Leaving the View.

   We had an impromptu spaghetti dinner with some friends last night.  We were outside trying to make our backyard look a little less like a barnyard, and they walked over and to say hi.  We got chatting, and then realized it was just about dinner time so we invited them in.  I love that sort of thing, especially because these are good friends who don`t care that we served applesauce as a side dish. 

  (On a side note, the reason our yard looks like a barnyard is because used to let our ducks out to forage in the yard, but we recently sold the ducks and bought chickens who stay in the coop.  I like to be barefoot all summer, and ducks and bare feet do not make a good combo.  So far the chickens have been a good decision, although I gotta admit I miss my sweet Nova who I could carry around and pet like she was a dog... but these ugly-faced chickens will grow on me I guess.)

   Anyway, during dinner with our friends they posed the question, "Aren`t you going to miss living here in this beautiful place."  The question threw me a little, and I think I just made a joke or a sarcastic comment or something like that... but this morning I started thinking about it again as I was hanging laundry on the front porch.  Z was playing cars (as always) on the other end of the porch, the sun shone down upon us, and the sparkly blue ocean peeked around the side of the lodge cheerfully to remind me of just how blessed I am to live in British Columbia.  It was such a peaceful moment, with so much beauty all around me, and I thought about that question.  Will I miss this?  Where will I be living next time I have my own clothesline and porch?  Will I even have a porch?  Will I be anywhere near the ocean?  And oh, please Lord, let it be sunny there! 

    We are going into this with no plans beyond our DTS.  We have an idea of where we might like to go, and have been in contact with a base in Central America, but in general, we are waiting for God to lead us.  We are working through a Rosetta Stone Language course for Spanish, since we really hope to end up in Central or South America (or Spain would be good too), but Thailand keeps coming to mind too, so only God really knows where we`ll be in a year... two years... there is a part of me that wants to organize it, wants to plan, make endless lists... but really, it doesn`t matter where we end up. 

     God has set a fire in our hearts to share His love with the lost children of the world.  I want to be part of a team that passionately and boldly shares the gospel with children and their families.  I want to become a parent of orphans, the friend of widows, and defender of the defenceless.  I want to stand on my next porch and hang up the clothing of children who came from the streets and whom I must pray to God every day for the endurance and wisdom to love them through their difficulties.  I want to join a team of people who feel the same passion and drive to serve the Lord by rescuing orphans.  It doesn`t matter where, but I know that God has called us to live a radical and obedient life of following Him.  

    Right now He has called us to California for the DTS.  After that He can call us where He wants.  Guatemala.  Thailand.  Kenya.  Russia.  Back to Canada... I am willing to go.  Of course I have my preferences.  Somewhere warm, tropical, and near the ocean would be ideal obviously.  Somewhere where the second I get off the plane they will hand me a baby to raise and a piece of land to homestead on.  It would be easier if they spoke Spanish too, since I`ve got a head-start on that language.  But we are ready and we are willing.

     So am I going to miss living here?  Yeah, I probably will once in a while... but am I sorry we`re moving?  No.  Not even for a second.  We are following the call the Lord has laid on our hearts, and the passion He has put in our souls.  I want to serve the Lord, regardless of where He calls me. 

      “Continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”  - Colossians 2:6,7

Sunny Spring Days

Z painting on the porch (with his blanky making shade)

    There is honestly no better cure for a bad attitude than some good days of sunshine.  I have been feeling very excited about YWAM lately, but these days of sun have made me realize how wonderful living on Quadra is.  Z and I have made good use of every minute of good weather, by walking to friend`s houses, playing on the porch and backyard, having "deck time" at the lodge, and going hiking with daddy a couple times.  I struggle with seasonal depression, but after even just a week I feel like a better and more emotionally well-rounded person!  Yay! 

Z`s finished masterpiece.  It`s now hanging on the kitchen wall of course. 

