I'm back. Back you ask? Yep, I was in Fort Nelson from Monday the 14th to Thursday the 24th. My mom came on Thursday (I believe) and stayed for the weekend and then we departed on Monday. I accomplished my main objective while I was there, and got lots of visiting time in with my mom, albeit, more time at the Soles' would have been nice.:) I don't know that I have much to say on it but for generalities such as "good" "nice" "short" so how do I sum it up without being general or too over detailed? I don't know that it's possible, but I'll try giving a short rundown of it.

The drive up was long, isn't every 11 hour drive considered such? But it was also uneventful, didn't hit any wildlife (saw some alive and dead ones, managed to stay on the road despite my mom's occasional wondering, and we didn't get run off the road by any Macs although we did pass a lot of them. I admit I also spent a lot of the drive with eyes closed, as my mom's driving style is somethin' else. ;) Also started reading Lion of the Covenant on the way, and thus far it has a thumbs up from me.

I spent much of the week and a half going through years worth of belongings; from piles of papers, clothing, books, magazines, socks and everything in-between, above and below, I went through it all. No doubt my mom will miss some items I disposed of, but I'll leave that for her to realize and she didn't really need them away..really. :D

After the allotted amount of time, and as soon as mom got a new part or two in the car we were off again for PG. However, due to some people who don't know how to order parts, we had to wait an extra day for them to order the right part in, as the first order was a no go. By the time Mom got back with the car, and we were all packed up and in order it was going on 4:00 pm. Did the late leaving time stop us? Never. I did however end up by driving for about half the trip, with us kinda taking turns as mom was pretty tired. I would say the biggest challenges were stopping in a standard (haven't done it in over 2 years) and drying out contacts, both of which were small obstacles. Didn't see any alive wildlife, which was also a good thing. As soon as we arrive I unloaded all of my stuff, got blankets for Mom, bid her farewell and hit the hay. She was off for Edmonton (to stay the weekend) before I woke up and I heard from Jord she had arrived safely.

Yes, I'm back.

The biggest news of the week is that I have a new little niece, a little Emily Price, and I have yet to hear the middle name. She's just small thing as she was about a month early, but thanks be to God, she's healthy. I'll be more than happy to post a couple pictures of her, as soon as I receive some..hint hint.

Well I'm off but shall return.

Jode

The buckle 


Here is the famous belt buckle of my father's that you may have read about in a couple of emails or posts . He received it from my mom as a present for father's day/his birthday, and we would sit for minutes (yeah, what kid can sit still longer than that?) at a time spinning it..I love the sound it makes. My sisters were kind enough to suggest that my mom pass it on to me..so for that I'm very happy. It was Mom's attempt at cow-boy-afying him..that's about as far as she got, haha. But yes, thanks to my wonderful sisters for being so unselfish as to let me have it, as I know it's very prized in all of our eyes.:)

Jode

Your Dominant Intelligence is Spatial Intelligence

You've got a good sense of space and how the world around you looks. You can close your eyes and "see" images. You have innate artistic talent. An eye for color and shapes, you're also a natural designer. Since you think in pictures, visual aids and demonstartions help you learn best. You would make a good navigator, sculptor, visual artist, inventor, architect, interior designer, or engineer.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

As you can no doubt tell, I decided to give my blog a bit of a face lift..as the grey just wasn't doing it anymore. So yeah, not done, maybe finish it later this week, as I have run over my deadline.:) Comments will be down as well..not like they're be missed that much..as I didn't have many, haha.

Anyhoe, hope you all have a great Lord's day, and perhaps I'll be posting later.:)

Jode

Well, tonight for bible study Mark read us a Micah sermon by Calvin. It left us all with a great big "wow", as his sermons have such a way of pinning us (as well as himself) with our own wretched, sinfulness. Some of his examples of human actions totally hit home.. I'll try to type a sample of it out, since sadly I can't find it online. I hope you find the these bits as edifying as I did.:)

Night to all, and adios,

Jode

The sermon is on Micah 6:6-8, preached Saturday, December 27, 1551 (Calvin gave daily sermons) It is also much longer than this, but here are some of the highlights.

