“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the places and moments that take our breath away.”               – Anonymous

According to the Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator, which claims to use the most current and carefully researched medical and scientific data in order to estimate how old a person will live to be, I can expect to live until I’m 92!

If genetics has anything to do with it, I should live for a very long time. Each of my parents had just one sibling. All four are still alive today and the youngest amongst them is 86! Our recent trip to Vancouver included visits with all of them.

The eldest is my father’s sister. Two months short of her 92nd birthday, she is frail and very hard of hearing. She lives in a care facility but, until her back gave out less than two years ago, she lived in her own home and until recent years she was an avid world traveler who enjoyed maintaining her large and beautiful gardens.

We celebrated my mother’s 88th birthday last week. Though she spends her days in a wheelchair and has lost most of her sight over the past year, she continues to live at home where she’s lovingly cared for by my father who will be 87 the day after tomorrow. Following his retirement, they traveled the world together and after more than 62 years of marriage, he refuses to consider placing her in care and being separated from her. He does all the grocery shopping and cooking for the two of them. He officially retired from his last volunteer position at the age of 75 but is still active in his church and is considering taking another college course this summer!

On the way home from Vancouver, we stopped in Jasper for a visit with Mom’s sister who, at 86, is the youngest of the four. Widowed several years ago, she continues to live in her own home but she’s far from lonely! She has a wide circle of friends and is committed to staying both mentally and physically active. A hip replacement following a fall on an icy street a couple of winters ago hasn’t done much to slow her down. In fact, she’s planning on going hiking again this summer. She’s actively involved in seniors activities in Jasper and sometimes goes along on outings as a caregiver for someone younger than herself!

Yes, I come from stubborn and hardy stock and should be around for many years! Of course, I’m realistic enough to realize that I could be run over by a bus tomorrow, though in Sedgewick that’s highly unlikely! Having lost a daughter at 5 years of age and both my parents-in-law in their sixties, I realize that life isn’t always fair and good genes isn’t a guarantee of longevity but the odds are in my favour. More important than number of years, however, is what we choose to do with them. The legacy passed on to me by my parents and my aunts is not only one of long life but also one of living life to the fullest and that’s what I aim to do for as long as I continue drawing breaths!

The certificate says that he was duly called to the Bar of the Province of British Columbia and admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of British Columbia on the 21st day of May, 2010. For the past couple of days, we’ve been celebrating this momentous accomplishment in the life of our oldest son!

The celebration began with a Thursday afternoon reception at the downtown Vancouver offices of McCarthy Tetrault, one of Canada’s biggest law firms. Matt’s relationship with McCarthy Tetrault began when he was hired as a summer intern in 2008. After graduating from law school last spring, he returned to the firm as an articling student and was delighted when he was recently invited to join the firm as an associate in the litigation department. At the reception, family and friends sipped champagne, snacked on hors d’oeuvres and listened as Matthew and seven other young lawyers were welcomed to the firm. It was indeed a proud moment for us!

At 9:30 yesterday morning, we gathered at the courthouse for the call ceremony during which Matthew and 67 others donned their robes for the first time, took the Barristers and Solicitors’ Oath and were officially called to the bar. Definitely another very proud moment! In fact, the simple act of carrying his robe to the car brought a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye! It truly is a blessing to see one’s child meet such a challenge and achieve his dream.

Throughout his years of preparing for this moment, Matt had the wonderful support of his wife, Robin. We enjoyed sharing the highlights of the past couple of days with her as well as her parents and were delighted that my father was also able to join us for the call ceremony. Matt and Robin’s wee son, Sam, was also very much a part of the celebrations. After the call ceremony, Sam was dropped off at the home of a dear friend and the rest of us went out for a lovely lunch in Matt’s honour. As he sat at the head of the table, he mentioned several times that the whole thing felt quite surreal. I suspect that it will take a few days for the fact that he has in fact accomplished his goal and reached this milestone to completely sink in.

