True Love (No, I'm not talking about The Princess Bride...)

I have a confession to make.  A few weeks ago, I watched the first episode of the reality TV show of "The Bachelor."  I've never really been too interested in this show before because - well, let's face it - the whole concept is pretty ridiculous.  I mean, let's think about this for a minute.  25 or so single women come to a mansion in LA (or wherever the place is) and do their best to win the attention and eventually the heart of 1 single bachelor.  Apparently all these people are looking for that "one soul mate," that one they can spend the rest of their life with.  Their one true love.

These women apply and audition to be one of the "lucky" 25 who get chosen to meet the guy.  They know a lot about the guy, but he knows nothing about them.  The first night, they all arrive in limos at the mansion and he greets them one by one.  They all are dressed in their formal attire and spend the evening talking, laughing, sipping champagne and trying to get one-on-one with him.  Then, by the end of the night, he has to choose something like 20 or less that he wants to get to know better, and sends the rest home.

Those who get to stay are thrilled and excited and sharing how they know that they are so "compatible" with the guy and they are pretty sure it is destiny.  Those who are sent home are heartbroken and devastated, they are sobbing and can't understand why he didn't like them.

I have one word.  Seriously?

The whole idea is so ridiculous and melodramatic and...dumb.  Now, I know that over the years that this show has been on, there are a few couples who have found "the one" and are happily married.  But that is for sure the rarity.  These people come on this show and expect to find a deep, lasting relationship with someone, all the while he is "dating" 20 other women.  I just don't get it.

The concept of true love is so twisted in our day.  You see it on TV.  Its on almost every romantic movie made.  Its in millions of fiction novels.  Its in the magazines.  Everyone seems to be searching the planet for the one and only person who will completely satisfy them.  You will make them deliriously happy.  Who will always say the right thing at the right time, will worship the ground you walk on, who will come to your rescue when needed.  The only problem is - no human can meet those standards.  The only One who can truly fulfill and make us satisfied is our Heavenly Father.

On that note, however, there is hope for "true love."  Only it comes in a much different fashion then we are geared to believe.

Oh, it may start off similar.  An intense physical attraction.  A "swept off your feet" feeling.  But as time goes by, those feelings change.  They GROW.  They become deeper.  But this doesn't happen accidentally. It takes work.  It takes time and effort.  A conscious effort to feed and water that love.  In reality, I don't believe when most people get married that they are truly "in love" in the sense that I am talking about.  They are "in great fondness of each other."  Its as the days, weeks, and years go by that that fondness truly turns to love.

When I married Mr. Handsome, I definitely had stars in my eyes.  For the foreseeable future, all I could see was complete wedded bliss.  The whole "happily ever after" mentality.  What I couldn't see was the financial difficulties, the health concerns, the stress of work/ministry, the blending of two totally different backgrounds and upbringings (and in our case, from two different countries that are more different than I knew!), and the adding of children.  All those things come and add a whole new dimension to life.  And all too often it is when those things come that people give up and quite that marriage because they "aren't in love" anymore.

We can't say "I do" and then just expect to coast from there.  We must actively and daily work on our love, our relationship.  Often that may mean sacrificing something you may want for the good of the relationship.  It isn't always easy, but it is SO worth it.

Mr. Handsome and I will celebrate our 9 year anniversary this coming June.  Its been a roller coaster of a time with several major moves, 4 children, 2 ministries, and lots of other "stuff" mixed in between.  We have had our great wonderful times, and we have had our times where things are more tense.  But through it all, we have never once considered giving up.  Why?  Because it is a decision we made together 9 years ago.  We decided that we would not depend on feelings to get us through life.  We decided that we would CHOOSE to love, we would CHOOSE to stay.  We have all heard it.  Love is a choice.  Its not "a fancy or a feeling.. (name that movie! :-) )

I was thinking about this three weeks ago as I was in "the big city" with Mr. Handsome.  We had dropped our kids off at the babysitters and headed an hour north to go to the hospital for my yearly MRI appt.  I hate my MRIs  with a passion.  I have had so many I lost count.  But, I must have them so each year I barrel through them.  And for the past years, Mr. Handsome has been there right with me.  He comes and sits in the hospital waiting room for the several hours that it takes.  He prays with and for me that it will go quickly and that I won't be too uncomfortable or in too much physical pain afterwards.  He is there for me.

