"Morning Pages"

Lately I have been trying something out again. When I was younger I would keep a notepad by my bedside with a pen and at night when my mind would be buzzing I would jot the thoughts down that were flying through my head. I found that it allowed my brain to slow down, take the anxiety out of my head, and allowed me to drift off to sleep. For some reason I stopped doing this when I got married. I journaled every once in awhile but always with the thought that "someone might read this" so I didn't really write down my deepest thoughts for fear of hurting someone or of my thoughts not being safe with them. I have found that I am much more anxious and agitated and wasn't certain why.

This past weekend I was reminded about this practice of writing things down...a book called "The Artist's Way" recommends it. So for the past week now I have been getting up before the girlies are awake and sitting down with a pen and paper and writing down whatever floats across my thoughts. Some meaningless things have been written, a song lyric, but more often than naught the things in my soul that are troubling me...and trust me there are many as my mind NEVER stops...come up to the surface and I write them down and then usually I want to know what the Bible has to say about those thoughts and so I will find myself in a great Bible study. But the thing that I have found the most fascinating about this whole process is that I am simply writing these things down on paper that have been stirring around in my soul...perhaps brooding in my soul, for awhile and that act of writing it out somehow releases it from my inner self. My mind becomes uncluttered from all of the mundane and stupid things that clog it up. I am then able to focus on the things of my day with much more ease. I also find that still small voice of God is much easier to hear. It's been rather remarkable, really, how simple it is. Another advantage that I think my darling husband may be grateful for is that I do not need to process out loud as often or talk about "stuff" as much because I do that on paper. It also seems to free me from the grimmer side of my personality. I can laugh more. I do not store all those hurtful, pain filled emotions in my heart. I write them out, process them, and then come to a new happier conclusion (usually), and go on my way with joy. Really it's refreshing being inside my head space now. I am thankful to have once again discovered this exercise.

So if you ever come across my "morning pages" don't read it. It wouldn't be worth your time...but it was sure worth mine!

10 Years

We were so in love on our wedding day. We promised to love each other for better or worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, 'til death do us part. We were so young. I was only 21. He was just 22. Everyone advised us to wait to get married...we were too young they thought. We should have more life experience. But we knew better. We knew that come what may we wanted to face it together...to grow up together. So on September 26, 1998 we became husband and wife. And you know we are more in love with each other now than on that beautiful fall day.

The last 10 years have grown us up. The last 10 years have made time tested lovers out of us, we've become parents of 2 beautiful children, we've become business partners, we've withstood through sickness, more moves than one can count on both hands, the internal and external flaws that the hands of time reveal...the list goes on and on.

I love that in my mate I see so much mystery and yet I see some much that is familiar and home. It's the perfect mix to keep me fascinated. He is the best father that I have ever seen. He is the best husband a girl could ever have. His love for God is an ever increasing fire. He not only says he values his family he shows that he values his family. He works so hard to provide for us. He has stayed true to his vows of marriage. He is so creative and FUNNY! He brings so much joy and laughter into our house. I am so thankful for my mate for life. He is my other half. And yes he does complete me...cheesy but oh so true.

I look forward to the next decade and the one after that and the one after that...as many as God gives us. I so love every day with my husband. He has brought me the gift of joy and the gift of love every day that I have known him...all 4460 of them.

Thank you DC. Words are inadequate for how blessed I am to be your wife.

Run The Race...

As with many of you, I have been inspired by the Olympians. But one of the sports really got me thinking. The marathon (both men's and woman's) and the triathlon (again...both men's and women's). It brought to mind the following verses in the Bible.

1 Corinthians 9:23-25:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

Hebrews 12:1-3 (New International Version)

1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 12:1-3 (The Message)

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

Watching the runners also made me realize something else...by the end of the race they had given their all. Not only in the race itself but in their discipline, their lifestyle...every part of their lives have been dedicated to this one moment. Those Olympians has poured themselves out. For some reason I had thought of the race that we as Christians run as something we will finish refreshed. As I looked at those runners struggling to put one foot in front of the other...completely spent....the thought hit me that this is how we are meant to live out lives here on earth. The apostle Paul states it best when he was saying goodbye to Timothy...

2 Timothy 4:5-7 (New International Version)

"But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

That's how I want to be when I arrive at heaven's gate...I want to have run the race for the prize not at a slow sight seeing saunter. I want to have used all the currency that God has given me...all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

My prayer for you...

