Church Home

Well, it would seem that I have FINALLY found a church home. I have been attending a church where I really enjoyed the teaching, but there was no fellowship for me. I would stand in the foyer after the service waiting for my children and scanning the faces to see someone I recognized or someone to strike conversation with, but I never managed to be successful. I joined the singles group, but found that the entire focus of the "studies" was how to find a mate. I really wanted in-depth discussion and just found this to be a disappointment.

I tried attending the church my parents go to, but I found that although it has a very vibrant senior community, there was little for me there.

So, I decided to try Crestwicke Baptist Church. I have been going for two months now. I have met more people there than I ever met at my previous church home. I am involved in the praise group both singing and on trumpet. I feel at home there as the music is a combination of hymns and praise.

I know many people have prayed for this for me. Thank you so much for your prayers. God is good!

The Nativity Story

Went to see The Nativity Story last night with the kids and my parents. It was fantastic! We really enjoyed ourselves. Too bad the only showing time at the theatre was the un-family friendly time of 9:45 PM, which was prefaced by 15 minutes of commercials and trailers.

By all means, if you can stay up late enough to go see this movie (I napped before going) do it. It's a great way to remember the reason for the season.

Clouds to share with Paul

See Paul, you're not the only one with the cloud fettish. You are, however, the one who has a camera permanently attached so that you actually capture such events AND you're out of the house all the time whereas I'm always in the house. In fact, I took these pictures from inside my house.

Dominican Republic here I come!

Yippee! My girlfriend Margie is taking me to the DR from December 30 - January 6. I am sooooo excited! We're staying at the Riu Taino Hotel. I've started shopping for new summer clothes as all mine are too big right now. They might not be after a week at an all-inclusive resort.

What a week!

This week has been just full of ups and downs. On Monday my cousin Tawnya called to say that she and my aunt Janice were going to fly from Saint John to visit us from Wednesday to Friday. We were so good at keeping this a secret from Mom. I drove to Hamilton Wednesday morning to pick them up and drove like a mad woman to get them to Guelph quickly. To our surprise and dismay, Mom wasn't even home when we got here. She was extremely surprised, however, when she came in and was greeted by Janice. Good fun I tell ya.

My sister-in-law Jenn was here with the babies to see Jan and Tawn, but she really wasn't feeling well, nor was Mercy, her daughter. Jen went to the clinic that afternoon and was told she had pneumonia. I convinced Luke that it wouldn't be wise for her to join us for dinner as she was not well. I think he was a little hurt and thought it was a personal thing, but the girl was just not well I tell ya. He soon discovered this when she fell when trying to get into their house because she was so weak.

Luke brought Nadja and Mercy to us so he could take Jen to a clinic again. We took the babies and headed to Swiss Chalet. While there, we noticed that Mercy was extremely unwell. Her eyes were rolling back into her head and she was quite fevered. Mom packed babies up and she and Dad went searching for Luke and Jen. They found out that Jen had been seen and was told she probably didn't have pneumonia, but to go home and rest.

Thursday Luke took the day off to take care of his family. Sometime during the day Jen went to the hospital to have Mercy looked at. She was pale, limp, not breathing well and her eyes were watery and glazed. Apparently, the staff at the hospital told Jen she'd better register as well because they didn't think she looked well and they wanted to run tests on both of them. By 2:45 Luke was told that Mercy was being released, but they were keeping Jen. We all (me, Mom, Janice, Tawnya, Luke and Nadja) piled into Mom's station wagon and dropped Luke and Nadja at the hospital to pick up Mercy and his van. He had to get meds for the kids, so Dad went out to Luke's house to help him for the evening.

Friday we found out that Jen has Influenza A and was being moved to a room. I started out at 8:00 am to drive Jan and Tawn to the airport along with Mom, only to get a call that their flight had been cancelled. Around we turned to get home and find that Nadja had just thrown up and Luke was feeling miserable. I took Nadja's temperature which was well over 39. I took her to hospital to be checked out. They put us in a room immediately that was completely enclosed. They said she likely had the flu, but that it wasn't bad enough for her to require being admitted. I got in the car with her to head home and squeezed some hand sanitizer out of the bag I keep in the car, only to have it explode all over me. I was well sanitized as was the interior of my car!

I got home and told Luke that he and his girls needed to go home to get well because I really didn't think it was wise for them to stay at our house and guarantee that we all get it. Dad has been there taking care of them and Mom's been back and forth. Jen's still in right now as her blood pressure is still too low for them to release her.

I've taken bleach to the house and am praying that the girls and I don't pick this up. Jan and Tawn's rescheduled flight was cancelled yesterday as well and they were finally able to board a plane this morning and go home. Their visit was not nearly what they expected, I'm sure.

Please pray for our family that those who are ill will recover quickly and that the remaining healthy ones do not get this illness.