To me, that speaks love more than a poem, some flowers, or a romantic getaway (although all those are nice and I am treated to them when possible!).  The fact that I have no doubt that he is going to be there for me when I need him makes me feel secure.  That, my friends, is true love.

So, let those women go on a show and try to win the heart of the bachelor.  Let them backbite each other and do dumb and stupid things to get his attention away from the other women.  Let them think that in three months' time they are going to find lasting happiness and joy.  Let them depend solely on feelings to lead their life.

I'll take my man and our choosing to love each other.  And I will continue to do so for "now until the end of time" as our wedding vows stated.

Until next time...

Some Pictures...

With all that snow, we just had to get out and have some fun.  It wasn't quite "snowman" snow, so we didn't build one, but we have the beginnings of a great fort started!

Pumpkin wanted me to take a picture of her holding this snow clump.

Baby Girl wasn't so sure she liked this snow stuff.
She had a quizzical look on her face most of the time.

And since her sister got a picture holding a snow clump,
Sweetie Cakes had to get one too!

And here's an even bigger clump of snow!

Notice how you can almost see the grass in the middle of our yard.
The way the wind drifted the snow, our front yard is almost like a bowl.

Having fun!

My man hard at work shovelling. 

So, apparently in our town, when it snows their first priority is NOT plowing all the roads.
Here it is Wednesday and our road still looks pretty much like this.
 Except in the middle is a lot more packed down and icy.  And washboard-ish.

The view from our back door.  This was early Sunday morning just before
Mr. Handsome went out to start the exhausting task of shoveling a path to the van.  

So there you have it - a few pics of our fun in the snow!  I saw on the forecast today that we have more coming tomorrow or Friday, though I am not sure how much.  Yes, I do believe winter has shown up and made quite a grand entrance.  Show off.....

Until next time....

Just Some Thoughts

1.  We have 3 weeks of school under our belt and let me tell you - it feels GOOD!  Everyone here has their first day on Tuesday, so in a weird sort of way, already having school underway makes me feel like I am on the ball and on top of my game.  Which is a rare feeling for me.

2.  I am SO ready for Fall - the smells, the feel, the weather... its my favourite season and I just can't wait for it to get here!

3.  Every week we try to have a whole day of doing something just family.  I know not everyone has the privilege with work schedules to do this, so I am very grateful we can do it.  Sometimes we just stay  at home and spend time together and have dinner and a movie.  Other times we are able to do something a bit more, such as last week.  We went to local family farm that has all kinds of family friendly activities.  Corn mazes, petting zoo, pumpkin guns, pig races, tractor rides,  and mini golf are just a few of them.  We had loads of fun and will definitely be going back.

4.  Speaking of corn mazes, we had a lot of fun going through the "easy" one.  We still got a bit lost a few times.  It was fun, though.  Although I have always been a little nervous when I think of a field of corn.  I think it is because of watching E.T. when I was little.  That movie used to terrify me!

5.  This week we spent the whole day Thursday in the "Big City" near us.  We don't go there very often, so it was a fun day.  We went to Ikea to get a few small things I had been wanting.  Last time I was there, we picked up some plates, cups, utensils, and bowls that are for kids.  I LOVE them!  They are pretty rainbow colours and really sturdy.   And each pack which contains 6 items (like a pack of 6 plates..) only costs $1.99!  So I wanted to get some more.  Up until now, I have been using random plastic plates I had collected over the years from the dollar store.  So now I am switched over to all the same style of kid's stuff which really helps my OCD-ness.

6.  Just an interesting(??) and completely useless fact for you - when I opened said kid dishes from Ikea, I looked at the instructions for care for them.  And it was written in 33 different languages! (Yes, I counted.  Twice.)

7.  Our main reason for going to the Big City was to meet with a few people we had contacted through Kijiji.  We have been looking to get a dog for a little while and there were a few that looked promising. So we went to check out three dogs.  They all were pretty cute, but one caught our hearts right off the bat.  She is a beautiful puppy - a Puggle (pug/beagle cross).  She has had some training, was already "fixed" and all in all a sweet dog.  So we got her.  I think the owner was a little sad to see her go, but he knew that he and his family could not give her as much attention that she needed (they are gone all day everyday).

