Christmas Letter 2011

2011 was a crazy year. It started like most others, with January, February, March, etc, but then we decided we needed some excitement beyond watching the months go by. Christopher applied for a job in Calgary, Alberta and by the end of June, the remaining year would be unpredictable. We never planned to leave British Columbia and the thought of living elsewhere was heartbreaking. But the opportunity for Christopher was too good to pass up. In August, Christopher left for Alberta to start the job and find a home. In September, Natasha and the kids crossed the Rockies for their new home in Calgary.

Violet made the most of this year but continuing her 

curious ways. She still loves the convenience of the toilet for accessing water but has expanded her projects to include soaps, gels, lotions and powder. In one such adventure she was found in the bathroom at midnight with a bottle of shampoo emptied into a cup, both containers on the edge of the tub lined up with other containers one might find in the bathroom. With the beautiful row of containers behind her she set out to involve nail polish and nail polish remover. As soon as she was discovered she began cleaning up but the damage was done, the nail polish remover empty, the   shampoo empty but her curiosity fully satisfied.

Leif spent plenty of time riding his bike with cousins and friends. He rode so fast his training wheels could not keep up and so they were no longer needed. Leif still loves trains and big trucks, construction equipment and tools. But Leif loves playing with one thing above all else: clips... you know, the kind that can hold a bag of chips closed. Leif sleeps with clips, bathes with clips and eats with clips. We love Leif and Leif loves clips.

Lillias is a very unique girl. She is very sure of her own ideas and how things ought to be. Lilli loves to help with things around the house and especially in baking delicious treats. Lilli also lost quite few teeth this year. Traditionally, children wait until their teeth are quite loose to give them a little tug or let them fall out on their own. In true Lillias style she discovers a loose tooth and wiggles, and yanks on it, and pulls and pushes it until it has no choice but leave her mouth. In a 2 week period she had lost 3 top-front teeth and one on the bottom. Her smile lacked teeth but was full of character.

Miete turned 9 this year and had a Harry Potter Birthday party. Miete loves reading the Harry Potter books, watching the movies and telling everyone she knows about the characters. Miete loves making up her own songs, melody and lyrics. She has also begun to establish her own taste in music which in no way coincides with her parent’s music tastes. Miete wants to be famous for singing, dancing or acting. She has a flare for all things dramatic and loves to imagine herself at the centre of some romantic conflict. 

Natasha is a crafting predator. She seeks out crafts online and, armed with her sewing machine, gluegun, felt, fabric and creativity, she makes, designs & creates. She still loves running and in June she completed the Seattle Rock and Roll half marathon in a personal best time. Natasha is now preparing to be a personal trainer by submitting herself to physical pain several times a week (you should see her arms). Natasha also managed to pack most of the house, while Christopher moved ahead to Calgary, and sell the rest. 

(We have to mention the amazing help from great friends and family in BC; you are amazing.)

Christopher used 2011 to ride his bike as much as possible, change jobs, move to a new city and province and convince others he is not crazy. The biggest challenge was living in Alberta alone for one month while starting a new job and searching for a suitable home for the family. The bicycle commuting continues through the frigid winter months with some rides in minus 20 degrees Celsius. Christopher’s facial hair has reacted to the extreme cold by growing in a bearded fashion. 

We are learning to love Calgary and have been pleasantly surprised by how fun it is. It has a different beauty than the verdant landscape of BC but it’s good here. 

We love our family and friends very much and wish you all a Merry Christmas. 

Love,

The Barbers

10 Years of Marital Bliss

 10 years ago today at 3pm I think,  I was married to the love of my life, and although at the time I didn't think it was possible I love him so much more now. Look how handsome he is. Besides extreme good looks, he is so good to me. He cleans, and not just when I ask him to. He takes it upon himself to clean bathrooms, wash floors, vacuum, fold laundry, bath kids and change diapers, wash dishes and he even cooks sometimes. I never have to nag or ask him to do any of this, and there is never an argument among us about who's turn it is to do what chore. If I am away for a couple days or just an evening, I know I will come home to a clean house and clean, happy children. Who could ask for anything more.

