Hey Gayle and Glenda... recognize this gentleman??

For those of you who don't recognize him, this is Glenda and Gayle's older brother Geoff ..... man I love this picture of him!!!









This is Little Lake near Brighton.... the water was almost green today.... was quite beautiful!

I was inspecting today near Colborne..... was finished the inspection and was backing up to take a photo of the rear of the house... and I heard a rustling.......

and turned and this was what I saw.....

kinda made my spine tingle, actually!


ay yi yi!!!


after my last stop tonight, I stopped and visited an old friend..... emphasis on FRIEND, not on old!!

I've been threatening to tell a "septic/sewer" story...and THIS is the friend it is about!!




You will notice in Geoff's hand a rather large electronic device...

I'm not saying we're getting old... but would ya LOOK at the size of this remote???


I have GOT to get me one of these!!!!!! That thar's a jumbo remote!!

Making a bad day better....

Ever have one of those days??? that when you get to the end of it, you're totally spent??...

and you get frustrated and half freaked out cause there's another one of those days coming TOMORROW???

well.....I had one of those last week ........ and how God turned that day around for me, is ....to quote Paul Harvey, the rest of the story!

Though the day in question started out pretty decent, after 5 inspections, and nearly 575 kms.... I was spent..... the trip home from my last inspection took nearly 3 1/2 hours.

I was weary.... the more I drove, the more discouraged I got... mostly because I was thinking ahead to the next day...

If I am this tired NOW, how am I going to manage TOMORROW?????

It's no small wonder that Jesus wrote these words... He knew we'd need to hear them....." do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" ( Matt 6:34 )....

By the time I backed into my driveway, I was a mess.....I was frazzled, stressed, keyed up.... and ready to quit just about everything....

When I get like that, I start cutting things out of my schedule.... cancelling dinner dates, not showing up at concerts, or social events that'd I'd promised to go to.... I just start cutting things out of my life.....

As I walked into my townhouse, I grabbed the mail that had piled up while I was away... and this is what I saw :

A care package.........

do you know how long it has been since I got a care package????

About then, my kids happened along, having been dropped off at the door.... I hardly even noticed them .... I was busy opening the care package....

this is where the story gets interesting....

The blogging community in which we're in.... is like a family..... it's a support group, I suppose... it is for me.... sometimes it's support because I can write my frustrations, and vent...

other times, I can read other people's blogs... or look at their photos....

and sometimes, the support is from the encouraging comments....

either way you look at it, we are community.....you ... and me....

at some point in the last little while, I made some friends ..... within this community....

with a family: a mom and a dad, and five kids....that I don't know.... I can't tell you their names; and other than the city, I don't know where they live...... I don't know their email address....I don't know their phone number.....

but I know them, and we're friends !

I have learned a lot about them from the clues they've given in their comments..... and I've read and re-read the comments..... partly out of curiosity to try and figure out the demographics..... and partly out of pure vanity, cause the comments are encouraging!!!

I've learned things like the fact that they are Habs fans .... stellar people then, obviously!

I've learned that they all, the 5 siblings, live in one little house with their parents....

I've learned that their dad is fighting cancer......

I've learned that they frequent Tim Hortons a lot.... and not necessarily to buy.... but to collect discarded roll up the rim cups.... and I don't mind telling you that while I was frantically buying (and blogging about it ) and winning only 2 out of 27 , they collected discarded cups in Tim Horton's parking lots and on street corners.....

and not only did they clean UP God's green earth, but at last count, according to their comments, they'd won 11 times....

ELEVEN TIMES.............!!!

anyway... back to the care package....

.... in as much as the care package was anonymous, it wasn't...... there were enough clues to let me know it was from them..... my friends.....

That God knew, that I needed this, on the day that I got it.... was only something that God could do!

and what the package contained was the piece de resistance....

A Habs patch..... several encouragement cards, not the least of which was one that read " NEVER NEVER QUIT" ....wow!

