At the Edge of the World

We took a trip to Tofino over the Christmas holidays. Emily Carr called it the "edge of the world". Looking out at the waves crashing on the rocks, it sure seemed that way. It was a magical place and it was the first holiday that we've ever had where we did nothing but laze and eat. Good for the soul.

It was also a time to reflect on the year past. God has been good. All our needs and many wants were met. We've had more family time this past year than we've had in the last decade. I've had the opportunity to see so much of God's creation and know Him as the creator.



What lies ahead?

There's so much I want to do and do more of. Spend time with family, grow our little bookshop, be with friends, know Christ deeper, cross-stitch, cook, knit, walk the forests, see the seas...and a million other things. With God's help, may I do all He has planned for me, enjoy doing what needs to be done and find grace to grow in all the "doing".

Avatar vs. World's Best Storyteller

We caught the premier of Avatar in Vancouver 2 nights ago. Needless to say, we were glued to the screen and it was an amazing movie. I'm pretty sure that it'll be part of our DVD collection when that's available. As we were leaving the cinema, our conversation turned to the storytelling prowess of James Cameron. SK thought Mr Cameron had outdone himself this time round. With a price tag of $300 million, it almost seemed as if all things were possible. Then, my wise husband made the most astute observation. While the movie awed us, he reminded us that the greatest story-teller ever is our Lord and each day, he weaves an amazing tale with our lives and His creation. And the price tag for the movie of our lives was way more than $300 million - the blood of Christ. Set me thinking for the evening....

First Snow...

The first snow of the year is finally here. It started just before church began this morning and was the perfect backdrop as we sang, "Jesus gave it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow".

More snow, please...

The Khoos go to the Okanagan

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Our time in Vancouver has held many treasures. It has been a time of discovering God's glory in His creation. It has also been a time of strengthening our family ties as we spend time playing together.

This morning, Jared and I attended the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's concert series for elementary school children - VSO goes global. They played a selection of songs from around the world. At the end of the journey, they "landed back in Canada". The orchestra members rose to their feet to play "O Canada" to an audience of Grade 4-6 children who had also stood up and sang their national anthem wholeheartedly. Jared and I were probably the only two who couldn't remember the lyrics but I had tears streaming down my face as I heard the young, clear voices sing, "God keep our land, glorious and free. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee". In a few months, we will go home. I will be glad to be together with family and friends again but will dearly miss this land that has shared much of its' beauty with us.

Don't They Say the Darnest Things?

The heat a couple of days ago got to a point even we thought it was hot. Jared declared, "I'm steaming, I'm boiling, (crescendo) and I'm frying! (matter-of-factly) Now, I'm just a crisp!"

Then yesterday, he felt a sudden but obviously very real need to use the washroom and issued this warning while we were in the car, "Warning. Warning. This bad fart will activate in 2 minutes. There will be no further warning." (said as if you were the computer in Star Trek). Let's just say his father was very proud of him!!!

Catching Up

The best part of our week was to witness Jared getting baptised. None of the civilized baptismal pools for us - Jed got dunked in the English Bay (Vancouver) with it's near freezing waters! Daddy had the privilege of being there with him and co-baptising him. I was positively beaming. We've been talking about it for awhile now. The week before saw our usual exchange - "yes", he wanted to be baptised but "not yet". But on Good Friday Jed and daddy had a 'serious talk' while I was out for worship practice and they concluded that Jed would get baptised on Sunday and had it all arranged with Pastor Jerry before I got back. I think they should have lots more of these 'serious talks'. We worked on Jed's testimony on Saturday. SK made a valiant attempt to restrain himself and refrained from editing Jared's sharing. But we had to smile when Jared likened being baptised to the caterpillar emerging from its cocoon as a beautiful butterfly - a new creation.

Such a momentous occasion called for a celebration: a whole week's break from our homeschool routine. Grin...actually, I'd already scheduled the week's break.

I'm trying to think where all that time went...I know I gave the house good cleaning and we hung out at the library a lot because they're having a sale of books they are taking out of their inventory (I got a copy of The Young Persons Guide to Shakespeare for 50c!). We spent almost all of Thursday in the kitchen. Our meet-up group was coming over for dinner. And Jared had his first violin lesson with Melissa Bandura. Thankfully, he liked her. It helped that instead of "nagging" about his hand position NOT being in the right position, she gave him a code word "sniper" to remind him about it. Plus she set him clear goals for the week and about 1/3 the amount of practice work compared to his teacher back home.

:) I think the best part of our week has to be stopping to enjoy the beauty of the flowers blooming in the city. We smelled the cherry blossoms and watched their delicate petals float off in the breeze. We discovered some very unusual flowers or at least I think they're flowers with stamen and all. We made a mental note of which trees or shrubs had buds so we could look out for them the next time we walked along those streets.

The birds are also getting busy. We've been watching them pair up and have so much fun making up their husbandly-wifely comversations for them as they busy themselves with picking up materials for the nests. We've seem lots of busy birds with nest material between their beaks but we're still trying to find those nests.

Today, Jared reminded me that he just deserves to "know" all sorts of things. We'd gone to watch an IMAX movie about Van Gogh at the Science Cente. I must admit I caught myself dosing a couple of times so I wasn't surprised when Jared gave a big yawn at the end of the show as he slowly unfurled himself from his I-am-oh-so-a-slouching position. Yet, when we were walking past a photographic exhibition of China's mountains yesterday, he chose one of the pieces as his favourite because it had complementary colours. He said, "the red part makes the green part look greener...just like Van Gogh thought..." So he's listening!

And last night, at our meet-up dinner, I was clearing up while SK was sharing his testimony. At one point, I interrupted him from the kitchen with a comment afterwhich Jared came over to tell me that I was evesdropping. He had been doodling in a different room! Again, I thought, "he's listening!" He and I had a good laugh today when I pointed out that he was also evesdropping to know that I was doing it!!!

Then today, we'd made a purchase and the cashier extended an invitation for us to make a donation to an organisation that helps abused women. I'd made a similar donation a few days ago so I was not inclined to make another donation but Jared insisted that we should. It turned out well because we had an opportunity to explain and discuss family violence. He couldn't understand why the women don't just hit back or run away...and had lots of questions. Aha, he's listening.

Reminder to myself: be sure that I'm worth listening to in my conversations with Jared.

He's Growing Up Too Fast

My resolve to blog frequently is already waning..sigh.

Spring is struggling to make a comeback in this pretty city.

Today, at church, the fields are just starting to be blanketed with tiny flowers and the magnolias are flowering. I loved how our friends at church took their bread and wine at communion and stepped out into the glorious morning to pray with loved ones and spend a moment with God in His creation before coming back to continue with the service.

Earlier this week, I pointed out to Jared the verse that exhorts parents to "train a child in the way that he should go when he is young so that he will not fall away from it when he is older". A few days later, the little fellow solemnly remarks that when he grows up and "if" he has children, he will train them up when they are young - before they "learn all the bad things". I quickly tried to seize the moment to remind him that that is precisely what mummy and daddy are trying to do and it is one of the reasons we homeschool. A few minutes later, he quips, "but i'm already grown up. It's too late. I already know everything including the bad things!". Sigh...they just grow up too fast.

:) We spent our Sunday afternoon earlier making and flying paper aeroplanes in the playground nearby (while daddy took the afternoon nap that he always claims he will never take 'cos "it's a waste of time"). The weather was lovely. On the way back, we stopped to smell the magnolias blooming right outside the front door of our condo. Jared said they smelled of his shower gel...except he wanted to know how the flowers got the smell from the shower gel..sigh...these city boys!