We're home... sounds nice and yet strange to say that - our home. It's great actually, who am i kidding? It's so neat to sit here in the office, typing away on my HUSBAND's computer whilst he finds homes for things and we just enjoy being in the same house after a great week away.
We spent a week up at a cottage in Tobermory, very few people around as most things have shut down for the season already, but were blessed with much better weather than what we could have hoped for - the initial forecast was for rain and cold all week (once again, i'm sure that i can have a job at Environment Canada - oh... i think it might rain, but maybe not, or snow, but it might be sunny too!)
We hiked a lot on the Bruce Trail and just enjoyed splendid views from our cottage windows, even when the rain was beating against our walls and the wind was whipping around.
As i type, my new ring is glinting on my finger and there are so many memories of last Saturday... it was a great great day. We have spent a lot of time rehashing things together... "remember when" or "what did you think about this?" or "what did people say about that?" We look forward to remiscing with our friends and family as well and hearing their impressions...but that will keep.
We came home to find mail addressed to us as a couple, food in our fridge for dinner and even dessert on top of it all... we are truly blessed to be surrounded by such a great crowd of believers and witnesses. We truly felt that last Saturday as well and pray that the day might have been a blessing to you all as well!
Off to munch on some lasagna...
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
two more sleeps...
As you can see from the photo, the countdown ticker is so low that i can barely cut it off anymore - we started at 100 and have snipped off a little piece everyday - Timothy's counter is now in the car so we have two places to cut things off everyday... a fun reminder of how time has passed slowly at times and yet has flown too...
Two more nights as a single lady... and then Mrs deVries... i'm so looking forward to it - i am full of lots of emotions right now - tiredness, joy, a little bit of nervousness, more joy, and a vague sense that probably somewhere along the way, something has been forgotten - but in the end, will it matter if there were bows on this or lights on that?? No, no amount of adornment, paper or food will change the fact that we will be husband and wife...starting a big new step on this journey of life... a journey we now make together, to support one another, love one another and start a home based on the Lord and His promises to be faithful even when times are tough, promising to bear us up on wings like eagles, that we may run and not be weary... walk and not be faint. Help us, Lord to be leaning on you and not our own understanding, that in all our ways, we may acknowledge you and you will then make our paths straight - even if we don't always see precisely what direction we're going!
Trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey!
It's time for a few pictures for those who like them... mostly "mussche" pictures, according to a local authority. Apparently, mussche picture are mostly of flowers and trees and skies and leaves, not of people.... maybe we had better change our tune eh? Or win a big photography prize with a flower picture and then all the teasing will have to stop!
The "magic" hour (though Timothy assures me there's no such thing as magic!) for lighting between 5 and 6:15ish with a sunny, cloudy evening...lovely!
my ricinnis got kinda tall - i love it, how it grows from a little bean to this in one year!
A really HUGE cauliflower - biggest i've seen - used to make cauliflower soup!!! Yum!
Nope, they're not fixing the tap like dutiful son-in-laws, but rather searching for alcohol to serve the crowd - all the mussche alcohol resides under the sink!
On Thanksgiving day, we headed out for a hike in the woods with a huge crew, Rach, Mike and their boys, Mom and Dad, Laurie, Niki, Miriam and Rebekah, Timothy and myself... fun times!
It might have involved some expert puddle jumping...
The fall colours were amazing! Seemingly at their peak!
The sky was blue, the leaves were red...
And of course, vintage Danielle... a sunshine picture...can't do without one of those!
The lovely ladies who accompanied our crazy family - poor girls, we told them it was "dry" back in the field...it's okay, just wear your runners...probably should have confirmed that before we told them...oops... sorry ladies!
More proof that it was muddy...we had to hand the little guys over the mud
one of my favorite shots from the hike - great angle Mom!
Hiking with my sweetie... it was so relaxing to walk in the woods with the memories of past walks taken there - it's always felt like "our woods" even though we haven't the slightest claim on it despite having hauled many bunches of leaves, flowers, branches, rocks and rusty metal out of there!
