Goodbye house!

I haven't posted forever and I can't figure out how to put pictures on here with the new iPhoto without Christian's help, but I just wanted to say that we've sold the house!!! I can't even describe how excited I am to get that money in our bank account and hit "pay" on all our credit card and line of credit debts!!!!!!!! It's going to be a new start for our family and we're going to try to do things right financially this time. We already started saying, "What would Dave Ramsey do?" to each other whenever we talk about our finances. I know that our kids already know more about debt than we ever did as they all think credit cards are "evil" and Isaiah was really concerned that the family buying our house might get into too much debt themselves!
I've got to get to work now, but just wanted to tell you our good news :)

Housesitting Fun

We've been having a lot of fun living on the ocean while house sitting! I've been able to take the kids kayaking almost everyday and my sore arms prove it! We've been able to see lots of fish, seals, sea birds, and star fish. I feel so blessed to be able to show them so much of God's beautiful creations.
On our first trip on the motor boat, we decided to drive over to LadySmith, dock, and walk up to Tim Horton's for coffee and donuts. Now that was fun to get somewhere fast without a ferry line up and ride.
Christian was an excellent and handsome captain. He just got new glasses and I'm lovin the new look. I wish that he's been home more this last week and a half to enjoy the location, but he's had a crazy work schedule. :(
The boys were all about the wave slamming and speed. They're all boy and love the crazy turns that Dad would do and wanted to hit every single big wave...
Abby on the other hand was not impressed and wouldn't move or smile. She is the kind of girl that is really scared of trying new adventures, but then once she does, she becomes a "wild child". By the way home she was having fun and comfortable in a motor boat.
We have five more days here, so we'll enjoy it to the fullest. We've had four showings on the house so far but no bites yet...

The House is Done!!!

I don't have any pics to post right now, cause we're house sitting, but I just had to blog that our house is finished!! It feels sooooooooo good to write it!!!!! We've had a crazy, work our butts off summer, to get all the last things done and now we can relax. :) Actually, just the kids and I get to really relax because sadly for Christian he's had to put in 13 hour days at the studio for the last three days and tomorrow morning he leaves early to go on the road doing sound for Randy B. in Buffalo, New York and won't be home til Saturday night. I feel bad about that because my hard working man needs a break!
The house is already up for sale too, which is exciting. Let me know, if you want to see pics and I'll email you the MLS #. I feel very peaceful about the timing of the sale. I'm choosing to trust God daily with it. If I'm P.M.S.ing, I have to tell God many times throughout the day that I trust Him. :)
I'll post pics in September of the fun we're having here. We're on the ocean and the view is breath taking; everyday is filled with kayaking, swimming, beach combing, and hot tubbing! We also have use of a motor boat which is so much fun. On Sunday, we boated over to LadySmith, tied up at the public docks, and walked up to Tim Hortons for coffee and donuts.
Hope you're all having an amazing summer!

My Kids Have An Amazing Dad

Are We Done Yet?

So I just had to post this for some of you that want to see my hair blonde. I've realized now that when I'm stressed, I have a desire for blondish hair... The last time was when we lived in the trailer and now we're just about to sell the house. I rest my case. This is actually the first attempt and then I wanted it lighter, so my hair dresser fixed it. Well, we're almost at the end of this "build your own house" journey. It's been three years since we started and had we known what was ahead, we would have laughed wildly and stayed in our rental. Hahahahahahahahaha!!!

I'm so happy with how the garden has grown. I can't really say I've done anything to it other than it had good soil and I prayed for it as I wanted it to look like it had been there awhile. The gardening has been my favorite part of building the house.
We're going to be house sitting for my friend for three weeks of August, so our big goal is to have all the painting, and a bit more landscaping done and then to get it in pristine condition. In my dreams, the house would sell while we're away and I'll never have to clean it for a showing. That will all be in God's hands. I can't even describe how excited I am to be debt free after the house sells! Our debts have been like a chain around our neck for the last eleven years and we are going to feel very light when they're cut off. One of the first things we want to do is go on a family vacation for at least 10 days. We NEED rest and refreshment and I can hardly wait :)

My First Pick For Second Wife!

