It's Kind of Fun

These old-fashioned blogs. Writing about the little details of life for grandparents, siblings and old friends. I kind of miss it. Writing and following friends, like letter writing. Maybe I'll start this up again. Seems like a fun outlet for all the journalling and writing I do. Who will read? Maybe nobody. Probably my mum, if I send her the link, right Mum? ;) I don't even really know how to format a post so that it doesn't end up in one giant paragraph... Here's where we are at. A snapshot. We are 9 months into our church plant in Duncan. These 9 months have been quite the journey! Nothing has gone as expected. I love, love, love our new church community. God has brought us some truly amazing people to journey with. People who's faith both humbles and encourages me. I knew church planting would be hard, but I didn't expect it to also be easy. Easy as in everyday we get to do work we love and share the good news of Jesus in a town that is so thirsty for living water. God has certainly caught our family as we made the leap together and jumped out to follow Him on this amazing adventure. Like our regional director, David Horita, told us as we were exploring the idea of church planting, "If you don't do it you will always wonder." I am so, so glad we made the leap, and so, so excited to see what will happen next as we continue to follow our Lord who loves us with an unfathomable love.

PS - Why is it all one paragraph?!!!! Tech people, save me!

Anyone Out There?

I rediscovered this old blog thing of ours, and it has made me smile to look back at young Wes and young Christy. Our lives look so different now! We've gone through struggles, heart aches, exciting adventures, and so many joys. We have been blessed beyond belief, and life has been so much harder than the 'kids' writing this blog would have expected, but so much deeper and fuller than we ever would have imagined. As our own kids are now entering adulthood I just am filled with so much gratitude to have been gifted with such amazing people to parent, and so gifted with such an amazing husband and co-parent. I look forward to the future, and mostly, I am so thankful to the Lord for leading us and guiding us, and always being there for us, no matter the trial, and he has blessed us richly. Christy PS - Yes, it's May, but that is our last family photo.

This Guy

Let's just take a break from regular life with monkeys updates  and talk about this guy:

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He is amazing!  He a a real believer in people.  He's willing to take risks to get other people involved in his work and life.  I am constantly skeptical of people and cautious when it comes to trusting them.  Wes, however, is always willing to partner with others, and I love and admire that about him.  He has been hurt and disappointed by people before, although not as frequently as a skeptic like me would believe to be the case, and yet he hasn't lost his ability to take risks with new people.  I'm married to an awesome man! Christy

This Blog Needs a New Address

There are no longer just three little monkeys going through life with us.  The original three have been joined by a fourth, who is perhaps the biggest monkey of them all!  (Well, by stature, he is the smallest monkey of them all.)  Elijah is growing up so fast!  I can't get over how quickly everything is going with him.  He said his first sentence yesterday, "Where's Mama?"  Before we know it he'll be packing his back pack for kindergarten, and then what.......college?  He climbs on everything and I think his favourite activity is emptying out the kitchen cabinets.

Benjamin is getting so grown up.  He is a passionate little fellow.  He feels things strongly and he is generous with his affections.  He remembers almost everything he hears and repeats things at funny moments.  You have to be very careful what you say around him!

Emily is still a sweetheart.  She is well-liked by everyone.  She loves school and her teacher.  She plays with her baby dolls and loves art.

Jayson is our family naturalist.  He memorizes details about plants and animals and likes to teach his parents and siblings what he's learning.  His favourite classes at school (except for recess and gym) are science and music.  Our school has a fantastic music teacher who is such a blessing.  I love that he is teaching our kids a passion for music.

As for us, Wes is busy working on his Masters.  His new hobby is called homework!  He is loving school so far.  I'm just busy keeping up with Elijah.  At the end of the day we all crash! Christy

Baby Pool #4

Hello it's been a while!
Here are the guesses so far for our baby pool for our fourth little one! (I'm guessing that this means we'll have to change our blog address)    :)

If you want to enter let us know.  The baby is due June 4th, 2012.


Baby Pool 2012
May 20th - boy - 7lbs 11oz - Uncle Jonathan
May 21st - girl - 7lbs 10oz - Grammie Em
May 25th - boy - 8lbs 2oz - Auntie Teri
May 27th - girl - 8lbs 3oz - Daddy Wes
May 28th - boy - 8lbs 3oz - Mama Christy
May 30th -girl - 7lbs 5oz - Auntie Jen
June 2nd - girl - 8lbs 0oz - Auntie Karin

Kindergarten Girl

Emily had her first day of full day kindergarten yesterday.  She was so excited she jumped out of the car and ran to the door with barely a wave for her dad and me.  We followed her inside and she found herself a place on the carpet and waved frantically for us to leave.  She is eager to learn and make new friends.  Not even an ounce of shyness or nerves.  Gregarious Emily will do just fine at school.

