It's 8:27am

I shouldn't be up. I'm on vacation. I haven't managed to sleep past 9am, and even that morning I actually woke up in the neighborhood of 6am and desperately tried to go back to sleep. I'm on vacation and I'm worried because I haven't managed to find my sleep groove. Sleeping has never been one of my specialties but this is ridiculous.

In other vacation news, I've actually been quite productive. Or maybe 'busy' is a more suitable word. I've single-handedly assembled a free standing hammock and one of those swingy benches. Upon further inspection of the swing instructions I discovered that it read "Requires at least 2 people for assembly" and then I felt like a bit of a man. I mean, it would have been nice to have someone else there to make the process more entertaining but I managed. A girl who wants a swing will not let measely instructions stop her! Now if I could just get Juan, the pool boy, to hurry up with that mojito...

Horror of all horrors, I also went swimsuit shopping. I mean, it was the "I went to Swim Co." swimsuit shopping...I wasn't messing around. I walked in there and I felt my stomach turn as I spied with my little eye a gaggle of tanned tarts configured by the back. Since there was no way I was letting any of them help me, I thought I was on my own in the big, cruel world of swimsuits. But then this kind-eyed pixie of a girl came to help me and I could tell she wasn't like the rest-I bet they shunned her because she had heart-and so I let her help me. She was fantastic! I actually felt alright by the time I got out of there. But since we're suppose to feel severely bad by the time we make a purchase of this callibre, I decided to head to the Body Shop and I treat myself to some new perfume. And then later I treated myself to Feist 'Open Season' (album of remixes and now my soundtrack of summer).

This weekend is jam packed with goodness and then we leave for the island on Tuesday to visit my Nana and Papa which will be relaxed goodness. Ahh, hello summer, long-awaited old friend!

School's out for summer

Wow! What a magical mystery tour these past couple months at school have been! I've actually learned a few things along with the children...things about planets (Saturn's not the only one with rings!), bees (can we say proboscis?), fairy tales (there's over 700 versions of Cinderella), and kick-the-can (it had been so long that I forgot how to play). The children have taught me. They have taught me about humility, childlike prayer, and the blessings of a simpler faith. Today was the finale...until the grand re-opening in September.

Today I got a few gifts from the kids and I am still absolutely shocked by their thoughtfulness. Seriously, I've only been there about a month and a half! I've never been very good at opening gifts infront of large groups of people. I'm more a one-on-one gal where I feel I more sincerly express my joy and thanks...the large group and gift thing makes me feel awkward and nervous! So I was relieved that I didn't have to open anything infront of the class. I got an always welcome Starbucks card (you know who you are...thank you woman after my own heart!) and I'll put that to good use. Although coffee touches me, it was what was written inside that put a smile on my face a spring in my step:) And I got a potholder and oven mitt (ask me later). And a sweet little girl gave me gerber daisies! I let her know that they were one of my favorite flowers and that I had a vase at home that was special to me that I was going to put them in. The excited smile on her face when I told her that was more than enough.

And that concludes my rant on "A Couple of Months in Grade 2 Does a Soul Good". Here's looking at Grade 3 kids...cheers!

Things I prayed for

Today in class the wee one's did 'passing prayer' where they pray and then tap their neighbor when they are done to pass the prayer along. I love it when children pray. It's one of my favorite things. It always keeps me on the edge of my seat to hear what they will chat to God about. Today was no different.

They thanked God for candy and asked that their mosquito bites would be healed. They prayed for people "on the other side of the world", that they would be safe and that God would heal them and give them what they need. They asked for healing for friends and family. They thanked God for sending Jesus. They praised Him for all that He has given them. The one that struck me today was a girl who said "And thank you God that You are going to keep us safe today when we go on our fieldtrip".

