Boy, O Boy, O Boy, O Boy (and Girl)

Henry

2010-12-08T16:39:00.001-08:00

We have a new friend in our house. His name is Henry. He's a happy elf. He appeared on the morning of December 1 with a note and lego advent calendar for the boys .... every morning since he's been in a new hiding spot. He reports back to Santa on the boys behaviour. Even though the boys know that Santa is not real (gasp) they still wonder what Henry is going to say to Santa. One night he mixed up some green waffles and had strawberries and whip cream ready too ... one morning he was hiding in the freezer because he was a little homesick .... one night he chopped down a little tree and made little ornaments to decorate it .... he's going to be bringing a couple service type items later in December too ... he's a fun little guy and I wouldn't be surprised if he found his way to our house every December.

ahem ..... another shutterfly post ;)

2010-11-27T21:01:00.000-08:00

a sneak peak at our Christmas card this year. we're pretty excited. they were free. and they are awesome. the only hard part was picking which of the many cards we'd use. oh and finding a picture of the boys that had their tongues in their mouths (we failed).

Joy Wishes Ornament Christmas 5x7 folded card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Merry Christmas!!

2010-11-22T20:57:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas!!!! Well, almost. We had Christmas in Winnipeg last week and it snowed here today so it is feeling suspiciously like Christmas. And I think that today was the first day of advent. Something else that is Christmasy is the good old Christmas card. I love reading Christmas letters and seeing people's pictures.

Shutterfly has a great thing on now where bloggers can get free Christmas cards! YAY! Because we all know how we feel about free things. ;)

We have used shutterfly for years. We have bought calendars from them for our family for the past three years .... my parents and brother and his family have bought quite a few photo-books from them too. We have been so happy with their service and products and are looking forward to picking which style of Christmas card to pick from the many many choices!! Now if only I could get my kids to smile normally for pictures ..... I have a feeling that I'll be picking out a great design for my card and then sticking silly pictures on them. C'est le vie!

Fun With Tiff & Matt

2010-07-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

Fire Hall Tour Today

2010-07-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

We went to the fire hall today. It was fun.

From My Kitchen Door

2010-07-20T16:59:00.001-07:00

I spent 5 minutes drinking coffee and taking pictures from my kitchen door this morning. This is some of what I saw.

A LONG time!

2010-05-06T13:11:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since my last post but that's not really anything new. Here's some fun pictures from when my parents stayed with the boys last weekend. They had a blast.

Photo Shoot

2010-02-28T16:22:00.000-08:00

Last night our friend Rob was practicing with a lighting kit so after evening bath time Tyler and Sawyer rocked out to SwitchFoot on Ryan & Cindy's coffee table during a very funny photo shoot ....... ... Sienna joined in for a few shots too

"... you made a mess of me ...."

Butterfly Gardens

2010-02-22T13:06:00.000-08:00

Friday was a pro-d day so the four boys and I headed out to the buterfly gardens and then to playgrounds. The weather here has been un.be.lievable. !!!! My favorite kind of weather for sure. Cool and crisp but bright and sunny. It makes such a difference in everyone's attitudes .... what a great week was had by all!

Some Pictures from Christmas

2010-02-22T09:01:00.000-08:00

I thought that I had published this a while ago but apparently I only saved it as a draft ... anyways here they are .....

Our little model

2010-02-21T13:01:00.000-08:00

We used birthday money from Mom & Dad Bargen to buy Sawyer a new swim suit ... he loves it!

Seven

2010-01-29T14:39:00.000-08:00

Yup, I am the mother to a SEVEN YEAR OLD!!! How did that happen? Ty had his birthday over the Christmas holidays ..... Tyler is sensitive and loving, he loves any and every sport (and all of the rules that go along with them). He is growing up and everyday coming home from school I see new things that I didn't teach him (good and bad). He tries really hard to be a good friend to all of his classmates and is on a steep leaning curve socially being immersed in the lives of his classmates. He often comes home from school totally exhausted and I feel like it is more emotionally draining than physically. Tyler has been going to gymnastics and is improving rapidly its fun to see. We love you so much Tyler and are proud of you!!

Oh, and you may have noticed that he LOVES the Canucks .... if it ain't the Canucks might as well be naked ;)

Three

2010-01-29T14:34:00.001-08:00

Today my baby is three. I think that means that I no longer have a baby. It's been fun watching him learn and grow. He's in the 95-100% for 3 year old boys .... I think he's going to end up the tallest of our boys. He thinks his middle name is Batman (and doesn't like to be corrected). He is intense and doesn't do anything half heartedly. He loves to laugh and make others laugh. He loves hockey. He talks a lot and to me it's very clear (but apparently I'm wrong and he is kinda difficult to understand ;) ). We love you Sawyer and are so glad that God chose for you to be in our family!!

Some Randoms ....

2010-01-26T08:39:00.000-08:00

Three silly brothers ...
A monkey

5 cousins
Making Pizza with Papa

And here's some more ....

2010-01-24T08:10:00.000-08:00

feeding the seals ....

Cory, Tyler, Ryan and Tyler went skiing to Mt.Baker for a day.
Mmmmmmmmm, chocolate covered strawberries!
Building a new lego project .....
Cousin Quinn ....

More Pictures

2010-01-22T08:09:00.000-08:00

My two year old cracks eggs all by himself .... I would have never let Tyler do that at two, I hope that he knows how lucky he is ;)

Visiting with Santa at Krause Berries Farms
Tyler and his first grade teacher
Riley and his kindergarten teacher

Pictures from Christmas

2010-01-20T20:13:00.000-08:00

This Fall in Pictures .... coming to you over the next week or so ....

2010-01-20T20:07:00.001-08:00

Spending time with Ryan & Cindy at Goldstream Park
Brothers ....

Sawyer and the little guy that I take care of Monday - Friday 8am-5pm.
I think this is his fierce goalie face.
He put on all this equipment completely by himself and was very proud!

We had Visitors!

2009-08-31T16:24:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing, fun and busy summer. As I have chances I'll try to post pictures.

One of our favorite things was having Tyler and Meghan come visit for a week. We had a blast!

The day they came my parents still had our boys at "Papa and Nana Camp" so we got to hang out just adults. We met Cory after his work at Red Fish Blue Fish. Mmmmmmm, yum.

We also got to walk around downtown.. This is Fan Tan Alley.

After dinner we went for a walk on the breakwater.

We checked out Cory's new office.

One day we went to Botanical Beach. We had never been there before and it was just stunning!

Thanks for visiting us Ty and Meg. We are so blessed to have you in our lives!!!

