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Walking in snow

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I’ve always loved walking in fresh fallen snow but these days, with four wheel drive and good winter tires, it’s actually easier and safer to drive. With the latest deposit of loose snow underfoot, walking can be quite treacherous and in those areas of town where there are no sidewalks and the snow has piled up along the roadsides, it’s difficult to get out of the way of vehicles.

A couple of weeks ago while trudging through several inches of loose snow, I twisted or wrenched something in my right hip. I didn’t realize that I’d actually done any damage until later in the day when the muscles in my thigh began to spasm. OUCH! That was nasty! Fortunately, heat and ibuprofen settled things down but the experience definitely slowed me down for awhile and has kept me from attempting any more walking in snow. It seems silly to start the vehicle to make a quick trip to the library or the post office or to go to the church which is only a quarter mile away but these legs have got to be in good shape when we arrive in Japan next week so I’m not taking any chances!

After challenging myself to walk 100 miles and accomplishing that goal a little over a month ago, my body has become accustomed to doing a lot of walking! My usual pace on the treadmill is 3.7 mph but for awhile after hurting my hip I could only manage short stints at about 3.0 mph. Total rest might have been a better idea but my body wanted to walk and as long as I didn’t make any twisting motions, it seemed to be okay. Happily, I’m back to pain free and full speed but the snow is still falling so, as pretty as it is outdoors these days, all my walking will be on the treadmill.

For those who might be wondering, I’m up to 141 miles now (227 km) and I’ll be wearing a pedometer in Japan so I can continue to keep track!

Shoes, shoes, shoes

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If you’ve been reading my blog for very long, you probably saw my post about making baby shoes back in October. As I predicted back then, the first pair which I made for my granddaughter, Jami-Lee, definitely wasn’t the last. Before that pair had even been delivered to Calgary, Buck and Chrissy came to visit and, of course, I had to make a pair for their wee daughter, Joanna.

Jami-Lee's

JoJo's

I gave the  next pair, the tiniest ones that I’ve made so far, to our son and daughter-in-law for Christmas. They’re expecting their second son in February.

These two pairs, made today, are going to Japan with us. They’re for two of the newest members of the Hope Church family, both born to friends of ours in recent months.

With the exception of Jami-Lee’s, all these little shoes have been made of recycled fabric. After all, most worn out blue jeans still have lots of usable fabric in them. Even the straps on the last two pairs are recycled. In their former life, they were the handles on a little shopping bag! I don’t remember for sure but I think it came from La Senza.

Going back or going home?

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When we went to Japan to teach English for a year, I didn’t give much thought to the fact that that would be long enough to establish some very meaningful relationships. At that point, even though we’d visited once before, to us Japan was still a mysterious country with a long history and a fascinating culture to be explored.

Now, as we prepare for a return visit, it’s all about the people! It’s about the friends that we made, the church family that we became  so much a part of and the two little boys who call us Grandma and Grandpa.

Sure there are places that we look forward to seeing again and some that we haven’t been to yet. Since we won’t be working this time, we’ll definitely have time to do some more exploring and to soak in a little more of the culture but those are no longer our main reasons for going.

Canada is still our home and probably always will be but as I look forward to going back, I’m surprised to find that it feels a lot like going home!

Digging out

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There’s something about weathering a winter snowstorm together that brings an enhanced sense of camaraderie to our small town. Yesterday, we had one of the biggest dumps of snow that we’ve seen in a long time. For twenty-four hours, the wind blew and the snow fell; some 30 centimetres or more of it.

Views from our back door:

The town owns three pieces of snow removal equipment. Ordinarily, the grader ploughs the snow into the centre of the street where it’s picked up by a giant snow blowing machine that loads it into the back of a truck that carries it away and dumps it in one of several designated locations. It’s an efficient process and our streets are often in better winter driving condition than those in the larger cities. Unfortunately, however, this time the town foreman, who is also the only grader operator, is away in Saskatchewan and the truck that usually hauls the snow away broke down! One of the town employees was out with the snow blowing machine earlier today doing his best to make the main streets passable but without four wheel drive or good winter tires, getting around town is pretty difficult. Everyone seems to be taking that in stride, however. In fact, there’s a real sense of adventure out there. A man against the elements feeling seems to prevail and everyone is pulling together to dig out. We even saw one guy trying to clear a street with his snow blower!

