Author: walking in freedom

Sorry I’ve been missing in action. MY friends have been worried about me, because social Sarah all of a sudden is super quiet. I found a new hobby and those who know me, know that if I do something I put in my 100%.  Who knew that on a forest walk with 7 preschoolers could change my life. That in it’s self is an adventure. All the things in nature probably bolt and hide as preschoolers are not quiet.  The forest is a great place to explore and preschoolers see lots of things we often miss as adults. I often feel like a child again. There is so much to see. As we crossed the bridge and rounded the corner one of the girls says to me ” Hey Sarah I found this cool rock sitting on a stump.” I catch up to her and sure enough she has this beautiful painted rock. On the back of it is SS rock hunt and a facebook F.  She told me that she collects these rocks with her mom. She was so excited that the other children came over to see what she had found.

I went home and looked it up and sure enough it’s a facebook page for a rock hunt in my area. I look through and wow there is a lot of really good artists on there. I’m not so good at art so I decided that my rocks would have encouraging phrases on them. Life can be hard sometimes, why not brighten up someone’s day.  A couple of days later the same artist who had planted a rock in the forest would hide rocks in the same forest. We gathered 7 more preschoolers and headed out to the forest. I told the children that we were looking for special painted rocks. We head into the forest and 2 of the boys are digging around in the bushes and come out with these big old dirty rocks and hand them to me. They were pleased as punch and I chuckled as they ran off to get more rocks. I did explain to them that we were looking for rocks that were painted.  Around the same place the preschooler had found her rock I hear a yell from the other teacher and she had found a rock up in the tree. She pulled it down and all the kids gathered around. The 2 boys who had handed me those dirty rocks said ” Oh! this rock has really nice paint on it.” I told them that’s what I told you before. Ha ha these kids crack me up.

I then found another rock which I gave to the same child who collected them. The rock I found had dream on it and a simple flower on it. I still have it as it fits where I am in life today.  Since that day I have found 3 rocks. Last weekend I painted rocks and well I went overboard and did 12. During the week I put them around the mall at work and up at the hospital.   2, I gave to friends and the rest I hid. Last week 7 of my rocks were found. People post where they found them and then keep them or re-hide them. 3 of the stories really touched me. One was a patient at the hospital found the H.O.P.E rock and was having a hard time being sick. She really appreciated it a lot. One of the hospital workers well he found the rock Faith, Love, Hope it really made him feel blessed after a hard day at work. Today a woman found my favorite rock Broken crayons still color. She loved what was written on it. I found a bible study on You Version called Broken crayons still color. What an awesome study and she is a woman who has written a book by the same title and also was addicted to sexual addiction.  Her name is Shelley Hitz. I also brought her book. 

After my 12 last weekend I decided this weekend to not do as many. Well that’s what I had planned on. You can see in the next photo how many I did. I did do 3 of them during the week but when I went to gloss them today that I had another 12. You will notice a lot of kid ones. I did them for my preschoolers as many of them bring me all sorts of shapes and sizes for me to paint. The biggest rock you will see was from a boy S who saw me looking at this rock and wanting it, but it was covered in brambles so I decided to forgot it. Later on at the park I see him with a stick and he’s beating the brambles with it for quite a while and he’s using the stick to drag the rock forward and he reaches in and grabs the rock and yells at me and comes running over with the rock I had wanted. He told me now you can paint this rock. I hugged him and said thank you so much.  

I made him a unicorn poop rock. He’s big into poop right now. I decided this week to hide the rocks for the children in the same forest for them to find.  This rock hunting not only brightens up my day especially when I find one, but it encourages me to walk more and explore different places.  It also has blessed many people and I love to encourage others.  

Our sermon this morning was talking about rocks and well, they are everywhere. All different shapes and sizes and  now colors. What a way to brighten up this world. I’m hooked. I can’t wait to see what I find this week and who I can bless with my rocks.  

Nobody ever imagines that they will get caught up in addiction. For me I wanted to block out the nightmares, the horrendous life I had been through. Anything I would do to not feel that. When I first moved from Ireland to Canada I was socially behind. I was a very shy 15 year old but at a level of about a 10 year old.  As far as I know I could have been from another planet. The differences between Ireland and Canadian are so fr apart. I never spoke for the first month. I had been taken out of the only home I knew, even though it was horrible. I had 4 siblings younger than me and my sister Lynn was my best friend. I now had to live with a mother whom I bearly knew.  I knew deep down that this was the best place for me to be to succeed in life but it’s hard. I left all my friends without ever saying goodbye to any of them.

