Finally it's summer in alberta!

The snow is finally all gone and the sun is shining and it's actually warm and the birds are chirping in the mornings. Finally it's summer in alberta. The weeks are getting busier and busier planning and getting ready for the season of camps but I am getting so excited about it. For some people summer time is their off time but for us the summer time is probably our busiest time. And this summer is going to be different than any other summer we have ever had because Syb is going to be pregnant in the dead heat of the summer. But it will be fun and cool at times because we will be up at the camp and it actually gets quite cold at night but it feels great. Well this week is busy as usual we are getting things ready for Bill's surprise birthday party and we are getting things ready for a youth lock-in on Friday and we are finishing up our gifts for the graduating seniors this year. Life is good.

Eric

I love Alberta...

so the last two days I have worked in my garden. the first day in the front garden and the yesterday in the back. and you won't believe it but it snowed last night and is still snowing like crazy out. almost 6 inches. I just hope this moisture will only benefit my plants and not freeze them. I did not plant anything new since here in wonderfully sunny Lethbridge the frost free date is the 3rd week of May. what? that is crazy. my tulips which were up and starting to bloom and probably regreting showing their faces. sad day. anyway i am praying this moisture will only help. 

a day in the life of Eric and Syb

today was a very long and interesting day.... quite emotional for a pregnant lady.

1. I was supposed to have my detailed ultra sound today at 9:40. For any of you who have been keeping up with my throwing up habits know that instead of being sick all day I am only now sick in the mornings and then pretty good the rest of the day. Well my day started at 7:45 when I walked to the washroom only to make it to my usual morning puke fest. Well good was what I was thinking. Eric went upstairs and got me a bowl of cereal which I ate rotating with a huge glass of water. Okay now one glass down 2 more to go. Because in order to have a good ultra sound you need a full bladder. By the second glass I was feeling really sick again but taking deep breaths and still drinking. Because I only had a few more minutes to drink all the water before my time limit of 90 minutes before appointment would be past. By the third cup I knew I was going to have to lay there for a bit before moving so I would not lose it. So I did and about a half hour later got up and decided to take a hot shower.... what was I thinking. taking a

 hotshower after having 3 huge glasses of water and not being able to relieve myself at all. It was painful I felt as if my kidney was on fire. So to my screaming Eric comes in the washroom. I am now standing right out of the shower. He looks at me and says, "do not even think about it, you are going to be fine." For he could see the look in my eye that I was about to be sick. I barely turned my head to the shower so that it would not hit Eric. Needless to say after 20 minutes of throwing up all the water Eric called the Dr. and reschedule to next week when hopefully my bladder will be more full. I love Ultrasounds. 

2. Yesterday while cleaning the kitchen Eric and I noticed that there was some sort of moisture leaking down our wall and causing the paint to run. It looked like the blob was coming through the wall. Well yesterday Bill, our Pastor, boss, and landlord, came to look at it while mumering under his breath about how much he hates this house, saying "no worries Syb, tomorrow we will cut a bit of a hole in the ceiling and find the leak."  Well Eric and Bill began this afternoon with a little hole trying to find the leak. Ha but with our luck no leak was to be found but the drywall had to come down that was wet to prevent Mildew which is one of Eric's biggest

 allergies.  So now the wall is just sitting open when tomorrow we might have better luck finding the problem but as Bill said tonight " Sybaroo, we might just have to keep the wall like that til the problem just occurs again." ahhhh. so funny. 

