Stuff

For Wed Oct 3

Wednesday we had an opportunity to go to  a play performed by one of Wade's long time friends. Afterward we met her and her brother and we starting talking about the nomadic life they were living being on tour with their play, and how the relationship with your possessions change.

For me in the last year, this has been significant in my understanding of home. We had our household items in storage for 17 months and lived in 40 different house between our last permanent one and this one. The first lesson I learned was how little we really needed. Christmas without my favourite decorations was still Christmas, in fact the best we ever had.

When we returned to Vancouver after traveling for so long, we lived here for a while in someone else's home and when we would go to the storage locker our kids would run into the locker and physically hug things that were familiar to them. Stuff did matter. I loaned some of my household items to a friend and when I saw them in her home first after not seeing them in my own home after a year, the sight of a coffee mug gave a me a response so strong I could feel it physically.

After storing things for a year, we got rid of HUGE amount of stuff, things we paid hundreds of dollars to store we just gave away because we realized we had lived without them for so long. But other things had become more precious to us, when we did unpack our Christmas ornaments last year we were so happy to see them.

Interestingly enough, when we do finally move overseas, I think I will now ship more things than I originally thought I would, but perhaps different things than I first imagined. Our art, photos, favourite blankets, sentimental objects and anything the children held precious. I will never talk them out of anything again. Pax still has trauma - today Eleanor wanted to take a gift to some freinds she was meeting for  playdate and Paxy kept saying, "Don't give away my toys, don't send my toys away..."

Don't worry Pax, you can hang on to what you need. I will too.

Fancy hotels, and flowers, and arts and crafts, and cowboys.

Yikes! I can't fall of the bandwagon yet, it's only day 2. I had an exciting night.  I was sorting the sock box, (We have so many odd socks, I stick them in a box. Then once a month, I sort them. I know. Good times.) when I saw a message from my friend Shannon saying she had extra tickets to see Glen Hansard. Yep, Irish, charming - the guy who won an Oscar with a hole in his guitar Glen Hansard.
And I got to go. And it was magic, inspiring, brilliant, soul-filling. So I am home after midnight, so technically this will say I posted it on Oct 3, but since I haven't been to bed yet, it's today.

I wanted to post two quotes that really, I should have just walked over to the computer and opened up this here blog and busted them out when they happened, but... I was out of practice. So I put them here. Because it is after midnight and I need to still check my lesson plans for tomorrow.

In March, I was just singing Sophia to sleep and she kept smiling. When her eyes flickered open, I said, "What are you thinking about?" She answered, "Fancy hotels, and flowers, and arts and crafts, and cowboys." This is the wonder of getting to be with Sophia Joanna Jubilee. I wrote a poem about it later.

And an Eleanor quote. She told me she wanted me to keep her company while she was in the bathroom and then said, "Company is an important thing in life. Love, life, company, food.. Oh! and house. Maybe house is the most important. And air. Air is important too. How many things is that?"

So, I would say that qualifies as a post on home, as Eleanor says, "house is important too."

31 Days Of The Story Of Home

It has been over a year since I last posted here. I spent hours the other night looking at blog posts and old facebook pictures and videos from 3 years or more ago, and I felt as if I had visited myself in time. I saw a video of Pax, at 2 days old, with his eyes open for the first time during his sister's waking hours, coming in my arms to visit them in the bath. It was so vivid to me that I looked at him multiple times the next day as if to make sure he was really there, this 3 year old boy who has recently determined there will be no more diapers.

I felt as if the Sophia and Eleanor in the videos, at ages 4 & 5, at 2 & 3, were more solidified in my memory somehow than these actual girls here in front of me... and I realized I have missed out on so much by being too busy to blog, to select a perfect picture or moment to capture in more posterity here. Not for anyone else than me. It stopped being popular, it stopped being a priority, heck, I had THREE KIDS. But the other night as I read old posts, I felt as if I visited our old home, our old season and it was good. It was very good.

The last 2 years of our life have been very transitional, after 11 previous years on the same street corner.  7 years on one side, 4 years on the other and then the most painful eviction and being tossed from the nest, all for very good reasons (in hindsight), but boy, has ever it been a journey and we are still on it. I have wrestled, ignored, held close, thrown away, and re-visited so many times the idea of home. The last two days, after the virtual visit to the past, was the frst time, I have lit candles and made a pot of tea for Wade and in in our new home and we have lived here for 10 months. It is time.

