PRAYER REQUEST

Jennifer and the new man in her life! I am so overwhelmed right now! I can't wait to finally hold him! He has been long awaited in our family. Another generation for our Lord, seeking His face!



ANOTHER UPDATE
At 5:49 PM Joel Michael was born and I am a GIGI again! I have a grandson!

UPDATE:
It's 3;45 and Jenn is at 4cm and 70% effaced. They broke her water and have given her something for the contractions. She is doing much better emotionally! Still wants her Mommy but I've reassured her that she can do this with or without me!


Please pray for our oldest daughter Jennifer today. She is on her way to the hospital and they will induce her today. I spoke with her a couple of minutes ago and she is pretty emotional that I will be unable to make it. I had hoped I could be there for this one as well but it isn't meant to be. Please pray that she will focus on the positives of today and not the fact that her mommy isn't there. Also please for the health and safety of both her our new grandson, Joel Michael!

Sitting and Waiting

... for scarf to appear. I'll just read another novel and knit for awhile. Then when I've given up on scarf as lost, she will appear.

artwork: Carl Larson

Happy Birthday To You Deb And Char!

there you go deb...here is your twin sister the other birthday girl!
another sweet sister





happy birthday to a sweet scarf sister!

Changed

Thank you, Sisters for what you have added to my life. This song was performed last night by Trillium Academy's Show Choir...the words made me think of you!
Thank you...you have changed me for the better...and I have been changed for GOOD!

Love,
trish

FEELING NOSTALGIC

I can hardly believe that "Scarf" was at our house *6 months ago just in time for Christmas!! As the adventure winds down, I wanted to go back and remember!

Bring On The Hot Weather Mrs. Mac!

Where Oh Where Is Scarf?

Scarf sisters unite. The scarf is nearing the end of the road. Destination: a special box on the top shelf of my closet. Inside will be scarf, the 'journal' ... , and anything that returns with it. I have yet to read the journal. I'll also make a cd of the journey that weaves quite a story of friendship and faith. After taking a respite for the summer months, a new and different journey will begin this autumn. No scarf or travel involved. Curious? Stay tuned for more news.

(Did scarf get left behind on a church pew? :) That would be just like her ;)

Day 9

One picture says it all today....There was enough sun to sit out on a friends deck today after church....for those of you already "enduring" the warm temperatures...well, I am sorry - we are not to that point yet! Scarf was with me and He/She/It was so thrilled with the rays that there were no complaints when He/She/It was cast aside and had to wait in the shadows for another moment in the spotlight!

Tomorrow, Victoria Day will be the final day of Scarf's visit to this area.....maybe - possibly - could be.....that one or two flowers might bloom by then so that Terry's memories of Manitoba will remain intact......I shall let Scarf wander a bit and go out into the country to have a look......note: I said Maybe....you never know around here, it might snow again!!!!

I cannot remember what day this is...in fact, I think I am ahead of myself a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The sun came out this morning.....
thank God for that, and the snow vanished...thank God for that as well....and after hours of swimming and massage and more "spa-ing" we checked out of the Hotel and prepared for our drive back to the City......sadly.

My daughter and I exchanged cars as the car seat was in mine and that seemed simpler than moving it! But her car had no petrol so off we went in search of a petrol pump....We did find one in Hecla Village but it ws not working, so I was sent off to the Marina to look there whilst Erin began the trip back to Winnipeg. Even though it was a short drive, Scarf and I stopped along the way just to look at the water. I miss living by the water a lot - I do live by a river, but it is not the same thing as being by the sea...and Lake Winnipeg sometimes feels like the sea as it is so big....bigger in fact than England!

I am not normally on this side of the lake....and it seems a bit more developed than the east side...I don't know if that is true or not but everything seemed groomed - it was still so beautiful...but cultured beautiful, not quite the same...however, very easy to enjoy and drink in!!!

This is a little bit of the Village of Hecla and of the Marina where I did manage to find petrol. You will have to take my word for it that Scarf was with me...it is a little difficult when you do things alone to get photos with Scarf....and some things are not appropriate to drape he/she/it, no matter how comforting she may be!!!




I was so tired on the way back home that I stopped in Gimli to pick up a coffee in the hopes of keeping my eyes open....Nice little town...bad bad bad coffee!! But I took a wander out on the pier, looking at the pier wall art and passing by the people out shore fishing.

The Marina stood almost empty, but it won't be long now until every berth is full....the season is short here so people make the most of it.


Scarf was wrapped tightly around my neck at this point because although the sun was showing her golden face to us (finally....) the wind was angry about losing some of the dominance she had gained yesterday and so was putting up a good fight.