3. Well inbetween the wall stuff Erin stopped by with her new puppy, Toby. She has had him for the last month or so and he is such a cute puppy but like a normal puppy he is in to everything. Her and I sat on the porch while Eric and Bill did their thing. But at one point Bill left and Eric had a bunch more to do, so Erin volunterred to help. The two of them left for 10 minutes maybe to get masks from the church to use while ripping the rest of the wall down. Erin asked if I would watch Toby and I agreed but inside since it was getting hot and I was feeling a bit sick. So I let him off his leash inside and he loved it. Well I was sitting on the couch watching him and he grabbed something from the kitchen and began to eat it. I got his attention and noticed it was the RAT POISON that we keep in the kitchen for the mice we sometimes encounter. My first instinct was to call Eric and tell them to get home right away. In my mind I was thinking I wanted Erin to be here when Toby took his last breath. As soon as I got off with him I called poison control to be informed that poison control was only a human service and that he would likely die but maybe call the vet. what?  So I opened the phone book to Vet and called the first one I saw. and in this I am so glad the Lord is always in control. the secretary was very nice and informed me it would only cost about 175$ to have him brought in so they could make him vomit. I then simply asked if there was a way for me to make him vomit, she put me on hold then told me she was going to put me through to the vet. I was so excited, he took my call in surgery on speaker phone and proceeded to tell me what to do....measure 20ml of Hydrogen peroxide and make him drink it, wait 5 minutes to see if he throws up, if not give him 20 ml more, he said to always wait 5 mintues no less, and he said he would throw up 3 times if it works. 

So by this point they were home, I had Erin hold him while I measured the Hyrdrogen Peroxide we then took him out side and forced him to drink it all. Eric stood by with a timer and by 3 minutes he was heaving. It was so pathetic and sad and I knew exactly how he felt. He threw up around 8 times and I called the vet who told me that was okay but force him to drink some water. oh Boy. what a day. he is now home and doing great. Thank you Jesus. I was so worried. 

that was all before 6 and the day only got more exciting from there I am just so tired to even type more...

a day in the life of Eric and Syb

to catch the world up...

I can't believe it is already February I have not blogged in Months. I have started several blogs and then decided not to post them. Not sure why but I just didn't. so here goes for an update.

1. Laura and Adrianne are coming to visit us in ten days. I am so excited. I wish all of our friends and family could take turns visiting us every other week. that would be the life. 

2. I have never missed my family as much as I have in the last few months. I miss my Mom's face. I miss hanging out with Chris and Miranda. I miss praying with Miranda. I miss Lou and Maddy so much it hurts. I hate being gone while so much goes on in there lives, they are growing up so fast.  I miss talking with Ryan about life. I miss Pizza Sunday nights with the Hawkinson's and Little Mike trips. I miss talking about boys with Deb. I just miss the Family. 

3. Valentine's day was amazing. Eric never ceases to treat me so special. I can always tell he loves me just the way he looks at me. 

4. We have started a new contemporary service at Church on Sunday Nights. It is going really well and I love hearing Eric speak. 

5. everyday I grow to respect Bill even more. the other day we had a heart to heart while crusin' about raising kids and how important family is. I am so glad we are apart of his and Barb's family. 

6. Mexico Pie making is coming up. I think it is one of my favorite parts of the year. I love watching the Body of Christ work and laugh together. So if you want to order one they are 8$ and the money goes to the Orphanage and house we build over Easter. just let me know how many you want. 

7. I have never thrown up so much in my life. Yes I am pregnant, and I have thrown up almost twice a day for two months now. some days as much as 5 times and there have been a couple of days that I have not been sick once.  I am ready to be feeling better but I am also so excited to be apart of working with God create a Human being. 

I guess that is a real quick update but if i try to get to much in there I will end up not posting it again. 

working at a real church.....

I have always wondered what it would be like to work at a real church,  but I sure would miss...

-working from home. I love having a home office, it enables us to be more hands on with our students. Because if you did not already know we live 2 blocks from 3 of the 4 highschools in Lethbridge, which makes it easy for the kids to drop in whenever they feel like it. Plus we are never home anyway. Our ministry is very hands on we are out and about meeting people where they are at. plus it is really nice because we are never in bed by midnight so it allows us to sleep in a tiny bit.