I have been sustained in recent months, by the wisdom and encouragement of Lisa-Jo Baker who is the only blogger I read regularly any more because I simply out of practice, and I have her posts delivered to our incredibly overwhelming email inbox. Lisa-Jo has encouraged me to write. And of course, Wade has encouraged me to do so all along, but today Lisa-Jo published an invitation to a blogging event called 31 days. 31 days is the creation of The Nester, and she plans to write about Home. Which was, no kidding, my idea too. But then Lisa -Jo is going to write about being a writer even when you think you're not, and I think that might be for me too. So I'm combining both, and I'm going to tell my story of wanting to tell stories, and the search for home. I'm setting out on 31 days of the Story of Home.

Want to join me? You can link up at www.thenester.com if you do. I would really love it if some of my friends came along for the ride. So this totally counts as #1, right?

Still

This is the 5 minute Friday challenge from Gypsy Mama. 5 minutes if unedited writing on the topic, "Still".

I have been reflecting lately on the speed of my life. I have been reading a book called "in Praise Of Slow", despite my desire to speed read it, at the suggestion of one reviewer I have read it one chapter a day. It talks about the general speed of life, and how we are wired for speed in this age.

I find myself saying to children often, "hurry up!" Last night I read one chapter about how Germans have a name for how each person has their own time "ein giest" literally "own time". Sophia is our kid who especially takes her time to do just about everything and it regularly drives Wade and I a little crazy. But last night I considered perhaps she just has a differemt natural rhythm than we do.

I also thought about how I used to have a slower rhythm when I was a kid, and how adulthood take it out of you. I tried this morning to just be still. The children were playing in the garden. I sat on the deck. I had coffee. Then I began to play with my phone. I stopped. I noticed how all of them were on the rocker swing, just swinging lazily. It was then I realized that only a fool would sit up on a deck watching all that beauty go by without her, and I joined them on the swing.

But they are not still. They jumped up, began to perform a show, then ask for things, and meals, and attention and wisdom and clean clothes and many, many other things. So how can provide for them what they desire and require, and yet stay still, stay slow?

(This is the tension of today, which I am trying to live without feeling tension. I am trying to feel the peace of being still and KNOWING He is God, which is connected to lack of worry, and gratefulness and contentment.)

Words in brackets typed after 5 minute timer rang.






craps

Hundreds of Houses

It's been 9 weeks since we left California, and I didn't realize that all this time of traveling would feel like one, big long transition. We have a house waiting for us in Vancouver August 10, but we have three more places to stay (including this one) before we get there. We have visited and visited and visited people, too many in fact - not one person I would have wanted to leave out, just - we've done too much.

We arrived at this quiet house by a tiny lake on Vancouver Island a couple of days ago and we have been trying to rest and for the most part we have done well. The weather since we have arrived back in Canada has been mostly cold and grey, which, considering it is "summer" has been a struggle, but I am choosing to put my faith in August and September, who always come through for me on this grey wet coast, but damn, it has been hard to leave the sun. It makes me want to put my head through a window some days.

I have also been doing a dance with reflection. When I have a quiet moment alone I seem to have a habit of usually evaluating the past or planning for the future. I struggle often with simply resting in the "now", and usually have a degree of guilt at the lack of silent, focused time with God. Yet I have been challenged in that this week by a meditation I read in the Mosaic bible, a gift from our friends Jamie and Kim. I am trying this week in my quiet moments to resist any feeling of guilt that I should be writing in my journal profound thoughts of reflection, or seeking a new word from God. I am very much enjoying reading a great book called "French Women Don't Get Fat." and spending time with just us.

I have been trying to figure out what I want to do in the few quiet moments to myself (vacation with 3 small kids is still life with 3 small kids) and trying to listen to my body and spirit. I been fighting the temptation to be discouraged at how our busy schedule and the terrible weather have limited me in the amount I have been running. I'm believing that running and fitness is something I now own, and it is not so elusive that it will escape again. Pax and I did run and walk (well, he sat in the stroller:) 5K around the lake yesterday, and it felt great, and it also felt OK that I didn't want to go today and the sun came out for a while, and it really helped.

I also haven't needed to sit and write in my journal because coming back to Canada and visiting with so many people has caused us to tell our story over and over again. Yet with a few wonderful exceptions of people who want to know every detail, I find that there is a need in me to make our story short and sweet and in a neat bundle that simply says "We're okay - see how good we are? Look how great we are!" Which is not untrue. We are, in fact, pretty good. But I felt better in California. We were settled there and the sun shone nearly every day, and we were really, really in love with our friends there. Coming back to Canada is hard work. And I don't want to say that to anyone in person because I love them, and I want them to be happy and not cause anyone any pain. The truth is we are doing the very best we can, but we're just guessing as to how to do life as much as the next family.