The street in front

Richard has done a lot of shovelling both here at home and over at the church but he hasn’t been alone. Yesterday, while we volunteered at the local thrift store (yes, amazingly, people did show up to shop!) a friend with a brand new snow blower cleared our driveway. By this morning, it had filled in again and so after church, Richard was out with the shovel again. Before long, our next door neighbour showed up with his snow blower and helped him finish the job.

Those who live out in the country are completely snowed in and according to the latest road reports, the highway is in poor driving condition. There’s every likelihood that school busses won’t run tomorrow but here in town, we’re digging out!

A new blog in the family!

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There’s a new blog in the family! My daughter, Melaina, started her own today. I hope you’ll take a moment and check out Prattling of a Housewife.

When Melaina was growing up, I thought she was most like her Dad but now that she’s older, with a family of her own, I realize that she’s become more and more like me. It should be no surprise then, that she loves to write and I’m proud to say that she’s good at it. She’s just a couple of courses short of a university degree with a major in English and I’ve had the privilege of editing many of her papers. Now I’m looking forward to reading what she writes of a more personal nature. Of course, I’m also looking forward to more pictures and anecdotes from the lives of two of my grandchildren!

Welcome to the world of blogging, Melaina!

The Vanishing Breed

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I have always loved to write. Even as a student, I was the weird kid in class who liked writing assignments. Long before the advent of the internet and blogging, I tried my hand at freelance writing and had a few short articles published. Recently, I came across one of them. It was written in early 1980 shortly after the birth of my second child. As I read through it, I realized that my daughter could have written it today and so I decided to reprint it here. Melaina, Robin, Chrissy, Seiko, Natalee, Mardell and all the other young moms out there who’ve made the choice to stay at home with your children, this one’s for you!

The Vanishing Breed

Sometimes I feel as though I am a member of a vanishing breed. All around me young women like myself are having babies, finding sitters and returning to work but I have chosen to be a full time housewife and mother. I do not bother trying to fancy up my position by calling myself a homemaker or a domestic engineer because it simply is not a fancy position. I am on call twenty-four hours a day every day. My job offers no sick leave, no holidays, no pay, no prestige and no hope for advancement.

Why, then, have I chosen this way of life? It most definitely was not a matter of necessity. I have a university degree and could be earning a salary equal to my husband’s. If I returned to work I could easily afford to pay a babysitter and could also hire someone to take over some of my household chores. In addition to this, I would also be able to afford some of the luxuries that I am presently doing without.

I do not believe that laziness was the reason for my choice. My days are very full for mine is a demanding job and I have many roles to fill. I am a teacher, a counsellor, a housekeeper, a cook and a laundress. Sometimes I am a seamstress, a hairdresser, a chauffeur, a gardener, a decorator or a first aid worker.

In spite of its drawbacks I chose my career for purely selfish reasons. I feel that it gives me greater personal satisfaction than any other could. I enjoy my children immensely. Certainly they get on my nerves at times but every aspect of their growth and development fascinates me. I have no interest whatsoever in paying someone else to enjoy their childhood while I pursue a career outside the home.

I would be lying if I claimed that I enjoyed housework to the same extent that I enjoy time spent with my children. I do appreciate a clean, comfortable home and find a certain amount of satisfaction in keeping mine that way but I must admit that I do not become as ecstatic as the typical TV housewife over shining floors or sweet smelling laundry. Many times the tedious household chores are left waiting while I read to the children or take them for a walk.

In spite of the fact that sleepless nights and dirty diapers do not seem to compare very favourably with the glamour of the working world, my job does have many advantages. Because I am my own boss and my schedule is very flexible, I have a great deal of freedom that is lacking in most other professions. I am not constantly trying to meet deadlines and am not forced to compete with others. I have only myself and my family to please.

