Three Things

1. Lori (Geldart) Crouse has a blog now: http://lorislatest.blogspot.com/

2. Ben us put his final video about his ice castle on his my space (check out my link)

3. I'm feeling "down in the dumps" due to some things that have occurred this week.

Personal Update from Doc Taylor

For a recent update on how Doc and his wife are doing, please go here:

http://www.naznet.com/community/showthread.php?t=9882

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST FOR DOC TAYLOR AND HIS WIFE

This was posted on my cousin Selinda's blog this past Tuesday. I figured I'd post it here in case some of you hadn't heard about Doc Taylor and his wife.

Please pray for Dave & Pat Taylor. He used to teach at Bethany Bible College and they are both dear friends of mine. They are now missionaries here in Swaziland and live only 30 minutes away. Two men broke into their house last Friday night, ransacked it, and took everything of any value, right down to his tennis shoes. This whole thing took about a half an hour. They hacked Doc with a bush knife in the head and neck, knocking him unconscious, then the men grabbed Pat and demanded money, cell phone, etc. with a threat to her life made with each. The Taylor's think that the men thought they had killed Doc and kept threatening to do to Pat what they did to him. When they left, Doc had come to and ran next door for help. Physically they are both doing fine and thankful to be alive, but they are very traumatized and afraid to go back to their house. They will get through this, but it will take a lot of time and prayer to deal with everything and get back to normal life.

Skating with my lovable Niece!!

This past Saturday I had a wonderful time skating with my niece Sheridan. What's even better was that the public skate wasn't publicized that well, and apart from about four children we had the rink practically to ourselves! It was so much fun! We pretended to be cars, we pretended to be cooking supper...we both fell once and laughed. I had such a blast. Uncle Ben put together two videos, and so we decided to let you vote on which one you like best. They're of the same footage, but one has nice sappy music to it (my and Maridel's favorite), and the other one has typical sports music. The video is only about a minute long. You'll have to go to this my My Space page to see them (and for those of you who aren't familiar with My Space - you know who you are...you'll need to press the "pause" button on the music button first in order to hear the music on the videos) The clarity isn't as clear as a regular video would be because my hubby had to down the size of them - but you'll get the idea! Happy voting!

http://www.myspace.com/waterspiller (or click on "Sarah's My Space" on the link bar)

Some other exciting news: I submitted a SmartBoard lesson to the District in hopes of "winning" one for my school/classroom as they have 60 that they wanted to give out, and I won one!!! They'll be installing it in my classroom in March. Two other teachers from our school received one. That's three SmartBoards for our school!! God has been so good to me :)

King of the Castle

I'm about the eat my words...my husband has been working on an "ice castle" that I never dreamed would happen. You must understand, in our four years of marriage these are a few things he's "dreamed" of building and talked about:

a one man helicopter
a boat
a rock wall on the back of the church

and now an ice castle...but it's actually taking shape. Check out his My Space for some videos:

http://www.myspace.com/crazypipedream

Never a dull moment in my household...

It's a Boy!

I just received news that Brent and Amanda's baby is a healthy baby boy! They're naming him Owen Douglas. The doctor tested for a number of things. He said that there was a one in (something hundred - I'm not sure) chance that the baby could have downs or something of that nature and that there was a 60% chance the baby was fine. He said that usually if something was wrong it would've shown up by now on the ultrasound. He also said it wouldn't hurt to keep on praying though - so by all means please do. Kayla your OB was right. Amanda said that were she to do it again, she wouldn't have had that test, but being a nurse we think she may have been pressured to take it.

Owen Douglas will be the first grandson on our side of the family, and I'm sure he'll be spoiled.

Thanks for your prayers!

8 AM Thursday Morning

I was talking to my mom last night. She said that my brother took a few days off of work because of worrying about the baby. From what I understand, he and Amanda headed for Saint John today because their appointment is tomorrow and they didn't want to travel through the winter storm. Their appointment is tomorrow at 8 AM.

I appreciate your prayers.

On a brighter note, Ben surprised me with Chinese food and a dozen roses after school today. I also discovered that one of my fifth grade boys thinks I'm "cute" to which I replied when a girl told me the info, "Why thanks. My husband thinks I'm cute too!"