I recently had a visit with a friend who grew up in YWAM who said she had a list in her head of "The Things I Promised Myself I Would Never Do To My Kids." I asked her what was on the list and then Pax fell and broke his arm. So, needless to say, I never heard the list. Wade says not to ask again, that it would not be helpful to know, and that we are Sophia and Eleanor and Pax's parents, that we ultimately do know what's best for them, and the best we can do for them is to obey God as best we understand. Yet I wonder how they will reflect on their lives when they're older and in my worst moments I think "How can we know?" What random moment of the day could be defining for them, will shape them for better or worse, or just flutter in to oblivion. That would be the case no matter what our lifestyle I suppose, yet this life of late brings all too much reflection at times, I fear.

Sophia said today that if she wrote a book like our friend Heidi, she wouldn't call it "Home Keeps Moving" she would call her book, "Hundreds of Houses." We moved into this house this week and it is huge and beautiful. Sophia came to me and said, "I love this house. When I am here, I feel like I have a regular life." And I breathed a small sigh of relief. Within an hour Eleanor came to me and said, "This house is way to big for our small family." So... really it's such a crap shoot. I have no idea what's going to work and what's not. All I know is that tonight at dinner our small family sat in this big house and laughed over stupid jokes we made up about tree houses and having rapper names (2Kron) and pretending to have the super power to roast marshmallows with our eyes. Even Pax tried it, he was hilarious. It is a good life with this small family in this big house by this small lake. Selah.

Home

I have thought and thought and thought about writing on this blog. I love this blog. Somehow it became a giant task. I wish for it to return to it being a joyous chronicle of my life as a Mum. The computer, email, blogging, anything but a facebook lurk has seemed overwhelming in the past year. But the spell has been broken.

This is the first time I am taking a challenge put down by The Gypsy Mama to write for 5 minutes straight without stopping on a topic. The topic is: Home.

Here goes:

Home is funny thing these days. My friend Heidi wrote a book last year about her life growing up between 3 cultures called ”Home Keeps Moving” and this year I know what she means. Almost a year ago now, July 1, 2010, our family was evicted by our landlord of 11 years. We had 2 months to move out, and what came next was a big surprise. A massive, gut wrenching feeling, KNOWING in the spirit that we were not get another home in the city. It was palpable. it was nauseating, and it was just there. Obey that knowing, or be disobeying God, and in that case, why don’t I just put my three small kids out in the traffic? Follow God’s leading as best we knew how, or... what? Or nothing.

So we put everything in storage and we just waited... we healed and rested and worked a little and waited in other people’s homes, empty vacation homes - and after 2 months we had friends who invited us to come and work and wait down in Southern California. So we went for a planned 3 weeks and stayed 7 months. And we just came back to Canada last week. And it feels a little like home, but Cali felt like home too. And Vancouver, which was home, doesn't feel like home waiting for us any more, just friends there feel like pieces of home waiting for us.

We have moved about 30 times in the last 9 months. Our children are 6, 4 years and 22 months old. I know I am a home maker and yet I have been without a home of my own for nearly a year now... and I have learned how to make home with no house. I have learned people are more generous than they can ever imagine. I have learned that we, as a family are home for each other like nothing else can ever be. And I have learned that when I feel all torn in pieces because I feel like a bit of me is in one place and a bit of me is in another, that when I return to those places and people that each and every one can feel a bit like home, and that the possibility of a piece of new home is just around the bend too.

Pax Henry Hawk Pallister

I guess cliches are cliches are cliches because the are true, otherwise people wouldn't keep saying them over and over again. My poor third child, my only son, beloved Pax.

You have a first child, she gets her own blog. You have a second child, you change the name of the blog to include her too. You have a third child - under the age of 5 and the third gets a mid-post mention and when he's 10 months old you suddenly realize he has never had a post dedicated entirely to himself. Poor guy. (Then, on the eve of his first birthday, you realize that the blog post you started 2 months ago about him is still unfinished. Yikes.)

Pax. Paxy Paxy Puchu. The wacky peanut. The Dude. The buddy. Paxeroni and Cheese. Six Pax. Pax Man. The Peace Hawk.

When I think about Pax I get all dreamy. He is a dreamy dreamy dream boat of a baby. Ask anyone that knows him, he makes people swoon. Happy happy happy.

Let me start at the beginning. In October 2008 Wade and I went on a cruise. Now, we had really high hopes for this cruise, but unfortunately, I didn't realize exactly how badly my motion sickness had increased since having kids and I was sick as a dog almost all the time, it was truly truly awful. BUT it was fantastic to have some time alone with Wade and it was also the first time I'd had a quiet time in months and months. In fact I felt like God was chasing me down about this quiet time. When I finally listened to that nagging feeling to sit down with my journal and bible, I don't remember why I opened my bible to the Gospel of Luke, but what caught my attention was the story of John the Baptist's birth.