  
    I have been getting both the guest rooms ready for visitors this summer, since we are expecting Dave`s mom to spend a few weeks with us and my mom will be visiting a couple times as well.  It is so lovely to have grandmas around to spend time with Z, and so I wanted to make sure that the guest rooms would be nice for them, even though I`ve been getting rid of all our stuff.  So that`s what prompted the painting session on the porch, was my need to make some art for the guest room walls that could just be recycled after the summer.  Z`s art will be in the kitchen, but I came up with some nice flowery guest-room style art.  We just took big pieces of cardboard from the recycling bin and painted it white- instant canvas! 

Quadra-style coffee break

      Dave has been taking advantage of the sun by going outside every time he has a coffee break.  Earlier this week he went kayaking all by himself, and was apparently "followed by 20 seals"... which makes me very glad that I didn`t partake in this voyage. 

Z and I on top of the rock. 

     A friend came to Quadra for the day and wanted to go hiking, so although I don`t love hiking I went along with the group, and also wrangled our other friend Katie into coming.  (Katie will be our nanny during the lecture phase of our DTS, so you`ll be seeing more of her here on the blog.)  It turned out to be a fantastic hike, and the view from the top was gorgeous!  Z was even willing to be carried in the backpack the whole time, which was great and let us go a lot faster. 

Dave, Z, me, Matt and Katie 

I sure am loving these sunny spring days!!!  :) 

Cookies for Summer

In one of my other posts I talked about how Dave has been making cookies for the summer... I realize that maybe that doesn`t sound like a big enough job to take up weeks of his time, so I thought I would post a few photos to show you all what he`s been up to: 

Creaming the 30 cups of butter, and 60 cups of sugar. 

All the wet ingredients, and sugar.  The yellow stuff is pasteurized eggs.

The dry ingredients.  The flour represents only part of the 112 cups of flour that were used!

Mixing in the flour.   (The MP3 player in the right top corner was probably playing some Hillsongs worship music, Dave`s favorite.) 

Cookies:  Before and after being dunked in cinnamon sugar. 

The mixing bowl of cookie dough.

Ready to bake! 

The finished product.  :)  

     At the end of the day, Dave and his helper, the other Dave, had made 864 cookies.  Sounds like a lot... and it is!... except when you keep in mind that we use approx. 20,000 cookies every summer!!!  Lots more days like this before summer comes! 

Week of Picnics!

     The sun has arrived (at least for now) on Quadra, and we kicked off the week in style by having a picnic dinner on our porch.
   While I was cooking the fish and biscuits, I left Z outside with the half-set table.  He bee-lined it for the box of cinnamon and dumped the entire thing out onto his plate and started playing cars in it.  Apparently we`ll have to set some guidelines for dinner tables set outside.  :)

     It was another gloriously sunny day yesterday and so while on a walk with a friend we decided that we should have an impromptu hot-dog roast for dinner.  We texted the rest of the camp wives and it was on!

 The two Daves got the fire going, and although I offered advice, I was told to "Stand back and let the men do it."  They had a roaring fire going in no time, and soon more people had showed up and we were ready to start roasting our hot dogs.  

     The little kids gobbled up some oranges and strawberries while the parents got the "food" (are hotdogs food?  Like, really?) cooked.  I felt better about my parenting knowing that at least Z had eaten something healthy first.

(There happened to be an abandoned ladder besides the fire-pit area which Dave made use of to take this photo... he`s got dedication to the blog, that`s for sure.)  

    Once the kids had eaten they all ran off to play on the grass, or help build a "newt house" for the little newt that one of the girls found.  Z was on the house-building crew and didn`t want to go home he was so into playing.  Of course when I tried to take a picture of him holding the newt, he screamed, "scary newt!  put in house!".  

 
   It was so great to enjoy a casual meal together.  The summer is sometimes so busy that we don`t have many chances to spend time as a staff together, and just hang out.  We have some amazing people on our ministry team here at Camp, and they make a simple bonfire into a wonderful evening of food and fellowship.   
 
  
    Tonight we have another picnic with some more of our close friends... bring on the hotdogs!!!  :) 

Hemp Hearts

Z and Mommy eating lunch

       Dave and I have a constant battle going on with our last ten or so pounds we`d like to lose.  We`ve been trying to lose those darn pounds since college, and they aint going nowhere... so I doubt that our most recent foray into healthy living will change anything... but here`s hoping. 