8. So we now have a 9 month old puppy named Sadie Sparkle (the previous owners named her Sadie. Pumpkin added Sparkle).  She's adjusting well to us, as we are to her.  Little Handsome is afraid of dogs, but he is getting a bit braver and we are working with him on it.  I don't think it will be too much longer until he is completely comfortable around her.

9.  Now for a little rant.  I am SO tired of hearing about what a "certain somebody" did on an MTV awards show last week.  Seriously.  If it weren't for Facebook, I would have known nothing about the whole incident.  But it seems everyone and their brother felt the need to write a blog post or status update about how horrified and shocked they are at the actions of this young girl (all the while being quick to point out that they "didn't watch it, but heard about it" or "saw a clip on YouTube").  Here's how I see it.  Miley Cyrus is a young pop star, who, to my knowledge, is not a Christian.  So why are we so shocked that she is acting like the unsaved person that she is?  And why, pray tell, do we feel the need to draw even more attention to the ridiculous and disgusting portrayal of sinfulness by writing letters to our daughters and sons, blog posts condemning the whole ordeal and whatnot.  Yes, we need to pray for these people.  Yes, we need to do what we can to try to get the Gospel into their lives.  But we don't need to write all this stuff about them, tearing down their character and person, just to make a spiritual point.  I seriously think sometimes people write articles on their blogs in hopes that it will "go viral" on Facebook or wherever.  Do we really think it makes us appear more spiritual by pointing out that a worldly person is acting just like that - a worldly person?  Let's give it a rest, please.  Like I said, I would have known nothing about it, and I would have loved to have kept it that way.

Okay.  End rant. :-)

10.  Speaking of Facebook, I have a marvelous idea.  I think there needs to be a regular Facebook, and then a Business Facebook.  The former would be for what Facebook is supposed to be for - keeping people up on the happenings in your life and staying in touch with people.  The later would be for those wanting to advertise and promote their business.  Honestly, I don't check Facebook to hear about someone selling cleaning products, weight loss paraphernalia, make-up, home decor, etc.  I check it to see what funny things my friend's kids have said, or how someones health is doing, or to see how someone I miss is spending their day.  I'm tired of all the promoting of the "home business" stuff.  (Just a note here - this is not meant to offend anyone.  I am not singling any one person out in my mind.  If you do this on your account, it is not directed towards any one person.  It just seems that this is what is most of my Facebook feed is filled with, and quite frankly, its boring to me and I'm a little tired of it.  So please don't be offended!)

11.  Some of you may be saying, "Well, Dear, if you are so irritated with Facebook, why don't you just quit it?" Very valid question.  I have seriously thought about it.  But I don't want to because it really is nice for me to keep in touch with some friends/family.  I am so far from all my family that it is nice to see pictures and such with all of them.  It makes me feel closer to them all!

12. Here's some TMI - as I was finishing up this post, I hear Baby Girl was up from her nap, so I went to go get her up.  As soon as I opened the door, I was greeted with the unpleasant aroma of, well, poop.  I  thought, "Well, lets change your diaper, baby!"  But when I turned on the light, I realized it was so much more than that.  Baby Girl had one hand IN her diaper, and the other hand had a fist full of poop!  She had poop all around her on the sheet and, get this, poop on her forehead and in her hair! There was poop on the side slats of the crib and the top railing. Then she pulled out her hand and tried to hand me a handful of poop!  Disgusting, to say the least.  Obviously she went straight to the tub.  So gross!  This is definitely a first for me.  None of the other kids ever did anything like this.  (By the way, if you don't like to say or hear the word "poop" and prefer "fecal matter," then get over it.  It's poop.  Plain and simple.)

Well, I suppose that's all for now!  Enjoy the long weekend!  Mr. Handsome and I have a double date planned with another couple friends of ours who also have four kids.  We are going to a fancy steakhouse and I am so excited!

Until next time...