Sawyer wants to show you something

2009-08-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

I have many more pictures from the last couple of months that I should share with you but he really wanted you to see him on his skuut bike. (and that's all I have time for right now)

He also wanted you to see his favorite playground.

Fun at the Park

2009-07-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

Now that it is summer the boys and I have made a few goals for ourselves .... we've set out to conquer a few challenges in July and August ....

challenge #1 -
Tyler & Riley learn the list of 100 words to be able to read in Grade 1 (I know, I know, Tyler is only going into grade 1 and Riley is only going into kindergarten but I have faith ... they will conquer :) )

challenge #2 -
find all the books in the 100 books for first graders and READ THEM! ..... we have great libraries and should have no problem with this challenge

challenge #3 -
this is perhaps are toughest challenge of all .... find 50 DIFFERENT playground and PLAY ON THEM .... we've so far made it to 7 different playgrounds, we're on our way! (good thing we will be in at least three different cities this summer)

Last Weekend

2009-06-17T17:31:00.000-07:00

Every year the second weekend in June is Operation Trackshoes. I look forward to this all year, it is so fun! It is a little bit like an "escape" from my normal life as I get to help out at this sports festival for people who have different disabilities. My friend Rob took photos at the event. These are a few of my favorites.

A couple of amazing facts about Trackshoes this year ..... we had about 540 competitors and around 600 volunteers ..... a huge event! .... yet there were almost 100 people that we had to say couldn't come because we didn't have enough counselors to support them, so if you think you'd enjoy something like this please volunteer next year. It will be the 40th year.

Oh, we always need more volunteers so if you want to know how you can have this much fun just ask me and I'll tell you more than you ever wanted to know :)

Birthday Week

2009-05-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

In a week my second born is 5! Crazy how time flies!

Riley is almost 5 and seems to know when you're taking a picture and then smiles beautifully.

He loves to laugh which often ends up being at Sawyer's expense, afterall Sawyer gives wonderful reactions to Riley's antics. He is also learning how to read and can read basic books quite well now. He is enjoying playing on a t-ball team and doing gymnastics once a week too.

Riley is my handful. My fiesty boy who loves to bother people and is quit skilled at that ;) But he's also a boy who needs his mom and lots of cuddles and affirmation.......we love him very much.

Brothers

2009-05-15T07:51:00.000-07:00

These are from a walk we went on in March.

Blessed

2009-05-14T17:18:00.000-07:00

I LOVE living where we live. The main reason that I love it so much is the incredible community of people that has formed into our Victoria family..... really, they are incredible and we are so so so blessed to have them in our lives. I don't have pictures of them to post on here but here are some more reasons why Victoria grew so quickly into being home for us.....the first three pictures were taken March 2 and the last two were taken on Tuesday.

Mountains, ocean and beaches everywhere and flowers that start to sprout in March ...... amazing!

2009-05-14T17:09:00.001-07:00

2

2009-05-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

Sawyer is 2 (27 months to be more exact). He's SO fun. "Sasr dude it" (Sawyer do it) is and extreeemly common phrase coming out of his mouth. He likes to try to dress himself, which, while being a great skill to master is much quicker when mommy helps. Other things we hear a lot of is the song "O Canada". He loves to play with playdough and do anything that the big boys are doing. He is soooo close to being completely toilet trained :) .... it's mostly nights and napping that we have to work on but we've had a great past few days. He really loves "pottys" and trying to use each and everyone that he can find. Tall or short, big whole or with a potty seat, inside or outside....yup, that's right, he even liked the outhouse at the beach we went to the other day. Silly boy.

He also is learning to "read" like his big brothers. He knows a few letters and will point them out all over the place ... "Look Mom. S for Sasr." "Look Mom. S for Tylr." (when he has spotted a T) "M for Mom. Look Mom, look Mom quick."

He also really enjoys doing anything in the kitchen. The other day I left some ingredients to make bran muffins on the counter but then went to do some laundry....I came back to the kitchen to find Sawyer with all the butter unwrapped and brown sugar scooped very neatly on top of them ;)

Anyways, here are some pictures that I've taken during the last few days. I think he's cute.

Fun on the Mainland

2009-05-12T08:06:00.001-07:00

We got to spend last weekend with my family ..... here are some fun faces from those couple of days.

We celebrated Anika, Jerry, and Riley's birthdays as well as Mother's Day.

Riley was too cold to be in this family picture because it was in the shade so he quietly snuck into the sun and none of us realized until he told us later :)

We took the skytrain into Vancouver where I (Corinne) helped out at the gDiaper booth at the Sustainability Expo. Everyone else went on the Sea Bus too and spent some time exploring the Expo

I'm not sure what happened to Cory....

That's my nephew Quinn

Called

2009-04-05T16:18:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Cory had the ceremony signifying the end of school for him. His "Call Ceremony". I am so proud of how hard he worked to reach this point. I think that I am even more proud and thankful for how throughout the journey to get to this point, he made us, his family priority over school and work. Thanks Babe, I LOVE YOU!

Here are some pictures from that day....

A Visit from GREAT-Grandma

2009-02-25T12:19:00.000-08:00

This past week we have enjoyed a visit from Cory's Grandma who came out from Winnipeg to see us. We had a great time!

We went to the Oak Bay Marina. We fed the seals, explored the jetty and threw many rocks into the ocean.

Much time spent reading books.....
and playing with the puzzle train tracks.

We went to the inner harbour and had a ride on the Harbor Ferries.

Grandma came to watch Riley & Sawyer at gymnastics.

We had a short trip to a playground.
We walked around downtown a bit and went to the Undersea Gardens.

The boys spent a lot of time coloring.
The boys and Great-Grandma baked some cookies.

Grandma also came to kindergym with Sawyer.

What a great week!

And now I should go because Uncle Carl & Auntie Tamara should be here any minute!

For your viewing pleasure

2009-02-04T16:06:00.000-08:00

Photobooth Fun

2008-12-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

Glue

2008-12-19T22:27:00.000-08:00

I love how my kids sometimes share the random things going through their heads. Riley seems to do this most frequently. This week the "winner" came as we were driving around doing some errands.

Riley: "God must have really sticky glue."

Me: "Really? Why do you say that?"

Riley: "Well, 'cause he stuck us together and we never even fall apart. Our legs stay on and our fingers, even our noses never fall off."

Pause.

Riley: "Yeah, he did that when we were really little, still growing in our mommies. He glued us with his really sticky glue."

Me: "Yah, he sure is good at making things."

Riley: "Good thing he has such sticky glue."

Good thing indeed :)

Let the Lawyer jokes begin....