MAJOR PRAYER REQUEST

My brother and his wife are expecting their first baby this July. This is something we've all been really excited about. The results of a bloodtest for the baby have just come back and weren't good. They indicate that the baby may have downs syndrome. As you can well imagine, this is tough news to comprehend. They have to go in for some tests on Thursday, and I'm asking that you pray that things will be fine with the baby. I'd really appreciate your prayers concerning this matter. The Lord has really worked in their lives, and this will definitely be a test of their faith. That's all I can write right now. I just received the news.

Thanks.

No Relief From a Friday...

You wouldn't believe the things that have gone wrong in my life this week.

Last night as Ben and I were driving to the church to decorate the the Valentine's Banquet/Ukraine Fundraiser I said to him, "I don't think it could get any worse...unless of course someone died."

Well, we arrived home last night to find out that our neighbour (who lived under us in our apartment with his wife) died. We knew his time was near as he has been in ICU for a long time. Ben will most likely be assisting with the funeral.

Poor Ben has been looking forward to Tim Branscombe coming to visit us all week, and now we're not sure what's going to happen with funeral and visitation arrangements. I also have a full plate of my own with some deadlines and teaching preparation, coupled with this banquet (I'm in charge of the program/entertainment). I guess that's just life - when it rains, it pours.

Could it get any worse? I'm not about to ask that question, because I know that it could...

UPDATE: The banquet was a hit, and Ben bought me grey and blue comfy pants in Grand Falls today (he had to go for a guitar lesson). My comfy pants make me smile so much, I think I'll be able to do my happy dance soon. Could the sun be trying to pop out from behind the clouds?

Is It Friday Yet???

Last Friday I told a student who has a hard time finishing his homework that if he came to school on Monday with an assignment finished that he claimed he'd do over the weekend (I don't typically assign homework on the weekends but he had missed some time that week), that I'd do my "happy" dance. This past Monday morning he slapped it down on my desk and said, "There you go Mrs. Canney." So I had to do my happy dance in front of the class.

Tuesday I had a blah day and the kids were kept inside for recess and lunch AGAIN because of the cold. They've been getting at each other because they've been kept inside for the last 6 days of school.

Today at one point I felt like I wanted to cry because of a number of things that took place at school. Exhausted is a word that barely describes how I felt/feel. I had to get "ugly" with my students today. I hate getting "ugly" with my kids. I'm under a lot of pressure right now as this week there are some things that are coming to a head.

I want to curl up in a ball and go to sleep, but alas, I have more papers to mark (this time it's for the Immersion class that I teach English to). At least I'm in my new comfy pants.

My New Pants and My New My Space

I recently bought a pair of comfy black athletic type pants from the Super Store for 10 dollars (regular price). I'm super excited about these pants. You have no idea how long and hard I have searched for pants like this. They don't make my butt look big and they're not skin tight (I'm no longer size 2 like I was in high school, so when I go into some of the stores that I used to (which I find I do less and less), the pants just aren't as "cute" on me as they used to be when I had no hips. I must have said to Ben at least four times this week, "Ben, we have to go back to Super Store in Grand Falls and I NEED to buy these pants in grey and in blue. I LOVE THESE PANTS."

I recently set up a "My Space." Today I was all excited about adding friends to it, and lo and behold, it won't let me on my site!! This is what I get:

"Sorry! an unexpected error has occurred. This error has been forwarded to MySpace's technical group."

Well gee, thanks. At least my blog is still being nice to me.

To Blog or To My Space? I'm so confused!!!

Okay, so I wanted to put some pictures on my blog which is always an annoying ordeal. For whatever reason, it's more difficult. So today while I was trying to change some pics, Ben said to me - "It's so much easier on my space." So now I have a My Space - and I'm torn - do I blog here and just update photos on my My Space? Or do I just blog on My Space? Then there's people who have My Space and a Blog and I'm just so undecided. Help?! As for Tom - I don't know who he is or how he became my friend on "My Space??!"

I'm so confused. All this time doing a "My Space" when I have papers to mark.

Here it is - with newer pics comin' in the near future. I'll keep you posted.

http://www.myspace.com/waterspiller

Right now I have only 2 friends. LOL. Sadness...I really need to go mark papers now.