Tag Archives: time

author, life, musings, poetry, psychology, writing

Be Counting Time?

Leave a comment

IMG_1929[1]

We are fortunate to have four, well-rounded seasons in our part of the world.

They flow easily and gently through beautiful hot summers, into a cool, colourful autumn, then a crisp, snowy winter and a mild, life-giving spring.

Can you feel the change in the air right now during this season?

It is almost as though now should be the new year.

The greatest gift of these seasons we are given each and every year, consistently without question is that we are all given the gift of the same amount of time.

No less than another and no more.

What will you do with this gift of your time during this new season?

Will you make your time count or just count the time?

You can choose.

No excuses.

It is your gift.

The seasons come.

Time goes.

Be enough.

Boys, Family, Self-help

Be Burning The “To Do” List

Leave a comment

How many moments have I missed by the “to do” list that runs in my mind? 

 How many words have just floated by me as I stare at my “to do” list on the counter? 

 What am I missing when I attend to my ‘to do’s”? 

This endless list that gives me a perception that I am fruitful, productive and moving in the ‘right’ direction.  

Right now I choose: 

To stand still. 

Allowing time to float by. 

Having no schedule.  

Nothing “to do”. 

For a few days, I have the gift of sunburning the “to do’s” to the basics – food, water, sleep are the only necessities we have.  



 Time to notice. 





 A season of slowing down.



A time to play. 



A season to see.  



An opportunity to be.  

Myself. 

Imperfect. 

Unproductive. 

Human being. 

Be.  

Me.  



cancer, Family, Grief

Be Before and After At the Wall (orange wall)

Aside 4 Comments

There is a sacred place in Jerusalem called the Wailing Wall or Western Wall. This wall is believed to have been part of the Temple of Solomon. Checkout 1 Kings 6 and 2 Chronicles 3 in the bible for more insight.

As I have been painting our living room wall orange, I have been pondering the Wailing Wall. This is a sacred place for Jews to go to pray and lament. My personal orange ‘wailing wall’ has been a place where I pray and lament.

I pray:
⭐️ May this home be a sanctuary.
⭐️ Help me Jesus!
⭐️ Lord, be enough for me this day.
⭐️ Help me ‘understand’ why I want to stuff my mouth with food.
⭐️ Lord, be with each of my boys. Be present to them.
⭐️Help me put one foot in front of another when all I want to do is lie under my duvet.

And I lament, oh how my heart grieves so many things:
💔 Our best friends moving to Vancouver Island last March.
💔 Moving from our ‘hood’ on 29th Crescent in May.
💔 Mom starting to show she is unwell in June.
💔 Saying goodbye to friends popping over and being ‘known’.
💔 Moving to a new city and neighbourhood in July.
💔 Mom being in the hospital and beginning her journey with cancer.
💔 Starting new activities and schools for the boys in September.
💔 Riding the cancer wave with mom and dad all autumn.
💔 Mom’s final hospital and hospice time in December.
💔 Mom’s death on Boxing Day.
💔 Broken relationships are finally exposed. (My sensitive soul is actually more relieved than grieving this one!)
💔 Living each day without my mom.
💔 Watching my dad, Steve and the boys grieve.
💔 Existing in a world without my mom a phone call away, without her popping by, without her listening ear, without her presence, without her hugs.

20140217-131155.jpgBEFORE

I pray.

I lament.

I grieve.

I choose.

To paint.

20140217-131205.jpgAFTER

Sanctuary.

Sanctified.

Peace.

20140217-131318.jpg
I can survive!

I am full of gratitude for my boys!

I sit in the desert.

I wait.

I rely on my blessed friends.

I look for how God will bring me out of this.

I believe.

I rest.

I WAIT AT THE WALL.

If you need me, you know where I will be!

Boys, Family, Jesus Christ, Parenting

Be Taking Dukey On A Hike

Leave a comment

We are in the final days of “living” in the town where all three of my boys were born. I have been very intentional visiting with certain people and going to special places.

On Sunday, we went for a hike on the acreage behind the first house we lived in.   We went with an old neighbour and her son.  This is the home where JC was born beside the dishwasher.  Here’s the story.

JC insisted on taking his backpack with a snack and a few other things in it.  Does this ever happen to you with your own children?  I said yes and boy did we get a surprise.

We had hiked up to the top of the hill overlooking the lake.  The boys were sitting and chatting when suddenly out popped “Dukey”, JC’s teddy bear.  We don’t let our teddy bears go travelling with us, but I sure smiled when I saw Dukey.

Image

My mom had given us Dukey when were six months pregnant with JC.  She gave it to us in the house at the bottom of this hill the Christmas before JC was born.

When Dukey popped out of the backpack it was a very special moment thinking about all that has happened in the last seven years since our boys (and Dukey) came into our lives.

Thanks JC for being in tune with other people and God’s Spirit inside of you.  You are one of the most thoughtful and caring people that I know.  You made us all smile today.

Boys, Construction, Family, Flexibility, men

Be A Man – Part IV

2 Comments

I love my man!  Usually when I talk about ‘be a man’ (see here), I am talking about Sexy Neck.

In the midst of cleaning, moving and digging out trees, I had to add a guest “man” to my banter with my man.

Papa Bob or Baron Bob as we lovingly call our dear friend, is a great man.

He came to dig out our boy’s placenta trees.  Trees we had planted with our boys placenta’s underneath.  Strange, I know, but really interesting.   JC has an autumn blaze tree because of the colour and CC has a plane tree because of the size.  OC will get his tree this fall when he turns two.

Since we were moving today, the boys requested that the trees come with us.  They also asked if we could bring the bathroom mirror, but we left that behind.

Our Papa Bob, was busy digging a humungous hole in our heavy clay soil, but when the boys arrived he had them digging with him, avoided hitting them with his sledgehammer and looked like a superhero when the roots finally gave way.

Here is Papa Bob in action.  Let’s remember it is easy to get our heads down in a hole, but it is the people that God has placed around us that really matter.  Thank PB for reminding us of this!

Image

Image

Image

Uncategorized

Be a Non-TV Watcher

Leave a comment

Note to those people reading this: My intention in writing this down is to reflect on my life, help me finding healing in some areas and laugh at myself! Enjoy the journey.

We sold our TV over five years ago. I am a reality TV junky. Oh how I love insight into peoples’ lives. Survivor, Amazing Race, home improvement shows and even The Bachelor all suck me into the vortex of mind-numbing TV.

We sold our TV because our son was around six months old and I realized how distracting TV was. My beautiful baby boy was rolling on the floor and I was watching what was happening in a jungle. My son was hungry but I waited to feed him til the next commercial break.

Why should TV dictate anything about my life? Why do I allow commercials to flash in front of my face and get into my head?

I can’t wait to get home and away from TVland. Gotta run and see how my show ends!

20121205-224047.jpg