| Josh & Leona님의 프로필joshua, leona and manoah사진블로그리스트 |  도구  도움말 |
joshua, leona and manoahone today is worth two tomorrows - benjamin franklin 9월 25일 diaper retrievalManoah never ceases to amaze us with how much she understands us. This evening, we noticed that Manoah's diaper was getting, shall we say, heavy. Leona asked her if she would go get a diaper. Manoah walked down the hallway to her room and stopped in her doorway and walked back to us in the living room. So Leona held her hand and walked to the closet in Manoah's room where we keep the diapers. Manoah brought it back to the living room and gave it to me so I could change her diaper. When I finished, I asked Manoah if she would get me another diaper. Without another word she was off to the closet in her room. We heard some banging and then, she appeared in her doorway at the end of the hall, diaper in hand. Absolutely brilliant.
Now the kicker. This morning we were sitting in the living room and Leona had asked Manoah is she needed to use the potty. Off to the bathroom went Manoah, followed by Leona and when sat on the toilet, she did her business. Only 13 months old and beginning to understand potty training! Needless to say we are excited about this. 9월 23일 recent newsIt has been some time since posting. Yikes. I still haven't put any recent pictures of Manoah up on here yet. I must get to that soon. I'm taking a wee break from studying to give an update to some of the things we've been up to recently.
The last couple of weeks have been really busy at work. Leona and Manoah have been super about me working some overtime to ensure that the project I am working on stays on schedule. However, one can only work so much and so I took Friday off. Yay! First day in two weeks. We had originally planned on going swimming but then I called around and Millwoods Rec Center only had public swim in the evening and Millenium Place in Sherwood Park was closed for maintenance! Time for a backup plan. So we packed a lunch, grabbed the camera and headed off to the Muttart Conservatory. Leona had never been and I haven't been in years. We had a great time snapping photos of some of the cool flowers, plants and cacti. I think we need a second camera though as I found the camera being taken from my by Leona more than I had it! It was a good lesson in sharing as Manoah was watching. :) We got a few really nice pictures and lots of not so great pictures, but we had fun.
Some other exciting news for us is that we have joined a camera club! We attended for the first time last week and have now entered a few of our photos for this months competition! We'll be sure to post with any results. Our expections are low as we are still learning how to use our camera but it will be fun to get some constructive criticism. I've also signed up to go on a workshop on October 6th. We will be doing some night shooting out at the Devonian Botanical Gardens. I'm super excited about this.
Manoah is popping some molars and so she is a bit out of sorts lately. She's a real trooper though and it doesn't take much to distract her from her painful gums. Put on some music and she starts dancing. Her latest 'move' is to make her way to the vinyl floor in the kitchen, plant one foot and then use her other foot to move in a circle. She thinks it's the greatest.
This morning Leona and I cleaned out our storage room. It's funny how stuff just seems to accumulate. Yet another garbage bag full of clothes to take to Goodwill. Thank goodness that we both hate clutter. 9월 1일 joyThis morning as I entered the lobby of the office building where I worked, I was greeted by a woman. I had never met this woman in my life. I did not know her. With a smile, she wished me a hearty, "Good Morning!".
As we entered the elevator, she pressed the button for her floor and I pressed the button for mine. Others entered the lobby. She pressed the button to hold the doors of the elevator open. Normally, given the expansive lobby, I would have pressed the buttons to close the doors of the elevator. Again with a smile, she yelled out the door of the elevator, "We'll wait!". Then with a smile directed to me, "We'll wait", as though she was asking my permission. I just smiled back. As three others entered the elevator, the doors closed.
The smiling lady then boomed to me over the heads of the three others, "It's not so bad being in an elevator full of women". A laugh erupted from the others. One of the others said, "Just don't start singing!". Again a laugh. As I exited the elevator, the smiling lady yelled after me, "Have a nice day!". I tried to respond but the elevator doors were already closing.
As I walked down the hallway to my office I couldn't help but smile as I thought of the smiling woman and her excitement/joy which she felt duty bound to share with others. What did she have for breakfast that morning? How much sleep did she get the previous night? I take the bus to work when Leona has need of the car and days can go by where I don't say a word to anyone the whole hour long ride to the office and no one says anything to me. We all sit in our seats staring out the windows, reading a book, listening to music, filling in a soduku puzzle; oblivious of everything and everyone around us.
I don't know if the smiling woman I met this morning was a Christian or not. I do know that she challenged me with her joyful countenance and attitude. She seemed to enjoy life this particular morning. I was reminded of a few verses.
1 Peter 3:15 - but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
Psalm 90:14 - O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Psalm 30:5 - For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout for joy comes in the morning. a year goes by quicklyWe can't believe how fast the last year has gone by. Of course, I say this from the perspective of having just celebrated our daughter Manoah's first birthday on August 19th. Our little girl is growing up so fast.