In the story, John's father Zechariah doesn't believe that he and his wife's advanced ages they'll be given a son, and he is struck dumb for his unbelief by the angel Gabriel. After his son is born, (Chapter 1 in verses 57-66) the family assumes he'll be named after Zechariah, but Z manages to communicate as he was divinely instructed that the baby's name is John.

And I felt in my spirit it was a story for us, about having a son. I don't know why, I just kind of knew. I also had a boy's name for years - Reading Asher Seven. And after this reading, I also knew that whoever the baby was that was coming, he wasn't Reading Asher Seven. He was somebody else. When I shared all this with Wade, he took it with his usual grain of salt, not-condescending-but-we'll-just-wait-and-see evenness that he always has - which is a lovely comforting thing now that my ego knows it for what it is, which is love.

Then in December we found out we were pregnant, and the day we found out, I went to to my journal to write it down and the last entry was the one had written on the cruise. (My focused quiet times with journal writing are not so frequent these days:) And as I re-read it, I had some goose bumps, because as I was reading it, Wade was sitting across the room from me preparing his sermon. Our church was going systematically through the gospel of Luke, and guess which verses Wade was preparing to teach on in church the very next day? Oh yes, yes it was. Luke 1: 57-66, the story of Zechariah regaining his voice and naming his son.

So, I thought we were going to have a son, and that his name would be different from the name we'd always had for a son. I wanted a name that meant "Peace" and presented Wade with a list, he immediately picked out Pax. Just like that. We liked that it sounded like a super hero's pseudonym, like Peter Parker. Pax Pallister, boy wonder. Henry is after Wade's Dad Hank and Hawk is after Wade's boyhood hero, Tony Hawk.

His birth was amazing, despite many last-minute concerns about my blood pressure and a possible induction, he wound up being born at home, in a lovely peaceful way. We're convinced that everybody is here now and that he's our last baby, and to be honest, I won't miss being pregnant, but I would love to be in labour and give birth one more time. It is just the most awesome thing I've ever done and it got easier each time for me. Pax was born in the caul, which means his water, or amniotic sac didn't break. the midwife had never seen anything like it, he came out in a little bubble, like a spaceman. She just kept saying, "Oh lucky baby! Lucky lucky baby!" It was great.

And tomorrow he is one year old. Every year seems to go by more and more quickly, this one was speedier than the rest. I am still in awe of Pax. I still am in awe that I have a son, and that he is so good-natured and funny and that he just adores us all so much. He laughs so hard at Sophia and Eleanor, no matter how many times a day they maul him.

I can't wait to see more of who he'll be. Happy Birthday son, I love you!

a conversation

Lately we have been having some issues with spitting. The raspberry, the zrrbt, if you will, out of control. Tonight at dinner Sophia and Eleanor and I were talking about spitting, and I offered the information that in Singapore spitting was against the law. then I told them that chewing bubblegum was against the law.

Shock. Horror. They rarely get bubble gum and it is such a dear treat (Sophia recently triumphantly managed her first bubblegum bubble.)

Me: Really, in Singapore, if you chew gum, the police might come and put you in jail.

Eleanor: And then, if a policeman got me, you would come and take me away from him and then he would cry and cry.

Sophia: And, if you were in jail, you would need some sheep friends, and they would need to know how to weld! (I begin to laugh) A Close Shave! (referencing the jail break scene from the Wallace and Gromit film of that name.)

Eleanor: And then, you would take me away from the policeman and my leg would break and then you would have to glue my leg and put a band-aid on it and the policeman would cry and cry.

I thing that with the gum chewing and welding sheep and leg gluing, we'd be a hit in Singapore.

beach beauties

July 2009 English Bay

a year ago....

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the day Wade cut off his dreads. He had been growing them for 7 years. He did it to raise money for our dear friend Sandra, creator of the dreads, godmother, doula, photographer, family to us. Sandra had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was both unable to lift her camera (and hence work) and her arms to do dreadlock maintenance.



We had a birthday party and a fundraiser for Sandra to help her cover her living expenses during treatment. We had hoped to raise a thousand dollars. The dreadlock auction alone raised $2845.00



Sophia refused to get rid of the dreadlocks. They are still in a plastic bag in her closet. I can't look at them, it grosses me out entirely.



My brother Matthew mc'ed the auction and did an incredible job. We were utterly, completely, entirely amazed at the response. Sandra is such an incredible person and her generosity and the good that it unleashed was overwhelming. All tolled, the fund raising came to just over $13,000.00. The story of Wade cutting his dreads for Sandra made the local news. We thought it was just a party and a haircut. By the grace and joy of God, it turned out to be much, much more.

