Hello folks.

This is my 100th post and its in memory of Joy.

Joy passed away this morning at the ripe ol' age of 91. We should all be so lucky to live as long and be in such good health. She died of a stroke, in her sleep. Sort of one of those "come home, good and faithful servant" moments, I think. She said she could never live in an old age care home and I'm so pleased to report that she never had to. She lived in assisted living for the last little bit but that was a blessing, I believe. She lived independantly but still could rely on them to cook her supper. She had one heck of a sweet tooth and I'm sure God had a stash of Mars Bars waiting for her when she showed up today!

I'm really feeling for her daughter right now. She has other family but her father, brother and now her mother are all gone. If anything, I know she could use our prayers right now. I know Joy was quite elderly but this was still unexpected. Now I know what people mean when they write in the obituaries "Died suddenly at 95 years old."

I've cried enough tears of loss today but I decided I needed to get out and get some fresh air so I marched off to Pricesmart and picked up some Twinnings Lady Grey tea... its what Joy drank and its what she served me out of her good china when I would visit. I'm pleased to drink a toast to her out of my great-grandma's good china.

Here's to you, Joy!

Joy was a sweet, strong, independant, loving woman and I can only hope that when I'm 91, I'm still all of those things.

God called her home, and home she went!

That's about it for now.
Talk to you soon!

Here are some pictures of the lace she helped me create

I tried to find this on youtube but there wasn't a good version of it. Here are the words instead. If anyone is itching to hear the actual song, message me and I'll send it to you.

Our prayers have all been answered. I finally arrived.

The healing that had been delayed has now been realized.

No one's in a hurry. There's no schedule to keep.

We're all enjoying Jesus, just sitting at His feet.

If you could see me now, I'm walking streets of gold.

If you could see me now, I'm standing strong and whole.

If you could see me now, you'd know I've seen His face.

If you could see me now, you'd know the pain is erased.

You wouldn't want me to ever leave this place,

If you could only see me now.

My light and temporary trials have worked out for my good,

To know it brought Him glory when I misunderstood.

Though we've had our sorrows, they can never compare.

What Jesus has in store for us, no language can share.

If you could see me now.

Hello!

More of my sister's adventures:

Jill left Edmonton and headed towards my uncle's brother's last night when she managed to hit and kill a deer! It took out her headlight, marker and grill but she survived unscathed. She was a bit of an emotional wreck and thankfully a family, split between two cars, stopped to make sure she was ok. She was quite upset, crying, and the lady of the group asked if she was upset about the deer. No, she sobbed out, I'm worried about my horse!

Taser is fine and in good shape. The family was quite nice about it and one car drove ahead of her and the other drove behind her to make sure she got to where she was going safely. Turns out Uncle's brother owns a pig farm so Taser spent the night with hogs! Jill was quite proud of him. This will certainly be a trip that neither of them forgets!

Jill was never so happy to arrive in Prince Albert/Spruce Home Saskatchewan today. We've had a few calls/texts from her to say that she arrived safely. Dave and Paula are at a Black Smithing competition of some description somewhere else in Saskatchewan but drove back today just to be sure Jill arrived in one piece!

I'm missing her badly. I never really understood why she was always so upset when I would leave town to go to camp or PYPS but I get it now!! Having her gone is quite painful! I know two months will fly by (I sure hope so anyway). All of Jill's friends have been awesome to me, too. So if I need a jolt of Jill's brand of humour, they're all only a call away! I was quite a basket case last night, missing her, so mom brought over a 5lbs flat of blueberries and she and I ate the whole thing. It was quite a delicious moment in time!

I saw A today. We chatted away for over an hour and a half and made sure she got a shower, too. Even had time to paint her nails before mom and dad picked me up. Didn't bake anything today... didn't really have time plus Daena was just finished canning. We'll probably bake on Saturday.

That's about all for now but I'll keep posting about Jill's trip to keep everyone up to date.

Talk to you soon!

Wow... its been a full couple of days.


