Monthly Miscellany Monday

Here's my monthly collection of ordinary happenings and moments I don't want to forget.

~ so, I did much better this month and kept a journal in Word of the moments I wanted to record here :) haha, I'm out-smarting my forgetfulness!!


~ well, the Muki puppy has reappeared in our lives, his mamma has returned to Manitoba with a new job but it still involves some travelling so if it's going to be a long trip we take him now and then.  we had him from June 17-June 20th. it was quite interesting, he remembered us immediately, an adorable reunion between he and Sean. he actually remembered his exact routine, even the treat he only received after his evening walk. Ember remembered but wasn't so sure about him as she was when he left, until of course his last day with us. Cinder of course being new to this creature was really ticked off, puffed up and hissing every time he came near, of course the little piggy liked having his food.  he didn't quite understand the rejection since Ember didn't hate him.  it was a funny trio of playful and poofy for a few days.  he was even a great puppy therapy for my recovery small group.
we'll be getting him back for a few weeks again soon.

~ we had a CR BBQ for all the leaders and those that serve on Friday nights, out at our director's farm near St. Adolfe. they have a beautiful and very large yard, which accomodated croquet, volleyball, a fire pit, lawn bowling, and that was amongst the large, lush flower and vegetable gardens.

we played 'getting to know you' games like figuring out who belongs to which 'fun fact', guessing which Bible character you are, writing a story together, things in common, stranded on an island, etc. and one of our leaders is amazing at free handed body painting, these are my cherry blossoms.

~ I did get 2 days in the yard when it was sunny, almost too hot but I had to get the weeding done while it wasn't going to rain for a few days.  this time I found a homemade weed spray, but one specifically to kill anything living indiscriminately, so that's probably why it worked better than my concoction last year.  and since then it's been too hot for the weeds to come back....too bad it's doing the same thing to my garden.

~ Riverwood is in full blown reno-mode at the Firehall.  It was nice getting to serve in a completely different capacity and I like getting into the demo/rebuild stuff.  I hope I may yet have another opportunity to help on the building up portion next.  we also just got word back about our 2 new buildings on the other property, it turns out the larger building isn't as financially viable as the other smaller building so now they are going to start work on making that our first satellite sanctuary.  it would be nice if either of these places could afford us some extra room because the Global Leadership Summit is back at the Riverwood building this year! Yikes! Sean and I have volunteered again, and being that our CR director is one of the 2 ladies pretty much running the GLS show, she asked us to join the GLS leadership team as the Registration and Registration Solutions leaders. She really has a lot of faith in us since we've never done anything like this before, but I guess we've proved ourselves a lot on Friday nights. So...October will be busy :)

~ July long we started off by hanging out at Sean's brother's on the Friday after CR to watch the Bomber game happening out in BC. after that Sean and I took our usual Friday post-CR debrief ride :) and ended up talking into the wee hours of the morning, about everything from struggles at CR, our callings in CR, our callings outside CR, searching for/finding mentors, and general growing in our spirituality discussions.  it was awesome and I wish these talks happened more frequently.  although, it did set the sleep schedule off a little, it was worth it.
I was disappointed not to be able to go to the Farmer's Market on the first, because it was a Sunday they didn't do it as an additional day open like usual, they just did their normal Saturday open so I missed my chance to go. during the week on Wednesdays it's been too busy to take off for the market.

it was a scorcher of a weekend so we unfortunately spent most of it inside with the A/C because the little bit we tried in the yard, even in the shade was uncomfortable. Sean had to work on the Monday so I took it easy, reading, catching up on organizing my photos, taking a soak in the tub, then we went out for an early dinner with my parents.  a nice weekend of catching up on rest.  until I couldn't sleep that night....ugh. that happens way to often the night before returning to work after I've caught up on rest. :(


~ after the long weekend I spent a lot of time waiting for my nephew, who was due on June 27th, so I tried not to commit myself to anything I hadn't already so I could drive out there on notice :) that meant another quiet weekend on the 7th and 8th, which we have really needed, and especially since the weekends are beginning to fill up again fast!

~ I had an 'accidental' evening of getting to hang out with a girlfriend when our small group reduced to just she and I spontaneously, but it was awesome since we haven't hung out again for a few weeks.  as usual we found the time went by too fast, we had a bit to catch up on but we just end up getting into these great discussions that are always edifying. I really love the friendship that has developed with her, a gift from God :)

~ speaking of my CR small group has been through a challenging last little while but we just had our first group with all of us together again for the first time in over a month and it was really great, we're back on track and loving being friends and partners in recovery all the more!


~ and of course, last but not least! my nephew Paxton Zayne was born! he was born at 5:38 pm July 10th, 8 lbs 6 oz. 20 inches long. he's the heaviest baby in the family so far! afterward the doctor said that was one of the most difficult births he's had in 20 years but he didn't let on DURING so mom and dad did just fine! mom was not yet tired and in very good spirits, and in very little pain when we came to visit at 8 pm. Teigon was getting used to pointing to Paxton the baby rather than mommy's tummy.
Paxton is a content little guy. he was placed on Tami during the clean up and he just quietly stared around at mom and dad, didn't make a peep except his first short cry and another one when they took him away from mom to be weighed. we even saw his eyes open the first few minutes I held him, the minute I walked through the door, and then a little just as we were leaving at 9:30 because it was feeding time.
they say he probably wasn't 2 weeks late, probably just a few days, but his skin was very clear for a newborn. and despite the vacuum marks his little head was perfect, not as round as Teigon's, and full of short dark wavy hair. definitely think his eyes and nose remind me more of Tami, and a few people say he looks like Avery.
so I can't wait to smother this little guy with love, which starts tomorrow when I go out there for the day :)