Health journeys and a quick journey to Victoria

On January 23, our whole family got the stomach flu. I always find it amazing how a stomach bug can go through a house so fast. Lizzy actually got it a couple of days earlier. then Elva had it Sunday morning, then me, then Mary, then Chris, then Selman and Finally Caeleb started throwing up when he woke up Monday morning. Monday was spent staying home from work and school, going from kid to kid, emptying throw up buckets, topping up glasses of gingerale and pedialyte, watching movies and resting. It is kind of nice to be together and doing nothing but resting all day. That same day, we found out that Chris' mom had a bilateral Pulmonary Embolism and they had to do CPR for 10 minutes. We experienced a miracle and she recovered and is doing very well. Even still, it shook up the whole Watters family and we really wanted to go out and visit everyone. A little over 3 weeks later, we were able to drive out there for family day and reading week (which both Chris and the kids got off) . I picked up a last minute night shift the night before and then we left at 9:00 that morning and drove to Salmon Arm where we stayed at a Hotel and met up with my good friend Lindsey. We ordered in Pizza and the kids had fun swimming in the Hotel pool. Elva and Caeleb are at a fun age where they could spend all day in a pool. We all were asleep by 9:30 or so (even Lindsey who ended up staying the night). We got up at 7:30, had a bag breakfast at the hotel and were on our way just after 9:00 am. We got to Tsawwassen ferry terminal a little after 2:00 but did not get on until the 5:00 ferry as it was a long weekend and very busy. We spent the Saturday, Sunday and Monday night at Jared's house - the girls were at Rachel and Eric's and Caeleb stayed at Wendy's house. We were not planning on staying at the parents as we wanted to make sure Lou Ann was recovering well and we were not an extra burden but we did end up staying there Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening. We had family Supper together on Sunday, Tuesday (Taco 02022022 Tuesday) and Thursday, we had a volleyball night at the church with most of the family on the Monday and a games night on the Thursday night. It was so good to see everyone! Except we did not see Kurt or Alby as they do not seem to want to interact with the family anymore and it makes everyone so sad. Chris had online teachers conference on Thursday and Friday and he did that at Jared's house while I watched the kids at Gary and Lou Ann's. We went to two beaches while we were on the Island. It was beautiful when we went to Island View beach which is only a few minutes from the parent's house. It can be quite windy there but it was absolutely beautiful the day we went and if it is nice out, we may camp there this summer for a couple of nights. We left on the 4:00 pm ferry on Friday after Chris finished his teachers conference. I picked him up at Jared's at 2:15 and we drove around the Land's End part of the peninsula until it was time to go to the Ferry. We then drove until Kamloops and we arrived at Chris' cousin Athena's place at 9:30 pm. She and her husband and girls are so kind to us. They have a beautiful place and they are a beautiful family. It was so good to see family on this trip! We visited that night and we slept well. We left around 9:15 in the morning and stopped for supper at a sushi/korean place in Golden around 3:30. We made it home by 8:30 pm. I had to work the next day after church which was Sunday Feb 27th. Then I short shifted and worked Monday day shift (thanks Mom and Dad for watching the 3 youngest) and then I worked Tuesday evening, Saturday and Sunday day shift. During these last few weeks, my uncle has been ill and in the hospital for a few weeks, a cousin has needed foot surgery and another close family member has had Gullstone attacks. It has been a crazy last 6 weeks for our immediate and extended family. I am hoping for a happy, healthy spring coming up.

A wonderful Christmas

It is time to get back to writing about our family. I was kind of anxious about Christmas this year, well not about Christmas exactly, but about the fact that I would be starting work 2 days after Christmas. I thought it was going to put a damper on the whole Christmas experience. But on the contrary, it was a simple and yet wonderful Christmas. The kids had the week off before Christmas and we finished up some Christmas shopping on Friday December 17th as Chris had eye surgery that day for a droopy eye. While he was doing that, Caeleb and Elizabeth and I braved Chinook Mall during the Christmas season. It was not too busy at 1000 in the morning. That weekend Christ spent time recuperating. On Sunday December 19th, Champion had an activity planned complete with fires for cooking smores, hot chocolate and a wagon ride. We normally would not do this on a Sunday but I needed to meet up with a fellow kindergarten parent for something school related and I was happy to support our little village. Camellia and Doug and the family came on the Monday for a yummy Ham supper. We had a little program on the Monday night and the kids did the Nativity and the older kids played pieces on the piano and Caeleb on the guitar. On the Tuesday, our ward did a little Nativity and Caeleb played a Shepard and Mary and Elva were Angels. They probably wore the same Angel costumes I did when I was their age doing the Nativity in the Champion ward. It was a cold week that week before Christmas but we did get out sledding and the kids rode the ponies once. Oh, did I tell you we got 2 ponies from a family near Stavely that needed to rehome their ponies. It cost us $500 for the two of them together. We got them for Elva's birthday. One is named Fergie and other is Timbit. I can not ride them as they are too small but I love to lead the kids around on them. Horses are my favorite! 