We are indeed proud to have a lawyer in the family! In actual fact, there are two of them. Though they had only met once prior to finding themselves in the same class, Matt shared his law school experience with my cousin’s daughter-in-law and she was also called to the bar during yesterday’s ceremony!

After a busy week of seeding, we left Louis with about 3 hours of field work to do and hit the road early this morning. Thirteen hours later, we’re nicely settled into our hotel room in Kamloops, BC. When I made the reservation, I didn’t realize that the hotel is located right next to the gas station that we always stop at on our way through Kamloops!

Several of our relatives live along today’s route and we would usually choose to stay with one of them but, of course, we’d also want to spend time visiting with them which would delay our arrival in Vancouver. Since we need to be there for a very special event tomorrow afternoon, we decided that it would be better to take a hotel room tonight and get another early start tomorrow. We’ll save the visiting for the way home.

Though today was mostly about covering distance, we did enjoy a picnic lunch at a rest stop just west of Obed Summit, the highest point on the Yellowhead highway. A few hours later, we also made an unscheduled stop when we discovered that Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies was almost completely cloud free. Time after time, as we’ve made this trip, we’ve hoped for a glimpse of this majestic giant only to find it shrouded in cloud. Today, we stood on the deck of the visitors centre and watched in awe as only a few small clouds drifted over the mountaintop.

The blog has been oddly silent lately but, as many of you know, it’s seeding time in farm country and we are busy trying to get a crop in the ground before we have to leave for Vancouver on Wednesday.

When I first started filling in all the various things we hoped to accomplish and places we hoped to be during April and May on the calendar, I wondered how we’d possibly manage it all especially when so many things depended on a baby being born at the right time or the weather cooperating! Way back in early January, I began to pray that God would work out the timing as I knew that these things were way beyond my control. April came and went and everything fit together perfectly but I must admit that I was beginning to panic when the first week of May brought rain and snow that  left our previously thirsty land too wet for seeding. My faith may have been small but He who knows the number of our days (Psalm 39:4) was faithful. This week perfect weather has allowed us to put in several long, uninterrupted days and we have made excellent progress.

Things didn’t go quite as smoothly today but still much was accomplished. First, replacing the air conditioner motor on Richard’s tractor delayed him for an hour or so. Air conditioning may sound like a luxury but when you’re working in an enclosed cab, completely surrounded by windows with the sun streaming in, it’s essential. Without it, he would soon have been roasted Richard!

Then the fuel pump in the old half ton that serves as a multi purpose chore truck and carries the tank used to refuel the tractors sprung a leak. I love that old red and white Dodge and am glad that it’s only temporarily out of commission but in the meantime, until it’s repaired we needed another way to get gas to the tractors. Fortunately, Louis’ stepson had a spare tank that was soon loaded on the back of one of his trucks for us to use.

Regardless of the circumstances, Louis’ equipment never runs on Sundays and I respect him for that. This means that we have just three days left before our departure. Commitments in Vancouver (more about that later) mean that we cannot delay but if the weather continues to be favourable and we don’t have any major breakdowns, we could be finished. If not, we should be close enough for Louis to be able to finish without us.

After several weeks of threatening to come early, our first granddaughter was born at 3:51 this morning on her due date! When Melaina saw the obstetrician in his office yesterday morning, he told her that she had begun dilating and that he didn’t expect she’d have to wait much longer. He didn’t seem particularly surprised to see her at the hospital just 10 hours later.

By late afternoon yesterday, it was becoming apparent that birth might be imminent. After four episodes of false labour over the past few weeks, Melaina didn’t want to get her hopes up though. She and I went for a walk to the library a few blocks away in hopes that that might help her labour progress. By supper time, she was clearly in a lot of discomfort and by the time we got Drew to bed, it was time for Melaina, Aaron and I to head for the hospital. Just 7 1/2 hours after we got there, Jami-Lee Marie entered the world! She weighed 7 pounds 11.7 ounces and was 21 inches long.

