Sta-cation

Have you heard the term "Stacation"? It means staying at home and seeing local things instead of driving or flying to exotic spots during vacation.



Tyler made a spontaneous request that we stop and visit the Alberta Legislative Building when we were in the city the other day - and it was a great suggestion! This place was actually on my list of places to visit since I've never once been inside. Usually kids visit here on a grade 6 fieldtrip when they study local government. But I've never had the privilege of supervising that trip so it was definitely time for me to go too!

The weather was gorgeous and the grounds were packed with people eating, visiting or exercising on their lunch break. It's a lovely, lovely place with very spacious well kept grounds.



The fountain and pool areas were full of people, enjoying the sunshine and the water. Kids can wade and play in the pools which are a huge attraction during the summer months.



I love this group that is outside on the grounds. It makes me remember how important families and individuals are to our province.




The Center Rotunda area has many plagues and special displays honoring historic events and people. (It was really, really dark too!)



These 2 have such a routine when it comes to taking self portraits. They've done it in many, many places around the world!




Inside looking out!

Thanks for the request to visit, Tyler . I enjoyed seeing this piece of Alberta's history too.

Father's Day

We drove to Airdrie on Sunday to have supper with 3 of our kids and their families. Jonathan barbecued some delicious burgers, the girls made salads and oven fries and rhubarb strawberry crisp for dessert. It was delicious and it was lovely to spend some time together again. Of course, Miss Helayna was fun to be around! She learned how to say "Gamma, Gamma!" which was sweet!!



And she insisted on sharing the whole basket full of toys with her beloved Papa!




All too soon it was time for us to say good-bye - and for Helayna to head to bed. Our visits always go by way too quickly. But we brought Melinda and Tyler back home with us and we had a great visit on the drive home. It made the time fly by. Thanks, guys!

12 on the 12th

Here's a little project idea that I found awhile ago over at Twelve of Twelve and have finally managed to do. The task is to take 12 pictures on the 12th day of the month that represent your day. This is what June 12th looked like at our house! (Mosaic created in mosaic maker at Big Huge Labs.)

Questions and Answers, part 3

But first of all, these two are running a half marathon in Cochrane, just west of Calgary near the Rockies, today. They've done lots of training so I hope they enjoy the accomplishment of this summer goal that they set for themselves. They might even be finished already, as start time was 8 a.m. - not sure how much time they were estimating to take. I hope it's not as windy out there as it is here!

During my blogiversary invitation for questions, Melinda, our daughter, at A Year Without Peanut Butter, asked me to describe each of our children, as if to someone who had never met them before. This is hard!!! I've been thinking about it for a month and I've got a few ideas to share. Let me just say though that we are blessed to have 4 children who are healthy, smart, wise, and kind. I don't think that Bob and I had much to do with that. God has blessed us - and them - so graciously.

First off, the 4 of them share many, many characteristics. All of them are athletic and I am constantly amazed at the goals, discipline and training our children set for themselves. Darrin and Kelsey were in a challenge doing all kinds of workout stuff at their gym this winter and placed 3rd. Darrin's played hockey, Kelsey is a soccer player and they both are great skiiers. Heather is a runner (has been since elementary school) and Jonathan is a hiker. Melinda played rugby and did a triathalon last summer and Tyler does basketball and soccer whenever he gets a chance to (even played 3 on 3 in Poland with the Taiwanese students.) Naomi is a great swimmer, has done a marathon and a triathalon and Jerry is a hockey player and golfer. That's just to name a few of the things they participate in! Our kids all participated in various school and community sports when they were younger. I love that their athletics have translated into healthy active living lifestyles. I think Bob and I both encouraged them in sports because we didn't have a chance to do that when we were younger.

They are all risk takers, high achievers, competitive (even with each other!) and know how to work hard. All 4 of them have a love of travel, not that we were able to take lots of vacations (remember, we are farmers!), but we were lucky to travel to other provinces with them when they were younger. Now I think any one of them would head off at the drop of a hat if they could. They are problem solvers and all prefer country living to being in big cities (even though they might not be there right now). And they are all generous, helpful and supportive of those in need. They've seen us volunteer and share what we have.

