Grey Cup Party

On Sunday afternoon about 18-20 people gathered in Josh & Laurie's living room to watch the grey cup. It was some good times, even though the Bombers did not deliver. We had some good rivalry as Josh's parent's were in from Saskatchewan and some others in the group were also Roughriders fans unfortunately. All rivalry was done in good fun.

I am not the biggest football fan but I do enjoy getting together with friends and eating. It had been a long time since "everyone" was able to hang out together. But despite my lack of enthusiasm for football, I must brag that I did watch the ENTIRE game and even cheered and got excited. It surprised even me! Who knew watching sports could be so much fun? I enjoy playing most sports, but watching them on tv just does not thrill me in the same way.

Jess enjoying the game

Following the game, Kristy and I headed out to Rosenort to stay at her in-laws for the night so that first thing in the morning we didn't have to leave so early to head down to Grand Forks. It was a great way to spend the weekend and MUCH better than having to go to school. I was a bad girl and skipped my classes yesterday to shop. It was well worth it as I got the scoop of what went on yesterday. I didn't come home with as much as I had initially anticipated. I just didn't find the things I was looking for. Mostly I was doing my Christmas shopping and was hoping to get that done, but unfortunately I need to return to the mall to finish up some people's gifts here at home. Oh well. It just so happens that I LOVE going to the mall, especially when Christmas music is playing and I have a Starbucks coffee in hand.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of our little day trip as we were 3 women on a mission!

Meeting Baby Gavin

This afternoon I finally got to meet and hold the long awaited baby Gavin. What a cool experience. To sum him up, he is perfect. He is perfectly proportioned and is incredibly beautiful. God has been creating this perfect person inside Sabrina for the past 9 months and now that we can see him face to face it is clear that the fingerprints of God are written all over him.

Us "Aunties" were pretty excited to hold this little guy and we are going to continue to enjoy holding him and spoiling him in the months and years ahead. I anticipate some fun time that are going to be had amongst his "aunties" and him. Many a snuggles will be had between us.

In no time at all this will be Graham & Kristy welcoming their own child like this.

Sabrina looked fabulous. I am just so happy for both Ken and Sabrina. May this child continue to be a blessing to you in the years to come. It's going to be great watching the 2 of you teach this child and to watch him grow into the man God intended him to be.

Baby Gavin

I got this wonderful phone call around supper time today. It went something like this:

Kara: "Hello"

Sabrina: " Hi is tante Kara there?"

Kara: "Yes!!! Tante Kara is definitely here!"

Sabrina: "Congratulations, you are an auntie to a baby boy".

Yeah!!!! Kendall & Sabrina welcomed a beautiful baby boy this afternoon, Gavin Gray (not entirely sure on the spelling). He was a whopping 9 pounds and 1 ounce. I can't wait to meet him and hold him tomorrow. Pictures to come. Mom and baby are doing great, but tired. Congratulations you guys. May you enjoy this new adventure you have set up upon as you raise your little boy to be a mighty man of God. May God give you strength, lots of patience and an abundance of love for this child. I love you both very much and I can't wait to give all 3 of you a hug :)

Paul Brandt

Last night I had the awesome opportunity to go with Aimee to see Paul Brandt at Pantages. Originally Andrew was supposed to go with her, but due to an unfortunate work schedule (I guess good for me) he was unable to go, so she asked me to accompany her. Prior to the concert, I was not really a fan of Paul Brandt. That's not to say I didn't like him - I was not moved either way. I'm not sure if you noticed that in the first picture, he is definitely wearing a Winnipeg Blue Bombers jersey.

Once we arrived at the concert and heard a few songs, I was was converted. I'm not some mega fan or anything and the devotion to Paul is nowhere near what is towards the Backstreet Boys, but I definitely enjoyed my evening of listening to him perform. He puts on a great show.

Part of the enjoyment was being able to watch Aimee enjoy him (she is a much greater fan than I am). Thanks Aimee for taking me with you and letting me experience the show with you. I had a wonderful time. I am looking forward to our next show - we're going to get you that well so you can meet him backstage! Plus, we have to remember the cowboy hats so we don't stand out :)

Here is a video I took of the concert of Paul Brandt imitating Garth Brooks. It was quite entertaining:

A Blast from the Past

I mentioned a little while ago that I was putting together a bunch of pictures for my mom for Christmas of us kids. I recently was able to get some of the pictures when we were younger scanned. There are definitely some gooders in here.

