Girl Interrupted

By Michelle (Graceful, Faith in the Everyday)

Obedience. What do you think of when you hear the word obedience? My dad was a sergeant major in the Army for 37 years, so for me, the word obedience conjures images of obeying the barked command, “Michelle! Get your head outta your duffle bag!”

St. Benedict, I’m learning, had a different view. As I methodically make my way through a book called St. Benedict’s Toolbox: The Nuts and Bolts of Everyday Benedictine Living, by Jane Tomaine (stay tuned for more on this topic; during Lent I’ll be writing a Blogging Benedict series), I came across an intriguing interpretation of the word obedience.

"I read somewhere a long time ago that life happens in the interruptions," writes Tomaine. "Interruptions are opportunities to practice obedience."

As a mother to two young boys, my life is a constant stream of interruption. No matter what I’m doing – writing, reading, cleaning, cooking, dressing, eyebrow plucking – I am interrupted. "Mommy! I’m thirsty!" "Mommy, can you wipe my bum?" "Mommy, come look at the cardinal!" "Mommy, can you read me a book?" Frankly these endless interruptions make for a fragmented, disjointed existence.

Click to read more ...

Happy Birthday, My Love

By MAD21

Hi friends. Just wanted you all to know that my hubby turns 45 today! Wish him a happy day will ya? And pray his next year is filled with healthy days, joy, blessings and lots of opportunities to share the many ways that God has blessed him.

I love you hon. I'm glad to have celebrated the last ten of your birthdays together. Praying we get to celebrate many, many more.

Blizzard 2010 Day Three

By MAD21

After two and a half days of shoveling our property and helping our neighbor's, we finally got to get in some play time today.

Unfortunately, the snow is still too powdery to build much of anything. My oldest had decided she wanted to try and build igloos this time, but when we found out the the snow was so dry, we knew that wasn't going to happen. So we settled for building a snow cave, two actually. We decided we should build 'condos' for each of the girls.

Click to read more ...

Blizzard 2010

By MAD21

Well, I am happy to report that we survived the storm. I can only give an estimate as to how much we actually got at our house, but it was well over two feet.

We spent the entire day yesterday trying to find our driveway, dig out hubby's car, and start on the sidewalks. We also went down and helped two other neighbors. Thankfully, one of them brought their snowblower down to our house and helped us find the end of our driveway, which of course, will go totally missing again once the snow plows begin work in our development--I'm wondering where all that snow from the road is going to go.... I'm guessing we will have huge mountains lining our roads...

The screens on the windows were covered when we woke up, and the snow was piled up against the sliding door on the deck. All of our bushes were just covered in heavy snow.

Click to read more ...

The Olympic Torch Is Coming To My Town February 2nd!!

By Kevin (Shooting the Breeze)

This Tuesday, the Olympic torch will make an appearance in Port Hardy, BC as it makes its way to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics on February 12^th.  The torch began its 106 day journey on October 30^th, 2009 from Victoria, BC.  I happened to be there that day!  Here is a short video of some of the pictures that I took:

Here are some fun facts about the torch relay:

Click to read more ...