More pics from Canada

Just wanted to post more pics from my trip. . .

Elyssia and her fishing rod! Cast away!!!

Garrison following his sister. Maybe he can catch her.

Oops, looks like he caught his dinner instead.

Dad steps in to help them with their casting skills.

Just wanted to pose with her bike helmet.

Me in the guest house;)

Elyssia and "Auntie" Carolyn

Garrison's trying to figure out his sister. . .

Caleb gets some time in the sun too.

I get to feed the baby

I just like this picture of me

And the winning word is. . .

I am a big fan of words. In Jr. High I was on the spelling team, I had no particular dream of getting to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, but as far as competitions go this is one of my faves to watch. I was really rooting for this girl from CA. It was her 5th time at the competition and the last year that she was eligable to compete. Alas though she came in 3rd, which is not bad at all considering she beat out 285 other kids to get there, and that there were 11 million throughout the US total vying for the title.

The winner was Sameer, a 13 yr old boy. The winning word was an appropriate one:

Guerdon: something that one has earned or gained, a reward or recompense for ones actions.

Sameer was defintely rewarded for his hard work and study tonight, earning the respect of thousands around the world that care about words and how they are used.

This is also the first word of the 30 that I want to learn on my list. It's item number 12 on it by the way.

My Trip to Canada

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to go up to Canada and visit my good friend, and soul sister, Meleah. Six years ago I moved to WA from Sicily, when the Navy so graciously transferred me, and Meleah fast became one of my closest friends. Alas our close proximity to eachother was not to last, for while I was on depolyment the Lord blessed her with the opportunity to get engaged and then married a few months later, after I returned, to her husband, who is Canadian (which is why I had to go up there to visit her). In any case the trip was well worth it.

There have not been many moments for her and I in the past few years for us to hang out the way we did last weekend. Much to my shagrin it had been 4 years since I had been up there last, she had just found out she was pregnant with her daughter, and I was due to go up about 2 years ago, but circumstances didn't work out in out favor for that trip. So hear I was finally, after another two years, driving up HWY 90 to go see one of my favorite people and her family.

Making time going across to Spokane was fabulous. First, there was no traffic going through Seattle, which is basically unheard of (and on a long weekend), even for the morning commuters none of the regular bottleneck places had any traffic. Secondly, because I can't eat fast food there was no reason for me to stop for food. I did stop for gas, but that was it. So getting there only took me about 5 1/2 hours. At 9:45 I was texting Kali to let her know that I had made it to Spokane. It was there that I chose to take a rest, and stopped in Sears to see what they had.

Let me just say that we here on the island get totally ripped off with the Sears we have to go to in Burlington. The one in Spokane is huge, and normally I can't find very much for me there, but in this one it was all about what I had to put back due to time and lack of funds. So I got a couple skirts, a shirt, and some super cute pumps!

I finally got to across the Canadian border around 2 or 3 and her house was about 10 - 20 min away from it, YAY almost there! I was pretty tired when I arrived so there wasn't much for conversation where I was concerned, but when we did start talking it was good. We had a good heart to heart that lasted until almost midnight. We shared many laughs and thoughts like we hadn't been able to do in a long time. The technology in todays era is great and it's nice to be able to have so much communication open to us, such that has never been before, but there is no substitute for a good old fashioned face to face conversation. She's really always been one of those people that I could say anything to and know that she wouldn't place a judgement on me for them. And her husband is just the same. Those two were totally made for each other.

Anyway, her children are just as much fun, and a prime example of what can be achieved when people should not use baby talk as the primary form of communication. Children are completely capable of understandling normal speech, and performing tasks (within their abilities), at a young age. Not to mention that baby talk affects the way that the child hears words and ultimately how their speech will be affected in the same way. Children risk forming lisps and other uncomfortable communication skills that will affect them for the rest of their lives. Sufficeit to say talking in baby talk to a child, especially the older they get, is not fair to them for their development.

Elyssia is quite the communicator and she was more than happy to lend me her bed to stay in while I was there, as she has now graduated up into her "big girl" bed. However, it was a a bit to short for me so I thought that the pullout would be more comfortable. I got lots of hugs and "I love yous". It was really sweet. As son as I wlked through the door I was accosted with books to read. Which was ironic considering that's what I used to do to my parents friends all the time. It didn't bother me though, after all turn about is fair play.