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain in to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

-Franciscan Benediction-

A wave tossed on the ocean

A friend from high school died suddenly on Saturday while playing basketball at a charity event with his brothers. He was 31 years old. I hadn't spoken to him in years just by virtue of life. But the impact he had on my life will not fade. I was reminded that we are here for such a fleeting time. We are not promised tomorrow. Time is precious...And then when it is gone we stand before our Creator God and give and account of that time and how it was spent.

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth

Would care to know my name

Would care to feel my hurt

Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star

Would choose to light the way

For my ever wandering heart
Not because of who I am

But because of what You've done

Not because of what I've done

But because of who You're

Chorus:

I am a flower quickly fading

Here today and gone tomorrow

A wave tossed in the ocean

A vapor in the wind

Still You hear me when I'm calling

Lord, You catch me when I'm falling

And You've told me who I am

I am Yours, I am Yours

Who Am I, that the eyes that see my sin

Would look on me with love and watch me rise again

Who Am I, that the voice that calmed the sea

Would call out through the rain

And calm the storm in me
I am Yours

Whom shall I fear

Whom shall I fear

'Cause I am Yours

I am Yours

Health Update and other things...

I went to the Naturopath after having gone the traditional route of doctor seeing a few doctors. They had taken tests and said I was fine. But I wasn't. I knew I wasn't. I knew because I had no energy. I knew because I was overwhelmed. I knew because I was grumpy and sharp. And all those things just aren't me. Perhaps they are momentary feelings but not lasting attitudes. It's been quite a journey. This went on since I was pregnant with Miss Mercedes and started having terrible gall stone attacks...ones where I would be writhing on the floor for about 45 minutes in so much pain there was nothing else to do. They left me very weak for hours after an attack. It was terrible. I became VERY afraid of my body because you never knew when one would strike. You see those attacks happen when a stone blocks the bile duct. You just never know when a stone will move. Then I had my gallbladder out and and the surgeon assured me that everything would return to normal. They didn't! There came other physical symptoms that left me to the point of being basically a shut-in. Not a complete shut-in mind you because by this point I now had 2 small children who were bursting at the seams with so much life and energy. Nobody knew, except Shaun, the things I was going through not because I was trying to be secretive but because I was simply trying to make it through each day and not analysing anything...just trying to survive. I didn't have the luxury of figuring out how to talk about it with people. I didn't feel well enough. Good health is a luxury. It allows one to do so many things. And I simply didn't have it. I didn't know what was wrong. I wasn't given any solutions from doctors. So I simply put my head down and purposed to make it through...well sometimes it was purposing to make it through the next minute or hour. And no I am not being dramatic. That's the truth of it.

Anyway, there are many other things that I went through due to physical issues that resulted in deep anxiety and fear...and deep anger. I had never dealt with these before. I was never an angry person. I pretty much took life as it came. I was never a fear full (no that is not a typo) person either. Fear had never ruled me. I always figured God would take care of me. And He did and does. But now I was ruled by anxiety and fear and anger. Poor Shaun the things he endured and with such grace...and my children. Rare was a smile and laughter without force.

It got to the point where internally and externally I really couldn't recognize myself. Externally I had put on so much weight no matter what I did. Internally I was such a different at war person. Really life brings you down paths you cannot possibly guess at. All this time although I was in extreme turmoil I was praying and God was using this to teach me many things. I really didn't know where to turn for the physical matters...but I did know where to turn for my internal matters. I knew to turn to God. I clung to him like a person drowning clings to a lifesaver. Because I found that if I kept my thoughts on Bible passages I had read or songs I had listened to that talked about Him that I would be relatively calm. The second I started focusing on all my issues I started drowning. I didn't always succeed on keeping my eyes on Him but when I did I noticed a marked difference in my internal world. A peace beyond understanding.

So about 6 weeks ago I finally was able to go to a Naturopath. And after doing some tests on me he turned to me and told me that he had a scale for rating how a person's health was. 1-3 was really healthy. 19-21 was someone dying of cancer. I was a 17. He said if I had come in 6 months later he didn't know what my story would have been. He said he was quite shocked that my health was that poor b/c after spending an hour and a half talking to me you would never guess it. He told me that my liver had not been working much nor has my colon. I thought the liver cleansed your body but he informed that the liver performs about 500 functions and when it doesn't work one is screwed, as it were. So he put me on a rigorous schedule of pills. And I am not allowed any mint or coffee. I didn't realize how much mint I used.