This, friends, is what Oprah likes to call "the ugly cry".

Today, December 8th, is Sandra's birthday. I'm overflowing with gratitude (and tears) to be able to write these words: Today she is cancer-free. Happy Birthday sister-friend. I love you so.



Wade is more handsome than ever. He says except for his short time in Thailand this past summer he's been cold ever since. Good thing Sandra bought him a nice warm, scarf.

I CAN!

Today while getting Eleanor dressed she pulled out a whole stack of shirts. I said, "Eleanor, you only need one shirt."
E: "No, Mum, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5!"
M: "You can't wear five shirts Eleanor, how about two?"
E: "No, Mum, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5!"

Mum helps Eleanor tastefully layer 2 shirts.
E: "No, Mum, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5!"
M: "You can't wear five shirts Eleanor."
E: "I CAN!"
M: "You can't"
E: "I CAN!"

I then choose to walk away.

I was wrong actually, she can. Here she is wearing 7 shirts simultaneously...

...while triumphantly eating Hawkin's Cheezies.

She gets an idea in her head, and she sticks to it. Right now, it often vexes me, but I gotta say I really like that in a girl.

overheard conversations

Sophia's getting a run for her money in the hilarious quote department these days now that Eleanor is chatting fast and furious.

Overheard conversations:

Eleanor: "Give dat Fofie."
Sophia: "What's the magic word?"
Eleanor: "Abracadabra."

While drawing with new markers, Sophia shows off her reading skills...
Sophia: "This colour is called 'Hot Pink' ".
Eleanor: "It going to burn me?"
Soph reassured her it would not.

At preschool prayer time:
Eleanor: "Thank you God for Mama and Daddy and for Mama's boobies."
When her teacher (after recovering) asked why, she said "So Pax can eat and live."

Never to be outdone, today when playing with the new My Little Pony play house, Sophia noticed there was a desk with an office. She told Eleanor that her Little Pony was busy filing her taxes. She also asked me to take a movie of her the other day and, I quote "blog it on facebook." A child of the new millennium, indeed.

Pax has started smiling, and today at his six week check-up, weighed 13 lbs 10 oz. Today I laid him on the floor for some "tummy time". He is so relaxed he lifted his head twice and fell asleep in the middle of the floor. The dude abides.

it's your call

Okay folks, I'm now going to take a poll. Over the last two days Wade has worked back-to-back 12 hour shifts. Which of these things makes you most convinced I am just still getting the hang of parenting a newborn (who weighed 12 lbs 8 oz at his check up today!), a very active 2.5 year old and a 5 year old who hardly ever stops talking (for real, she had to hold her breath today to stop herself from talking.)

a) the girls' preschool teacher called and left a message sayng she was so sorry to have sent one of my girls home without their underwear yesterday, she hadn't realized they had gone to the bathroom and left some wet undies in there until after we went home. I had no idea one of them came home with no panties on.

b) tonight we went to get dinner from a drive-thru and I left without my food. I took the drinks and drove off and then Sophia said "we only got water?!" and started to cry. Pax and Eleanor were already crying, hence my already muddled brain. The lady at the drive thru looked HORRIFIED when I went back.

c) I just found the laundry money in the fridge.

Happy Birthday Sophia!

April 27, 2008

Today, August 26, 2009

I didn't mean to stop blogging, it just sort of happened...

But I'd like to re-commit to starting again, I looked through some old posts today and it's such a great journal of my life with my gorgeous kids. And speaking of kids, we've got another one... Pax Henry Hawk Pallister was born August 12, 2009 and he's a dream.

I'll be posting more about him and our lives these days soon, but for now - this... this little blog started as a celebration of all things Sophia, so here's a shout out to her. In 29 minutes it will be exactly 5 years (August 27 2004, 12:01 am) since this gorgeous child came into the world. She is such a gift to us, and is really coming into her own as a big sister, a big kid, a really enjoyable person too.

Today she put on a dress she was given for her 3rd birthday that was too big for her at the time... I remembered taking a picture of her wearing the dress last year against our kitchen wall and thought I'd take another picture in the same dress in the same spot today to see how she's grown in the last year... can you believe the difference in 16 months? No wonder we think she's getting taller in front of our eyes... because she is.

Happy Birthday Sophia, we love you!!!!

vocab & other bigness.

Yesterday Sophia said:

"I have to get some more resources for my goldfish's room." and

"Look at the new technique I'm trying."

Yep, still 4 1/2.

And Eleanor went pee and poo on the potty. 3rd time for pee, 1st time for the poo. Oh happy day, I may not have 2 kids in diapers at the same time come August.... oh, can I dare hope?