*** Now Micah adds that the people think that they can appease God through ceremonies and similar things, in order to atone for offenses. But, of course what Micah is doing is introducing our human way of thinking, that is, our hypocrisy. For once we have persuaded ourselves to rebel against God and his Word, we begin to search for ways of exonerating ourselves before God. True, we cannot feign not to be sinners, or fail to confess our sins; but so long as God presses us and we remain committed to our own course, we will constantly look for ways to appease God. "True, I may not be able to deny that I am a miserable sinner, but consider what I can do in order to satisfy God." For since we are full of pride and lies, we think that we can pull the wool over God's eyes, rendering him content with frivolous things. And that is what Micah is addressing here. For after he condemned the people, he no doubt encountered the following reply: "True, God has granted us infinite blessings, and we have not acknowledged him as we ought. But there is no reason for you to condemn us as you do. You are right about our offending God, insofar as we have not been obedient to him. But our attempts at satisfaction ought to count for something. Of what value would it be for us to make so many sacrifices, if God were not compensated? You need to balance the good with the bad. For since you accused us of failing in certain areas, you ought at least give us credit for the services we render God." That is how the world thinks. It is confident that it knows how to appease God, whenever it has sinned against God.

.....For how many of us think ourselves acquitted upon hearing a sermon or mumbling a Pater Noster? As long as we put up a good appearance, we say:"Ah! That's good enough!" We must think that God wears blinders and that he cares for nothing more than our ceremonies. Now it is a great folly for us to interpret God's judgment in accordance with our fantasy. Why? Because, in the first place, we are carnal and therefore do not see our offences, unless they are thick enough to cut with a knife, as the people say. Of course they are relatively insignificant, we acknowledge them. But we overlook those that are full of evil affections, or that contain hidden evil thoughts, that constantly goad us to murmur against God, to become defiant, and to grind our teeth. Those things never surface. And why not? Because we are carnal. Now our Lord has a different eye that enables him to see with absolute clarity what we fail to see at all. Accordingly, since our eyes cannot see sufficiently to recognize our faults which God condemns, we have to learn not to daub our sins with our own concept of fairness or balance. For we must all appear before the judgment of God, whose ways transcend human thought.......

.....In the second place , love of self prevents us from recognizing our own sins, although we are able to recognize our neighbors'. For when our neighbors sin, we see it with clarity. Above all, whenever anyone commits an offence against us, whether unwittingly by shaking a straw at us in the wrong way, or by pointing a menacing finger at us, we consider it an irremissible crime. "Did you see that? That wretch deliberately offended me!" We make a mountain out of a molehill. But whenever we are guilty of any grievous or serious fault, worthy of casting our body and soul into hell, we deny and culpability and quickly dismiss it. We see it happen every day. Now do not suppose for a moment that God judges as we do. Thus, we must learn to divest ourselves of self-love. For it blinds us so powerfully that we are unable to perceive things as they are. What must we do then? When God asserts that we have sinned against him and have provoked his wrath against us, we must abandon any thought of how easy it is to forgive sins. Rather, we must realize that we have so utterly sinned against God as to be worthy of a pit five times deeper than hell. That is the first thought that ought to come to mind......

....Furthermore, as we daily realize how weak we are, may we turn to that one remedy which we know best provides succor: to our Lord Jesus Christ. And as he has once and for all united us to God, his Father, may we ask nothing but to live with our neighbors in complete justice, equity, and peace, in order that by his grace we may attain to that immortal glory in which we shall all be united in perfect joy, as he has promised us. And may God grant this grace not only to us, but to all people and nations of the earth, etc...... ****

Starts singin' a small world after all, it's a small world after all... I had a call from one of my distance education teachers earlier for some assistant in an assignment. When I was just about to go he asked if I was related to my dad, I guess he had known my dad from sunday school when my dad's family was attending the E Free Church years ago, when my father was a teen. I told Dan about my dad's passing away, as he had no way of knowing since he hadn't seen him in years. He proceeded to ask me if I was a Christian which I answered in the affirmative, and I told him I was Presbyterian. He then asked if I attended one of the two Presby churches in town, which I don't. Had a bit of a good discussion as to why not, although most of the talking was on my side. I talked a bit about the second commandment and how it applies to worship and how it applies to our not joining those denominations, but sadly I don't know how well he took that, as he seemed to skirt the issue by saying something like "well, it's good salvation is by Christ" which I whole heartedly agreed with, but it was in the ton of "I've heard enough, I have all that matters" but our love for Christ is shown by our fruit, so if we ignore the commands of God how would we respond to Christ when he says in John 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Certainly our salvation is not of works, but rather it is shown through our works, works are the fruit of our faith and love, so how can so many people so easier toss aside the commands of God and claim to love him?

Luke 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Anyhow, just a few thoughts.