In the last year we have watched Manoah... - born
- sit up
- crawl
- walk
- dance (she's got a love of music and will dance on cue if you turn on some music and say 'Shake It')
- beginning to talk (she says MaMa, DaDa, answers Mmmmm when asked what does a cow say?).
- copy little things that we do. She has recently started to blow and surprised both herself and I when she blew into a straw when I offered her a drink instead of sucking on it. Unfortunately, this highlight is also a challenge for us as it means we have to be more careful about the things we say and do.
- be thrilled to see her aunts.
- play well with her cousins Ethan and Josiah
- love to swim
- feed herself
- feed us
- cuddle
- hug
- kiss
- laugh
I'll post some recent pictures in the next few days. 7월 23일 i love my daughterToday, we took Manoah to Sylvan Lake to go swimming. She has never experienced a beach before, and as this is something that Leona loves, we packed up the car and headed out. Thank goodness for air conditioning in the car, the weather is incredibly hot right now and we are sleeping in the basement. Sylvan Lake has become a very busy town since I used to frequent it when Grandma had a cabin there. Thankfully we found a parking spot right away and it did not take us too long to claim our spot on the beach. With the sun beating down, we quickly made our way into the water and were surprised by how shallow it was. Manoah absolutely loved 'swimming' and walking in the water. On the way home we stopped in to see Grandma in Red Deer much to her surprise. We really must head down to see her more often.
After arriving home this evening, Leona was holding Manoah and without prompting, Manoah reached out for me! Believe me, this is a rare occurance. Upon me taking her, she wrapped her arms around my neck and snuggled her face to mine and squeezed. This was not a quick squeeze, but a long hug. Oh, how I love my daughter. 7월 11일 happy birthday leonaWe spent the weekend camping at Johnston Canyon in Banff National Park. We hiked the canyon and enjoyed making it all the way to the 'ink pots'. It was a long hike on a hot day. Manoah was fantastic. We had not known how long it was to the then of the trail and as such were not truly prepared with food for Manoah's lunch. However, she chowed down a banana at the top and slept almost the whole way down. The next day, we spent walking around the Banff townsite. Finished supper on Sunday and decided we better get some tarps up. Unfortunately, dad and I were a bit slow and didn't get them up in time and so the entire camp site became a mud puddle. We did cover the tents in time though and managed to stay dry overnight. We woke up Monday morning to rain still and decided we would pack up and head for home. Stopped at Peter's drive in for lunch in Calgary on the way home and thoroughly enjoyed a cheesburger, milkshake and fries.
This morning we celebrated Leona's 27th birthday by going to the Street Performers Festival in downtown Edmonton. We had a wonderful time and watched some fantastic (and funny!) performances. Then home for a restful afternoon and then pie at mom and dad's. One of the street performers was called "The Post It Poet" and wrote me this little poem after asking my my name, occupation, hobbies, and dream vacation (hiking in New Zealand). Pretty good for on the spot creativity. Joshua's an excellent fella, you see
Loves hockey and his family
Computer programming's his biz
And I'm sure he's a whiz
One day he'll go hiking with the kiwi.
Sigh, vacation is over until Gerrit and Des arrive at the end of the month for a visit. Back to work tomorrow. 7월 6일 cinderella manLast week, while in Dallas, I turned on the television after a long day of meetings and caught the last half of "Cinderalla Man". It stars Russell Crowe as depression era boxer/father Jim Braddock. Sure the boxing scenes are fantastic but what captured me about this movie more than anything else is the love and devotion this father had for his family. At a time when many fathers abandoned their families, he chose to do everything within his means to provide and care for them. He had struggles, no money to buy food, forced to send his children to live with relatives, injured in boxing matches, and yet he persevered.
Before I was married, my dad told me that the most important attribute to have in marriage is selflessness. Now that I am married, my selfishness is all too apparent to me. My wife and daughter are the joy of my heart and yet sometimes I choose to not help with cleaning the house. I figure I deserve the break after a day at work. Small example of selfishness I know, but still, an example none the less.
