Every Year Starts With a Hike

Happy 2012! Our tradition is that every year on the first day, we go on a family hike. This year, Christian had the idea to try a new one, so after sleeping in late and having a big breakfast, we started out to find a trail head up Mt. Tuam. After a long drive down a windy, forested road, failed attempts to find the beginning of the trail, and four car sick kids, we decided to make our own way up the mountain. We found what looked like an old road and started up.

About 45 minutes into our hike, the road came to what looked like an old stable and the road abruptly stopped. This is where this picture below was taken and where we decided to be brave for forge our own trail up the mountain.

This meant climbing a very steep, leaf covered ridge, that was very slippy. I was having stomach problems and wasn't sure it was a good idea. I thought there was no way Abby would make it up. But her brothers and our international student, (Annika) forged ahead and she joined them enthusiastically! Christian and I had to dig deep to keep up with them.
Once we made it past the tree line, we quickly saw that our efforts were to be rewarded with an incredible view!
Our little "billy goats" kept wanting to climb higher until finally we had to tell them to stop as we knew we were going to start loosing light, and without a flash light (yah, we hike real prepared!), we'd never find our way down to the van again. It is so satisfying to me to watch and listen to my children love to explore and then to just marvel at the creation of God around them and not want to leave that beauty.We are truly blessed to have been able to start 2012 like this and to live in a place where creation is so breathtaking.

We had a blast sliding down the leaf covered ridge back to the road and made it back just before we lost all light. It was very fun, and just a bit risky :)


I always start a new year with anticipation about what adventures God has planned for our family. I know that not all of it will be easy, but there is just a fresh feeling to it, and above all I know that God is with us and that we are living to follow Him.

Still here

No pics to post as I lost the chord to my camera...must find that. I'm working on organizing our office, so I guess right now I'm procrastinating. Life is flying by as always. Soccer is taking up lots of our time as is usual for this time of year. I'm getting very excited to have my sis Heather and her family here for Christmas. I LOVE the Christmas season and our tree/decorations will be up by the 10th. I'm really feeling blessed in life right now. So thankful for my family, our friends, our house and the dreams God has put in our hearts. Pondering a lot today on God's favor and this quote, "Favor means God's heart is for you and His hand is on you, no matter what happens in your life" -Stephen Furtick
Love it!

Whew!

We had an amazing holiday in Banff! This is the only pic that I have downloaded so far and it's one of my favorites from our camping trip. I'm so thankful to God for the almost two weeks we had as a family to have fun, relax, bond, laugh, eat yummy food, visit, hike, bike ride, and camp. Every day was a new adventure and it filled my soul to overflowing.
When we arrived home, the move was on. Christian and I spent two exhausting long days moving over to our new pad, while the Stonehouse kids stayed in Chilliwack with my sister Heather and her family. On day three, Christian left for an across Canada tour with Bachman Turner and our kids came home; on day four our international student arrived from Taiwan! Here we are in October, and Christian was only home for five days for the whole month of September. It's only by the grace of God and his strength that I didn't lose my mind! Christian came home on October 2nd, which was also our 18th anniversary, and I am completely aware that parenting is meant to be a team effort! He has to go back to Winnipeg tomorrow for three days for a NHL show and then no more travel until the spring!!!
We're into soccer season now full swing with all three little Stonehouses on teams. I'm finding it's important in this stage with our family to make sure we carve out time together and not let everyone get too busy with outside activities. Otherwise I feel like we're all inside a tornado! We're loving our new place and finding it a great place to have people over. On Saturday, we pick up our second international student from the airport...a 17 year old girl from Korea. So far, we're really liking having a student as part of our family and we're all learning a lot about Taiwan.
So...there's a snipet of what been going on with us. How about you?

Crazy Summer

Well, yes, it's been a crazy summer! Too much working and packing and juggling kids, but we've managed to fit in a lot of fun as well. Summer came late to BC so we've had to fit a lot of fun in the sun into August. We've been doing lots of swimming in the local lakes and ocean beaches. These are some of my fave pics of our summer so far...