She and her brother, Garrison, also got toy fishing rods and that was the highlight of the weekend for them. Everytime we turned around they were asking to go outside and play with them, which was great until they would inevidably get caught in something, usually each others lines.

Daddy to the rescue!!! Scott tries to get the knot out.

Garrison is such a little boy too. Always into something and completely enjoys antagonizing his sister. It was pretty funny. He's not one talking to much, unlike his sister, but when he does speak it's always understood. I also got to meet the new little guy, Caleb. It's hard to believe that he's two month old already! While he slept a good portion of the time, he seemed to be pretty comfortable with me and more than one he fell asleep while I was walking around with him. Which as anyone knows is truly a precious moment.

We got to go to a parade, I think it was in Fruitvale (which will count as one of my 30 new places to go to) for their celebration of May days, and Meleah took me to this neat little thrift/antique shop down the road from her house. She took me out for a belated birthday desert. It was OK, but I've have better pecan pie. Pie you ask? I thought you couldn't have pie, but I just ate the filling. In any case Scott was a good guy for taking the kids while Meleah and I went out.

The weeked went by so fast that before I knew it my time was up and it was time to leave. I was glad that I got to go, and I'll definitely make it a point to get in more time to see them in the future months. This is probably a good way to sum up my trip:

Hours in the car: 16
Miles Traveled: 375
Gas money spent: $106.59
The time spent with friends: Priceless

It was a great visit over all and I enjoyed all of it. However, being single some would think that I'd look forward to getting back to my own place and leaving behind the noise of 3 children under 3 years of age, but I have to say that though it's always nice to have a place to retreat to, it's quiet and I miss the simple conversation of a three year old and the jokes and banter that only a family can offer. Oh well, one day that will be mine too.

Below are the picture we took on Sunday afternoon before the evening service. Enjoy!!!

Elyssia

Garrison

Meleah gets in on the fishing fun

And look she caught a tree!

I'll post more pics later right now the layout is getting a littl long and doesn't want to cooperate with me.

3 posts in 1 day!!!

Yeah this is my third post today. I know I've been absent for a while, school has kept me very busy. But today I left work early because I was no feeling well. I was feeling pretty aweful actually. There's been a horrible 24 hour thing going around. Normally I'm really healthy and hardly ever get sick, but today was not one of those days. I hope to feel better tomorrow though since the SPG's are meeting up together over at the Giests. We'll most likely be finalizing the details for our trip to St. Louis this year and then there's always the fun of fellowship that follows. Stay tuned though because I have my Canada trip to blog about. I had a good time! There's nothing like spending a weekend with those friends that know you best.

#18 on my list, Put together 30 new Sunday school lessons (#3)

Lesson #3

Topic: Observing the commands of Jesus

Scriptures: Acts 10:1-29; 34-35; 48

Synopsis: This is the story of Cornelius and Peter, and when the Lord tells Peter that all "things" made by him are clean, picturing the opening up of the Gospel to the Gentiles. At this time in history Jews and Gentiles did not mix with eachother, for they were considered "unclean", it was just not something that happened. But the Lord sent Peter a vision and message commanding him to kill one of the animals that He had previously said were not lawful for the Jews to eat. This included pork, fish with scales, and other animals. Peter wouldn't do it at first, but it wasn't unitl some visitors, that Cornelius had sent, arrived that Peter understood what the Lord was trying to show him.

What the Lord revealed to me: Peter didn't want to associate with Gentiles, but he had to in order to bring the Gospel to them, for the Salvation of Jesus Christ is open to enerybody. Sometimes there are people that I don't want to approach either. Sometimes it's simply based on the way they look (whether wealthy or not). Sometimes it's just because I get nervous about their reaction. But it's not for me to decide who needs to hear the gospel, it's only my job to tell those who may not know about Jesus. You can't tell by the way someone looks what is going on inside their heart or their lives, and they may truly be searching for spiritual answers, like Cornelius was. What I learned was that appearances are not everything and to break down those prejudices so I can try and tell more people about the salvation the Jesus offers.