biology-chemistry madness

how much does Hannah's less than sincere smile reveal her disdain for Biology and Chemistry at this moment in time?? :)

yep, her feelings are real, but i still loved her molecule project and felt pretty certain i also would have hated every second of such an assignment.  she got 'er done and is still plugging away at these two heavy courses that aren't exactly loaded with riveting excitement (think more along the lines of abstract torture...) to the majority of the population...she knows it's a means to an end, yet even still, i'm hoping she'll have some Biology and Chemistry-free days coming soon! she'll get there, i know it...

home and back

there were signs that Joelle was home...and they made my heart so happy to see them! first there was the laundry spilling over the sides of the bucket...who knew lugging that to the car would make me so excited!  

then there were the extra shoes on the mat, the study materials, the frying pan in the sink and the egg consumption surging for a week...

and then the ball of yarn??  umm....didn't see that one coming...the girl went away to school and came back with a hook and yarn and a cozy blanket taking shape!  she just makes me laugh...and her grandmothers must be proud, considering the knitting/crocheting/sewing gene is no where to be found in me...boo hoo...

after a lovely and blessed Thanksgiving holiday, Joelle had four wisdom teeth extracted....she was a trooper...and it was an unexpected blessing to clear my week and care for her each day she was home.  really was. love her so much and cherished the time spent.  then, at the end of the week i deposited her back at school and we were both happy to have that surgery out of the way.  thankful it was complication-free!  i got her permission to post the pic below, and believe me, it's the best of the ones we took!  how kind of me! :)  just thought it'd be fun to look back on in a decade, perhaps.

looking forward to seeing her again in a few weeks at a tournament!  

awwwhhh

imagine how this made my day when my eyes fell upon it...

Jeff's Mac yearbook 1994-1995.

awwwhhh...just gotta love him...

thankful

when you have a super talented nephew and daughter, this happens! 
love my new chalkboard!!

perfect timing for this season of gratitude, and grateful i am!   
the blessings are so numerous, the daily graces are constantly overflowing, especially obvious when i stop long enough to see them (funny how that works!).  i'm working more on that...God is so good, all of the time, and i'm so thankful to be a child of His~ that i'm always held, protected, carried, forgiven, loved unconditionally, delighted in...amazing!!
Happy season of Thanksgiving!

Yonas

it's Yonas!  remember all those times i've written about him before?  both on the original blog, and this one, since AJ journeyed home. 

we've stayed connected through a wonderful man named Eyob who, even though heavily involved in ministry himself, has helped facilitate this for us over the years...

so, recently i've been able to connect a bit more with Yonas~ one of social media's perks i guess~ continents and oceans may separate us but crazy apps called Facebook and Messenger have helped to close the gaps.  so, here we are, connecting again...such a gigantic joy to see his face every now and again.  we've also learned that Yonas is still in contact with many of the other children we met back in 2010, both when we traveled with Joelle and Hannah, and on the second trip when it was just Jeff and I and AJ...precious kids who were in the neighbourhood of the guesthouse we were staying in. 

as it turns out, this group of joyful, spunky and athletic kids banded together and remained a united force, even still, in 2017...Yonas has sent me current pictures of four sweet kids we fell in love with there during soccer scrambles and silly games and camera silliness.  they are all growing up~ looking well and happy and healthy and simply beautiful too.  

back to Yonas~ please consider praying for him if you think of it.  he has some training as an electrician from a trade school, but has been unable to find work in that area of study.  he's been trying for about a year...recently he's considering more education to obtain training in a field where there are employment opportunities.  of course, he's so limited in his options based on finances alone.  so, Eyob is working with Yonas to come up with a new plan...Yonas is 18 years old now.   would be so great if he could eventually find full-time work and become totally self-sufficient as a young adult.  that would be an amazing step for him, and achievable i believe!  

boys and their cakes

 my boys are cake lovin' boys....must take after yours truly, even though that's not technically possible...

Gotcha Day # 11....so thankful.  Hudson is a giant bundle of life~ fun and silly and crazy.

my childhood cake pictures are nothing like these.  social media and selfies and phones and ipads have made these kids the opposite of camera shy~ and on the bright side (cuz goodness knows i'm always trying to find the technology bright side), these are much more fun to look at! 

somehow AJ is now in double digits.  i'm also officially old.  the kids ages span ten to twenty...tryin' to take that in~ how even??  AJ requested a repeat on the Kit Kat cake from a few years back...i was so glad he did, honestly.  didn't require me to stretch my creativity this year and it was also pretty yummy...

summer wrap up

this goes against all my inner "type A" love of sequence and order, but after sorting through summer pics i found a few random ones that i noted hadn't made it here.  pics that i want in my family life journal that accurately captures more events of this past summer.  so, i apologize for the throwback to July and August, but i must do it to be certain i'll have these memories locked up forever!  can't rely on this mama's recollection like i used to~ and for that, i blame the children. because i can.

Jeffrey got a skateboard, and the resulting excursions were a highlight of mine!  we enjoyed weekend cruises through Sarnia's most beautiful spots...kids on boards as well, or scooters or rollerblades...it was so fun and refreshing!

my beauty at the beach with just me.  rare but nice...

more bike jumps, on a day when Adam was free... 

Hannah kicking it at the city pool....man it blessed my heart to see her teaching her little swim students this summer.  really a gift to watch.  i was there with my three taking lessons at the same time...that's her on the left helping the little girl jump into the deeper water.  she spent her summer there, teaching and guarding and soaking up the sun.  she loved it!  one of her students loved her swim teacher so much she told her mom she wished Hannah could be her Kindergarten teacher as well! :)

making a pool noodle train back to the shallow end...

beach fun...

another Lego creation, this time a summer cottage! a joint effort and sense of accomplishment...

                 pheww...all caught up!  i can sleep tonight!