Musings

For me, my blog is something that is always there... somewhere that I can share my thoughts, family news and pictures, hopes, joys and dreams. I love having a record of what is going on in my life. One day I can look at a picture and say "I remember where that was taken". Something I would never remember otherwise. I love being able to share also what God has been doing in my life and different scripture verses that He has revealed to me.

Today my new laptop arrived in the mail! It will be great to have all my pictures and music together on the same computer. It will also add ease to blogging... being able to say things as they come to mind.

I love blogging... can you tell? (smile)

My life the past few months has been busy with work. I am working just over part time now since my boss has been slowly returning to work after the birth of her second little girl. I am continuing to enjoy learning new things about the health food business.

I have been spending a fair bit of time looking for and praying about College and University opportunities.. wow there are alot of options out there... I think this fall I will be continuing to live at home while going to school somewhere in Ottawa or taking an online course while still working. I have looked into nutrition but I am also looking into business as well. So many decisions! Your prayers would be kindly appreciated.

Well, I don't know about ya'll but I can't wait for spring to come! I can already smell the air after the first grass cutting, the smell of burgers grilling on the BBQ and driving to work with the windows down... hair blowing in the breeze... summer is the best!

It is "sapposed" to warm up the next few days according to the weather man... that would be great for all our friends and neighbours tapping trees for syrup!

What are you all up to this week? Wishing you a joy filled one!

Blessings,
Erin

Hello

It has been almost a month since I posted here, my little home on the web.

My days have been filled with working full time (and overtime) most weeks. Needless to say I have not had alot of free time! I have also had the joy of helping my cousin Natalie, her finance Nate and family prepare for their wedding day on December 30th. Busy days indeed. In the coming days I will be posting about her wedding shower.

Tomorrow Mom and I head off to Guelph for the weekend to attend her Bachelorette party.... should be a blast!

Scotty came home tonight from school for the Christmas break... it is great having the whole family back together again. I feel like Christmas has now begun :D

I am looking forward to sharing lots of pictures with you in the New Year. 'till then enjoy this season with your family and friends and always remember.... He is the reason for the season.

Peace,
-Erin

Natalie and Nate

On Friday July 15th my cousin Natalie and Nate became engaged. Nate drove 15 hours to surprise the love of his life with a ring and a question. Sounds like true love? It is.
Congratulations ! ! !

July 1st and More

Our Internet has been cutting out, on and off the past few weeks hence my lack of blogging! Soooo.... Happy Canada Day everyone! Canada day for me (and the day before) was spent doing inventory at work.... I can now honestly tell you that I know 99.99 of everything that we have in the store....

After I finished up inventory I joined Shawn and Scott at a Youth Group event that was going on at the Jahn's house. We had a swim and then drove over to see the fireworks in Almonte.

Last night we had long time friends of ours, the Poons over for a visit. We have known them since I was 6 months old! Gosh, suddenly I feel old...

They are moving from their home in Ottawa to Calgary this month so this dinner together was our last time together for a while. We are going to miss them. Dad travels to Calgary a few times a year so Mom and Dad will hopefully see them at different times. Chris is home from Hong Kong. He has been doing mission work there over the past 8 months.

Playing Apples to Apples (I lost badly)

Last Monday, Mom and I went to see Leah, Alexia and Lina for a few hours. Little Lina is getting so big! Here is sweet Alexia.

Yogurt is fun!

Baby Lina

Have a great week everyone!

Busy Days

The last few weeks have been filled with lots of different things going on.

Work has been going well. I have been getting more hours over the past month or so and am looking forward to getting more in the fall when my boss goes on maternity leave. I really enjoy working there - it's great talking to all the customers... no matter how much of a "health nut" they are!

Last week Scott and I helped my Aunt and Uncle's family move from their rental house into their new home. 9 - 12 people from their church came to help them move as well. With joined forces we were able to get the moving done smoothly and fairly stress free..