After you are taken from your mom at such a young age and later come back to live with her. There is no manual saying this is how your supposed to live. My childhood was a train wreak how do you ever explain it to anyone, and who would believe you anyways.  Living with my mom saved my life, but a very difficult transition.  I didn’t know this woman and she had very different ideas and how to live then I ever had. She is a very neat person and nobody ever taught me how to clean my room. In Ireland my stepmom would ask me to clean my room and then thought it was really funny to come in and destroy everything I worked so hard on. I had no idea the difference between right and wrong because of all the lies and having to admit that I did things I had never done.  That’s just cruel. Nobody should ever treat a child or anybody like that.

My mom expected me to clean my room, but I often left it in a mess because I was afraid that she too would come in and destroy what I had worked so hard on. I just didn’t bother. She had a tough time with that.  I had huge expectations in her home that I had never had, because nobody cared for me and I was just tossed aside. Expectations confused me so much so I would just disappoint my mom because that was what was expected of me growing up. Why try when your just a huge failure anyways.  Then I went to a high school that I had no idea what the heck was going on. I could bearly function day to day, let alone what we were learning. I had no idea. MY mom and stepdad were often called to the school as I was failing badly.

I remember like it was yesterday the school psychologist coming to the school with his flip chart and I could only get through 2 of his pages.  The results came back that I was at a grade 4 level in English and I was in grade 10. No wonder I was never challenged in the school I went to and I had incredible street smarts but not a clue about school work. I had to survive in so many ways growing up that I had no time to sit and learn. I mistrusted all adults, except a few that I now know helped me survive.  I was bullied in school for being different and because of how I talked. I knew hardly anything because I was never taught and the kids thought that was really funny. How can kids be so cruel.  

As I said before I was not looking for addiction it just happened to work for me at a time in my life when I needed it. Now I know it was not a healthy option but it was all I had at the time. How can anybody make sense of that life I endured.  After drinking to block out the pain and so much more. I used it as liquid courage then one day you realize you are hooked and now it’s become an addiction and how do you stop. God did take that from me years later but only after I endured a lot of pain from it. I’m internally gratefully for that.  Everybody knows that if you don’t deal with why you drank or whatever you’ve done in your life it will come out in other ways. I always had the underlining of sexual addiction in my life. I now know it is an intimacy disorder so then it came out in full force and struggled with it for a long time.

I know have over a year and a half of sobriety from it. My sobriety date is August 8th. It has taken a lot to get here but having lots of support in your life is one of the keys to success.  I have an awesome accountability partner, filters on all my technology and when I need to talk to someone a good counselor. I have good friends who know when I need to talk are right there. I have an awesome community with my church. I finally let down the walls and now have a community of woman who are my age I can share with.  I have a crazy labradoodle dog who is so devoted to me that if I’m gone anywhere he is lost without me. God has done so much for me in my life and without Him I would never have come so far. I tell people that without God in my life I would be dead.

I am very grateful for all the opportunities i have been given in my life. It’s Hard to understand why these things happened to me, but those who know me know that my strong beliefs I have; are because of how I was brought up. I will stand on things that people will shy away from.  There is so much to be grateful for like I wrote in a previous post.

What is normal mean anyways? I’ve been watching the series The good doctor on TV and I really like this show a lot. It’s about a young man who has autism and is learning to be a surgeon. His character is very well done. As a young man with autism he lacks the communication skills and the empathy for others. He is a very gifted surgeon but because he is limited in people skills he was told he no longer can be a surgeon. This past week he decided to stick up for himself something that is hard for him to do. His supervisor even had him help on a really tough case, because even though he has autism he has an incredible mind and sees things nobody else can see.  The reason I’m writing about this is in our society today I see so much not accepting people for whom they are.

The little boy I work with is non-verbal and when we are out anywhere he stands out from all the other children. He makes sounds and noises that the other children don’t make. When he’s excited he gets louder or if he’s anxious he will scream.  One day we were at the swimming pool and the boy I work with was being himself and a lady came up to me rudely and said that, this boy should not be in the change room with everyone else and that he should leave. It took me all I could not to yell at her or tell her what I thought about her. I composed myself and said that we had come for lessons at the pool and we had every right to have all our children there and they were happy. She grumbled at me some more and I turned and ignored her. I was angry inside.  How in this day and age can people be so ignorant.  

