Our New Coffee Table!

The time had finally come to replace our old coffee table. We bought it as a set from Ikea when we first came to Canada 9 years ago. The futon has since been passed on, and the coffee table had definitely seen better days. It has been loved very much, written on, spilled on, coloured on, you name it! I was going to just try and refinish it, but Mark wanted to try and build one on his own. So, we figured out what we wanted and Mark did his magic. It turned out gorgeous!!!

He added a box inside it for the remote controls and our coasters and the rest of the inside to be used as storage, which Kaley quickly made good use of:-).

Mark is so talented and once again built a beautiful piece of furniture. It matches perfectly in our living room and we can use it store all sorts of good stuff! He is going to work on some matching end tables next and I can't wait to see how they turn out.

The old coffee table

And our new table!

Way to Go Chloe!!!

Miss Chloe hit her next big milestone today! She has been practicing really hard and today she attempted to crawl and figured out how it worked:-) Way to go sweetheart, you have done a great job!!

I wanna Go Go Go Go-on an adventure...

And head out on an adventure we did! Last night a thunderstorm came through Barrie and the result of which left Kaley's beloved pool somewhere away from home. Right before the rain came, we had some pretty high gusts of wind coming through and her little pool was blown over into the creek behind our house. I could barely get the lawn chairs into the house without blowing away myself, so there wasn't any way I was going to be able to jump the fence and get the pool back into the house before the rain came. When the rain did came down , the creek quickly filled up and had about four feet of quickly moving current, so sadly enough, the little pool was swept away down the creek leaving a very sad and worried little girl.

Kaley's plan was that in the morning, we would build a pink boat, get in the water and go find our pool. When we did, the big machines that are working out back would come and get it and bring it back to our home. As excited as I was about this plan, we had to make a few minor adjustments to it before heading out.

So, after breakfast, I put Chloe in the sling, we put our tennis shoes on, grabbed the dog, our camera and a flashlight and set off to find our pool. We had a great time walking through the field and looking down the path of the creek. There were a lot of weeds and grass that had grown there, so it wasn't easy to see much of anything, but we kept going. I half expected to see it floating in the middle of the lake that the creek feeds into, and if it was, Kaley's pink boat would have come in handy! Needless to say though, thanks to a grate that was put on the opening of the tunnel, our little pool was saved!!!

Now we just have to wait for daddy to come back from District Assembly so that we can go and bring it back home.

One little life lesson was put into practice during this ordeal. When we were praying last night before bed, Kaley wanted to pray for her pool. So, we prayed that God would keep it safe wherever it was, and that he would help us know where to look for it in the morning. After we found it, we thanked God for answering our prayer.

It may not be theologically correct, but to a three year old, that was what was important to her and she wanted to tell God about it, so I was happy to help her pray for it. I love seeing the world through the eyes of a little girl:-)

Here are some photos of our grand adventure.

All ready to go!

Searching in the tall grass

I love the flashlight:-)

What once was lost, now was found!

We also found a rock with some snails-Kaley's favorite!

And took some time to smell some wildflowers and pick them to bring home.

Kaley doing some more searching with her flashlight!

Happy Mother's Day!

To both of our beautiful mothers-
Happy Mother's Day!
We love you very much and are thankful for the
precious gift you are to us.

My Miracle Mother

Mom, I look at you
and see a walking miracle.
Your unfailing love without limit,
your ability to soothe my every hurt,
the way you are on duty, unselfishly,
every hour, every day,
makes me so grateful
that I am yours, and you are mine.
With open arms and open heart,
with enduring patience and inner strength,
you gave so much for me,
sometimes at your expense.
You are my teacher,
my comforter, my encourager,
appreciating all, forgiving all.
Sometimes I took you for granted, Mom,
but I don’t now, and I never will again.
I know that everything I am today
relates to you and your loving care.
I gaze in wonder
as I watch you being you—
my miracle, my mother. By Joanna Fuchs

A Lesson in Tithing

As most of you know, our oldest daughter Kaley turned three a couple of weeks ago. Along with the many gifts that she received, she also received some money from her grandparents in the mail. She has received money before for gifts, but this is the first time that she really knew what it was and what it was used for. With all of the excitement going on, we decided to put it in a special place so that we wouldn't lose it and keep it until there was a good opportunity to use it.

We were getting all of the things ready that we needed for church on Sunday morning and I glanced up and saw the money laying on the shelf near the kitchen. Ding ding ding!!! This was the perfect opportunity to talk to her about the important life lesson of tithing! So, we got the money down and asked her if she remembered what that money was for. She did, and we explained that whenever we receive money, that we give a portion of it to God before we spend it on anything else. We then explained that she would put the money in the envelope at church and that during offering time, she would be able to put it in the plate. We said that her money would be used for helping others learn more about Jesus and the love he has for people.

I thought that this great life lesson would be received with welcome and open arms of a certain little three year old and that she would be excited to be able to put her tithe in the offering plate at church. Well, the lesson was not as warmly received as I thought it would be. Kaley got a sad look on her face and said, "But I don't want to give my money away, I want to keep it!" And, no amount of explaining or offering the bright side of this occasion did any good. She was quite adamant about not wanting to give her money away!!!

Needless to say, she did put her tithe in at church that morning, but I can't say that she was a cheerful giver:-). Little did Kaley know that her response wasn't all that different than how we as adults can sometimes view our money. I am, however, excited and thrilled to be able to see how God is going to bless that $.25 that she gave and use it to bring others to a closer walk with him. God is good, all the time!

Family Photo Scavenger Hunt

Last night we participated in our church's Family Photo Scavenger Hunt. It was a blast and so much fun for all of us. We were given 1 hour to go and take as many pictures as we could from the list. Some items were worth more than others and the only *rules* were that every member of the team had to be in all of the pictures and the same person couldn't take all of the pictures. So, we charged up the battery in our camera, filled the car up with gas, loaded the girls and headed to the church.

There were about 30 items on the list, but as many of you know, with two little children in car seats, the feasibility of getting in and out of the car many times is very time consuming! So, we had to pick the ones that were easiest to do:-) We had a ton of fun and had a great time together as a family!

Getting ready for the scavenger hunt.
Kaley wanted to show you her *funky* hair that had colorful extensions in it!

Chloe waiting for us to get ready:-)

Scavenger Hunt!
"The entire team having a tea party with stuffed animals."

"The entire team wearing hats"

"The entire team in a bathtub"

"The entire team under the Player Drive street sign"

"The entire team taking a picture with a firefighter" Our friend Kevin:-)

"The entire team on a spiral slide"

"An adult member of the team in a child's car seat"

"The entire team jumping"

Friday Fun Family Night

We try and make every Friday night our family night where we do something fun together. Tonight, we decided to make it the ever popular pizza and movie night. The girls and I went to Tim Hortons to pick up some donuts for dessert while daddy got the pizza ready. We made our own pop (that post to come later) and had a great dinner. Chloe even got a *treat* of rice cereal...yum:-) Next week will be even more exciting for her as we start to introduce vegetables!

Anyways, after dinner, we put on the movie Toy Story. We weren't sure how Kaley would do with a full length movie, but she watched the whole thing! She went to bed singing "You've got a friend in me" - it was really cute. Chloe is unfortunately a lot like her mother and fell asleep halfway through the movie.

It was a fun night spent together. I love our little family:-)