enjoying is finishing the screen porch. I worked out well and it is great to go out there and feel like being outside, yet be protected from the bugs and mosquitos, which have not gone south for the winter yet. We have been enjoying the hot tub in the evenings and being able to look out at the starry night sky, and see the occasional falling star, or going out in the morning and enjoying a sunrise while we soak up the warmth of the water. It has been a bit cool though for eating out there, plus we have a lack of furniture still.