Brian and Krista.com

Dear Daddy,

I just wanted to let you know how much fun I have been having in Ontario. On Monday, I had an easter egg hunt at Grandma & Grandpa’s house - I had to go ALL over the house looking for chocolate! Then, Mommy and I went to Newmarket and saw Grammy, Auntie Tracy, Ethan, Landon, Jared, and later i got to see Uncle Odel as well. We went bowling and played hard! (so hard that my cousin Jared went flying off the swings and hurt himself - but he seemed okay later on)

I also visited with Grandpa John, Grandma Joanne, Uncle Adam and Auntie Lindsay. I’m not too sure about that dog Max though… he kept wanting to lick me and i think he thought Perry the Platypus would make a good chew toy. He was pretty cute though!

on Tuesday, i went to the Toronto Zoo with Grandma, Mommy, and Uncle Jon - Uncle Jon took the whole day off from work to see me! After, we went to Uncle Jon’s house where Grandpa met us, and we went to Swiss Chalet for dinner. I saved my extra french fries to feed the squirrels in the backyard at Grandpa & Grandma’s house. After dinner, we went to a big fish store where we got some hermit crabs for Uncle Jon’s really super-cool fish tank. He has fish that look like Nemo!

on Wednesday, i hung around with Grandma and Grandpa. Mommy went out for Chinese food with her friend Angela - i wanted to go with her, but i thought i would stay home and eat peanut butter sandwiches instead. At night, i met a new cousin named Ava! She turned 2 on Wednesday and we had candles on tiny cupcakes for her. We played together and had fun while Mommy visited with her cousins Melanie and Andrea.

This morning i went on a looooong train ride on the subway - it was fun! I sat in the first seat in the front car and looked out the window a lot. I’ll update you some more later - i’m having lots of fun, but i do miss you a lot.

love,
Josh

well, do you? if you’re curious, go here and watch the videos. there are 3 of them, so it might take awhile. i’ve watched the first one, and i’m not ashamed to say it made me cry, because i’m a pastor’s wife and i identify so strongly with some of those feelings.

i’m glad that Beth Moore is reaching out to ministry wives with her conference - being married to a pastor can sometimes be a very lonely existence. things like this make a difference.

one of the more exciting experiences of my life so far was the chance i had to go and see U2 live in concert. they are so incredibly amazing live. i’ve been a fan since i was 12, and i’m excited that they have a new album out. just wanted to say that.
U2 Live

a fellow Canadian transplant posted this on her facebook page recently… and i just had to post it here. i love this song - Stompin’ Tom was just a pretty cool guy, and the footage of NHL hockey pre-helmet rules is totally foreign to me!

i took a quick run over to Wal Mart today to pick up some groceries after picking Josh up at school. he’s a great grocery shopper and loves pushing the cart around for me.

as we got back to the car he said his fingers were freezing, so i unlocked the car and he got in while i stowed the bags in the trunk and took the cart to the cart return which was right behind my car.

how much trouble can a 4 year old get into in that amount of time? you’d be amazed…

as i got back into the car, Josh said “Mommy, i’m sorry - i burned my finger on this button.” i thought he was pointing to a toy on the seat, so i figured he was just making it up and ignored it. on the way home, he started crying. that was when i thought there might be something to his story.

we pulled into the driveway at home, and i turned around and asked him to show me what button he burned his finger on. he pointed, and i pulled his mitten aside to see that he was pointing at the cigarette lighter from my car, sitting on the seat. he’d obviously gotten ahold of it while i was putting away groceries and returning the cart. and now his right index finger was red and had a big blister forming.

i performed all of the burn first aid that i know (cold water first, then holding it on a bag of ice for awhile, followed by antibiotic/painkiller cream and a dose of liquid ibuprofen)… and he’s still complaining that it hurts. i explained that it would probably hurt for awhile.

so… what can happen in 40 seconds? a lot! we don’t smoke, so i don’t know if Josh has ever even seen that lighter in action to know that it was dangerous. it’s a lesson learned for me, and i think the lighter will be residing in the glove compartment from now on.