I went back last week and asked him about my weight. He said the reason that I have gained weight did not have to do with overeating in my case. It had to do with my liver not functioning properly. All the toxins that my body encountered were stored. So as my body starts working properly the weight issues will go away. And I am happy to report that I am starting to get energy back...that very necessary component to being a mother with small children. I have a different outlook on life. I am laughing again. I am writing songs again. I am so very thankful. The Naturopath doctor said it will take about a year to get things up to par.

So I wasn't going insane like I felt some days. I am not a hypochondriac as I sometimes wondered. I do have a God who loves me and cares about every detail of my life. I have a wonderful husband who loves me.

And this is life...we're not promised ease. We're promised that He will walk with us. And it is so.

Moving

Well I was looking through my blog and realized the last thing we said was that we were NOT moving. Well...I should just wait to post these things until God has His finally say I guess. We are moving at the end of August. The original post from April 16, 2008 is the most accurate description with a few changes. I won't opening a music studio just yet. And we cannot breed Keiko. Other than that things are going to proceed as planned. :)
I ran across a verse today that I had never seen. I thought I would share it with you :)
Isaiah 46:3b, 4
"I have cared for you since you were born. Yes, I carried you before you were born.
I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age.
I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you."

Assurance of Salvation...

Big topic hey! Well I'm not covering it. I have just been listening to some sermons on it recently and one thing really struck me in the midst of the topic...It's centered around a question. The question is which is the correct question? "Do you know Jesus? OR "Does Jesus know you?" I have come to think that Biblically it's the latter one that really matters. I don't even think the first one is anywhere in the Bible. There are lots of verses to back this up but I'll give you just one to send you off on your own search.

Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"

Does Jesus know you?

with each year that goes by...

I like the years that are adding up behind me. I was watching a comedian the other day and realized that I have more to laugh about because I had experienced more of the things he was talking about. I have had more pain. I have gained more compassion because of that pain and more things to laugh about. They say that in every joke or bit of sarcasm there's some truth. I am looking forward the each second because it will give me more to laugh about. More things to find joy in.
I ran across a quote from the movie Bella..."If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans". I just liked it.

Stories from Galiano

OK I have 3 stories...if you have lived in BC for any amount of time and know anything about the islands you will so get this...this is just SO the islands...
1) We went to the local pub to see if we could bring the kids in to have dinner. There aren't many restaurants on the island so we were checking out our options...Shaun walks in. There are 5 waitresses standing around talking. Not one acknowledges him for quite awhile. He tries catching their eye...NOTHING. finally he said "I have some wee ones...can they come in here and eat?" Every single waitress stopped dead and turned and looked at him with real interest. One of them asked him what he had said. So he rephrased it with "I have some small children. Are they allowed to eat here?" They started laughing quite a bit and then one of them said..."We thought you said you had weed! You saw how interested we got."
2) The next morning we went searching for some breakfast out. We went to a cafe and then the grocery store (which the cafe was attached too). It was 9:55 a.m. The gorcery store didn't open until 10 a.m. I finally got the clerks attention through the locked grocery store door. And asked her if there was any place that did breakfast on the island. She paused for awhile and shook her head and said in a long drawn out way, " Nooooo...we don't really do breakfast here." So after the pub and their interest in weed we figured they smoke weed into the wee hours of the morning while munching and just really don't do breakfast. We finally found breakfast at Galiano Inn and it was yummy.
3) There is this land on the East side of Galiano that was sold off by developers...there is a long drawn out story behind this but apparently the Galiano trust changed all the laws after this land was sold so that the people who bought the land cannot build on it because their land size it too small. They have something like 120 acres and you have to have 150 in order to build a house. YEAH! OK so these landowners have been trying to get the laws changed etc. It's been a long drawn out battle and not pretty. The road that runs through their property is the only access to a provincial park that is absolutely stunning (unless you go through Tribal Land...and you have to get permission to do this blah blah blah). SO what the landowners have done is put up a gate across this road so now people cannot access the Provincial park except by boat. Well the thing is I have this husband who figures that any gate is meant to be crossed, especially since he has a 4x4. uh huh...so we drove around the gate in the ditch...it really was no big deal and his cousin followed in his truck (which is a 2x4...so really...NOT a big deal). Now Shaun has done this with his dad, already, on a few occasions but this was the first time I had been here. There is a really nice road that you can drive on all the way up to the park gate. And not a soul around. LOVELY! So off we went. Going around this gate saves you at least an hour of walking on a boring road and makes it possible for families with small children to get to the beauty of the park right away and the beach with only a 30 minute hike. Well we had our nice hike...got back to the car and just as we are opening our car a man, a woman, and 3 dogs walk up from the road. They did not look like they had been walking long. They said "hi". They were looking at us rather curiously. Were very friendly. And then the guy asked "So how did you get it in here". I kind of smirked and said "Oh we have a 4x4". He laughed along with everyone else and said "oh yeah...my dad owns that gate." We sobered up rather quickly. He realized we thought he may be displeased and he quickly reassured us that his dad would find it hilarious and oh by the way he himself owned Bodega Ridge (which we had hiked on the day before) and we had his permission to hike there anytime as well (we had thought it was a Provincial Park...still unclear on that point). He then proceeded to tell us the land story. We told him our breakfast story from that morning and he laughed and said it was true. He ended up being a really nice guy and we saw him putting his girlfriend on the same ferry we left on and he waived and gave us a big smile...never did exchange names but he has a resort there so we know where to kind him and his girlfriend has a white Boxer and she would buy our puppy if one turned out white...nice people.
That's just so the islands...

