Living Simply

I strive to live simply nowadays. Haven't always lived like that - used to be @ 100 mph. Poor kids! We were always on the go - preschool, swimming, baseball, soccer, me at the gym, etc. Plus Craig worked L-O-N-G hours, and weekends. I kept my life with the kids busy because my home-life stank!

My life changed 9 years ago in a couple of ways. Firstly, I felt a calling to find out who Jesus is and what Christianity is truly all about. Secondly, I lost my father - suddenly and without warning.

My Dad was a good man. A good friend. I adored him. We shared a great relationship, dry sense of humour, pessimistic to the core he was! He was a tall, slim man, dark and handsome ... and my son has his eyes. I loved that man (and I know that he loved me) - I love and cherish the memories I now have of him.

It was his time to go ... but, how could I move on? Jesus was there to pick me up, superglue my heart and answer my prayers. Sounds simple now. It was messy - 9 or 10 months of being in a pit. I can't talk much more about this (still hurts me somewhat), I just never want to go back to that place of such sadness.

Since then, I've simplified my life - to give my children memories of having time with their parents. Its what my parents gave to me as a child and I look back now with such happy memories of baking, gardening, sewing, 16 mile bicycle rides, fishing, wood-turning, simply sitting in the backyard on a summer's day playing cards and eating home-made "ice-lollies" (popsicles), going to Beverley Westwood on a Sunday and eating "99" ice-cream cones and running down the hills :)

I don't do all these things I learned as a kid with my own, but we have new memories in the making: walking the dog to Starbucks, scrapbooking, making music together, toasting marshmallows and making s'mores in our backyard firepit and hopefully some more to discover over this summer.

There's s saying which goes something like "Don't be too busy making a living that you forget to make a life". I'm simply trying to live life so that I can imprint something positive and memorable on my children's hearts.