A New Tradition, Perhaps ?

This year we decided to do something a little differently which may turn into a Christmas tradition. We had a pre Christmas brunch on Saturday with family and friends attending. Louise prepared the brunch and it was an enjoyable time.
The only missing element was not having Jennifer with us. Jennifer will be coming home from Ottawa for Christmas on December 23rd. Then its back to Ottawa for her final semester of law school before beginning work June 1st back in Saskatoon with the law firm of Cuelenaere, Kendall, Katzman and Watson. It will be great to have her back in Saskatoon after three years in Ottawa. We have much to be thankful for this year as just a month or so ago Tim was selected as a Corrrections Officer and is now working at the provincial jail in Saskatoon.
Looks like we will be living in Saskatoon for some time.

Getting In The Spirit of Christmas

Went out tonight and bought one of those Christmas Village sets. Have been meaning to do that for years. It was kind of fun setting it up. Now have to add to it throughout the years.

The Digital Story Of The Nativity

Thank God For Astro and Alberta

Was heading for North Battleford early this morning, making my business calls, when I hit a patch of black ice on the Borden Hill. My truck spun around a couple of times before landing in the ditch in quite a cascade of snow. It was actually kind of impressive.
I was amazed at the number of vehicles that just drove by. I sat there about twenty minutes when with in minutes of each other two 4 x 4 trucks with Alberta plates stopped to help. These Good Samaritans really tried to help hooking on to my truck but it was well buried in the snow. They were even going to try hooking up both their trucks to my rear hitch and then try to swivel me around and pull me out backwards. I was a little worried about that as it would have put one of their trucks right up on the highway and I didn't want my Good Samaritans injured. They had actually just hooked up when one of those large semi tow trucks from Astro Towing pulled up with lights flashing. The driver said he just happened to be going to North Battleford and asked me if I wanted him to tow me up. I very much did. Within minutes he had snaked his
boom under my truck and lifted truck, Diego and I back onto the highway and solid ground. So no damage to the truck, no injuries, and everything ended up well. So today I thank God for the Astro driver who just happened to come by and the two great fellows from Alberta who did everything they could to get me out. Now the important part is I need to pay it forward to someone else who needs assistance.

Financial Crisis in Britain

The financial crisis has worsened in Britain, now to the point that it is even affecting the Royal Family.

Maritime Holiday

I got pretty sick on this trip, ending up one night in Charlottetown Hospital with blood pressure of 215. A lot of memories of the trip have escaped me so I am thankful for my trusty camera which helps bring the memories back. Our first night in Halifax we rode the ferry across the harbour and toured the Citadel, a fortress that provided Halifax with great protection in times of war throughout the centuries






We had absolutely gorgeous weather. Too gorgeous in fact and some days the thermometer climbed to over 35 degrees above. The wedding day was highlighted by one of the most beautiful sunsets I have witnessed





The wedding of Mike and Christy was another highlight that we enjoyed along with Ed, Linda, Val and Becki.




























Hopewell Rock was another fascinating place. There the tide comes in and the water rises from 32 feet to 48 feet in just a matter of moments. There Louise, Tim, Karla, Jenn and I walked around for quite awhile enjoying nature at its best.



Very early in the year Louise had reserved tickets for the play Anne of Green Gables. So we travelled to Charlottetown to take in what was a very good play. We took the ferry one way and then came back via the Confederation Bridge after visiting the tourism site of Anne of Green Gables.


















One of the many little fishing villages and Jenn and Louise checking out the lobster traps and the fishing boats.

One of the enjoyable parts of our Maritime holiday was a trip to Peggy's Cove.
There we walked upon the rocks, watched the tide come in, checked out the lighthouse and some of the many fishing boats that were there.

Answered Prayer

Today is a great day and a day to give thanks for answered prayer. Tim has been training for the last several weeks to become a Corrections Officer. Yesterday he wrote his final examination and passed it. Earlier he had passed several other exams including a gruelling physical fitness exam. Today he begins his first day as a Corrections Officer in the provincial system working at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre. He worked very hard for this, we prayed very hard for this and it is fantastic that God has answered those prayers. Construction and carpentry is good but often hit and miss with layoffs and such and now he will be able to grow in a career with the provincial government with all the perks and benefits. We are tremendously proud of his accomplishments.

We Are Blessed

WHAT HAPPENS IN HEAVEN WHEN WE PRAY?
I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, ' This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.
I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.
Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.
The angel then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them." I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.
Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. "This is the Acknowledgment Section, my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed." How is it that there is no work going on here? ' I asked.
"So sad," the angel sighed. "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments".
"How does one acknowledge God's blessings? " I asked..
"Simple," the angel answered. Just say, "Thank you, Lord. "
"What blessings should they acknowledge?" I asked.
"If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. "
"And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity."
"If you woke up this morning with more health than illness .. You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day. "
"If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation . You are ahead of 700 million people in the world.."
"If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world."
"If your parents are still alive and still married ...you are very rare."
"If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair......."
Ok, what now? How can I start?
If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you care to, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.

