Question.

Do you think she'll ever have time to write anything worthwhile again?

She's having a writing slump.

For one thing, she's up to her eyebrows in youth practice and Christmas program and buying gifts and planning meals. It's just life, she know, but... it's exhausting.

Yesterday they took out the program for the first time and the very first person she talked to at St. Joseph's had tears in her eyes and shook her hand so gratefully and told her "Thank you for the message!" Well, that is why she's chosen to be a youth-leaders wife. She doesn't have many options but it does pay off! Just one person can make it feel worth the wear and tear and sweat and tears.

And yesterday they farmed out all three boys and went home for a quick lunch before leaving for Saskatoon with everyone. And one hour by ones self is truly amazing.

In the evening they listened to everyone's inspirations about conference.

Their revivals start tomorrow.

Maybe in the new year... she said hopefully. Maybe someday she will write some coherent thoughts again.

??

Conference Week

Ladies and gentlemen, the time has arrived! We are currently partaking of conference week! I just got a text from my sis that they were waiting at the Saskatoon Airport, tiny little place that it is, with no less than TEN other Mennonites heading to the big town of Tupelo! Let the fun begin!

I wonder if everyone got the news clip about Tupelo preparing for conference?!? Maybe only six times??

I really wish we could go.

But we're planning on having a whale of a time at home. My mother is here, flew in last Saturday, and she's babysitting Rennie's family while they're gone.  We're hoping to see them a bit amidst it all.

Today is another gorgeous day; no snow, temps between -5C and +10C and sunshine. We've had some luscious florescent sunrises too and with the days getting shorter we can enjoy the sunrises and sunsets without arising and retiring at unearthly hours!

I've been thinking a lot about the verse "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while" (Mark 6:31) and that's my hope and prayer for us ALL this week, whether we're at home doing chores or babysitting or leading songs at conference or just sitting in the huge auditorium with ten thousand believers.

Let's have a little bit of heaven and rest a while at His feet.

Blessings.

Potty Training

Well, I too for one can say that I've had a seriously poopy week.

I started potty training Wyatt last Monday and this Monday I rejoiced with great joy and many cups of chai and coffee and such that it was not last Monday. There is always something grand to be thankful for!!

I also put on my new running shoes and walked my two miles on my treadmill with springy steps and bouncing boobs and jiggly hips. But I rejoice that I can walk! And new shoes are underrated!!

I ventured out of my house last Thursday afternoon to Linda's for tea with a dozen ladies. All sudden Bren said, "Jo-Jo, Wyatt's on the potty and the door is open, just in case you want to know!" It was a defining moment. His shorts were all wet but only because he didn't get on quick enough. He knows!!! Cheers!!

On Friday Pat & I took him to town, potty-chair stowed neatly beside the car-seat. I had all of five pairs of jeans, six shorts, two pullups and a whole roll of toilet paper along. And do you know I didn't use any?!? He happily went potty in every store I took him in, in the toilet even.

We bought a backhoe as a #2 reward. It worked. The first two times, anyway. Today I'm discouraged.

Yesterday we had Bob & Chris Goodnough, Alvin & Arlene Klassen and Greg & Liz Klassen over for dinner. I felt very Proverbs 31-ish. Until Wyatt came shuffling into the kitchen where we were doing dishes, needing help with getting his shorts and pants up. I trust that you won't judge.

Other than this all-consuming life change we've been keeping quite well.

I just finished reading Strawberry Girl aloud to my boys. I have two beautiful new Christmas pieces of fabric that are begging for attention. My mither-mother is flying out here on Saturday to keep Rennie's children next week while they go to conference. We are blessed, blessed, blessed!

So it's another gorgeous fall day! We're living on borrowed fall weather, for sure. But we're enjoying it immensely. Excuse me, I'M enjoying it immensely. My boys can't WAIT until the snow flies... I understand. Sort of.

Wanna come join me for some earl grey tea and mixed nuts? I know.. where are my pumpkin muffins and chocolate cupcakes?! Hiding! :) I'm being so so careful! Ha.

So... two weeks ago we rented a tree spade and moved 47 of our six to nine foot Colorado blue spruce to their respective spots on the yard. It only took us eight years! Not bad, eh? We're quick people, ha! It seriously feels so good! We have approximately 350 trees left to move and at the rate we're going we should have the whole thing accomplished in 56 years! Pat is hoping to build his own tree spade this winter and I'm looking forward to next spring!

