Ready and Waiting

Hello all interested bloggers!

We made it safely to the airport and are now awaiting our flight to London. Only another hour and a half to go and we should be taking off. The airport isn't really that interesting and I left Andrew guarding my passport while I headed off to the free WiFi site to post my first blog. Hopefully the pictures will get a little more exciting as we head off on this adventure!! 

Our driver from the Park 'n Fly was very cheerful and kept telling us that we are "amazing people" and as we left the shuttle, he said "God bless you". What a delightful way to begin our trip. 

Sleepless in Kentville

Okay, I know I should be getting as much sleep as possible with our departure coming up tomorrow. Not sure whether I am just getting excited or thinking about all the things I need to do before we leave. It is apple blossom time in the Valley and this brings a great influx of people from various walks of life to our lovely town. In the twenty years that we have been living here, I find that the atmosphere of this festival has changed somewhat (but then again, so have I). When the girls were younger we always had extra families here for the day - we have the advantage of great parking and walking distance to the parade route. There was always a family friendly feel to the festivities but through the years it seems to have changed to more of a young adult party, with an excessive amount of alcohol and drugs. Sarah went to the fireworks with her friends last night and Anna also went to a friend's house to watch them, so Andrew and I ended up walking up (in the rain!) to see 8 minutes of a mediocre display. It's hard to believe we are beginning the stage in our lives where we will be doing things with each other more, rather than always having the girls around. Well, must get on with a cleaning day and organizing our lives for the next couple of weeks! 

London Bound

Just a quick update for all you followers of blogging. We found out the other day that the hotel we were booked in for London has been shut down due to fire regulations. Yikes!! They have booked us in another hotel, but I was reading some reviews on it last night and they are not good. So, I have been on the computer trying to find a place to lay our heads in London! Not an easy task. I may resort to priceline.com to see if I can book something that way. I have only done this once before for Halifax and it worked well. The only problem is you don't know where you are staying until after you book it, but there are certain criteria that you can input. Oh, the adventures of travel! The excitement is building and this is just one hiccup that we will likely encounter on our trip. Only 3 more sleeps!! 

Well, after some searching we found a hotel right in the middle of London for $75 per night (about 50 GBP) which is really good. Here is a picture of it ~ The Park International Hotel.

Yeah!!!

Beautiful Weekend and High C's

It was a beautiful sunny weekend here in the valley and Andrew and I set out for a walk along the trail behind our house and then to the research station. There were patches of these forget-me-nots scattered just about everywhere and they reminded me of my mom, who passed away in June of 1997. She had Alzheimers disease and the forget-me-not is the Alzheimer Society's official flower. I really miss her gentle nature and calm advice that she was able to give me before she got sick. She had 9 children and always had a wise word for me, when I felt like I was losing control at the helm of motherhood. There seem to be more of those days lately and I so wish I could call her up and just be able to hear her voice and know that she had been through all of this before me. Life does pass by quickly and we really need to cherish those special times with our loved ones. 

On a lighter 'note' - Anna spent the weekend in Digby at a music conference called High C's. She traveled with the Annapolis Valley Honor Choir and was part of a 151 voice choir for a closing concert on Sunday evening. Andrew and I drove up for it and we were not disappointed. It was held at St. Bernard's Roman Catholic Church in Church Point (a little past Digby), a large stone church made from granite, taking 32 years to build. It is quite impressive and if you go to google earth and type in St. Bernard Church, Digby, you will see that the top of the church is in the shape of a cross. The sound was amazing and Anna had a great weekend. She had quite the cultural experience in that she attended a Roman Catholic service on Sunday morning, which she said is "nothing like our church services and I don't want to be a Roman Catholic". 

Well, in one week we will be roaming the streets of London, England and I can't wait, only 6 more sleeps! 

"We're Off To See The Wizard"

After a very busy weekend, we headed off to the Atlantic Theatre Festival in Wolfville to see "The Wizard of Oz". What an amazing production of this show. The Stage Prophets, based out of St. Joseph's Church, have been rehearsing this play for about 6 months and the final result was excellent. Anna was a manicurist for the lion in the Emerald City and did a wonderful job. She thoroughly enjoys being on the stage and is excited about what next year will bring. Mary Hanneman, the director for this group, brought together a very large cast with ages ranging from children as young as six to senior adults - throw a dog into the mix and you should have a recipe for disaster, but with much prayer and perseverence, the show did go on. They performed 5 shows over the weekend and I am sure there were many satisfied theatre goers (and many very tired children!).  

This photo is of Anna and Julia (both manicurists) and both big fans of live theatre. I hope that they have many more performances in their futures. After all the hard work that the cast went through and even though they were all extremely tired, at the end of the last show, they all gathered together in a large circle on stage and everyone shared something they had learned through this whole experience. What a testimony for Mary to hear the positive and encouraging comments from both children and adults. We were there until 11 pm and I think we all left the building knowing that 'there's no place like home'.