-wearing jeans to services. Bill, our pastor, never wears a tie. He actually only wears them at weddings and funerals. actually he wears jeans on Sundays, not blue jeans but his nicest khaki colored blue jeans. I usually wear a skirt to morning service but jeans and a hoodie to evening service and sometimes my slippers. 

-waking up every Saturday super early to work at the church. Not only to work but construction. for example today I carried bricks , shoveled sand and gravel, hung drywall, made many trips to the lumber yard, learned how to use a nail gun ( which Bill said is like God, you need to respect Him and fear Him) and many other random gofer jobs. I love helping with the new fellowship hall building because I can see something growing. It is really neat to be involved with one of God's projects. 

- fighting for space in the Sunday school room. it is like a running joke, everyone puts stuff in the original Sunday school room. actually right now everyone has been calling it the tool room because it is next to the construction and full or tools. So Sunday school is being held in a room we call the driver's training room. They rent it out twice a month or so. it is nice but I can't leave anything out and it drives me crazy.

-being the handyman at the church. if anything has to be done at the church we are called. Bill helps as much as possible and so does Connie who is the Janitor. but we paint, set up for events, fix speakers, or whatever needs to be done. Bill always laughs and says, "you mean they did not teach you all how to do this type of ministry in University"

and the list can go on, we always laugh with Bill about our Church, but is such a blessing in our lives. we love the oppurtunities that it provides. Everyday we learn more and more about serving God and working with Poeple. 

-

Halloween has come and gone....

I can't believe it is already November. Time flies when we are having fun. HA. So Eric has been on me every day about how I haven't blogged in such a long time so I am going to give highlights to catch you all up:

1. Summer was crazy

June 12th- we left before summer even started up here to join the Hawkinson clan in Colorado at the cabin. Erin came with us. 

June 21st- we met up with my Mom in denver and saw my family for a few days.

June 27th - we headed down to Lubbock, Texas to Jeff and Magan's wedding. 

June 29th- we drove back up to the OKC to pick up Erin. 

July 1st- started our drive home

July 2nd- we arrived in Lethbridge late that night.

July 4th-11th Family camp 

July 12th- 18th- Jr. Teen Camp

July 24th- 27th- Eric went to Aaron and Karlee's wedding

while he was doing that

July 25th-August 1st- Sr. Teen Camp

August 13th-22th  California with a few of the Teens

August 23rd-29th Fernie Camp

It was so much fun, but I really missed being home. And it felt like we were always under prepared for the next thing. It took alot of cramming and such but everything turned out great.

 

2. September 

-was equally as busy with everything starting up again.

-September 11th we went to Glacier National Park in Montana with Barb

- we went to the camp a few times to do repairs and also because Emily came up from OK which was so much fun. 

-We also got the chance, thanks to Katie, to go to the live showing of the Canadian Idol Finals. 

-we saw Starfeild which we used as our youth kick off for the year. it was so much fun and Eric and I both really miss that type of service

-also with the youth we took them Ice Blocking. It was such a blast and something I really miss from University

-our church held a silent auction to raise money for the fellowship hall that has been under construction for over a year. but we have decided to start the work and tust the Lord. it has been awesome to see how He works. at the dinner we raised enough to lay the cement... so now every Saturday morning we are at the Tab moving forward on the room

3. I love the fall it is no doubt my favorite season. 

-fall starts early in Lethbridge  the trees were already changing in the beginning of September and by Thanksgiving Oct. 13th all the color has blown away

-Thanksgiving Camp ,October 10th-13th,  is always one of my highlights of the year. I love being in the pass that time of year 

-We then had Thanksgiving Dinner for the 2nd year in a row at the Beusekom's

- Drove 10 teens to Calgary in the van for Bec's Birthday. a day full of laser tag, Imax movie, shopping , and amazing food.

-then I ended fall in bed for a week... I hurt my back some how and couldn't do anything.

-But I did get a chance to go see Ashley play a Dwarf in the Hobbit.

5. Halloween

-we had the teens over for a really fun Halloween party we were expecting about ten maybe and ended up having almost 30 in the house. it was so full but so great. 