I LOVE this shot of my parents - they are both laughing - Dad probably due to the fact that we told him the word "poop" - gets him everytime! We love you both so much!!!
The girls thought it would be fun to be goofing off behind us... and apparently Timothy thought it was fun to goof off too...i think i'm the only one trying to be posing - hmmm...doesn't bode well for the wedding day???
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
And here they go again
Well, it's 8:08 am... and my alarm wasn't due to go off for another couple of minutes...so my body had to wake me up early to remember the crazy dreams i had last night. I was having wedding dreams like crazy at the beginning, when we were first engaged but this one was far out... it somehow involved Rachel and i floating around the harbour in Belfast while all sorts of people were launching new ships and also going on vacation with camper vans on the ships... but that had nothing to do with the wedding. Neither did my other dream of being lost after getting off the highway on the wrong side of the tracks somewhere in some city that was a combination of Amsterdam and Hamilton and running into all sorts of weird situations, having to jump off roofs and talk to drug dealers...
But then there was the wedding... we started late - 7pm late - i remember thinking to myself, "why are we so late? What were we doing that we started so late?" but i suppose if we were lost in the city somewhere, that might account for it eh? I was mingling with the crowd before the wedding already and there were lots of people there whom i didn't know, but i was somehow okay with that.
I walked into church but sat on the far left side in the crowd, whilst Timothy was at the front with a co-worker of mine (who got married in reality a couple of weeks ago in a very non-traditional outdoor wedding - it was very beautiful and relaxed). Rachel (my co-worker) gave a big speech welcoming everyone and then the pastor and Timothy took over and were reading some form that was totally not our wedding form - something involving poets and quotes about marriage from philosophers and i remember thinking that i was surprised that the pastor was okay with all this.
To be honest, i was falling asleep in my dream listening to all this until Timothy came around the aisle and stood me up and we had to walk to the front wearing a piano bench cover on our heads (kinda like a jewish ceremony?). It was very stiff and awkward to walk under...
Unfortunately, from then on, i don't remember much about the ceremony - maybe that will come tomorrow evening...but i do remember trying to plan how we would eat our wedding dinner because there was a fire/smoke in the dining hall and we were kicked out into the street and had long tables set up in the street but most of our guests were gone and there were just a few random people there that i remember - Chuck and Carol, Joyce and a few others who were helping set everything up...
Hmmm.... yep, i think that about does it - how did you sleep last night? And i wonder if these dreams are going to get worse before the big day? Only 3 more sleeps to go.... how bad can it get???
But then there was the wedding... we started late - 7pm late - i remember thinking to myself, "why are we so late? What were we doing that we started so late?" but i suppose if we were lost in the city somewhere, that might account for it eh? I was mingling with the crowd before the wedding already and there were lots of people there whom i didn't know, but i was somehow okay with that.
I walked into church but sat on the far left side in the crowd, whilst Timothy was at the front with a co-worker of mine (who got married in reality a couple of weeks ago in a very non-traditional outdoor wedding - it was very beautiful and relaxed). Rachel (my co-worker) gave a big speech welcoming everyone and then the pastor and Timothy took over and were reading some form that was totally not our wedding form - something involving poets and quotes about marriage from philosophers and i remember thinking that i was surprised that the pastor was okay with all this.
To be honest, i was falling asleep in my dream listening to all this until Timothy came around the aisle and stood me up and we had to walk to the front wearing a piano bench cover on our heads (kinda like a jewish ceremony?). It was very stiff and awkward to walk under...
Unfortunately, from then on, i don't remember much about the ceremony - maybe that will come tomorrow evening...but i do remember trying to plan how we would eat our wedding dinner because there was a fire/smoke in the dining hall and we were kicked out into the street and had long tables set up in the street but most of our guests were gone and there were just a few random people there that i remember - Chuck and Carol, Joyce and a few others who were helping set everything up...