Thursday's Randomness

1.  We had one of the worst thunderstorms I can remember being in the other night.  It lasted several hours throughout the night.  The rain was absolutely pouring.  It reminded me of the rain we had in the few hurricanes we went through when we lived in Florida.  The thunder was literally shaking the house.  But, all four kids slept through it all!  So glad we have sound sleepers!

2.  Wednesday morning, Sweetie Cakes told me I was her favourite sister.  Hmmm.... Perhaps we should spend more time going over the members of the family.

4.  Don't tell Mr. Handsome, but I think that I may just be starting to get the "I want to listen to Christmas music and watch Christmas movies" phase.  He's gonna be thrilled.

5. You probably just noticed that I skipped number 3.  Don't ask my why.  I'll blame mommy brain on that one.

6. Speaking of mommy brain, I had a "moment" yesterday.  I was going to make the kids some lunch, so I put on a pot of water to boil.  Then I waited.  And waited.  It seemed to be taking forever to boil.  That's when I realized I had forgotten to turn the burner on.  Smooth move, mommy.

7.  I think I am losing it in my old age.  I am a bit more emotional than I used to be.  For instance, I was watching America's Got Talent the other night.  If you have haven't kept up with that show, then you aren't missing out on much.  But there are some neat acts.  But one of them is this family - the mom and dad and their 12 (yes, I said 12!) kids.  And they all do tricks and stuff.  On their unicycles!  Some of the unicycles are like 10 or 15 feet or higher in the air!  Wow! Its pretty neat.  Anyways, their kids ages range from probably close to 20 down to the youngest two who are probably 4ish.  Anyway, they were doing their little act and at the end the very cute youngest little girls (I think they are twins) come out on stage - on unicycles!  It was pretty neat and the crowd went wild.  And I started to get choked up with tears in my eyes.  Why?  We can't be certain, but I told myself it was ridiculous.  But it was just neat to see that whole family doing this together.  And I don't know their faith, but I know I have seen clips of them praying together.  Sweet indeed.

8.  I also was all teary eyed last night watching the season premier of Duck Dynasty.  I know, I know.  Crazy.  But the family put on a surprise wedding for the parents, who were celebrating 48 years together!  48!  They had never had a wedding - they got married at the justice of the peace.  And the wedding was so sweet - to see that they are still together, having stuck it out through thick and thin.  It still makes me a little teary eyed!

9.  First week of school is almost done, and it has gone well.  It feels good to have things started and a nice routine going.

10.  As I was typing this, my friend who lives a couple doors down from us texted me a picture of what her husband won in a golf tournament today.  It was a goat.  Yes folks.  Now you know.  We live right in the center of Hickville. :-)

11.  Lately I have been working with the kids on not coming and interrupting me when I am talking with someone.  This has especially a problem when at church.  I will be talking to someone and they come up, pull on me and say over and over, " Mommy.  Mom!  Mommy!"  It is very rude and a bit frustrating for me.  So I have been teaching them to just come up, put their hand on my arm to let me know they need something.  I told them that if I can't talk right away, I will put my hand on their hand to let them know that I know they are there and that they need something, and I will be with them in a minute.  Its actually working pretty well.  Although Pumpkin has taken it a little further and now, whenever she wants to say something to me, even at home, will come and put her hand on my arm before she talks.  Even if I am in bed and she comes in to our room.  I will wake up to her standing there with her hand on my arm.  It makes me smile.  At least she is listening.

I suppose that is all the randomness for now!

Until next time...

School Has Begun!

So, we started another year of school this week.  Last year with everything that went on in our lives, we got behind and ended up doing school well into June.  I am not a fan of that.  So, I am determined to stay right on track this year.  And since I already know some time we will be taking off in November for our vacation, I decided to go ahead and get going on it.  So we started up Monday.

This year, we have Little Handsome in grade 2.  As usual, he dove right in with great gusto.  He loves school!  And I love that he loves school!  He definitely has the mind of his father.  He is a thinker. Pumpkin started Kindergarten this year.  We did K4 (preschool) with her last year, and it went okay.  She is like her mother.  She gets distracted easily and would rather be talking or socializing than sitting still doing schoolwork.  But I am hoping that since she is a year older and somewhat accustomed to the way things work with school, that she will do a little better this year.  I'll keep you posted. ;-)

Actually, I wasn't totally sure that we were going to home school again this year until just a few weeks ago.  When we first moved here in December, we had the very generous offer presented to us for Little Handsome's schooling to be paid for at the Christian school.  We were blown away by this offer.  To attend the Christian school here costs around $6000!

