Father's Day

This morning the children and I brought Ian breakfast in bed, then we all climbed into bed with him while he opened his gifts. It was my intent to run a hot bath for Ian to soak in before church but then I used all the hot water for my shower. Oops.

I don't think there is any way for me to adequately express just how great a father Ian is to our children. He is so patient and loving, always looking for opportunities to teach and encourage them. He is so affectionate and playful. He encourages them to be confident and tells them constantly that he loves them. He makes time for each of them, to listen or to play, whatever they need. They are very secure within themselves because of the father that he is. I love the way he is with our children. It makes me love him all the more.

We made it to church early, which is a miracle. We are always arriving JUST in time or a few minutes late. I thought I'd have 20 minutes to feed Jordan and get her settled and find a good seat before the service began. WRONG. She started howling as soon as we pulled out of the driveway and didn't stop. So much for me getting a good seat in church. ;-) We found a quiet spot and I cuddled her until she fell asleep then we headed in.

She slept for the first part of the service then woke up and found great entertainment in my friend Jennifer who sat just behind us. She was on the verge of laughing she was having such a good time. At one point she kept hiccuping... I didn't know if I should take her out or not. Our services are relatively kid-free and very quiet. When our pastor says "let us pray" you can practically feel a breeze as everyone bows their heads.

Today we had a guest speaker who talked about relationships. He said he had lived in the same apartment building for two years yet didn't know any of his neighbours. So he and his wife decided to do something about that and planned an Easter egg hunt for the children in the building. It cost them $50 to do. He said about 20 people showed up, six of them stood staring at him and his wife like they were crazy. Someone asked him why he would do something like this. He told them that he couldn't live in isolation like this, that he liked people and felt it was important to know the people you live with. After that he decided to plan a bbq. Six people volunteered to help him. For the next few weeks they met to plan this bbq. Soon the meetings weren't just about planning for the bbq, it turned into a time of sharing about who they were and where they came from. One week someone brought cookies. Someone was heading out to Tim Hortons for a coffee and called to ask him if he wanted anything. 35 people came to the bbq and again he got the question "Why would you do this?" When he'd give his reason people would agree and say that they had lived in that building for 5, 10 or 20 years and never knew their neighbours. When the bbq was over people asked "what's next?" So... they planned a Fall Festival and he had 18 volunteers. They were no longer a group of people standing in the elevator watching the numbers change. They had become friends.

He said something that really resounded in me. He said that wherever we are or whomever we encounter, we should leave some sort of impact. He said that in order to be the salt and light of the earth we need to use every opportunity to reach out to others, that we are designed by God for relationships and that our society is saturated with lonliness. We need to be God's hands and feet so that He can reach people through us. Our neighbours are lonely and hurting, hungry and broken.

He was right.

I have lived in my community for almost 10 years and I only speak to two of my neighbours, one of which is moving away in two weeks. What have I done with my time here? How have I used my time to make a difference to someone else? Have I allowed myself to become God's hands and feet so He could work through me to reach someone? No I haven't.

At that moment a crazy idea popped into my mind. One that was absolutely unlike me and not from me. What if Ian and I were to hold off selling our home and for the next year commit ourselves to building relationships within our community? What could God do through us if only we let Him? Who could we reach through Him and for Him?

Have I ever just said "Whatever Lord" and truly, truly meant it?

The idea stayed with me throughout the remainder of the service. I actually started thinking of how we would have to move everything from our storage unit back into our house, where we would put it, how we could rearrange our space so that we could last another year in these cramped quarters. Maybe put the girls in our room, Sam into Julie's and we move into Sam's? Could we convert Ian's office into a bedroom for Sam, and would he then be too far away from us...? What would people say? We're already knee deep into this process.

I mentioned it to Ian after the service and he suggested that we pray about it. It sounded crazy to even say it out loud. But what if it wasn't my idea? What if it was His idea? Lots to pray about for sure.

After church we headed to the mall. Ian and Sam headed off to their favourite store - EB Games - while the girls and I went looking for a new dress for Julie. This morning she put on the one we bought her for her birthday this past March and it was too short! She has shot up again! We checked out Please Mum and she found a dress she really liked. Turned out they had the same print in Jordan's size so I bought that one too :-) Yep.. I'm going to be "That Mom" who dresses their daughters the same. LOL.



It was a lot of fun shopping with her. She has definite ideas about what styles and colours she likes and isn't afraid to let me know when they differ from mine. :-)

We met up with the guys for lunch then on our way out stopped at another store and I ended up buying another dress for Jules.



I am SO happy that she is getting back into skirts and dresses again.

On our way home we stopped for the slushies Ian refused to stop for last night at 10pm. Ian went in to get them and came out with this gigantic cup that made my jaw drop open. I have NO idea what he is ever going to put in this cup or use it for ever again, but it sure gave us all a laugh.



He can't even fit his hands around that thing.

I love the shirt he's wearing. We bought it on our last trip to Disney. I wanted him to wear it when our pastor-friend was preaching. I told him to wear a sweater all buttoned up with this shirt on underneath and as soon as he began his sermon, just unbutton the sweater to reveal this huge eye. Come on... that would throw anyone, don't you think? LOL. Ian is a terrific jokester but he thought this would likely be a bit inappropriate. Boo. He wore it this morning as he was teaching Sunday school. The church kids love him.

Tomorrow I start stripping wallpaper from the hallway. I blogged a couple of weeks ago about how much I absolutely hate stripping wallpaper. Now that I know that I am supposed to WET the paper BEFORE I strip it, it should go easier.

That's all for today!