So - what makes each one unique? Lots of things!! Here are a few highlights, the way I see it.
Darrin - logical, mechanical, rational, neat and super organized, quiet, loves to play with kids
Heather - creative, artistic, sensitive, photographer with a great eye for composition and feeling
Melinda - adventurous spirit, a great teacher with junior high kids, student of her faith, plans every detail
Naomi - gardener (she got all the green thumb), healer, flexible, focussed on her family

I wonder if they will agree with me! If you met them, I think you would like them as people. I love each one of them- "to the depth and height and breadth of my being". (I know I'm quoting someone but I can't remember who - maybe Elizabeth Barrett Browning?)

Creating

I'm still finishing up a few assignments from the 28 Days online class that I took. It was such an awesome month - a new project and a new photo assignment in my inbox every morning. A great way to ride the creative wave!!



Create a mini-album - using covers from a book thing that was attached to my Eddie Bauer downfilled jacket (good thing I saved that from shopping!) , this album uses 12 pictures that tell the story of the month of May for me. Round journalling stamp is from 7 Gypsies. It would be fun to do one of these for every month in a year, I think.




This assignment was to create pages about your family using an art journal approach. I painted cardstock and when it was dry, wrote on the colors with a black Sharpie pen. I added some Polar Bear Express shape rubons too. Then I glued it into my journal - double sided tape = very sticky = slanted pages when paper gets too close to the page before being centered correctly :( But I really like the style of this and I might be convinced to try it again.

Thanksliving

I have much to be thankful for again this week.

1. Manicures and pedicures - big treats for me!!




2. Fresh blueberries - one of my favourite summer berries. I just eat them like this!

3. Music - I brought home 2 new worship CDs from the convention and I've played them daily.

4. Lilacs and their glorious smell that wafts around the yard.

5. Sunshine and glorious summer temperatures - at least for a few days.



6. Fresh garden produce - I'm picking lettuce tomorrow!! YEAH!!!!

7. Rhubarb from the garden, baked up into muffins.




8. Sunsets and the glory of a day ending.

9. The joy of sharing momentous family occasions with our children - Kelsey and Darrin's engagement makes me thankful for the gifts of love and understanding that a couple share when they decide to spend their lives together.

Here They Are!

Darrin and Kelsey at the spot where they got engaged!



I am very excited to see them and share their excitement and joy!
Thanks for sharing the pictures, K!

Congrats

to this beautiful girl, our niece Jill, who convocated from the University of Alberta today with a Bachelor of Education degree, with distinction. You go out and rock the world of education, Girl!!

And it's a good day to read this commencement address that JK Rowling delivered at Harvard. Interesting thoughts in there.

Ten on Tuesday

I found this new idea on Elizabeth Dillow's blog and today seems like a good day to try it out.

1. I seem to have come home exhausted. All I want to do is sleep and I am off to do just that as soon as I finish posting this.

2. Toothaches are awful!! Please, please go away.

3. Grampa Bob can fix anything, according to Meadow - including sewing a button on her jeans! I had to bring them home so "Grampa Bob fix".

4. Nachos with melted cheese are an acceptable supper.

5. Lilacs smell beautiful - and remind me of my Gramma.

6. Potato plants like cool weather - the first ones I planted a month ago are growing great.

7. Rhubarb muffins spell spring.

8. Only 11 days until the longest day of this year - and then the days start getting shorter - no!

9. Tomorrow is Convocation Day for my niece Jill who will graduate as a secondary school teacher of science and social studies. She is going to be a great teacher - lucky kids!

10. Lots of birthdays coming up this month - on the 12th, 19th, 26th, 29th, and 30th!

So Very, Very Happy -

that Darrin and Kelsey have decided to spend their lives together and are engaged!!!



We all have adored her from the beginning (3 years ago) and see how good she is for Darrin. She treats our son with love, respect, admiration, gentleness, and humour. And he reciprocates those feelings completely (maybe not quite as much humour as she has!). They make a wonderful couple and we pray that God will bless and direct all of their days together.

Apparently it was quite the romantic event at Lake Minnewanka in the Rockies near Banff. I hope to have a picture soon, especially now that I realize just how few pictures I have of the 2 of them!



Not sure what we are going to do about her love of the Calgary Flames! She does take alot of teasing about it and gives it right back too :))

In Song

I am home, tired but filled with the Word, the bread of life and messages from bishops and theologians to hold in my heart and share by my actions in the days ahead. This has been a retreat of sorts for me - a time to be taught and nourished by God's word and His people. Here are a few images from our last day together.



Ready for the processional and worship to begin.



The convention choir sang a Zulu hymn that had neat dance actions. They only had 3 half hour practises!