Unprecedented

A seven year old boy was at the center of a courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him.
The boy had a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulation requiring that family unity be maintained to the highest degree possible.
The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her.
When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried and said that they also beat him.
After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.
After two recesses to check legal references and confer with the child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Blue Bombers, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.

And another one:
In the case of a tornado in the Winnipeg area, please head directly to Bomber Stadium.
Chances of a touchdown there are extremely unlikely!

Contentment

Can you be any more contended than this ? No worries. Just feed me, pat me and give me some attention and I am one happy puppy.

What's Next

This really has been a tough fall. My little dog, Diego, is now recuperating after having a tumor removed from his shoulder yesterday. Interesting difference between people medicine and animal medicine. Like no waiting times. I found the lump on his shoulder while giving him a bath. It looked pretty gross so took him to the vet.
The diagnosis given right away. The surgery done moments later and now he is getting back to his playful self.

Be Careful Little Mouth

In reading Scripture today, I was reminded of a little song my Mother used to sing to us as little kids. Be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little ears what you hear and be careful little mouth what you say.
Out of the abundance of a man's heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45) A man cannot claim his heart is kind if his words are unkind. He cannot claim his heart embraces heavens values if his mouth speaks the values of the world. The heart is a reservoir and the mouth is a faucet. When the faucet is turned on, whatever is in the reservoir will come out. I guess that's why the apostle Paul writes "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt. (Colossians 4:6)
Elsewhere he says "Let no corrupt word proceed from your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. (Ephesians 4:9)
Pretty sobering thoughts when I stop to think of all the clients and customers that I meet with every day and then ponder, What is coming out of my reservoir?

Maritime Holiday

The wedding was a great highlight on our trip. It was fantastic to enjoy the day with Christie and Mike, and also Ed, Linda, Val and Beckie.

Peggy's Cove was one of the many highlights. Here the five of us, Louise, Jennifer,
Karla, Tim and myself enjoy the ocean and the rugged rock background.
I have so many pictures taken on our trip of the Maritimes, it is almost impossible to know what to post and what to leave out. This fall Louise and I, Jennifer and Tim and Karla toured the Maritimes. I was quite sick so there are parts of it I don't remember but I took a lot of pictures. I remember if being very hot. 35 degrees plus somedays and I remember going to the emergency department of the Charlottetown hospital. But I also remember the good things too. We took in the play Ann of Green Gables and it was excellent. We attended Mike and Christie's wedding on just a beautiful summer's night. The weather couldn't have been better and then of course it was completed with a beautiful Nova Scotia sunset of which I have already posted a picture. I guess I am going to have to get down to work on some Smilebox or something scrapbooks and preserve the memories. I still have our trip to Cuba and our tour of Niagara Falls on memory sticks so need to do something about that. Probably won't be many more trips out east. Jennifer graduates from the University of Ottawa in 2011 with a degree in law. Already she has been hired by a Saskatoon law firm so she is coming home to work. It seems hard to believe that she has been gone almost three years.
Anyway I will post a few of my favourite Maritime pictures and try to do more as time and health permit.

Judging People

If you want to judge people by their worst moments and their biggest mistakes, you won't like or respect many people. But, if you choose to look at them, and see their best qualities and their best moments, you will be much richer in terms of friendships and your attitude toward life. All of us in our lives will need forgiveness at different times and in different ways.

Sunsets

I have always enjoyed sunsets. One of the spectacular aspects of God's creations.
Over the years I have been fortunate enough to catch on film some awesome sunsets in places like Hawaii, the Dominican Republic and other spots.
But for beauty a Nova Scotia sunset is second to none. This picture was taken the night of Mike and Christie's wedding. It was just a beautiful night.

Hard to Believe

I find it hard to believe that I have not posted anything on this site since January 26th. I belong to an international Crohns website for fellow sufferers of this dreadful disease and I have posted quite a bit of my journey's on there.
It has been a difficult summer. I experienced major Crohns attack sometime in May and from there things have just got progressively worse. Numerous trips to the ER ward, sleep deprivation from being unable to sleep at night. Night mares from various medications that they have been trying. We made a trip to the Maritimes for Christie and Mike's wedding. Unfortunately I remember very little about the trip.
Louise, Jennifer, Tim, Karla and myself made the trip. I am so glad I had my camera because I at least have the pictures to look at.(Will try to post some on the site soon). I know Louise and the crew rushed me to hospital in Charlottetown, PEI with my blood pressure over 215 and they did some emergency stuff to bring the pressure down. When I returned home things got progressively worse ending up with about a seven day stay in hospital. I will post more about this experience as I have on my Crohns site. It has been unpleasant to say the least. Wrong medications resulting in anxiety, restlessness and unbelievable nightmares. I can honestly say I now know what "a bad trip" feels like.
I am so thankful for Louise who has stood by me throughout this ordeal and has suffered much not understanding what was going on. Also for Tim who has been here and for Jennifer who has been a constant source of encouragement by telephone. I have been encouraged to write about my experience and especially the experience dealing with the Saskatchewan Health care system. I am also very thankful for Linda and her encouragement by telephone and her encouragement to put my thoughts down on paper as I try to work through them. I must say at this point I do not feel up to that although much could be said especially about the lack of hospital care.
And yet how much better it is to accentuate the positive. God's word says that "all things work together for good for those that love God" and perhaps there in alone there is a meaning for this ordeal. I do not know but do pray that someday it will be revealed to me.

