Love Story - Part 1

Have you ever read someone else's love story and as a result, fallen more in love with your own man?

Recently I lost myself in a blogger's love story... I must say she has a way of putting words that caused many an inward romantic sigh... but hearing her revisit her 11 year old romance with such detail and love made me look at my own little story in a fresh way - my heart longing to let out a little squeal... God truly showered me with love when He sent my tall man my way... He knew exactly what I needed and ... brought us together. I am SO thankful.

Our third anniversary is just around the corner - July 2. mmm :)

Who would have thought when I got fed up with my boring job and made the decision to go back to school for a new career (or A career), that God was busy working on exceeding all my expectations... looking back, the timing of so many things was such a God Plan.

What first year student gets to "jump into" 2nd year programming because of her "mature student" status, thus allowing her to complete a 4 month work term 9 months into a 4-year program? (Whoa - a lot of numbers in that sentence)  As I would find out the following year, my being "fast tracked" at the beginning made no sense whatsoever to any advisor I talked to... obviously it was just because God wanted it that way!

Why??

Well, at that time, this guy I had never met before was only in Toronto for an 18-month project, and had I taken the "expected" course load, I would have never ended up in Ontario during those 18-months. God's timing. And that's just the start of a million instances where God clearly showed His hand confirming that it was His timing... His story... His plan for us. I love it. :)

Toronto - the L.A.S.T place I wanted to spend any summer. Smoggy, humid, concrete jungle. In fact, I was quite depressed leaving Halifax the end of April. I was hoping for Vancouver or Calgary, but nope... Toronto. (Thankfully I had the best job ever at Sunnybrook... loved it!)

Interestingly, at a conference in May, I ran into a childhood friend from New Jersey who married a Canadian boy (a shock in itself! ;)).  They only lived 25 minutes across 'town' from where I was boarding, so we exchanged numbers, planning a dinner date at her house early June.

Guess who else was invited there for the first time?? Yup. You guessed it. As they would tell it, this wasn't a match-making experience. Yet.

From that night on, the four of us hung out almost every weekend and a few weeknights in between... I have never played so many games as I did those few weeks. My standard line was, "My friends back home would never believe I'm playing games...!" No, I'm not a games person at all. Sports - yes. Board games? No. I've hardly played any since that summer... At least I was honest about my out-of-character behaviour. My new tall friend however, not so honest.  The four of us played tennis, went roller-blading, played Frisbee, went for walks.... I was excited that this guy liked being active! Ha. The truth came out later... after the honeymoon. (And I still love him.)

I was enjoying this friendship... we were relaxed around each other and laughter came easily. We have very similar backgrounds, including the small fact that we are grandchildren of gospel preachers who (it's a small world!) were close friends! But... I knew very little about his personal life, with the key question being: Did he have a girl back home?  I've always been comfortable hanging out with my guy friends, and this guy was no different... and thankfully he wasn't terrified of hanging out with a friend who was a girl.  But as far as I could tell - that's all I was to him...

Loving the little things...

It's been a long S.L.O.W. week... I've already complained mentioned that a few days ago, so today I am going to point out a few things I enjoyed during the week.

1. We had our first Dairy Queen date of the season Wednesday night. Dating is a novelty.  We didn't date long between meeting for the first time and getting married! ;)

2. We had a really nice thunder & lightning storm Wednesday night/Thursday morning... and while it jolted me awake in the wee hours of the early morning, it's always a cool weather experience. When you're safe inside that is. And I was.

3. My man usually works down in the heart of Toronto... his new building is connected to Union Station, which plants him smack in the middle of all the G20 action and fences. Instead of fighting that craziness, he worked from home Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week... So because I'm a nice wife (who has the car), I drove across town on my lunch hour, picked us up something quick to eat (Quizno Sub, Burger King...you know - healthy substantial meals!) and had four minute dates at our kitchen table. Four minutes, because that's all the time I had before I had to turn around and drive back to work. But those four minutes were worth it! Except for Thursday, when I had my timing wrong, and he was still on a call during those four minutes... we managed to wave at each other.  Definitely worth it.