On Saturday, a few friends and I are going to a youth retreat in Ottawa "Under The Son". I'm really looking forward to it. There will be a blog post about it :)

It's great to be back blogging! I am hoping to do a blog post about my friend Louise who is right now walking across Canada in defense of life, with the Crossroads program.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Lamb's Down Park Festival

Today I had a table at the Lambs Down Park Festival in CP. I was representing The Granary there handing out samples, selling cold drinks, snacks and various other things . It was good experience and I enjoyed telling people about our store.

Beth's First Promises

Our friend (and my godmother) Elizabeth Scott, took her "First Promises" at Madonna House in Combermere Ontario, today.

Beth and her family
Beth with Fr. David May

Mary, Beth and Hannah

Mom, Scott and I were able to go

Congratulations Beth! We are so happy for you!

I hope you all enjoyed the lovely warm - sunny day today! I was working 9-5. I had to put the air conditioning on around lunch time today though, because the chocolate was melting! My Grandmother (on my Dad's side) is here for a visit this weekend. She came yesterday and is staying 'till Tuesday.

We are going to be celebrating Dad's 50th Birthday and my Aunt Gwen and Uncle Robin's 25th Wedding Anniversary on Monday afternoon. We thought we would have a double party now that we have more things to celebrate with them living here. (smile)

I will be back with more posts after the weekend! God bless.

Gardening

This morning I was working for a lady in Almonte weeding her flower gardens. I have been helping her for the past 3 years. After working there all morning I was inspired to go to the garden center to get some mulch and a few flowers to put in our little flower bed near our chicken coop. I'm looking forward to getting it all put together. When Scott gets home from school this week we are going to start working on the vegetable garden. How nice it is to see the sun shining!

Piano Recital

My last piano recital was on Saturday May 8th. My teacher Emily and I played a duet together for one of my pieces "Chariots of Fire theme for 4 hands". I also played "Twilight" by F. Caton (1901-1966).

Breaking News...

.... I got my G2 today!

Please Pray...

... for Mom and Dad as they travel back home tonight. They will be getting in quite late. Please pray that they are not too tired and that everything goes smoothly.

Dinner Conference, Scott's Concert, Tea Dance and More!

Last Thursday, my boss called and wondered if I would like to come to a dinner conference in Ottawa with her that evening. It was a very nice buffet dinner. While we were eating, a naturopath gave a talk for Natural Factors (a natural supplement company) about some of their latest products. It was nice to learn more about what I am selling! Friday night was Scott's last concert of the year with the OUO (Ottawa University Orchestra). Shawn and I went early to save seats for Mom, Dad, Nana and Papa. Uncle Robin and my cousin Leah were able to come as well. Dad had been in Toronto for the last part of the week. He drove home Friday afternoon, had dinner and then drove Mom, Nana and Papa into the concert. Busy day. The orchestra played a very long piece, "Brahm's German Requiem". There was a large choir of close to 120 people. There was two vocal soloists performing as well. It was a great concert. I'm so glad we were all able to go.

This afternoon, the last tea dance of the season was held at the Almonte Town Hall. The Women's Institute always does the tea, sweets and sandwiches for the dances. I went to work with another lady this afternoon. There was lots of people out today to dance. It's fun to watch all the different couples dancing.

This past week I finished my e learning! I only have two more driving lessons before I can take my G2. I am looking forward to having all this done... and being able to just drive. I booked my test this week for April 20th. Please pray that everything goes well and that I'm not too nervous...

I have started another blog, Quotes about Life, Love and Faith. Some of you may have noticed the link on my sidebar. It's a place that I can put all the quotes that I find. Feel free to go over and take a look!

Also Shawn just started a blog A Gentleman's View. Go over and take a look! Have a wonderful week everyone!

In Memory of Andrew Frank (Andy) Dunlop 1944 - 2011

Suddenly, our dear friend, Andy Dunlop passed away on Friday, March, 4th, 2011. We attended church together in Arnprior. Betty and Andy have been a blessing to our family over the past few years. Their two sons, Drew and Christopher passed away in recent years. Their daughter Leah and husband Nathan live ten minutes from us. We've been looking after their sweet daughter Alexia for the past few months. Our last day with her was on Friday as her Mom is having another baby in the next two weeks.

Andy and Leah - January 2009

Alexia on Valentine's Day

We will miss you Andy.

