uh oh....

This world is a cruel place! Ok, well, maybe just Winnipeg! Yesterday we had a warm sunny blue sky kind of day, 12 degrees C! I was thinking wow, this is really going to be a mild winter, I'm so lucky. Then, this morning as I walked to the bus I had the first sensation of freezing nose hairs! aaaah, horror of horrors! (it was only -12 degree C) If there is one thing I do not like about the cold it's the feeling of my nose hairs freezing and getting crunchy when I breathe in. Yuck!

qualified parent & conflict resolution expert...

Hey all! Wondering what the title means? I got my mid term back in a class called "Parenting and Child Development" I told Michael I got 94% and he figured that meant I was qualified to be a parent and we should get on with having kids...(I told him not yet). I also got a midterm back in a class called Conflict Resolution in the Family, with a 93%, so maybe that means I won't lose it and raise my voice with Michael anymore? Ok, so that's not quite reality, but I have found the class to be full of good information and useful skills that I can contintue to develop. Anyway, all this to say that despite all my worry and stress about falling behind in school, I am doing really well. It's like I finally got back into the groove of student life (my first round of midterms had lower marks). I think it's actually more than that. I think Michael has gotten into the groove of having a student wife and knowing how and when to help and just generally be supportive to me. I can't believe how close to the end of the semester it is (this is risky to say, but there isn't even snow on the ground!). This week I'm devoting my time to a group paper & presentation, it's a critique of a book called, The Power of Apology by Beverly Engel (we don't recommend it). Next week I review for a couple of final exams and then classes are over. It'll probably still be a little crazy, but it should be good. My mom is coming on Saturday and staying for a week, so that'll be cool. And it's not even the depths of winter yet, which will be good for her. We're going to be having our own little Christmas while she is here, yay! I don't want to make turkey, but I'll have to do something special. Maybe I should start by getting out the Christmas decorations. Well, Dan & Jenn are coming up for supper, so I have to go and get that started. Michael is working on a post about the basement, have patience. Bye for now!

2nd anniversary...

ok, so it was yesterday but I had an exam in the evening and we celebrated by going to Moxie's for the best dessert ever (white chocolate brownie) after the exam, it was a full day. If you were at our wedding, you've had it, since that's what dessert was. Michael brought flowers when he came home from work (he only had to work a half day), a beautiful bouquet of gerber daisies with sparkles. I'm feeling a little spoiled because I got flowers 2 weeks ago for the really bad day I had. I really have to toss them now, they don't look so good. Wanna hear about the bad day? It started on the wrong foot, but I can't remember why. Wednesdays are my longest day at school, maybe there was nothing for lunch. Anyway, when the day was finally over, I was leaving the Human Ecology building and I fell out (I hit ice on the first step down out of the building). No one saw me, so I sat there nursing my pain for a few minutes, my ankle and hand were letting me know that was NOT a nice way to exit the building. Then I got up and bravely limped to the bus. Being totally distressed and distracted I did not notice the number on the side of the bus. I pulled the chain for my stop, but it was already pulled, and the bus didn't stop. So I went up to ask the bus driver if his chain wasn't working and he pointed out that I was on the Express Bus, which doesn't stop till Confusion Corner. I turned red and went back to my seat. I now had to ride this bus several kilometers past where I really wanted to get off with a bunch of people who just heard me ask that stupid question. At Confusion Corner I could finally get off, walk a block and half, get on another bus that took 15 minutes to come, and ride back to my house. I got home at 6:15pm instead of the usual 5:45pm. Sigh. Back to the anniversary stuff...while we ate dessert I got a very mushy and romantic card with an invitation to a Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Concert (which I almost didn't see because it was hidden behind the inside layer of the card), we're going in early December, since from now until the end of semester is crunch time. Michael got a watch from me, which might be more exciting for me, since I don't have to keep getting his old one fixed now (it felt like a biweekly event, the band kept falling off)! I'm pretty busy with school, one more mid term, then a paper and presentation and then it's time to get ready for finals (two the first week of December, and two more in the middle of December). Year end for the Sunset books is also calling for my attention during the Christmas break. Michael is still busy with the same things, I'm going to try and go help out with the kids club when I can. I went last week, and this week Michael is leading on his own, so I'll probably go help him out. They are a pretty wild bunch of kids (mostly screaming girls), I must be getting older, I don't handle the noise very well anymore. Michael is also working on a post about our basement...have patience. We don't have any snow, except for a little patch from the pile where it was shovelled off the driveway. In fact it was the same balmy temperature of 8 degrees in Abbotsford and Winnipeg today! (granted the overnight temperatures are quite different and humidity there was 75% and here it was 50%, but I thought that was kind of neat) Well, I guess that's it for now...short and sweet. (yes...the pictures are still coming...December)

winter wonderland...

