At Peace

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6-7

Thank you all for the prayers that have been sent up on our behalf! I feel that the matter has been placed wholly in His completely capable hands. I now have a peace that I didn't know was possible to have while the matter was still unresolved.
It is comforting to know that He has a plan for us, and that He will guide us each step of the way. Our God will provide the answer to this, He has provided intercessors for us, and He has imparted peace in us! "I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all." Romans 1:8

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."
Philippians 4:8

Please Pray for Us

It almost seems strange to suddenly have a need for additional prayer, but that's what happened today. In the last two days, Sir's work took a very unexpected twist. And it caught me, at least, by complete surprise. I've never seen my knight so stressed out, and I'm completely helpless. That is why I'm asking for help in prayer. There is One who knows the answers, One who knows why we're facing this new test, One who knows how we will pass through. So I'm asking that it might be made known to us.

Sir has asked me not to go into too much detail, but I know it will help a little to be able to pray intelligibly. So, I will try to disclose what I can at the same time abiding by my husband's wishes.
There has been one project that Sir has been working on for some time. The client seemed happy with the work up until now, and that is why we're suddenly taken aback. The main claim is this: The client wants to be refunded except for what they think the project is worth. It could end up being a staggering amount.

Depending on what the client decides... and the answers to prayer, will determine whether we will have to move... whether Sir gives up his business... or a myriad of other options. But basically, we need to know what our Lord would have us to do, and I feel that asking for prayer regarding this new trial is the best way to find this guidance.

So, please pray for us in that we would know what we are to do, for me to find a way to help my desperately overworked husband, for Sir to be able to cope with this new stress among all the other responsibilities he's in charge of, and for peace in leaving it all in the Everlasting Arms.

The Potty Training Saga ~ Episode I

After changing one dirty diaper too many, I decided it was time to start potty training Dolly. I had been procrastinating on doing it because 1. I had no idea how to even start (I'm still not sure if there isn't a better way), 2. I was waiting for Dolly to be 'ready', and 3. I wasn't really up to the consistency I knew it would take to accomplish the job.
Sunday afternoon when Dolly woke up from her nap I changed her diaper and put a pair of underwear on her. She had slept late so it was already after 6pm. I set my kitchen timer for 30 minutes and when it went off, she had to go sit on her potty. Of course, nothing happened. By bedtime, still nothing had happened so, I put a diaper back on her and put her to bed.

Determined not to give up before we got started, we started over bright and early Monday morning. 8am. Every half hour the timer would go off, and we'd dutifully head to the bathroom. Then at half past 9, something happened! And there had been no accidents prior to it either. I was proud and Dolly seemed slightly amused.
Suddenly I realized that I didn't have a reward system set up yet. Quickly we built a 'potty chart' on which earned stickers could be placed and of course it didn't hurt to sweeten the deal with a bit of candy. Then we did a photo shoot and documented the potty training setup.

Every half hour the timer went off. Lunch time came and went and then.... there was an accident. I didn't notice right away... in fact I didn't notice until the timer went off and we headed for the bathroom. I reset the timer, discovered the puddle and got it cleaned up in time for naptime.
After naptime there were two more accidents. Our ratio was 1:3... a 25% success rate. I was beginning to get discouraged. Finally it was bedtime. I put Dolly in a diaper and got her dressed for bed. Then she had to drink her milk. Halfway through her milk the timer went off again. By this time we were down to every 10 minutes due to the number of accidents that had occurred during the afternoon. Happy to get away from drinking her milk, Dolly willingly rushed off to the bathroom. And to finish off the first official day of potty training, she actually went potty! I was very encouraged. Our success rate had jumped from 25% to 40%!

Pop Up Pictures

You may have noticed the new pop-up images when you move your mouse over the links on the left of the page. There are a lot of benefits being married to a talented programmer. Yes, I know I'm biased... but I'm supposed to be, right? Right!

Anyway, as I was saying... I selected pictures from my collections or what I could get off the internet. There may be better pictures available though, and if you'd rather have yours changed, just let me know. If possible, please also provide me with a photo that you'd like to have us put up instead.

As for the picture selection... if you are older than my generation I want to post a current photo of you... or at least one taken within the last 5 years. If you are of my generation or younger... then a childhood picture is what I'm aiming for.

Finally, please read the note from my knight below... he's still working on the pop up pictures for me, and would like to have as much helpful feedback as possible.

A note from the programmer:

I developed this popup system from scratch, so it hasn't has a chance yet to be fully tested in all web browsers. If you want to help, take a look at the below description of what it's supposed to do, and then leave a comment reporting whether or not it works properly on your computer.

So far, I've successfully tested or heard reports of it working with the following operating systems/web browser combinations:

• WinXP / IE6
  
• WinXP / Firefox

Basic Functionality

• A picture should fade in smoothly when you move the mouse over each of the links.
  