We had our Turkey dinner on Friday Christmas Eve just like Chris' family does every year. What a great idea. We are never going back. That way Christmas day was/is for opening gifts and just being together. We had our friend Meike Snow over for Christmas Evening dinner. Mom, Dad and Nathan came over and we watched the kids school Christmas concert after supper (it was recorded online). Selman disappeared during this and it took us a while to find him after Miss Snow left. He was fast asleep under Mary's bed. The kids were up at 6:30 on Christmas day and we waited until 7:00 for them to open their stockings. Then we had cracked wheat for breakfast and waited for Mom and Dad and Nathan to come over for opening gifts at 9:00. 

I think we did better this year on getting the right amount of gifts. Two years ago we got way too much, last year was a bit better and this year was pretty good. Each kid got a gift from Santa, one from another kid (they drew names) and one from Mom and Dad.  And then they got one from Nana/Papa and Grandma who always gives the kids a Christmas tree ornament. Uncle Nate and Aunty Suz had our name this year and gave us a game and we had Grandma Watters this year and got her a bunch of things including homemade turtles like usual, shoes, etc. My parents, Camellia and Doug and us did not really give each other gifts but instead we went to a fun Hotel in Lethbridge a few days after Christmas for the night. This Hotel has a little wave pool, hot tube, two slides and Tony Romas restaurant attached to it which was great because it was so cold. It is our new favorite hotel. 

I started work the day after Boxing Day. It is always hard to go back. The second shift was hard because I totally botched an injection but I have been getting my confidence back and it is going well. I did not want to go back to work on New Years day after my first two shifts a few days before and that put a bit of a damper on New Years Eve. We had Chinese food and I ended up going to bed early being discouraged about work but then I experienced a tender mercy from God. I woke up happy at 11:50 pm and was able to help the big kids and Chris bring in the New Year with music and dancing and it was fun! 

Back to work. Work helps with our finances. I was only getting about $1000 a month for EI and now I make more than twice as much and we can pay our mortgage and student loans down faster. It makes life easier with 2 incomes. 

I am working 2 days a week and I pick up here and there. It is manageable. I have decided that I get just as much work done at home when I am a part time working mom as when I am not a working mom. That is hard to accept but it is true. It is just as well that I work a little. It is good for me to be around people at work of all different backgrounds, ideas, beliefs, experiences, and I learn from all of them. It has given me a well rounded perspective on life and a balanced world view and I am grateful for that. I KNOW God loves them all the same just as he does all people. I feel like people who live a sheltered life might be influenced on how they perceive other people. I see so much judgement these days, especially when it comes to religion. I am grateful that the church I go to has taught me to believe that God will do the most that he can for all his Children - which is everyone who has ever existed. God takes everything into account when looking at our lives and he does NOT throw out the people who do not have perfect understanding or have been influenced to think in certain ways! Some people appear to think that he does. I really feel like everything he does is out of love for all people. He wants us to follow him, repent, change for the better and come closer to him so that we do not need to face the consequences of poor choices. That is how I feel. 

One thing that is hard about work is that I want to be at the crossroads at my kids' lives and work makes it so that is not always the case. I also want to be there for Chris who always seems to have a lot of work to do. When I am working, I can't be there to watch the kids so he can get his work done and it always makes home life a little more chaotic. 

Anyways, it was a great Christmas and I choose to believe this will be the best year yet. Bye for now. 

Bullying

Many years ago, I heard of a teenage girl who killed herself in one of the Maritime provinces. I believe she was experiencing cyberbullying. That was the first I have heard of that and I was so confused as why internet bullying would cause a young girl to take her life. Now, I am quite familiar with it. So many youth take their lives or want to every year because of people bullying them on the internet. A few weeks ago, I was looking up the difference between the Plan of Salvation in my religious beliefs and those of Christians. I was disappointed in the negative comments on the youtube channel and the negativity in the video itself. I posted a comment. And I was attacked for it. I fought back. I admit I had a contentious spirit with me too. It was 3 people against me. I was told that I should not be a mom, I was told I belong in Hell, I was told to go to Hell, etc. I apologized for being contentious and no one apologized back. It was clear to the others that I was the stupid one, I was the one at fault, I was the sinner, my sin being so great that I deserved endless punishment in Hell.  I understood a little of what those people feel who have been bullied on the internet, at school, work, anywhere. I wanted to give up. My daughter has been bullied a little at school. We have good snuggles and talks at night before bed when I am not working. I talked to her about my experience in a way that she could understand though I think it may have caused her to have a nightmare because she joined us in bed last night. I talked to her about the importance of being open and honest and to talk about bullying if it happens to her. I hope that my kids will always come to me with their problems. It is important to not keep feelings bottled up inside and to get help when needed. I also hope that we may all respect the beliefs of others. No one has all the answers. No one is perfect. We do not need to judge, we just need to love!