I was doing a presentation this morning, sitting in a board room, talking to a group of people I just met. One lady asks me a question about a program I'm explaining and I reply with, "Well, it's better if you don't use the shotgun approach. Be intentional and specific like a rifle.. "
At this moment I look around the room, and see a bunch of blank expressions. They clearly had NO IDEA what I was talking about! So what can I say except, "Right... Sorry... I'm from Saskatchewan!" I guess there isn't a general knowledge of gun use that is used as an analogy here. Opps! As my brother Daniel says, "You can take the girl out of the prairie, but you can't take the prairie out of the girl."
Have a great night everyone!
Lani
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
baby shower time!!
on monday we had a baby shower for brandon, dar & scott's newest addition. the ladies from her team came and, boy, did we have a fun time! from all the yummy food, to the crazy games we did, it was a lovely afternoon.
i got one of the game ideas from my dear friend rachelle on the weekend; you fill diapers with melted chocolate bars and everyone has to guess by smell, the name of the chocolate bar...needless to say, this was a fun game!
welcome to the world, little brandon! we love you! xo
caleb's golden birthday - nov 11
on nov 11, caleb turned 11. so hard to believe he is 11 really.
i'm making a special gift for him and his sister for christmas that reminded me of how fast they grow up.. :) sigh.. :)
so caleb requested bowling..so bowling we went! he and his buddies had a fun time..ate pizza and cake and pretty much did what boys do..play!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON! LOVE YOU!! XO
Thursday, November 20, 2008
celebrating my BFF..
today is my dear friend's 30th birthday!
i met her for the first time in 2001..and it wasn't til about 2005 that our friendship truly began.
she moved this fall to the island to be near her fiance, a guy i went to youth camp with..yes i introduced them. :) my first and last successful matchmaking endeavor!
i miss her lots..but what i miss the most is just seeing her smiling face everyday..she lived in a suite in our place here in vancouver for the last year and a half.. it's not until something is gone, that you realize how much it really meant to you. :)
she is beautiful, articulate, creative, funny, smart, caring, loving, thoughtful..and she is quirky, a tad OCD, a little odd, and dorky too. :) just like me! that is why i love her.. she is such a spectrum of wonderfulness. :)
so happy birthday dear friend..i miss you everyday. and love you more.
here's to celebrating 30 years of wonderful you! xoxox
my first post about erin.. read here - we did it er! we did it!! :)
us checking out burnaby for the first time - read here.
lovely trips to ikea - too many to count!! :) read here.
our crazy pics down in kitsilano and at science world...watch for bikers!! :)
read here.
our first trip to the island - and we even stayed in pete's house!! read here.
or last year's birthday for you at the noodle box. read here.
or when "the house" did a day trip to granville island.. :) read here.
or when you were still the only one in the house with a mac. read here.
giggle..or our trip to grouse mountain when you were "sick".. ;) read here.
and when we went and sang christmas carols to dear shirley.. sigh.. :) read here.
ah yes, our weekend trip in seattle.. :) mmm... read here. and here.
how about your mini photoshoot the day it was sunny in yaletown?! :) read here.
or the crazy faces we tend to do on birthdays? and pretty much everytime we get a camera in front of us.. heheh.. read here.
or the weekend you were my assistant in victoria and finally met your man?? heheh.. read here.
and our craziness on our way up to nanaimo to head back home and when petey wee called and was bummed he didn't come with us.. chuckle. read here. where will we go next year for our BFF weekend?? :) you live in victoria now!
your unofficial engagement photos..hee hee.. read here. tres honored you liked them and used them on your wedding invites!!
and then of course our trip to europe...i'm glad you are who i went with. :) i read a post i posted a couple years ago that i was hoping one day we'd go somewhere.. glad we did. and it wont be the last. ;)
read here. and here where our trip begins...
us in munich...
and in cortina, italy..
of course, in burano.. :)
and in the heart of venice.. <3
i'm sure there are many more "highlights" of us..but here's just a few.
love you friend. i celebrate YOU today! :)
xoxo
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
adoption
Do you ever feel like God is fully messin with the events of your life? Like He sets you up? You know what I mean...random life happening and then shazaam, you are in a moment and you can’t walk away from it. You have been forever moved.
I am in one of those moments.
Trace has friends from her bible college days that we recently went and visited in Vancouver, Washington. They recently adopted a little girl from china named Rebekah. Beautiful. Both the adoption and the little girl. And redemptive. Choosing to step into a long term relationship and in so doing...saving a life.
They are in the process of adopting another little girl. Except she is not so little and the circumstances are incredibly moving...you know...from random to shazaam.
Here is a post from their blog.
