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Eddie’s sister, Pauline, is in Canada from Australia.  She, along with his mom, his other sister ALice  (with boyfried Bob) and brother Peter dropped by last weekend for some family time in Ottawa. It was good to have all the siblings together. Since I come from a small family it’s always an experience to watch the family dynamics of a larger one.  There were lots of laughs.  Mom gave us a scare when they first arrived when she fell on the front steps as she was coming into the house. She scraped her leg and wrist but that didn’t stop her or slow her down. She’s such a great sport and keeps up with us with few problems.  It was a quick visit but we will be getting together again in December to celebrate Mom’s birthday in Toronto. We will be a much larger group with only our nephew Donald, his wife Sarah and their boys missing. I’ll keep you “posted” on that.

Before the big birthday party we will be having a visit with the Freeman family from Toronto and then going to Massachusetts for American Thanksgiving with my sister and her family.  Then, well, it’s Christmas! ! !

Click here for pics of our family weekend. This time you will need to click the arrow on the bottom of the slide show to advance the pages. Don’t forget to click on the images to enlarge them!

Last Thursday Jason came to Ottawa to be a groomsman in his friend’s wedding. His friend Ian arrived on Saturday to attend the wedding and stayed the night with us. If you see the pictures you can see the groom (standing next to Eddie), the groomsmen and Ian (standing next to Jason). (Click HERE to see pictures) It turned out to be a lovely day for a fall wedding. Congratulations Daryl and Maureen!

After we dropped Ian off at the train station on Sunday we decided to stop by the falls (yet again!) so Jason could see them. We were in for a surprise - the lake had been lowered by at least 10 feet and falls were roaring at full speed. When we crossed over to see the canal and the locks we were even more surprised to see that it had been drained! Take a close look at the pictures to see this. I am guessing the Rideau Canal skating will start a few kilometers down from here. It has been so interesting visiting this site so often and watching the changes.

We are expecting Eddie’s family on Friday and I’m sure we’ll be going back to show them the drained canal.  Meanwhile, Jason flew back to Toronto on Sunday afternoon and then left on Monday for twelve days in Spain. He’ll be in Madrid for a few days and then spend the rest of his vacation in Barcelona. Wish we could have gone with him - have a great time, Jas!

The weather is chilly here in Ottawa but that didn’t stop us from cruising with the top down (and the heat on) yesterday. Click here for our news!

On Saturday, October 18,  our friends Scott, April, Graham and baby Ethan came to visit. They arrived early afternoon and stayed until Monday morning. Our weather cooperated nicely and we were able to go to some familiar places and even have a swim.  The next Friday, October 24, our friends Steve, Adrianne, Meli and Jake came to visit. They arrived at about 10 am and stayed until Monday morning. We visited the same familiar places and went to the Children’s Museum which is at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec.

When Eddie and I moved to Ottawa we didn’t realize how many of our dear friends would make the long drive to visit us. We are so happy for this as it has helped to make the transition from Toronto to Ottawa much easier.  If you’d like to see some pics of our visit please click here.

Today is November 1 and we spent the day organizing our boxes and unpacking a few more things. It was a long day that started with breakfast at Cora’s and some shopping. I’m glad we turn the clocks back tonight so we can get that extra hour of sleep.

Here we are at Oct 30. One year ago today we moved from our home of 24 years to a condo in Scarborough, Ontario.  After a just a few months we moved again to Ottawa and it’s starting to feel a little like home here.  What a difference a year makes! Who would have thought we’d move twice in one year? As we look back over the year we can’t help but count our blessings. We are making new friends and enjoying visits from our friends and our families. I have joined a ladies study group on Thursday mornings at Bethel Pentecostal Church which is very near to us and last Tuesday Eddie and I attended our first small group from The MET which is also near us.

Ottawa is a beautiful family friendly city with many museums and places to see. Our unexpected snowfall yesterday took us by surprise but two of my friends phoned me long distance to warn me of the weather. Thankfully, the weather up to yesterday had been beautiful. It was perfect for family and friends who visited before the premature snow storm blanketed Ottawa.

Here we are celebrating Thanksgiving together with our children and my sister and brother-in-law.

We had a great weekend together. Everyone arrived at about the same time (around 8pm on Friday night). Jason from Toronto, Irene from London (Ontario) and Nance & George from Massachusetts. We enjoyed family time together and managed a few trips downtown. Clicking here will bring up the slide show of our time together.

Since Thanksgiving we’ve had visits from more friends who are very dear to us. I will be blogging those visits next. I’m house bound today recovering from some dental surgery from yesterday and I hope to work on the next post while resting  - so make sure you check back soon . . .

Last weekend Eddie and I were in Toronto where we saw:

It was a great show. Watching it brought back memories of my sister Nancy, my cousin Gus and I going to a “Star Spectacular” concert in Clearwater back in the summer between 6th and 7th grade. Not only was seeing the Four Season’s one of my first live concerts, but Dawn Go Away was the first record I ever bought (a 45) and I still have it to this day. We’ve been listening to their music all week and loving it. If this musical comes to your area I encourage you to go see it and have a blast from the past - it will get you singing in your seat with a lot of other boomers.

We’ve just finished reading a powerful book that I must mention. The Shack is one of those reads that keep you thinking for days after you’ve finished it. You may even want to read it for a 2nd time like I hope to do. If you haven’t heard of it check out this site: theshackbook.com. The first four chapters are hard to read so hang in there. The following chapters can be life changing. If you decide to read this book let me know what you think.