Though I’ve given birth three times, I’ve never been in labour. My children came to me via prescheduled c-sections and adoption. Being with Melaina through labour and delivery, watching the miracle of birth and cutting the umbilical cord were truly wonderful privileges for me and I was so proud of my little girl!

Aaron and I got home in time to catch a little over an hour’s sleep before Drew woke up and the new day began! Later Richard and I took him to the hospital to visit Mommy and meet his baby sister. After devouring most of Melaina’s leftover lunch, he took quite an interest in the baby pointing out her nose, mouth, eyes and ears and gently petting her downy head! Though she wasn’t born with the amazing thatch of black hair that he had and her colouring is fairer than his was, Jami-Lee looks an awful lot like her big brother.

Melaina had hoped to come home later today but because she bled a little more than is usual, she’s being kept in hospital until tomorrow. She’s anxious to get home and finish preparing for Drew’s second birthday party on Saturday though!

I seldom watch awards shows like the Grammys or the Junos and when I do, it’s mostly to see what the women are wearing! Who will look elegant? outrageous? just plain ridiculous?

Though Friday evening’s award ceremony wasn’t that kind of affair, it was the sort of event where women wonder what they ought to wear and many of us probably looked around when we arrived to see if we had made the right choice. I felt very comfortable wearing the jacket that I finished making recently!

Last night we drove to Springbrook, southwest of Red Deer, to attend the 2009 Taylor Award presentation ceremony. The recipient was Richard’s sister, Susan Hall.

The Taylor Award was established in 2001, the International Year of Volunteers, and is presented annually to an outstanding prison volunteer by Corrections Services Canada. The award was named after Dr. Charles Taylor and his wife, Charlotte, of Wolfville, Nova Scotia for their lifetime dedication to faith-based counselling with offenders in both correctional facilities and the community and for Dr. Taylor’s contribution to the development of prison ministry education.

Sue was nominated for the award by the Prairie region, one of five regions across Canada, and was subsequently selected as last year’s winner. She was instrumental in bringing the Christopher Leadership Course to the Bowden Penitentiary in 1991 and over the past 18 years has taught the course to 29 classes of inmates. The 10 week course, taught by dedicated volunteers, focuses on building confidence and communication skills through public speaking. While Sue received many accolades during last evening’s event, the most meaningful were the testimonials given by three inmates who were allowed to attend under supervision. They spoke eloquently of the difference that Sue and the skills that she taught them have made in their lives.

In addition to proudly celebrating a sister’s accomplishments, we enjoyed a couple of unexpected surprises last night. During the initial meet and greet we began chatting with a woman who is a director of the John Howard Restorative Justice program in Truro, Nova Scotia. We happened to mentioned our visit to Mahone Bay last summer. The conversation went something like this:

She:  Oh, you know Mahone Bay!

Richard:  Yes, we were actually visiting friends who live at Indian Point.

She:  Indian Point! What part?

Me:  Right out on the point next to the water.

She:  Oh my goodness! What are their names?

As I began to tell our pen pal story (see my posts of June 19 to July 2, 2009), we quickly learned that her mother is Myrna and Ron’s close neighbour, that she knew we had visited last summer and that she thought she’d actually seen us while she and her family were loading their boat in preparation for their annual excursion to their cottage on one of the islands off the point! Amazing!

Then, a little while later, as we stood in line at the buffet table we were next to a couple of tables of seniors dressed in white shirts and green vests. They were the choir who would entertain a little later in the evening. I noticed one of the lady’s name tags and was surprised to find that I recognized the name! Looking more closely, I realized that she was indeed someone I knew, a lady who had been part of the music ministry team in our church for many years! She and her husband moved to Olds more than ten years ago and I hadn’t seen her for several years. It is indeed a small world!