This is Brennan hanging off one of our local tree swings. It was cold that day...this was back in June. My middle child is a dare devil! I'm praying that his brain connects quickly, so that he lives. He does things sometimes without thinking much! I really hope that Christian does not teach him to cliff jump! I thought that was cool when we were teens, but the thought of my kids doing it, strikes terror into my heart!
Abby and Isaiah had so much fun on the trampoline with the sprinkler on one of the first hot days of summer around here. And it was seriously not until the end of July!
Here's some of the goodness from our garden picked yesterday. I love having a vegetable garden! Everything tastes so much better than from the store.
My sweet friend Judy had a bunch of us girls over a couple of nights ago to teach us how to nuno felt. It was so much fun and this is the scarf I created in just a few hours! I don't think of myself as being very creative, but this is something I'd like to explore more. I believe I'm made in the image of God, the ultimate creator, so I must be creative! Brennan was a good sport to model this for the picture. I only had to promise that I wouldn't show his face :)
This is our new puppy Daisy after her first hair cut. She's a real sweety, but she still pees in our house sometimes and it's been a real challenge having a puppy to train over this busy summer!
I'm just so looking forward to our holidays next week. We really need to get away as a family. When we get back, we move, and I'm really hoping for a calm, boring September.

My New House Has A Disco Ball!

No pictures to share right now, as I'm having trouble uploading. These are times when I really need Christian's help and we've been in a bit of a whirlwind lately (what's new!)
Just wanted to share and write what we've been up to. This is the first summer that I've worked since having Brennan (10 years!), and I'm really not jazzing on it. I work three days a week waitressing at a restaurant here on SSI that has a gorgeous view on the ocean, but gets crazy busy. I'm soooooo tired by the time I'm home late at night! We were going to work Christian's studio schedule with my hours, but as it turns out, he's been busier than expected and had some unexpected road trips, so we've been juggling the kids a lot and we're generally worn out already. I only work about one more month and then we go on a holiday :)
We're going to Banff to camp with close friends and their family and I can hardly wait!!! I love Banff, and I love hiking and biking, and camping so it should be a great adventure.
When we get home, we're moving...yes, moving again. The house we're renting is up for sale and the kids have been longing to have a yard to play in as this house is ocean front and has no real yard space to speak of, so we found a much better house for our family. It has five bedrooms, and the rent is higher so our big plan for now is to be a host family for international students. So far, we have a 17 yr. old girl from Taiwan joining us September 2nd, and we're hoping to have a second student by October. I've started putting our stuff in boxes and fighting the urge to feel depressed about it as I really loathe moving! I think it's just that we've done it so much... And yes, our new place has a disco ball in the living room, so you can bet your boots there'll be many Stonehouse family dance parties in there!
I have a new job that I started in June as well and will resume in September and that is as an on call education assistant for the school district. I'll be working in about eight different schools on our island providing one on one help for students with special needs, and behaviour challenges. This is right up my alley and I'm really looking forward to getting more into the groove of it in the fall.
Life is never boring around here and I can't believe I haven't blogged anything since January! Isaiah, Brennan and Abby are all doing well. They had a great school year and were busy in many activities...soccer, basketball, youth group, Brownies, gymnastics etc. We really work hard to not let them get too busy. It's so important for us to have most dinners together and time as a family.
Some big family news for us is that we've applied to adopt a child through the Ministry of Children and Families. So, if all goes well, we may have a new family member by this time next year. This has been a slow process for us as we feel God calling us to do this, but were pretty freaked when we heard some bad financial news early this year. We feel like we're just supposed to keep walking ahead in obedience and leave the details up to God. We're excited, but it does feel a bit like we're "stepping out of the boat."
Well, that's enough random blabbing for now... Who knows if anyone will read this long saga, but I like writing things down on the blog so I can look back on it. I'm going to see now if I can keep up with this blog a bit better. Because what a better time when I'm working like crazy and about to move!