• The picture should smoothly fade back out when the mouse leaves the link.
  
• The picture should hover above the mouse pointer.
  
• As the mouse moves, the picture should smoothly/gradually follow the pointer.

Advanced Testing

• If you scroll partially down the page and try again, the picture should still appear in the correct location.
  
• If the page has not finished loading and you move your mouse over a link, nothing should appear until the picture has finished loading in the background, at which time it should automatically fade in smoothly.

Once Upon A Time

I'm not really sure how to begin, but I thought I could start here. Before Dolly was born... actually while I was pregnant with her, I decided to take all the random childhood photos of me growing up on the Last Resort that I had, and build a scrapbook photo album for my mom as a surprise. I'm pretty sure she doesn't get a chance to read my blog, so it's probably safe to write about it. Then last night I was looking through one of the thirty or so envelopes that are stuffed with pictures of the past and I decided that I'd start writing about them. It will end up being a book... memoirs of my past. I thought I didn't want to let go of the pictures completely so I'd scan them... of course if they're scanned they're easy to post so, I'll start methodically scanning and I'll write everything I remember when I see a picture. Eventually I'll have written something about almost every picture and then I'll start the gigantic task of chronologically ordering my book and filling in the gaps with unphotographed memories. I figured that I lived the first 20 years... I'll write about them in the next 20 years and then read it all again in the 20 years after that. A plan? Probably an overwhelmingly, insurmountable one, but I'm going to try to do it, and you know what? I'll probably get the photo album actually finished for my mom in the process! So, occasionally you might get to read a memory or two here on my blog, and in it I'll be able to share a bit of my past that seems to be so painfully gone**.

** Just to clarify my final sentence.... "...a bit of my past that seems to be so painfully gone" I was merely saying that there seems to be little trace of the childhood I'm referring to still in existance and that in itself is sad. Not that I'm unhappy in my current state and wish to be lost in the past.

Kelowna Trip ~ Part I

Back at the beginning of the end of summer snowball... which would have been about three weeks ago now, Sir and I decided to squeeze in a quick trip out to the Okanagan to visit his grandparents. It was a spur of the moment idea, but I'm so glad we went. Grandma had seen Dolly at two months of age and it would be the first time both Grandpa and Grandma would get to meet PC.

We hopped in the car early Monday morning and started our five hour drive east. The kids were really good for most of the trip there. They either slept or were just happy which really kept the drive from getting too stressful. We stopped for lunch at a McDonald's in Hope and PC got to practice driving. Dolly had gone into the store with Daddy, so he needed to do something fun too.

~~~~~~~

Once we got to Grandpa and Grandma's house in Kelowna, it didn't take long for Dolly to warm up to them. At first she wasn't sure, but after they started reading some of her books, she couldn't resist and had to join them for a story or two.

We had a nice long visit that afternoon, Grandpa, Sir and Dolly went for a walk while Grandma and I visited some more. Then we got to sit down to one of the best pressure cooked beef dinners I've ever eaten. Besides the delicious beef, there was mashed potatoes, turban squash, fresh seasoned tomatoes, steamed carrots, and lots of gravy! Of course I forgot to get a picture of the feast, but it was definitely GOOD!

After supper was over, Grandpa and Dolly did the dishes. He would rinse the cutlery and then hand it to Dolly. Her job was to put it in the dishwasher. We didn't get a very good picture of the action, but that's what's happening here.
We put the kids to bed and then visited late into the evening before calling it a night. The next morning after breakfast, we loaded up the car and started off towards home. It was one of the best vacations we've been on. I'm not sure if it was because of the spontaneity of the whole trip, the overall welcome feeling at Grandpa and Grandma's house or something else, but it was definitely a relaxing and fun excursion!

Three Months Old

Three months has to be the hardest age to photograph. They're just wiggly enough to squirm out of the picture, and just alert enough to notice anything and everything except mommy and the camera!

PC's new milestone this month is the ability to roll over onto his stomach from his back all by himself when he wants to not just by accident! The best thing about this situation is, I can lie him down on the floor, and he can get comfortable and change positions between tummy and back as he chooses. Yay!

DoBug and the Slippers 'n Socks

This is DoBug, one of my best friends, (holding Dolly) a little more than a year ago. Almost a month ago, we got a package from DoBug with these little slippers and socks in it.

Dolly fell in love with the slippers immediately which was a good thing since the slippers were for her and the socks were for PC. The best part is, both items were a perfect fit! I tried to get some pictures of Dolly while she was lying on her back with her slippered feet in her face where she could examine the 'kitties' without taking the slippers off, but she noticed the camera and wouldn't cooperate. So, this is what we ended up with instead.