  I think it was the birth of Miete when I really felt my love for Christopher grow exponentially. I imagine that is the case for most women. You have a child that comes from both of you, and therefore really connects you and makes you a bonded family. That a man can see his wife in such an unattractive, and icky state, and cling to her with such admiration amazes me. I'll spare the details of my graphic and horrendous first labor, but Chris didn't leave my side for 24 hrs except to take restroom breaks. He barely ate or slept and looked as emotionally drained as I was physically. It hurt him to see me suffer like that. That made me love him so much more. With each new child he has been my strength and support, although he has toughened up some over the years and been able to remove himself a bit from my suffering.

 Life is not always easy, in fact we have had our fair share of struggles, and I'm sure we will have more in the future, but I am thankful that in most circumstances Christopher and I see eye to eye. We seldom argue or disagree, and I know this is not because of me. Any minor bad feelings are quickly remedied because my Christopher is humble enough to apologize to me and avoid further discomfort. I am not saying I am always right, I am just saying he apologizes first because he is the better person. Christopher always says "A happy wife is a happy life."

 Christopher and I became great friends before there was any romantic involvement. We loved the same music, doing the same things and just generally had very similar tastes and styles. I think that is one thing that has attributed to us continuing to get along so well. We are best friends. We still love to go to concerts together, and live an active lifestyle. We love the same art and share cultural and political views, although Christopher knows a lot more about that stuff then I do. We love to have fun together, and we laugh all the time.

 I am a relatively insecure person, and for at least the first year of marriage I would watch my husband sleeping or playing his guitar, and wonder how I got so lucky. What did I do to deserve such a fantastic husband. I wasn't exceptionally clever or good looking, I had no great talents. Just the fact that someone like him could love me really built my self esteem. For the first several months together I wouldn't let Christopher see me without make up on, even when I wasn't feeling well. Crazy, I know. I have long since gotten over that, although I still try and look nice for my husband.

 I know this may sound cliche but I truly believe that to have any kind of successful friendship or relationship you must treat the other person how you wish to be treated, and you must be the person that you want to be with. It sounds simple, and it should be. Christopher has brought out the best in me and I hope I in him. I want him to always love me, and I know he feels the same so I will continually try to please him, as he does me. That I believe is the key to a successful marriage. Caring about the other person as much or more then you care about yourself, and make sacrifices. I hope everyone can be so lucky as to have a love like ours.

    The End

Oh, I guess I should mention what a fantastic father Christopher is. I often feel the kids love him more then me. He is the nice parent, the one that plays with the kids.

pre-beard

World Vision

As many of you know, every year we do some sort of fundraiser for World Vision. The idea is to get my older girls involved in helping a charity of their choice at Christmas time. They usually pick something out of the World Vision catalogue to donate to. This year, as well as last they have chosen to donate to rescue and protect sexually exploited children. To rescue two children it is $150. We would like to help rescue as many as possible. I try as much as is possible to have the girls involved in making whatever it is we are creating for that year. I have been trying to figure out this years items since early October. Here is a list and some pictures of some of the items we are offering this year.

These are cute little woodland creature christmas ornaments. Lilli actually stitched the squirrel. The set of six is $15. Individual ornaments are $3 each.

We are also selling Pumpkin Spice, root beer  float (my favorite), cookies and cream, and mint chocolate fudge for $5 a square. I have a ton of this fudge in my freezer and could bring it home next weekend for anyone who is interested.

This is Pumpkin Butter and it is amazing. There is no actual butter in it and it is similar to Apple Butter. I am selling 250ml jars for $6 and 500ml jars for $9. I can bring a few home next week, but mostly when we come home for Christmas. I am reluctant to mail jars however.

I also make these adorable owls. This is the middle size which I think I will sell for $10. This one has already been sent to my friend as a baby gift. The larger ones are $15 and the little baby ones are $8. I haven't made a baby one yet, but I will post a picture as soon as I am done. It is in the process.