Beautiful Bride

On Saturday, we witnessed the beautiful wedding of Laura (the daughter of dear friends of ours) and Josh MacDonald.  The day was perfect, sunny and warm, and the ceremony was filled with joy. They seem truly suited for one another and we wish them a long and wonderful marriage.  

Backyard Blooms

Here are a couple of shots of some blooms that are beginning to show themselves in our backyard. It has been a busy day, Sarah deciding to go to school mid-morning to try and touch base with her teachers after being out of school this week (or maybe just wanting to see her boyfriend??). Anna had an orthodontist's appointment this afternoon and now we have youth group, Andrew has a leadership team meeting and Anna has a practice at the Atlantic Theatre Festival in Wolfville for the "Wizard of Oz".  We should be home after 9 pm if things go well. It was a beautiful day here today and we finally got the winter tires off the car - yeah for summer!!    

Happy Mother's Day!

This is a photo of my beautiful family - I am so very proud of all of you and your accomplishments. Your lives speak much and your influence as lights shining in this world is so encouraging to me as a mom. Keep on leaning on the One who is in control of our lives. He will never let you down. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord,"plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." 

I am spending a relaxing Sunday listening to Lindsay's music from her blog and enjoying the song 'Fire on the Mountain' - thank-you for introducing me to Asa's music. Very thought provoking. The girls headed off to Moncton on Friday to Springforth (an annual youth conference). They were very excited about going and I was looking forward to some alone time with my husband. I had pre-purchased tickets to the new Star Trek movie and not being a trekkie fan, really didn't have any great expectations, but was pleasantly surprised (although I think Andrew enjoyed it more and got more of the jokes!). On Saturday we started out doing some work on our room, to try and get some more order around here, but then made a quick last minute decision to go to Halifax and pick up some more things for our much anticipated trip to the UK in June. We also took a little side trip out to Purcell's Cove Road where that devastating fire was last week. I had never been out that way and some of the homes in that area are very impressive. My prayers go out to those families who lost everything. The girls arrived home late last night and Sarah had spent most of the weekend sick, with some of the symptoms of swine flu, but not all, so am watching her carefully and thinking that she likely has just picked up a basic flu due to lack of sleep and close sleeping quarters at the conference. I will go and get her tested if things seem to be getting worse. She also managed to slice the end off of her baby toe (flip flops not a good choice of footwear!). All in all, it wasn't a very good weekend for her, although she did say the speaker was excellent. A busy week coming up, job review, lots of 'Wizard of Oz' practices, the Thomson/MacDonald wedding ....

  

Promise of Spring

This is a photo of a branch of our magnolia tree that is just coming into bloom.  It is such a beautiful tree and it usually has many admirers.  Andrew ('my amazing man'), has been busy getting the gardens and yard work done which he finds quite therapeutic.  I am thankful that he enjoys doing the outside esthetics and with his green thumb is able to turn our yard into a sanctuary. 

This is my first week of unemployment and am feeling quite like a 'little girl lost'.  I need to regain focus and put some of my time management skills to work.  My challenge lately has been honing my parenting skills and dealing with the female teenage drama that seems to be taking over my mental space.   It is such an encouragement to me to be able to chat with my adult daughters and gain a little perspective.  Our pastor's sermon this past Sunday comes to mind and thinking about how our attitudes can determine our outlook and affect those around us.

Chuck Swindoll has written the following entitled “Attitude”: “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.  Attitude to me is more important than facts.  It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, or say, or do.  It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.  It will make or break a company ... a church ... a home.  
The remarkable thing is that we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.  We cannot change our past ... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.”   

Worship

Check this out!  Very honest and real worship.

http://www.rhchurch.org/pages/cardboard-testimonies/

Busy Saturday

My Saturday began at 5:30 am.  The Annapolis Valley Honor Choir was asked to sing at the Eastern Canadian Tumbling and Trampoline Championship at Acadia University.  You can see the choir in the white t-shirts in the bleachers.  I will try and get a better picture tomorrow when they sing for the 'Stars of the Festival' closing of the Annapolis Valley Music Festival.  Anna is a part of this 60 member youth choir and they perform at different functions throughout the year.  We didn't stay for any of the competition (which looked like it was going to be quite good).  There were 107 athletes from Quebec, 88 from Ontario, 36 from Nova Scotia and 4 from New Brunswick.  I imagine the bulk of the medals went to Upper Canada!!  After the choir sang, we set off for Halifax.  We met up with my 3 sisters and their families and my Dad for lunch at the Steak & Stein in Dartmouth.  It was good to reconnect with them and catch up with my sister Sheila who moved back to beautiful NS last year.  My Dad turns 83 this year and as I think back on my 'growing up' years, I am so thankful for his faithfulness to his family.