No trip to Gimli is complete without a stop at the bakery there......it is legendary...and so armed with a lemon meringue pie - still warm and piled high (I am sure it was at least a mile high) with that wonderful topping I drove back to the city and to my daughter's house for the car exchange. I am so glad that I purchased what I did as there was a huge surprise waiting for Eithne....her Daddy had made her a brand new play room, complete with a swing......Scarf did not even see it, as she was quickly forgotten amidst the oooh's and the aaahhh's!!!! Poor Scarf...he/she/it is so hard done by!


And now this Nana is propped up in her bed with her laptop and is going to watch a movie...maybe....or read...maybe....I am so tired, and Sunday comes very soon....Scarf is already waiting in the kitchen hopeing for yet another trip to church tomorrow..we shall see..I do not like going on a Sunday, but I was too tired this evening to even think about trying to listen to a sermon. I tend to fall asleep in them anyway (not because of boredom but because I find it relaxing to sit in church!!) and if I had gone today I would have been sawing logs....Scarf would have been ashamed of me, and that would not have been a pretty picture!

Day 7

I rushed to pack my little bag this morning to head out to Hecla. Bad weather conditions made me want to try and beat the snowfall.......Scarf was a the to of my bag, but if truth be told, even he/she/it was not warm enough for me! The wind was biting....rushing in off of the shores of Lake Winnipeg and nothing had prepared me for how it would feel on the first day of the May Long Weekend - when normally people would be enjoying temperatures of around 20 degrees and busying themselves with some of the great Canadian Long Weekend pursuits......planting the vegetable garden, camping at one of the Provincial Parks, or strutting their stuff at one of the 'poser' beaches (If you are young and 'struttable' that is!!)

Since I had my Granddaughter in the car and she was sleeping in her car seat, I did not get out to take any pictures... this one I loved though...the lone tree in the middle of a prairie field....well, technically this are is called The Interlake so it is the lone tree in the middle of an Interlake Farm field!!It is called the Interlake because it is the area north of Winnipeg which is between Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg..

We are on Hecla Island right now...and driving up here I found that it reminded me of Dungeness...wild and windy! This whole area is known for its Iclandic population, in fact in the area around Gimli, not too far from here, you find the largest Iclandic people group outside of their homeland.Tomorrow - weather permitting, I will go on a History Hike tour through the Village of Hecla and learn something of the people who established the area and have worked for generations to make it what it is today.

But today, I am here for the Spa!!!!
Scarf knows already that I am the ultimate fan of all things Spa like.....so here I am, about to set off for my fisrt foray into the mosaic of mineral pools and baths, steam rooms and nordic dips....all designed to lull me into such a sense of bliss that I will be able to sleep tonight - without my hot water bottle!!! I had already put in an hour in the family pool with my Granddaughter by this time, and really should jump into bed as she has been promised a pancake breakfast and a swim - all by 9 tomorrow morning!! I cannot wait (but mostly because my deep tissue massage begins at ten...I wonder what Scarf will think of that??!!!!)

Day 6

Sometimes a little extra help is needed to make sure one gets going in the 'right direction'. So it was this morning for Scarf and myself as we attempted to find the offices of the moving company that I have hired to do some work for me during the next couple of weeks. Their old and rickety (Please God let this not be a sign of impending incompetence!!) building was in a part of town that I never frequent, so I was really thankful for my friend Tom. I do not read maps (by choice) unless I am on a long road trip and then the only reason for me is to see which village comes next...and so I love this little guy as he directs me in the way I should go. I am leaving my lofty perch above the river on account of "interesting" neighbours, and a very bad heating and cooling system which seems to carry stale smoke from next door into my bedroom....it gets so thick some nights that I get up and sleep elsewhere. So, this is all about to change as I am going into a new suite. Sadly Scarf will not be able to see it as he/she/it will be on the road again by then.

The sun DID come out today, but it was still bitterly cold, so Scarf came with me almost everywhere..including to a funeral this afternoon....well, almost. I left he/she/it out in the car as it was not an appropriate location for a Scarf to be doing "it's thing"! I did let Scarf pose in the car outside of the church.

This is a local Pentecostal church, but its nickname around town is 'the church with the blue roof'....say that and everyone will know the place you are talking about. Of course, from this picture it is impossible to tell why on earth it would be given such a name....

Back to the business of moving.Not all of the furniture in this apartment will be going with me. This green futon belongs to my son and daughter in law and this evening they came to take it back. I was holding it for them and now - in their own new house - they need it. It will be a miracle if Scarf makes it back home in one piece after the way it is being treated here...my granddaughter thinks it is a wonderful thing to have around and so it travels with her as well....and my Sean and Natasha....well - as you can see from this picture...ha, they have no respect for the games mother plays!!!!