Patterson and I began to inquire again regarding other children. A new agency sent us a waiting list. We sat down together and began looking over names and sibling groups. I felt it was time and I was ready to do it. After we began, I felt my heart sort of struggling along and I wondered if I was really ready. I found that I felt little emotion when looking at the kids. When we were done we decided that our kids weren’t on the list and we just needed to wait. The next day I felt totally overwhelmed. The thought of searching through a sea of orphans to find our children seemed such a daunting task and, well, maybe I wasn’t ready. That afternoon I found myself completely losing it on the kids. Yes, I made them all cry (except for Jeremiah who was, lucky for him, in the basement). I ran down there to escape and cool down. As I paced the floor, I cried to the Lord and told Him I desperately needed His intervention. I told Him I was tired of feeling as if we were groping around in a dark room trying to find direction. This wasn’t a calm, logical conversation; this was a freak out, desperate, emotional conversation with the Lord. I begged the Lord to do SOMETHING, ANYTHING that would give us direction. Everything we tried to do with our adoption just ended with us starting over. I felt like every time we made progress, we ended up being pushed back to the starting line. When I was done, I dried my eyes, took a deep breath and headed upstairs, a calm, rational mom, ready to apologize to her poor kids.
Three hours later, Patterson called. He said our caseworker had just called him to ask if we might consider a 14-year-old girl from Ethiopia (I will use Elizabeth for her name, as this will be her middle name and we can’t publish her Ethiopian name until she is legally ours). Our caseworker got emotional as she told this young girl’s story. Elizabeth was living with her grandmother because her mother had died. Actually, the Grandmother had five children, four of whom are now deceased so the Grandmother was left with the five grandchildren. Grandmother couldn’t afford to keep all five grandchildren so arrangements were made for Elizabeth’s four cousins to be adopted, leaving Elizabeth (as she was the oldest) to live alone with her grandmother. In July, when our caseworker was in Ethiopia, the Grandmother approached her and told her she was sick. She wanted to get the paperwork done for Elizabeth so she, too, could be adopted and implored our caseworker to find her a US family. The paperwork was done. Last month, the Grandmother passed away. Elizabeth cared for her until she died; this left Elizabeth completely alone. As the conversation progressed, our caseworker shared that she and her husband had two of Elizabeth’s cousins. They were desperate to find her a family as soon as possible. That evening, our caseworker sent us pictures of this young girl. It didn’t take us long (we had really decided before we saw her) that this was our girl. We called our caseworker and with great joy and elation told her we would take Elizabeth.
I immediately fell before the Lord and thanked Him for answering my plea! Psalm 34:15-18 came to my mind:
“The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
So, here we are, not even one month later, and we have been given a court date for Elizabeth. It is December 12th!!!! On that day, the courts will decide if Elizabeth will become legally ours. Hopefully, all the paperwork will be in order and they won’t need extra documentation. We are very excited and still look back in wonder at all that God has done this year. We enter the Thanksgiving holiday very thankful, indeed. God has turned our mourning into dancing! We are hoping to travel in January. What a wonderful way to begin the year...
Patterson and Rachelle have until July 7, 2009 to finish all the paperwork and get approval from the courts or she is considered ‘unadoptable’ because she will have turned 15. The resulting consequences of which are bleak. The two likely professions left to her are prostitution and becoming a paid slave – a maid.
As I have asked more question regarding her other family, here is what I have found:
* Her dad is dead; we don’t know when that happened.
* She has an older brother, but if he is alive no one knows where he is.
* This child is truly alone.
We are not even sure she knows that Patterson and Rachelle are trying to adopt her. Their case worker has been to Ethiopia to check on her, but in terms of what has been communicated to her, little is known.
Here is the random to shazaam. Trace and I have gotten involved for several reasons. The most significant being that how often do we get to be tangibly involved in saving a life? And how often do we have an opportunity to fully see life as it is…where I see the stuff that irritates me and the things that I struggle with as they are? Petty.
The costs of adopting a child from another countries varies, but it usually costs around $30,000. Patterson and Rachelle are short about $14,000. And because this is time sensitive, they have to have $5000 by their December 12th court date.
I am wondering if you want to help us bring this child ‘home’?
What do we need?
20 people to give $100
10 people to give $500
3 people to give $1000
1 person to give $5000
Join the Shazaam moment...or maybe I should say ‘movement’...
and when you do...let me know and I will tell you how to get money to them.
Jonathan
For more info see:
http://www.thecakefamily.com/Adoption/041608.htm
http://www.bringmysisterhome.com/
I am in one of those moments.
Trace has friends from her bible college days that we recently went and visited in Vancouver, Washington. They recently adopted a little girl from china named Rebekah. Beautiful. Both the adoption and the little girl. And redemptive. Choosing to step into a long term relationship and in so doing...saving a life.
They are in the process of adopting another little girl. Except she is not so little and the circumstances are incredibly moving...you know...from random to shazaam.
Here is a post from their blog.