Jode

So here goes another blog. :)

Last night Belinda was reading part of a book to me (while I was folding laundry) that she picked up at a library book sale. The book is titled something like "Motherhood Stresses". The lady was discussing the many ways that our society is different from the "old days". Mind you it was written in the 80's so still not entirely recent. She talked about how the roles in the family were different, as far as the men would do more household types of things, such as the grocery shopping. Of course it would be at the one grocery store in town, rather than the 5 major chain grocery stores and the guy would maybe pick between two brands (if there were that many) rather than say 40 brands of something as simple as oat bran. Oh, there's another one, laundry was much different as you only had maybe three pairs of clothes which would be due for a washing every couple of weeks.

It's true that our world is much more advanced, but also much more stressed out from that. No doubt the stress just comes from the sinful part in the world, not the advancements themselves, but from the misuse of them. We spend so much of our time working to gain things we don't really need and don't even highly value; in that work we strive and strive never really "getting ahead". Most of us work at building the things that other people spend their money on, rather than working to supply ourselves directly with the things we need, by growing our own crops etc. So we do this to turn around and spend the money on what those other people over there are working to make (buy no means bashing a lot of cool things ;) ). At the same time buying and selling homes, moving around and away from the family support system and buying the majority of our food in stores. But of course food growers are also trying to make more of a bang for their buck, so there goes our "better for you" foods and here comes the treated and over processed stuff, which only adds to our stresses and works to make our lives shorter. Ah yes and don't even mention the new illnesses and the hordes of crimes and unlawful laws that are raising their ugly but hard to ignore heads.

There are also the stresses of raising kids..all the millions of options of how to do it, but not many people around to show you how to do properly. So we pretty much start from scratch, largely depend on books for this knowledge as we didn't learn how first hand. But of course books on "how to raise a covenant child in a ungodly world" are few and far between when it comes to the specifics of educating them, trying to instill the desire to be faithful, as well as having some common link of knowledge with the other children in the church..all leading to a commonly held form of sustainable and desired unity (sorry if that doesn't make much sense, kinda complex for me to explain at 1 am ;) ). Most kids grow up in small families, never learning to care for younger siblings; not many teens who would rather help care for a little sibling than go hang out with friends of their own age. Most parents fret and fear the out come of their children's bodies and their happiness in having all the latest do-dads but never consider nurturing their souls. (of course she didn't really go there). Hm, kinda sad how little respect full time mothers receive from this world. People seem to have the tendency after hearing someone is a full time mother to drop the jaw and ask "is that all you do??" as though you live like a couch potato, who has nothing better to do than catch the latest Soap.

Kind of weird how the lady expressed how our society is going down in a lot of these regards, but then turns and praises a lot of the things that are taking us there. I guess that's a result of only seeing one half of the equation.

Anyhow, enough ranting on that for one evening, although wouldn't be hard to trail off for a couple of hours.

Been having a lot of good thought provoking conversations with M & B lately, about doctrines, day to day life, money, entertainment, education, family, children and everything in-between.

Okay, I'm off and no doubt you're very thankful as it was getting hard to endure another messy sentence after another..not to mention the confusion of thoughts. But remember this is my blog after all, and if you did endure it all..could have saved the time and skipped right to the end. :)

Chow main

Jode

Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

The five of us and Liberty 

As most probably already know, my father passed away on the 4th of this month. He died from the cancer I mentioned a few posts back, called Pleural Mesothelioma. I know that he is now free from all pain and worldly cares and sorrows, totally happy and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity. Many times I have seen God's mercies at work now more than ever and I know that this was the best for all of us, especially Dad who was bearing so much pain every day. It was becoming harder to talk to him because his voice was failing and the only question that would come to mind is "how are you?" but none of us wanted to remind him of how he felt or to make him repeat himself when we didn't understand. God is so merciful that he didn't have to endure this for years; sometimes the selfish side of me wishes he had..but I know in reality that we never wanted that. It's really hard to find the right words, so forgive me if I don't come across clearly. Despite whatever the expectations were, there was no knowing the number of days left, so when Mom called on Tuesday it still hit with a shock (to say the least) for all of us. Even after two weeks of realizing he's gone it still seems surreal, you realize it in a factual kind of way, but until you apply it to a memory or a new hole in your life it doesn't feel like this is reality. In that way memories are both joy and sadness, it only takes one memory to venture back into tears, but I am so happy to have all of my memories of times with Dad: steam rolling, spinning his belt buckle on his lap, cutting our pancakes, telling us to "rise and shine little pumpkin heads", even cold porridge has meaning to it. There's no one to call me "Jody-babe" anymore... I miss that one too. My dad had many gifts.. a strong love for God, a great sense of humor, a ready ability to teach, a variety quirks, and many practical skills which included training us in the way we should go. :) Haha, when we were little he made this spanking board..and with a marker wrote soft on one side and hard on the other, and inscribed it with verses from the proverbs, so that whenever we did something wrong we'd cry "the soft side daddy, the soft side!!". Funny, even that becomes more of a fond memory.

