Monthly Archives: September 2013

Boys, Family, Parenting

Be Eating Together

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My mom has always been incredible at celebrating little and big things as well she has established amazing family rituals.

My mom has:
-volunteered in my boys schools,
– done many pick-ups,
-watched most activities they do,
– buys back to school clothes,
– every holiday the boys receive something,
– birthdays are a big deal,
– mom even makes a quilt when the boys move into their big boy bed. She is working on OC’s right now with help from her friend Audrey.

How does she do it?

I have to admit I do have a favourite mom ritual: eating together at dinner. This usually involves a bouquet of flowers, homemade quilted placemats, nicely set plates and utensils and a yummy homemade meal including a dish of olives that my boys sneak and gobble up even before dinner begins.

On Sunday, we had our first meal in our new house with mom and dad. (We bought it on May 10th)

I just love these two people to the moon and back. It was amazing to have them for both lunch and dinner.

Between meals, mom rested on the couch or on the Nana Cabana outside.

I really feel that a family that eats together, stays together. I wonder what the stats on that are?

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I even phoned a friend and learned how to poach an egg for mom. My foodie friend wasn’t home, but her observant husband was able to give me the details after watching his chef wife all these years. Go Jimbo!

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Family, men, Parenting

Be With One’s Kinsmen

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Kinsmen = One of a person’s blood relations.

We have been fortunate to move to a city where many of my husband’s kinsmen live. These cousins are interesting, diverse, hilarious and extremely supportive. It also helps in the hand-me down and parenting department that they have older children. Yeah for great ‘experienced’ parents!

Last week, we asked the cousins to come over for a swim/sundae party with the ulterior motive that we needed a very heavy workbench moved out of the house.

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Yesterday, three of the cousins joined me in doing two things I have always wanted to do: take a drawing course and visit a local lavender farm.

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There is nothing like beautiful kinsmen in K-town. Thank you Jesus for supportive, open, family members.

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Boys, cancer, Family

Be Going for a Walk

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I have managed to gain over twenty pounds in the last three months. Quite a feat as this is approximately how much I gained during my nine months of pregnancy. And no I am not pregnant this time around for those wondering folks.

I am happy to say that mom’s weight has stabilized in the last two days. She also ate pizza with us tonight. We had to replace the tomato sauce with pesto and she gobbled it all up. (Tomato is hard on her mouth, esophagus, stomach.)

After dinner, mom rested while we played downstairs. Then JC convinced Nana to go out for a walk. No sooner did I have my shoes on then mom and JC were at the end of the road and into the field overlooking the lake.

Beautiful.
Peaceful.
Incredibly inspiring.
Going for a walk.

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Papa and his OC.

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Did we hear a snake? Nope just a quail.

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Super fast CC is hard to get a photo of these days.

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Now, if my mom can get off the couch to go for a walk, I know that I can at least do that as well. Thanks for the continual inspiration mom.

Boys, cancer, Family

Be Putting Your Microwave in a Corner (on the floor!)

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Having guests in your home always helps you to look at your habits and why you do what you do.

I have never felt good about possibly one of the greatest inventions of our time: the microwave. I rarely use it, probably less than once per week. You can probably tell this by the placement of this machine in our home.

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As my mom struggles to eat, we are challenged as a family to get the MOST nutritious high protein foods in every spoonful that goes into mom’s mouth.

This week, I have been personally challenged to find out about this machine that I didn’t really understand.

But here is what I found out:
– it uses microwaves (this made me laugh) to bounce around in a metal box to heat things up.
– creates hot spots in food or “steam explosions”.
– microwaving in plastic has shown to release toxins into the food.
– decreases the nutritional value of food that is heated up
– differences in opinions on whether it changes the food on a molecular level.
– great for disinfecting you kitchen dish cloth.
– for a product that sits in nine out of ten homes, there is little research on its safety in terms of how they are made or even work.

What am I going to do? Me, I am going to continue to use it as little as possible. How about you? What do you do when you read something like this?

Update: Sexy Neck has moved the microwave to the unfinished basement. I haven’t seen it since. It is now amongst the sea of boxes. I do see him head downstairs with a cold cup of coffee every once in awhile that mysteriously comes back hot.

Boys, cancer, Family

Be Looking for Balloons and Book Clubbers

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I dropped our middle guy, CC, off for his first day of preschool and then saw this out the window.

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Tonight, I was able to see light and hope in my mom’s beautiful blue eyes.

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Then I was fortunate to end the evening with my magnificent book Clubbers sitting in a candle-lit garden talking about a book, life, kids and other miscellaneous topics. Glory.

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Boys, cancer, Christianity, Family, Jesus Christ

Be Living In Birth and Death

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Every day, I now live in birth and death.

Birth of a new day every day, death of my old ways that don’t serve me anymore.

Birth of a new relationship with my parents, especially my mom and death of a past that I desperately want back.

Birth of trying new things, death of letting old things go.

Birth of a freer life and death of old fears that held me back.

Birth of new patterns, death to the same old path.

Birth of new fresh, real relationships, death of relationships that are no longer anything.

Birth to a new big, bustling city, death of a small town that we lived in for almost thirteen years.

Birth of living in the moment, death to planning and expectations.

Birth to new challenges and opportunities every day, death to a stake, fence-sitting life.

God says that there is a season for everything.

◄ Ecclesiastes 3 ►
New International Version
A Time for Everything

“1There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”

I am looking forward to a new season soon, hopefully next spring.

What do you think God?

Family, Flexibility, Jesus Christ

Be Waiting for Friends

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I have asked God to help me with new friends in our big city. I feel tired!

I have been very fortunate to have made very empathetic, thoughtful friends in our old town down the highway. Many have visited, most keep in touch. This is enough. I am blessed with friends.

I am happy to drop my son off and observe those around me. Normally, I am the one trying to connect and engage with others.

I am content to allow my son’s teacher to connect with him without my input or guidance or even an introduction. I will meet her at parent-teacher conferences in October.

I am okay with walking along and watching my beautiful boys beside me.

But this is not the end of my story.

Two Fridays ago, I took the boys to the library. There was a woman there with two boys. Her youngest son was hanging around my boys. We had a brief conversation.

At dinner (the same day!), I told my husband that I met a very interesting woman this morning at the library.

After dinner, we went for a bike ride downtown (see here) and who did we run into on the ride back? The woman from the library, Andie. We met her husband and saw her boys again.

Last night, we went for a walk in the rain. We were walking down the path in the downpour and there was a woman walking towards us. I didn’t recognize here, but she said, “Hi Joanna!” It was Andie without her glasses on.

I wonder where we will meet again.

God is so good. It was amazing to see a familiar face.

Side note: I made a joke awhile back with my friend “D” that any new friends I meet will have to have wet hair. I know funny, but I am just into real people that walk in the rain and don’t worry about getting their hair wet.

Haha God. You truly are omniscient.