Patterson and I began to inquire again regarding other children. A new agency sent us a waiting list. We sat down together and began looking over names and sibling groups. I felt it was time and I was ready to do it. After we began, I felt my heart sort of struggling along and I wondered if I was really ready. I found that I felt little emotion when looking at the kids. When we were done we decided that our kids weren’t on the list and we just needed to wait. The next day I felt totally overwhelmed. The thought of searching through a sea of orphans to find our children seemed such a daunting task and, well, maybe I wasn’t ready. That afternoon I found myself completely losing it on the kids. Yes, I made them all cry (except for Jeremiah who was, lucky for him, in the basement). I ran down there to escape and cool down. As I paced the floor, I cried to the Lord and told Him I desperately needed His intervention. I told Him I was tired of feeling as if we were groping around in a dark room trying to find direction. This wasn’t a calm, logical conversation; this was a freak out, desperate, emotional conversation with the Lord. I begged the Lord to do SOMETHING, ANYTHING that would give us direction. Everything we tried to do with our adoption just ended with us starting over. I felt like every time we made progress, we ended up being pushed back to the starting line. When I was done, I dried my eyes, took a deep breath and headed upstairs, a calm, rational mom, ready to apologize to her poor kids.
Three hours later, Patterson called. He said our caseworker had just called him to ask if we might consider a 14-year-old girl from Ethiopia (I will use Elizabeth for her name, as this will be her middle name and we can’t publish her Ethiopian name until she is legally ours). Our caseworker got emotional as she told this young girl’s story. Elizabeth was living with her grandmother because her mother had died. Actually, the Grandmother had five children, four of whom are now deceased so the Grandmother was left with the five grandchildren. Grandmother couldn’t afford to keep all five grandchildren so arrangements were made for Elizabeth’s four cousins to be adopted, leaving Elizabeth (as she was the oldest) to live alone with her grandmother. In July, when our caseworker was in Ethiopia, the Grandmother approached her and told her she was sick. She wanted to get the paperwork done for Elizabeth so she, too, could be adopted and implored our caseworker to find her a US family. The paperwork was done. Last month, the Grandmother passed away. Elizabeth cared for her until she died; this left Elizabeth completely alone. As the conversation progressed, our caseworker shared that she and her husband had two of Elizabeth’s cousins. They were desperate to find her a family as soon as possible. That evening, our caseworker sent us pictures of this young girl. It didn’t take us long (we had really decided before we saw her) that this was our girl. We called our caseworker and with great joy and elation told her we would take Elizabeth.
I immediately fell before the Lord and thanked Him for answering my plea! Psalm 34:15-18 came to my mind:
“The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
So, here we are, not even one month later, and we have been given a court date for Elizabeth. It is December 12th!!!! On that day, the courts will decide if Elizabeth will become legally ours. Hopefully, all the paperwork will be in order and they won’t need extra documentation. We are very excited and still look back in wonder at all that God has done this year. We enter the Thanksgiving holiday very thankful, indeed. God has turned our mourning into dancing! We are hoping to travel in January. What a wonderful way to begin the year...
Patterson and Rachelle have until July 7, 2009 to finish all the paperwork and get approval from the courts or she is considered ‘unadoptable’ because she will have turned 15. The resulting consequences of which are bleak. The two likely professions left to her are prostitution and becoming a paid slave – a maid.
As I have asked more question regarding her other family, here is what I have found:
* Her dad is dead; we don’t know when that happened.
* She has an older brother, but if he is alive no one knows where he is.
* This child is truly alone.
We are not even sure she knows that Patterson and Rachelle are trying to adopt her. Their case worker has been to Ethiopia to check on her, but in terms of what has been communicated to her, little is known.
Here is the random to shazaam. Trace and I have gotten involved for several reasons. The most significant being that how often do we get to be tangibly involved in saving a life? And how often do we have an opportunity to fully see life as it is…where I see the stuff that irritates me and the things that I struggle with as they are? Petty.
The costs of adopting a child from another countries varies, but it usually costs around $30,000. Patterson and Rachelle are short about $14,000. And because this is time sensitive, they have to have $5000 by their December 12th court date.
I am wondering if you want to help us bring this child ‘home’?
What do we need?
20 people to give $100
10 people to give $500
3 people to give $1000
1 person to give $5000
Join the Shazaam moment...or maybe I should say ‘movement’...
and when you do...let me know and I will tell you how to get money to them.
Jonathan
For more info see:
http://www.thecakefamily.com/Adoption/041608.htm
http://www.bringmysisterhome.com/
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
scott and dar and hayley welcomed their second little munchkin a month ago... little mr brandon.
we were able, after all the visitors left and life got back to normal, to take some family pics and some pics of little man brandon, before his "newness" turns into little boy.. :)
there's nothing like newborn sessions..they always remind us how precious life is..what an amazing reminder of the intricate details that god has!
here are a few of my faves from our family shoot..
and a few from my time with just the little man..
so there are my faves..they are just a few...but i just couldn't keep them to myself. :) love you guys! xo
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