What my Five year old Son is teaching me.

So, my son loves hockey. Actually, he doesn't just love hockey, he is obsessed with hockey. Which, in general is not really a problem, as while i'm not obsessed with hockey, I do enjoy watching a game or two. The problem is that while my husband and I are Canucks fans, somewhere down the line Joshua decided he did not like the Canucks and has become an avid Boston Bruins fan..go figure! So needless to say watching a hockey game is a little different now. When Boston played Vancouver, it was hard to cheer as hard, because i saw his posture deflate a little more with each goal Vancouver got.

Going out with Joshua when he is wearing his Boston Jersey has also become a little challenging as someone will inevitably make a comment about his Boston Jersey. I will admit that while i started out supporting him in his choice, just recently i found myself wishing he would go back to being a Canucks fan like everybody else.

Wow did that ever reveal something to me. I saw how much i like to conform and how tough i find it to do things that others don't do. And i've realized how much i admire the pluck of my little guy to continue to support the Boston Bruins and wear the Jersey even though quite a few kids have made negative comments about it. And I wish i could be more like that. To stand for my convictions and beliefs, even if I am the only one. To not have that inner need to have people agree with what i believe. To not bend to make people happy. To not need to be liked by everyone. The strength that takes to be different and to be okay with differences. It's so much easier when everyone is on the same page and so much more challenging to co-exist and get along when everyone isn't. My son is teaching me that it is okay to be different. Hard, but okay. Not everyone can cheer for the Canucks and that's okay!! :)

Thoughts

Just thought I'd post some thoughts swilling around in my head.



Out in Vancouver last week on a beautiful sunny day, watching all the people milling around on the street, sipping coffee at the local coffee shops and generally lazily enjoying a saturday off, I was struck by the stark contrast between life as we know it and life as the people in the horn of Africa know it. To think that while we are enjoying our cup of coffee or a good chat with friends or hanging out on the beach with our kids, thousands of moms dads and kids are struggling to survive. My heart aches as i think of their plight, especially for the children who are of course always the most vulnerable. I think what can i do other than send money and pray. I wish I could be there lending a hand. I wish, no I pray, for rain for the dry lands there. I pray that children there could experience the kind of life that children here do. We are so so so abundantley blessed out here and it is so so easy to forget about that. And I am trying more and more to be thankful in all situations, because when nothing seems to be going right in my day and my kids are driving me up the wall, I have to think how much worse things really could be and it helps me be a little bit kinder a little slower to snap and be grumpy.


p.s I don't suppose anyone could tell me why i can't seem to post pictures anymore? It's just coming up with writing and no picture.

Finally

Finally I am writing again. I was having trouble with blogger, so I gave up for awhile. To those who left comments on my last post, thank you for your kind thoughts and words. The family is doing okay so far.

I have started to write this line a few times only to delete it because I can't seem to get past the first sentence, so for now i'll just give a quick update on what we have been up to.


* Joshua just graduated from preschool. He is quite sad that it is all finished and wishes he could still go next year. He has really enjoyed his preschool year, thanks to some great teachers. He has also made a couple of good friends. I am also sad to see it over. It means change, and i'm never the best with change.

*I am going to be teaching Joshua at home next year, instead of sending him to Kindergarten. I wasn't keen on the switch to full days, feeling that 30 hours of school is a bit much for a 5 year old. So we are going to be doing Kindergarten through a distributed learning school, called Regent. He will have the opportunity to do some classes once a week and then the rest of the time he will be at home, although i'm not sure how much of his learning will be done at home, since I prefer to be out and about. There will be a Teacher overseeing his program, which is a relief, as i'm not then soley responsible for his learning. So we will see how it goes. If it's great and we all love it, we will continue. If not, we will send him to school next year for grade 1.

*Micah is growing and growing and I can't believe he will be two soon. Time sure flies. He is running now. Playing hockey with Joshua. (Joshua can't get enough of hockey right now. He watched most of the canucks games with us.) Beating up Joshua, if you can believe it :) Micah is very physical and Joshua is not, so a lot of screaming happens at our house. Micah says a few words, mostly the b words like baby (and he looooves babies), bubbles, balloons, Hi, Bye. If he doesn't know a word then screaming usally gets his point across lol :) gotta love the screaming.

* Went to Ontario to visit two of my sisters who live out there and see my brand new nephew. Flying home with Micah was a nightmare, because he was so overtired and he couldn't sleep. Not Fun at All.

* this post is getting to long, so this is the end for now.

* I tried to post some pictures for everyone, but all i got was gobblygook and no pictures :(

Sad

Saddened tonight, as I learned of the death of a girl I knew briefly while going to Willingdon Church. I cannot believe that a vibrant, beautiful life, is no longer. Heart broken for her two kids: to have their world shaken like that. Praying for the Dad, who i also know, who is in surgery and in serious condition. If you can, could you pray too.

New

Time, I think, for something new, which is the reason for the new look and name. More explanation to come.

Vent

I need to vent and where better than here! My darling little boy has turned 11 months and naps have become a bear, a bear!!! I am so, so beyond frustrated, as it seems that no matter what I do he can't seem to sleep longer than 45 minutes! I've tried earlier naptimes, later naptimes, moving his bedtime earlier. So by bedtime he's a mess and boy the screaming and crying that ensues a bedtime because he hasn't had enough sleep. He does however sleep through the night. But i have to tell you i'd much rather have him wake up once at night and have good naps during the day than sleep all night and not nap much.

So thats my rant, short and sweet.

Update

Thought I should write a quick blog to let the two or so of you who read this that we have moved to Vancouver. I never thought I would end up living out here. So far I am enjoying it. We've been here for two weeks. I love being so close to the beaches and a bazillon parks. I don't like, however, not really being able to walk anywhere with the kids because the roads are so darn busy.

We are in a two bedroom apartment, quite a change from a two storied house. But it's not to bad for space. When we first moved in we could harldy walk and with no storage I wasn't sure where we where going to put everything. But somehow everything has managed to find a home and whatever didn't fit went to the thrift store.

Ken is loving his job, which is good. He is working with people who live on the street, trying to find them shelter, temporary and permanant and helping them with a myrid of other things. Much more his thing than police work. Sadly, on that note, we just found out yesterday that one of his troop mates was killed while on duty. She was only 25. Very Sad. Ken is hoping to get out to the memorial service.

So once again we are settling into a new community. My prayer is that we will find a good church to connect with quickly and that we will meet some people out here with kids. Joshua is more and more needing social interaction with kids his age. I have signed him up for preschool, but that doesn't start till the fall.

So that's it, mostly, i think..