Hello all! Yup, it's snowing. It's actually snowed a few times already, but it's been the kind we get in BC that melts before you have time to find your mittens and scarf so you can go play in it. This is the first "almost real" snow. I say almost real because it's still not true prairie snow, it's really fine and sticky, which means we can actually make snow balls. I'd better enjoy that while I can, because snow ball opporunities out here are not very common. If I can convince Michael and get someone to take a picture, I'll get one of us outside our house, then you can see us, the snow and the house! Other than the snow, I'm still struggling to be a house wife and a student at the same time. Right now everything is taking a back seat because I have an accounting mid-term looming. I'm taking a break to do this, because my brain is beyond coherent thought I've been staring at journal entries so long. I keep holding off telling you about this blog because I want to put pictures, but I'm having a really hard time with that...so here it is (pictures to follow, probably at Christmas).

our house...life group

Ok, so I've been promising this info for way way too long. I have finally made it through the mid-term crunch, and handed in a paper today. Dan & Jen are in the process of moving downstairs, their first night sleeping down there was Wednesday. That means that are upstairs is a lot emptier and I feel like I can take pictures of our house, not just the mountains of stuff in it. We had lifegroup (aka: small group or care group) yesterday at our house, which means it is clean, so I have no more excuses for not taking pictures, except for the fact that I have to locate the camera and some batteries. Life group is going to be good. Soul Sanctuary has a slightly different take on life groups, so it's a total mix of people. You don't have a group of singles or young marrieds, you just have everybody. So, we've got a dating couple who are both at U of M, 2 married couples with kids around our age, a single lady, and a couple of single guys (I'm not too sure on the ages of the single people, except that one of the men was brave enough to share his birthday including the year, 1965). We're starting out with a study book by John Ortberg called The Life You've Always Wanted, it's about spiritual discipline. I think it's going to be really good, and our job is pretty easy. Make our house available, pop in the DVD with the teaching on it, and then facilitate discussion. Well, it sounds easy anyway. It's still a little scary, and does carry some responsibility.

our new lifestyle...

I think I'm really liking this way of updating you, because I can do it in little pieces... I thought I should maybe explain what exactly I mean by new lifestyle. Well, the obvious change is that I'm a student again. I guess technically full time, but I am taking 4 courses this semester instead of five, because I found I was falling behind within the first couple of weeks already so I dropped an elective that had a couple of big projects in it. I'm working at getting back into student life, writing notes and papers, reading and studying...I can't believe how rusty those skills can get in two years! The other big change for us is that we're no longer "truckers." Michael sold the truck back in May, and we sold the trailer now in September. This change is definitely a bigger adjustment for Michael than me, because I only did it with him for a year, and in some ways I was glad to get back to a "normal" life, despite the fun & adventures we had together. For Michael it means saying good bye to a "normal" life and doing something completely foreign. It means I have to work at being patient and supportive as he adjusts to having a schedule that is his own responsibility, there are no longer other people that control his time for him (like when he can unload, or having to be at a certain city on a certain day). After the truck was sold in May Michael was at home for a while, picking up odd jobs when he could and taking care of our house. After we moved to Winnipeg he started work immediately for his cousin's company New Hope Transport. He was driving a local truck for them, doing pick up and drop off work in the city and surrounding area. This job was not his favorite thing, but it definitely gave us a way to transition, he was still involved with trucks, and stay on top of the bills. In September Michael got a call from his old boss who offered him a job dispatching. We were shocked and didn't want to make any quick decisions. Michael was able to arrange for a week off from New Hope to go try out this job. Michael did really well with it, and caught on quickly, and thought he could really enjoy the job. So that's where he's been for just over two weeks now. I think he's enjoying it...he sometimes loses track of time and forgets to come home!

a month of school is already gone...

Hello everyone, I hope you're all ok with me trying out this new format for sending our updates... lots has been going on and I have some catching up to do, I thought this might be an easier way to do it, since I can include pictures easily, and break up the long long sections of text you sometimes get from me. I have already written a mid term and have a few more looming in the way too near future! School is over all going well, but it's hard to stay on top of my reading. (there's so many more exciting things to do, like clean out the closet or rearrange the pots!) I am starting to find balance between home stuff and school. This would not be possible with out Michael's help though. We have found a church here that we really like. Ironically it's the first church we went to Winnipeg when we moved, we went all summer just to check it out, by then neither of us wanted to look anywhere else. It's called Soul Sanctuary and it's right around the corner, like a 5 minute walk from our house. (we love that part, after driving at least 20 minutes to get to church before). We are also getting involved, Michael is helping out with kids programs on Friday nights, and we're leading a care group. There are many other oppurtinities, but we're trying to find balance and adjust to our new lifestyle before we take on too much more.