My family truly does provide fulfillment. It seems to me that the prevalent message in society today is that commitment to ones family is not fulfilling. It saddens me to see men eager to take a break from their families. I'm not against a round of golf with friends or other such activities, it just seems to be the focus for so many people rather than spending time with their families. I know that at times, I have longed for diversion and yet, I know that I am being selfish. My family is my legacy. A verse that I read this week drove this home following my thoughts about the movie Cinderella Man. Jeremiah 29:11 "'For I know the plans I have for you', declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" I may not see the end result, but I can have hope that the Lord will bless my family as a reward for devotion to them. 7월 3일 the bad side of travel...and fireworksIt is so good to be home. I enjoy travelling, wether for business or pleasure, but there really is no place like home. I was in Dallas TX last week for work. Coming home on Thursday evening, our plane was late arriving in Dallas which meant we were delayed almost an hour. Unfortunately, we had only an hour layover in Phoenix so we knew it would be a tight connection. I was running off the plane in Phoenix at 7:30 knowing that our next flight was leaving at 7:32. A quick check of the departures board showed that the gate was only a few steps away and I arrived there to discover that the flight to Edmonton had already left. Sigh. The airline set us up overnight in a hotel and we were off to find our luggage. The earliest flight home would be the same flight the next day. After picking up our luggage, the three of us headed out to the hotel shuttle pickup location (or what we assumed was it). After standing out in the +40 heat for 10 minutes I began to wonder if this is truly where we were to be waiting for the shuttle. Off I went to check at the information booth and sure enough, we had to call to arrange for pickup. The hotel told me the next shuttle would be in 2 minutes so I rushed off to gather my travelling companions and get to the correct pickup location. After waiting approx. 30 minutes I went inside again and learned that the hotel shuttle had been delayed and would be another 15-20 minutes. Sigh. By this time, there were approx. 30 people waiting to be picked up by a 15 passenger van. So, off to find a cab. We all climbed in and the driver was off. Soon after, we learned that he did not accept payment by credit card. Between the three of us, we had $25 in cash. Thankfully, the fare was only $24.75. Thank goodness for air conditioned hotel rooms.
The next day we spent working from our hotel rooms and headed to the airport to catch our flight home. After boarding the plane, the wind shifted and they basically had to turn the airport around so that the planes could take off into the wind. This meant that we were delayed another hour and a half and I didn't get home until 2 am Saturday morning. Oh the joys of travel. I did have an interesting conversation with a young couple who were heading home from a vacation in Mexico. They were so excited about the low prices for 'booze' down there and they had loaded up. It's so sad to see people get excited about getting wasted.
It was great to be home in time for Canada Day. Once again we headed out to our 'spot' for viewing the fireworks. This was Manoah's first fireworks experience and she did quite well! She was quite tired by the time they started and we thought she might get scared and cry. She didn't cry at all though she was sure squeezing Leona tightly. The display was exceptional this year and we all went home quite satisfied with the spending of our tax dollars.
Camping in Banff next weekend! 6월 18일 happy father's dayWe celebrated Father's Day today by sleeping in! Unfortunately, this meant that we missed church. Leona had found a Smarties clock for me at a consignment clothing store and this is now prominitely displayed in our dining room (I love Smarties). She (and Manoah) also bought me a box of Smarties, which I shared with both of them, as well as a new sage green Nalgene water bottle! Both of them were up before me making hand and footprints for an awesome Father's Day card.
I had started to share a few Smarties with Manoah by sucking on them for a little bit as to soften them so she would not choke. I had given her a few and then closed the box to go off and do something else. However, I left the box within her reach and with minutes she had figured out how to open it and had blue smartie dye all over her face. It was quite cute.
This afternoon we headed over to my parents and when we arrived, the house appeared deserted. We soon discovered that Dad had taken Jen and Jacque to pick up a used tent trailer he had purchased a few days earlier! Of course he set it up as soon as they got back and it is incredible. It has only one sleeping platform but the thing is very light. And two people could sleep quite comfortably on the floor so it should do nicely for them when they go camping later this summer.
We have had an incredible amount of rain in the past week. I believe 'deluge' would apptly describe what we received one night this week. I need to place a call to our condo association to ask about getting the gutters cleaned out. :( The good news is that our grass is growing like crazy. I think some additional seeding is necessary however as some of the seed was washed away after I had first seeded due to overwatering. Oh well, lesson learned. We've had a visitor in our back yard the last couple of days. Due to the new grass growing, the rest of the lawn has not been mowed for over a month and a rabbit has been hiding out back there. Leona first spotted him eating some of our new grass and there is a small 'spot' in the yard where the rabbit ate the grass down and he has been resting there. Haven't seem him for a day or two though after I chased him out of there.
I'm enjoying the Athabasca University course that I am taking right now. Trying to get an hour or two of studying in ever evening while still spending time with Manoah and Leona. It's a business communication course and already I am noting some areas in which I can improve in my work communications.
Eagerly anticipating an Oiler's victory tomorrow evening. Stanley Cup #6! Jen and Jas are joining us to cheer them on. 6월 9일 blonde and sleeplessThe past couple of nights have been brutal. Maybe 3 hours of sleep. Manoah will just not settle. She did pop her 6th tooth two nights ago so perhaps there are a few more on their way. Thankfully, Leona and Manoah slept for 4 hours yesterday afternoon.
Leona picked up some groceries last night in prep for a weekend campout with the youth group and also picked up some blonde hair dye. Yup, that's right. I'm back to being blonde. After I had rinsed my hair of the dye, Leona's face was a huge grin because she was recalling the first time we met in person. It took a while for Manoah to warm up to me but we are good now. Lot's of cuddling lately. |
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