2008-12-16T17:46:00.000-08:00

...... or continue ..... :) But now they can REALLY be referring to Cory's profession.....
Yup, Cory has done it .... as of today he is no longer a student but a lawyer! Crazy to think that this part of the schooling journey is completed. Way to go Cory....you are an amazingly hard worker and completed this goal well, even when you didn't feel like it. Thanks for providing for our family in this way. I love you.For those of you who don't know, he has gotten hired on with the BC Attorney General (where he was doing his articling). He is now legal council in the Civil Litigation division. So far he has been enjoying the people that he works with and learning the work that he will be doing.

I think that when he goes to court he wears a black robe like that but not the hair, yet.... I think he should wear the hair too!

Thanks to everyone who has prayed us through our journey thus far...feel free to continue ;)

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

2008-12-05T14:11:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Advent Conspiracy

2008-11-30T21:42:00.001-08:00

This was used as an illustration in our sermon this evening and really got us thinking....watch this when you have 2.5 minutes and see what you think.

Renovations thus far....

2008-11-18T21:16:00.000-08:00

Renovations have been keeping us very busy but things are really coming along! We have knocked out walls (and jack-hammered out concrete footings), built new walls, ripped out the flooring, layed new flooring and painted up a storm. There still is lots to do but here is a mini-tour of the house this morning. (there is a lot of stuff not where it belongs as we were in the process of returning things to their homes after the wood floor was put down this weekend so you may have to use your imaginations a bit to see it in it's "finished" state).BEAUTIFUL new floor! This is really so much better than the carpet that smelled of cat spray :) There is still a little bit more to lay but so far we love what we have!

So when you walk into our "front entry" this is where you'll be. It is also a laundry room/furnace room and the access to upstairs (via the rainbow stairs). It is still under construction but is beginning to show us how great it is going to be when it is completed.

You can see into the boys room from here too....

Here is the boys room....they picked BLUE paint :)The picture above is Ty's bed with their dresser and the picture below is Riley's & what will be Sawyer's beds...so far they love sharing a room which is good considering that there are only 2 bedrooms downstairs!
From the entry you walk into the great room....it is office/rec room/living room/dining room all in one and we are trting to figure out how to best effectively use all of this new space....The concrete floor will not be staying bare but we didn't have quite enough wood so it will have to come in a few weeks.
Off of the office end of the "great space" is the master bedroom. We like it.And here is our bathroom, it will be getting some new paint and some new knobs but mostly it will remain as is.
Our kitchen has too much stuff in it right now...you'll have to wait for pictures of that. But, if you travel up the rainbow stairs here is some of what you what you would see.So that's that....hopefully it won't be 2 more months before I finish off what's been happening in September and October but for now I'm off to bed.

2 Months.....and all my excuses

2008-11-18T20:57:00.000-08:00

Ok, so here come some updates ..... a special "I'm sorry" goes out to our faithful Aunts who keep track of us via this blog and who have been wondering if we are still alive, this has been a long time coming .....

We have been very busy these last couple of months. My very favorite thing that has happened is also one of the most recent - I am finally an Auntie!!! My brother Jerry and his wife had little baby Quinn on Friday November 14 and we were on the mainland so we have already had a chance to meet him and love on him. He is so very cute, I LOVE being and Auntie.Welcome here Quinn we LOVE you so much!

We BOUGHT A House!

2008-08-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

Yup. And we're really excited. We get possession on August 27. Can you tell what I'm most excited about??? Any inside pictures are more like "before" pictures and I'm looking forward to being able to post the "after" ones in a few months.

I would have never thought leaving Abbotsford in the summer of 2004 that we would be staying here, I was really nervous about moving but it has been an amazing adventure and we are excited to continue it here!

Funniness of Family Life

2008-08-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

In order to really "get" this post enlarge each picture in order by clicking on them.

We're not always on the same wavelength :)

Video

2008-07-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to figure out how to upload video from out video camera, it seems like we need a different computer to do that....booo. Anyways here is a video from when Ty was about 7 months old. It's cute too, just not terribly current :)

Long-Weekend Camping Fun

2008-07-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

We went to Deception Pass this weekend with my (Corinne's) family, it was a great time! Here are a few of my favorite pics....

The best Nana & Papa 3 boys could ask for.

Here's Jerry & Katie and Baby Cousin!

This is how Sawyer felt about going home today :)

Happy Birthday Riley

2008-06-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

We've just had birthday week in our home and my boy #2 is now 4! That is hard to believe. We got him goalie equipment and he (and Ty and Sawyer) loves it. Riley is my super-competitive boy, he has a NEED to win and he seems to try to win by being defense. He does this at soccer to. It is fun watching him grow. I really enjoy seeing his sensitive side come out (which is a rare treat), but when it does it is so genuine. I really am blessed. I love my boys. Happy birthday Riley, I love you all the way to the moon and back.

Before and After

2008-06-03T21:54:00.000-07:00

I cut Sawyer's hair a few weeks ago and at first was quite shocked with the change but now I'm pretty sure he's the cutest baby around :)

What's new in the Bargen household?

2008-05-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a hint:
Yup, Sawyer is pooping on the potty !!!!! 15.5 months old, who knew???

(any Mom's out there, don't ask me how to potty train children, I've never done it, my children somehow do it on their own ;) )

Some pictures

2008-05-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

I've been a bad blogger recently but I like to think that's because I've been a good mom :) Anyways here are a few pictures from a couple of weekends ago when Cory and the older two boys went on the LPC retreat. Notice anything different about Ty?

New Booties

2008-04-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

Cory's parents sent some money to get a gift for Sawyer for his birthday. We bought these cool new booties called stonz. I said I take pictures and send them to you Mom and Dad so that you could see them. I took the pictures but have yet to send them, sorry. Hope this will do :) We really like them and it seems like Sawyer does too. He really doesn't like to wear shoes so these work as a great substitute. Thank-you!In these pictures we were all colouring with chalk on our sidewalk which is something we enjoy doing.....Sawyer is learning to enjoy it too although right now it seems like his favorite thing to do is to dump all of the chalk and then taste them all :)

Isn't it funny???

2008-04-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

Here I am in Whistler and I am thinking to myself.....

