It's official! We leave for Hawaii January 1st. What a nice start that should be to a brand new year! At first I didn't know if Darrell was as excited as the rest of us are. It's sometimes hard to tell with Darrell because he is not one to start jumping up and down the way some of us in this family are known to do. :-) But once I let him know the trip is now booked and confirmed he did start to show enthusiasm over this. He found some of his old Hawaii photos from the time he was there and was then busy showing Kristen all the places he had been and where and what we all would be able to do. Kristen is really excited and I think Jordy will be too once he reads the E-mail I sent him. It worked out really well. Jordan and Kristen will share a room and we will have our own. Ours will have a kitchenette so that Darrell won't be forced to look for somewhere to eat three times a day. And we are only going to be a block or two from Waikiki Beach. So there is a pathway we can use to go straight through to the beach from where we are staying. That will take care of lunch the days we do spend on the beach, since we will be close enough to walk back and make our own or take it to the beach. The promo looks like it will be free breakfast. So it will likely be just supper we will eat out for the most part. And Darrell said he can handle looking for a restaurant once a day. :-) I'm so glad it worked out that Hawaii is our destination! After school today Kristen and I were driving around dropping off her resume at some of the hairdressers out here. She really would like to get some experience working in one, but I don't know as too many are hiring at the moment. We were talking about our trip though as we drove and I reminded Kristen to never take any of this for granted and to be sure to be thankful to God that she is going. I think she does recognize that it's truly a blessing and she is thankful too for her dad who works so hard that we could even go on something like this. It was a good discussion too about how God gives each of us our abilities, even the ability to work. And how God has provided good work for her dad to do. I don't know as she had thought about that before. I just never want our kids to ever take even one thing God blesses them with for granted. They do though seem to be kids with thankful hearts and attitudes and have never just felt entitled to have everything they might want. So that too is a blessing to have kids like that. Especially in a day and age where there just seem to be so many selfish people that think they are owed everything! This is a big blessing from God to be thankful for, but even in the very smallest blessings I'm thankful too. Big or little, God provides it all. So we should remember to thank Him and praise Him every day. Some days that can be harder than others depending on what is happening, yet when we try to praise God all the time then we are definitely more joyful no matter what because we are focused on His goodness.

"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations" (Psalm 100:1-5).

Pineapple Pie

This is Pineapple Pie. A sweet way to delight your family! I must be thinking Hawaii and pineapples. :-) I hadn't made this recipe before and came across it when I was organizing the kitchen earlier this week. So I decided to try it out. I do have a potluck to go to for Ping-Pong on Saturday so wanted to see if this would be tasty enough to bring. It seemed to pass the test so I will make it tomorrow for Saturday. Since this one is for my family. If I'm taking a dessert to something else I'm going to, I do like to make one for Darrell and Kristen as well. My family is special too and deserves treats if I'm going to spend time making things for other people. Note, you can only keep it up to 24 hours from what the recipe said. It's very easy to make.

Pineapple Delight Pie

1 1/2 cups (375 ml) graham wafer crumbs
1/3 cup (75ml) butter, melted
2 tablespoons (25ml) sugar
1 can (14 ounces/398 ml) crushed pineapple
1 can (300 ml) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup (125 ml) fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) grated lemon peel
1 cup (250 ml) whipping cream, whipped
2 tablespoons (25 ml) flaked coconut

To prepare crust, combine crumbs, melted butter and sugar in a bowl until blended. Press mixture onto bottom and up sides of a 9 inch (23 cm) pie plate. Bake at 350 F (180 Celsius) for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool crust completely in pie plate on a rack.

Drain pineapple in a sieve, pressing down on pineapple with the back of a spoon to extract juice. Reserve juice for another use. Combine pineapple, sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon peel in a bowl. Stir until thickened. Fold in whipped cream just until blended.

Spoon mixture into prepared crust. Sprinkle with coconut. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.

So as well today I was able to get the bathrooms cleaned and sheets changed, washed and ironed, all before I went to my mother's house. It turned out she had gone through a few more things in the basement and had 10 more bags for Goodwill. When Darrell heard that he told me to bring them all home and then we took them there tonight. But there was method in Darrell's madness so to speak telling me to bring the bags home with me. I had to lift them all up from the basement and carry them out to my vehicle. And these bags were not light! I was actually a bit out of breath by the time all was said and done. So Darrell was not too popular when I got home. I guess he thought I needed my excercise today. :-) Funny, I had just been to my new doctor on Monday for some sinus issues and he told me I must have a really high metabolism. I thought, no, it's hard work most days, and I don't just sit around and eat. I am usually moving about doing something. So that may have something to do with it. I really like this new doctor. I didn't know if I would or not, since my doctor has gone to teach full-time now at the university, I thought I would go to the replacement. After all, who wants to look for a new doctor and most won't take new patients anyways. This new one is just out of medical school, but so was my doctor 23 years ago when I first started going to him. This new one even reminds me a lot of the old doctor and I thought they might be completely different. But knowing what my old doctor was like, it wasn't like he would turn his practice over to someone incompetent. And other people had said before how good the new one is. He was one of the old doctor's students, so was likely hand chosen for this. Anyways, I was happy and will return if I need to go to a doctor for anything else in the future.

