Our Thanksgiving Together

We did have a great Thanksgiving weekend all together, and here are some pictures to show the beautiful autumn colors and the fun we had...up in Collingwood, ON. :)
Outside the cottage we rented.

Mark and James with the house in the background. It was so fun to wake up to everyone being crazy in the rest of the house....

Playing a card game outside for a while...so much fun.

On our hike in the beautiful outdoors. I sure love my man.

Doesn't that look amazing...it was so pretty.

Walking along.

To the far right was where we did a bunch of climbing around - behind the rock face.

Climbing around in a deep crevice with the girls. The guys were always around to save us. :)Three of the guys with their autumn colors. They matched quite well.

The beautiful sunset as we drove home after our turkey dinner with the Bostock family at their church. A lovely day.

Our First Thanksgiving

It is our first Thanksgiving together, and its a different one. We're really happy, and tonight we'll join the rest of our siblings up in Collingwood - a few hours north- at a rental cabin, and spend all of tomorrow with other friends up there, enjoying the fall colors and hiking around. We'll have the traditional turkey dinner too.
It is different though....I'm very happy, but I've had a few tears thinking about home and how I'm not there for the little traditions we had together. At the same time, I wouldn't want to be there, :) since then I wouldn't have James, and we are so happy together. I think it will be easier once we can have our own home and start our own traditions, decorate the house all pretty, and start having others over.
But for now, I'm just so thankful for all those special times at the old home, with more to come, and am so grateful to God for my family - all of them! My first family, and my new ones. I love you all....wish I could give you all a hug. But until Christmas, I'll just try to be patient. :) You are all so special to us, and we can't wait to see you.
One thing that is extra special this year, is that I have my wonderful husband, who is so amazing to me, and loves me just the way I am. I am so blessed. God is good.
~Happy Thanksgiving to all~

October's Happenings...

Just a few odd and ends pictures over October so far....
James signing his name on thank-you cards.... :)

Erin Coates and I at the Youth Conference at our church.

Me and my husband. The annual youth conference was on 'Living a Life of Holiness" - Integrity-Keeping it Real'. All the Heikoops did a bunch of work for that....they did a good job.

Juile and I - we had great talk together, and was nice to catch up once again.

It was so neat to see Mr. and Mrs. Collin again, here in Mount Pleasant.....

William's birthday on our Forth Month Anniversary. :) I did the cake and a game, and Heather had us all over, which was nice. Just a good evening.

The First Haircut

James really needed his haircut before going to the Burlington Market the next day, so I started off by trimming the back of his head, before we went and tried to get Dad to come and fix it. But, as soon as we did, we had unexpected company. Uncle Martin (Dad's brother) and Aunt Toni and their daughter and son in law stopped by. (which was great!) So of course Dad was busy, so back to the laundry room James and I went, and I kept going, all the while, while James is watching my actions in the mirror. :) It turned out really quite well, and James was happy. And it was my first time giving a guy a complete haircut. Andrew didn't let me go too far....I guess when you're desperate you do what you have to do. :)

Third Month Anniversary!

Three months came fast. :) We went up north, about three hours to Orillia, and borrowed one of Nelly's friend's cottage. It was so nice just to be us two for the weekend.

The little cottage on Lake Simcoe.Staring a fire to make it all warm and cozy.James canoeing...with our fruit salad on the bottom of the tippy canoe. :)

So thankful for each other.

September Activites.

We biked from Paris to Cambridge on the Long Weekend Monday which was great exercise. And September was also the end of soccer season...
On our way on our 35 km. bike ride with siblings and a couple friends...great day.

My man.

In Cambridge...where we ate at Applebees, and then bike partway back.

Before every soccer game, the team would pray together. Most of the team were believers.

The Heikoop guys and Shane Johnson. Good friend and worker in the church here.

The cheering squad! L- R: Shane Johnson's mom, his wife Shelly - expecting their fourth boy at the time, Diane, Nelly and me. We cheered for our guys...even if they lost a lot. :) It was still fun.

The soccer brothers.

Me and my favorite soccer player.

Moving Day...from our First Home.

We packed up during the day of, and the next day after Lana and Anthony's wedding. Needless to say, it was a crazy week, with the cake, work, the wedding, moving, cleaning the house, market and speaking that week. But God got us through as always. :)
Our last meal in the house...with cake pans for plans. :) Remember those Lisa? Those are the ones you picked up for me ages ago!

During a cleaning time I walked around taking some pictures - in a werid mood I believe. :) Cleaning will do that to you.

We had moved from the house for a couple week, leaving all our boxes in the sun room, but the owner eventually needed the space, so took a Whitebird truck, and Tim, Mark, James and I loaded all our earthly belongings up on pallets, and away they went. :)

Leaving our first home together, and off to the Windmill.

Lana and Anthony's Wedding

August 25th, 2008

Lana and Anthony, who went to our church were married, and had us do their wedding cake for them...so it was our first wedding cake duet. :) A bit stressful, as some ingredients had problems and other interesting moments occured, but we did it - thank-You Lord - and it turned out quite well. The little one was Carrot Cake (Grandpa's favorite recipe -thanks A-M!) and the next one was vanilla cake with strawberries, and the large one was chocolate.

The newlyweds. James played soccer with Anthony as well.

Outside while waiting for the reception to start. :) We planned our 'courtship story talk' that we were giving the next day, so that worked out well! :)

Pictures of August Life.

These are some pictures from Nelly's birthday, the sibling bike ride we did, and the canoe trip with a whole bunch of people. Fun times. :)

Nelly with her birthday trifle I made for her. Eating Chinese outside our house, just minutes before James tipped William into the pool, chair and all - (the one sitting nearest the pool on the chair. :)

The 'goodbye' moment for Nelly and Sarah from the Windmill.

But it was mostly a setup, to get the traditional goodbye send off from the Windmill bakers. :) Pie in the face. :)

After our bike ride.

Riding in the back of a Whitebird truck - after Henry picked us all and the bikes up.

Riding in the back of Brenden's pickup on the way to the drop off site to go canoeing.

On the bus - with William smiling in the background.

The group that went canoeing together. It was the same place where James and I rented kayaks when we went down the Grand River last September.

Another goodbye cake, this one that James and I did for Sarah....

Saying goodbye to Sarah -which was really sad.And to end the post...our last of two goldfish died... the poor thing. Oh well, at least we didn't have to think about feeding him, or changing his water. And I wanted the vase anyways. :) We finally gave him his name, although as we flushed him down the toliet...Lucky it was. :)