She is now two, and officially fancy. Will publish some b-day pics when our camera cord returns from it's current journeys.

BUT WAIT... there's more (added Feb 25)

Yesterday Sophia got a paper cut, but after getting a band-aid for it, demonstrated by miming in the air how good it was that the injury would not effect her ability to work the remote to the DVD player. I was unable to hide my amusement.

And then... we were on our way home and we saw a flock of birds flying overhead, and she said,

"Every night, at sunset, all the birds gather at a restaurant to celebrate the day I was born." We were suitably impressed.

time for bed

This book was one of the first that Sophia was ever given, Time For Bed, by Mem Fox. It is so beautiful. It was a gift from our dear friend Sandra, and I highly recommend it.

Last night Sophia read a whole page in the book all by herself. It said:

"It's time to sleep, little bee, little bee. Yes, I love you and you love me."

It was so exciting. I hugged her and she said, "I really am getting ready for kindergarten!"

25 things.

There has been a bit of a trend amongst my friends on facebook lately to do these "25 things" lists. Normally I wouldn't bother, as my computer time is so much grabbed in tiny increments these days, but I so enjoyed some of the things I learned about really dear friends I spent a chunk of my Sunday working on this (took 3 or four sittings!)

The only trouble with me doing a "list" is, as my friend Jamie Arpin-Ricci once said about me, I am not a sentence communicator, or a paragraph communicator, but a chapter communicator. So, here goes.

1. I was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta, but my parents moved from there when I was a baby, so I don’t remember it. However, even though I am quite good at spelling, I still panic when I have to spell the place I was born on any official form and almost always spell it with “e”s where the “i” should be. I even had to use spell check for this sentence. (I got it wrong. Again.)

2. I have an older brother and 2 younger sisters (Matthew, Elizabeth and Caroline) who I am very close to in age and love a lot. When we were little we wanted to repel down the side of something, like mountain climbers on their way down a rock face, so we tied a rope to my brother's closet bar and threw it out his second story window and took turns scaling down the side of our house with his friends. My Mum was only alerted after she became aware something was wrong when we all ran up the stairs. And then ran up the stairs. And then ran up the stairs. The closet bar was really bent.

3. I like my feet.

4. During my YWAM DTS and SOMD I spent more time with my pal Barry Houser than I did with my husband. Not out of anything untoward, only because Wade didn’t do DTS with me, only our outreach. (He was doing “errands” and “maintenance” with Phil.) I still really like that YWAM is a place were a Canadian Catholic clothing-store manager and a gun-owning Mennonite truck driver from Pennsylvania could become the best of friends.

5. I have several ‘before-I-die’ destinations. The Grand Canyon at sunset. (Okay, I seriously just started to cry when I typed that. Weird.) A Cirque Du Soliel performance; to go anywhere in South East Asia; to visit many friends in Australia; and pretty much all of continental Europe, especially Switzerland and a vineyard in either France or Italy where I have been befriended by the owners and they have invited my family in and they are feeding us a very long, beautiful supper with lots of wine and food of indescribable simultaneous simplicity and complexity of flavour.

6. Once, at a life changing meal in Spain with lots of wine and food of indescribable simultaneous simplicity and complexity of flavour, I was so happy and amazed, that by the end I declared if I tasted anything else that was good, I would surely cry. At which point, my dear friend Mike Davies, one never to deny a challenge, insisted I taste his liqueur. I did indeed weep with joy.

7. My friend and adopted sister Sandra, so inhabited the above story (#6 ) when I told it to her, that later on she was confused as to whether or not she had actually been at the dinner. People like that are like oxygen to me.

8. I can tie the stem of a maraschino cherry in a knot with my tongue.

9. My first concert was En Vogue and MC Hammer, 1990. Oh, no it wasn’t - it was the Beach Boys, with my Dad in 1985. (I was 12.) We rode our bikes. I was confused by the the funny smelling cigarettes.

10. My favourite concerts were, Peter Gabriel - the “Us” tour, with Jan; and seeing Coldplay for $10 with Dave Laird, Heidi Sand, Ange, Vern and Ralph before most people in Canada had ever heard of them.

11. The people who were with me during the most embarrassing moment in my life, which I did actually have a nightmare about afterward, are all tagged in my facebook note. If you're not sure of it's you, it probably wasn't you.

12. Pretty much every time I hear the opening bars of “Misty Mountain Hop” by Led Zeppelin, I think it is the perfect song to be playing right then.