Christy

Backyard Birdwatching

Camp

Our kids had a blast at camp.  They have inherited their mother's thrill genes and had no fear of the zip line and jungle swing that some of the teenagers were too nervous to attempt.  Even Benjamin was so disappointed he realized wasn't going to  have a turn. Wes did an amazing speaking job and the teens all responded really well.  It was a great week!   Here are some photos.

Rock Climbing

Zip Line

Playing Wide Games

Christy

Conversation With Jayson

"Need some help Jayson?"

"No, I'm getting the hank of it."

Too cute to correct!

Christy

First Tooth

Yes, Jayson has lost his first tooth.  I think another one is close to falling out too.
He pulled it out himself!  (He's also proud of himself for doing it... so am I!)

The Fairy even found him on vacation.  What a gal, eh?

Wes

Summer Vacay!

We have had such an amazing time on holidays this year.  Yes we did see rain and clouds... and more rain and clouds, but we still had a great time.  The sun popped out from behind the clouds a few times and we were able to enjoy the beach!  Most importantly though, we got to spend time together as a family... as well as spend time with our extended family.  Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Wes

Benjamin Sings

Flower Child

Benjamin likes to garden.  Actually he likes to destroy plants...sort of the opposite of gardening.  Here he is hard at work. Christy

Emily's Preschool Graduation

We have a preschool graduate!   Emily's plans for after graduation are to enjoy camping with her family and then head to kindergarten in the fall where she hopes to learn to read.

I remember....

ten years ago looking through photos of  Wes and myself with my mum.   She said we would look back at these and think about how we were just  kids when we got married.  I said, "Oh yeah,"  but I thought, "Yeah right!"   Well here we are ten years later, and I can't help thinking we looked more like we were headed to our high school prom than to our wedding.

Happy anniversary Wes!  It's been a great ten years and I'm so happy we'll be spending the rest of our lives together.

Jayson's Speech

Jayson gave his speech at school this morning and he is certainly getting more confident being up front!  He was nervous but I suspect he enjoyed the attention.







He wrote the speech all by himself and his teacher translated it to French for him.  Here's the English version:

My Treehouse

Hello, My name is Jayson.
This summer I will build a treehouse.
I will need a ladder, wood, and some nails.
I will build secret drawers.
I will put little animals in it, and I will put lots of food in it too.
My dad will help me build it.
We will put a door on it so the bears can't get in.
I will play in it when it is done.
Thank you.

Birthday Boy!

Our sweet Benjamin is two!

Benjamin joining in on the singing of "Happy Birthday".

Happy Birthday Benjamin!  We love you!

Wishing the winter would end...

So this winter has been crazy with tons of snow, and alas we have more coming.  It seems to have been quite a while since we have written on here, but I hope to start writing more again.

The most current thing for our kids that is, is Emily got a new bed.  Well, it's a used new bed, but now she has her own room and the boys are sharing.  Last night as Ben was falling asleep, Jayson couldn't resist piling stuffed animals on him and shining a flashlight in his face.  Oh brothers!  But the transition seems to be settling in tonight.

More to come!

Wes

Première Année et la Vie Nouvelle!

Jayson started grade one this past week.  He's doing very well!  There are more boys in his class this year.  This is a good thing, since the girls outnumbered the boys all of last year.

On Friday I was supervising at the high school which is next to Jayson's school.  He asked that at lunch time we could meet at the fence that separates the two schools.  I was worried that I would forget but guess who was the one to forget?  I saw Jayson a way off in the distance playing with the boys so I called to him, and he came up to me.  We chatted, high fived and gave a kiss through the chain link fence. 

I don't know about him, but it made my day!

Emily the other day talked to Christy about becoming a Christian.  We thought it was a little young for her to be interested in these things, but she really understood everything and committed her life to Jesus.  Later on I went to her in her bed to talk with her about it, and she told me "I've got good shoes for following Jesus".  So cute! But her heart is there and we are so proud of her!

Here are some pictures to share with you.
Wes

Above is Jayson on his first day of Grade One.  Below is our crazy kids in the goggles we found on discount.  They loved them!