I do have a daughter as well....maybe you can 'guess' from this bag what she does with herself during work hours, and maybe, if I am very sneaky and very lucky I will be able to take some photos of her tomorrow as we are going away into the countryside to a Spa together...Erin (my daughter) Eithne (my granddaughter) and me...oh and of course - Scarf. He/she/it will finally be out in nature....
and spending time in and around all the various treatment pools and mmmmmm..oh yes, it is going to be delicious. The weather forecast is promising snow tomorrow, so that is rather sad and miserable..but once we are in the hot pool (which is half indoors and half out) it will not even matter!

Scarf sure has been in church a lot this trip.......Four times so far as I did not mention that I took the Scarf with me to a concert of the Riverwood Singers on Monday evening...one of the ladies in our Book Club sings with that group and so a couple of us went along for the evening, which was held in one of the local Anglican churches. I love the performing arts...in just about every form and so am thrilled whenever I can attend. Winnipeg has a vibrant arts community which I think brings much needed life, hope and inspiration to any community. So many of us are awakened by these expressions of hidden thought...OK OK...I will stop before I get started on one of my 'pontifications' and wish you all a good night from this cold and windy city....
NO.....I will NOT be taking Scarf to bed with me to keep me warm - I have a hot water bottle for that!!!

Day 5

I am sitting upstairs and listening to the wind howl around this building. The windows are rattling and there is a constant roar....All day long the rain fell...I was out and about by 7:30 this morning and already the streets looked like one big swimming pool. The weather has been so bad that any great plans for touring around have been put on hold.

It is not that Scarf has been bored....he/she/it has been keeping my neck warm. The most fun time with Scarf was this morning when I took my granddaughter for a long long walk in the driving rain! We bundled up and here is a look at us....



I do not know for sure what tomorrow will bring (other than more rain)...but Scarf will accompany me....

We Need Your Prayers...

Good evening to all my scarf sisters,

Once again I am coming to you, asking for your prayers for our family.

We found out two weeks ago that the baby girl we are expecting in August has a congenital birth defect. Our doctor was not able to give us much information as it is beyond his expertise and so we were referred to Mount Sinai in Toronto.

Last Wednesday was our first (of many) visits to TO to meet with a couple of doctors and find out what is going on. It's turned out to be more than we were expecting to hear, but we are praying for a miracle, knowing that anything can happen between now and August.

To bring you up to speed, I'll give you the Coles Notes version of what the doctors are saying (but again, a miracle could change everything).

The condition is called "omphalocoele" which means that some of the organs are outside the abdomen. In our baby's case, it is the entire liver and a small part of the bowel, and they consider that to be large. We have been assured that this has not and most likely will not affect the liver, which is good news.

They spent almost 2 hours doing the ultrasound, and are convinced that the spine and brain are fine, as are the nose, mouth, hands and feet...which are all areas they check with this kind of condition. They couldn't check the heart as well as they wanted, but what they saw looked good, and we will go back to Toronto on Wednesday to Sick Kids to have a fetal heart echo done.

At this point in time, we know that after the fetal echo, we go the first week in June to meet with our team of doctors...the doctors we saw last week, plus the pediatrician and general surgeon from Sick Kids. Hopefully at that time we will get more info from them, because at this point we are being told that surgery will need to be done, but not right away. Then we will be in Toronto every two weeks starting in June. Closer to the time, when we know more, we will have to decide which makes more sense - drive down every couple of weeks, or have me stay in Toronto with a friend. Toronto is about an hour an a half drive from where we live.

I will need to deliver at Mount Sinai, there will be a team waiting to immediately care for the baby, and then they will take her right over to Sick Kids (the hospitals are attached underground by tunnels). They say that she could be in hospital for up to a year, which is not nice news to hear...especially when there is also Madeline to consider. How do you divide your time between two places and two kids?

So...we wait, and pray for a miracle. We would appreciate your prayers during this. We haven't shared this news with the whole world at this point, but each of you are people whose prayer support we know that we can count on. We appreciate all the prayer support that we can get...

I will keep you updated about what is going on.

Day 2

Although it is not a usual occurrence for me to be in church on Sunday - I have been (along with my guest - The Scarf) twice today! My normal habit is to attend church on Saturday evening. Having read the accounts of The Scarfs whereabouts on previous
weekends, I thought it best not to disrupt its schedule and I allowed it/him/her to lead me in the 'way I should go' - at least for this week!