I do not want to imply that my choice would be right for all women but I do resent the fact that those of us who have chosen to be ‘just a housewife’ are often made to feel as though we are simply unambitious and somehow inferior to ‘the working woman’. Perhaps someday, when my children are older, I will return to work but in the meantime I am proud to consider myself a valuable member of society fulfilling an important and satisfying role.

Severe phonological disorder

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When our grandson, Drew, began calling me Am at 15 months of age, it was cute. Endearing, in fact. As time went by, however, and his speech didn’t develop as it ought to, we all became concerned. He’s a bright little boy. At 32 months, he can identify all the upper case letters, knows his colours and shapes, and clearly has a great memory and excellent reasoning skills but his speech is almost unintelligible. Yesterday, we found out why.

Melaina cried when she read the diagnosis; severe phonological disorder. It breaks a mother’s heart to learn that there’s something wrong with her child and the name sounds so harsh. This is really the end of one journey and the beginning of another. The road to diagnosis involved three hearing assessments and a speech assessment as well as lots of careful observation and documentation on Melaina and Aaron’s part. After two inconclusive hearing assessments, Drew passed the third with flying colours eliminating that as a possible cause. An appointment with a speech pathologist in early December led to the final diagnosis.

As in Drew’s case, the cause of phonological disorder is often unknown. Children with the disorder substitute, leave off, or change sounds making their speech difficult or impossible to understand. When Drew talks, he drops the first sound or syllable off almost every word. Dog becomes og, book is ook and so on. Though he’s able to produce all of the sounds,  he can’t get the words to come out whole. That’s because this is essentially a transmission problem. In simple terms, the message isn’t getting from his brain to his mouth correctly.

Fortunately, most children respond well to intervention and so begins the second journey. Melaina and Aaron will attend a parent session sometime in the next few weeks and then speech therapy will begin. It probably won’t be a quick fix but with lots of hard work, we should begin to see progress. We’re hoping that the fact that Drew was diagnosed at such a young age is in his favour.

I can’t wait to hear him call me Gram!

Hello 2011!

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I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. Being a list maker at heart, I used to make a list of things that I hoped to accomplish in each new year but I made the mistake of making these lists too long, biting off more than I could possibly hope to chew. As a result, I’d near the end of each year under a cloud of discouragement. The easy answer was to quit making these lists. No more self imposed guilt!

Though I no longer write my onerous annual lists, I believe that having life goals is a good thing. Faith Keith, a fitness competitor whose blog I recently began reading, posted a simple but wonderful list. I hope she doesn’t mind if I adapt it slightly and adopt it as my own. As the future unfolds, I would like

To know God better
To keep myself in optimum shape.
To continue to meet life’s challenges with excitement and perseverance.
To always give thanks
To support, encourage and fiercely love my husband

While living without my annual list of things to accomplish has been liberating, the beginning of a new year is still a time to reflect on all the possibilities that it might hold. It’s like fresh fallen snow waiting for those first footprints. Where will they lead? As I look ahead to 2011, I look forward to a return visit to Japan, the birth of another grandson and our first short term missions assignment. I wonder what else the year will hold? If I do have one goal for 2011, it is to make it an exclamation mark kind of year; a year in which I trust God to do immeasurably more than I can hope or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20)

Hello 2011!

Wonderful Christmas

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Twas the day before New Year’s and all through the house not a creature was stirring…

The last of our kids and grandkids left yesterday and the house seems very quiet this morning! It also seems a lot bigger than it did for the past week when our numbers swelled from two to ten. The playpen, the crib mattress and the baby gate have been put away and there’s no longer a basket of toys in the livingroom. The childproof latches are gone from the cupboards and there are no booster seats at the table. The refrigerator, which was bursting at the seams a few days ago, has space to spare and the washer and dryer have been working overtime taking care of all the additional bedding and towels. Gram and Grandpa are relaxing and revelling in Christmas memories.

I read a hilarious post earlier this week by a blogger who referred to what she called Unrealistic Holiday Expectations Syndrome (UHES). According to her post holiday quiz, ours was a definite success. Like any family get together, there were a few glitches, of course. I’m not sure how a suitcase can get lost on a direct flight from Vancouver to Edmonton but one of Matt and Robin’s did and wasn’t delivered until the following afternoon. Of greater concern was the fact that 2 year old, Drew, arrived from Calgary with croup and his 15 month old cousin, Sam, took it home to Vancouver with him. Not much fun for the little guys and definitely worrisome for the mommies and daddies.