Mantracker Party

We wanted to do something really adventurous for Brennan's 10th birthday party and decided to do a "Mantracker Party". Christian and the boys had so much fun planning it trying to base it on a show they like to watch called "Mantracker". We decided to use a local forested park, make a map with a start, 10 check points, and a finish. The boys would get points for making it to the checkpoints and loose points for getting caught by the "mantrackers". We started out by face painting for better camouflage.

Then the boys were divided into four teams of two and given laminated maps of the park, which included the check points and finish line. The "mantrackers" did not know where the check points or finish line were, only that the boys would be within the boundaries. We gave them 90 seconds to start before they would be followed and "hunted". If I could have bottled the excitement and energy the boys had before the game started I would have enough get up and go for the rest of 2011!
This is Christian resting for a few seconds over a log after a hard run. The "mantrackers" quickly discovered that these little guys were fast and hard to catch!
Before too long the three "mantrackers" had a strategy. They worked as a team, hiding and ambushing boys.
Soon, there was a lots of catching going on :) Abby and I patrolled the park making sure everyone kept safe and taking lots of pictures. I had so much fun seeing the glee on the boys faces and seeing the mantrackers having a blast. It took about an hour and a half before the first team reached the finish line with all the tokens collected from the checkpoints.
This party turned out so great, I think it could become a yearly tradition! The only mistake I made was having all the boys back to our house for pizza, cake, and a movie after for over two hours. I thought they'd be tired and just want to sit and watch the movie, but I forgot that groups of nine/ten year old boys become crazy when they're together and can't be still and quiet for more than 15 minutes!

An Early Christmas Surprise

Today we planned a special day to give our kids their Christmas present early! Before that though, we spent some time talking as a family about how Christian and I are feeling convicted to pray and ask God about doing things a bit differently for next Christmas. Even though we try really hard not to go overboard (we get the kids one gift from us, and usually spend about $50/child, and a few stocking stuffers), we're really feeling like we need to scale down and give more than we do to the poor. I've been reading a few blogs lately where the families don't even exchange gifts at Christmas and I've been feeling a bit disturbed. I think it's a good thing to get disturbed... They take the money they would have spent on presents and give it away.

We bought a Wii this year for our little wee ones, and we really wanted to give it before Christmas so the focus on Christmas day isn't all on playing it. We're having my parents and Christian's Dad and Step-Mom here for Christmas we want to spend time visiting, playing board games, singing etc.
So, I set up a treasure hunt with clues and had the kids running all over the yard and house following them. While they were outside, I hid the Wii under the tree. When they found it, we had three kids jumping, hugging, and laughing!
We've spent the afternoon playing together and it is ever fun! I had no idea how much I would like it :)

I really love this time of year and being creative with ways to focus on Advent as a family. This year, I'm trying a Jesse tree/Advent devotional as a family. We light the house with candles after dark and spend some time focusing on Jesus and the reason why we celebrate His coming.
Is anyone else feeling disturbed about the crazy money we spend at this time of year? What are you doing to focus on the Birthday Child?

It's almost Christmas?!

As is my normal, I haven't blogged in eons! One of my goals for the fall is to do better with posting as it's just so much fun to look back at what's been going on in our lives here. I don't scrapbook, so this is as close as it gets... We had a great summer. Christian had to travel a lot through June and July, but August was much nicer. I took the kids on a road trip in July to Grand Forks and we had a blast! Lots of swimming in rivers, adventures and visiting with good friends. In August Christian had a week off and we went on a camping trip to Barkerville. Of course, I have tons of pictures, but I'll probably never post them here. Above is a pretty typical view of our life on Salt Spring. It really has to be one of the most gorgeous places on earth.
So fall is here and the busyness has hit full force.