And I've been sewing madly, mowing sadly. :) Pat's folks are planning on going to Window Rock as house parents for a year, leaving the beginning of January. This past week and a half I sewed dresses #4, 5 and 6 and cut dresses #7, 8 and 9. For mom, that would be. I quick did a dress for Bren in between but she cuts her own and I don't generally spend as much time on them.

So ya, folks are going to Window Rock! Isn't that exciting?! I think they'll do a fabulous job and we can hardly wait to go visit them! It's so much fun looking forward to things!

Last Sunday our Ukrainian friends came to visit us, bearing gifts of food as per their custom. Sergiy & Aryna Gryshchenko brought pomegranates, pickled peppers in a fancy oval jar, purple cabbage salad and devilled eggs on a devilled eggs platter with sprigs of parsley laid fancily on top. Oleksandr Karpenko (his wife was working, so she didn't come) brought black forest cake and black grapes. We love these dear people. Aryna told me all about their daughter Yulia, who just married a man 15 years older than her and had a baby. She's concerned for her...

Yesterday Pat went to help Merle on their new basement after we got home from town, so Melanie invited us for supper; Delisle pizza, Ceasar salad and fresh cinnamon rolls. Her girls printed off some mandalas after supper and we sat and coloured and visited.

Talk again soon.

What are you up to?

Writing Class Article - A Trip To Dinsmore

A Trip to Dinsmore

By Jo Oct 8/15

We rushed out the door after a hurried supper. Pat needed to go pick up oil from the Dinsmore Hutterite Colony for our used oil boiler. Winter is nearing and we go through a tote a month so part of our fall preparations is going to get oil.

I don’t always go along on these trips, but this time Pat asked if I would and I was happy for the little outing. It’s only a half hour drive south of our place and the drive went quickly.

Upon arrival we noticed the quiet yard and houses. We drove around a bit while Pat tried again to get Eddie, the preacher, on the phone. Pat has gone there lots of times before but I had never been to this particular colony and I was very interested in it all.

This colony was very neat and well taken care of. The houses were arranged in two long rows of plain apartment-style buildings. The shops were another row right in front of the houses, door after door, plain white with black trim. There was one small pot of flowers beside a full glass door that looked like it led to the kitchens.

After a while we noticed some commotion by one house door. Two little girls were peering out, their full skirts swinging in the evening breeze and their black polka dot caps flapping behind them when they ran back inside. A stout short man in plain black dress pants and jacket stepped out under the little yard light by their door. The swinging screen door slammed shut behind him as he stepped out and Pat jumped out of the pickup to talk to him.

Very shortly Pat jumped back in and we backed across the yard to the first shop. “Eddie, himself!” he said. I nodded as he jumped back out. Colby and Zach grabbed their jackets and jumped out too. I unbuckled Wyatt and told him to sit by me and pretend he was driving.

“I hate your house!” a rounded bearded face said at Pat’s open door. I recognised Eddie.

I looked at him, surprised and then laughed. I didn’t know what to think but maybe he had seen our place sometime, though I was sure I’d never met Eddie before today.

I talked with Wyatt and read my emails and talked with my mom and sisters on Whatsapp. Wyatt kept opening the windows so I put on my jacket. Soon Pat was ready to drive around to the back of the shop for the last tote of oil. Eddie opened the furthest shop door and we drove right inside the clean, neat shop. The last three bays were covered with what looked like gravel to me but soon Eddie came and leaned in Pat’s window.

“Wanna try some sunflower seeds?” he asked.

“Sure!”

Three little girls crowded close to Eddie at the window.

“I have six girls,” he informed me. “No boys. The girls do a lot of work. See those sunflower seeds? That’s their job! They do that in the evenings. Right now we’re harvesting carrots. We provide carrots to all the Co-ops in Saskatchewan!”

“Wow!” I said, impressed. “That’s a lot of carrots!”

“Do you help?” I asked the girls.

“We babysit,” the oldest one answered.

“We use a carrot digger that came all the way from Prince Edward Island!” Eddie said. “My other girls are learning their German.” It came out sounding like ch-erman.  I watched him as he grabbed a paper plate from the middle sized girl. “Here, for you,” he said and handed me a plate of cookies stacked four high all around.

“Whatever! Thank you very much!” I laughed. “This is so nice of you! Did you girls bake them?” I knew instantly that they hadn’t. Of course, they have cooks that provide for everyone but it’s such a natural thing to ask.

“No,” they said shyly, looking at me.

Soon Pat was done pumping oil and we backed out of the shop and said our goodbyes.

“Well,” Pat said, “Eddie says he heats our house.”

I laughed. I had misunderstood.