Left: Me at 2 months old at Christmas

Below: Kevin & Derek

All 3 of us kids

Daddy's Girl

The arrival of Derek

Me at Age 2

Me and Kevin - Brand spanking new

Grandma's Little Girl

Kevin & I

CT Results

I know there have been a bunch of people anxiously awaiting the news from my doctor's appointment today. Well, my CT was normal. Now I should probably be a little more excited about those results, but I must admit that deep down I'm feeling kind of frustrated. Not much they can do for me at this point. I did however get a prescription called Maxalt to try for about 2 weeks and then I need to go back and see my doctor to see if it's working or not. If it's not working then I will go to a medication that I take everyday to prevent headaches from happening. Today my blood pressure was 138 over 96, so elevated, but that can be caused by a number of things and it's not necessarily a dangerous thing. I just need to be careful with how much stress I put myself under. Easier said than done considering I am in an intense program at school.
So I am still on the road to figuring out what is going on inside my head. I really am thankful that it was nothing serious.
Today my wonderful friend Sabrina came with me to my appointment to help calm some of my anxiety (Thanks Kristy for providing me with some common sense). I am slowly learning that I don't always have to do things by myself and I can ask for help from friends when I need to. It's a hard thing to learn sometimes, but I am so thankful that I have friends who are there to help me learn. I love you guys very much!

On a little side note, I have tickets to see Celine Dion when she comes to Winnipeg next October 2008 with my mom, Dominika and her mom. It should be a good time. I don't really enjoy looking at Celine Dion, but she sure can sing, so I am going to thoroughly enjoy hearing her live.

Well, I am off to continue with my relaxing day in hopes of bringing my blood pressure down.
Perhaps Oprah will have a good episode on today. Thank you everyone for your prayers over the last number of weeks. I appreciate it more than words can say!

Tis the Season...

I have had a pretty good day. My headaches have been not as bad today as they have been in the last few days AND my class this afternoon was cancelled. What more could I ask for? There was nothing I really needed to be studying, so I took the afternoon off. It was wonderful. This afternoon the house was all mine and so Christmas music echoed in every room. I had the urge to begin my holiday decorating. I put up my little tree up on my 3rd floor and strung garland down the railing. The soft glow of lights and the aroma of some nicely lit candles was so peaceful and relaxing. It was very much welcomed in my mind and I felt as if I could breathe a little bit.

My plan for this upcoming weekend is to start my Christmas baking. This year on the agenda are the following cookies:

• Peanut Butter Balls
• Sugar Cookies
• Cream Wafers
• Naniamo Bar
• Shortbread
• Sour Cream Cookies
• Poppycock (it's a caramel type popcorn)
• Nuts & Bolts (a trail mix sort of munchie mix)
• Gingerbread

We'll see how this list goes and perhaps maybe some other desserts will be added.

Anyway, here are some of the pictures of my decorating efforts today:

Up the stairwell to the 3rd Floor

My "Sitting/Office" Area

Procrastination

I must be completely honest. I did NOT do a very good job studying this weekend. In fact, I hardly touched my books at all. I just didn't seem to have the head space for it. Instead I tried to fill my time doing things that brought some joy to my life and studying Joint Mobility just wasn't doing it for me.

Friday Cole and I went swimming together with our friends, Gary, Mary, Ella & Sophie. It's neat to watch the 3 kids interact and push each other to try new things in the water. We try to go swimming almost every Friday, although it doesn't always work out that way, but when we can't go, it is definitely something we miss. We just have a lot of fun together. I wish I had pictures to portray the amount of fun going on, but they no longer allow cameras in pool areas. What sad world we live in when we can't even take pictures of our kids have fun swimming in the water. Swimming is always followed by a special treat at Tim Hortons and then home to bed (sometimes for both Cole and I).

Saturday morning I had to be at school at 9am for a special event. We held our 2nd Annual Fundraiser for the Humane Society, so my class along with some of the other students at the school gave people 1 hour massages when they donated at least $20 to the Humane Society. We were booked up solid for the entire morning. I was exhausted by the end of my time, but is wasn't anything that some retail therapy couldn't fix. After our special event, Jenn and I decided to go to Polo Park to boost our spirits. I used up the remainder of my birthday money and got some great sweaters and some lululemon attire. It was quite wonderful. However, by the time I got home, I was completely wiped, so I napped for a little bit for heading out to church with Cole.

Dan & Bonnie were at a fundraising banquet for the evening, so it was just me and Cole after church. By that point in the day I had ZERO energy left. I did a lot more than I should have in the day and my head paid for it, that's for sure!

On Sundays I usually hang out at my parents for the day. The newspaper had some awesome coupons for Michaels in there, so my mom, myself and my aunt ventured out to find us some Christmas decorations, cardstock and an awesome set of cookie cutters. I was pretty stoked about the cookie cutters. I have had such a hard time trying to find neat looking cookie cutters both Christmas themed and also baby themed (as it would seem all of my friends are deciding to have kids and will be needing baby showers). Well, I found this great set of 40 cutters for $8.00 (with the 50% off coupon) and I am beyond excited to start my Christmas baking very soon. Perhaps even next weekend.

When we returned home from shopping I was once again wiped, so I just lounged around on the couch watching football and attempting to do some studying. I figured I should at least make some effort to know the material considering my final exam is on Tuesday of this week. Yikes! For some reason I just don't seem to care. Joint Mobilization is just not a priority in my head these days. I have other things to consume my mind.