Heaven

I was reading the introduction to the books of 1 and 2 TThessalonians this evening. I found it rather fascinating considering a journey I had just taken through a book.

Here is what it said,

"The way we conceive the future sculpts the present, gives contour and tone to nearly every action and thought through the day. If our sense of the future is weak, we live listlessly. Much emotional and mental illnesses and most suicides occur among men and women who feel they 'have no future'. "

I just finished a 473 page book entitled Heaven by Randy Alcorn. I have to say it's the best book I have ever read. And I've read A LOT of books. I've even read some of Mr. Alcorn's other books. And they were REALLY good. But this one...well for me it had a major effect on my anticipation of Heaven. I had gone along with our culturally accepted perspective of a very boring place. Who looks forward to an eternity of that? I certainly did not. But I also had never studied what the Bible actually had to say about Heaven. I thought it was pretty vague and we'd know when we died. I still think that we won't know fully (that being the key word in this sentence) until we die...but I heartily disagree, now, that the Bible is unclear about Heaven.

The first half of the book is theology (a study of God's relation to the world) and the second half is a Q & A. I know that sounds boring but it's anything but. I couldn't put it down. To begin with it's such a fascinating topic for everyone. I really grappled with some of the topics presented.

I'll give you just a taste...here is the first paragraph of the introduction!

"The sense that we will live forever somewhere has shaped every civilization in human history. Australian aborigines pictured Heaven as a distant island beyond the western horizon. The early Finns thought it was an island in the faraway east. Mexicans, Peruvians, and Polynesians believed that they went to the sun or the moon after death. Native Americans believed that in the afterlife their spirits would hunt the spirits of buffalo. The Gilgamesh epics, an ancient Babylonian legend, refers to a resting place of heroes and hints at a tree of life. In the pyramids of Egypt, the embalmed bodies had maps placed beside them as guides to the future world. The Romans believed that the righteous would picnic in the Elysian fields while their horses grazed nearby. Seneca, the Roman philosopher, said, 'The day thou fearest as the last is the birthday of eternity.' Although these depictions of the afterlife differ, the unifying testimony of the human heart throughout history is belief in life after death. Anthropological evidence suggests that every culture has a god-given, innate sense of the eternal-that this world is not all there is."

Us humans have a 100% mortality rate...the question is not IF but WHEN are we going to die. The next question is "Then what happens?"

His Extravagance...

We got to go to Galiano this past weekend. In fact we just got back today because we missed our ferry home last night as it was overbooked...but that's another story.

I love going to Galiano. I will be forever thankful that my in-laws bought a timeshare there. It's one of the most rejuvenating and invigorating places to go. There is so much beauty there.

As I was walking and driving around this time what struck me was the beauty that God created that we just pass by so easily. He created things like many different types of wildflowers that are just stunning...just to be extravagant. I happened to notice them this time. I really started to think about the extravagance of it all. I am such a practical person. I really struggle with buying things that aren't absolutely necessary when I could use that money to give to someone who could feed someone who is starving or give medicine to someone who is dying. But you look around at creation and you will see SUCH extravagance. I mean start with something like colour. God could have made everything with NO colour. Or He could have made everything very boring. But everything is so finely detailed, intricate in design, and beautiful...even the most "simple" of things. I think He enjoys being "Creator". I think it brings a big smile to His face.

But back to extravagance...these wildflowers that I saw were extravagant. And you know, a lot of them had sprung up right in the middle of a path so that it would be easy to trample them. Others had sprung up in out of the way places where not a soul would see them. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think God takes deep delight in the littlest of things that surprise us with their beauty. I think He was waiting with baited breathe for me to notice those wee little flowers. I think He was watching and when He saw the delight on my face...I know He smiled. Fanciful thinking? Perhaps...but I doubt it.