.....you get to go away (without kids), the hotel is amazing (Whistler Hilton), the weather is gorgeous (sunny, blue sky with a gentle snow falling), you are in the middle of one of your favorite settings (the mountains on the west coast), you got to spend several hours shopping (entering ANY store you wanted and staying as long as you wanted, without having to remind anyone to "just touch with your eyes" or that in between displays, while they may seem like good hiding places, actually aren't), you got to stay in bed past 7am after hanging out with your husband for the whole evening (going out to dinner -paid for by work- , watching a movie, hottubbing and other extra-curricular activities...), you just casually ate breakfast at a coffee shop (without having to tell any boys to try to stop jumping on the furniture) and yet you can't wait to drive back to them to be with them again. I LOVE you boys...and I'll see you soon! What beautiful, funny, tiring, energetic, creative, silly, competitive, fun-loving, boundary testing, generous, trusting, genuine, enthusiastic......blessings I have.

Organ Donation

2008-04-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

I have been following (along with many many thousands of other people) a family's journey with Cystic Fibrosis ..... it takes too long to explain because it is an amazing story, if you have time go check out their blog. Anyways, in the USA April is organ donation month and so I thought that I'd try to draw your attention to how you can do that sort of thing in Canada.

I found an article on organ donation in Canada (it was written in 2001)...

Organ Donation in Canada

The current situation in Canada
More than 3,700 Canadians are awaiting organ transplants for kidneys, hearts, lungs, or livers, and thousands of others are in need of replacements for tissues such as corneas, heart valves, bone grafts, and skin.

Last year alone, 147 Canadians died while waiting for organs that never came because suitable donors were not found in time. Part of the problem lies with Canada having one of the lowest organ donation rates among industrialised nations. There are fewer than 14 donors per million people in this country, as compared with more than 31 in Spain. What's more, the gap between transplant patients on waiting lists and numbers of available organs is widening.

There's good news
The numbers above paint a picture that is hard to face. However, there is some good news:

Nearly 98% of all kidney transplants, 90% of liver transplants, and 85% of heart transplants are successful;
More than 1,800 organ transplants were performed in Canadian hospitals in 2000;
Donor families say they are comforted by the feeling that their loved one's death was not in vain.

This gives Canadians all the more reason to take the time to make their wishes known either by filling out their province's organ donor card or registering their wishes through a provincial registry.

If you know me really well you'll know that I like to donate blood and also like to challenge other people to do so too. For more information on how you can do that in Canada click here.

I also was recently sent information on becoming a bone marrow donor and they REALLY need more people on this list because the match has to be so precise to work. Click here for more info.

And finally, click here for more info on becoming an organ donor and make sure that you let your friends and family know about your wishes to donate organs if you should die.

Too Long

2008-04-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

I have been neglecting our blog recently, but not on purpose. I have really been lacking in time and when I do have time it is when Sawyer is sleeping in the computer room...anyways, enough excuses. I am now in Whistler, Cory is at a meeting and the boys are playing with their Nana in Abbotsford and I am still in bed (it is 9:21am :) ). I am working on a few drafts of blogs to hopefully be able to post a few over the next few days. The pictures are on the computer at home, so I'll add the pictures once I get home and then post them.....meanwhile, it is REALLY quiet here. I am enjoying this little break very much but I did miss the 3 "Good-morning" hugs that I usually receive so enthusiastically from the boys.......

Sick

2008-04-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

This past month the boys all got a 4-5 day cold/fever nasty combo thing. Isn't a sick Sawyer so cute? Poor guy, he felt so yucky.

Right Now

2008-03-03T17:18:00.000-08:00

This is what Riley looks like right now. He reminds me of Dad Bargen at this time of day.....

Some Pictures from Tyler's Birthday....

2008-02-15T09:48:00.001-08:00

....more to come later!

Fun at Nana and Papa's

2008-02-10T21:51:00.000-08:00

2008-01-31T15:23:00.001-08:00

I still have more catch-up on Christmas to do but I am rarely on the computer...especially the computer that has all of the pictures on it because it is in Sawyer's room....so for now I will have to stick with what I can do on the laptop (the boys are all sleeping...and I should be too so I'll try to make this brief). I came across this idea of posting a "Thursday Thirteen" list, I think that it can be 13 anything.....just a list of 13.....some examples I've found are: Thirteen search terms that led people to my blog, Thirteen body parts that have been altered, Thirteen common items that I have silly names for, Thirteen Things about the dog, Thirteen of my favorite photos.......I think it's a neat idea so here is my first go at.....Thirteen Body Parts that have been altered

This topic intrigued me....can I come up with 13???

1. My skull. When I was about 6 my brother tripped me and the resulting fall created a crack in my head that required stitches.
2. My gallbladder. It is now gone, that counts though, right? 'Cause it used to be where it was meant to be and now it is in a jar somewhere.
3. My fingernails.....I clip them, bite them, paint them, break them....
4. My nose. In grade 9 gym class I was slashed across the nose during floor hockey by another girl. My nose was cracked but not out of place. (From that class on I was made to wear an ump's mask if I wanted to participate in phys.ed., my teacher was weird).
5. My earlobes. Both sides have been pierced. Twice. ooooo, very hardcore, I know.
6. My uterus. I have had three boys. There is no way that it is the same anymore.
7. My nether-regions...see #6.
8. My hair. Although I can't afford to alter it as often as I would like, I does get cut and colored about once a year.
9. My ankles. Something in the Isaak (my maiden name for those of you who don't know) genes makes weak ankles and mine have been sprained or twisted more than their fair share.
10. My eyebrows. I get them threaded everytime I go back to Abbotsford, otherwise they are VERY bushy, you should all be glad that these get altered on a semi-frequent basis.
11. My boobs. They made them smaller...not bigger! (yay!)

This is getting tricky........hmmm.....

12. My hips. Again refer to #6.
13. My heart. This one is cheesey but I really want to have a nap and it's all that I could come up with. After having one baby you wonder how you could love any more, then along comes another and another and I've found my heart just keeps growing with them.....and it is a good thing that we took measures to make sure that no more will come along because otherwise I just might be begging Cory to get pregnant again, I'm sure that there's room in my hear for one or two more :)

$8 Hotdog

2008-01-23T11:31:00.000-08:00

something to think about....

A POWERFUL Story

2008-01-21T08:18:00.000-08:00

If you have the time I strongly encourage you to spend some time on Nathan's blog.
Here is a story of amazing faith and trust. Here is a story that for me brings me to tears almost everytime I read yet is the most incredible example of what it means to trust FULLY in God through everything.

Please read ........ and pray ...... and read some more ....... and never stop praying.

More From Christmas

2008-01-17T16:28:00.001-08:00

Dad Bargen has this chair massager which Sawyer really enjoyed. If it got turned on he would hear it and either lay his head on it or grab a book and sit.

The many faces of Tyler.........

This was a genuine sad face ... I think Riley did something terrible to him ... like following him or something of equal torture ;)And a couple of Riley ........