So much is accepted in our society so why can we not educate ourselves and accept all people for who they are. It’s like people who have some sort of mental illness, do we treat them differently because they don’t fit into the norm of our society. Recently a sub came into my work and anytime she was around the boy I work with she treated him differently. She was extremely uncomfortable and often called me over to come and get the child. If he was anywhere near her she asked him to leave where he was to come and see me. I tried to tell her he’s not annoying her he just wants to be part of what all the other children are involved with. I finally confronted her and told her that she could treat him like all the other children. He is no different just because he can’t talk. I told her when you send him away and tell me to come and get him that is not inclusion. He wants what all the children want. I told her he understands everything you tell him, he just can’t verbalize it. I also told her that everytime you send him away it makes him sad and how would you feel if you were often asked to leave. She hung her head and said terrible. I said he feels the same way and I told her if she spent some time with him she would see what he liked.

I think education is huge in this area, although I can’t imagine treating any child like this no matter who they are. All children need to be treated with care and respect and dignity.  So next time your out and you see something or someone who is different in some way treat them like how you would like to be treated. They have feelings just like we do.       

Lately I have been having a tough time with so many things and now I have developed a bad attitude at work. It makes life so much harder if your attitude is bad. It effects everything I do and it seeps out into all my relationships effecting everyone around me. Life is hard enough to deal with sometimes but this makes it much harder. I’ve been praying about it but I realized everytime I think I’ve let it go it creeps back into my life and I realize that I have NOT let it go at all.  A good friend of mine has reminded me that I have a CHOICE how my days go. It’s not up to anyone else it’s up to me. How is my attitude and how am I acting right now.

In a way it’s me having an adult temper tantrum.  I love how God uses people to bring just what you need in your life to remind you of HIs goodness and His gratitude.  God is probably like Sarah I’ve tried so many times to tell you what to do but you don’t hear me. Today in church a woman I’m getting to know comes over to me and asks me how I am. I say I’m ok. She said only ok. I explain some of the things I’m going through. She was very compassionate and caring and said when she’s having a hard time, she carries this rosary in her pocket but she doesn’t use it as that. The cross reminds her to pray and the bumps are a reminder to her the gratitude she has in her life. When her hand goes in her pocket then she’s grateful for so many things.

I thanked her for telling me about this story. I was in church thinking of what I could put in my pocket as a reminder to me what God has done and is doing in my life. I have a rosary that is my father in laws but looks nothing like this one. I put it out of my mind as church had began. After church the same woman came up to me and laid in my hand the cross with the bumps on it. She told me she wanted me to have it. I thanked her so much and asked her if she was sure. She said yes she felt she was supposed to give it to me. Wow! God used this woman to remind me yes of how much goodness is in my life, despite what other things are going on in my life. Thank you Lord for that reminder that no matter what is going on, no matter how hard life seems there is always a blessing and something to be thankful for.

       When I look at this cross I am reminded that I am forgiven for all my sins and God loves me so very much. I’m thankful for my awesome family, my dog Zeke who makes me laugh often, I’m thankful for an incredible church, friends who understand me, sunflowers, horses, a job where I help a little boy make his life easier in this world, I’m thankful for my health, good books that help shape my mind and freedom. There are 10 bumps on the roseary so those are the 10 things I’m grateful for today. Since church today my attitude has changed, because I have now choosen to be grateful instead of poor me attitude. Thank you Lord for bringing Jess to me this morning and she was able to give me the gift of gratitude.

What kinds of things are you grateful for today? How had God used you to help others?

There are some things in life that make no sense to us what so ever. As humans we may look at it as something we did or that maybe we just don’t deserve it or GOD ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO US???? Bad things often happen to us and how can we deal with these things.  God allows hardship so He can be glorified through it. He also uses hardships to prepare us for our future. Our life experiences can be used by the glory to help others. How many of us have gone through something so tough and it makes no sense to us and we tell someone else about it and they are glad someone can relate or understand what they went through/going through.

God, in His amazing knowledge, can work all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. I don’t know how many times in life I asked God to take something away and He let me know that I needed to work through it.  Would you be willing to take what you are going through right now and say to the Lord ” Lord, I don’t understand this, but I want you to be gloried in this as I go through it.” God may remove your thing or He may allow it to remain for a time. Whatever happens, you will He will be walking beside us in this pain.

When I’m struggling I pray more or journal. I read His word more and I listen to worship music and I lean on Him more. There is where I find comfort in this pain or trial. This is the time God will use our pain to help us grow more. James 1:1-4 tells us when we face trials we can look at it as a positive thing and know that we will grow out of it spiritually speaking. We all are effected differently by pain and trials. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 the bible tells us His grace is sufficient for you, for His power is made perfect in our weakness.