    When we got back from our holiday on the mainland we needed to go grocery shopping so we told ourselves that we were only allowed to buy "healthy food".  I know that concept looks different for everyone, but we ended up buying some fish, produce, soy milk (controversial, I know!!!), and some organic hemp hearts.  I know my mom is laughing right now, I mean, you know you`re a hippy when you`re eating stuff like HEMP HEARTS!  

    We don`t have to cook our own food on days when Dave is cooking for a group, so a couple days of the week we usually eat in the dining hall.  In the summer we eat almost all our meals in the dining hall, because there are always campers and staff who Dave has to feed.  Eating in the dining hall is fun and delicious, but hasn`t been great for our waistlines, because, let`s face it... Dave is a FANTASTIC chef!  (Would I like another helping of lasagna with extra cheesy and delicious sauce?  Why yes, I would.)

      This week though we were eating mostly at home all week, so I made healthy food for every meal.  We had green salad with salmon and brown rice, we had veggie wraps with sesame oil instead of mayo, we had brown rice pudding seasoned with cinnamon and honey (no sugar!), we had popcorn made with coconut oil (I read on the interweb that coconut oil is a super food... must be true since they wouldn`t post it otherwise, right?!).

    All was going well until I decided that a great idea for breakfasts would be to make homemade granola and have it on yogurt.  Brilliant.  I found a recipe (aka called Mom), and made some oat-coconut-peanut butter-bran granola.  It smelled great and I gave myself an air high-five for being so awesome at healthy living. 

    The next morning we each had a bowl of yogurt, topped with my granola, along with a couple teaspoons of flax seeds and a tablespoon of hemp hearts, then just for good measure, I sliced up bananas to put on the top.  I served it to my family proudly, patting myself on the back for being such a great wife and mom. 

    Dave ate it quietly.  But that goes without saying, since Dave does most things without saying much.  Z ate it willingly, which is pretty high praise from a two-year-old.  Then... I tried it. 

   Turns out there is such a thing as being "too healthy". 

   

Party in Parksville

Dave and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.  I wasn`t trying to write a blog back then... but trust me, even if I had- I wouldn`t have posted any photos of that day.  Our anniversary fell on the starting day of our family`s TWO MONTH sickness.  It started out as the flu, then turned into a cold, then went back to the flu, then just for good measure turned into bronchitis...but finally... we kicked it!!!!  (as I write this I`m sniffling a bit... so maybe its back for round two?)

Dave and I wanted to go for a weekend in Victoria for our anniversary, but scrapped that plan over the two months of plague.  Eventually, Dave came up with a brilliant plan for spending a weekend in Parksville... which sounded lovely to me since I`m not really one for vacations... and we could save a bunch of money by staying in Parksville!  (To really understand me, you have to understand that my two favorite things are purging my house and saving money.  oh, and also eating pancakes.)

So we found a duck-sitter- thanks Tim- and we were off for a party in Parsville. 

 We live on a little island called Quadra... so to go anywhere we have to take a 15min ferry to Vancouver island.  Parksville is only about two hours away, but with the ferry it feels far and exotic.  haha... or not.  We had great weather though, so it was a great weekend to go. 

 Z and his blanky, ready to go explore the fantastic playground that was right outside our cabin.  In the summer it might be annoying to have the playground so close, but I`m pretty sure Z was the only kid at the campground... we always had the park to ourselves. 

 The inside of our two-bedroom cabin... no roughing it for us!  All this was the same price as a hotel room in Victoria, and we saved because we made all our own food!  So handy! 

The Canucks played twice during our stay, and we had cable!  Z loves hockey almost as much as his daddy does!  :)  Riverbend RV Resort in Parksville... I`m telling ya folks, its a great place for a family holiday.

An afternoon outing to Coombs to see the goats on the roof of the market... although when we were there the goats weren`t on the roof, they were just in this cool coop on the side of a hill.  Z liked the bunny more than he liked the goats. 

We had a great weekend, and it was great to reconnect as a family.  I love my boys!