From Our Home to Yours!!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!!! We are looking forward to spending time with family and friends and wish for you the same. Blessings as we celebrate our Savior and his life together.

And the new revised version... (thanks Clayton)

Seasons best!!!

We've been busy already this Christmas Season!! The girls are now wanting to help me with every detail of preparation!!! When they hear the beaters, they are up on their chairs ready to stir or dip. They helped put decorations on the tree, now the trick is to leave them on. Blessings from our home to yours as we prepare for this Christmas Season!!! Let us remember the gift that we have been given.

The Latest

So how is that for "NOW" Naomi, I went downstairs and took pictures immediately!!! These two pictures are taken from the same spot, just facing different directions. The place where I am standing is a big open area near the stairs. This is just a taste so you all will have to come and see for yourselves.
The lino that you see is going to be layed on Saturday and then the bathroom will be useable after a little bit of Dueck plumbing.
We are already enjoying the toys, movies being downstairs and my upstairs not looking like a disaster ALL of the time.

Trick or Treat

We are going for the treat!!! Lana missed out cause she couldn't keep a costume or mittens on for 2 minutes so she stayed with me, while Gil took Julie and her friend Max treating in the snow. The record four years in a row, with snow on the ground since we have been here. Julie originally had a fairy costume, but the costume wouldn't fit over a snow suit. Obviously, I am a novice at all of this, a snow suit must be considered when purchasing. Great fun!!!

Here she is....

Here is Lana and her new ponytails. She is really developing quite a personality, it is almost a little scary. Today was the first day of our MOM'S program and she just headed off and played the whole two hours, little miss independent.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!!!!

Our first official snow on October 16, 2006!!! Julie and her friend had a great time playing in the snow!!! They even managed to convince me to build a snowman with them.

YeeeeHA!!!!

Ride em COWGIRLS!!!! We were out in Alberta for a week before Thanksgiving. There were a few nice days that the girls and I really enjoyed riding!! Julie is on Fairytale and I was riding Rain. Lana was a bit scared but we just kept walking around and prety soon she was saying "weee". What FUN!!!!

Almost there....

Well, finally the basement has been drywalled, mudded, taped and sanded!!! Our drywaller has been amazing and we really appreciate all his work. The above picture is taken from the stairs,the two bedrooms are the doors on the left and the bathroom is lit room.
Further to the right is the laundry room and our tank room.
This is the rec room, the TV and toys will be in here, ya!!!! My parents are coming out on Friday to help me paint and then the carpet is coming on Monday, Oct 02.
I am going to be going to Calgary with my parents and Gil will come for Thanksgiving then we will drive back together.
So that is the newest happenings in our house lately.

The girls...

I haven't posted for a long time, so I thought since we aren't doing anything too exciting, who better to post about than the girls. We have had a great summer and the girls continue to keep us busy. Lana is 15months and is really starting to gain personality and Julie is a energetic 3yr old. We love them dearly.

Landscaping

Well this is what I have been up to since we return from holidays!!!! Landscaping and planting all of my shrubs has kept me in a state of OCD!!! It has been a lot of fun. The goal is to have shrubs bordering the house with perrenial beds on the perimeter of the yard, someday.
The sidewalks and garage pad were poured after we arrived home, I love it!!! Our house is so much less dirty with gravel and dirt now. Notice the soon to be shrub bed next to the house, someday it will draw attention away from the black knob on the front of the house.

Here is a view of the kidney shaped bed I did in the front, angled for a view as your drive up to our place. I am loving the red Morden Roses, they are in a continuous bloom!!!!!! On the northside of our house I planted a row of Larch trees/seedlings and I am also planting three Siberian crab apple trees/seedlings. These will take a few years to mature, but at least they are in the ground. I am loving the work and the semi-finished product. There you have it!!!!

Holidays...

Gil and I dropped the girls off at the Wiens grandparents house and promptly headed for Vancouver, on our own. We stayed at Ryan and Naomi's place and they toured us around Vancouver. We spent a few days burning ourselves at the beach, well I did without fail.

We toured around Grandville Island and did a little shopping.
From Vancouver we headed to Fairmont, where we met up with our girls and my whole family. Some tented, RVed, or stayed in the condo. It was a really good time to be together. However, the weather wasn't very cooperative but we still found ways to entertain ourselves and our children.

Happy Birthday!

As many of you know, both of our girls have birthdays in early July so we thought we'd show some pictures from their recent parties.

This is a joint party for Gil and Lana that we had at my parents' new house near Airdrie. Lana made short work of the ice cream cake and was none too happy when it was taken away. If she only knew that her parents were about to leave her to go and party in Vancouver for a week!

Below is a picture of Julie with her butterfly birthday cake (my own creation). We had her party on our neighbour Andrew's deck and a bunch of Julie's friends came over to celebrate. Below that is the highlight of Julie's birthday experience: a new bike complete with pink tassles on the end. Oh the fun we'll have.

Summer fun!!!

We had our church picnic and Julie had sooooo much fun, it reminds me of when I was a kid.

First Steps!!!

