Government

So this past week in history Abbie has been learning the basics of the birth of the United States of America. From time to time I orally quiz her to see if anything is sticking. Wanting to see if she could remember the word democracy I asked her at breakfast.."Abbie, what kind of government do we have in America?"

Her reply..."A Catastrophe?"

Brilliant. I just knew she was gifted.

Darth Curious and Questions of Faith

The girls like to play Star Wars. No, they have never seen the movies and only know bits and pieces of the story. But Princess Leah and Queen Amadala, Luke and Darth Vader often run through the hall, living room and kitchen blasting and light-sabering on their way to the next adventure.

2 days ago.....

The kids and I were sitting on my bed waking up for the day. Keely climbed down and we didn't see her for a few minutes. From the foot of the bed comes a deep Keelyish voice proclaiming, "I'm Darth Curious!!!" A strangely fitting description.....

Today at lunch.....

We were talking about Jesus and God's wrath being poured out on sinners (us), but Jesus taking it on himself so that we can adopted as God's children. The conversation seemed to be keeping both girls engaged. Abbie was understanding and following along and so was Keely it seemed. And then the questions from Keely (a.k.a. Darth Curious) "What if the cupboards said " I don't beleive in God? What if the cupboards wear diapers!, Did Jesus toot?"
I pray that one day her curiosity will lead her to ask the right questions and to have them answered by the One who designed her to be curious, but for now I'm left thinking that blessed are the curious for their parents shall never be bored.


A few more recent Keely quotes:

"What if Satan comes to our house?"

"I heard a car in my mouth mom, it went down my throat."

February Highlights

The girls love Silas and he loves them!

Fun with Tabitha while mommy and daddy got to go out on a date....

Plumbers......


Helping daddy....

The boys fixed our leaky sink for us. Thanks guys!

Still smiling =)















Silas at his first hockey game. He nursed like a champ through the first goal.


If Keely had to be contained in a flipbook, this is what her life would look like:

















Lost "Toof" #4

Back in the swing of things!

Both Geoff and Abbie have started their 2nd semester of school and so far things are going smoothly. We had a wonderful visit with family over the break and it was so nice to have a break from school for all of us! But now we are back in the swing of things. Geoff's first rotation is on a Labor and Delivery floor (the same floor where all our kids were born!) and he is enjoying his time there. Abbie is learning to read, and both the girls are taking Suzuki violin lessons. Silas makes his way around with his fast army crawl and he enjoys coming to violin class and watching the fun.

Thrills, Chills, and Spills

The last few days have been full of thrills, chills, and spills!

Thrills.....taking the kids iceskating for the first time! Geoff had Silas in the baby carrier part of the time so he even got a bit of the thrill. Both girls enjoyed it as well. It was a special kids rink next to the big rink with these cool plastic "walkers" that the kids could hold onto as they skated. Abbie surprised us and skated on her own about half the time, falling occasionally and getting right back up! She was also enthralled by the hockey game going on at the big rink and exclaimed "Mom! Those are kid hockey players!!!!!!!"

Chills.....it's still snowing! It has snowed all but 2 of the days we have been in B.C. We now know how to use chains for the car. Geoff is getting pretty speedy at putting them on and I even took them off once by myself. Keely isn't so fond of the cold.....although who can blame her when the snow is up to her waist!

Spills....On New Years Day Silas fell onto a wood floor head first. Yikes! No blood and no concussion. Praise God! He is fine and his normal happy self. Yesterday Geoff's sister hit a patch of black ice on the freeway on the way to work and her car went off the road and flipped onto the passenger side. She has some bruising from the seat belt as a result of hanging sideways but Praise God the pressure from the seat belt was on her legs and not her abdomen (she is pregnant) and her and the baby are in good health. A RCMP officer came along right after the accident and helped her climb out of the car. (The car was ok too which is also a praise). An then finally, later that day, as we were preparing to leave the iceskating rink, Geoff stepped onto the ice and fell backward (Silas was no longer strapped to his chest). He hit his neck/ head on the ledge onto the ice. Thankfully it seems that he did not have a concussion and didn't have to make a trip to the ER. The ice skating rink was part of a larger recreation facility with a pool so a couple of lifeguards came and assessed him ( in shorts and t-shirts on the ice...brrrr!). He is pretty sore though.....we think he might have whiplash.

Mighty Thanks

Happy New Year!

Yesterday we had a chance to sit and reflect on this last year as a family and wow has this been an amazing year! One passage of scripture that our family remembers often is Psalm 105:1-5.....

"Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name;

make known his deeds among the peoples!

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

tell of all his wondrous works!

Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!

Seek the LORD and his strength;

seek his presence continually!

Remember the wondrous works that he has done,

his miracles, and the judgments he uttered"

A mighty Thank You first and foremost to our great God for our salvation through Jesus. What an awesome God we have to reconcile us to himself through his own son! 

A mighty Thank You also to so many of you who have helped us this last year. Thank you to our parents for generously helping us every month! Thank you to the many who have given us monetary gifts over the past year to help cover our expenses, thank you for the groceries, the prayers, the babysitting, the odd (and not so odd) paying jobs, the gas for our car and trips up north, the anonymous gifts found in our bags, mailbox and envelopes handed to us at church. We have kept a list of all of those who have helped us out this past year and we are amazed! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Dykstra's South in the Great White North

We made it!  After the kids Christmas program Sunday night we left for our big Christmas trip, driving all night to southern Oregon and reaching our destination at 8:30am. The kids slept most of the way and we only had to make 3 stops. Our favorite quote on the first leg of our trip was Keely, 5 minutes into the drive..."Oh!! I forgot to fall asleep!". As we went through Sacramento we hit 100,000 miles in our trusty Saturn.

When we arrived at my parents they took over so Geoff and I could get some much needed sleep. About 8:30pm we left for the 2nd leg of our journey being well warned by all we met of the impending road conditions we would face along the way. Outside of Salem the roads were pretty dicey but Geoff did a great job driving through the snow. There were no lanes visible because the snow covered everything, but thankfully visibility was good and it wasn't actually snowing at the time. When we neared Portland the signs told us we needed our chains so over to the side of the freeway we went, in between big rigs. Geoff put the chains on "Dykstra style" (a.k.a. in shorts) at 1:30am. The kids stayed asleep the whole time!

We crawled through the Portland area and were finally able to take the chains off when we shortly after we entered Washington. The scenery was beautiful though! (except for all the spun out cars in the mounds of snow on the side of the road). After a breakfast break at a McDonalds with an indoor playground we had another two hours in the car and made it safe and sound to Geoff's parents on Tuesday morning at about 11. Phew! We just made it between storms. It snowed all night on Tuesday and then most of the day on Wednesday....somewhere between 18 to 20 inches. We celebrated Christmas eve with Geoff's family and then spent a mellow day at home today since the Christmas service was cancelled at church due to snow.


Here's a glimpse of some of the fun we've been having!


The boys in the snow.


The girls gathered bowls full of snow and we poured good 'ol Canadian maple syrup over the snow...mmmmm!