13. I once yelled at a large airplane full of people. There were these old dears behind me from Australia and they were really panicked about missing their flight and I had totally become to sympathetic to them by hearing them talk. So we landed and the the steward asked everyone to remain seated so the old dears could get off first and people waited about 30 seconds (of course) and then stood up and the old dears were only about four rows up and they were panicking and I couldn’t take it. So I yelled at everyone to sit down. Everyone did, and remained seated until after the old dears were long gone - until one man looked at me and said “Can we get up now?”. I was mortified at the time, but now I’m so proud of me.

14. When I was young, I memorized the entire soundtrack to the movie “Annie” and remember singing as I was walking down the road, secretly hoping someone would discover me and make me famous. I also had an elaborate fantasy about being on the TV show “Kids Are People Too” because I had been selected to be the child star of the next Star Wars film (this was before “Jedi” came out) and in the movie, (and on the show) I could do karate.

15. I am quite a good cook, but almost every time I make a sauce, I ask my husband, who is an amazing cook, to tweak it. He almost always adds brown sugar, or vinegar, or both, no matter what kind of sauce it is.

16. I spent very long hours in front of the mirror as a child developing the ability to make my tongue into the shape of a three leafed clover and to avert my eyes to one side, then cross them, then switch them to the other side.

17. My maiden name is Payne. The family history is that my great-grandfather’s last name was Barrington, but he died in the war leaving my great-grandmother pregnant and unmarried, so we bear her maiden name, not his. My sisters and I thought Barrington was a far classier name and used to pretend we were high powered business executives with our office, Barrington Inc. My sister Lizzy was Cassandra Barrington and I was Antonia (aka Toni) Barrington.

18. I am kind of obsessed with the Oscars. I started watching it with my Mum when I was a kid, who you used to explain to me the politics behind the votes. My best friend Lee-Anne and I have watched it together for years, even though she moved to Calgary over 9 years ago. We take notes and compare fave moments. We have special snacks (pringles and cream soda) and we take it very seriously. No matter how old I get I can not resist doing fake Oscar speeches afterward. I can not believe I just found out my friend Jessica has been to the Oscars 10 times!!!!! Not fair.

19. I’ve been married for 11 1/2 years to Wade who is so amazing, and I love him more all the time, and the longer I’m married to him the more grateful and amazed I am at having a good marriage with someone who loves me so well.

20. In college I was a theatre major, and hung out at a blues bar a lot, where a lot of friends who were musicians played and live blues music still makes me really happy, which is not really the point of the blues, but I’m just generally a pretty happy person.

21. I love surprises but have had very few in my life. I had one surprise party once, but I was sick and it was pretty mellow so I actually almost forgot about it. Once my sister Lizzy and her friend Sarah surprised me when I lived in California. And once my friend Houser came (on his honeymoon!) and showed up on my doorstep and really, really surprised me, because he promised a long time before he would do it one day. And he did.

22. My middle name is Helen, my Mum’s first name. Eleanor is named in honour of her and my grandmother, Ellen.

23. I love, love, love to go to the movies. I don’t go very often since we’ve had kids. To me there is something so special about going and sitting in the dark with all these strangers and you all go on a journey together and there is popcorn and soda and red Twizzlers and you just escape everything for 2 hours. Watching a video is not even close.

24. When my friend Jan or my Mum make me tea and toast they get it right every time, and it is difficult to explain how perfect it is. One time my niece Kelsi said, “Granny makes the best toast.” and as silly as it sounded, she is right.

25. My favourite colour is robin’s egg blue.

look at this

This is Sophia wearing button and zip pants. She used to be afraid of button and zip pants because they bugged her. Now, not only is she wearing them, but today she did up the button and zip all by herself. I know. Stand back.

She has been watching a video from the library called "Get Ready For Kindergarten" where they teach you to tie a bow for your shoes. She has been getting the cross over part, but she hasn't gotten to the bow tying yet. (You know, where you cross the bunny ears.) Today she was pretending to tie this bow, which her dad helped her with. I'll keep you posted on her progress.

lately

Lately we have...

...gone to Wade's Mum's wedding in AB. It went pretty well. We love spending time with W's brother and sister and their families, and seeing our good friends the Alexanders. I also saw my friends Tannis and Kim and it was so amazing to see them again after 9 years! Wade and his brother walked his Mom down the aisle. They were very good at it. Handsome, too.



... registered Sophia for school. (Here's Nori in front.) We are still wanting to do home schooling, and have found a program we are really excited about at a local elementary school. Soph will go in September (yes, she'll be 5!) and go 2 days a week for specialty and group subjects - this term the kids there are doing art, gymnastics, quilting, french and worm composting. How east van can you get? Then the resource teacher helps us develop a curriculum for what we want to do at home the other 3 days and we get some funding for that too. I feel way better about the fact that we have figured what we'll do since our baby is due a week before Soph turns 5....






... celebrate our friend Jacqui's birthday. Yay for Jax, and a reason to have a tea party.