well, we rolled in to Albany yesterday afternoon around 4:30 after spending 3 days in Montreal doing our green card stuff at the consulate.

we are the newest permanent residents of the United States of America!! hooray!! we spent all of Wednesday morning at the Consulate where a VERY nice woman pushed our visas through the very same day. we didn’t have to drag Josh back on Thursday morning - i am SO thankful to her, and i don’t even know her name! she’s the single adoptive mom to a little dude whom she adopted from Cambodia - i think she took pity on us being stuck in that waiting room (which is very much like the DMV for any Americans reading this) all morning with Josh.

we enjoyed what we saw of Montreal immensely, and let me just say that The Keg on boul. Rene Levesque was SO awesome - we celebrated my birthday, Valentine’s Day and Green Card Day with dinner there. i have not eaten a Keg meal in ages and my steak did NOT disappoint, dawg! (yes, i’m watching AI again)

the DHS guys at the border were jovial, friendly and quite congratulatory when we were all done there - after about 1 1/2 hours waiting at the border, we were completely done and are now just waiting for our “real” green cards to arrive in the mail. they give you a temporary one in your passport and then send you a separate document to use instead.

WE ARE DONE!!

Come mid-February, we’ll be making a couple of trips to Montreal. Not specifically for pleasure though… our green card appointment at the consulate is set for Feb 18th! Prior to that date, we will be going up for a daytrip to do our medical appointments, and then the following week we’ll be back for the actual appointment at the consulate. Exciting times! I am really just hoping and praying that there won’t be a big snowstorm on February 12th or 17th… we have to drive straight up I-87 from Albany to Montreal, and that can be a treacherous drive if it’s storming.

I’m really looking forward to this trip - I’ve driven through Montreal, I’ve flown over Montreal, but I’ve never stayed there or really seen the city. Get the bagels & lox ready, because i’m coming!!!

i recently became part of the Thomas Nelson blogger book review program, and was tickled when The Moon Shines Down, by Margaret Wise Brown, arrived in my mailbox. here’s my first attempt at a book review on this blog!

The Moon Shines Down was written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Linda Bleck, with additional verses by Laura Minchew. The unfinished manuscript for this sweet children’s book was found in a cedar trunk in a Vermont barn, completely forgotten over the years since Margaret Wise Brown, the author of Goodnight Moon, died in 1952.

A sweet little koala bear travels the world by moonlight, and we are treated to painted illustrations of scenes from countries such as Switzerland, Mexico, France and Australia. Josh is captivated by the details in the illustrations, and by the lovely rhymes in this book. I have to say that I do think it’s a little on the long side *but* since Josh turned 4, his attention span has increased, so i’d say this is great for the 4-6 year old crowd and maybe even a little older.

The words are a great reminder that a loving God sees and cares for us, no matter where we are in the world, no matter what our background, the color of our skin… none of that makes a difference to our loving Heavenly Father. As a mom who is striving to teach her son to love everyone *because* God first loved us, i know this will be a favorite to go back and read many times in the future.

yesterday i had the pleasure of taking care of not one, but two very new babies for a few hours. they are about 5 weeks old, a brother and a sister, and they are THE cutest kids ever. not to mention happy and content… wow!

the baby boy was a bit fussy when his bottle did not magically appear as soon as he woke up, so i was comforting him and trying to get the bottle prepared at the same time. Josh, who was very fascinated with these two tiny babes, came over and looked at him. and then, he bent down and said something very softly to the baby…

“Don’t worry, she will make you feel better.”

i will confess, there were tears rolling down my cheeks at that moment.

Friday night we got hit with the first real storm of the winter weather season - our area of NY got nailed with freezing rain and an ice storm that left many trees down and many people without power. we are fortunate to still have power, especially given the large number of old trees in our neighborhood. on our property, three pine trees lost fairly large sections from the top, and one silver maple at the back of our property is pretty much gone. no damage to anything other than the trees though, so we are thankful. below you can see some pictures from our yard, taken this afternoon. click on them to see a larger version in my Picasa albums.

Ice Storm 2008