Give what we carry up to the Lord and He will give us the ability to stand up and endure. Allow God to take control of our situations. Acknowledge to God that He needs to bear your burdens because we can’t do it alone.  I reach out to my closest friends and if I really need to talk find yourself a counselor that you trust. You do not have to walk this path alone. You could also talk to your pastor and have them pray for you.

What will you learn from this experience? For me it usually makes me more passionate about whatever is giving me a hard time. Some of my biggest passions in this world are from those very painful experiences that now I stand up against with everything I have. Those who know me, know that I stand in the gap for children who have no voice and need someone to stand up for them. I have had to do this on a few occasions and will do it as many times as I have to. That came out of what happened to me as a child………………when nobody stood up to what I endured. People turned their backs or just chose to ignore.

So as we go through our trials or pain it’s good to think How will God use this in my life for His good?              

Instead of sitting at home wrestling with a bunch of emotions I decided to write about them. Writing I find therapeutic as oppossed to sitting in those emotions and doubts. I hate feeling hard emotions and every person I talk to who has had addiction in their lives will tell you emotions are hard.  One of the reasons I turned to addiction was to block out those horrible feelings. At least these emotions I can control in some way and they are not scary. This past week though I have felt like hopping into bed and never coming out. Good thing I have a job that I cannot hide from but I did retreat to my home this weekend.

I need to trust God with my decisions He is the one who looks after me always.  I feel a lot of doubt and scared and at times overwhelmed.  Change is hard for me that unknown feeling, will I be good enough, will I have what it takes to be good at the job that is expected of me. I sat down this weekend and stared at my resume for a long time and as I was adding things into it a feeling of panic washed over me.  I have the skills to be an EA in the school sysyem but do I have enough or will I be able do what is asked of me. I’m really good at my job now and I love all children but I have limited experience with older children. I did enjoy them when I worked in after school care and I will be helping children that need more in the school.

I know the Early Childhood field so well and loved it but now I’m not challenged in it anymore I want to work with special needs children.  It’s a big change for me, but that’s my fear talking as everyone I know tells me I will be a perfect fit in this new job. I then have to be confident in my interview. I always seem to get tongue tied and waffley. I’m praying that if this is what I’m indeed intended to do that God will help me bold and confident as I go for an interview.  A woman I know who is a principal in the school system has offered to help me with my resume.  

I have a lot of support and I just need to believe in myself. One of the little boy’s theraptist’s told me on Friday that she will miss working with me in the setting I am in. It will be a big change but I need to remember that God will look after me no matter what. I will embrace this change and see where it leads me. I’m not going to worry about my future for today I must think only of today.

Everyone who knows me, knows that I grew up in Ireland.  I lived in Ireland for 12 years of my life. I wish I could tell you how awesome it was growing up there. Unfortunately, my life growing up there was a nightmare. Something that still is painful for me to think about today but I do sometimes think about it. Today on facebook one of the girls I grew up with put up photos of her mom and her as a child. One of the photos almost makes my heart stop when I see it and I can so vividly see her mom. Her daughter’s name is Sarah like mine. Her mom Mrs. Brady that’s what I called her. I never knew her name apparently passed away 19 years ago today.

When I found Sarah on facebook I asked about her mom and when she told me she had died my heart sank, because I would never get to thank her for what she did for me so many years ago when I was growing up. She literally saved my life. I thought today I would talk about her on the anniversary of her death.

I knew her as Mrs. Brady she was such a warm generous woman I would dream she was the mom I never had growing up. She never asked me about my home life but she obviously knew in her heart that things were really wrong in my home. I was friends with Sarah and the two of us hung out lots in school. It was during one summer when Mrs. Brady asked my family if she could take Sarah and I on holidays. My family said yes probably thinking oh! good we don’t have to see her for a week. I remember we stayed in a hotel and had so much fun and I remember laughing lots something I rarely did. I trusted this woman so much.  Back in those days I’m sure it was expensive to take me on holidays with them but that’s what she wanted to do. I wished in my heart I did not have to go home.

At the end of the week I begged to stay longer with them but I knew I had to go home again. I did not want to go home ever again. Mrs. Brady told me that I could go on holidays again with them again.  The night before I was to go home I went into the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and swallowed  a lot of white pills. I remember feeling really funny and weird and Mrs Brady rushed me to the hospital where I had to have my stomach pumped out. What an awful feeling and I was so sick. I had to stay in the hospital for a bunch of days. She had called my family to say I was staying with them for another week. Everyday Mrs. Brady came to the hospital to see me and stayed with me.  She cared for me more than my family ever cared for me.