Even the stamps echoed sentiment.... hockey players!!!

plus there were 2 roll up the rim cups.... both winners..... my 2 for 27 just went to 4!!!

I won a CAFE and a BEIGNE!!!!!!!!

and as I felt the stress and the "frazzle" fall away like sand through my fingers, I began to read the letter.......

.....

.....

and I cried......

click HERE.... so you can read it......

.....sigh....

To this day, I do not know how they got my address.... I may never know....

but what I DO know is this.....


that this has touched me deeply...... and has encouraged me in ways I have a hard time expressing....

It has taken me several days contemplating, wondering how to even write about it.....

I find it hard to explain the closeness that I feel.... it's hard to imagine being this connected to someone that I have never met....

and yet the closeness exists....

so to you, LPP, and to Prayingsensfaninmontreal..... and to your family....

Thank You..... Eternity will show you how much this has meant to me.


and to the rest of you reading this..... I say two things...

First.... I'd like you to introduce you to some very special people! as you read their comments, you'll realize just how special....

and second.... would you do something for me?? pray for their dad..... That God would heal him.... and take away his pain....



For this reason, I kneel before the Father
from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives it's name.

I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through His spirit in your inner being.

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

and I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide, and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to HIM be glory, in the church and in Christ Jesus,
through all generations, for ever and ever. Amen" Eph 3:14-21

Taylor

my son is 18 today... it is hard for me to imagine that 18 years have passed so fast.....

I printed several of these photos today and gave him a birthday collage of some of the memorable photos over the 18 years..

This is Taylor sitting in his gramma's favourite chair in Belleville This is Taylor, holding Isaac... in 2003.....

This is Taylor with his cousin Isaac... at the Mink's Corn Maze in October of 2006

Taylor with his cousin Jacob at the Jays game last summer

Taylor at another Jays game
Taylor and the 3 amigos at Bass Pro

Taylor impressing Isaac with some magic tricks!! Isaac loved the tricks!
The 3 amigos at the Jays Game


Taylor at 2 months old.... I love this photo....

Taylor in the receiving line at his Grade 8 grad.... The tie wasn't long in being undone after the ceremony was over!!

Taylor and some of his buddies at Grade 8 grad....


Taylor and Jakey shooting toy guns from the loft of the condo in Lindsay, 2003

Taylor's new pellet gun for his 17th birthday!

A Christmas pose in the condo in 2003 ....

Taylor and his new bass.... this is at my folks house in Belleville...

Taylor and his new pellet gun....

Here's Gramma trying it out !!! She nailed the pop can on the fence post, in case you wondered!!!

Taylor and Jakey at the cottage..... either 2001 or 2002 I think....

Taylor as flagman on the line at a CBA soccer tournament.....

Taylor and Jakey again... at the cottage....

Taylor airborne on the tube at the cottage in 2006

the 3 amigos at the Jays game with their "Big Hurt" figurine..... proof positive you have to get to the park EARLY on bobble head day!!!

Taylor taking Gramma for a ride after he got his G1 ....

Taylor in my car... we can't remember where we were going when this was taken.....

Talking to Gramma and Grampa after grade 8 grad.....
Taylor performing in the One Act Play in 2007 at BCI .....






Taylor at age 4, helping out around the farm in Belleville..... with my dad, ALden Learned and Bob Finlayson....

The 3 amigos playing war......
Taylor holding on to Youppi ...... this is my very favourite photo of him as a baby.. Youppi is the mascot in Montreal, was the baseball mascot when there was a team there..... sigh..

Hope you had a GREAT day Bud... I'm very proud of you and love you tons!!!

A chorus from my childhood

He owns the cattle, on a thousand hills,

The wealth in every mine

He owns the rivers, and the rocks and rills

The sun and stars that shine...

Wonderful riches more than tongue can tell

He is my Father, so they're mine as well..

He owns the cattle on a thousand hills

I know that He will care for me!