These are the ones I made for my kids last Easter, so they are not that fresh looking. They are all slept with and well loved. These are easy to mail, but I will add on shipping cost depending where you live.
Anyways I hope you will all help support our fundraiser this year.

My girls giving their speeches in public speaking class. I am so proud of them, especially Miete who has serious anxiety and just general social issues. They worked hard and spoke well. Lilli on frogs, and Miete on why Monkeys make good pets. 

Miete is 9

This is what the invitations to Miete's party looked like. I made the paper look old by soaking it in tea and drying in the oven. Then we typed up an official Hoggwarts acceptance letter inviting the guests to celebrate the new head girl's Birthday.

 Some of the treats we served included exploding slugs. (jello jigglers covered in pop rocks), chocolate covered frogs, licorice wands, (dipped in chocolate and sprinkles), also Butterbeer, which I made by adding vanilla and melted butterscotch sauce to clear cream soda. The girls loved it. Also served Gillyweed rolls, colored blue, and boiled worms form Hagrid's garden.

 Miete's new friends from church and one from our neighborhood. The sweetest, funnest group of girls. I am so glad that Miete has finally found friends that are so kind to her and help her feel included. The girl on the far left is Marrin. She is our new 12 year old babysitter. I love that she is young enough to have fun with a bunch of 8 and 9 year olds.
 We had a fun potions class where we experimented with a vinegar, soap and baking soda solution, as well as assorted other experiments from a lab kid. We had a game where Argon's babies had escaped and the girls had to find them. Had over 100 spiders all over the house. Pin the glasses on Harry, divination, where we told fortunes, and a golden snitch treasure hunt. Chris hid snitches around with messages attached to them. The kids had to follow clues like "portal to the ministry of Magic, get flushed", something about flu powder that was next to the fireplace, muggle mail and a few others. I made the snitches by painting ping pong balls gold and adding gold wings. I made all the girls their own wands and they were amzazing. You roll cardstock 8.5 by 11 up tightly, and glue gun as you go. stuff the inside with paper to keep it firm. Then coat with a base to protect paper, add glue gun patterns similar to wands in the movies, paint in browns, silvers and golden browns, and coat in a varnish to protect. Wish I took a picture.

                        The girls are performing expeliarmus! I'm sure that I spelled it wrong.
 Anyways it was the funnest party we've ever had, and the only thing missing was all our friends and cousins from B.C. The girls really missed you all. They actually got quite emotional a few times before the party talking about missed friends and previous parties.

This picture was taken last summer. Miete loves all animals.

 I love my dear Mietey. I cannot believe I have a nine year old. How fast time goes. I remember her early years like they were yesterday, but thank heavens they weren't. My darling Miete continues to challenge me more then any of my others, but I love her quirky, creative and imaginative personality. I wouldn't trade her for anyone, and I am so proud that she is mine. She is such a sweet and sensitive girl. Often a little to sensitive, but we love that about her. She is so sentimental like her mother, and alot like her Nana. Happy birthday my darling dearest.

Our Home

Here is a few pictures of our home. These are the rooms that are set up and worth seeing so far.

Miete and Lilli's room.

 

It is an Owl themed room, I guess.

I made this for our 'Hang Out' room. I saw it on an Urban Outfitters site, but their one was like $40, so I decided to make my own. It took me forever, but thanks to my Cricut I think it turned out better then the original.

left side of 'Hang Out' room.

right side of 'Hang Out' room. Dragon art on wall courtesy of Miete.

Kitchen. The Owl is a chalk board, other side is the art board. Note the scary pig mask.

We obviously need to rearrange our pictures and put some larger ones on that wall. 

I am having trouble uploading more pictures, so this is what you get for now. I will try to add more later.

My new favorite running spot.

