March break.

We are home after almost a week away and it feels so good. There really is nothing more comforting than home and regular routines. Being away for a while makes me appreciate our normal that much more. That being said, we did have a wonderful time away, seeing relatives that we do not get to see very often. The kids had fun with close-in-age cousins and I honestly could not have asked for a better week. The kids' behaviour was great, and it was great to spend time with my in-laws.

What we did:

Lucas and I played Scrabble with his mom, one in which he soundly beat us, causing us to call for a rematch, which was much more fair. (Translation: He didn't beat us that time.)

I got to shop with the mother-in-law and sisters-in-law.

The boys got to go to Zigzag Zoo, which is the place to go when you're five and six. An indoor playground with a cousin you never get to see? Heaven.

We got to visit Candy and Matt and the boys' had a blast trading hockey cards with Matt!

We had an adults only chocolate fondue at Marie's on Friday night!

We visited a sugar shack, a museum, went to a birthday party, played in Uncle Arnold's barn (not me), played lots of games and ate lots of food (sweet bread and almond squares were high on my list).

In general, an all round great week with family. Surprisingly we took a few pictures. Very unlike us, but we did manage to make ourselves take at least a few shots. Here are some:

Amelia and her cousin Maddie (Emma is on the left)

Nicholas and Jacob and their best cousin, Neil
I wish we lived closer together for their sakes!
These three get along so well!

It was so fun to see Ceek!

Grandma and Amelia

Grandpa and Amelia

Me, Candy, Marie, and Ruth :)

As we were getting ready to leave Saturday morning, Lucas was downstairs packing (I think the kids were with him) and Lucas' mom was in her sewing room, his dad was already gone to Toronto. So it was just me in the livingroom and I decided to go downstairs and do a last check and take some stuff to Lucas that had been laying around. I grabbed the stuff and walked confidently towards the (hardwood) stairs... but then I somehow lost my footing and my feet when out from under me and I went the rest of the way down the stairs on my back. Only five or six steps, but they are hard. And I am big. I sat on the bottom step and cried, OW! From a very great distance away, it seemed, I could hear Lucas and his mom come running to me from their respective places in the house. (Lucas told me later that my fall had been very loud.) I could hear Lucas in a slow motion voice (or maybe my shocked brain only made it sound that way) going, "Oh no. Oh no. No," as he came running towards me. I could hear his mom going, "Don't move! Don't move!" I wanted them to know I was (relatively) okay, "Nothing's broken, I'm just really bruised!" I wailed. I have vague recollections of Lucas and the boys hugging me and Lucas' mom rubbing anti-bruising cream all over my arm. Now, the whole right side of my body feels wrenched and sore and I have huge bruises on my derriere and arm. (One bruise is very light, probably where the cream went, but the others are hideously purple. Well, I wasn't about to start slathering cream on my behind now, was I?)

That is my story. Also, later that day, I almost slipped and fell in mud at Tim Horton's going in, and going out I missed a step on the sidewalk and almost fell again. I also banged my head getting into the car at one point. Klutzy much? Either that or I have some kind of disease that is wrecking my coordination skills. 

Well, I guess our vacation went out with a bang! Har har.

His eye is on the sparrow.

I sometimes wonder what Mary was thinking when the angel came to her. From the outside, it seems she was full of faith and her only question was a logical one, not one of doubt. How can this be, since I do not know a man? I'm sure she did have a very strong faith in God, otherwise He would not have chosen her. Still, she was only a young girl. She would have known right away how this was going to reflect on her. She knew she could easily be stoned for being pregnant out of wedlock. She knew the shame, ridicule, and shunning that would come her way once people found out. All this is huge. These are all things that most of us would shy away from. Was there a little piece of her heart that quaked in fear? Did she tremble at the harsh words she would have to face? Did she wonder if Joseph would reject her when he found out? I don't doubt for a minute that she was thinking all of this. She was only human after all. But I think she knew something that I would do well to remember: She knew that God was in control. Mary knew that God would never have asked this of her if He did not already have all the details figured out. Yes, Joseph could very easily have wanted to have her stoned, but Mary knew that God wasn't going to let the mother of His Son die. She knew that God wouldn't give her this enormous task without also giving her the strength to get through it. And so she had peace.

How much I can learn from this! My tendency is to fret and stew and when I'm done, fret and stew some more. One time, before my uncle got saved, he said he was questioning God and he was in so much turmoil, but he could sense God's peace through it all. He describes it like a hurricane, with all the angst and fear swirling round and round, but in the middle - the eye of the storm - he could see Jesus and whenever he looked at Him, he felt peace. This is how it is for me sometimes. All of my fear, anxiety, and what have you make me feel so disquieted, but underneath it all, if I let myself really be still, I feel peaceful. It is there, I just don't always let myself feel it. He is there. God is control. He knows the future, he knows the past, and He is here, right now.

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,

Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,

When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

I sing because I’m happy,

I sing because I’m free,

For His eye is on the sparrow,

And I know He watches me.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,

And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;

Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,

When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,

I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.