It does seem that the pace has been busy here again with no shortage of things to do or requests to do things. I think too with so much to do at my mom's lately, as well as all the regular things she needs me to take her to do then it just seems a lot all at once. Being busy can be good if you are busy with the right kinds of things. And there are lots of the right kinds of things to do, but it's not that God is necessarily calling me to do them. Keeping home for my family is a full-time job, especially when it starts to include my mom's home as well, along with the rest of life. But this is one reason I gave up work, so that I could be more available for my mom. So I don't intend to add a bunch of side jobs on top of it to distract from what I feel God has shown me my focus should be at the moment. There are seasons and I had been thinking this week that I shouldn`t grumble about doing anything for my mom. It truly is a blessing to be able to do these things for her at this stage of her life and mine. Darrell always said he wanted us to have our kids when we were very young. So we did! I think that is a God thing though. Because now our kids are nearly grown, and I am in the season of life that I can devote time to my mother`s needs. God knew she would need help as she aged. And after all, she is an unbeliever. So her greatest need she doesn`t even recognize yet. So this is the time to just love her and pray that she will soon understand that she too can experience the love of God and the salvation she can have through Jesus.

Such a busy day here. But a day where I was the one in control of the pace and not someone telling me what I was to do at certain times, etc. Selfish maybe, but I like to decide my own schedule or what I`m going to do. Not meaning that God couldn`t decide to interrupt that. He has and does! Today I have re-organized the kitchen, pantry and cupboards. I`ve also done some heavy duty climbing and cleaning. Climbing to the top of our ledges that is to clean them properly. Our house has vaulted ceilings and some of the tops of these plant ledges and above the pantry as well are quite difficult to reach. Even with a ladder it's risking your life to get up there. I told Darrell before that when the time comes that I can no longer climb up there to clean properly, then that will be a good time for us to move. The maintenance seems a tad heavy on some of these jobs at times. Especially with the Lucite chandeliers that are over the dining room table and front door entrance. All those individual pieces to clean. Arggh...that in itself is always a job and you can't avoid it. Some light fixtures may be more forgiving than these ones. Unfortunately, these are high maintenance. And they were a silly choice to make when we were choosing fixtures for our house. My silly choice I might add. :-( Darrell came through the kitchen by afternoon and said wow, that I am really pulling the house apart today. I said yes, because there are things we are not going to use again so we're not keeping them. I don`t need clutter or things I`m not going to use. Someone else can get some enjoyment or use out of those things. So now Darrell has another few items to take to Goodwill and I have more room again in some of my cupboards and pantry too. I`ve decided though that I`m happiest and most content when I`m at home doing things rather than out and about all the time. In some ways that can be foolish anyways and can lead to a lot of worldly things in some cases. My heart is at home and that is more important to me than a bunch of other interests that will take me away from my home and family. Not meaning I never want to leave my house to do anything. I don`t always like the process of having to re-organize these things, but I do like the results. It`s sort of that way with God too when you think about it. Who really likes when God shows you something that you need to rid your life of, but when it`s accomplished you have grown further. Because when we obey God, rather than doing what we want to do, then that is spiritual growth. At least to my way of thinking it is.

