Rest

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,


for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.


For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30


Westminster Abbey, Mission, BC - May 24/08

What's New

1. Baby kittens!

Thursday night after Erik and I got home from life group, we found Oreo acting quite strangely. As we were just about to head to bed, we noticed that she was definitely going into labour right in the middle of our living room! We tried to get her to stay in her box, but she was out of sorts and continued to jump out and wander through the house. Finally Erik decided to put her in the garage. I stayed with her until I saw that the first kitten was about to be born and then I quickly put her in the box. I stayed up until the first three kittens were born (it took a couple of hours) and then felt like I could leave her and head to bed. In the end, she had five little healthy kittens - all different versions of black and white:



She stayed in the box with them for the whole next day, but then the next night at 4 am I got up to check on Keziah (who was crying) and I saw Oreo wandering down the hall with a kitten in her mouth. I quickly discovered that she was trying to move them into our bedroom closet. The closet was packed with stuff, a laundry hamper and several bags of clothes. I tried to deter her from this activity and bring the kittens back to the box, but she was quite persistent. When I closed the closet door she dropped the kitten beside it and meowed at me. So, I figured, fine! I took out the things on the one side of the closet and put down a towel. I brought the rest of her kittens and then Oreo settled in, content at last. I used part of the box to create a barrier - partly to keep the kittens out once they get more mobile, but also to help keep my own kids from crawling on top of them :) Here you can see Keziah taking a peek at them.


Micah and her are both thrilled about these cuddly creatures. Keziah makes a high-pitched "mewing" sound as soon as she sees them. It sounds exactly like the kittens!

2. A new treehouse!

Erik was able to finish the treehouse early in the weekend and it looks great. Here he is working on the stairs:


Here is the finished product:


Micah and Keziah enjoyed watching Hermie on the laptop:

The new backyard view from our living room:

3. Summer weather!

We had a HOT weekend and it was so nice. We spent a lot of time outside with family and friends.






















4. A new camera!

We picked up the updated version of our old camera - the one that I slammed in our rental car door in Maui :( Anyway, I'm really happy with it. I like that all the buttons and functions are familiar to me, and yet it has a few new features that I'm really pleased with. Most of the pictures in this post were taken with Mom & Dad Toews' camera, but I'm excited to have my very own camera in hand again!

Kitty Ultrasounds?

It seems I may have miscalculated Oreo's due date. I did a little research and discovered that a cat's gestation is actually about 9 weeks (longer than I thought) so I'm pretty sure she's got a week or two to go. Unfortunately we didn't get an ultrasound to confirm her dates - lol :) I feel bad for the poor thing already. She wanders around the house aimlessly and just can't seem to get comfortable.

I know that not everyone is a cat-lover like me, but really, who could resist such cuteness??


I'm glad to report we've already got one taker, so if there are any other interested future kitty-owners out there, let me know!!

I still have no new pictures to post. Erik and I are hoping to pick up a new camera soon, but here are some fairly recent pictures of the kids to tide you over until new ones can be taken. (I gotta keep my readers interested!)

Playing outside - Micah fishing in Grandma's garden, Keziah looking down at her cute little crocs, Erik & Micah washing the van after our Calgary trip and Keziah watching them with a frown.

























It's been a rainy week here so far, but we have been promised a hot and sunny long weekend! Bring it on!

Tidbits

I thought I'd share some random things from the past week. We are "camera-less" right now so there are no recent pictures to post, but I do have a few from the past month that I haven't posted yet.

The progress on the treehouse is quite significant. The ladder, walls and railing make it safe for Micah to use now. It just needs a roof to be complete. We've also decided to make a sandbox underneath the treehouse. It looks really good so far and I'll be sure to take some pictures of it when I get a chance.

Oreo is definitely with child - or should I say with kitty (or kitties?). I am guessing (from my farm cat experience) that she will deliver any day now and I have become a doting "grandmother"; not letting her stay outside for too long, making a little birthing box for her, feeling her little tummy when the babies are kicking... Even Erik has taken a protective role - he was genuinely worried about her the other night when she wouldn't come inside :) So, if anybody wants a kitten, let us know! We're not sure what we'll do with the litter, but for now we're just going to wait for the new little bundles and enjoy them for awhile. We'll definitely get some pictures of the kittens when they arrive.




Keziah has finally started to attempt some words. In the last couple of weeks she has learned to say things like 'banana', 'teeth', 'up' and 'cheese'. And just this afternoon she said 'apple'. Of course, none of the words sound yet like they are supposed to, but I can understand her and I'm glad to see her attempting. She is becoming a very "rough and tumble" little girl. She'll climb right on top of Micah if he's watching TV or waking up from a nap. He gets so frustrated with her and I don't really blame him! Keziah's quite the little biter as well, and we are all wary when she "nuzzles" her head into us. So far, she has displayed a very intense and dramatic personality. It's interesting (and a little scary) to wonder how this will play itself out as she grows up!


For interest's sake, here's a current picture of Keziah next to one of her from a year ago:




And a current picture of both kids to compare with one from last year:

Micah's been working on his letters. He is very easily frustrated when he can't do things perfectly, and we have to stress the idea that practice makes perfect :)

In the last couple of weeks we had the opportunity to look after our friends' son a few times while they were here in Abbotsford for meetings. Babysitting him was like having 2 Keziahs around. Funny how they were both attracted to the same things: an open dishwasher, my bag of onions in the pantry, Keziah's sock drawer... Here they are enjoying a snack together:


Anyway, that's all to report for today. I'm hoping to enjoy a relaxing evening with Erik while we catch up on the second season of "Lost"...