A crown of Jewels

Saturday, January 15, 2011

"Twas the Night before Christmas ~

This is the poem we made up to act out for the local community dinner on Dec. 18th. I read, girls and Gregg acted out some parts of the poem. Lots of laughter from the crowd as they were all mainly Cariboo-country type folk. We have our own little life here that has been treating us very well.

'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the Cariboo
The only creature stirring was Papa going to the loo
The children were all snuggled in their triple bunk
Dreaming of gingersnaps with milk to dunk

And Frank in his toque and Jacquie in her cap

had just settled in for a short winters nap
The wool socks were all hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that the Bandelo Bandit would soon be there!

When out in the corral there arose such a clatter!
They sprang from their bed to see what was the matter
Away to the veranda they flew like a goose
Wanting to keep the hay yard free of moose!

When what to their wondering eyes should appear,
but a miniature sleigh and 8 tiny reindeer (What? I thought they were horses!)
With a little ole' cowboy, so full of wit
They knew in a moment it must be the the Bandelo Bandit!

Now Charo! Now Poncho! Now Bandit and Poco!
Now Cash, on Clancy, on Doc and Little Joe!
To Graham Creek and Pressy Lake
We have goodies to take!

And then, in the moonlight, he crept about
Ensuring that the good Blue Goose beef wasn't giving the gout.
With skill and with ease, he entered the root cellar
He saw that darn pack rat and let out a bellar.

"Hey Brad, git your gun & we'll shoot that critter!
He's eating the apples, there'll be no fritters!"
What amazement and wonder sparkled in his eyes
Arriving in the Cariboo always held a surprise

"Oh my, what is this I see?"
RB and Claudia rippin' around on the quad ~ crazy as can be?
Don't they know only good kids get MaryAnne's beef roast?
Santa just may like Cindy the most

Hark! What a clatter, a party's goin' on!
Canyon Ranch is a bustlin' from dusk to dawn
Three little girls in bonnets skippin' around the yard
Sledding, skating & gigglin' while Cocoa & Duchess keep guard

Please, Bandelo Bandit, come to our Bovine BBQ
We can all use a break & think you can too
With a grin on his face, he sat by the fire
but we could soon smell the scorching of his cowboy attire!

Oh how quick from the Oxbow the fire chief came
Ray with his fire hose, did extinguish the flame
With everything under control, let's head to the lake
for a little game of broomball for ole' time's sake

The horses are hungry, head to the barn for some hay
To our joyous delight, Jacquie delivered a calf today
A shiny little Angus, all snuggled with his mother
Reminds us all of the precious birth of another

Just as our little Lord was born
into our world, all tired and worn

Jesus came so sin & death may end
He came to make us each God's friend

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Friday, January 14, 2011

A point to ponder...Friendship

What makes a friendship? What makes a friend? I am talking about a true friend, not a friendly acquaintance that you may see or converse with on a few occasions. I am pondering this.

As a woman, I was first a daughter and a sister. I was the 3rd born with an older brother and sister. I was a cousin and granddaughter and great granddaughter. Learning to play and share with siblings and cousins. Learning obedience to my parents and those entrusted with caring for me. When did I start to learn to be a FRIEND. A friend is by choice mostly. Yes, siblings and cousins can be great friends, but when we are taken out of our growing up environment, do we remain friends? Do you call just to gab about the day or to check in on life?

By age 8 I had a few friends that I gravitated towards because I liked the way I felt when I was with them. Some friends were there because of close promixity and ease of playtime (across the street neighbours). I learned that words spoken in haste don't taste good. I learned that a quick "I'm sorry, that was mean. Will you forgive me and can we play again?" within 5 minutes was a good cure for that awful taste in my mouth. I learned that jealousy never makes for a fun play time. That Barbie car and house is lovely and all, but being jealous of it will make a fight in the end. When the Barbie toys are shared, it all works out fine. So we played with her Barbies and my dolls/clothes. We ate store bought cookies at her house, homemade at mine.

Around this same age I changed schools and became friends with some other girls, but also kept the neighbour friend. These friends "got me" and I really felt safe playing with them. One girl "R" played so gently and I don't remember us ever fighting. I was a few years older even but admired her family and all her younger siblings. Sucker for babes I was. We drew lots of pictures, we sat through church services quietly together and when my Father died, she was still there. Sometimes maybe a friend is "just there".