We got home from Vegreville at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday and left again at 10:00 this morning after spending just 40 hours at home!

During the 24 hours that we were actually awake, we attended a missionary service at the church that brought back great memories of one of the Southeast Asian countries we’ve visited and watched the Bible study and Marriage Course videos that we missed last week.

We had coffee with a dear friend and responded to a few phone messages. We spent quite awhile on the phone with an H&R Block income tax preparer making sure that we’d be able to meet Revenue Canada’s April 30th deadline. We usually file our own income tax returns but since we’re still dealing with foreign income this year it’s a bit complicated and we’re leaving it in the hands of the experts.

I did three loads of laundry and repacked the suitcase, a somewhat difficult task at this time of year when the season seems to change from day to day. Would we need winter, spring or summer wear? I tried to pack a bit of each.

The one day that we were home was also the day the golf course opened. What a stroke of good luck! We toured the newly renovated clubhouse, bought our season’s memberships and played a round. I even managed to have my best first round ever!

We walked to the library and exchanged our books.

This morning we watered the plants, put the garbage out and left for Calgary. No, Melaina hasn’t had the baby yet but she’s reached the point where she could use our help so we’ll continue the wait here. She’s been in serious nesting mode the past couple of days, cleaning house from top to bottom. Surely baby must be coming soon!

Vegreville is probably best known for the world’s largest pysanka or Ukrainian Easter egg which was erected on the outskirts of town in 1975 to commemorate the centennial of the RCMP. The gold, silver and black design of the 9.4 metre high egg reflects the traditional art of the many Ukrainian settlers who made this part of Alberta their home. Richard and I enjoyed a walk over to the egg today. Though a giant egg may seem to be a rather strange monument, it did look quite striking as this afternoon’s wind gently turned it on its pedestal and its 3500+ pieces of polished aluminum shone in the afternoon sun.

A couple of months ago I received an email from my sister offering me an all expenses paid week in Vegreville! I’ve often dreamed of winning an all expenses paid trip; an exotic location, a beach resort perhaps, or maybe even a European tour but I’m absolutely certain that Vegreville wasn’t anywhere on that list of dream destinations! For those who aren’t familiar with this part of the world, Vegreville is a community of approximately 5500 people located about an hour north of our home and an hour east of Edmonton.

What my sister actually had in mind was someone to spend nine days with her three teenage sons while she and her husband visit their daughter, Emily, who’s presently in Bermuda with the MV Logos Hope, the Operation Mobilization missions ship that she serves on. I told Linda that we’d be happy to oblige as long as she had a back up plan in case Melaina decides to have the baby this week. The boys are 15, 16 and 17 years old so they don’t really need babysitting. They’re pretty self sufficient but not quite ready to be left entirely on their own for that length of time.

The boys are homeschooled but we made it clear that we were coming as auntie and uncle, not as teachers. We’ll do our best to see that they devote enough time to their studies but other than that, they’re pretty much on their own this week as far as schooling is concerned. Most of their studies are done online so I don’t think they’ll suffer unduly.

Homeschooling vs public schooling is an issue that my siblings and I have long agreed to disagree on. My brother’s children were also homeschooled until recently and are now attending a small Christian school. It was definitely a bit weird being a public school teacher in a family where no one else of my generation agreed with the concept but our children always made it clear that they felt that our choice was the best one for them and I think their lives today prove that they were right.

Linda and Jeff flew out this morning and when we arrived several hours later all three boys appeared to be working diligently. Linda had prepared supper in advance and all I had to do was warm it up. Beginning tomorrow, I’m on my own as far as cooking is concerned but she’s divvied up most of the other household chores between the boys so it looks like it could be a pretty simple week.

Melaina is still threatening to have the baby anytime so we’re not sure how long we’ll actually be here. She’ll see the obstetrician again tomorrow so maybe we’ll have a better idea after that. In the meantime, we’ll be waiting here instead of at home.