i leave for canada on tuesday, with emma-girl in tow.

i will be out of the country (philippines) for 8 weeks!!!!

and....i think....i will be off line.

i may blog a time or two, but i really don't want to miss a minute of this precious time.

so...you may hear from me, you may not. i'll have my computer with me, but i think it will be nice to be away for a bit.

see you in a few weeks!

denie.

we played baseball the other day with 4 players, 2 for each team, plus "ghost runners". you will have to get the rules of this game from elijah, i couldn't quite keep them straight. i was the pitcher, altho i'm not in any of the photos. so you will just have to take my word on that.

the bat was a very long broom handle.

the ball was a sponge water toss thingie.

the catcher was a bunch of bushes.

the girls were very good sports, merry faye and her friend laura, considering how the rules changed from inning to inning.

a great time was had by all. while we were playing baseball with the broom handle, sarah joy and emma were playing house.

this is the boy i fell in love with.

first, of course, i hated him. he was cocky, sarcastic, reckless, wasteful, spoiled, and scary.

then, i loved him.

i think i though i could reform him (don't we all, girls?) but soon that crooked smile and the hazel eyes and the smell of bryll creme on his hair won me over.

it's been a ride, baby. 43 years together. and i haven't reformed you much...

but that's ok.


somewhere inside of this old man is the bill cosby imitator i laughed at so hard. that's the secret...we've laughed soooo much.

i love you, crazy man.

emma loves to paint. mostly in pink.

she has done a whole series of pinks...a dancing bear, an elephant, a swimming pool, and something else which is indefinable. i'm not sure what it is. even her explanation of what it is, doesn't really clarify. (keep in mind the little darling has quite a significant frontal lisp...)

she'll sit for hours and paint.

pink. pink. pink. and more pink.

Her Pinkness.

such a sweetie.

good thing it's my 2nd favorite color! can't wait till her yellow series comes out... :)

we play a game at our house sometimes, called THE SMARTIE GAME.

we usually play it after dinner, when everyone is here. we made up the rules ourselves, and i make no apologies for the content.

everyone gets a tablespoon full of tiny smarties. you separate them by colors, and count up each color. then play as follows: there is an activity for each color. the one with the most smarties of that color must do the activity. if not willing to do it, they must pass their smarties of that color to a person who is willing to do the activity. OR ABLE TO.

red: kiss the person on your right. THIS CAN BE LOTS OF FUN WHEN YOU HAVE BOYS SITTING BESIDE EACH OTHER or shy girls, or strangers, or whomever.

yellow: stand on your head.

orange: burp/belch loudly.

green: fart. (this one is often passed HAHAHA as most people cannot fart at will, altho elijah can, and does.)

blue: run up and down the stairs of our building, all the way to the basement and back up. a watcher is appointed to make sure you go down to the cars.

purple: ICECREAM! only the winner gets the icecream, a trip downstairs to mini-stop for the special waffle cones.

this is fun game... try it with your family and make some hilarious memories!

sometimes we "bite off more than we can chew."

i have a bad habit of doing this.

"jumping the gun".

"rushing in where angels fear to tread."

forgetting that "discretion is the better part of valor."

i suspect this tendency comes from wanting to "seize the day".

are you tired of my metaphors yet? ;)

i am.

so i'll just say...

sometimes when i have bitten off more than i can chew, i have to eat crow, and make things right.

purge.

cut back.

simplify.

and then....after a while...i start biting again.

oh my.

will i ever learn???

the end of a loooong day.

a good day...a busy day...filled with children eating, swimming, playing, watching cartoons...started by making pancakes for breakfast, middled by making sandwiches for our picnic, and ended with pasta. inbetween- milo, fruit, munchies, cokes, watermelon...

a lovely touch to the day was daddy/papa coming to swim too.

the kind of day where you lay down at night, put your head on the pillow, (after doing your exercises and taking your melatonin/valerian/vitamins) and sigh a sigh of relief and happiness.

good night, world.

today is a good day.

a little child has had a miracle- his tiny heart with the huge hole in it has been repaired- and Baby Ryan is on the way to his new HEALTHY life.

he has struggled to survive for the whole 9 months he's been here on this earth. Baby ryan was abandoned at birth in a government hospital; my daughter Charity got him along with 3 other babies from the same hospital all at the same time. Gentle Hands is one of the only foundations that takes kids with no record or kids who are sick...but she was told he was healthy. UH HUH.

incomplete records. silence about the fact that he had a heart condition. no knowledge of his fragile condition until he ended up with pneumonia that almost took his life.

through a series of miracles, Gentle Hands was given the funds for his surgery and the pieces all fell into place.

Today, Baby Ryan's heart was fixed.

Makes me stop and think.

We all are born with huge holes in our hearts. We are abandoned...lied about...left on our own...because of the darkness of the world we are born into.

Through a series of miracles, we come into contact with someone who cares enough to arrange for us to LIVE....to have the critical surgery that will fix our heart.

a friend, a family member, a church...someone takes us in and tells us about the DOCTOR who does these very special heart repairs.

Jesus does the rest.

it's expensive; it cost Him his own life...but it means we live eternally with a brand new heart.

Baby Ryan is living proof and a perfect example of the love of the Father and the sacrificial healing of the Son. All orchestrated by a Holy Spirit who broods over the darkness of our lives and finds a way to fix our broken hearts.

It's a good day.

this next two weeks- not even- are going to be a whirlwind. we just got back from malaysia...suitcases are still out and being re-packed for canada.

we'll be there two months, visiting family and friends and showing our little emma the root places of our lives. the most special will be to have her meet grandpa mcleod! he's turning 87 this month, and is getting quite frail.

it's going to be fun...exhausting...challenging...meaningful...and memory-making.

i can't wait!

then when we get back home here, it will be time to move into our new house...time to choose tile, tubs, taps, etc. FUN FUN FUN!

i figure by Christmas we should be moved in and settled.

life has a way of going in cycles. the past 4 years have been S.L.O.W. - like watching a movie frame by excruciating frame...

suddenly, it's all topsyturvy and moving at hyper speed.

oh well.

hallelujah!

we're back from malaysia. it was a wonderful trip.

i must share the story of christina tan, our host, and her husband han peng. i asked her permission to share, and she graciously agreed. "all to the glory of God" she said.

christina is a sweet, generous woman of God. she has a great sense of humor. she drove us many km in her car to tour us, entertained us royally, and made us feel at home in her beautiful house (which i would highly recommend as a 5 star "hotel" for ministry)

5 years ago christina was diagnosed with breast cancer. she had a mastectomy. then a few months later the cancer cells showed up in her spine and her liver. she was STAGE 4...the terror-filled words that nobody wants to hear.

christina had two young children, nicole and joshua, at the time. she did not want to die. she educated herself on cancer...did all the right things...went through chemotherapy for ten months, and unbelievably, was declared cancer free.

she remains cancer free to this day. it was her 5-year anniversary last sunday when we were there. she and i sat by the pool and she told me her whole story...God had given me a word for her previously, before i knew, that "she sees life from a different perspective." indeed she does.

her life now is dedicated to being what God has called her to be; a wife, a mom, and a GIVER OF HOSPITALITY. she has that gift. she and her husband, the amazing and multi-faceted HAN PENG, also have the gift of giving.

it was worth the trip just to meet christina and her family. a forever friend!

love you, christina.