We originally started homeschooling when Little Handsome was starting K4.  We didn't really like the option we had for Christian school, and public school just isn't an option for us.  So we have home schooled thus far.

I didn't really think it would be such a hard decision for me, but it was.  Mr. Handsome told me he wanted me to make the decision, since I am the one who oversees all the homeschooling.  I prayed about it.  I thought about it.  I prayed about it.  I asked people who had children in the Christian school what their feelings were on the school.  I asked others who had both home schooled and sent their kids to the Christian school.  I went and visited the Christian school - twice.  And I prayed.  I can tell you it was a decision that I literally would stay awake at night trying to decide.  I don't know why it was so hard.  But it was.

Finally, I came to this conclusion - I could not decide.  So I told Mr. Handsome that I just wanted him to decide.  And he immediately said, "Then we are homeschooling.  I can tell that's what you really want."  And you know what, he was right.  That is what I really wanted.  So that was that.

I know not everybody understands our decision to do this.  There is a very good Christian school here in town.  And we had the opportunity to send our kids there at no cost to us!  Are we crazy?  Maybe.  But I firmly believe that we are making the right decision.  I feel very strongly about this.  Let me explain.

First of all, I want to say that I realize homeschooling is not for everyone.  And I do not look down at anyone who does not choose to home school.  No offense should be taken.  I'm just stating how we feel for our family. So lets get that clear. :-)

Our main reason to home school is not a "religious" reason.  No, our main reason is actually education.  We don't feel that public education gives a top-notch education.  I realized this a few years ago when I was at youth group.  Hearing our teens try to read even simple words and having trouble took me back.  Reading is the foundation to so much of life - a child should be able to read and sound out words that they don't know.  The more I looked into it, I realized that public education was not for us.  And while Christian schools do seem to do a better job in the education department, I was already leaning more towards homeschooling anyways.

And now we get to the ever famous "socialization" part.  If I had a penny for every time someone mentioned this to me when we talk about homeschooling - I'd have a lot of pennies.  To me this is one of the "dumbest" reasons a person would use to send their child to school.  If anything, it is a reason to NOT send them to school.  They are exposed to so much at earlier and earlier ages now, and I prefer to decide who I let me children be with and when.  And I prefer to let them learn about facts of life, etc. from us through a godly, biblical perspective.  Call me overprotective, call me controlling.  I don't care.  That's how I feel about it.

My children do "socialize" with kids their age.  The have their siblings, but they also have lots of friends at church.  We go over to friends houses and they play at friends houses.  Good grief!  How much socializing does a person need?

Some of the other reasons we home school is the freedom that it gives us.  Mr. Handsome is a pastor.  Their hours are different than a lot of people's.  Their day's off are not usually Saturday, and definitely not Sunday.  Their vacations are at different times (like our main vacation time this year is November).  Homeschooling gives us the freedom to take time off whenever we want to.  Often times, we will take Monday off to do family things, since that is Mr. Handsome's day off.  I love the freedom that we have to do that!

I also love to be so involved in what my kids are learning.  I like seeing them catch on to a new concept.  I love knowing exactly what all they are learning, and seeing firsthand their progress.  It is exciting to be so involved.

Those are just some of the reasons that we have chosen to home school.  We decided that we will take each year and evaluate, but as of now, we are loving the homeschooling life.  Yes, it does get tiring.  Yes, some days I wish I could ship my kids off somewhere for a little time to myself and some peace and quiet.  But I can already see how quickly time goes.  We only have a few short years with these children.  Before I know it, they will be grown and gone and making decisions like these for their own kids.  God has given us now, this present time, to shape and influence our children.  I just pray we can do our best to train the in the way that they should go.

So all that is to say we are back to school.  Its going well so far and I am loving being back in a more structured routine for each day.

Until next time...