and so it goes...: February 2007

So Jim Badke from Kaleo emailed me today and said, 'see you tomorrow' - oh my! I start teaching on Thursday. That's awful close to today!!! I'm not ready for the rush - but a rush it will be! I fly to BC tomorrow, and get in at about midnight. Teach the next day til Tuesday, with Sunday off. Tuesday I fly to SK and get in a 1am. The next four days I recertify my Wilderness First Responder. Sunday is off again, and then I take a 5 day seminary course with Marty Culy (Current Issues in Biblical Interpretation). Finally, I fly out of Regina at 5:40am on Saturday, March 17 to make it to Toronto and then Wellend before the 3pm nuptials of my neice Amanda to Mark! Phew! But that is all ahead, and I might as well not get lost in anticipation!

Looking back, here are some photos to share. Erika Henkelman joined me for the last 6 days for skiing (3 times, hooray!), quilt organizing and fun concerts (my cousin, Thomas' band and the Polyjesters). What a treat to reconnect with this dear friend. I also got to see my Aunt Marion in North Bay last week, while up there to pick up some items for my parents.

The house cleaning is going OK - much to be done, but much is done. I told mom and dad not to come til April, and if they have any sense (which I believe they do), they won't!

See some of you soon eh!?! Carrie

A fortune I got this weekend, and the latest of Riley and Mason (in his Carhart overalls!)

Yes, friends, Rhoda has new knobs!!! Heat and the ability to control that - wow! And yes, it's still snowing here in Parry Sound and I'm getting the hang of this tractor driving!

Alright, so my photos are meant to tell the stories, but they don't tell everything.

First of all, let me tell you I am done! Done what, you should rightfully ask! My part of the book! My rough draft is done!!! I have covered 12 weeks of the cross Canada canoe trip in 56 pages and am done! Martha is working away too! I think we'll get finished something that can go into the hands of publishers this spring.

Secondly, the house. Wow! It is coming along in leaps and bounds! The basement looks fantastic, the hair shop is soon to be laundryroom and almost all rooms are dejunked. Again, wow!

Thirdly, skiing! How wonderful. I wouldn't like winter if it wasn't for skiing. I get out at least 4 times a week. It's beautiful, and quiet, and refreshing and fun!

Fourthy, health. I had my first ever mammogram (ouch) because of a lump. I'm awaiting the official read, but unofficially it's a normal lump (meaning not suspicious like cancer). This health scare has felt like another rite of passage into adulthood.

Fiftly, speaking of rites of passage - how does learning to drive a tractor rate? How about getting it stuck, and unstuck, three times and getting much better at staying away from the soft edges!?! I'd say it's pretty good!

Sixth, is having this beautiful gift of time and space. I feel restored. I'm loving setting and keeping a routine. It's quiet and restful at the house, and that external peace is permeating and becoming internal peace too.

Seventh, badminton. That's right, badminton. I play twice a week and it is a riot. Good exercise, good socializing, good fun!

That's life right now. Fun, exercise, writing, cleaning, skiing, playing, resting. I'm also working on 2 theology courses (Pentateuch and Current Issues in Biblical Interpretation). I expect to hear about PhD studies in a month or so. On Feb. 28, I head to BC to teach Recreation Leadership at Kaleo, and then to SK to take the Current Issues course and recert my WFR. I fly back to ON on the 17th in time to be at Amanda and Mark's wedding later that day.

Tonite is one of those badminton nites, so I best get going! Love and smiles, Carrie