Good Moms

2008-01-11T15:21:00.000-08:00

Ty and I were talking about who my mom is and who Cory's mom is........

Ty: "Who is your mom, Mom?"
Me: "Nana."
Ty: "Well who is Dad's mom?"
Me: "Grandma."
about 20 seconds of silence
Ty: "Those are good Moms."

I agree.

Tag

2008-01-10T15:28:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged by Lorrie.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person’s blog who tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself
4. Tag seven random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog.

Seven Random/Weird Facts About Me:

1. My older 2 boys had been getting up between 5:45am or 6:30am (especially Riley who would then wake Tyler)..... this was really too early so I bought them an alarm clock and implemented a new rule: You cannot get up until 7am! This worked and helped my sanity but on the holidays this Christmas I came up with a genius plan ..... every night before I go to bed, I set their clock back 30 minutes. This means that 7am in their room is 7:30am in the real world ...... glorious!
2. I like to arrange the CDs in Starbucks stores so that the same artists are beside each other. It looks much better this way!
3. I LOVE being pregnant and even like labor and delivery ...... I would really like to be there when someone else is having a baby too.
4. I have always wanted to adopt a baby that has down syndrome ..... maybe someday that dream will come true ?!?!?
5. My favorite "tag" post that I've ever read was Tim's.
6. I love finding good deals. I love buying things used. I am trying to buy everything used, except for food, I buy that new.
7. I am a west coast girl through and through.....I even like the rain. I am happiest in temperatures from about 15*C-20*C.

Well, that's 7, now it's time to play with my boys.....I sure have a good job ;)

I Tag:
Anika
Carl
Tamara
Jerry
Katie
Tiffany
Kirsten

Where To Start??

2008-01-08T19:11:00.000-08:00

It seems like sooo long ago that we left for "holidays". I use quotations here because while we were away from normal routine and there were many more people around that loved my kids, I came home and feel exhausted. It has taken me a couple of days to recover from being gone for three and a half weeks and begin to feel more "normal". (A normal tired that is. It seems like that is just simply part of who I am right now. Being a mom is what I've always wanted and it is living up to my dreams but that doesn't make it any less exhausting. Corinne Tired Bargen. That is me. And I love it.)
The trip included 6 family gatherings, a wedding shower, a stag, a stagette, a wedding rehersal and rehersal dinner and my brother's wedding. We also got to catch up with friends in Winnipeg and even more in Abbotsford!!!! FULL days. Full of blessing after blessing.......

We began with fun in Abbotsford. We got to hang out with my family, all of us together, doesn't happen very often and was great! (but I don't have any pictures, opps:) ) Here Papa (my Dad) and Ty are constructing their gingerbread house.Then we left to go to Winnipeg. We had fun waiting in the Abbotsford airport.

Grandma and Grandpa didn't wait until Christmas day to give Ty and Riley their gift of ice skates and here is their first time skating (outside at Bronx Park). For those of you who don't know, the Bargen Brothers are going to play on the Can*ucks team when they grow up ;)

Break time with Auntie Tiffany

Skating is hard work!
It's easier if you let the adults carry you :)

More holiday updates to come....

Feliz Navidad

2007-12-31T16:57:00.000-08:00

A late Merry Christmas to you all and an early Happy New Year! We have had a great time in Abbotsford and Winnipeg and are starting to feel like we're ready to go back home. I have many many pictures to download from our Christmas festivities but we are not yet home so they will have to wait.

For now, here are a couple pictures of Sawyer. He made up this "funny-face" and will often do it when you ask him to. It involves his whole face and often his arms and legs too. First a normal picture and then "can we see Sawyer's funny-face?"

Sweater Party

2007-12-13T16:49:00.000-08:00

We had a sweater party at our house with our small group last night. This is a group of friends that gathers once a week in what has been dubbed our "place of refuge". A place where we can just be. Where we can be real. It really is that place of refuge in our busy lives. Bust back to the sweater party... what fun, what hideous sweaters, good food, and great friends, I feel so blessed! James has put some of the pictures here.

Truth

2007-12-01T11:07:00.000-08:00

Angie has posted this on her blog..... it struck me as a truth I know, but do I live it?

On a different note, I want to share something that’s been on my mind the past few days. Anyone who has ever gone through something difficult, painful, and heart wrenching knows that our need for God is more eye-openingly apparent at those times than any other. There’s nothing revolutionary or profound about that, but it dawned on me at some point this weekend that while the need becomes undeniably obvious during the storms of life, it doesn’t actually increase. I don’t think I’ve ever really gotten that before. I’ve pondered over this a little, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I have been living under the unconscious assumption that I needed God more right now as we walk through these deep waters than I do when life is not shadowed by crisis. For some reason, the faulty reasoning of this rationale suddenly struck home. After all, how can my need for God grow if I am totally helpless without Him? I think it is only arrogance—even if it is unconscious arrogance—that allowed me to live with that mentality. Operating under the idea that our need for God is less when the road is smooth and more when the road gets bumpy is so absurd because that assumes that we have what it takes to make it on our own strength under "normal circumstances." Yet, this is what I’ve done. I’ve lived weeks and months at a time, not exactly ignoring God, but certainly not living with realization of my profound need for Him.

The flu has hit and it STINKS!

2007-11-29T15:42:00.001-08:00

Tuesday night we were up ALL night with Ty trying to comfort him as he threw up again and again and again. Sawyer woke up Wednesday morning with the runs. Riley just woke up from his nap lying in his vomit, he says he didn't throw up, but his face and bedding said otherwise. Our entire house stinks.

I know that in the real scope of everything in life this is minor, but it sure is stinky!

(And I'm very thankful for washing machines and steam cleaners!!!! But where to start........???)

Bargen Elves

2007-11-25T16:36:00.000-08:00

The Bargen Elves
My sister did this and I thought it was very funny , you might too!

Field Trip

2007-11-02T18:59:00.001-07:00

Yesterday the boys preschool class went on a field trip to Goldstream Park. The naturalist told them about the salmon that are in the river spawning right now and then we went out and saw some. It was a fun morning.

On a totally different note.....

2007-11-01T12:12:00.001-07:00

We had fun dressing up and carving pumpkins this week....Batman, Spiderman and Superman...I sure was in good hands!

Food For Thought

2007-11-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

This morning on my google-reader it showed that a girl named Boothe had blogged. She is an amazing writer and a friend of my sister-in-law. Just six weeks ago she gave birth to her second baby girl, just 5 weeks ago she said good-bye to that very girl..... her blog from last night made me cry, and think and pray.... when you think of their precious little family maybe you could pray for them too.

