Live Out Loud - Adventures of a mom

“It is the same with my word.     I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to,     and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” Isaiah 55:11 View part of what I shared Today, I had my classes’ Christmas party.  As it is becoming tradition, I share something with them to affirm them, encourage them and to challenge them.  This year, as I prayed that God guide my thoughts and words to what he wanted me to say,  He kept on directing me to the words Light and Presents/Gifts. I was scared to share.  I was worried that someone would not like what I was saying; but I also felt strongly that my life-sharing with my students would speak loud and clear that what I was sharing was from my heart...and I asked a few dear warriors to pray for me. Some of my students have NEVER heard of the name Jesus.  How can they choose to follow if they have never heard?  Is just “living missionally” enough?  I don’t think so. Some of my students have

It's the end of another school year and just like that, these two have completed Grade 4 and 6 respectively.  Sometimes I still speak about them as if they were in Grades 1 and 3...It's as if I want the time to freeze now and the more I want it to slow down, the faster it seems to go. I just read my kids' report cards.  I've blogged about report cards before - it is always a moment where I find myself seeing deep in my heart. Being the sentimentalist I am, I take criticism I read in my kids' report cards personally.  I instantaneously take it as a critique on the kind of mom I've been - and where I've failed.  And yet, as I sit and converse with God further, He questions me.  Why don't I take my kids' accomplishments also personally?  That is to say, why don't I give myself a pat on the shoulders when I see an A in their report cards? OK God...you have a point Indeed, this has been quite a year.  My kids have accomplished much but it is e

Once upon a time there was a girl, a young girl.  Her parents had big dreams for her so they sent her off with two small suitcases, a passport and a message:  work hard, don’t give up, don’t choose the easy way, and trust in God. Her parents didn’t have enough money to go with her, so they put her on a plane and off she went to a foreign land. The girl arrived to the foreign land.  Everything was new. The more steps she took into the new world the smaller she felt.  She couldn’t understand what people said. She didn’t understand the system. She didn’t even know what to ask.  She felt alone, helpless and soon enough, pretty stupid. Soon enough she faced lots of challenges and problems.  The reality of living in a foreign land began to sink in.  She didn’t have enough money to call home so she wrote. She wrote a lot of letters, knowing she would not hear back from the people she was writing to for at least a month or two.   But she kept writing, if anything, to

In 2016 we went to Emily PP with the Learn to Camp Program as Graduates.  It was really our way to take advantage of one more year of affordable camping before we committed to buying camping gear of our own. The year before we had been to Sibbald Point and though we loved it, the kids wanted to try canoeing so I looked for a park with canoe rentals. It was crazy hot year - and I remembered the parks having a ban on bonfires that year because it was so dry.  By the time we arrived to the campsite, it had 'cooled' down a bit and the ban was lifted.  Still, we were SOOOOO HOT Not happy with the heat We joined the Learn to Camp Graduates program this time.  This was our last trial before deciding on investing in our own gear. The kids, of course, wanted to join the Learn to Fish Program again -- I have to say that this set up at Emily was better than the one at Sibbald. I really enjoyed sitting and seeing the kids and hubby fish. The Park

So last year we camped twice.  I've always heard about Sandbanks but we had never been there - the year before I tried to find a campsite but learned that the site gets filled 5 months in advance - yeap, five months to the day.  So last year I was vigilant and literally counted backwards 5 months.  This meant that we booked our site in March for an August trip! Crazy.  Even then, most of the good spots were already gone. Was it worth it? It depends on what you expect. This was the farthest we had traveled to camp, and last year was a bad year - there was a lot of flooding and a lot of the famous sand dunes were washed away and parts of the beach was closed off.  I was worried, going in but traveling with my adventurous and worry free husband helped! We checked in on a Sunday - so I thought it would be less crowded.....I was so wrong! I had just come from Awenda the month before, where the sites were so much larger than Emily and Sibbald....but once at Sandbanks it b