Church on Sunday was good. I helped count the offering but my head was in another space and had the hardest time remembering all the different steps to making it all balance. Normally I'm totally on my game but not this time! We ended up balancing, no thanks to me! It all worked out - thank heavens for Marg.


My new bed arrived while I was counting the offering. Jill was waiting here for the delivery men. I love, love, love my new bed! I took a nap on it and then went over to mom and dad's to hang out and have one last supper with Jill. Jill's two best friends came over and hung out. They let me play Rock Band with them - that meant a lot to me even though I totally stink at the game! I'm no good at all... I lack the hand-eye coordination and I don't know any of the songs!


We all went to bed even though none of us could sleep. Jill was wired for sound - too excited/nervous about the upcoming trip to sleep. I took my medication on an empty stomach and was up feeling sick and mom had a post-night shift headache. Jill rested but mom and I sat up and chit-chatted til about 1:30am. I ended up eating something and went upstairs and slept fine after that. Jill woke me up at 4:30 and we were on the road to get fuel by 5 and we hit the highway at 5:30.


Jill and I drove together for the first four hours, grooving to one of her new CDs. Her good friend Cory made her a bizzillion CDs (at least 12 MP3 discs roughly 150 songs on each!).... including the complete works of the Dixie Chicks, Big & Rich, and Michael Jackson, as well as a million others! She even has the Jackson 5 Christmas Album, for pete's sake! I also made her a CD... one with all my music (so that if she ever gets to missing me, she can pop that in and be reminded of how much she doesn't like my music tastes!). As she said "wow, your music collect just kinda puked on this CD!" tee hee. After those four hours, dad and I switched spots. He drove for Jill til Salmon Arm so she could rest and mom and I drove dad's truck behind them. I dozed while mom and I listened to a CD I made her months ago but that she never got to listen to! It was a good drive.

We let her go at Salmon Arm. Dad was quite anxious about her but we got texts from her along the way and she arrived safely in Olds to stay the night at Uncle Tim and Aunt Sharron's. Taser didn't want to back out of the trailer last night so Jill ended up turning around inside and then walked him out. Her total drive to Olds yesterday was 15 hours! She was pretty tired and slept great! Taser didn't want to get back in the trailer this morning. Can't say that I blame him! Jill finally coaxed him in and off they went!

Jill left this morning from Olds and drove to Edmonton. Everyone tried to talk her out of going up there to visit Aunt Marny and Uncle Neil but she went anyway. She got there and had lunch with them in Boston Pizza and came out to a great big mess of coolant on the ground under her truck. She's thankful that she did go to see them because Aunt and Uncle were available to help her deal with the situation! Uncle Neil went and bought more coolant and put it in only to watch it drain out the bottom. Fortunately they got her in to their mechanic who fixed the problem (something about a radiator plug falling to pieces) but all this took her afternoon and by the time she was ready to get back on the road it was getting to be pretty late. Aunt Marny made her supper to go and a cuppa coffee and sent her to Uncle Neil's brother in Turtlehead who has a farm. Jill's going to go stay there the night with Taser and will head over to Prince Albert tomorrow morning (a 5 hour drive).

I slept like the dead last night on my new bed and then Michelle came over today and we went to the bead store to make bracelets. I found some random pretty beads and made myself a new medic alert bracelet (the other one I made was too big). We had a great time chatting and laughing! We have a really good time together and enjoyed a cuppa tea afterwards.

I'm missing my girls somethin' awful right now. Jill really was my saving grace after Jen and Jenny left so having her gone as well is just breakin' my heart. I know she'll have a good time and will adjust to being so far from home quickly. She's never been away from home for any length of time and I worry about her - my little sister. Ah well. She's a grown-up now and can take good care of herself plus she has Dave and Paula to look out for her. They really are an extra set of parents to her!

Tomorrow I might be hanging out with A. They're going to Dinotown in the morning so if she's not tired and over stimulated then I'll head over there in the afternoon.

Will keep you updated on Jill as I get news.

