Happy New Year!

Goodbye 2007 & Hello 2008!

I can't believe that it is already 2008! This past year seemed so quick and yet so long at the
same time. I am ready for a new year - I am praying that 2008 will be the year that Ronel joins me here in BC, and tonight we are one step closer to that, I finally found my tax stuff so that I can file my taxes and get my needed paperwork to be able to file THE papers! (Ronel's immigrations paperwork)

It was totally God that I found them tonight. I was so upset as I couldn't find them but knew they had to be somewhere! So, I decided that I wasn't going to go out tonight, well good friends of mine weren't okay with that ( I had plans with them) and so we talked about it and I finally agreed that I would go later (like 10ish) which would give me time to still look and J talked about how I couldn't hide away from friends just because I was upset & frustrated that the paperwork still wasn't filed, but that I needed friends at a time like this. Unfortunately, this was true but I (yes, me & my fleshly stupidity!) needed to feel like I had actually done something in 2007 towards getting Ronel here and I was upset & crying and I kind of cried out to God, okay please let me find them before 9pm so that I can go and have a good time and not be depressed & grumpy! I started looking through a "makout" (A Haitian woven basket) that I have random stuff in, that I have looked through atleast 5 times (seriously!) and I went through it piece by piece looking closely at each item and I found an envelope that was LABELED (what - have I been blind! ) 2006 Tax stuff - T4, T4A & Tithe receipt. I mean how much clearer could it be! I almost started crying again, but this time with happiness!

I have beaten myself up so much over this stupid tax stuff and reminding myself that each day I didn't find it was one less day that Ronel's medical was valid for. But thankfully God is bigger than this, He is bigger than immigration paperwork, He is bigger than my humanness! (And I am thankful for that!) I was again reminded tonight that God knows what He is doing and He has never let me down and He isn't going to let me down this time! I am so thankful that I am not doing this on my own! I am surrounded by great friends who are SO supportive and so understanding,I have my family who look forward to the day Ronel can be a part of our daily life, I have a great church family who are so caring and I have this amazing Heavenly Father who just continues to bless me!

Going into this new year had really made me think (and having had this past week off has given me lots of time to do my thinking!) and I need to be more positive in the new year when I think about this whole "waiting" process! I have let it get me down too often and I know that it doesn't help my overall health (emotional, spiritual & even physical) I have had so much on my plate this year and have let myself get depressed and overly emotional and I don't want to enter 2008 like that. I want to stand tall and follow the path that God has set before me.

Please be praying with me as I pray about what God wants me to be doing this year - personally, in ministry & with this immigration process. I would like to plan a trip to see Ronel sometime this year but would much rather go and be able to bring him back - so knowledge about timing and if I am to go twice, then for funds for that to happen!

Well, HAPPY NEW YEAR to you! (Haitian time!! ) I am off to get ready to go celebrate with friends and get excited about what the new year has in store~

Oh and I almost forgot - Ronel asked me to wish you all Bon Ane! We spoke today for a very wonderful 32 minutes! and I am about to call him and welcome in the new year with him! (On his time not mine so that he doesn't have to be awake at 3am!!)

Photos are a few of my favourites and are all taken in Haiti!

An answer!

So I went and saw the doctor on Thursday again about my arm again. Turns out that I have epicondylitis better known as tennis elbow and I have calcium deposits in my elbow (these showed up on the x-ray I had done in November) - below is a paragraph from another site explaining what causes tennis elbow

"Tennis elbow occurs when their is damage to the muscles, tendons and ligaments around the elbow joint and forearm. Small tears, called micro tears, form in the tendons and muscles which control the movement of the forearm. They cause a restriction of movement, inflammation and pain. These micro tears eventually lead to the formation of scar tissue and calcium deposits. If untreated, this scar tissue and calcium deposits can put so much pressure on the muscles and nerves that they can cut off the blood flow and pinch the nerves responsible for controlling the muscles in the forearm."

We're still now sure what caused this, my doctor doesn't think this is related to my arm injury last March as it is a different part of the arm but I am not totally sure about that! My x-rays also showed that I am having muscle spasms in my neck which is causing the pain I have been experiencing in my neck. I have to go to physiotherapy for both my neck & elbow now and I am on anti-inflammatory pills and have a brace for my elbow to help with the pain. I do notice a big difference in my pain levels when wearing the brace and am hoping the pills will also help with the pain. They did help the first time around but not long term, so we will see! I did get a prescription with 5 refills for a total of 360 pills and am taking them twice a day which means I'll be taking them till July!

I am so thankful to finally have an answer about why I have been in so much pain but am asking for prayer that my elbow will be healed and I will not need the pills, the brace or the physiotherapy!

Snow!

A really cute site where you get to make your own snowflakes & it is always snowing!

To all...

I pray that you have a very wonderful Christmas and
that we all remember the reason that we celebrate this season.

I pray that 2008 be a year filled with God's love
& His richest blessings for each one of you!

Merry Christmas!

I fixed it!

My camera that is! It "broke" last March at a conference I was attending when it slipped from my hand while open and fell on the lens and the lens wouldn't move - I couldn't zoom or close the camera. I could turn it on & off but the lens was always extended. I couldn't take detailed photos, but could take like distance photos of landscape and such. Today, when I wanted to take photos of the SNOW we got overnight, I decided to try and see if I could bend the lens back. I had been told to try this by the store I bought it, but when we had tried, it didn't work. I don't think I was using enough force, probably cause I was scared to break it more!! Now, just in time for Christmas, I have a fully functional camera! YEAH! I even took a quick photo of my sister & her fiance to see if it took good portraits again and they are fully in focus and I am so happy! Merry Christmas to me!