It seemed a bit of a long day already and it's not even 9 p.m. The day started with Kristen waking up complaining about her ear and how much pain she was in. She and Darrell both have where they get plugged ears really easily and nothing we did would unplug Kristen's ear. One time before the doctor at the MediCentre had to unplug it so I took her there this morning, but they were closed. The one out here is moving tomorrow so I think that was why. Finally the ear unplugged tonight so Kristen isn't deaf in one ear any longer or in pain. Lately it seems like so many unexpected things are happening. No wonder I feel weary and on edge. I don't care for the unexpected. lol! I guess no one really does though. I was thinking too about troubles and how that was part of the sermon today. As something I read said, we all have troubles and some of us have more of them than others. I am wondering though how much people do bring on a lot of their own troubles by the choices they make, and then end up suffering the consequences for those bad decisions and actions? Some people just seem to have such a pattern of being unwise. We all have times when we are unwise and make poor decisions yet with some people it seems to be a continual pattern and they never learn a different way of doing things. But I guess we need to be careful not to judge since what one might think is wise another would think is foolish. Yet I guess either way it doesn't matter. Only what God says is wise and foolish matters. Too some troubles could be from Satan and other times I guess we just don't know why some people seem to be in continual troubles. And after all, this world is fallen and not the way God intended for it to be. And I do know that anyone who tries to seriously follow God will have troubles! But it's still a different kind of trouble I think than making poor decisions and then experiencing the consequences of those actions. I liked three of the verses in the portion of scripture we were in today. Three of them are memory verses so maybe that is why and Romans 5:1 is my favorite verse in the Bible and the first verse I ever memorized. (KJV before I knew NIV existed) "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ". I liked that it was said today that the verse says "peace with God" not the "peace of God". There are lots of other verses about subjective peace, but this verse isn't one of them. So it was good that attention was made to the two kinds of peace the Bible talks about. Too it was pointed out that most people wouldn't say they never were at war with God, and yet the Bible does say that God was at war with us before we were Christians. I think the verse I am thinking of says that we were alienated and enemies in our minds because of our evil behavior. And right in the same chapter (five) in verse ten it's in our notes that we were God's enemies. People do look for peace in all the wrong things and we can see that we have true peace by being connected to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says that Jesus took the penalty that we deserved for sin, and placed it upon Himself and died in our place. We have earned death and deserve to die and be separated from God forever. But we don't need to be at war with God if we still are! Jesus rose again and proved that sin and death have been conquered and that His claims to be God are true. Peace with God begins when we place our trust in Jesus Christ. And continues forever with Him. I like the book of Romans. It's my favorite one I'm sure in the whole Bible. It continues to amaze me too that no matter how many times you read the Bible God always shows you something each time that you didn't see before. Well that is all for tonight.

The junk removal from my mom's basement is slowly progressing. Already we have taken two Durango loads full to Goodwill and recycle and that has barely made a dent in anything. It's quite overwhelming and this is not going to be a speedy process. I did manage to get my mom to pare down the number of shoes to about thirty boxes. Around 70 we disposed of! As well as an enormous amount of empty shoe boxes. Even baking tins there were close to 100 and we had to insist that she just keep her favorites and the rest were going. With the shoe boxes mom said she had been keeping all the empty ones in case the kids needed shoe boxes for school projects! I said mom, once in all the years the kids were growing up they had to ask for a shoebox. And that was usually when they made Dioramas in grade three if we didn't happen to have one on hand to send. It's not like Kyle is going to make a diorama for work next week! Grandpa and Grandma were not minimalists, but they were not ones to keep a whole lot of junk either. And it was organized without things laying everywhere. Darrell said today that if the house had to be sold right now we would basically need to send in twenty dump trucks before anything else could even be moved. That is how overwhelming this really is. I don't even drink and told Darrell that this must be the sort of situation that people feel like coming home and mixing a good stiff drink! Not really, but we definitely were praying for strength to even face the afternoon. And a lot more strength and patience is going to be needed as we continue to move through this. We were there so long that by the time we got home Kristen was lonely and wanting us to play a game with her. So we did eat supper and then played two games of Yahtzee. I think she really feels the loss of her brothers at times. Darrell and I really don't care for board games and Monopoly is out. We do not play that game period! Especially after such an ordeal with this basement. Yahtzee was about all we could tolerate. lol! So she does miss Kyle and Jordy for board games. I'm glad tomorrow is a new day with no work to do on a basement that isn't even our mess. Another Saturday down with a zillion more to go with this chaos. :-) It could be worse though. Darrell could have said he was not doing any of this and then I would have the entire mess to organize. So there is a blessing in everything if you ask God to show you what it is.

Yeah! My old computer came back home today. 22 days later! Actually Rob was just busy and out at his lake cabin so hadn't had time to look at it until last week. It turned out the fan was the issue and it had melted some glue or something. So Rob fixed it and my old computer is as good as new. So Kristen now has a great computer. Well, a great computer unless the fan quits working again. Kristen is so happy and saying that my old computer is SO fast. Actually it really is and Rob told Darrell how well I keep it. :-) So it's good to know that the problem with it was beyond my control and not something I did or could have prevented from happening. So I hope it will run well for Kristen now for a long time.