Best Fall Things (Oct 4)

• pumpkin spice muffins at Tim Horton's
• pumpkin chai from David's Tea
• sweaters
• scarves
• leggings
• pumpkins and gourds
• harvest moon
• tomato relish, veggie juice and salsa in neat rows in the pantry
• chilly evenings curled up by the fire
• fresh BC apples
• boxes of tomatoes 
• yellow leaves scattered on green grass
• lunch-kits and ball-gloves
• sunflowers
• square bales
• geese honking
• dusty fields
• dreaming about making a quiet book
• quilts

In Which Mrs. Brown Drinks Joy - Week 1 Writing Class

In Which Mrs. Brown Drinks Joy

By Jo Sept 10/15

Mrs. Brown swings her arms, pulls her skirt up to her knees and faces the sun. It’s a magnificently gorgeous day on the vast plains of Saskatchewan, blue-blue harvest bowl sky, golden fields of stubble, crickets chirping and birds flying. The grass is lush and green from the fall rains and there’s a nip in the air that can only mean frost in the near future.

Mrs. Brown is alone on the country gravel road. Her closest neighbours are a mile and a half away and the birds and crickets are her company. Every breath she breaths is thanksgiving… today. Some days are not so. So many things fill Mrs. Brown’s mind; the lunch she had yesterday with Mrs. Hildebrand, the liver test a close family member is waiting for anxiously, her oldest child’s school needs…

But today. Today is joy, joy, joy. Every blade of grass is dancing with joy to be alive. Every leaf on the trees around her sings and twirls, so happy to do what God has bid them. The birds flit and fly, alive; so happy. Mrs. Brown wants to dance but she runs instead, every breath a prayer, a praise, a song.

If there were not so much pain and heartache in this world, the joy would not be so… there, so precious, so close to Him.

Mrs. Brown slows to a walk, savouring the warmth. Instinctively she looks up as a cloud crosses paths with the sun. How real to life. Each day must have its little troubles to make the sunshine special. Each life must have its trials to make the person whole, complete and capable of grasping joy.

Mrs. Brown heads inside. She opens more windows and gulps down a glass of water. Her work is waiting; dishes to do, toys to pick up, laundry to put away. Her heart is full, full of joy gulped in thankful breaths on a fall walk.

Monday

Hi, you all. It's a lovely Monday here, mind you, rather cold. When I got up this morning it was +2C and it's warmed up considerably to +8C. But the sun is shining and the geese are honking and gathering in crowds on nearby sloughs and it really does feel delightfully fall-ish. I think Mondays are one of my favourite days. Just good ol' stay-at-home days.

It feels rather boring to write about laundry and baking every Monday but it's so normal and enjoyable. Today I added salsa to my list. I even threw a jalapeno roast in the crock-pot for supper and collected the garbage from upstairs. Things are looking up, no doubt.

Last week I had a bit of a 'Grandma Dora' week. We had such a lovely quick trip through the mountains last weekend to Creston for Jerry & Karen's 25th anniversary and we hit the ground running at home. It was my busing week, Pat was gone late three nights, Wyatt & I had colds, I had a 'Cobra books' day, I babysat Robin & Alex one day and went to town with Pat on Friday. Saturday we had an Dean Esau party at Jeffs for Alison's birthday and Sunday we had a Wilbert Esau party at Arlen's for his (Arlen's) birthday... Oh, my. Don't I feel better just saying it?! LOL.

Anyway, I think I'm going to stay home from church cleaning tomorrow. And I'll try to get to Bertha tea on Wednesday and the singing will be fun at youth meeting on Thursday.... I'm into writing poetry (like, more than usual, ha) and here's my latest just thrown out there:

Rugged Rockies

Snowy Peaks
Foggy Caps
Forest Spruce
Mossy Floor

Shaggy Bear
Massive Moose
Jumpy Rabbit
Lightning Squirrel

Blue-Green Water
Splashing Stream
Rocky Edge
Peaceful Lake

God's Grandeur

~~~~~~~
Just
Go ahead
Say those
Words
Even though
They aren't true
And
You don't feel that way
Just say
Those
Kind
Words
~~~~~~~

Do you agree with this last one? Is it right to say kind words if they aren't true? Is it better to just be quiet?

And some Wyatt (or Quiet, like Reyna calls him) thoughts:

Last week on the bus when Austin (grade nine) jumped in, "Oh, HI!! You are sweet!"

"Do-So... TOOT-TOOT! That's my favourite song!"

On the way home from Jeff's, "Mom, are you tired, too?"

And in Sunday school when Pat was leading songs he became a dog, "Bow-wow-wow!!!"