I hope you all are enjoying the Christmas season & that it is filled with God's love!

Download Legally–Don’t Be a Pirate!

Digital Piracy is a big deal. In the short time that I have been digitally scrapbooking, I have seen NUMEROUS blog posts and comments about not sharing the download links to designer's work. Free or not, it is still the designer's product and if someone can't go to the proper website to do whatever is needed to get the download link, then they don't deserve the link. Today I saw this post which is trying to show support for the designers and raise awareness that sharing download links & product is SHOPLIFTING/STEALING and it is not okay!

There is a whole blog dedicated to stopping Digital Piracy. Check it out and see what you can do to help stop it!

yummy

So I finally made it to Choices Market I have been meaning to go since my diagnosis this past May. Mom & I went yesterday on my day off. I went up and down every aisle and noted prices of items I knew I could get other places. Choices has a rice bakery with a ton of GF items and so I purchased some to try. I bought Rice Pecan Tarts, Rice Chocolate Cookies, and Brown Rice Multiseed Bread from the bakery. I then also bought some frozen items like a GF pizza, more GF waffles, a package of Pamela's Products Baking & Pancake Mix so that I can bake my own GF foods and also make GF waffles!

My favourite item that I found was the Brown Rice Lasagna noodles! Tonight I made GF Lasagna and I don't think that anyone would have been able to tell that the noodles were not wheat noodles! It was delicious and I enjoyed it SO MUCH! Lasagna is/was my favourite food and I thought that I would not be able to enjoy it anymore and now I can! There was quite a variety of brown rice pastas available at Choices and I like that I can now have more than just elbow pasta & spaghetti!

I also found GF gravy mix! I hadn't been able to find one anywhere else and this will allow me to have gravy at Christmas and any other time without worrying if people are making it with cornstarch or a flour mix or with a package that is almost sure to have flour or some other form of gluten in it!

Buying GF isn't cheap but knowing that I can buy GOOD tasting items is worth every penny! Last night I tried one of the Pecan tarts with a rice crust and it was delicious! I have tried a rice crust pie and it was horrid! It left a gross aftertaste in my mouth and so I was a little nervous about these but I love butter/pecan tarts so I figured I would try them, especially with the holiday season coming up and wanting to have things that I knew I could have on hand for when non-GF desserts are served.

I did look at Save-on-Foods today and some of the Bob's Gluten Free Red Mill items are available there and slightly cheaper (and S-O-F's is a lot closer to home!) I haven't tried any of Bob's GF mixes yet but will one day. Bob's also carries a bunch of GF flours for making my own flour mixes and making pretty much whatever I want. That is not something I am up to yet, but would like to try experimenting one day.

I won't be making trips down to Choices every week but I think that I will be going probably every 4-6 weeks and stocking up on the pastas & the baking mix and treating myself to some baked goods that will last me a couple of weeks. (I am hoping to figure out how to freeze some of the baked items so that I can make them last longer and it is more of a treat - the pecan tarts for example were 3 for $3.49 which is more than a $1.10 per tart! I'd like to make them last a while!)

This makes me feel better about living a gluten free life and not missing out on some of my favourite foods!

Have a great day!!

paperwork update & random thoughts

Well, I received the final papers that I needed from Ronel. I now just need to get my taxes filed and get my notice of assessment back so that I can file. This is the first year that I haven't filed early and now it is coming back to bite me!

I am very thankful to everyone who was involved in getting the paperwork out to me from Haiti. This has been a huge blessing to Ronel and I.

December 1st marked a year since I last saw my hubby in person. I remember quite well last Dec. 1st - saying goodbye to my husband of only 20 days not knowing when I would see him again. This post and this post were my last two posts written in Haiti last year just before I left.
This year I did make it to the church's adult Christmas dinner (didn't make it last year because my flight from Washington D.C. was delayed for 3.5 hours! - this meant that the friends who had come down to pick me up also missed the dinner!)

This has been a hard couple of days - knowing that it has already been a year since I saw Ronel and knowing that it will be a while still. I miss Ronel, I want to be able to spend Christmas with my husband - our 2nd Christmas as a married couple and our 2nd one apart. I am so thankful that we are so much closer to filing the paperwork.

sorry if this post seems disconnected or just completely random. My brain is not completely functioning.

It has been a crazy weekend - we got almost a foot of snow in a 36 hour period over Saturday & Sunday, I spent the night last night at my sister's so that I would be closer to work in case the snow didn't stop and then came a Pineapple Express with a ton of rain! The forecast for today was for 100 mm of rain (10 cm or I believe 4 inches) I don't know the actual rainfall but it seems like that much if not more!

Today was also a Professional Day for all Delta schools which meant a field trip today with 31 children (and 4 staff) to Science World which was a ZOO today. There were 4 or 5 school groups there as well and it was so busy. And to top it all off, we arrived back at the centre to find the power out! I hope that tomorrow is easier - it is another Professional Day and we are off to Watermania to swim.

okay - off to pack my lunch and get ready for bed!

the view

from my window is WHITE! It is snowing and has been since 3am this morning. We had snow on Monday as well but only in the afternoon and it only lasted one day. This time it is supposed to snow today & tomorrow!! While I don't mind the snow, I don't like the icy roads and the FREEZING temperatures! It is currently -2C but the feel like temp is -9C

It is also ONE YEAR ago that I last saw Ronel. I wish that I could say he would be here soon, but no such luck! I am waiting on the papers that I needed Ronel to sign and my Notice of Assessment for this year and then I can send in the paperwork. Please continue to pray for this whole process and for Ronel & I as it is getting more and more difficult to be apart.