We've been doing a lot of this ^. Isaiah and Brennan are both playing for Salt Spring United, and they're also involved in an extra soccer league. So we have soccer on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Abby is in gymnastics this year as well as Brownies. Isaiah is about to start basketball at school, and also has youth group. I'm totally becoming a "kiddie taxi", and that is with us even being super choosy about what they're involved in so that we have time as a family to just hang out. I'm managing Isaiah's soccer team so that's been a learning curve for me and quite time consuming.
We ordered a new camera, paid for completely with air miles, so we've been having fun taking pictures! Christian and I both love photography and plan to learn more about taking pics and editing. I'd like to take a course in the new year.
This is the house we're renting for now. It's right on the waterfront on a tidal canal. This means that when the tide is high, we've got great swimming and canoeing off the dock. When the tide is low, we've got mud. It's a cute place but super quirky. The builder went a little wild; every room is on a different level, so there's lots of stairs and super weird angles to every ceiling. It's also getting run down as you can probably see with the deck. There's many things that need attention, but the owner doesn't seem too concerned, and it's nothing that affects us too much.
I'm really loving this stage of parenting with the kids. They are taking on a lot more responsibility and I love talking and teaching about life and listening to their unique personalities. We are so blessed! It's kind of been an unsettling time in our lifes; Christian has been travelling a bit too much for our liking, and we're probably on the cusp of some big changes in our family's life. Can't say yet though. It's secret...
I'm going to New York with Christian on a work/pleasure trip in November. We'll definitely take lots of pictures! I'm getting just a little bit excited now :)
-Jenn

Ontario Trip

Here's a few pics from our trip to Ontario. When we first arrived in Toronto, Christian wasn't there yet, so the kids and I went for a walk downtown. They were fascinated with all the crowds and signs, and escalators. Yes, escalators are a big deal to my children, and malls! They're so funny when we go to any city; they beg me to ride escalators and elevators in malls. We're definitely small town, island folk!Christian was still working for our first couple of days there and had to do a concert in Beleville, Ontario, so we decided to follow the band there on the Via Rail. We've never been on a train before either so Isaiah, Brennan, and Abby were so excited. It was a relaxing trip and fun.
Once we got there, I had big plans to take them hiking in a bird sanctuary I'd read about online. We took the bus there which took longer than planned as we missed the stop the first time and had to ride the bus through town on another 40 minute loop around. By the time we made it, we were hot, humid, and slightly grumpy. We had some water and started on our hike. Within the first minute, my little stones were complaining about the mosquitoes. I told them to toughen up and keep hiking. The bugs were BAD!! We were getting bitten any time we stopped walking for a few seconds. But I'm stubborn and told them we were hiking, gosh darnit, cause we'd worked so hard to get there. They carried on reluctantly... About 15 min. later, I said, "This is nuts, do you guys want to turn back?" They all cheered and I think we ran back! Not sure if I'd follow Christian to gigs in the future with the kids. We felt in the way at the theatre, but it was cool to watch Christian doing the sound checks with the band.The next two days, Christian took off working and we drove to Niagra Falls. That was very fun and gorgeous. We were all so happy to have some time with Dad!This pic just makes me laugh! We'd just visited the candy store and were all wound up on sugar. The people sitting in front of us on the incline railway kept looking back at us like we were nuts. We were!We got one more family day together and spent it at Canada's Wonderland! We all went on one small fast ride together, which Abby did not like. We wanted to do one more together and knew Abby would not agree, so Christian told her we were going on the "Purple Nurple Kid's Ride". The name of the roller coaster was actually the "Wild Beast"! Yes, Abby will need therapy when she's older!! She made it through that ride and then was DONE with roller coasters, so her and I went to the kiddies section and did ssslloooooowww rides, while Christian and the boys tackled the coasters. It was so much fun watching them get off rides together and high fiving and then rating the rides on the map. I loved seeing Dad and his boys have so much fun together!
The next day, Christian had to fly to England, so we said our goodbyes and then I took the kids to the Hockey Hall of Fame. They were fascinated with all the history and interactive games. We could have spent all day there but had to be on our way to Windsor. One of the highlights was getting to touch the Stanely Cup three days before it went to Chicago where it was won by the Blackhawks!We had an amazing time in Windsor, but wished Christian had been with us. It was so great to connect with our friends there and sad to leave.

