Life

After spending 10 minutes writing the most boring list of nothing, I am trying again.

Rhonda's blog.
Take 2.

My fingers are cold and slightly numb from the chilly breeze blowing through my house. Yes, it's official. Winter is here. I think it's been about 12* C at night, which is what some of you are having as a daytime high, so you probably don't immediately have much sympathy for me. I think that living in a warm/hot/tropical climate for 9 months of the year sets one up for great shock when the temperatures begin to fall. Or something. All I know is that I'm cold! We are all wearing socks, sweaters, jeans, and yes, even closed shoes! (Or in my case, socks with my Birks.) My kids don't especially enjoy socks and shoes, but jackets are a novelty. :) Who knows.

Life has been moving along at the normal fast pace. M's been extra busy at work, with a colleague away due to his baby being in the hospital. C and I are still cramming to finish her schoolwork before we leave. (Remarkably, I think we're still enjoying school!) I'm thoroughly enjoying the Beth Moore study on Daniel. The girls are into riding bikes with new enthusiasm. Etc.

It's only about 10 weeks until we leave for 5 months away. I have mixed feelings about this. Why is it so hard for me to trust God with my family's wellbeing? And, just as interesting to me...why does it take so much trust for me to be ready to go back to a place that is my "home?" One thing I love about these mixed feelings is that it daily reminds me that "this world is not my home." As painful as these feelings can be, I truly love being ready to be reminded of that.

We're exploring the idea that S's skin problems may be bacterial and not at all and allergic reaction to insect bites. Or maybe not ALL insect bites. So, this leads us to bathing in anti-bacterial soap occasionally, swabbing our noses with anti-bacterial cream, etc. The theory is that one of us could be carrying something that only S is affected by. We shall see. Fear rears its ugly head here, occasionally. The Dr we saw a few days ago was optimistic that we can clear this up, but advised us to do a lot of testing while we're in Canada. The worst case scenarios aren't comforting. Really, I'm not constantly worried or fearful. Just sometimes.

In more lighthearted news...I made strawberry jam last week with a envelope of something that was sent to us that was for making freezer jam. It is delicious and remarkably like my Gran's famous strawberry jam.

There are new recipes on the Nisly recipe blog.

I bought a bunch of fabric today for wedding clothes for various ones of us, as well as some warm clothes for me.

I also bought a new cell phone today since my phone had an increasing number of ailments. It probably would have thanked me to stop dropping it. :)

Since Mr Frank has been away, our garden (or yard, depending on what neck of the woods you're from) has been sadly neglected. Today was the first day of a three week trial period for our new gardener. We shall see how it goes. So far, so good. :) He worked hard and got a lot cleaned up. While I went fabric shopping. Works for me! Ha ha.

M is gone till Thursday and therefore is not here to tell me it's my bedtime. So I guess I'll act like a grown-up and tell myself.

Good night.

(No proofreading...)