I promise to keep this short and sweet. Really I just want to write about my new favorite running spot, and to post a heap of pictures of it. Last Monday I went out for a 10km run. I don't know my way around here yet, so I pick a direction and try to stick with so I don't get lost. I found a path along a tree lined road that seemed to gently slope down. I followed it for 3km, until I saw a park across the intersection. I crossed into the park and instantly fell in love. There was a paved path, that I think goes quite far in both directions, and lots of small dirt paths. The dirt paths are perfect for mountain biking and trail running. This place is called Bowmont Park and it runs all along the river.

This is the first picture I took upon entering the park

Once I started running through the park my pace decreased substantially, because I was more concerned with taking pictures. Every corner I turned the view was more spectacular than the one before. I am not a great photographer to begin with, but I only had my phone camera, so the pictures I took really do not do this place justice. I only ran 2km into the park, because I was continuing to go downhill and knew I had 5km to run back home.

If I were more eloquent with words I would happily describe the sounds I encountered on my run as well. The water babbling over the rocks, the soft whisper of the Aspen trees, the grass rustling in the breeze, and let's not forget the rattling snakes in the grass. Not rattle snakes, just noisy snakes and a lot of them. I actually went back on Saturday, and went off the paved path for a bit, but then after a snake brushed against my foot, I headed back to the pavement.

 My dear friend Colleen would love running here, and I wish she was here because it is a challenging run, and I could use her to push me along. The run back is much more difficult than the one into the park because those gentle sloping hills aren't so gentle when running up them for 5km. My legs were like jello when I arrived home yesterday, and my lower back has been hurting a great deal since. I'm sure it's just from running on an incline for such a distance. It is worth it though, and I am going to continue to run further into that park to see what more gorgeous views I can find.

 I really feel as though this pretty little place is all my own, and has been put here to rescue me, at least until it is too cold and snowy to run there anymore. 

 I took my family there today, and although it was cloudy and windy, and there were no snakes hissing in the grass they still enjoyed it. Well, the kids were a little disappointed not to see or hear any snakes. Maybe next time.

don't you just want to kiss that sweet face.

So it turns out there really are hills, trees and bodies of water in Calgary, at least in the NW.

I just want to write a quick post. I am lonely and bored lately, which is why I am blogging more. I have lots of time to think, and therefore to write.
 First off I just wanted to thank everyone for their feedback on my last entry. I loved all of your comments and helpful advice. It is comforting to know I am not completely alone in my mommy angst. Honestly there is so much more I would have liked to say, but I refrained myself. You can only be so candid on a blog that is not anonymous.
 As well, on further reflection I hope I have not offended anyone. I know I have some dear friends who have gone, and continue to go through major trials. Being a single mother must be a real challenge and I really admire those of you who do it. Your breaks really are few and far between, unless you are lucky enough to have a supportive family. Having a spouse in the military would also be a great trial, as would having a special needs child, or the loss of a child, or going through a major illness, or being single and wanting a family. To those of you who may relate to any of these categories I apologize for my insensitivity, but at the same time the heart feels how the heart feels. It is how I act on those feelings that is most important.
 I still really would like a kid free vacation. Then I would miss them, and think about them, and be happy to come home to them. For a little while anyways.
 Here's a new topic. I love my house. It is so cute and has three full levels. We have wood floors on the main level and stone floors in the kitchen. I have a good size area with a gas fire place that I am making into a school room. I have a dishwasher for the first time in my married life. A large finished basement that I throw all the kids toys, and unpacked boxes down to. I don't even care how messy it is down there, because no one will see it. I'm going to put a stationary bike and treadmill down there eventually as well. I have my own bathroom and a walk in closet. I can't wait to get decorated and settled in. The girls room is done already and it looks so cute, until you open their closet and see it loaded with boxes. They have a bit of an owl theme going on. When everything is set up I will post pics.
 Last thing I want to talk about. Christopher and recently discovered this little band, and we LOVE them.
  You have to click on the link to see. That song is so beautiful, but so are all their other songs. It doesn't hurt that the male singer is a cross between Johnny Depp and Jack White either. Anyways I am pretty sure that some of my friends will appreciate them.

this handsome face always melts my heart and makes me smile.