This is the National Bishop just before service started as we began to gather for morning worship. I love how she's tapping her foot to the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy.

We sang so many marvelous songs during this convention. Some were old favourites and some were new but so beautiful that they are new favourites now. I leave you with these 2 verses from one - I wish you could hear the music too.

Will You Come and Follow Me(The Summons)
Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown, will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

Lord, your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In your company I'll go where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I'll move and live and grow in you and you in me.

Text - John L. Bell, Traditional Scottish Music

Good Night

"Jesus, give the weary
calm and sweet repose;
with your tend'rest blessing
may our eyelids close."
- Sabine Baring -Gould

Photo taken in Argentina, March 2008.

L*O*L

We are gathered in convention discovering how to Laugh Out Loud




serve the Lord of Life -study Luther on Love - and Live Out Loud as Jesus did.




"The body of Christ for the people of Christ."




The National Church Bishop, Susan Johnson - "Jesus surrounds us with His arms, love and support. With Him, we will be blessed."



"If we don't have Christ, we have no reason to exist."



In Colombia - our Companion Synod:
- there has been undeclared civil war going on since the 1950's
- safety and being able to leave your home at night gives hope
- hope gives one optimism to make decisions
- optimism gives one reason to consider the future
- education for 'los ninos' is what parents want most
- learning now to sew, bake, make jewellery, dance and share folk music give a way to generate income
- sometimes the best thing we can give someone in another country is an understanding of their culture and a relationship

The Lutheran Church in Colombia (IELCO) has:
- 3000 members
- 15 pastors
- 15 congregations and 7 missions
- 7 schools
- 1 seminary

And so we lift Colombians up in our prayers and in our heart.



The body of delegates and pastors at work, doing the business of Living Out Loud.




The Eucharist is a wonderful breakfast!

"There is a hunger for Jesus - to know Him in a close, real relationship."




This is the space where we are gathered -



and we seek to serve God as Jesus showed us.

Arrived

I'm registered, have a bulletin of reports, am settled into a room and have been to a communion service in a cathedral. And I was challenged by a sermon on Matthew 18 and what it means to be like a child and be a part of God's family. Our Father speaks in magnificent ways to get me to hear His word and be open to His plans. It's been an interesting day!

I put my laptop into my briefcase and (unwisely) left all the cables at home so I need to get a special Ethernet cable tomorrow and I should be good to go with internet here. Watch for pictures :))

Heading Out

today to be a delegate to our church's synod convention in Edmonton. This is the first time I've had this honour/privilege/responsibility so I'd appreciate your prayers. Keep your fingers crossed that there will be internet access at the college so I can update you.



And here's a little something from our yard to brighten up your day. I wish you could smell it - Honey Peach Tea Rose is definitely an appropriate name.

South American Highlights #11

Fazenda Barcelona

Welcome back to South America! I still have so many things to document about our trip so let's head out to another farm today.



Owned by the Gorgen Brothers who emigrated from Argentina as tractor drivers , we spent the afternoon at -




their farm, Fazenda Barcelona.

It was a very big farm in terms of land base, production, equipment and workers. Brian, our guide (originally a farmer from Missouri), arranged for us to visit this showpiece farm in Bahia State.




This machine shed had 14 John Deere tractors




and 7 corn planters in it. There were more tractors outside parked with spraying equipment or moving trailers and other implements. I think the official count was 20+ - see what I mean by big operations?!




All machinery repairs were done on the farm by a crew of mechanics. I like this picture of used bearings.




Six gigantic grain storage bins each held 50,000 bushels of grain and were connected to the dryer with legs and elevators.




The crop manager was eager to show how healthy and big the cotton plants were out in the field. Their main crops here were soybeans, cotton and corn.




Cotton blossoms!




You can tell a fertilized blossom because it turns pink! You need to have a blossom like this in order to grow a cotton boll and for farmers in this area 8 or 9 bolls per plant would be a very good yield.




This farm had its own crop duster for spraying crops. The pilot was from Sao Paulo and came to the farm for 6 months during the growing season. My brother runs an aerial application business so it was fun to visit a bit with this young guy. I wished I'd taken along a picture of Brent's plane to show him. He did understand when I said it was an Ag-Cat biplane. (I hope I had it right!)




Here's one of the cotton pickers that goes between the rows and plucks the bolls off the plants. I think they had 4 or 5 of these guys.




These are the machines that would compress the picked cotton into modules which would be sent to the gin (remember that visit a while back?).