Hmmm.... yep, i think that about does it - how did you sleep last night? And i wonder if these dreams are going to get worse before the big day? Only 3 more sleeps to go.... how bad can it get???
Saturday, October 06, 2012
It's 1:16 am...
It's 1:16 am...and i am not at work as is typically the bent when i am posting at randomly odd hours of the morning. And last night certainly wouldn't have allowed a chance to do any sort of posting, never mind eating or sitting or even using the facilities. I worked probably one of the worst night shifts i've ever worked - started off behind and and overworked and it never ended the whole night. I was thankful, oh, so thankful for good co-workers who helped me out but it still wasn't enough to get me out of work before 8:45 am... that's not acceptable for a 12 hour shift...but i already ranted and raved about this to several people so i have to stop, get real, get on with life, hakuna matata and so forth and keep going. I will admit that having to go in to work on Saturday evening is filling me with some dread to be sure! I just have to keep telling myself that it will be okay, only 12 more hours and then you're free for two and half weeks! That will be SO nice, not having had a long stretch of vacation at all this year... and i get to spend it with my honey....
Anyhow, the reason why i'm still up, at my kitchen table, feet up, eyes starting to droop and slow in the blinking status (making me think that this whole posting thing might not last too long now... otherwise i'll end up like the other morning when i was desperately trying to send someone an email and i woke up 5 minutes later with my finger firmly on the "a" button and an email full of "a"s.... kinda funny. I was just glad i hadn't hit send accidently.... ), is that we just finished moving all of Timothy's stuff here from his apartment in Toronto. No more living downtown beside the police station, the fire station, a hospital and the coroner's office... the sirens were something else, i tell you!
We were assisted very ably by Timothy's sister and her husband and by a co-worker of Timothy's, Daniel and his wife Lemon. Everyone worked very hard and in four and a half hours, we had everything packed up, moved out, in the trailer, driven to Hamilton and unloaded into huge piles in the basement. We are SO thankful for all the help and we'll even pay for the parking tickets we incurred - silly Toronto parking officers... get a new job and stop picking on us poor working class souls who justs need a place to put our vehicles....Argh... oh well, nothing we can do about it...
Anyhow, these posts are a bit rambly and not too pointed but it's late, and my legs have now joined the protest with my eyelids. They are restless and demand to go to bed...i swear that sometimes my body has a moral and ethical code all of its own and doesn't adhere to any rules put forth by decent society people.... not good to have legs that take over and tell you what to do!
Tata for now
8 MORE SLEEPS but who's counting?????
Anyhow, the reason why i'm still up, at my kitchen table, feet up, eyes starting to droop and slow in the blinking status (making me think that this whole posting thing might not last too long now... otherwise i'll end up like the other morning when i was desperately trying to send someone an email and i woke up 5 minutes later with my finger firmly on the "a" button and an email full of "a"s.... kinda funny. I was just glad i hadn't hit send accidently.... ), is that we just finished moving all of Timothy's stuff here from his apartment in Toronto. No more living downtown beside the police station, the fire station, a hospital and the coroner's office... the sirens were something else, i tell you!
We were assisted very ably by Timothy's sister and her husband and by a co-worker of Timothy's, Daniel and his wife Lemon. Everyone worked very hard and in four and a half hours, we had everything packed up, moved out, in the trailer, driven to Hamilton and unloaded into huge piles in the basement. We are SO thankful for all the help and we'll even pay for the parking tickets we incurred - silly Toronto parking officers... get a new job and stop picking on us poor working class souls who justs need a place to put our vehicles....Argh... oh well, nothing we can do about it...
Anyhow, these posts are a bit rambly and not too pointed but it's late, and my legs have now joined the protest with my eyelids. They are restless and demand to go to bed...i swear that sometimes my body has a moral and ethical code all of its own and doesn't adhere to any rules put forth by decent society people.... not good to have legs that take over and tell you what to do!