Thanksgiving weekend is coming up and we are looking forward to Jason, Irene and Nancy & George coming to Ottawa to have turkey dinner with us. The weather is cool and crisp and the trees have already started changing colors. Everyone should be here by Friday night and I’m very excited.

Thanks to my friend Scott you can now leave a comment without logging in - so let me know if you’ve visited my blog because I love hearing from you.

For my Canadian friends and family - Happy Thanksgiving.

Wow - the last two months have been crazy and here I am behind in my posting again. I want to bring my blog up to date before our Thanksgiving so I will start with some pics from our summer birthdays (click here).

Next we move on to the month of August. This was a very busy month for us. We were renovating the house in Ottawa, staying at the apartment downtown Ottawa during the week to oversee the renovations and then back to Toronto on weekends where Eddie was preaching at our church.

Then we moved from Toronto to Ottawa and started the unpacking process all over again. Here we are late September and the unpacking is still an on going process. Since our renovations were behind schedule a bit we had to cancel our unpacking service. Things are almost completed now and it’s starting to feel like home . . . except for the missing people part. We have met some very friendly neighbours who have been really helpful in making us feel at home here. Here are some highlights from August.

September has also been busy for us. Our Toronto family came for a visit and we celebrated Bob and Eddie’s birthdays. The weather was cool and wet so sightseeing was difficult but we managed to do a little and have a great visit. Later in the month my friend Carol came to spend some time with us. We had a great time together. Here are the highlights of our month of September.

If you’ve managed to stay with me through this long post - thank you! I know there’s a lot here. So, to reward you I’ve saved the best for last. Check out this YouTube clip - I hope it makes you smile. Thank you to Alice and Bob for this hilarious gift! That’s it for now-stay tuned for October. We are expecting Jason and Irene along with my sister Nancy and brother-in-law George for our Canadian Thanksgiving.

(A special thank you to all contributing photographers!)

Last Sunday our church family had a going away party for us after our morning service. It was amazing. We were showered with gifts and well wishes. The reality of our move is becoming more and more obvious to us. While we are excited about making new friends and joining a new church family, our hearts are heavy as we prepare to leave. Here are some pics of our farewell party and also some from the Ladies Group that I have been a part of since it began in 1997.

On another note and to bring a huge smile on your face check out this utube. That’s my little niece in the white T. I think we have some talent in the family!

We’re two thirds into July and it’s been busy. We’re so happy that we have been able to visit with so many of our friends. So many that I made a slide show to share our visits with you. Click here to see it.

When our friends Pat and Dennis came over one Friday night to play Dennis had a fall while playing “tennis”. Pat offered her sympathy by way of hysterical laughter. Thankfully, Dennis didn’t get an injur-wii!

The next day was little Chloe’s 2nd birthday party. Chloe and Jake share the same birthday in July.

It was great to see my dear friend, Vathsala, and meet her new baby daughter, Selah. Vat and I haven’t seen each other in almost three years so this was a very special visit. Selah is 6 weeks old in the picture in the slide show.

Next we had a visit with Meli and Jake. Good News! Sick Kids Hospital is ready to discharge little Jake. His last appointment was completely normal. PTL - What a little miracle he is. Later that day we had dim sum with the Mahler’s. Can you believe how much Cass and Dakota have grown?

Speaking of dim sum, Bob had a garage sale surprise for me at lunch one day. You can imagine how funny it was when he pulled out knitting needles and yarn and pretended to be knitting. The yarn went to our “knitting for the homeless” stash. Thanks, Bob!

And today we had dim sum with Scott, April and Graham. Graham loves dim sum and even adds hot sauce ! ! ! He sure can use his chop sticks.

OK - so that’s the “friends ” part of the post. Next is the concert. On Thursday, the 17th, Eddie, Jason, Irene and I all met at the ACC to see George Michael. It was a sold out show and the crowd had so much fun singing to his songs. If you click here you can see a clip of some of the Toronto concert.

I guess if you’ve seen the slide show you’ve seen the mustache! Jason grew it as a birthday present for a friend and says he’s leaving it on until people stop laughing! ! We have a hard time keeping a straight face when we see him.

So - that’s July so far for us. We get our house in Ottawa on the 31st and plan to move mid-August. There’s lots to do between now and then and more visits with dear friends. I’ll try to keep you “posted “on the next few weeks.

Here we go again - another fun and non-stop weekend. On Saturday, June 28, we celebrated little Jake’s birthday. Jacob turns 2 on July 7 and is our little miracle boy. It is such a thrill to see what a smart little boy he is with a vocabulary that is astounding! Here he is with his mom checking out his presents and then enjoying a piece of his cake.

Then on Sunday, the 29th, the family gathered at Milliken Gospel Church in Markham to witness Peter’s baptism (Eddie’s brother).

What an exciting day! It was a joint service from three congregations: Cantonese, Mandarin and English. 12 people were baptized. After the service and photo taking, we went to Bob’s for a BBQ and a soak in the hot tub. As usual, I have a slide show with some pictures that Eddie took and a short video from Jason. Click here to view it.

Next we celebrated Canada Day at the Sotropa’s. We had a fun time swimming in their pool, playing the Wii and visiting. Here we all are just before enjoying a BBQ dinner. Thanks Bev and Dave, for a lovely day.

We got home just as the sun was setting and in time for the fire works. Eddie and I stood on our balcony 17 floors up and watched Toronto light up. So many pockets of lights from all over the city - it was very cool . . . Happy Birthday, Canada!