Well the laundry calls and I must answer, catch ya later.

Jode


Phi 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:

PS If you'd like to see more childhood photos of Dad and his siblings I have them up on yahoo here and sorry they're not really in any type of order yet. :)


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. 

The C's 

Me 

Resent visit 

Geneva 

A few highlights. :) 

Albany Wedding 

2 

Here we are in 2005, who else thinks we should be in flying cars by now that run on air??

I really liked 2004, went pretty fast, full of events, fun, family, friends. Just had a visit from Dor and Jord which was very enjoyable. :) They stayed for about five days, talked lots, watched movies, ate chocolate, did some clothes shopping, had some white hot chocolate(;))and last but best..lots of fellowship. The weather is once again cold for January, unlike the last couple of years in which the snow and cold couldn't decide whether to come or go. I think the wind is the worst of it, but that shall pass. Went to Albany, Edmonton and Fort Nelson. Attended two weddings, in the bridal party both times..added two family members and have two new little family members on the way. :D

I wonder what the highlights of this year will be, but Lord willing a trip to Edmonton will be one of them. :)

Jode

PS No, I didn't make any resolutions, never have, don't think I ever will. :)

Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

Sometimes life has such a dream like quality..I feel the same type of anticipation before entering sleep. When I'm trying to force myself to sleep, I know that if I just relax I'll drift off so quickly, I'll wake-up and wonder where my sleeping time went..and just when it was that I fell into slumber when I was so awake a moment before. So with life..I anticipate it's flying by, but day by day I wonder when it will start flying, I then turn around and see...where has it gone? It's been flying since the day I was born, and right when I thought it was standing still.

Jode

Thankful for: What time I have, that I can use it wisely, and for sleep..

Proverbs 3:24 When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.

I'm here, I'm alive and I'm bloggin'. So new news, or old news. New news.. my parents have arrived in Calgary, and will take the second leg of their journey tomorrow morning, all the way back to the cold yet beautiful Fort Nelson..I'm not saying the beauty pays for the cold..but it should count for something right? I have yet to find out how the first part has gone, but for the fact that they've arrived.

I took out my sewing machines the other day, made myself some PJs, not big news but I was happy with how they turned out. Still have yet to conquer my serger, as it has been dropping some of my chain stitches, has something to do with the tension, but I have yet to line it up just right, and when I came close to perfect.. is decided to cut a couple threads so back to the beginning with rethreading. :D All this for PJs? Well that and experience, and at least the overlock part is functional.

Donated blood yesterday for the seconds time. That went well, only took 5 minutes and if it wasn't for having to do so much waiting I would have been out of there in no time. Oh, some photographer for a news paper came in to take a yearly photo of some poor person who is stuck to their seat so they don't have the option of running. Well this year that person was me, I just hope my photo doesn't end up in there..and if it does that it isn't accompanied by some great article about how I "rolled up my sleeve" for the x-mass season.

Ah, hm, I'm now drawing a blank so maybe I'll leave that as a short update? Haha I'm such a cheater, but alas life as been so smooth and fast, I can't remember what has happened. Oh, I did the yearly cleaning of the top of the cupboards..there's a thrill.

Off to sort emails or something. :D

Jode

Thankful for: Another weekend, that my parents arrived safely, that I'm able to spend some time on the net, that I don't have as many junk emails as I could have, haha.

PS Put up some newly scanned older photos, if anyone would like to see them just let me know so I can add your yahoo ID. My photos

Oookay, whatever it says. I figure by the end of all these quizzes if I don't know my personality yet I'm not very observant, and never will be.


Splash Mountain: Everybody's got a laughing place
to go-go-go-woah! You are a romp through folk
lore from the old south, a cheery log ride that
is always pleasant despite such unfortunate
circumstances like a five story drop into a
briar patch that proves to be more fun than
scary. You are casual, friend, warm, and
inviting, if a little reckless, it's always a
zip-ee-dee-do-dah day for you even when you get
yourself into some mighty steep trouble. What
movie you sprung from, Disney doesn't like to
tell, some consider it racist, but never you
mind, the critters inside of you (previously
stars of 'America Sings') are always cute and
you are just here to have a good time. You
love the camera and you live life to your
fullest, your thinking is that if 'you WILL get
wet' you might as well sieze the day!


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