4. England won their game, so they're still in the World Cup... (but unfortunately, their next game is Sunday morning at 10am... guess we'll miss it!)

5. I bought three books on Amazon that will hopefully teach me how to use my new wonderful camera better. They arrived Wednesday. They're pretty. I love books. Any books. Even text books.... (to look at - not study)

I know there were many other little things to delight in, but I'll leave you with those very exciting five. (And yes, I apologise for wasting your time if you've read this!) :)

Happy Friday! Enjoy your weekend... I get to see my dad tomorrow morning... *happy dance*

This and That... Random post :)

Can you believe how fast June is flying by??

It's a little slow at work these days... at least for my position. The guys seem to be "running" non-stop, but the work is all at a high-level for now. I'm waiting for that work to trickle down... My busy time of month is  "board meeting week" and invoicing which is a good two weeks of solid work with the prep, processing and follow-up details. 3 weeks out of 4 isn't too bad...  I like being busy - I'm a much more diligent worker when there's a crunch on! No at-work blogging when I'm busy... ;)

My Dad is coming to the city!! Yay! Contrary to everyone's conclusions, he's not staying with us... :(   He's having meetings with the Langstaff assembly so will be staying with a family from there. But as Dad likes to give the family he's staying with a break from time-to-time, we are planning on getting him for a few weekends. It will be wonderful to see him. Also contrary to popular opinion, my mom isn't coming up... it just doesn't make sense if Dad is here to work and I'm at work all day... hopefully there will be a day in the future when I'm staying at home and it would make ALL the sense in the world for her to come up! :)

Remember that whole Project Flower Garden thing? Yah, well... nothing has been done since that post. My weeds are starting to grow again... yikes.

Our 3rd anniversary is almost here... we're pretty low-key about these things (birthdays, Valentine's Day, anniversaries...), but why does it always seem to be about the woman? For those of you who have been married for some time - any suggestions on making the day special for HIM? Any clues? Other than finally making him a pie for the first time ever. ;)

Fridays :)

I L.O.V.E. Fridays :)

Who doesn't? With the end of the work week in sight, everyone relaxes a bit. The weather forecast isn't even promising this weekend, but today is sunny! :)

The World Cup starts today! Before I moved to Toronto, I don't remember knowing that the "World Cup" existed... But enter spring/summer 2006 when I moved to this mega multi-cultural landscape for a school work term... I was baffled by all the cars driving around with flags... I soon realized that this is a B.I.G. deal to many people! It was hard not to get swept up in the excitement... :) (Who won?? I think it was Italy... but now I have to go google that... and YAY! I was right. :))

And, I just so happened (ha) to marry a boy who is completely indifferent to hockey but... Manchester United??? Those are his boys. And many of them are the key players for England at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. They play their first official match tomorrow afternoon against the USA. GO ENGLAND!!!! :) I think I'll be learning more about "football" in these coming weeks.... ;)

Our SS picnic is planned for tomorrow, so regardless of what the meteorologists say, we're hoping for a nice sunny warm day! I'll let you know how it goes...

I can *almost* guarantee you that we'll be home by 2:30pm for the start of the "big game".... ;)

ESL BBQ

We had such a beautiful day on Saturday. It was "Year-End" BBQ for our ESL classes, and while the forecast said rain - the Lord provided us with sunshine and warmth!  It was a lot of work leading up to it, but seeing the lovely faces of our friends made it all worth it. Each one is so appreciative and helpful. They would do all our work if we let them! We made a few menu adjustments this year, and it seemed to go over much better... the mandarin salad, broccoli salad and corn-on-the-cob were a big hit! 

 

  After eating, we brought them inside for a short gospel message that was translated for those who know less english. Most seemed to listen attentively.   We're thankful to a few from the Agincourt assembly who come frequently to translate for us. You can see Allan here in the picture (black t-shirt). :)

Then it was gift time! All the "helpers/teachers" lined up and greeted the student as they went through the line after picking up their gift. Tears were shed, and everyone - student and "teacher" alike - had genuine big smiles! 