For me, this extravagance, simply pointed me back to Him. It is a reminder of Him and His extravagant gift of life He holds out to all who will accept.

Here are things the Bible has to say about His extravagance:

Ephesians 3:13-15 "My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God."

Romans 11:32-34 "Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It's way over our heads. We'll never figure it out. Is there anyone around who can explain God? Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do? Anyone who has done him such a huge favor that God has to ask his advice? Everything comes from him; Everything happens through him; Everything ends up in him. Always glory! Always praise! Yes. Yes. Yes."

Job 37:1-3 "Whenever this happens, my heart stops— I'm stunned, I can't catch my breath. Listen to it! Listen to his thunder, the rolling, rumbling thunder of his voice. He lets loose his lightnings from horizon to horizon, lighting up the earth from pole to pole. In their wake, the thunder echoes his voice, powerful and majestic. He lets out all the stops, he holds nothing back. No one can mistake that voice— His word thundering so wondrously, his mighty acts staggering our understanding. He orders the snow, 'Blanket the earth!' and the rain, 'Soak the whole countryside!' No one can escape the weather—it's there. And no one can escape from God. Wild animals take shelter, crawling into their dens, When blizzards roar out of the north and freezing rain crusts the land. It's God's breath that forms the ice, it's God's breath that turns lakes and rivers solid. And yes, it's God who fills clouds with rainwater and hurls lightning from them every which way. He puts them through their paces—first this way, then that— commands them to do what he says all over the world. Whether for discipline or grace or extravagant love, he makes sure they make their mark."

Romans 5:14-16 "Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man's sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God's gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! There's no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?"

2 Corinthians 9:7-9 "God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it, He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out. This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God."

These things are true. I have witnessed them in my own life. His extravagance from a simple flower to much MUCH bigger things.

Think on Him and His way of doing life today...I don't know a better way.

She's Already 5!

Wasn't it just a month ago that I felt her moving, for the first time, in my tummy? That was the moment that she walked into my heart. I couldn't wait to meet her.


And then there she was, my wee beauty!
Wasn't it just a couple of weeks ago that I was looking at a brand new baby in my arms with awe and wonder that she was ours?



Wasn't it just a week ago that her personality started to blossum and she made her Daddy and I laugh with such deep joy?

Wasn't it just her first Christmas?

Didn't she just take her first steps...

and have her first birthday?



Wasn't it just a few days ago that she had her second birthday...





and that she became a big sister?






Wasn't it just a few hours ago that she turned 3?



Wasn't it just a few minutes ago that she turned 4?





Didn't I just blink and she turned 5!

...these years are so precious and so swift. They are ours but for a breathe. I am blessed to be her mother.

My beautiful sweet Mercedes,
Happy Birthday my precious sweet angel. I have so loved every minute of the last 5 years. You are such a sweet joy to me. You are my delight. I cherish you my daughter. I thank God every day that He gave me you as my daughter. I am astonished at what an amazing girl you are. I pray that you will know God and seek His face passionately every day of your life. There is no greater joy than that and no greater wisdom. I speak God's most bountiful blessings on you all the days of your life. I am so privileged to know you. You have enriched my life every second that you have been in it.
I will love you for eternity.
Mama

It's a no go...it's all about margins

Margins...this is a word that I have come to think about a lot lately. What are my must haves in life? What are my margins?

I must have, as far as it depends on me, a happy stable family. There is NOTHING that is worth losing that.

Shaun and I had the great opportunity to rethink our decision to move and change our whole world this past weekend. And you know what? We also were given the freedom to back out of the contract we had signed. And guess what? We did! We are not, after all that, moving! YEAH! There is a great sense of relief and joy for both of us.

As you know, we were on track to move away from this area. to change our whole way of life. What was the clincher for us? Margins. One word with so much meaning. If we had done that move we would have had no margins...no give in our schedules, our family life, no room for error, no space...no margins. Yes we could have sacrificed. Yes we could have pushed very hard and pushed through...but for what? At what cost? A roof over our head at that price is not worth the cost of having stress come into our home. We have, in general, a very happy and relaxed family. We intend to keep it that way.

Shaun and I have come to realize that we are people who excel in life with those margins. They are very necessary to our world. That's just us. So it's around that that we make our decisions. This past month and a bit has been a great exercise in learning. We learned a lot. It was fun. And it propelled us forward. Life IS indeed change...but not always how I think it will be. Life is full of surprises...and that's just why I love it!

And so we stay! And we couldn't be more thrilled.