Here is a little excerpt from today that really made me reflect on how I view God.

"When Copeland died, I remember smirking. This is the moment, this is the moment my baby daughter breathed her last, and still, You are nowhere to be seen. Surely You'd show up now! I don't know what I expected, but somehow it felt like a let-down, or a betrayal, or a joke. And yet - that moment was holy. How can God be so there and yet so absent? How can we feel Him moving and yet feel so alone?

Thus is the conflict of faith. I find that much of my life is defined by conflict at this point. The battles that wage between the parts of my heart that believe and disbelieve, cry and laugh, walk forward and stand still. It's a remarkably exhausting place to be. This is why I chose to say that these are the words of a girl struggling to "know the God she loves." How you can love someone without really knowing them, fully, is unbeknownst to me. How you can trust someone without having had every hope and desire fulfilled is another mystery. Is it possible - or even okay? - to love someone and not like them that much? Is it all right to decide you aren't sure you want to spend a lot of time with them for a while? But yet you'd like to know they're still around, still available, for when you do? Is it even fair? "

Fall Fun

2007-10-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

Instead of cleaning my house today (sorry to my friends who coming over tonight... it may be a little messy I played with 4 of my favorite boys. Owen came over and we (Tyler, 4 years old, Riley, 3 years old, Owen, 2 years old, and Sawyer, 8.5 months old and me :) ) went to gymnastics, the library, had lunch and then spent a couple of hours playing outside. Now they are doing puzzles and colouring and I'm sneaking a little computer time. Enjoy our outside pictures!

This is tiring! Such hard work being a baby!

He actually pouts when he's pouting..... kinda cute eh?

Brothers hockey...have they told you that they are going to play for the Canucks when "they grow up".... Ty thinks that it will be so fun because they'll be so many brothers on the Canucks then...the Sedin brothers and the Bargen brothers!! :)

2007-10-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

Lately is seems that every time I switch the radio to 106.5 it is this song that is playing..........

Everything Glorious

The day is brighter here with You
The night is lighter than its hue
Would lead me to believe
Which leads me to believe

(chorus)
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
What does that make me?

My eyes are small but they have seen
the beauty of enormous things
Which leads me to believe
there's light enough to see that

(chorus)
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

From glory to glory
You are glorious You are glorious
From glory to glory
You are glorious. You are glorious
Which leads me to believe
why I can believe that

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

From glory to glory From glory to glory
You are glorious. You are glorious.
You are glorious. You are glorious.

Family Photos

2007-10-08T13:13:00.001-07:00

Mid-September we had some family photos taken at Willows Beach. We LOVE the way they turned out! If anyone here in Victoria needs an excellent portrait photographer I'd be more than happy to give you her info. We ended up with about 75 professional photo files!!!! (we will pick the pictures and do the printing ourselves). These are a few of our favorites.

New Tricks

2007-10-04T21:30:00.001-07:00

Sawyer is 8 months old now and I've been struggling with getting him to eat any traditional "mushy" baby food, he just doesn't like it. Give him a whole apple and he is in his heaven! Silly kid!

Look what I can do!

2007-10-01T12:36:00.001-07:00

Tyler drew this picture last night at church. It is Tyler, Riley and Daddy playing football in "Daddy's baseball field". Pretty good, eh?

He has really seemed to grow up this last month or so. He has gotten taller, faster, smarter, better at soccer. . . . crazy. All of a sudden he is better at Riley in a lot of areas. . . this causes some stress for Riley who always wants to be first and the best at everything. Oh well, he'll get his chance too.

It is so fun watching the boys learn and grow. What a blessing and privilege.

Quote of the Day

2007-10-01T08:57:00.001-07:00

Riley, last night, out of the blue declares:
"Mom, I want a cousin. Mom, I need a cousin. Mom, how do I get a cousin?"

Why Blog?

2007-09-25T16:21:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about this recently. Why blog? Why read other people's blogs?

I really enjoy reading blogs from MANY different authors. . . my google reader has about 40 subscriptions and then there are all of the other private blogs too. . . I can spend a LOT of time reading, often the entire time that I have to be on the computer is spent reading blogs, instead of updating mine or staying up-to-date with emails or facebook.

I blog mostly so that our family, none of which lives in Victoria, can get glimpses into our lives and see pictures of the kids. I rarely blog if I don't have a picture to post. I read blogs for similar reasons. I enjoy "catching-up" with people that I went to high school with or knew at one point in life, I really enjoy "seeing" into their lives. I am excited as I read about wedding plans, new business opportunities, new adventures like moving across the country and watching babies grow in their mommy's tummies. I like to watch my friends' kids grow. I like knowing how I can pray specifically for friends old and new. I like laughing at funny stories. But I think that my favorite reason for reading blogs is that I feel like I view God differently because of the lessons that they share. I feel like I know God better because of the glimpse that I get into other people's lives. I know God because of how I have experienced Him but I "experience" God through their sharing and I am inspired.

Thank-you friends for blogging, for teaching me many lessons, for being honest and vulnerable. . . know that you are prayed for when you mention requests, that you are laughed with (and sometimes at) when you share funny stories, that I cry with you often when you are struggling. . . it is a unusual "community" and I don't think that it should in any way take over a real community of people but I really appreciate you all. . .writers and readers!

The Apple Farm

2007-09-25T15:55:00.001-07:00

We had fun in Abbotsford this weekend! One of the things we did was go to Willow View Apple/Pumpkin Farm with Nana, Papa, Uncle Carl and Auntie Katie. Sawyer LOVED the animals, it was fun to watch how he just wanted to be closer to them.

We also went to Sawyer's 3-month post-op check-up at Children's Hospital. . . and everything passed with flying colors!! Yay God! It is so amazing what He does. Thanks for all of your prayers for our baby.

A Quick Question

2007-09-19T16:21:00.000-07:00

Is this not the cutest baby that you have ever seen?

I heart Preschool

2007-09-17T14:00:00.001-07:00

We have reached a consensus at our house. . . we ALL love preschool. Tyler and Riley went twice last week and had a great time. Sawyer and I also had a great time. Two and a half hours with ONE baby, sooooooo EASY!!!! Thank-you Grandma for the new school clothes, the boys were so excited to get a package in the mail for "The Bargen Brothers". I attempted to take a couple nice pictures of the boys, you know the traditional "first-day of school picture" and this is what I ended up with. . . . they were WAY to excited to give me a "nice" picture.