- November 4th was our 1st snow of the season. Erin and I were on our way to Nic's concert and got a pic but it is funny because the snow flake is right in Erin's face.

Well that is a quick catch up. I will try to stay more on top of things so you all know better what is going on up here in the Great North. oh and by the way this took me about 2 or so hours to get all the pics on. I am a dork. 

Fall Is Coming And Going!!

So it is really windy here in Lethbridge, Alberta and since it is really windy that means that fall doesn't last very long. The trees have already started turning colors and started losing their leaves but the leaves are already almost all blown off because of the wind. It's still beautiful outside and it has gotten colder so it feels like fall but in a couple of days it won't look like fall because there won't be any leaves left on the trees. They will be on our yard and all over the street so I guess that has to count for something. But it is wonderful to see the seasons change and see how beautiful it is. Winter is right around the corner. I am ready for the snow!!! And believe me, we get a lot of it. Well that's it for now. Have a wonderful week everybody.

Eric

Wow what a summer!!!

What a summer!! It was absolutely incredible! We did so many things. We went on our holiday to Colorado to meet my family for a week and then we spent a week with Syb's mom and after that we drove down to texas for Jeff and Meagan's wedding. After that we drove up to Oklahoma City and stayed there for two days and saw some friends and family and then Syb and Erin and I made the long drive back up to Alberta. It was a long but fun drive. We got home and had a night or two and then we headed up to camp for family camp. After family camp we had a night back at home and then we went back up to the camp for Junior Teen camp. It was a great couple of weeks at camp. After junior teen camp was over we camp back home and I had a couple of days at home and then I flew to Texas again because this time I was in Aaron and Karlee's wedding. It was alot of fun to be with the guys again. We had a blast. After the wedding was over I flew back home and then arrived in Calgary and drove to camp for Senior Teen camp. It was a great week! We got to come home for a while and then we headed off for California! Man it was a great trip! We went to San Francisco and walked around China Town and went sailing around and saw Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge and tons of Sea lions. It was so fun. Then we headed to Los Angeles. We went to Universal Studios and then we went to Disneyland and then we had a day at the beach! It was so great. It was a great couple of days. The last day when we were at the beach we got fried!!! We were all as red as lobsters! But it was fun. Then we headed back home and we when we got home we had a night and a day and then we headed back up to the camp for one last camp. Some kids from Fernie and Sparwood and Elkford came to camp for a week. It was alot of fun! They were great kids. Now we are home for more than a night and a day and as luck would have it, I am sick. Well at least it happened at the end of our summer. But I am all bundled up on the couch and it is already feeling like fall outside. I am looking forward to being home for a while with Syb. That was kind of a really fast way to describe our summer. But I am sure that Syb will tell it more in detail. But there you go.

getting ready for summer to start

so we are getting ready for our busy summer to begin.  this last week has been so busy with getting ready for summer camps, just planning, organizing, and discussing what will go on at during the 3 separate camps. I can't wait for them. they start the first week of July with family camp, this is two days after we get back from our trip to the states. but anyway before camps start in Canada we are headed down to the states for a couple of weeks. we can't wait. We leave on the 12th to head down to Colorado to meet up with Eric's family in Evergreen. We spend a week in Evergreen. which I am so excited to experience Colorado through the Hawkinson's eyes. then from there we meet up with Mom and stay about 5 days with her, in this time I want to visit my grandparents and bother Ryan. from there we head down to Lubbock for Jeff and Megan's wedding. I am so glad I am getting to go to there wedding and also we will have the little girls when we drive down so that will be so much fun to get to see them and hug on them. then the wedding on Saturday and we head to OKC on Sunday. I am hoping to get to church and also to hold Denton Jaggers. Then on the 1st we head back up to Canada. I am so excited but a little overwhelmed at all that is going on in the next few weeks. I know it will all work out in God's way but you know me I just seem to try to over organize it all. Ha.