Mid Life Crisis, maybe

 I think I may have hit a bit of a mid life crisis, or maybe just wishing for my lost youth.
  I grew up with the idea that all I wanted was to get married and have a family. That is not all I wanted, just what I wanted most. I imagined traveling to foreign countries, before I had children, working in humanitarian aid, or volunteering in orphanages. Anything really that had to do with being somewhere far away where I could do some service and gain great life experience. It didn't happen, which of course is due to other choices I made.
 I got married when I was 24, which isn't particularly young, but I expected to have accomplished much more before then. I was so happy to have found the perfect husband in Christopher and eager to start a family with him. I really thought that being a mother would bring me such bliss. Since Chris and I got along so well and never fought, then of corse our children would be the same. We would never have to yell at them, and they would always be obedient and sweet with only small bouts of humorous mischief. They would adore us and each other, and never yell or fight. I really did think this.
 Well it hasn't been that way. In fact it's been quite the opposite. It is a daily struggle in our home. The kids fight and cry a lot. I am not remotely patient and I yell too much. My kids are not perfect either. My oldest struggles with great anxiety, and frequent emotional distress. So far both my older girls have had a hard time academically, with poor attention spans, and Lilli the inability to sit still for more than five minutes at a time. Violet, my youngest we call "Little giant" or "Violent Violet". She is ferocious and aggressive. She hits, bites, spits, and yells, and makes monstrous messes. I have little complaints about Leif, other then he whines a fair bit and can be too affectionate.
 Now all this might sound harsh, but I bet most of my parent friends do not have perfect families either. They may even have angry and negative feelings towards their children at times. I am sure I am not alone here. But truly I cannot say that I have joy in motherhood. I can almost hear the gasp. I'm just being honest. There are moments of joy, like holding a sweet, sleeping newborn, and when our children say loving things to us. When we have fun family days, spent at the beach or anywhere that we enjoy together. But those are just moments. Even "fun days" do not go complaint free.
 Maybe if I had more breaks, I would have stronger feelings of affection and warmth. Chris and I last went away alone when I was newly pregnant with Violet. That would be 3 years ago! I do get little bits of freedom. I shop alone when I can, for years I attended yoga classes to calm, and give me a peaceful escape. So much of why I enjoy long runs, is because I don't want to go home until the kids are in bed. I have been lucky to have a capable and willing husband. He never complains when I run out the door as he returns from work. Is this selfish of me? If it were the 60's it certainly would be. Christopher always says "a happy wife is a happy life."
 Lately though I have been feeling like those few hours of freedom, a few days a week is not enough. Maybe it is because I just spent a solid month alone with my children. It's knowing that if I go out with my friends, there is a babysitter waiting at my house and I can't stay out all night. I can't on a whim hop in a car and drive down to San Francisco with friends, for the weekend. I miss that so much. I miss road trips without kids,  and late nights out dancing or going to concerts. Just not worrying that I have dependents waiting at home for me. Is this what makes a mid life crisis? I really don't know and there is little I can do about it.
 I also miss having Christopher to myself. I know when the kids go to bed we can be alone, but I want more. I think back to our short courtship. Those were great times. The newness and excitement of our relationship. The butterflies I would get when we held hands and our first kisses. Even hearing his voice on the other end of the phone when he was in Utah and I in B.C, gave me such a thrill. I really miss that. I love my sweet husband so much more now, and all our joint life experiences have brought us closer together and strengthened our love. I cannot imagine a life without him, nor do I want to. But… I don't know. I just want the old days back. I want to be in my early 20's again, just for a little while. I want Christopher and I to fall in love again, and maybe have more time alone, traveling before we start having kids.
 I got pregnant the second month of marriage because I knew I wanted a bunch of kids, and I didn't want to be an old mom. Now I am doing all I can to be fit and healthy so I can be a young mom. But I am 35 and there is nothing I can do about it.
 I am going to end this entry here because there is no resolution. I can not turn back time. I just need to suck it up and get on with life, love my children and be happy with my circumstance and maybe some time I will get a little break.

heading out from my mom's place

I have a lot of wonderful friends, and I am so grateful to all those fantasti people who helped us out with this move. For all the cleaning, packing, meals, help with the kids, and the care packages we were sent off with. We feel very loved, and that makes saying goodbye that much harder.

