I'm baaaaaaack!

I'm back from having a wonderful time with my family, but before I get to that, I first want to say thank you to everyone who left a comment about my last post and also to those of you who sent me separate emails. You were all so understanding and nice about my rant that I honestly feel closer to you all now. I know that may sound hokey, but it's true. You have no idea how much all your words mean to me. It's nice to know that I'm not alone and I'm not crazy for feeling how I feel.

My friend, Marni, sent me an email and told me this story that her principal had told her class while she was at Bible School. I asked if I could share it with you all and she said yes. Here's the story that has truly inspired me.

There was a man in Australia, who wanted to be a missionary. But for whatever reason (health??) he couldn't go overseas. So he decided to stand on street corners (I think it was Sidney) with a sign with something like "If you died tonight, do you know where you'd go?". He did this for years. And he felt really bad, because in all that time, no one ever paid attention to him. He thought that he'd been a failure. And he died thinking that he was a failure. Some time later, in a church service, somewhere in Australia, they had a time of giving testimony of God's work in their lives. Someone stood up and said that one day, as he was going about his business, he saw a man with a sign on the street corner. "If you died tonight, do you know where you'd go?" At first he didn't pay any attention but day after day, the sign started to really bother him. He didn't know where he would go, but he was afraid of the answer being hell. Finally, he sought out a pastor who led him to the Lord. In the same service, there were several others who stood up after this guy and had the same story. I think it was the pastor who decided to do a study about the numbers of people who had made decisions to follow Jesus because of seeing this sign. It turned out to be in the thousands. So even though this man didn't feel like he had any impact, the truth was, that God used him in a mighty way. He just never knew until he reached heaven!

Marni, thank you so much for taking the time to email me and send me this story. May we all be touched by it and reminded that God can use us even when we least expect it ... especially when we have a willing heart. p.s. Hello to Karis who "outed" herself on my last post. Of course I remember you. Hope you're doing well. Thanks for stopping by my blog and please feel free to say hello or leave a comment any time. :)

Now for my trip to Alberta. I took a LOT of pictures, so I'll have to do this in a few different steps. When I stepped off the plane, I was so excited to see my family so I rushed past all the other passengers to be the first one through the doors. I burst through those doors to see ...

NO ONE!!!

You see, my parents live about 15 minutes away from the airport, so to save on parking, they want people to call them once they've arrived so they will then leave their house and meet you after you've picked up your bags. Do I understand this? Yes. Was I a tad bit disappointed? Maybe just a little. :) But I got over it quickly enough when my Dad, sister and oldest niece arrived to pick me up. My niece is now 14 and she's taller than me. I know that's not hard to do seeing as I'm only 5' 4 1/2" but she's only 14! But she's still my little niece and I love her just the same. When I walked in the door, my other niece jumped on me from behind and we had another wonderful reunion. She's 11 and is still shorter than me, but it's just a matter of time and I'll be looking up at her, too. My nephew had tried to stay up and wait for me, but with their jet lag and me getting there at 10 pm, he was too tuckered. In the morning, my sister said he was barely waking up and he mumbled to her, "Can I go see Auntie Fiona now?" Too cute. Here are a couple of pics from our first few days.


I had to put this picture in because I like it so much. I had just landed in Calgary and looked out the window of the plane to see this beautiful sunset.



This is a picture of my Dad and my nephew, Jackson (7). Jack is my Dad's shadow and it's adorable, however, he's such a fun kid that the rest of us want to love on him, too. Sometimes he lets us, but most of the time he just wants to be with my Dad. Very fun for Papa.


Jackson took a few minutes out of his busy schedule with Papa to do a Bob the Builder puzzle with me. Jack LOVES Bob the Builder and wants to build a house for him, his wife and their 10 kids when he grows up (which also makes my Dad very proud). :)

These are my beautiful nieces, Sydney (14) and Ashtyn (11). Sydney is full of life, talks a mile a minute and has an incredibly sweet soul. She's nice to everyone and has a great confidence about her. Ashtyn is quieter and has a harder time expressing herself but is equally as sweet. I can really relate to Ashtyn in a lot of ways. I see myself in her and have a special place in my heart for her. Ash has a love for animals and wants to save them all. She's adorable.

Proof that Syd da Kid is taller than me. Scary! But then again, look at her Mom. Jodi's 5' 10 1/2" and her Dad is 6' 2" or somewhere around there. All 3 of their kids are going to be very tall and beautiful.

My sister and I being silly.

My Mom had done a TON of baking. I think I gained a million pounds while I was away. This Tupperware of baking would empty and then mysteriously be filled up again. Thanks Mom ... I think.

Yes, that baking was great, but look what I got!!! PASKA!!! There's nothing as great as a Mom who makes paska even when it's not Easter (p.s. and she sent me home with a loaf, too.) You can eat paska many different ways, but my favorite is sliced up with icing on each individual piece and sprinkles. My sister loves the colored sprinkles while I'm all about the chocolate as seen below (I was so excited to eat it that I had taken a few bites out of my piece before I remembered to take a picture).

Well, I think that's all for me tonight. I'll try to catch up more tomorrow.