I am putting together an awesome gift for my mom for Christmas. She never reads my blog, so I am safe to say what it is on here. My parents just finished redoing their basement/rec room and my mom has been wanting to find something to go on the walls. So I have been collecting pictures of us kids and my parents over the years and am having them blown up and framed so that she has something to put on her walls. I'm pretty excited about the gift. Looking through my pictures, I didn't really seem to have any really good ones of my brothers, so this evening I dragged my brothers outside to try and take some good pictures of them. They didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. We're going to try again on Tuesday night and hopefully we'll get some good ones.

Here are some of the ones that I am considering.

Bring the Rain

I have had this song going through my head all day today. It's a pretty powerful song and I believe it is how God is transforming my heart these days from anger to trust. Don't get me wrong, I'm still scared speechless, but work is definitely being done in my heart.

"Bring The Rain"

~ By Mercy Me

I can count a million times

People asking me how I

Can praise You with all that I've gone through

The question just amazes me

Can circumstances possibly

Change who I forever am in You

Maybe since my life was changed

Long before these rainy days

It's never really ever crossed my mind

To turn my back on you, oh Lord

My only shelter from the storm

But instead I draw closer through these times

So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace

Bring the chance to be free

Bring me anything that brings You glory

And I know there'll be days

When this life brings me pain

But if that's what it takes to praise You

Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of

The dark clouds that may loom above

Because You are much greater than my pain

You who made a way for me

By suffering Your destiny

So tell me what's a little rain

So I pray...

Holy, holy, holy

Is the Lord God Almighty

Be Still...

"You will keep in perfect peace

all who trust in you,

all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

Trust in the Lord always,

for the Lord God is the eternal Rock"

~ Isaiah 26:3-4

Praying for peace and rest today as I go about my day that I might not dwell on what I do not know or what I imagine might be. I am praying that the waves in my mind would be calmed by the Lord God and that my mind would be able to focus on the tasks of the day.

Just got a call from my doctor. I need to go in and see her next week Thursday at 3:10 pm to discuss my CT results.

"Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth."

~ Psalm 46: 10

The Weekend in Review

Cole and I had a special weekend together. Dan & Bonnie went away to the Whiteshell and I looked after Cole. Friday night we had a very low key evening. Normally we try and go swimming at Pan Am on Friday nights, but this past week I was just not feeling good with my headaches, so trying to conquer Pan Am pool with a bunch of kids screaming and splasing around me did not seem possible. So instead we rented Ice Age 2, ate supper and had snacks in front of the tv while watching the movie in our pajamas and cuddled up together under blankets. It was a perfect evening.

Saturday morning was very low key also. Cole and I made Chocolate chip pancakes together and then spent some time playing video games. Cole doesn't get a lot of time playing nintendo, but to be honest, I wasn't feeling great and laying in bed playing video games worked well with my head, but also gave him something "special" to do. It was a win win.

Saturday afternoon Cole and I picked up his friend Sam and the 3 of us headed down to the Manitoba Museum. We had a good time together. I was very impressed at how well the boys did and how interested they were in learning about the different exhibits. That being said, I was disappointed with the Nonsuch. It had been awhile since I, myself had visited the museum, but apparently now they time you while you are on the boat. You can only go on the boat for 8 minutes and a maximum of 10 people are allowed on at a time. There was this drill sargaent woman making sure EVERYONE knew that you were NOT allowed to touch the ropes and had to go down the stairs backwards. It got to the point where it was no fun for the boys, so we got off and continued to make our way through the museum.

After visiting the general museum, we went downstairs to "Touch the Universe". Again it had been awhile since I had been there myself, but I think the boys had a good time trying to rebuild a bridge (Dan would have been proud - he's a structural engineer) and building boats and then racing them. All in all it was a pretty good day.

In the Kaleidascope room


Enjoying a Snack Break

Sunday I spent the day at my parents for the most part. Again, it was a very low key kind of day. We did venture out to Costco, which was a HUGE mistake. The craziness of people after Halloween buying Christmas stuff already astounds me. I can't even tell you how many humungus snow globes I saw in people's shopping carts. I didn't think people bought those anymore. Apparently I was wrong.

Funny story though: While at my parents, the cat escaped outside as he sometimes manages to do. Eventually he comes home and we let him back in. After supper I opened the back door to see if Kitty (yes, that's his name) was waiting there. Sure enough, he comes running back inside and straight downstairs. I followed him because I was going to dry off his feet before he got the floor muddy. I noticed he was rolling something around on the floor and then saw it scoot away. It was a mouse!!!! I FREAKED out and ran upstairs yelling for my dad to go and catch the mouse kitty had brought inside. If there is one thing that scares me, it's mice. My mom also began to freak out, so my dad heroically went downstairs, caught the mouse and flushed down the toilet. It wasn't a big mouse, but it was still gross. My mom, myself and the dog all waited upstairs until my dad gave us the go ahead to come downstairs again. We now need to inspect Kitty carefully when he comes in from outside. Hopefully my dad or one of my brothers will be home when we need to do that. If not, my mom is in trouble and you will most likely find her in her room with the door locked and towels shoved under the door. If I happen to be there, that's where you will find me also :)


On a seperate note, I was supposed to hear from my doctor today regarding the results from my CT. No results yet. I'm getting anxious. I praying for patience and peace as I continue to wait.