Theo and Holden are my nephews that lived next door to us. They are Leif's best BFF's. Those are his words. When we got here, Leif and I sat and cried for awhile together. He said "I want to go home and ride my bike with my boys." He will miss them the most I think. Violet adores those boys as well.

first stop in Hope. Leif says "look at my butt."

So let me tell you a little about the journey. It was long! We were loaded with new movies, toys, books, and lots of junk food. The kids went through all the new toys before we reached Rae-Anne's place 20 minutes from my mothers. We managed to go movie free until we reached Merrit, two and half hours in. We drove from there to a town I will call "Trout Leg" (to protect it's identity) with few stops, but lots of whining and crying. By the time we arrived Rae and I were ready to leave the kids at the Travelodge and run away. We stayed the night there, and it was one of the ugliest, most depressing towns I've ever been in, and to call it shabby would be a compliment. It was like traveling back in time, sort of. We wouldn't have stopped had we been kid free. To the children it was exciting to stay in a hotel for the first time. Leif even asked if it was our new home. Yikes!

 We couldn't get out of that town fast enough. The drive from there to Golden was slightly less torturous. The scenery got more beautiful and two of the kids had short naps. We did however have to endure at least four long hours of Punky Brewster episodes. My mother bought a season of the show for the kids. "Thank-you mother." That theme song is now burned into my brain. We took many pictures on the remainder of the drive. The mountains were spectacular, and the lakes were endless. However the roads were steep and winding and I couldn't help but wonder if I will be able to make it back to B.C for christmas, as I so want to. It's what I have to look forward to. 

Our last stop on the drive before arriving at our new home was Lake Louise. I am so glad that Rae-Anne suggested that we stop there because that place was spectacular. We couldn't take enough pictures. The water was such an amazing color, and even the smell up there was wonderful. I look forward to going back there often. It would be a nice, getaway. 

I know my pictures don't do it justice. There was quite a glare on the lake from the sun, and I'm not much of a photographer. I promise, it was amazing though.
 We are at our cute little house now, and I look forward to getting settled in and decorating to make it feel more like our home. I will post pictures of it on FB when we get set up. I hope that soon this place will feel like home to me. For now though I have a great heartache, and I miss all those near and dear on the west coast. 

Leif's eating with one of his famous clips because I forgot to pack spoons.

I really feel guilty writing. Like I should be doing something much more productive. I have little more then a week until moving day. I am counting down the days until I see my darling Christopher again. However I feel like I still have so much to do and it is getting overwhelming. It's as if we make it through one obstacle only to encounter an other. 

 It turns out we are going to have to down size massively for this trip. Our good friend Jared has purchased an SUV with a trailer hook up to pull our u-haul behind. This is fantastic because it will save us close to $1000. I am so grateful to Jared for helping us out with this move. The only down side is the u-haul can't hold as much stuff so we have to get rid of a lot of stuff. Like almost all of our furniture. We're getting rid of kitchen chairs, bookshelves, t.v, probably computer desk and t.v stand. Unfortunately most Ikea furniture isn't meant to be taken apart once it is put together. We hope to keep our beds and couch. I've already handed off my food storage to my mother. Also trying to sell my washer and dryer. So you see I have to get rid of quite a few things in very little time. Our bigger home in Calgary will be quite bare for a while. I am sad to part with some of these items but we will still have what is most important.

waterslides on Lilli's birthday.

I will also be sad to leave my garden. I can harvest most of it before I go but my tomatoes are just starting to ripen and I have more kale then I know what to do with. I wish I had someone to share it with but most people don't seem to like it much. I love it though.