Did you catch that? "That You are going to keep us safe..." When He said "Oh you of little faith" it doesn't seem that He was talking to the children. I can't remember the last time that I thanked God in advance for what He would do in my life. Now I find myself in a place where I'm looking back over the past 10 months and seeing how perfectly God has orchestrated where I am. Things have come together in these past 2 months like I never thought they could. I was asking for scraps and He was setting me a place at His banqueting table. Now that I'm here I am flabbergasted. Now that I'm here I would not trade those rough 8 months for 8 fantastic ones because everything is so much sweeter now having come out the other side. I appreciate it because I know I don't deserve any of it but that my God loves me and gifts me and blesses me with more than what I deserve.

It's been humbling and amazing and I thank God for what He is going to do.

As fast as a speeding sliver

Sorry faithful blog readers! I know I haven't been all that great at this the past bit but real life just moves way too fast and I don't want to miss out on the fun. There has been a plethora of random and weird these past few days. I need to get my butt in gear to go to work and I'm having some difficulty typing as I'm sort of down a digit so this'll have to be a quicky.

This weekend was filled with English Bay (the beach 2 nights in a row, I'm in heaven) and counting cars up at Thornhill. And then there was the cupcakes from Cupcakes on Denman. If you've never had them, you don't know what you're missing. It's never tasted so good to be so bad:) And we danced our cares away, worries for another day, let the music play, down at Fraggle Rock. TV was so fantastic when I was a child!

And then last night we got offered dope (their words, not mine...I always thought calling it 'dope' sounded lame...maybe because it is) on the pier at Rocky Point after some large-ish cueball-headed men informed us that there was a Bible belt in Maple Ridge while we were discussing the Stanley Cup (it's coming our way, thank you Andrew Ladd). I responded "There is?" and Mike told them "Yeah, it stretches all the way to Abbotsford". All this went down after I tried to stretch my back while sitting on the pier and ended up jamming a sliver under the nail of my right index finger. It went halfway up my nail. That hurt. And that's how I'm sort of down a digit because this morning it hurts too much to use. The only alright part is that you can see the track of the sliver still because it bled. Hey, if a stupid sliver hurts this much I don't want people to think I'm making this stuff up.

So much more I could write but I type with 2 fingers as it is and this getting ridiculous. Hope that's enough random to keep all y'all entertained for the time being.

Yes Officer!

So, as of late I've found myself in that space of blogger-ness when I have much to blog about and nothing to blog about, all at the same time. Much Ablog About Nothing? Not quite what the situation is-actually not at all-but I'll roll with it because, hey, it's not everyday when you can spin the Bard to your liking. And we all know it's been awhile since I've posted (my sincere apologies Magnificant M, I'll try not to let it happen like this again).

I won't recount Pitt Meadows Day because Heather's already done that and I don't want to deal with the grief I'll get if I do that. That coupled with the fact that she did a fantastic job. I will say that in the midst of all the festivities Mike and I dropped by our friends house to help celebrate her 7th birthday. It was great and cake like that doesn't come around everyday (neither do kids that cute...they're in my top 10). Ahh, to be 7 again. I don't remember significantly large portions of it, but I know it was good and just knowing is enough.

There was Amanda's bridal shower this week. Good people, good times, sweet haul. I made cupcakes for it and the people there genuinely seemed to enjoy them. Maybe it was because they were decorated all pretty-like, but I'd just like to throw out a "Take that Manor party!" During the shower we played a couple of games and one involved finishing off proverbs of bygone days. The clincher happened when Heather read out "True love..." and Lindsay and I yelled out "Waits!" in perfect unison. People laughed at us, but I informed them that we were just by-products of Christian subculture. FYI: It's "True love conquers all" which has a more romantic and endearing ring to it than shouting out "Waits!".

The rest of my unblogging time has been spent hanging out and soaking up the greatness and fun of those around me.

I'll finish off my random post by drawing the title in at this point. So, the other day at school we were doing some fun things for a unit on bees invloving permanent markers. One of the boys got felt on his arm and went to wash it off except there was no paper towel so he came back to work with his partner and she exclaimed "You just got water on me!" To which he responded, with a sideways smirk, "Sorry officer." I laughed loud and long and hard.

Over and out big trucker.