Faith

I just celebrated another birthday and with that came some reflection.  I felt I would share my thoughts in this blog entry.
So my birthday was on Friday January 20th.  I had a great day of teaching and my grade 9 class phys.ed  class sang "Happy Birthday" to me.  I arrived home and Janelle and the girls where making mommy a birthday card.  Very sweet!  I had a nice dinner out with Brian, my parents, my sister Melissa, and her boyfriend Kyle at Sale E Pepe. This was followed up by a quick trip to Walmart and Home Depot.

Ava's Birthday Card

Jaelyn's card with lots of help from Janelle

So my reflection:
I have been truly blest another year.  If there was one word that is significant in my life it would be the word "FAITH".  I have several things around the house with the word faith.  I was thinking about this and believe that with FAITH we can have HOPE and we can truly LOVE.  
You can take this spiritually and scripture confirms this in 1 Corinthians 13:13.  Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. (This was my wedding passage).  I have FAITH in a Saviour who sacrificed Himself so that I can have HOPE in everlasting life and this allows me to truly LOVE one-another.  
You can also apply this to daily life.  We have to have FAITH in others whether in a relationship, a friendship, or with a co-worker.  When we have FAITH we can then learn to LOVE.
So here are a few of my FAITH items.

Purchased this on Mom Swap 

These were in my bathroom at my old house.  Once I get my basement bathroom painted they will be up again.

Focus on the Family sent these magnets over a 3 year period and they are displayed on my fridge.

My last purchase that is found
in my main floor bathroom. 

 Faith is also a key component in another favourite saying you will see throughout my house.  With FAITH I believe you can LIVE, LOVE, and LAUGH.  

Found on my fridge.  

This is in my living room and has a Hoekstra clan photo.  We love them lots and have good times with lots of laughs.

The latest in my collection, courtesy of my friend Carol.  Thanks for the birthday gift.  It is in the main bathroom.

Lastly, my husband, surprised me with flowers on my birthday, as well as a rather large gift card to my favourite store in Chatham, The Paper Pickle.  A shopping spree will happen soon enough.  

Gerber Daisy 1 week later from The Purple Pansy.

I truly felt the LOVE this year!  Thanks everyone.  I will keep on in the FAITH!
A future blog will be on the curling excursion Brian organized for my birthday.  Good Times!

Summer Fun

Well it has been sometime since I last posted.  You know it's time to blog when even your mother says you haven't updated in a while.  So here it goes.

Since my last blog we have done lots:
Haircuts
Jaelyn, Ava, and I had our hair done.  This was significant for Ava since we cut 11 inches off and donated her hair to Angel Hair for Kids Program.  
Ava's Photos

Before 

During

Uncertain

After

 Jaelyn's Photos

Before

During

After

My Girls and I  

Vacation

We spend July 13th-23rd at Elim Lodge with lots of family from the Roffel and Koomans sides.  Jaelyn and Ava enjoyed the"little" beach AKA the Elim beach or the "big" beach which meant out in the boat.

Ava in the paddle boat

Jaelyn swimming in her "little" beach

Jaelyn & Ava sitting with Carsten while boating

One of my favourite photos of the summer showing Jaelyn and Ava lovin' each other.

 Moving
I painted in our new house during the last week of July.  Thanks Ed & Joanne for allowing us in early to do this.  We officially owned the house on July 29th.  We moved in throughout that weekend.  A big thank you to everyone who helped with our moves this summer.

Our new house at 84 Sherwood Court

Our favourite part of the backyard

My next blog post will be photos of the house.  They are coming….sooner than later.
Vacation
We spent a week in our new house and then we headed back to Elim Lodge to spend another week there with more family and friends.  We had a lot of rain this week but did manage a boat trip to Lindsey in very rough boating conditions and visit the Peterborough Zoo.
Peterborough Zoo

Daddy & his little girls checking out the monkeys

The girls wanted to see the camel but he was hiding from the rain

Walking in the rain at the zoo

Sleeping in their "camping" house

Lindsey Boat Trip

Logan

Riley

Jaelyn

Ava

The rough waters

Jaelyn, Ava, and Reeve window shopping

Reeve playing in the boat

Tanner taking it all in

Boating trip with Henry & Stacey Noordam and family

I was home a couple of days and I went on vacation again this time to Rondeau Provincial Park with a group of girlfriends and their kids.


Rondeau Provincial Park
While here we celebrated Hannah B's 4th birthday!  Her mom made yummy cupcakes.  We saw lots of dirt, water, and mud.  Campfires were my favourite as I could relax without having to worry about what the girls where up to since they were sleeping.

Happy Birthday Hannah

Special birthday hats for all the kids

Ephraim & Lucas on everyones fav bike

Noah trying to hide from the camera 

Ava giving Steven a ride

Ava giving Jaelyn a lift

Hadassah ready for the water

Preston loving the beach

Craft Time

Ephraim on the beach

Michella with Gus

Titus poking his head pout of the sand hole

Reuben buried in the sand and loving the attention 

I have since spent the last 2 weeks working on the house and getting ready to go back to school and work.  I hope I have made up for lost time.  
I will be back soon!