Other than that, the week went well. I planned a menu in advance and made sure I had all the ingredients on hand so cooking for the crowd was easy. Matt and Robin took over the kitchen a couple of times making us yummy cinnamon buns for Christmas breakfast and a tasty Thai meal a few days later. Melaina and I had both done lots of baking so there was no shortage of goodies.

Drew on Christmas morn

La De Da, Clippity Clop

Once again, we were thoroughly spoiled with bulging stockings and loads of gifts under the tree on Christmas morning. Though Drew was feeling pretty rough that day, he loved his Lightning McQueen pyjamas, robe and slippers. Buzz Lightyear pyjamas were also a big hit and I spotted him playing with his tiny John Deere tractor several times. Sam was pleased with the tractor and farm animals that we gave him but his favourite gifts were quite obviously his very own umbrella and his broom! We had great fun watching 8 month old Jami-Lee enjoy her little rocking horse and I’m sure that its La De Da, Clippity Clop tune will be running through our heads for a long time!

Sam never has to bundle up like this in Vancouver!

Even the weather cooperated giving us a few warmer than average days so that we were able to get the little guys outside for a bit of fun in the snow. Nathan spent several hours out on the golf course breaking cross country ski trails. I really should have gone with him but I didn’t manage to tear myself away from the grandchildren! Now that life has quietened down, I’ll put the trails to good use though.

For the most part, we’re a game playing family. Many hours were spent gathered around the kitchen table playing Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan, Apples to Apples and Ticket to Ride while the children were napping or after they went to bed at night.

Yes, all in all, it was a wonderful Christmas!

Hope Mission

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There’s that word again. Hope! It seems to keep cropping up these days. To see what I mean you’ll have to check the link.

Our alarm rang at 6:00 this morning and an hour later we were on the road to Edmonton with about a dozen others from our church. We were bound for Hope Mission where we prepared and served brunch to almost 300 of the city’s impoverished and homeless people.

In 1929, a young pastor with a heart for people struggling with life on the street at the onset of the Depression opened a soup kitchen. With the support of his wife and a concerned community, a simple meal was served to hundreds of people each day. Since that time the services provided by Hope Mission, a non profit Christian care agency, have grown to include basic and emergency care; shelter beds; counselling and referral services for men, women and youth; after school hot meal and recreation programs for children; summer camps for inner city children and youth; and faith based addiction treatment programs in addition to the hearty meals that are served three times a day during the week and twice a day on Saturdays and Sundays.

Under the capable direction of a cook who has been employed by the Mission for 18 years, we worked side by side with several men from the addiction recovery program to prepare a hearty meal of eggs, sausages, hash browns, toast, porridge and coffee. Muffins and fresh fruit were also available to anyone who wanted them.

I was amazed at how quickly and efficiently we were able to prepare such a large volume of food. We arrived at 10:00 a.m. and within minutes we’d all been given tasks to do. After helping load hundreds of eggs into large metal bins that fit into a big steamer, I helped fill tiny plastic serving containers with margarine. The doors opened at 11:00 and for the next hour, I loaded hash browns onto serving trays as the hungry men and a few women filed by to pick up their hot food. There was a steady flow of people but as we passed the trays down our line and loaded them with food, we had a few moments to offer each person a smile or a quick greeting. Some were quiet but many greeted us and thanked us graciously. A few joked with us or wished us a Merry Christmas. The doors closed at noon and when everyone had had time to eat, they were sent back into the cold and clean up began. Again, this was accomplished quickly and efficiently. In no time, we were sitting down with the fellows we’d cooked the meal with to enjoy some of the leftovers. We’d been so busy that we really hadn’t had time to realize that we’d worked up an appetite!

With Christmas just around the corner, we’ve been reminded once again how very fortunate we are to have a warm home and more than enough to eat.

 

“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Jesus     Matthew 25:40