Everyone look up....

The first picture is one of no one looking at me (with the camera)...except Matt.  He saw me and heard my voice, I'm thinking, and stood looking at me with a huge smile while everyone else did their own thing.

Finally, we managed to get the whole gang looking at the camera (except one independent sort in the back row who was looking for his buddy)...and here we are, me included, celebrating The Year of the Dragon 2012.

The Studs and Peelers team made some cash from the event too, which was wonderful for the Cancer Society Relay for Life cause!

Happy New Year, to all the Chinese folks we know!

Yet another New Year...

Monday is the Chinese New Year.  We have three folks in our office directly from China and one person of Chinese descent.  That should be good enough to have a celebration!

So we will have a luncheon together at noon....Canadian Chinese food.  A dollar from each person attending will go to our Relay for Life team.  A good deal all around.

It is the year of the Water Dragon, I believe....well, Dragon for sure...not positive about the water.

In a city of multi-ethnicities, we most likely could celebrate one thing or another every other week!

But tomorrow, we shall wear something red, eat Chinese food with a knife and fork and open up our fortune cookies to see what good thing will happen to us this year.

"Happy New Year" to Baosheng, Xilin, Cynthia and Xianhua!!!

An anniversary...of sorts...

This exact time, last year, I was in excruciating pain.  I had just fallen on my knee cap.

One year later and many, many hours of physio rehab, a few buckets of tears, loads of doctors appointments, X-rays, MRI and specialist appointments, I can walk normally....on flat surfaces at least...most of the time.  Climbing stairs still is very painful and at times shooting pains fly across my inner knee but other than that, I can walk without crutches, cane or leg support.  No ice packs every 45 minutes, no leg elevation, no pain while sleeping, AND I can turn over in bed pretty effortlessly.

What an amazing difference a year can make.

And this "accident" has been a bit like a major happening in my life....enough for me to remember it all today.  It gives me a new perspective on pain and also an appreciation for the lack of it...although we are quick to take that for granted when it occurs over a long period of time.

So, I shall make this my little anniversary, of sorts.  I will make it a time to reflect on how intricate our bodies are and when they aren't functioning at normal capacity, it can make us a bit uneasy.  My body has healed quite well and I am thankful. 

This anniversary also makes me a little more cautious about how I walk on ice!

So, be careful out there my friends.  I think too, I have made a name for myself at work and hearing others speak of the accident I have heard the comment, "Remember the fall!"  Many connotations to that! :)

Worth mentioning...

Just in case you didn't catch the weather forecast:

Wind chill warning in effect. Tonight a few clouds. Wind up to 15 km/h. Low minus 37. Extreme wind chill minus 49 overnight.

Wednesday

Sunny. Wind becoming west 20 km/h near noon. High minus 26. Extreme wind chill minus 50.

Wednesday night

Clear. Low minus 32. 

So keep those woolies on, stoke up the stove, cook up some fine spicy drink (preferably with several shots of rum), sit back with a good book and enjoy the next few days...indoors.

As for me, I shall brave the elements like a crazy Saskatchewan person and venture out to work in the morning.  There should be a law......

Like an old shoe...

I like it when those I love become as comfortable around me as an old shoe.  No reason for shining it up or taping up the sole.  It just fits well.  It shapes around my foot like it was molded to it.  It's a good feeling.

I like it when my children are comfortable in my home too.  They sit how and where they like.  They talk...or not.  They help themselves to whatever is around for them to eat or drink.  They do whatever they wish.  I like that.

We haven't had Matt live with us for a very long, long time, and it's good to have him around for a season.  He feels comfortable with us here, I think.  We enjoy having him stay and live and just be...with us. 

So, tomorrow,  they will all be home for supper.  Small things please me!

Snow is forecast too, in the next few days.  That will be good...snow in January is comfortable too.  Snow seems to fit January like a glove and they move together as one on the shimmering dance floor of winter with a great deal of grace and beauty in the rhythm of the season.

Take heart.  January is close to being half over...for this year.  Now we look to Valentine's Day....

Availability....and Epiphany...

Seems like Jesus was always available to folks.  Even if they were busy, preoccupied or disliked, he simply said he was coming over to visit and have a chat (as was the story with Zacchaeus, the short tax collector who had to climb a tree to see where Jesus was in the crowd because he wanted to tell Jesus he was selling his goods and giving half of it to the poor, and anyone he had cheated, he was going to pay back...it was an "epiphany" moment, I think, for Zaccheaeus...he recognized God in Jesus and it made him act like some kind of radical!!...who in their right mind, especially a tax collector in those days, would seek out those whom he had cheated just to pay them back????)

Today is Epiphany Sunday....the day the church celebrates the fact that some learned men from an eastern country came to where Jesus was, as a small child, and brought gifts to him, and recognized him as a king...not a king from their own country but "The King".  It was enough to get them to travel for a very long time and an extremely long way just to acknowledge this particular child.  It must have been an "epiphany" moment when they too, recognized God in Jesus.

I like to think about those visits....the wise men and their visitation to the child, Jesus, and especially the visit that Jesus made to the house of Zacchaeus during his ministry here on earth.  We aren't always ready to receive company...you know, the house is a mess, haven't dusted in two weeks, dishes are unwashed in the sink, the bathroom towels need changing, not to mention that toilet bowl!!!  Are we EVER ready to receive company????really?????  When Jesus says he coming over, there's no time for all that preparation.  He simply comes.  Because he's coming to see US, to talk, to let us know some things and to tell us not to worry about unimportant stuff. He comes to listen and comfort and simply 'be'.

I know that Advent is a time of preparation, to prepare ourselves for the coming of God into the world but I believe that to be an inward preparation, getting our hearts ready and soft and pliable in order that something gentle and good can come in and dwell.  But the times when God simply comes over, knocks on our door, we open it and invite him in....those are 'epiphany' moments...we recognize who we are and who He is and how God's love in us and through us and around us just flows...back and forth, until we become one with God and his Spirit.

It's all a mystery.

I don't know how it happens.

But when it does, it becomes an epiphany....that moment that says "Aaaahaaaaaaaaa....now I see!!!!"

Getting back to the availability stuff, ya, Jesus always seemed to be available to folks.  I want to be like that.  I want to be able to be so in tune to others that I know their need before it is expressed and I want to be available, totally, to them.

When son was asked how long he would be staying here in P.A., his response was "indefinitely".  He has learned the art of being available.  He sees a need and goes wherever the need is and makes his life available to those who need a listening ear, a word of wisdom, a moment of encouragement.  Being available is a gift to others!!

So, I pray that you and I would recognize those epiphany moments in life and allow them to change us from the inside out...

Sleep well.....

Knock, knock...'Who's there?"

"Wooda"......

"Wooda who?"

"Wooda figured it was spring by the amount of folks wearing shorts outside!"

Ya.  Just totally crazy and bizarre.

Not that we all don't want a short winter.

I'm just thinking of spring and what we will need for growing crops and thinking of those nasty Mountain Pine beetles getting a grip on those poor unsuspecting jack pine in our forests.  We need some mighty cold weather to squeeze the life out of those pesky little fellows.

So my thoughts have been turning to spring......how quickly we forget (Christmas)......

Happy New Year...

Well it's a new year. Couldn't even stay up to ring it in. Flu bug has taken over my body and I have no control over it!

I'm writing from my Blackberry...resting in bed trying hard not to get dizzy

Hope your year is starting out well:)