40 days - Day 23

Wow! Talk about falling off track! I can certainly sympathize with Marie and anyone else who is trying to stick to something new. Not easy! Things were going well until the Easter weekend (surprise, surprise), but it's really not the food part of it that is giving me trouble, it's finding time to get the exercise in. I went to the pool on Easter Monday and they hadn't scheduled any lifeguards for some reason, so the swim was cancelled. The rest of that week was too full for me to go back until Friday. I worked some irregular hours during the day, and didn't get any running in either. This week is turning out the same way! Not good. The eating and water aspects of this 40-day adventure are actually going quite well. So, as I have been encouraging Marie to do, I need to remind myself that one day (or week) off track does not mean the end of trying! Every day is a chance to start afresh!

The main news at home has to do with teeth. Elizabeth lost her second tooth last week, and Rebekah got her first set of braces. These ones are just going to be on for three to six months, with the goal of getting her two middle top teeth over the bottom ones. She only has six brackets, but that's enough for some serious fun with colour! She chose pink and green to match her bedroom...
It's kind of hard to tell in this photo, but the walls are granny smith apple green, and the curtains and other accessories are hot pink. Now, so are her teeth! Her next set of braces will be a full set of train tracks, but that probably won't be going on for a few more years.
And in other news... our van driver's side window won't close. It went down yesterday and refuses to go back up. Off to the mechanic I go!
Mommy

Happy Birthday, Rebekah!

My first baby is nine years old. I can hardly believe it! She is growing up so fast, and is such a beautiful little girl. Not so little anymore, I guess. I am constantly amazed at her ideas, her thoroughness in the tasks she puts herself to, her attention to details, and her sweet manners. When she was born, I resolved that I would never use the phrase "I can't wait until..." because I so earnestly wanted to enjoy the moment, tough as some of those moments were! I love all the stages, I am finding. I marvel, though, at how much I enjoy all the new stages, and can see glimpses of what is to come. I pray that I am one of those parents who loves having teenagers, and that we are able to appreciate most of what comes with that stage of development. First, we have to get through the pre-teen stage....
Rebekah has wanted to take riding lessons for a long time; ever since she attending a horseback riding summer camp in 2007. We were able to find a location near our home, where she can ride on Thursday evenings, which is the best day for us, and happened to coincide with her birthday, so she started tonight. She did so well! I also found a great deal on boots at Payless -- $15, down from $45, so we wrapped them up and she got them for her birthday. I actually think I was more excited than she was!! She has four lessons in the package we got for her, and then we'll probably cut it back to one lesson per month. She loved her lesson today, and it's great to see her so interested in something that is just for her.
I asked Steve about the verse above, and I guess I was trying to make it more complicated than it is. Basically, we are the clay jars, and the treasure is Christ. We are clay -- fragile, weak and malleable. Dense, too, in my case!!
No gym for me today. Hopefully tomorrow!

Mommy

Jars, Jarse, Canning?

I've been wondering if the title of my blog makes any sense, or if it really says much about me. I do enjoy canning, and have done a lot of it over the years. With a last name like Mason, it's always been a bit funny to me that my canning is done (primarily) with Mason jars. It occurred to me that if I were to start a business and sell my preserves, then I could call it Mrs. Mason's Jars. Very corny.

This is a picture of some Dill pickles I was getting ready to give away. Dill pickles are my favourite thing to can, but I also enjoy jam, marmelade, peach pie filling, salsa, tomato sauce, and one year I even had fun trying out pumpkin loaf. The pumpkin loaf is baked right inside a wide-mouth jar. It was delicious, but I set my stove on fire in the process, and had an embarrassing visit from our local fire department.

The "JARSE" are my husband and my children. Their first initials are those letters. If I'd been on the ball when we were having Elizabeth, I might have chosen a name that started with "S" so that the kids themselves would be JARS (but we were not thinking about that). We had batted around the idea of Sarah, but our church already had a Sarah Mason in another family, so we went with something else, hence the "E" of JARSE.

As a Christian, I know I am a vessel for God's purpose, and so I chose the verse at the top of my blog to go with my title, but I confess that I will have to wait until my husband gets home before I can attempt to explain it properly. I have a general understanding, but I'm certainly no theologian.

I did make it to the gym today. For some reason, when the alarm went off this morning at 5:00am, I was wide awake. I should have gotten up, but the radio told me that it was about minus 29 (celcius) with the wind chill, and I had absolutely no desire to go out. Of all days. I'm wide awake and it's frigid outside. I had a split shift at the bank, so I went in between shifts instead. I've never gone during the day before, and it was an interesting experience, with sales staff walking around, and less availability of the equipment. Even so, I'm so glad I went! I think I will skip it tomorrow, and go on Friday.

Tomorrow is Rebekah's birthday! She is going to be nine. I can't wait to give her her present!!

Stephen's home. Time for a theology lesson and some gift wrapping.

Mommy

A Wonderful Day

Rebekah was baptized this morning! We were so excited when she told us she would like to be baptized, and the weeks leading up to today have been surprisingly emotional for me. Strangely, though, when the moment came, I was fine! No tears, just pure joy. I was so proud of her. Stephen had the privilege of baptizing her, and giving her a life verse. She just smiled all the way through and spoke clearly when stating her intention to be baptized. She seems so big. My mom was at the service, and afterwards we met my dad for lunch. The kids were so good at lunch and we had a great visit. We just got home from AWANA now, so we're all pretty tired! Rebekah even finished her Red Book (Book 1) at AWANA tonight, so it's been a big day for her. We have a big surprise for Rebekah on her birthday, so I'm going to be getting ready for that this week. It is supposed to be so cold this week, though!!

I'm going to go to the gym tomorrow. I have to! I know it is so good for me mentally and emotionally, and I think there is also something about knowing that I've worked my body hard and that I'm contributing to my good health. Rebekah once said that she likes knowing that her mom goes to the gym. That's pretty good motivation! I'll need to remind myself of that at 5:00am tomorrow morning...

It's been a great day. What a wonderful way to start a new week.

Mommy

Jonathan's 8th Birthday

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby boy! I can't believe he is eight years old. For five days now, we will have two 8-year-olds until Rebekah's birthday on Thursday. A fun time each year. My Dad likes to say that they are 360 days apart. Some people have told me they are Irish twins, but I thought that siblings had to be born within the same calendar year (say January and December of 2000) to be "real" Irish twins. I just looked at a date calculator, and there are 1477 days or 211 weeks between Rebekah and Elizabeth...
Jonathan was thrilled with the Tech Deck ramps he got for his birthday. We had a surprise supper visit from Uncle Rob, Aunt Mandy, and cousins Trevor and Jesse. It's always a great time visiting with them. We also celebrated Rebekah's birthday tonight, and Rebekah loved the Geronimo Stilton books and Clownfish Webkinz she received.
Anna and Jonathan also started a new session of gymnastics this morning. Jonathan is in level 6 of Cangym and Anna is in level 2. I love hearing about what they have learned each week.
I need to find some motivation for getting to the gym this week. I went last week on Monday and Tuesday mornings, but I slept through the alarm on Thursday and Friday mornings, so it's been four days since I've gone in. I realize that working four nights last week probably caused me to be unusually tired, but it's definitely mind over matter trying to get up early to go and work out. My goal is to go three times per week, so I really hope I can get in more often this coming week. I always feel so much better when I go!
So, the end of a long, but pleasant day. Tomorrow should be even more exciting!
Good night!

Mommy