 The top photo of Mrs. Brady with Sarah in the white shirt is how I remember her.  After I got released from the hospital Mrs. Brady brought me hot lunch tickets and Sarah would bring them to school so that I always had lunch at school. The tickets again were not cheap but she brought me lunches for years.  God brought this incredible woman into my life and I owe her so much. Thank you Mrs. Brady for caring about me and treating me like your family and saving my life.

Life is worth living no matter how hard it seems at the time. Suicide at that time seemed like the only option for me, but I was so scared and I did not want to do this. I needed help and this was why I thought this was the only option. I did not want to die I just wanted my pain to stop. My family never knew what had happened and I’m sure they wouldn’t have cared but Mrs. Brady cared for me enough to help me out.  Sarah and her family left St. Andrews College and I lost touch with Sarah and her family. My whole life I never forgot Mrs. Brady and knew one day I would track her down and say thank you.  Now I thank God for putting her in my life when I needed her.  

Suicide is never the answer if you feel like you can’t go on. Reach out to others and get help you do not have to do this alone.  Life is worth living.   

I’ve worked in my field of Early Childhood Education for 30 years. I never imagined that I would ever leave it. As Educators we have fought so hard to be reconized as proffessionals and not babysitters. In my career I have worked with many different people in many different settings. I’ve worked with infants/toddlers to preschool and even worked a bit in out of school care. I’ve worked with teen moms in a school setting and even though this was a challenge to me I loved the environment of school.  My most challenging place I did a practicum in at school was when I went to Ottawa and finished my diploma. I went to a head start program and I had to teach these children how to play. I remember my instructor telling me that I needed to make sure that the time the children came was the best time for them.

I had no idea what headstart was all about and the children were rough. The preschool was in the middle of a housing complex and we would go and pick them up on the bus to bring them to school. We hardly ever saw a parent the child would be let out of their home and come on the bus. I was asked to sit and make sure the children stayed in their seats and I needed to control them. I sat by one Boy he never smiled and he was angry I was sitting by him. He hit me and kicked me and tried to bite me. I just talked to them and smiled and when we got to the preschool the children ran off the bus and it was like I did not exist.

The preschool had a breakfast program and some of the children ate and ate and ate, some ate and hid under the table. Others took their hands and threw all the toys on the ground and stepped on them. I realized that they didn’t know how to play. I thought all children at least knew how to do that.  I set up the housekeeping corner with food and plates and put 4 chairs around the table and sat down and invited children to come and have some food and tea. Nobody came so I got dolls and teddybears to sit in the chairs always leaving a chair open. The children who were not eating would watch from a far to see what I was doing. Everyday for 3 days I would set up the same senerio and on the 4th day a little girl came over and pretended to have food. I smiled and kept playing.

The next day I see the children setting up the housekeeping themselves and they all sitting in the chairs pretending to eat food and have tea. I realized that these children did not trust adults and that me giving them a chance opened up great things. Even the boy that had tried to hurt me the first day softened to me and many others. They would run up to me and hug me. I was told that so many of them only ate when they came to preschool. That was the only food they got and that they did not play. Life at home for them was about survival and when you don’t feel safe you don’t play or have fun or laugh. I understood this because of how I had grown up and I knew how each child felt and so I just gave them lots of love and guess what I made their time in that preschool the best it could be, until it was time to go back to the unknown.

The places that were the hardest for me ended up being the best places to work.  In another center the parents were the ones that gave me the hardest time but slowly I realized they too did not trust people and when I left they all told me that they were sorry they gave me a hard time but I proved to them that I could care and love their children like they needed.

I feel it’s time to leave my proffession and go and be an EA in the school system. I have discovered working with special needs children is where I want to be and like I  said in a previous blog I’m not being reconized for what I am doing. For the past 2 years I have been working with a child who has a brain injury from an accident.  My contract is 2 and a half years and I’m now getting him ready to go to school in September. The boy I work with is non verbal and where he was 2 years ago is night and day. I’ve worked really hard to get him independent and now he can do what the other children can do. I’m really proud of him for all his hard work.  This boy comes with a team of therapists all of which have taught me so much. I love working with them to make this boy’s life better. I’ve learned sign language and have taught him a I pad program called Touch talk. We slowly have increased his vocabulary on it.