Lana is walking!! We were practising tonight after supper and all of a sudden she just started to take steps. Julie, Gil and myself were all very excited and encouraging. Julie wanted Lana to walk just to her... typical almost three year old. So, by summer holidays she will be motoring all over the place, and not crawling anymore. Hooray!!!

Horses...

Julie and Uncle Jerry spent quite a bit of time feeding Maggie at my parents house!!! Julie is not even three and she loves horses, and as she would put it "they're big, I small, but I'm not scared".

I'm ready to Go!!!!!!

Once again Lana is just about on the move!!!! No she isn't able to be self sufficient in her desires to walk or really move but the desire is there!!!
We had a great time at my parents new place, exposing our kids to the more dangerous types of fun.

Home Alone....

Well indeed I am home alone!!! It has been a good couple of days. I was looking through some pictures and came across this shot of Lana, and I had to post it. She is ready for summer!!!!!

Camp Redberry!!!

This last weekend we went on a church retreat, to the local camp. Julie had a great time, walking around, climbing on the climbing wall and playing non-stop with her friends. It was a pretty good time for the rest of us too!!! That climbing wall was really something else, and she wasn't really even scared, everyone was doing it. Lana's adventures consisted of a brief ride on the swing.

Easter Theology

The following conversation took place after Julie's first egg hunt the introduction of the term ‘Easter’:

Gil: Happy Easter Julie

Julie: Whose birthday is Easter? Is it Jesus’ birthday?

Gil: No, Easter is the day Jesus rose from the dead.

Julie: Oh, and then he gave the eggs to God?

Help Wanted...

Throughout out the time that I have been trying to be a committed follower of Christ I have come across a phrase that I am unable to understand. The phrase " to give up everything for God", is one that brings thoughts of guilt, unworthiness, selfishness and many others that leave very negative taste in my mouth. I do realize that those are all thoughts that I do need to address and wrestle with in my life, but the phrase is very frustrating. I am open to others interpretations of this phrase...



The girls are doing alright. Lana is fighting her front two teeth and a cold(thanks Ben, kidding) so she is also experiencing some technical difficulties. Julie is doing great, sometimes she plays so hard that she will just crash anywhere.

Agenda's no more....

Have you ever met with one person or a group of people without an agenda. Imagine spending time with people just to get to know them, to build a friendship. Now imagine a church body that did not plot out their moves, program events so that they could be in control of the end result. I have a feeling that believers and unbelievers are experiencing the same distaste for this sort of herding. As Gil said at supper" allow our testimony be the way we live our lives, we don't have to say a word". If people recognize that they are truly cared for they may want to know why. Whether or not it leads them to embracing the gospel, a friendship has been formed that may last a lifetime.

Girls, Girls....

Here is me and my girls!!! Lana is 81/2 months and Julie 21/2, Julie is definately a Dueck, but Lana is proving to have some Wiens genes after all.

Tea time!!!

It is fun to see Julie's imagination develop and to watch Gil indulge and pretend with Julie. The girls love their daddy!!! Just an update, Lana now has two more teeth very close to breaking the surface, and now she will clap her hands when you sing "If you are happy and you know it clap your hands". It is such a joy to watch the girls grow.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!!!!

Winter continues to inflict it's fury on us Hepburnites. We covet the green grass of Vancouver, the opportunities of playing outside and being able to kick a soccer ball around. In any case, the girls love getting bundled up and going for sled rides. Lana has only bit the snow literally one time, we hit a bump that sent her toppling over, not a difficult task to upset her equilibrium. Julie now likes to pull the sled for short periods of time and then quite readily gives the rope over to me for a ride herself.

Thunder Stealer!!!!!!!

Hello all!! Well Gil said that he wasn't going to talk about the girls and their accomplishments. Well is so happens that I was checking out his blog and what do you know, he stole my next
post. So I will just post Lana's 8 month picture.
Also I am reading Searching for God Knows What, by Donald Miller, an interesting read. His style is very informal which sometimes lends the on and on style of writing but here is an interesting take on the Garden of Eden and how relationships were instantly changed.mmScripture would indicate that God had to break the relationship when man sinned against Him, that because his nature is purely good, purely right and lovely. He could not directly interact with beings who were, in their hearts, set against Him... This is a very beautiful thing because you and I need for God to be perfectly good, we need for Him to be the voice that did one day, and will in the future, speak pure glory into our lives. But for now, because of this act of war, relationshave been strained. And we are feeling it in our souls."

I think about my relationship with God and I wonder why things always seem to be a little distant. The feeling that no matter how hard I try the relationship will never be TIGHT, "we are feeling it in our souls", this gives comfort to the feeling of unfinished business. I also caution myself that it doesn't excuse an undisciplined faith walk, which I too am guilty of.
Here are my ramblings.

Cutie Pies!!!

Here is the latest picture of our girls. Julie is such a big helper, but sometimes the line between helping and hindering is faint.

POWER TOOLS MMMM.......

You all indeed seeing second hand a hard working man!!!!! My dad and Gil spent all weekend framing our basement, Gil has been orientated into Gary Wiens's non-stop work ethic. Good news for all of you that have on occassion stayed with us, you will have a place to lay your heads.