As I got older, we moved and I struggled to find a friend again. I struggled until I changed schools and found some fun fun fun friends in grade 10. I love these friends. We goofed. We played. We laughed. We cried. We fought quietly amongst ourselves. We wrote notes. We gave eachother the silent treatment, then made up. We were there and we still are. Whenever we get together it is like there was never a day inbetween. We would go to eachother in a minute. We may suggest things, but we never insist. We don't mother, we listen. We ask questions and then wait for an answer. We may ask MORE questions until the person we're talking to finds their own answer. We pray.

So today I am thinking on what makes a friend any different from anyone else. Maybe it's this. When you think of a friend that you would like to tell you got the job to ~ who do you see? When you just got some bad news ~ who do you want to tell? When you have free tickets to a fun event ~ what girlfriend do you want to come? When you feel like barfing and need someone to hold your hair ~ who would do it? Ha ha.

But seriously, who would do these things for you? Not because they would have to (a spouse or child perhaps would "have" to, though not in a negative sense) but because they are a FRIEND? Who knows your dirty laundry but loves you anyways???

Thinking this way, I do have a few friends. I know I would do this for them and hope they know it.
So what is friendship? How do you get it? How do you give it? How do you keep it?

Some more Christmas fun

Like most people, it seems like Christmas is such a wonderful blurr of activity, visiting, eating and laughing that it is hard to "blog" about it. I did blog a little about our Thiessen time in Alberta, but nothing about Unger time in BC. We had a very relaxed time, did the usual giving out goodies to neighbours, attended the 70 Mile House community dinner (did I post about that? I will check) and hung around home with my folks and waited for my brother's family to show up and bring the entertainment. They are always fun fun fun and we always sleep in after they leave. Too much fun going on to bother sleeping while they are here ! ha ha.

First, a little of our own private Christmas time as our own little family. We have only really started our traditions now that we have moved to BC. Before, there was so much other family around that we just went to whatever was going on. Now we seem to have a tradition of Christmas EVE we play outside in the snow, sledding, skating, whatever, then we have Mickey Mouse waffles (my waffle iron is that by default, but I have since ordered a regular round one with a gift certificate I was sent this year) and then retire to the living room to read the Christmas story in Luke and then open some gifts.

Woke Daddy up with watching some funny cartoons on YouTube.

We love when neighbours pop in for eggs, or just for a chat...what a lovely time of year!

Fun loving employees and yard buddy "B" is always up for a practical joke. This time Kate's weird glasses.

Girls were making a little nativity scene...

then decided to make a larger one!

Taking great care to get baby Jesus' eyes right.

Great neighbours we have, posing for a picture with Mary and Joseph and Jesus. OH wait, that's my folks. You'd never guess Mom had a pound of bacon hiding in her jacket. ha!

Now for our turn!

Eating our M M waffles and all the toppings

Reading from Luke

Cocoa would rather have snowballs form on his feet than endure the shame of wearing his new booties.

Putting together the Playmobil Nativity set

Ruth found Gregg another record of Uncle Rhemus Brair Rabbit

I should say that Gregg finally found a record player at a 2nd hand store for $2. He happily paid the money from a cash gift from his parents. The rest he wants to put towards a day snowboarding in the mountains. Poor man hasn't gone for a few years and his heart and soul need it.

Kate gave Ruth and Mei little wind up mice. They tortured Cocoa with them later.

Girls also re-gifted some of their toys to each other.

We had ordered the complete 9 seasons of Little House on the Prairie from Ebay with our homeschool funding and it came in real handy as a Christmas present for the girls.

all they needed were some bloomers...oh look! I made 4 pairs and hoped 3 would fit. I may need to make a larger pair for Ruth though. She's in a growth spurt!

This post is long, so I'll do another of my brother's family later. So there was our Christmas. Our children were very happy. I asked if there was something they had really wanted and didn't get. Ruth said "rug cookies" then found that Auntie A had sent some in the mail this week. Kate said "I didn't get my horse" but she gets to ride Little Joe almost every day that the weather permits, just he is not hers in respects that we have to provide feed and upkeep on him. Don't know how to work that out quite yet. Mei didn't even have a list of what she wanted, so she was happy happy. Seemed like she got a lot of things to do with frogs. And as for Gregg and I, we just watched the girls with happy hearts then I ate a Bounty chocolate bar Kate bought me. It was good.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Christmas presents

A Manitoba Auntie sent these delightful aprons for the girls. They were already using them when we were cutting up pizza toppings.

Mei's has a little kitty on the left

Ruth's has a strawberry theme

Kate's has a flower and button theme

Yes, they are a little goofy whenever I have the camera!

Domestic Diva's in the making!