Prairie Winter

The common theme in Saskatoon and Regina today. Digging out after a prairie snow storm. I am always amazed by the media who go on and on about this winter storm like it is something unusual. This is the Prairies. This is Saskatchewan. We do get winter snow flurries, blizzards and the like.

Thought for the Day

The people who complain about the high cost of administration in charitable organizations are the same people who demand a tax receipt for their donation.Dig deep. Give something to the Haiti relief effort today. Using cell phones and giving only ten dollars the American Red Cross raised 10 million dollars in only 72 hours.
People are using their mobile phones to donate to a number of different organizations that are helping out in Haiti. As a result, millions of dollars have been raised using mobile donations alone. Donations are typically of $5 or $10. You send a text message to the appropriate phone number and your donation is automatically recorded. The amount that you donate shows up on your mobile phone bill at the end of the month.
The Canadian Red Cross has received $22.2 million from individuals for Haiti relief efforts since the 7.0 earthquake devastated Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, ...

World Juniors - Great but Disappointing Finish

Our media center with the Swiss play by play man in the forefront. I worked one game with him.


The referees warming up prior to a game.



Team USA warming up prior to the Gold medal game


Again the people of Saskatchewan and in particular Saskatoon showed the world that we know how to host a major sporting event. Although the hockey Gods (Hockey Canada) say the event will never return to a non NHL city thats something that they may want to rethink.
What did Saskatoon accomplish? Well start with the third largest attendance in the history of the event? Add to that near capacity crowds that player after player related how much fun it was to play in front of hockey knowledgeable crowds. Add to that first class treatment of players, dignataries, and add to that record setting 50/50 draws with the winner of the pot in the final game taking home almost 150,000 dollars. Close to a million in 50/50 earnings will find its way into minor hockey programs because of the generosity of Saskatchewan fans. And then finally add to that almost 1500 volunteers who worked tirelessly to make the Junior championships a success.
It's disappointing that Canada could not pull out the championship but in my role as a media host, I had the opportunity on more than once to mingle with the American gold medal winning team and what a class act they were. Going into this tournament it was generally thought that Russia, Sweden, the USA and Canada were the best hopes to win. Russia bowed out early when they were upset 3 - 2 by the Swiss. The Swiss then had their bubble burst in the bronze medal game when Sweden literally coasted to an 11 - 4 win. I was assisting with the TSN broadcast for that one and Miller and McQuire did their best to make a boring game sound exciting.
Then the gold medal game. Unfortunately for Canada their suspect goaltending went south during the game and the USA ended the gold medal streak at five. Disappointing but how can you knock the Canadian effort and any true sports fan would agree that beyond a shadow of a doubt Team USA were deserving winners of the Gold medal.
I enjoyed my volunteer work with the media. It brought back many memories of the years I spent doing hockey play by play. It was a great life and many times, mostly on days the end in y, I found myself wishing that I had stayed in the broadcasting game. However such was not the case and I must say it was fun to be involved with the world juniors this year. This was actually the second world juniors I have had the pleasure to watch. In 1991 Tim and I watched here in Saskatoon as Canada defeated the Soviet Union 3 - 2 in overtime to win the gold medal. Great memories from that one and now new memories to add from the 2010's

Another Christmas Passes By

Christmas and New Year are over and now life begins to return to normal. Jennifer left for home in Ottawa yesterday. Once again there were flight problems. I wonder if these airlines ever think about the stress they cause when they cancel and delay flights. Jenn was to fly out at 11:40am. As is my habit, I checked the internet flight status to find her flight was delayed to 5:40pm. That would have put her into Toronto at midnight. She would have had to get a hotel and fly to Ottawa sunday morning. However I was able to get her the last seat on a flight to Calgary and then direct to Ottawa getting her home by 6pm yesterday. So it worked out but not without stress.
Mom's flight to Kelowna apparently was delayed as well leaving her a long wait in Caglary airport. Two different airlines. Same problem. Not much you can do about it.
I get real busy today and for the next three days with the world junior hockey championship. Today I am working the semi final game between Canada and Switzerland.
Switzerland pulled the shocker of the tournament yesterday with a 3 - 2 overtime win over Russia. Canada should win today but you just never know. The Swiss have a couple of really good players and an excellent goaltender. They like to slow down the pace and there is usually an above average amount of icing the puck in their games which slows down the pace.
Then Monday I am working two games and Tuesday I am working the bronze medal game and hope to get home to watch the gold on TV. Everybody tells me I should stay to watch the gold but I like watching it at home. The crowds are unbelievable. It is wall to wall people. You almost have to take out a second mortgage for a meal or even a drink so as great as the tournament is, and Saskatoon has done it well, I like to watch it all from my own soft comfortable recliner.