Talk to you soon!

Good freaking gracious - is it ever hot out there!

I just got in from some errands and I thought I might actually melt into the pavement! I did some banking and hit up the beadstore for my next project. It was so hot but I was pleasantly surprised when an older guy, pulling a cooler on wheels, handed me a cold bottle of water. I was a little leary... wasn't sure if it was poisoned or anything but it was still sealed so I practically chugged it! Gosh, that was nice. It didn't make it any cooler out but it made it a little more bearable. What a nice guy, eh?

I don't have much else to say but wanted to tell you all about that guy!

Talk to you soon!

Good afternoon!

Wow. Its been a long time since I wrote. Yikes.

Nothing super exciting has happened, honestly, but I keep chugging along merrily.

Jill's trailer is *almost* done. It just needs a floor. She hopes to be gone by Friday or Saturday to Saskatchewan. It would be nice if it was a bit cooler for the drive but there's not much hope of that! She plans to leave uber early in the morning so that she can get the drive through the Canyon done early. Then its onward to dusty Alberta.

Tazer has a possible case of Strangles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangles Basically its a really nasty disease that's spread easily from horse to horse. So if Tazer has Strangles then she won't be taking him to Saskatchwan. She was supposed to have heard back from the lab about whether or not it is Strangles but apparently the a/c at the lab broke down and everyone went home and no work got done... so we'll have to wait another day to hear the results.

Now that the trailer is all but done, dad set up the pool! Woot! I'm really excited about that and plan to go for a dip tonight. Yay!

Aunty Bev is in town, staying at mom and dad's, so we're going to have a birthday supper for her tonight.

I'm off to A's in a bit. We're going to bake chocolate chip cookies, if she's up for it. I'm going to pack a change of clothes so that we can jump into her pool if the mood strikes us. Will see. Hope she's up for that - I know I will be!

Talk to you soon,
-Danielle

Hello everyone.

Hope you're all doing well!

Today was a fun day! I met up with Michelle and we went for a trip down to the bead store. Michelle and I wanted to do some crafting together so we picked up a few beads to get her started on a necklace. She was working with rediculous plyers but they were better then my spare set (they were absolute crap). It worked out quite well - her necklace came up beautifully! She's a quick study. We chatted and drank tea afterwards and had a good time gabbing!

I'm at mom and dad's right now. Jill picked me up while dragging her beautiful new horse trailer behind her truck (I'll post pictures later) and we went for a short cruise by the hosptial so mom could see it while she was at work. After supper mom and I picked beans til our eyes just about fell out. Our first picking got us three huge tupperware bowls full... I'm taking home quite a bit to blanch and freeze.

Jill is going to take me home pretty quick, so I should go. Will post pictures of the horse trailer in the next few days. It really is a work of art.

Talk to you soon

Hello!

I was up late tonight, sewing away. I made these:

They're tea-towel aprons. I didn't realise it, but I bought the HUGEST tea towels known to creation in a four-pack. I made one for Shea, Eli, Rowan and my guitar teacher's son, Max. I back stitched their names onto each apron... fortunately they all their names are short! They're super easy to make which is how I managed to sew up four of them in three hours... I hemmed them quite a bit, even Shea's, which will work out... they'll grow along with the kids. Rowan won't wear hers for quite a while yet, though! Tee hee!

I have already been to bed once tonight... I bought dad Benazir Bhutto's autobiography for Christmas and am giving it a good read. I'm about half way through and wow, does she ever do a good job of explaining Pakistani politics! I'm completely impressed with this gal and am kind of embarassed/ashamed that I take my democratic freedoms for granted. She, her family, friends and supporters all suffered harshly for believing in equal rights and freedom for all, for believing that Pakistan could be a democratic Muslim country! They believed in things that that I've taken for granted my whole life because I've always lived in a free country. Wow. It was a real wake-up call tonight.

Tee hee. a 'wake up call'... that's probably why I can't sleep!

Anyway. I think I'll give sleep another try.

Talk to you soon!