A Day At The Fair

2007-09-03T18:44:00.001-07:00

Today the boys and I went to the Saanich Fair while Cory worked(thanks babe, we appreciate that!). We had lots of fun. Tyler and Riley kept on talking about how they had never been to a fair before. Tyler and I went on the "Super Slide" ride.
Sawyer was so easy to have there. . soo content just to watch all of the activity around us. He is pretty cute if I do say so. . .
Tyler got picked to help this magicain with his show. He had lots of fun and laughed a lot too!

They had fun "milking" a cow.

We found lots of these things to take pictures in. See Sawyer in this one?

All in all, a great day and now its 7pm and time to hit the sack!

August 2007

2007-08-30T15:32:00.001-07:00

Hmmm, sorry that I haven't posted much recently. August has been fun and busy in our house. Sawyer is now 7 months olds. Since I last posted he has cut two teeth and is ALMOST crawling. He has been eating mushy "solids" but is not a fan at all, of anything really. I've tried squash, sweet potatoes, mango and pears, applesauce, peas, rice cereal, oatmeal cereal. . . he hasn't really enjoyed any of them. He has, however, enjoyed using this mesh food baggy thing to eat fresh pieces mango and apples as well as "chewing" on a whole apple for 45 minutes while we were at the park, eating Baby Mum Mum crakers, and eating Healthy Times teething cookies. Sawyer is doing so well in recovery from his surgery, I sometimes even forget that it happened at all. His hair is covering up most of the scar already.

Tyler and Riley are anxiously looking forward to preschool starting. They have been enjoying playing any outside game that they can. They have been having fun drawing and "rerasing" on this little white board too.

White Rock

2007-08-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

On July 25 my Mom and I took the boys to White Rock. We had fun looking for little creatures and just being outside. Yay for it finally being sunny!

Quality Time

2007-08-02T21:45:00.001-07:00

July 24, 2007

Shoulder Rides Extraordinaire

2007-08-02T13:23:00.000-07:00

Spaghetti Factory

2007-08-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

(July 20, 07)
Cory's parents took us to the Spaghetti Factory to celebrate Dad's birthday. IT was Sawyer's first time in a restaurant highchair, he did really well.

"Solids" and Some Company

2007-07-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

(July 13, 2007)
Sawyer has started to eat "solid food". It really isn't very solid at all and so far he is NOT a fan. You would think that at 20 lbs and 28" he would be a great solid food eater but so far he's pretty sure that it is quite gross.

(July 15-21, 2007)
Cory's parents came to hang out with us for a week. It was a lot of fun. They brought their new dog, Jovie, and she was a big hit. Too bad that it rained all week. We found somep fun inside things to do though!

July Pictures

2007-07-31T17:45:00.000-07:00

(July 11, 2007)
Sawyer's fine motor skills are really developing. It is fun to watch him learning to play.

(July 13, 2007)
The boys couldn't wait for me to help them with the watermelon, so they helped themselves! Mmmmmmmmm. . . .

And So Begins The Harvest!

2007-07-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

Here I am, sitting at my parent's computer, crying. For two reasons.

One, Dad and Mom are at Nate Towes' funeral right now and I have been thinking and praying a lot for Rosanna and the rest of the family. I can't imagine their pain. But in their family's pain there has been a gift to our family. . .

. . . as the boys and I were making a fruit salad for his family to have at supper time an amazing thing happened. They wanted to know why we were making this salad. I explained that there was a man who was in a car accident and he died, this has left his family here on earth very sad because they miss him. I explained that making the salad was a simple way to show them His love. They decided then that it really wasn't a fruit salad but a love salad! So as we were cutting fruit and adding lots of love to the salad I got to tell them about how Nate loved Jesus and lived his life the way the Jesus asked him to. I got to tell them that he is in heaven singing with the angels. They both told me that they want to live the way that Nate did and the way that Jesus wants them to and we prayed together to tell Jesus that!!! AMAZING!!! I never go to meet Nate but I have heard wonderful wonderful stories about him. It is my prayer that my boys will grow up to be men of God, as Nate so obviously was.

He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Psalm 40:2-3

Praise the Lord!

2007-07-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

Sawyer has been doing really well! He is completely off of pain killers now and is generally back to his happy, carefree self!!! He is also beginning to sleep better which is very encouraging for me. Thanks everyone for your prayers. I am so thankfull that we are now on this side of the operation and that he is healing well!!!

Sawyer is very enamoured with his hands. He can spend a lot of time examining every different angle of them.

I have added a link on the blogs that I read. The link is for Andrew, Marie and Josiah Haak. Andrew and I went to the same church as children and a couple of months ago my sister sent me the link for their blog. They have a baby just two weeks younger than Sawyer who hasn't left Children's Hospital since he was born. They have lots of prayer support but more can't hurt. . . I had the opportunity to meet Marie and Josiah while I was waiting for Sawyer's surgery to be finished. She really inspired me. Thanks for adding them to your prayers too!!!

Before and 1-week After

2007-07-04T21:31:00.001-07:00

?? Sleep ???

2007-07-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

Sawyer seems to be healing well. Thankyou for your prayers for him. He has had trouble sleeping since his surgery though. Day and night it he has difficulty falling asleep as well as staying asleep. Last night he was basically up from 1:30am to 5am! If you could add this to your prayers it'd be greatly appreciated. I think that it would help him to feel better (and me too!)

hangin 'round

2007-06-30T20:10:00.000-07:00

We're having a pretty sweet day today. Sawyer has been pretty ornery at times but he's eating better and also napping not bad. The number of smiles and squeals is also growing exponentially which we are all loving. Here are some pictures of Sawyer today (scars and all).

Caution: this next picture is ridiculously cute...

Last night was a little like the picture below. Corinne guessed that Sawyer's longest stretch of sleep was 45 min. Here's hoping tonight is better. We're sure it will be.

We have so much to be thankful for! Not the least of these being that Sawyer's surgery is done, it went really well, our family is home and together, and he seems to be healing well.

Home

2007-06-29T17:05:00.000-07:00

Sawyer and I arrived home on the 1pm ferry. He is feeling pretty well I think. I am pretty tired but glad to be home. The incision on his head is healing well and the swelling seems to be going down. He hasn't been eating (well, drinking his formula) though. He had about 4oz all day yesterday and only 4oz so far today. He is obviously not on IV anymore so it is important that he drinks or we'll end up in emergency for another IV. . . . so if you could pray for that that'd be great!! Thanks again for all of your love!

Today

2007-06-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

Today has been ok. There hasen't been very much swelling. . .well there has been quite a bit but not as much as I thought there would be. . .he can still see out of his eyes! This morning was good. This afternoon has been hard. Sawyer has been very uncomfortable. They tried lowering his morphine and it was evident that he was very uncomfortable, so after about an hour they turned it back up. I think he is sleeping right now while Anika is giving me a little breather. This afternoon was really hard for me. Kirsten came for a visit right at the perfect time this afternoon. Sorry for the random thoughts, I'm tired. Cory may write more later. For now, thanks for all your prayers, they are working!!! Please keep them coming!!!