One of the first things we were shown on every farm in Brazil were the living quarters for workers. There are strict regulations protecting workers and assuring that they are provided with a good quality of life. Most workers stay on the farm during the week and go home on their one day off (which would likely vary according to the season and what needed to be done).




The green movement is alive and well in Brazil, we were glad to see. Many farms had little stations set up around the living quarters to make it easy for workers to recycle and compost. I think this would be a cool spot to take pictures!




The managers were so gracious and had arranged for us to be served coffee and snacks in the cafeteria area. It was a great visit to a very well-managed operation. Our hosts were patient with our many, many questions and took time to allow us to wander all over their farms.

And big thanks to Melinda for helping me change my banner around today! What do you think - like the new look?

Visiting

We had a great time staying with Helayna while Heather and Jonathan went away for a night to celebrate their wedding anniversary. We are SO blessed to live close and be able to drive down regularly. It's always a great time when we get to see family!



Running to the park!




I'm just amazed at how much braver she is and how she can climb on the bars already. She is quite the adventurere!




She could spend hours at the park. I think it's her favourite place in the whole world!




Reading stories with her beloved Papa (instead of watching home videos on the 'puter!, which they did too).

Questions and Answers part 2

Time for another question! Jill at Holding Short @ 33 and Bravo asked about the farm: when did we start it, what was a day like, who helped out.

The farm has always been part of our life and I have hardly written about it or done any layouts either. Funny how something so central to your life can be part of the everyday stuff and yet not really documented. Let me share some pieces with you today.

Bob and I both grew up on mixed farms, about 20 miles apart. When we married in 1976, we became part of Arlin Farms, that he and his brother had started with their parents. Gradually his parents retired from active farming, although Mom cared for the baby calves for many more years. By the time we were married, they were focussed on dairy cows and a milking parlour and silos were part of the site. Several additional acres were rented and all the grain and forage we needed were produced too. We milked over 100 cows in 1988, when we built a barn near our house, across the road from the main site and the milking operation was seperated into 2 parts, one on each yard and run by each family. Our tie stall barn held 54 cows that we milked twice a day. In 1994, Bob's brother and his family moved to Valleyview to farm there and the original farm was sold. We continued to milk cows until 2001, our 25th anniversary year, when we decided we wanted to change our lifestyle and have time to pursue other things. By then I was teaching full time, our kids were grown up and the labour situation at chore time was down to the 2 of us!

Because I grew up on a farm, I was very familiar with the work that needed to be done. My dad did plaster and stucco work when they were first married and Mom milked the few cows and did the chores. Later Dad became a fulltime farmer but my Mom always helped with the animals. At home I was the oldest and helped with milking while my younger sister did more work in the house. I can remember we were sometimes supposed to take turns washing floors and I would trade her jobs and go to the barn. (I think that's why she has a wonderfully clean house and I married a dairy farmer!) After we married, I helped with milking, sometimes with a baby in a stroller sleeping alongside. My sister-in-law did the same. Our kids grew up with animals all around and have been involved in every part of the farm too. In the summertime, the guys were busy with fieldwork and I didn't really help in the field until Darrin had his driver's license and was busy going to summer hockey school. That's when I learned to drive the forage harvester - but I really was just a driver. Whenever anything broke down, I needed Bob to come and fix it.

Having a garden, raising chickens, milking, laundry, housekeeping, taking care of the kids and volunteer work filled my days over the years. Once the kids were in school, we had hockey, skating, swimming, school sports, track and field, piano lessons and all the other activities that children are involved in. We would fit the chores in around their activities, just as most families do. Sometimes we passed each other in the driveway going to practises or fundraising events. I was lucky that I never worked away from home until Naomi was in junior high school so I was able to be there when they got home from school. It made juggling the schedules easier and we could have supper together too.

Our kids learned responsibility and time management from these busy days on the farm. They also learned how to care for animals, drive a lawn mower and the big loader tractor, pluck chickens, pull weeds, and feed cows. They had cats, dogs, sheep, and horses as pets. They roamed the spruce bluff setting up imaginary houses and hurried to finish chores so they could go riding. They spent hours sitting in the tractor with their Dad and before they started school, we had all our meals together - sometimes out in the field sitting on the back of the truck during busy seasons. There is a whole lot of country in each of them - a love of fresh air, lots of space and quiet places to think and imagine. A farm is a very good place to raise a family!