Exciting News...

... Dad bought a new home computer for us to use! Dad is working hard to transfer all the data from our old computer and reloading all the software. Thank-you Dad for the new computer! Hopefully I will be able to blog a bit more often now :)

Our crazy life!

Over the last few weeks our family has been sick on and off with Mom being the worst. This weekend it was my turn! Mom and Dad are a bit under the weather as well. So it's a nice quiet weekend here. We have had a few different things going on that I wanted to share with you all...

Life with Alexia is wonderful. She is very cute and always seems to have a new thing to show us! She is very smart for her age....

Her first time coloring (at our house)

Saying "hi" to Clare

Outside with her buddy, Ralph

Wednesday we had a large snowfall all day and part of the night. We ended up getting close to 10 inch. at our house!

My friend Tannis lent me a book last week called "Arms Of Love". What a wonderful book! It was truly inspiring. It's a book about two people who are very different. She is a lovely young Christian lady who is a photo journalist. He works at the same TV station and uses any woman he wants... until she comes along! It's about courtship from a Catholic perspective. He does come to the Lord and changes his life completely....

A good read

Big news!!! My Aunt Gwen, Uncle Robin, cousins Mary and Leah moved to the area last week! Nathan is in school near Toronto and Natalie is in the U.S. for music school. My Uncle was a pastor in the Guelph area for 11 years. They were out west before that. He took a job as pastor of Cedarview Alliance church in Barrhaven. They won't have a house for at least a month so right now they are living with my Grandparents across the road from us. I will tell you guys more as the story unfolds...

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Enjoy the sunshine!

Our frosty fall days

I have been having some computer issues on our computer so this post is going up a few days later then planned.

We have been making lots of apple sauce this week for the freezer. We have a great food mill that allows us to wash the apples, cut them in half and then bake them in the oven. We let the apples cool a bit and then put the through the food mill. There is very little waste and the sauce is so tasty!





Working at the health food store has been going very well. I am enjoying working with all the bulk food (and just food in general!) The lady I work for is very nice - she has been teaching me lots about the store. I have mostly been taking the bulk food items and putting them into smaller bags or containers, labeling them, weighing them and putting them on the shelves. I have also done some cleaning and working at the counter.

Mom and I are going to be looking after a little girl full time until April. We are enjoying getting all the baby stuff out, washed and ready. We are having her a few times over the next couple of weeks to get her used to everything. We had her for the afternoon today, she is sleeping in Mom and Dad's room right now. Alexia's 1st Birthday is on Saturday!

I have been sick the last few days with a cold/flu so have not been able to do much posting. I am looking forward to feeling better and being able to do some updating! Have a wonderful weekend.


~ Erin

"The Taming Of The Shrew"

The play went great! It was so much fun and we all had a great time. Lots of laughs. My role went very well and I could not believe how much I enjoyed it. A good experience. It was very good to be able to learn from the experienced actors and actresses. I will hopefully be getting pictures from people in the next few weeks and will post when I get some.

Caroline, Tannis, Louise and her sister Rosie all came. Nana and Papa came too. It was so nice to see you all! Caroline and Scott were playing at Caroline's church on Saturday before the play and then they played at our Mass Sunday morning. It was a special blessing. Caroline spent the night on Saturday. We had a great time together.

I hope you all have a blessed week...

My Summer Days...

The weather has changed and it looks like we are going to have a nice cooler weekend.


Thursday was our last drama practice when we took apart some scenes that we found needed work from the rehearsal. Saturday is the big day! Show time :)



On Wednesday I went with Caroline to see a movie in the city and then spent the night at her house. We had a really fun time. Nice to see you Caroline! Caroline, Tannis (her Mom) and Louise (maybe her sister Rosie) are all coming for the drama performance :)


Today was spent doing some cleaning around the house and Mom and I giving my room a good cleaning. Also getting ready for tomorrow and making sure my drama lines are just right. Scott also is cleaning out the chicken coop today - a very kind gesture.


Have a wonderful weekend everyone and I will be back with a drama post (Lord willing)!!!

I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

Philippians 4.13