I've often felt like this, but having the Dyck family here this weekend confirmed that Christian needs a second wife! Our good friends Keith and Rachel finally came to visit us on Salt Spring and after watching Rachel's cleaning and baking skills in action, I decided that she needs to live with me! We think we'd make a good team. She could cook and clean and I'd do the birthday parties and meal plan and whatever else needs done.
It was so good to have their family come and spend the night with us. We were able to show them our house and around our island a bit and they were able to show off their new cutie Liam. This was Christian's first time meeting the new addition to their family and he just stole our hearts! It was so good to have a visit that lasted hours instead of the usual, quick," let's get together as we rush through Abbotsford" kind of visit. On Sunday we were able to take them to one of our island gems, Ruckle Park and go for a beautiful walk. It's also perfect scenery for lots of pictures... It was also nice to get our kids together to play. Our boys miss living closer to Nathan and Chad.
If you click on the picture with the rock cliffs, you'll be able to better see Brennan part way up one. This is why we need to keep a close eye on him when we're close to cliffs... He went around the corner where we couldn't see him and after a minute I said, "We'd better go check what the boys are doing". When we came around Brennan was already half way up! He'd already started climbing down by the time I snapped a picture. He always freaks us out! I need to buy my son some ropes, a helmet and those thingys that help rock climbers hook into rock. (I'm so technical!)
Thanks for coming to see us Dyck family. We were blessed with your presence!

Spring Break Fun!

I've been meaning to make a post out of these pictures, but I was having trouble with iphoto, so finally now it's been fixed... Two weekends ago, the kids and I were able to make a trip up to Mt. Washington with two of my best friends and their kids. My friend Sonja has a log chalet up there and this is our second time going up with all the kids for winter fun. They had so much fun with their friends and I had lots of fun with mine :) The hot tub/snow sitting was definitely a favourite for the kids!

Isaiah and Brennan both tried snow boarding on some small hills. I actually think they'll catch on fast if they have some lessons. I'm stumped whether to get them learning snow boarding or skiing first... Any advice?
The triple bunk beds were also a huge hit. Abby actually fell out of the middle one on the first night and hit the headboard of my bed down below. She still has a large bruise on her leg and I'm so thankful that her head didn't hit anything. I felt so bad for not blocking off the edge! She only cried a bit and said the bruise didn't hurt. She's a tough cookie, that Abby; she has to keep up with all the boys!
The boys also tried skiing on their friend's skis. We didn't venture up any of the lifts this time. All of us got to go tubing though and that was a blast! For our last two runs, I hooked up with all the kids and we went down as a huge group of eight!
This is the view from the chalet. I think it's the best view of any one on Mt. Washington.
One of my favourite parts was riding up the rope tow on the tube as I got to be by myself and just praise God for his awesome mountain creations that were all around me. We came home filled up but pretty tired.

Still tired...

This is a picture of Christian doing sound for Randy B. at the Commodore in Vancouver last weekend. Part of why I'm realizing that I'm still tired! We've had a busy month and I need to learn how to go to bed earlier... Christian was away last week on the road with Randy Bachman's new band and I was at home taking care of business :) I got to join him for the last concert in Vancouver and we got to go out for dinner together and stay at the Four Seasons hotel. We didn't get much sleep though... I walked to the hotel at 1am after the concert and Christian had to stay and load gear and merchandise and didn't get in til 3:30am. We were up by 7:30am to head to a day long parenting conference called "Raising Truly Great Kids", by Dr. Tim Kimmel. It was excellent and fun to have a whole day without the kids, but we were very TIRED.

We headed for home the next day and thanks to a fire on an earlier ferry, didn't get home until 10pm. The next morning, Abby and I were up early to catch the ferry to Victoria so she could have dental surgery. Her poor little baby teeth were a mess. I really didn't like having her taken away to the operating room. I couldn't even eat anything until I knew she was o.k. Seeing her in recovery later hooked up to tubes, made me think about her birth and how much God has blessed us with our sweet, vibrant, healthy girl. We arrived back on Salt Spring after dinner and I started preparing for Brennan's birthday which was the next day.
We started out with a pancake breakfast and Brennan opened his guitar, which he is thrilled with. He's been jamming out a lot in his bed room and having some special time with Christian learning his first guitar lessons. We had a wild, loud birthday party that night with eight boys and one girl in the house and a night time treasure hunt!
This week, I've had a sore throat and cough, and the stomach flu and I realized today that I've run myself ragged. Looking at my pictures, I started to figure out why... Some things are worth being tired for though and it's just been one of those months. I think I'm rambling on this post, so I'd better stop now and hit the hay!