Most of all I have been taught patience and that one day something works and maybe not the next but how to think out of the box and come up with strategies. One thing I have learned over the years is a good sense of himor is a must and I’m lucky the boy I work with has an awesome sense of humor. We often laugh together. I’m excited and nervous about this change in my life but I can’t just do regular daycare anymore. I know God is wanting me to do this as well and you know when your about to do a change in your life your not sure how it will be. Since making this decision I have 3 really good references and a lady I admire a lot has offered to help me with my resume. She knows a lot about schools and teachers. God is bringing in people to help me and I know He will open those doors for me.

I’m starting the process to sub for September. I need to pick up external forms for the school sysyem and I will be working on my resume. I’m applying for the public school system as well as private schools one being a Christian one.  God has this all under His control. I will let you know how it works out. I’m hoping all my experience and knowlege about children will help me.  Change can be hard but change also can be very rewarding and God has given me a huge love for both adults and children. I also relate to those who struggle which is huge in all walks in life.

Loneliness is something almost all of us go through at one time or another. As I was sitting here reflecting about it I realized that we are never lonely if we have Christ in our lives. He brings much comfort to our souls yes, but there’s more to this than that. I don’t believe we are meant to be alone as humans. God made people to be in our lives. We just need to have healthy relationships. What happens when one or many of your relationships are not healthy? It’s not always easy to just walk away if it’s your family or your spouse or a good friend.

I’ve been married for eighteen and a half years and the last 9 years or so I’ve felt really lonely in my marriage. I am married yes, but I feel as though my husband is my roomate. We have been to marriage counseling but it’s hard when both people do not want the same thing.  When i’m feeling that loneliness that’s when I sit down with my favorite drink and read the promises and truths of the Lord. My relationship with the Lord has increased so much and then I feel that peace and know that I’m going to be ok.

In Genesis God says it is not good for man to be alone, His solution is a helper or a companion. God designed us to be in community with Him and one another. I also think depression can a big part of this, although in depression it usually makes you withdraw from others which of course makes loneliness much worse. I also listen to worship music or connect with a friend or write or go for a long walk.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me. ( Psalm 23:4 ) 

Be strong and courageous : Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you nor forsake you. ( Deut 31:6 ) 

For I am convinced that neither death or life, neither angels or demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height or depth, nor anything else in all of creation will separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ( Romans 8:38 – 39 )

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. ( 1 Peter 5:7 ) 

Also when I feel lonely I will connect with other believers and go to church. The church I attend is a community church that helps and serves others. When you are out serving others there is no time to be lonely. So I have had to adjust my life and stop expecting things that will never happen. I’m also thankful and so blessed for what I do have. God is walking me through this season in my marriage and I trust that He will get me through whatever it is I do.  I often pray about it and I keep moving forward to what God wants for me in this life.

The snow is unbelievable here. Our city is usually bearing blossom trees at this time of the year or snowdrops peaking up around the city. Sometimes we get a small amount of snow but not the last few days.  Others in the rest of Canada make fun of us as we struggle through this, but our snow is completely different; it’s heavy and wet and we have lots of hills. The last 2 days I’ve had snow days which is nice and the snow is so beautiful out on the trees.

This morning we woke up to 12 inches of snow. At 7:30 in the morning not a soul out and so quiet. Large amounts of snow hang from the wires and are built up on the bushes in unique patterns. The birds flying around looking for food and the humming birds coming to the feeders. On our back deck we have a bird feeder as I love to watch the birds come. Everything looks much brighter in this snow almost blinding to the eye. As I sit here blogging it’s began snowing here again huge big flakes. I think we are heading to our big snow storm we had in 1996. Seems like more snow in the forecast.

I found snow calming and peaceful. My labradoodle Zeke he loves it, but now it’s deep so when he goes out to go potty I see him searching outside for a good spot. This morning he found a ball and was so happy and of course wanted to play ball. The snow is right up to his belly and he has to leap over the snow to get through it.

  The only thing is he comes in with serious ice balls stuck on his fur. He’s so cute in the snow he looks like a giant teddybear.  My husband was just downtown as his family owns an apartment building and so he needs to make sure the sidewalks are clear. He told me this very jovient guy was riding his tricycle in the middle of downtown, not a care in the world. I guess he was out enjoying the snow.  He’s not out checking on his sister he sent me these photos it’s beautiful out there. 

Snow days are awesome so enjoy your and kids love this stuff. I see many out with their toboggans laughing and having fun. We will see what the next days bring. We could have a white Valentine’s Day. Stay safe out there and have fun.