Zuppa Toscana Soup

A dear friend from Manitoba not only MADE me this delicious soup on a few occasions, she even delivered it to my door when we were renovating there. So sweet, my ultimate favourite soup of all time. Reminds me of going to the Olive Gardens in Winnipeg when I was a college girl. Endless soup and breadsticks for under $7 ( I think) and many a breadstick came home in our purses!

Zuppa Toscana Soup

1 lb spicy Italian sausage
1/2 lb smoked bacon chopped
1 qt wtaer
(2) 14.5 oz cans (about 3- 2/3 cups) chicken broth
2 lg russet potatoes- cubed
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 med onion- chopped
2 cups choped kale OR swiss chard
1 cup heavy whipping cran
salt and pepper to taste

in a skillet over med-high heat, brown sausage, breaking into small pieces as you fry it, drain, set aside.
in a skillet over med-high heat, brown bacon; drain, set aside.
place water, broth, potatoes, garlic, and oinion in a pot; simmer over med heat until potatoes are tender.
add sausage and bacon to pot; simmer for 10 minutes.
add swiss chard and cream to pot; season with salt and pepper; heat through.

MY VERSION:

i prefer using more broth than they recommend. i know you know how to make a good broth from the chicken carcas. if you dont have any on hand, then use a couple of boxes of the store bought kind and as much or as little water to fill the pot.
de-skin italian sausage if there isn't any on sale without the skins
I made it with kale a couple of times cuz it was cheaper. NOT WORTH IT. i perfer the swiss chard- it has a much better flavor to the soup...
just wing it. if i can make this soup without measuring the ingredients... then i know for sure you can Jo!!!!
i dont add the cream to the pot anymore. i make a huge pot of if becuase we love to eat it for days, and it keeps better without the cream. i just add the cream to a bowl of hot soup right before we eat it.
Jolene ~ I also freeze this without the cream in it. You can also use a chicken bouillon if you don't have the stock, it works. Also made with beef.

Sunday, January 09, 2011

Remembering Joy

Perhaps by now I remember our "Joy" without all the pain attached. Joy was to be our little one born in July 2000. Our arms never had the chance to hold her, but our hearts always will.

When Kate was born in 1997, after some time we longed for a sibling for her. There was a lot of fun anticipation and finally the good news came...a July 2000 due date! YEAH! Unfortunately the morning sickness wasn't the same awfulness, but I thought I had struck gold. At Christmas we told our friends as we were right around the 12 week mark and I was showing and "safe". Shortly after there were signs that I wasn't. Many trips to the Dr. confirmed our baby wasn't growing. We begged and pleaded for God to "let our fruit remain" but finally realized we needed to trust our baby to God. I remember doing so much research as if I could somehow stop it. How silly I had felt to have just told everyone "YES" and now would have to face all the "NO" and ackwardness. I did enough research that I convinced my Dr. to let me "wait it out for 10 days" at home. I would need to call her immediately when the miscarriage would happen so she could see if it was indeed complete. She didn't want to risk me hemorrhaging or having a later infection.

God was gracious. I remember Jan. 8th so well, although the initial pain is gone now. I was reading to Kate on the couch when the pain intensified enough for me to take some Tylenol. I phoned my hubby at work and his parents asking them if they could come and get Kate. By the time they arrived, "the process" (as some called it) was complete. My Dr. was wonderful, helping me go through all the procedures. I think I was on auto-pilot right then, but we got through. For the next while I felt like I was constantly suffocating. I couldn't get air. I was no longer the way I was before. I had experienced lots of pain and loss in my short lifetime, but somehow this was different. It was all consuming. I was a zombie. I couldn't forgive myself and I couldn't then forgive a friend who happened to deliver her own healthy baby on my July due date. Pain does weird things.

Looking back, while I never ever want to experience that again, I know I relive it every time I hear of another Mother with empty arms. I say a very heart felt prayer for them that they will KNOW how God grieves with them but gently gathers their child in His arms. Having another child does not cure this pain, but I think it does help! Our dear sweet Ruth was born in March 2003 and how we cried such tears of release when we held her! A dear companion and friend for our Kate. God is good...all the time...and I need to trust Him in that.

As I am remembering this personal journey, I am remembering and thankful for those who put up with this zombie girl during that painful time. May we all be a little more understanding of eachother's pain and be ready to let some people in on it. There is no use trying to hide it. We have a child waiting for us in Heaven. The hole she left us on earth will someday be filled. Hallelujah !

Monday, January 03, 2011

My life is a Zoo

I braved driving in the big city and found the Zoo. We had a nice relaxing time, but will remember to bring our own lunch next time. I paid $16 for 3 hot dogs and a bowl of soup!