The church I attend is in a city named Steinbach. My family and I used to live there many years ago when it was still a town....it has grown by leaps and bounds but is still the Mennonite Community that it began as. Of course, many other people groups have been added to the mix now - but it is known throughout the rest of the Province and nationally and internationally as "Mennoville". It is a very religious community and there seems to be a church around every corner, and until a couple of months ago it was a "dry" town....but times have changed and you now can purchase a glass of wine without leaving the city limits! Some of the religious attitudes resulted in a lot of rebellion and the community has known its fair share of trouble with teens struggling to free themselves from what they consider extreme repression, but where there has been a good expression of Christianity, life has flourished and I would say that it is a fairly balanced place to be right now..

Scarf lay happily over the chair in front of me waiting for the early morning
service to begin...well, actually waiting for people to wipe the sleep from their
eyes and arrive at the building!!!

I took a longer route home as I wanted to show Scarf some of the fields that still lay under flood water.
Although it is receding, it is taking its own sweet time to disappear...

It was almost noon by the time I returned to the city and Scarf and I certainly felt it was time to sit back so with buttered popcorn and ice tea in hand we wandered into theatre #7 at Grant Park, sat with ten other people in a large room and enjoyed a movie.....Earth
Yes, those are my feet - up on the chair in front of me with my shoes on AND yes, i did take an illegal photograph - for you - in the theatre - on a Sunday as well...goodness.....!

After some afternoon packing of boxes and a visit from my son and daughter-in law I drove over to "their" place for a fire night with their church....what a wonderful ending for Mother's Day. We roasted hotdogs and ate smores....read The Book and discussed John 2...prayed...sat together until the darkness fell, reminding me that 6 would be here before I even had time to shut my eyes if I did not jump into the car and get home! Scarf came in handy there as well and had a good time, although she is (for the moment) rather smoke ridden, and like her wearer, is longing for a shower!

Day 1

A spring day in Winnipeg...I looked outside and all I could see was snow...it filled the sky and it settled on rooftops. Normally I throw open the windows now - but I kept them shut this time...It was so cold.
Thank goodness the Scarf arrived just in time for this Winnipeg Weather setback! I had it wrapped around my neck just about the whole day!

For the last few weeks I have been visiting a friend who has been 'shut-in' because of knee surgery, and this morning was no exception...I arrived at her house with some new (to her) DVDs in the series she is watchingand today's copy of the Local Rag. You should be able to read some of our city and provincial news here.

Something had happened to her PC and so I was commissioned to "sort it" - I think it was Saturday's magic workday anointing that helped me to fiddle with the right wires until the Scarf and I celebrated the victory together.



I knew I had a bit of work waiting for me at home ....so I drove back to the centre of the city..this picture is obviously not taken today...but it is a view of the downtown of Winnipeg.
I live in one of those three buildings - for another couple of weeks...then I am moving. My patch is referred to as Osborne Village - it is a place that is quite sought after by those who have an artistic streak, and it is a hangout for those who consider themselves 'the people to be around!' It is a funny mixture of fun and sadness, rich and poor....and even though there is a lot happening, it is a very lonely place. Each day I go to my local grocery store and there are the same lonely people sitting by themselves at St. Arbucks and the same wealthy people walking by the same beggars who stand by the garbage cans outside of the movie rental store. Obviously, it is like every other city.

Back to my Saturday work!
I iron EVERYTHING. In fact, I love ironing. It is one of the chores I can do without injuring myself and so my iron and I are great friends. I knew I would be going out again in the evening to babysit and so I threw my jacket and The Scarf over a chair and they watched me as I set to the business at hand! My equipment is pretty basic...an iron, a small jug of water (I always use my little red jug - even though I have a variety I could choose from - boring I know!!) and my little spray bottle of lavender linen water that I make myself from French Lavender...I am partial to this variety (you could challenge me on that as there are actually many types of French lavender) for mostly sentimental reasons having spent so much time in the south of that wonderful country. Like many mothers I despair over the lack of ironing done by my offspring...but if that is their greatest fault then really I have nothing to worry about - unless of course, the Queen shows up for a cup of tea!

I finished up and came over to my Granddaughter's house. Her Mummy (my daughter) and Daddy were off to see The Pirates of Penzance and so I was in charge of the before bed time wander through the neighbourhood and then of course - lights out! Here she is...we wandered through puddles and ended up at a local play park...her name is Eithne and I call her "Little Miss She" - with great fondness of course.
She is two years old and she has featured many times in a rather prominent posistion on my blog.

I am now sitting in front of a roaring fire = it is still cold, although later in the day the sun came out and the wind seemed to fade and peace melted over this part of the province. Throughout the day The Scarf was my companion and kept me warm..travelled with me through the mundane but the necessary. Tomorrow will bring its own journey and The Scarf will touch different places and different lives...and it's story will be told..that is half of the fun..the telling of the tale..............