 I've completed most of my bucket list. - ran around stanley park, though by myself.

- went to waterslides with my girls, their friend Emma, and kelly

- made loads of jam

- read the book series

- went to hayward lake many times, although only the ocean a few times

- did not do the grouse Grind. Attempted 3 times, but something always got in the way

- Saw Harry Potter

- Did not swim in the beautiful water at Golden Ears. It hasn't been very hot and a sitter is hard to come by these days. This may be the first summer in many years that I haven't gone swimming at all.

  

 I just want to try to retell a short story that my mom told me the other day. It came from one of those Chicken Soup for the soul books.

 There is this very poor family, and I'm sure it was quite a long time ago, but I don't remember the exact year. One Sunday when they are at their church their pastor announces that he wants everyone to save up and set money aside to help out a struggling family in need. This poor family makes huge sacrifices to set money aside for a church donation. They eat only potatoes for a whole month. At the end they have saved $100 which is a fair bit at the time. They take their money to church and when the donation plate gets passed around they put their $100 in it. After the money has all been collected from the members of the congregation the pastor announces that they have received $115 in total from the people of the church. Wow, right. Well to top it all off, the pastor calls the little family up that donated the $100 to receive the total donation.  I want to feel disappointed in the other members of the church who donated so little, but then I think what an amazing example that family was. This is a true story, like that of The Widow's Mite. I know people that are like this. My parents are very much like this, but they would not say so. If you know them you would probably agree. They are great people who have raised me well and I am grateful for their example.

enjoying a sandy cupcake at Lilli's party.

she's sweet when she sleeps.

I'm going to try and make this short and sweet. I just wanted to write a quick gratitude entry. 

 As most of you know we are moving to Calgary at the end of this month. Chris went on ahead of the rest of us on August 2nd. It already feels like he has been gone a month. I still have two and a half weeks without him. I miss him terribly but I am grateful for modern technology and that we can talk to him on skype  every day. I know it means a lot to him to get to see and speak to the children. They miss him as well but are doing much better then I expected. Miete says she doesn't miss him so much because he is still alive. Lilli continually asks him if he has found her any friends in Calgary yet. Leif asks him about the train he took a picture of downtown Calgary, and Violet kisses his face on the computer screen.

 Several obvious things that I have noticed in Christophers absence are 1st that I don't have near as much laundry to wash. My loads are smaller and less frequent. I never realized my husband was such a clothes horse, always changing his outfits and throwing clean clothes in the laundry. I'm just kidding, that is Miete and Lilli, but seriously the laundry pile has gone down and I no longer have to wash his stinky cycling clothes. The other thing I notice is that the kids junky cereal is lasting  a lot longer. Those are the only two positives. I'm doing more dishes and folding more laundry, taking out more garbage, bathing the kids more, changing more diapers, and running a whole lot less. I am lucky that I have such a useful husband.

 There are quite a few other wonderful people who have stepped in and offered their help in my Christophers absence. We have been invited to dinner at friends of ours, also Leif got to wrestle with the father which meant alot to him. It's something he does with Christopher on a nightly basis. I've had a good friend of mine show up at bed time and help get my kids clean and off to bed, and then continue to clean my disaster of a house. I've had my sister come over and fold several loads of laundry. I had an other friend bring me over several freezer dinners and bags of fresh produce and cookies. So kind! Others have watched my children and offered their help, even phoned to see how I am doing. And two separate families have offered to lend us money, one of those families I don't even know. I am embarrassed to mention this last one, but very grateful to their thoughtful generosity. It is an expensive move, and paychecks may not come in time for a rent deposit. I am so grateful for my amazingly helpful and supportive friends and family. I love Maple Ridge and the great people here.

  It saddens me to think that some think it is not self reliant to ask and accept help from others. We all need to have opportunities to show charity. Service is a huge part of my religious belief and I am honored by others selfless service. It makes me want to do more to serve, and serving feels good too. So thank you to all you fantastic people. You know who you are, and I love and appreciate you.

 Me and my darling dearest.