Tomorrow Darrell is going to do some yard work (with the leaf blower) and then in the afternoon we're going to work some more on my mom's basement. Darrell says I need to convince her that she no longer requires 80 boxes of shoes. Seriously, he said there are 80-100 boxes containing shoes! That does seem incredible to me because Darrell probably has three pairs of shoes and I maybe have five maximum. And he says there are cupboards and cupboards of clothes along one entire wall that will need to go. I am supposed to work on that part and Darrell will move into another area I guess. I really have no patience for these kinds of tasks. And the reason is I think it never should have come to this point in the first place. My mom and I have never been alike in most things and this is sure one of them. I just can't imagine letting anything get to the point it has. I guess I need to just get over it and accept that it did get to this point and now whether I like it or not, I have to help do something about it. It's either now or would be worse when she is ready to sell the house if we were pressured to get everything cleared at that point. So nothing too exciting to do tomorrow. Sunday will be Sunday school, church, soccer and then I will cook a nice supper for Sunday since Kyle usually visits most Sundays. But once we get home from soccer then it is relaxing and nice to have family time with Kyle here by then too.

What an afternoon I had. My mother got lost at the shopping mall. We did all her errands and then came out of Safeway with her groceries and when I got those loaded into the Durango she remembered that she needed to go to the post office. So she said for me not to come back inside with her and to just wait in the Durango for her while she quickly ran back in. Well after a half hour I thought, wow, that post office must be so busy this afternoon. I thought I had seen her come out earlier, but when she didn't get to the vehicle I thought I was mistaken and that she hadn't come out. Finally I saw her come out and she was wandering quite a few rows over from where I was parked. So I quickly went and got her and she said she was relieved and had been looking for me for a half hour! And she had been ready to call Darrell to tell him to phone me on my cell phone to let me know she was lost at the mall. But said she was relieved she didn't need to call him or he would think she shouldn't be let out alone. lol! I guess she didn't remember my cell number or she could have just phoned me in the parking lot. Then she told me she had been looking in every black vehicle so see how clean they were inside. And that if she saw a messy one she knew it wasn't mine! I said but mom, you knew I would be sitting in the vehicle so would have seen me. So she really was confused today. I hope Darrell and I don't get like this when we are older. I can't even imagine it. And our kids! Kyle especially with his quick mind would hate this kind of thing if our minds started to go. Jordy would likely have a bit more mercy and Kristen would probably just leave everything up to Kyle and Jordy to handle. :-) They are all so different.

At least tonight was better. Darrell and I went looking for books and then had coffee. We have also been making plans for a trip on January 1st with Jordy and Kristen. We have never gone anywhere nice and when Darrell said we could take a trip I really did want to go to Hawaii as my first choice. Darrell was there already, but we have never been. We had pretty much decided that we would go to Montego Bay instead since there are no all-inclusives in Hawaii and no one had a huge desire to go to Mexico. At least not from packages I've seen yet. Darrell really doesn't like looking around for places to eat all the time so that was why we thought all-inclusive would be better for him. But now we have decided that we may go to Hawaii instead of going with an all-inclusive. If we get a place with a kitchenette then it will mean Darrell won't have to go looking around for a place to eat all the time and Hawaii is a safer place to travel and you can leave your hotel! If we go to Montego Bay then really we would have to stay at the resort the entire time. Of course there is lots to do there, but still I like to see other things as well. A friend even told me just last week that someone tried to pick pocket him in Montego Bay and Dad and Mom said too that Jamaica is the one place they wouldn't go back to. They were not at a resort, but their cruise had stopped there and they said they didn't feel safe in Montego Bay at all. I'm sure the actual resorts are probably quite safe, but to pay that much money and not be able to see anything else seems not quite what we had in mind. But we will see. It could end up being Mexico yet which would be fine too, but we are hoping to book Hawaii next week. We've told the kids this is the one time we are breaking down and taking them on something nice. No camping this time! For years they have wanted to go so really anywhere we choose they will be excited about. Kyle may have left it too late to get his passport and he wasn't keen on taking off time from work at that time of year anyway. He only has two weeks of holidays and if we go for the one week even then already he would use up half before summer. So it will likely just be the four of us going. It was supposed to be for our 25th anniversary last spring, but we wanted to wait until the weather would be cold here. I don't mind taking the kids along with us. I just feel blessed to even be going! And the kids have never even been on a plane before so it's exciting for them to be included in this. I think it's okay to give your kids "wants" sometimes...not everything has to be a need. Maybe it's okay too for the parents to have a few "wants". It does in some ways seem a bit extravagant and kind of worldly to me. But we are just used to living simply for the most part so of course this seems quite out of the ordinary for us to be doing.