... wash Eleanor's hair. She keeps putting stuff in it. Like a purple stamp pad, which coloured her whole face and left these cool punk rock purple streaks in her hair for a couple days, and whipping cream, as this video shows.

..think about getting Sophia an agent. This what she was doing a lunch for Wade and I today and I offered to take a video of her. This the kind of stuff she comes up with on a regular basis. Love that kid.

happy new year!

I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted! December was absolutely crazy busy for us, but in lots of great ways.

Here's some of what's been happening:

~ The fundraiser we did for our friend Sandra was an overwhelming success. Wade's dreadlock auction raised over $2800 and the whole event and subsequent gifts came to over $13,000. We were all totally overwhelmed. It wasn't just the money, but also how moved people were by the action of Wade giving up his hair and us throwing the party. It seemed like there was a holiness to the whole thing that people from all different parts of our lives were aware of, whether or not they seem to have much interaction with God on a regular basis . We thought we were throwing a party and getting a haircut, but it just expanded. We were even on the news!

~ Wade preached at church and played with his band there too, cooked a turkey for the church dinner, had 2 very successful Christmas craft fairs ( I worked one which was fun.) We taught on the YWAM DTS for a week, said good bye to our DTS billet Peter and got ready for Xmas with my parents. We also had some sort of Christmas party or event every day from the Tuesday - Sunday the week we taught, the week before Xmas - whew!

~ We found out that we're having another baby in August of 2009! I also found out that on your 3rd pregnancy your body decides you need a belly way faster than the 1st and second time - I'm only 8 weeks, but my button and zip pants are already to tight - hooray for elastic waistbands! We're all pretty thrilled. Sophia and I think maybe we'll have a boy, Wade's pulling for his third girl (of course we don't really care, as long as it's a baby). If we can, we'll have another home birth, we so loved how peaceful and normal and lovely our home birth with Eleanor was.

~ We had a great Christmas, quiet, with only my folks and then Sandra came for dinner. I was really so excited to give this Xmas - I surprised Wade with an Ipod touch, and made robes for both our girls. I got lots of lovely things too. Sadly, I felt (and still feel) nauseous almost all the time, so every time I look at any Christmas decor or think about snow I feel pukey - I'm so glad to be in California right now...

~ Oh, yeah - right now we're in California. We came for our dear friend Ralph's wedding to the lovely Katie. Ralph lived with us for a long time, from when Soph was a baby til she was 2. We have known Katie for years too, and it was an amazing day yesterday. Sophia was the most excited flower girl you ever saw, Wade was a dashing kilted groomsman, I did a reading by Keats, and Rachel did a reading from Romans. It was very relaxed and fun and California-y. And Ralph did very well, having all those people look at him for such a long period of time - and he danced, in public, and to our knowledge he was not under the influence of anything except loooove.

I have managed to lose my camera, but the excellent Tim Farmer made sure he was taking lots of pics for all of us, (especially you, Ange!) so I'm sure as soon as he and Rachel get off the plane after their day of flying today they'll be passing those on ASAP!

Speaking of Rachel and Tim, they met us off the plane and we spent New Year's Eve together talking, eating snacks and just getting to know Tim and catching up with Rachel. Rachel and Tim are SO well suited to each other. We just fell in love with Tim and seeing him and Rachel together was so lovely. They are so in love and so comfortable together and just their body language even sitting next to each other is great. I loved just watching them, and they both got on with our girls so well, it was so hard to say goodbye again yesterday!

New Year's Day Emily and Josh came down to the house where we are staying and spent the day with us and Rach and Tim too. Sophia decided everyone needed to do princess art class and had everyone all around the table drawing for ages and ages. Wade made an incredible pasta meal, and we played Cranium and talked and laughed and laughed and laughed. Because, as anyone who knows Rachel knows, when Rachel is there, everyone feels like they are the funniest person in the world, because she has the most continuous, spontaneous, genuine laugh in the world (as far as my research has shown.)

Also, Josh is just funny all the time and Emily was just perfect Emily - so great, and so normal to be with her, with everyone actually, even after such a long time. Emily's photography is also getting more and more amazing. You should check out her website www.halflightimages.com. She took these pics of our girls, great shots that capture their personalities well.

Well that about wraps it up - we'll be here for another few days and then in a week and a half we're off to Wade's Moms wedding in Alberta - but more on that later - in the mean time...

Happy New Year!

Sophia bowing after performing "The Tired Boy and the Lullaby Mermaid" an original work
by Sophia J.J. Pallister and P. Wade Pallister.
Image Copyright 2009 HalfLight Images

A classic Nori face.
Image copyright 2009 HalfLight Images