The time before that Pat asked if anyone had a number and Wyatt said, "Seven!" and then was so surprised and embarrassed he wept on my shoulder for a good while.

Anyway, there are no dull moments. And we have much work to do...

Have a splendiferous day!!

Happy Thursday!

Hi, friends!

It's another lovely fall day in mid-western Saskatchewan. It feels like our lovely warm days are numbered and we cherish every one. I helped bring hot lunch to school today; chalupas, the fixings, french bread, bars and iced tea. The oldest two classes played ball for a good hour longer and of course it's fun to join in.

Just totally random thoughts. This morning Wyatt woke up before everyone else and stood at the top of the basement stairs and hollered, "Time to get up, boys!!". They enjoyed that and so did I. He's a real early bird, that one.

I cut a dress for myself this morning. It's been months and quite frankly, I could use them. I'm trying a new pattern from Janelle, bless her.

And yesterday Zach was helping me put the rice on the table for supper. He swung the round glass baking dish which was resting in a largish nine by thirteen holder up over his head and sauntered off to the table. Just like that it when flying off and landed on the floor in a million pieces of burning hot shards of glass and sticky rice. It was a sobering and lengthy time until we actually partook of baked fish and fresh bread.

I've been harvesting lovely huge ripe tomatoes from my garden. We've had lots of fresh salsa and toast and tomato sandwiches and such. Also, I pulled my corn, dug the potatoes and pulled the beans. It's looking suspiciously like fall out there. Just the huge pumpkin plants are overtaking everything. The peppers and tomatoes are going strong and I have yet to pull my beets. Arlene Hildebrand said she canned beets for smoothies. Now that's a new one for me but it'd probably be good!

Pat, Colby, Arlen, Scott and Bob are planning on going camping in La Ronge Friday and Saturday. Colby is absolutely stoked. We didn't get way up there this year because of all the forest fires earlier. So that's pretty exciting.

What's up in your life?

WW Introductions

So apparently I'm not part of the WW now when I really wanted to be. Oh, well... Laugh or cry, so I'm gonna laugh.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

What kind of vehicle gets you from point A to point B? A dark grey 2011 Chev Acadia. It's the eight passenger one so our three boys sit across the middle and the back seats are generally down. 

Describe your attire right now. Bright aqua thick stretch with princess seams, darts in the skirt, a tall rolled collar and angel wing sleeves. My hair is down, my feet are bare and resting on my aqua poof.

What colors are your favorite to wear? blue, pink, white, aqua, grey, teal, 

Do you prefer plain, floral or patterned material? Hmm. Not so much floral, though I like floral. I love geometrical designs and stripes and a lot of plain pieces. 

Food group you like best. Salads, chocolate

What do you struggle with spiritually? Remembering too much. Negative feelings. Offense.

Who waits more on each other- your husband or yourself? Seriously, my hubby waits on me. He treats my like a queen. But as in waiting for each other to leave a function or something we'd be even.

What is your favorite summertime drink? Icecap or water

What is your favorite wintertime drink? Caramel Drizzle Coffee with cream

What is your body shape and style? (opt) big boned, wide hipped, long legged. A baby tummy.

Your height? 5'8"

Glasses, contacts, laser, or none? None

What kind of hair do you have and color of it? ( a little more than brown,
please) Medium brown with lots of grey on the sides, thin, straight, pouffy in the front

Skin color? Very pale, lots of freckles

Eye color? Blue/green/grey

What is your most favorite household chore? vacuuming

What is your least favorite household chore? Cleaning tubs

Food group you like best? Chocolate, salads

Do you bleach your dishrags? Always

What is your decorating taste? Modern traditional. I really like shabby and country in other people's houses but it's just not me.

What do you do in your spare time? Sew! Read, write, craft.

Some days, what do you choose to do rather than work? Read/write.

What would you like to attain in this life? I've always dreamed of starting a coffee/craft/fabric/quilting shop. It's not very likely, but it's a dream that's lived a long time.

When was the last time you cried? Not sure. I don't cry very easily but when I do... whoa, ugly cry.

If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Absolutely bright fuschia pink.

What book(s) are you reading right now? Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner, Moloka'i by Alan Brennert, Trim Healthy Mama.

What is most likely to irritate you? Fighting children, loud noises.

Are you a morning or evening person? Used to be evening but I've become morning.

If you disliked one of your husband’s favorite shirts would you (a) get rid
of it (b) let him keep wearing it 

Depends, I do some of both. 

 If you could change one thing to make your life more enjoyable what would it
be?  Not sure. I have it pretty good.