 

We only have two classes, but since Level 1 (Basic everyday English) needs much more one-on-one attention, they have more helpers as you can see from the picture... ;) 

Our Level 2 class (English through the Bible) is a wonderful group. We love them dearly, and they seem to enjoy coming.  They ask wonderful questions and we often realize how much we "skim" over by hearing one of their questions. It's neat seeing the scriptures through their eyes. If you remember from time-to-time, pray for our little group. :)

While it was a year-end celebration, and the beginner level is stopping for the summer break, our little class decided to continue. It just feels wrong to STOP momentum when you have it, and when you have people coming eager to read and discuss a portion of the bible... well, how CAN you stop?! :) We'll see how the summer goes - we may take August off.

Sorry for the lack of layout with the pictures - I can't seem to manipulate them at all. Any tips??

Truth & Love

Just stealing this from today's Bible Bite because it hit home a bit...

"...whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth,

because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us,

from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son,

 in truth and love.

I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth,

just as we were commanded by the Father."

(2 John 1:1-4)

"And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments;

this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning,

so that you should walk in it."

(2 John 1:6)

John Stott:  "Christian fellowship should be marked equally by love and truth, and we are to avoid extremism which pursues either at the expense of the other. Our love grows soft if it is not strengthened by truth, and our truth hard if it is not softened by love. Scripture commands us both to love each other in the truth and to hold the truth in love."

Sunny skies and Project Flower Garden

I know I've recently complained about the weather (complaining comes far too easily for me!), but I'm adapting... and starting to really enjoy it! :) We were home this weekend, so I spent most of Saturday outside attacking the one little garden bed we have out front. There will be a later post on this and I will include pictures... you will see the disaster it was last year (weeds almost as tall as Evan!) and the tiny steps we've taken to fix it. Neither of us are gardeners and frankly - when we get home from work at 6pm, prepare supper and eat... the last thing we feel like doing is going outside to work. And as with most of you, the weekends are B.U.S.Y!

But not this past Saturday. We were home and the sun was shining! I enjoyed a leisurely walk down our Main Street popping in and out of stores... then it was time to attack Project Flower Garden (PFG). 
Step 1. Pull out all the weeds... and there are more than you're imagining! :)
Step 2. What to do with the soil?? You can hardly call what we have soil; it's definitely more clay-like, but the weeds seem to like it!  One of our friends had inspired me - he was out rototilling his whole front yard in preparation for re-sodding... figured if he could do his front yard, I could do my 10'x10' bed in preparation for fresh soil and mulch.  So I went to Home Depot and rented a rototiller... thankfully when I asked Evan to lift it out of the truck for me, he took pity did the rototilling! It's definitely harder work than it looks, but we (he) did it! :)

The bed looks fresh and ready... now Next Steps!

Future Step 3. Order good top soil, and then a BIG load of mulch... I will try a "weed control fabric" under the mulch and see if that does any good. Have any of you used that? Does it work??

Future Step 4. Since there's nothing left in the 'bed' except one tree/bush, I will need a trip to the garden centre for plants. Do you have any recommendations for easy to maintain plants that don't need a lot of direct sun and don't need to be watered daily??

Unfortunately the next two weekends are back to B.U.S.Y, so not sure when this will happen. Evan jokes that maybe next year we'll finally get something planted, as it seems to be an annual step forward and not a "get it all done today" event! Anyone want to come do it for us?? ;)

We have our annual ESL BBQ this Saturday, so the very few "free" hours this week will be busy planning, buying, and preparing for the event. Also this Saturday is our annual booth at the Unionville Festival, but unfortunately since it is coinciding with the BBQ, we'll miss out on participating this year. It's usually a great time! The forecast today is rain for Saturday, but we're praying for clear skies for both events! :)