Tata for now
8 MORE SLEEPS but who's counting?????
Wednesday, October 03, 2012
it's 3:30
It's 3:30 on Wednesday morning - the only person besides my co-workers who is likely to be up at this time is my mother, who is probably nursing a cuppa hot milk whilst thinking and praying about everyone who needs an extra thought and prayer or my little sister who is likely giving Benjamin yet another top-up as he is certainly doing lots of growing lately. And i'm up... eyes getting kinda red and itchy, throat scratchy, legs a bit restless and i've hit my water limit for a bit - i usually drink like a fish for the first while on the shift and then it finally catches up with me around this time in the morning...
It's been a busy shift thus far, lots of confused people and odd situations to deal with in the middle of this night - kinda feels like a full moon somehow - though its quite foggy out there and you probably wouldn't know if there was a moon out there or not at this point.
And the countdown continues... for lots of different things... my hair dresser said to me the other day when i called her "oh i see you have a countdown on for your appointment" - being a bit silly and teasing me about my facebook wedding updates and countdowns... and me being all serious didn't quite get what she was on about for a few minutes - yep, not too quick on the uptake the last little while - too many things taking my attention and splitting it infinitely in so many directions that it's hard not to imagine my brains spilling out and making a nice mess on the ground....oh, gross...sorry, the filter between my brain and the virtual paper is pretty thin at this time.
So yeah, the countdown... for the wedding day... is down to days, not even weeks now. It's 11 days to go, 10 more sleeps, 2 more shifts after this one, and lots more on mental and physical to-do lists...people laugh at me for my lists but it's the only way i can remain a little bit sane. Oh, the big stuff is done, but it's the little last minute stuff like "what do you mean, you need tablecloths?" or "you want food??". Just kidding about those two but i was just trying to pull some quick examples from my slowing brain. I realize more and more that the details are what trip you up and yet, somehow, those details are irrelevant at the end of the day - we just want to enjoy the day, being married to each other, being surrounded by our loved ones and celebrating God's goodness, no matter what the weather is (silly accuweather), whether we remember all the little things or not and even whether i trip walking down the aisle... well, hopefully the last one doesn't happen but you get my drift...
(yep, this is being posted at 11:10 pm, not 3:30 as falsely indicated - most of the post was written at that time but alas, the night got busy and i had to abandon my attempts at literary greatness, but better late than never right?)
It's been a busy shift thus far, lots of confused people and odd situations to deal with in the middle of this night - kinda feels like a full moon somehow - though its quite foggy out there and you probably wouldn't know if there was a moon out there or not at this point.
And the countdown continues... for lots of different things... my hair dresser said to me the other day when i called her "oh i see you have a countdown on for your appointment" - being a bit silly and teasing me about my facebook wedding updates and countdowns... and me being all serious didn't quite get what she was on about for a few minutes - yep, not too quick on the uptake the last little while - too many things taking my attention and splitting it infinitely in so many directions that it's hard not to imagine my brains spilling out and making a nice mess on the ground....oh, gross...sorry, the filter between my brain and the virtual paper is pretty thin at this time.
So yeah, the countdown... for the wedding day... is down to days, not even weeks now. It's 11 days to go, 10 more sleeps, 2 more shifts after this one, and lots more on mental and physical to-do lists...people laugh at me for my lists but it's the only way i can remain a little bit sane. Oh, the big stuff is done, but it's the little last minute stuff like "what do you mean, you need tablecloths?" or "you want food??". Just kidding about those two but i was just trying to pull some quick examples from my slowing brain. I realize more and more that the details are what trip you up and yet, somehow, those details are irrelevant at the end of the day - we just want to enjoy the day, being married to each other, being surrounded by our loved ones and celebrating God's goodness, no matter what the weather is (silly accuweather), whether we remember all the little things or not and even whether i trip walking down the aisle... well, hopefully the last one doesn't happen but you get my drift...
(yep, this is being posted at 11:10 pm, not 3:30 as falsely indicated - most of the post was written at that time but alas, the night got busy and i had to abandon my attempts at literary greatness, but better late than never right?)
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