For those of you whom we missed on the email. . . .

2007-06-27T18:51:00.000-07:00

Cory's email to family and friends Tuesday evening. . .

Hello family and friends,

I just got off the phone with Corinne. Here's a summary of how everything has gone over the past 24 hours (sorry if this is review for some of you).

Corinne, Sawyer and Mom Isaak got to the hospital yesterday at 9:00. Sawyer's surgery was scheduled for 11:20 but the surgery before his was taking longer than expected. Sawyer was getting quite cranky but settled down nicely right around 11:20. Not a coincidence from our perspective! Sawyer was taken into surgery at 1:15. It took the doctors more than 2 hours to get an arterial line set up (it was eventually set up by a cardiac doctor that they called in). Although the surgery was only scheduled to take about an hour and 15 minutes the doctor only came out at about 5:00 to let Corinne know that everything had gone well. She finally got to see Sawyer at 7:40, a very long time from all of our perspectives.

Sawyer is doing well. The surgery was successful in that the doctor was even able to do an additional step in the surgery that is purely cosmetic and only done if things are going well. He did not need a blood transfusion and came out of the anesthetic well. He drank 4oz of sugar water immediately after getting back to his room and also had three 4oz bottles through the night (without showing any signs of nausea) which is a great sign.

The swelling has also been relatively low so far. Although it's hard to tell under the bandages his face has not swollen too much yet. The nurses say that his eyes may swell shut today which would be hard but it hasn't happened yet (here's hoping it doesn't). His pain has seemed reasonable. They did give him some extra morphine last night when his heart rate was rising a bit but that seemed to be effective and he relaxed quite soon after. He's been doing normal baby things like shaking his toys and enjoying Corinne playing with him. His heart rate has also been going down when she sings to him which is very cool.

Today Corinne and Sawyer are mostly relaxing. Sawyer is sleeping (usually in Corinne's arms or holding onto her hand) and resting and eating well. He's starting to tug on the gauze covering the top of his head and itching his face a bit (itching is normal after anesthetic and while on morphine). At the time I'm writing this message the doctor hasn't been by to check on Sawyer today.

I have some pictures from yesterday that I thought I'd share with you all. It's just a shutterfly link, so I hope it works for all of you. Click here to go to the shutterfly album. I've attached a few pictures from the album in case it doesn't work for you.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Please feel free to email this message to anyone that I've missed (I'm not working from a list so it's certainly possible that I missed lots of people).

Peace, and apologies for the long email,

-COry (for Corinne and the boys)

Tomorrow

2007-06-25T21:32:00.001-07:00

(I'm not at home so I had to steal this picture from Anika's blog-thanks!)
Well, I went for all of the pre-op stuff at Children's Hospital today and only cried once! They had someone who was just learning in the lab take Sawyer's blood and he cried . . . a lot, that made me cry too. But we were better as soon as we could hold each other! I feel pretty good about tomorrow. I got a few questions answered, know when and where to be in the morning, bathed Sawyer with a special sponge, put him to bed and now it is just time to wait. Sawyer's surgery is tomorrow at 11:20am and should last for an hour and 15 minutes. It should be about an hour after that that we can see him. My mom is going to be with us. (Thanks Mom, I wouldn't want to do it without you!) I will try to get a blog up and let you all know how it went as soon as I can. . . thanks for your prayers!!!!

Parenting Within Christian Community

2007-06-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening we had the privilege of dedicating Sawyer at The Place. One of the verses that we chose for him is Isaiah 58:10+11. It says "Feed the hungry and help those in trouble, then your light will shine out from the darkness and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring" (NLT). The verse speaks both about living a life that is focused outward and about God's provision for us.

Our desire for Sawyer is that he would come into relationship with Christ, seek to know Him and live his life being an expression of Christ's love in the world. We believe that raising him to be this type of man requires a commitment on our part and on the part of our community.

Dedicating Sawyer is a public commitment by us as parents to raise Sawyer in the way God teaches us to. At the same time our community was committing to hold us accountable to that goal and to be involved with us in the process of raising Sawyer. That involvement started almost immediately when we had the privilege of having the leaders of the church pray for Sawyer's health, his surgery and his recovery, during the service. We are feeling the impact of everyone's prayers in the peace that we're experiencing as we start off this week. There's a lot on our minds and we're anxious sometimes but we're trusting God and feeling at peace knowing that we're in good hands.

Today Corinne and Sawyer left for the mainland to get the pre-op stuff done for Sawyer's surgery tomorrow. We have a challenging week ahead but it will be made considerably easier by two things. The first is the support of our families. My Mom is out in Victoria to help me hang out with Tyler and Riley, and Corinne's parents are helping Corinne out at the hospital. The second is the support of our Christian community at The Place and elsewhere.

Thanks to everyone for your support in its various forms! We'll keep you posted on Sawyer's progress.

Fun Pictures

2007-06-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

Anika and Jonathan came over for the night Friday night and we had lots of fun with them. Today the boys went to their first T-ball "game". We took about 200 pictures. . . .here is a "small" sampling.

Afterward we played at the playground.

Sawyer's first time on a swing. I'm not sure if it was the swing that he liked or the funny sounds that I was making.

Little Gifts

2007-06-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

So today I went clothes shopping, with my three boys. An adventure. However, bringing them along today provided me with a special blessing that I wouldn't have received if I didn't bring them. As I was trying on several different clothing items the boys kept saying, "Wow Mom, you are so beautiful". They even said it when I was standing there in my underwear! Now right now I am really frustrated with my body, I don't have time to work out and I don't look like I want to so the statements that the boys were making were 100% different than the thoughts that were occuring in my own head. Thanks boys for loving me for me. What a blessing!!!

Some Thoughts and Pictures

2007-06-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

Sawyer's surgery is next Tuesday. I've explained to Tyler and Riley that right now Sawyer has an oval shaped head but that for his brain to have room to grow he needs a circle shaped head. I've told them that Mommy and Sawyer will be going to the hospital for a few days and Grandma will stay with them and Daddy. Today, sort of out of the blue Tyler says, "How will they make Sawyer's head a circle? I don't want them to cut him. That would hurt him." I agree. Most of the time I'm okay with this whole thing but every once in a while tears well up (and overflow). Thanks for praying! Here's a few shots from a couple of minutes ago.