"...and I think to myself, what a wonderful world."

Couldn't have asked for a nicer weekend. The temp reached a high of 21 degrees on Saturday!! Seriously. I hope this means spring has sprung, but you never know out here. I'm usually an optimist, but this winter hit us hard. I ache for warmth. You'd never know it from the dullness in the pics, but things really are feeling different. Now we just need to get that grass greened up and the trees budding. Oooohhhh I love spring!

Saturday night, Warren and I had a picnic down by the river. That was really fun. There were so many people out and about on all of the trails. Whoa. As soon as the good weather hits this city, people take it seriously. There's no time to laze around. After our supper, we took a long walk on the trails and just enjoyed laughing and talking and being silly. It was great. Our evening ended with a trip to the 'walk-up' Dairy Queen on 8th Street, which is actually open already. That is definitely a sign of a season's change in Saskatoon.
It always takes a little extra work to make it through a Monday at work....but knowing that the warmth will greet me as I open the front doors of the clubhouse and head out towards my car at the end of the day puts that smile back on my face.*

Numb

My heart feels quiet and sad today. Shock and awe has taken over my otherwise very ordinary Monday. I just found out that Anna Wall, a mom to four very special people I went to Youth with back home (Anita, Eva, Johnny & Emily) lost her battle with pancreatic cancer on Saturday. I can't even explain to you my emotions. I'm numb with heaviness.

In 2002, my mom battled a year of breast cancer. Honestly, it was the worst year of my life...and yet strangely the most memorible. I remember those long days. I hated seeing my mom that way. She looked so small, so bald, so sick. The spunk and fiestiness that used to describe her personhood was rarely seen anymore and our house felt like a gloomy place. I really hated seeing my dad so distraught. He's a fix-it kind of guy, up for anything, but this was one area in his life that was out of his hands. I remember a multitude of feelings and emotions. I remember getting so angry with people when they'd give us a hug and say they were thinking of us and then get in their cars and drive home to hang out with their own moms who were happy and healthy. It didn't seem fair. Though that sounds so selfish, those feelings were so real to me. I had moved home from Saskatoon (where I had been living at the time) to live at home and be "mom" for a year. Anger clouded my life and I went through such a time of fury and hurt with God. It was a real transitional period for me and Him. I wanted my mom to be able to see me get married. I wanted to have her with me when I had my kids. The human imagination is a powerful thing and the "what if's" overwhelmed me.

I guess the walk down memory lane has brought me back to a very humble place. Why did my mom live on? God could have taken her home in an instant. How can I be of encouragement to these friends when the ending to my story looks so different from theirs?

In the end, I believe that God is in control and His plans are far greater and far deeper than we could ever grasp. I believe that God will meet us where we're at. Honestly, I have no idea or any real words of understanding regarding my mom's current cancer-free existence and the death of those who have fought for the same goal - to live on. I have no idea why some people suffer and others breeze through life with minor issues. But I am in awe at His power and the strength we can pull from that connection with Him. And I know that my mom's fate and her life will carry on as a testiment of God's grace and the fact that He is alive and here.

All we can do is hold on to what we know and that is that God is good and though we don't understand everything He does or the time in which He does it, God is still good. I long to be an encouragement to the Wall family today and the long days to come. My heart hurts today.*

Easter Egg Art

I'm in tradition mode. I'm a sucker for those moments that make life memorible and faithfully reminiscent each year. Being as this weekend is Easter, celebrating with the munchkins was a top priority. Soooo... Tuesday night, 'Uncle warren' and 'Auntie Cyndy' went over to Dave & Mel's to paint Easter eggs with the girls. It was great. Maybe we can make this a yearly event. Mikayla was very maticulous and careful with her decorating (aahhhh...that's my little artist!) and Brookie kept trying to lick them all. Hee hee. It was a really fun evening.

Phone Calls, Soggy Cupcakes and Castles

Well........what a birthday!!!! What a stinkin' sweet birthday!!! Friday, March 30th marked my 26th year in this world, as we know it. And what a shabang it was.

I went to work and (of course) my mom called me from Ontario and sang not one, but two verses of Happy Birthday over the phone...Oh my! Can we say "Oma"??? For those of you who didn't know my Oma Hildebrand (my mom's mom) when she was alive, my mom is becoming ridiculously similar to her in most everything she does as time goes on. It's very funny, actually.

Following the scerenade, I was called from my office out front where I found my little nieces, Mikalya and Brooklyn greeting me with a cupcake with a single lit candle on top. I melted. Kayla's eyes were huge and she looked so excited. Well, needless to say, the two munchkins devoured my treat, leaving only a few soggy morsels at the bottom of the container for me. It was great! What a boost to my already fun day.

Then, once I got home from work, Warren called me on his way home and told me to pack my overnight bag.....we were spending the night at the Bes, in Saskatoon. WWWOOOOOWWWW!!!

What a treat!! So, off we went and enjoyed a fine evening of fine dining downtown (2nd Ave Grill), hot tubbing and watching movies in our room. It was very romantically unexpected and I was over the moon. What a day!!! What a happy, happy birthday!!! Now, if only I could be queen every day....*