A Trip Away

So, just wanted to say that we just got home from an amazing trip away! Christian is on a month long road trip and that has never happened before and he didn't want to be away from us for that long in one stretch, so we met him on the road.
We met Christian in Toronto for a few days and had a great time staying in his hotel , following him and the band to a gig in Belville and then having two days as a family to hang out, go to Niagra Falls, and Canada's Wonderland together and just have fun!
On Saturday, we again said goodbye to Christian as he was off to London, England, and Sweden and the kids and I rented a car and drove to Windsor, Ontario. It was so great to reconnect with friends we haven't seen in six and a half years since we moved away! In some ways, it felt like we'd never left. Part of my heart is still in Windsor and it still amazes me how God connected us so deeply with those people when we only lived there for just over two years.
I'm going to post some pics soon of our trip after I catch up on some sleep. It was a very long trip home.
I just got off the phone with Christian and he is enjoying his Europe trip so much and all the history in London and Sweden. He just got back from going to see Aero Smith in concert at Sweden Rocks and they will be playing there on Saturday night right before Guns N Roses! For some reason that really makes me laugh!!

Olympic Trip

Oh, this has taken a long time to get this up, but that just seems to be the way things roll with me...
When the Olympics started in Vancouver, I took one look at the crowds and thought we would stay far, far away on our quiet little island. But, as soon as the kids watched the opening ceremony, they got the "Olympic fever" and couldn't let a day go by without watching some of it on TV. I've actually never seen Isaiah and Brennan so excited by an event as they were each day and so I changed my mind. :) Christian had a gig on the last day of the Olympics doing sound for Randy B. at a venue in Surrey and had left the day before. The kids and I hopped on the early bird ferry from Salt Spring to Vancouver and even though they were VERY excited, the three hour ferry ride was a bit painful for my tired little ones...
We parked our car in Surrey and took the skytrain into downtown Vancouver. We got off by Robson square and starting making our way through the crowd. The kids had wide eyes at all they saw... It was not only the closing ceremony day, but also while we were in the square, the gold medal hockey game between US and Canada began. The feeling in the crowd was electric! Soon Canada scored their first goal and the crowd went wild. There were people everywhere yelling and screaming, waving Canadian flags, honking car horns, and dressed in crazy red outfits. Soon we got filtered towards a big screen and then came to a stop and began to be pressed into the crowd shoulder to shoulder. I quickly felt uncomfortable and a bit claustrophobic, so I told the kids we were going to turn around and get out of that crowd. Within about 10 seconds I had lost Brennan! It took about two minutes for me to find him, but it felt much longer. He had big tears in his eyes and was obviously shaken. He stayed very close and held my hand for most of the rest of the day.
We then made our way into Yaletown and found a screen with a less crowded crowd. We just stayed put at that point and watched the third period and overtime there. I wish I could show you the video of when Canada was about to win the game in the third period. The Stonehouse kids, and most in the crowd began cheering and jumping up and down. Then the US goal in the last thirty seconds... Some people fell down on the road, my boys stood there dejected with shock on their faces. Of course, we all know that Crosby scored in overtime for Canada!! At that moment, the city of Vancouver erupted and we became part of the biggest, funnest, wildest street party I've ever seen! It was so fun to watch Isaiah, Brennan, and Abby take it all in and be part of something they'll probably never have the opportunity to again.
Even riding the sky train was such a big deal to them as they've never been on it... My little island cuties were having the time of their lives!
We eventually ended up at the Olympic cauldron and then back on the sky train to Surrey to meet up with Christian and catch the end of Randy Bachman's concert. Then, after watching some of the closing ceremony on the back stage big screen, back to Salt Spring on the late ferry. It was a long, tiring day, but one that our family will never forget. It was so worth going!

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 :)