GPS: THE CHILDREN ARE COMING HOME / 582

GPS: THE CHILDREN ARE COMING HOME / 582: "YES, YOU ARE READING IT CORRECTLY! THE CHILDREN ARE BEING RETURNED TO PAUL AND ZABETH. REJOICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Josiah - a June 2011 photo ..."

Kalvin William ... 23 years later, to the day.

The electronic age.
Nothing to do with my age, but it allowed me to connect with my second born son while he is on the other side of the earth, in Vietnam, 2 days ago. He graciously (cough cough) reminded me that as of today, June 22, 2011, he is exactly half of my age. Thanks honey, I can always use a reminder like that. ( I don't think he knows that my awareness springs up with the naturally highlighted roots of my hair that scream to be coloured anew every 5 weeks or so!) So , back atcha Kal, these first 3 photos are when you were about 1/2 of the age you are now. Just sayin'!

Kalvin was the only one of our 4 children that arrived at a civilized hour upon this wild and crazy earth. Supper time. Nicely done my son! It really was the best.

Just to get a little nostalgic, it is no wonder to me that he has spent the past 8 months mastering the art of surfing while living on the East Coast of Australia. 2 weeks before Kalvin's actual due date, his dad, Roger, and I were helping my mum and dad work on their septic system. I was squatting down, feeding the sewer snake along the floor to Roger who was trying to figure out where the blockage might be. At one point he was giving me the weirdest look....my water had broken and there was a big puddle at my feet, but since I was squatting I hadn't really figured it out yet! A few hours along in the day came Kalvin, 7 lbs 10 oz of lean cuteness. I didn't even miss out on a nights sleep, perfect timing Kal!

Growing up on the Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii was the perfect setting for Kal as he was born climbing, squirming, leaping, springing, digging, cutting, shooting, exploring everywhere and everything. The islands were,and still are, every boys ultimate playground. The outdoors was an a classroom all of it's own. He didn't miss a thing. (he can tell you the story of the spit roasted squirrel another time!) Building forts, soccer,creating war games, soccer, knights in shining armour weapons, soccer, making wooden guns, soccer, using hammer & nails, soccer, bows and arrows, soccer, biking, soccer, he loved soccer. Still does! So much so that he occasionally has to miss work do to injuries incurred on the field that are not covered by WCB. Idle? What the heck is idle, I don't think he would know it if it fell on him.

Fast forward to 2006, he graduated from Highland Sr Secondary in Comox, part of his attire for the event was a cane that he had chosen from among the things my grandfather had left behind when he departed from this world. You can just see the tip of it between his shoes. So touching....yet to snap back to reality and not get too caught up in the sniff sniff isn't he the sweetest purest most innocent young man....apparently my Grandpa also had a full 40 pounder of Captain Morgan's spice Rum that Kalvin also chose as a touching memory item! I only found out about that last year....I did mention the screaming roots requiring colour did I not? ( grampa Bill and Kal up on the roof)

Once when he was recovering from a broken collar bone (injury incurred while longboarding in a less than attentive time of day-wink wink) Kal came up to help us put a new roof on our house. There were somethings he couldn't do but he was up there like a monkey, tromping around, hauling stuff up, hammering, cutting sheet metal,oh ...and creating beach glass jewelry in the evening on the sundeck. There is something really cool about having a child who is as diverse and creative in so many different areas as yourself. I love it. Part of me wonders where he got the super laid back part of his personality, but secretly I think that is buried somewhere within me as well!
Labour Day weekend 2010, Kal, Jen, me, and various other family members gathered for a great bbq with friends at my cousin Donna's (and Steve's!) house in Victoria. We had lots of time to just hang out, chat, catch up and talk about the upcoming adventures they were planning as they were both getting ready to head off on worldly adventures around the globe. The above photo is the last one of us together before they left. I love it.
A few weeks ago, 8 months into their Australian Adventure, they came across this park, perfect! That one was for his dad. Gotta love stuff like that!

(in this photo Kal is the 3rd one in from the left with his arm up in the air)

Kalvin has never been hard to get along with, or hard to like. He is hardworking, hardplaying, adventurous, kind, generous, thoughtful, creative and pretty stinkin' cute! ( sorry Kal, I am still your mumma!) As I look at the pictures above and have the flashdriven memories of him from the first day until now, I smile and notice my eyes brimming with tears. As with all my kids, I am such a proud mum. But today? It is all about you Kal. I love you my son, you are amazing and I thank God for being able to continue to watch you on this winding, twisting, adventure of your life. Happy 23rd Birthday Honey. xo

a quick little chuckle

Considering the fact that I am supposed to be doing 3 other things right now, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to post a chuckle. I am far overdue, but hey.... we all know that boredom is not a word in my vocabulary!

It all began with a trip to see the bb's.

My budget is a little squeeky these days, so in order to stretch it I park my car in the 'free' parking area at Duke Point. Anyone familiar with the area knows that it is a little stroll to enter the ferry terminal after you park your vehicle in 'free parking'.
No problem! There had not been an opportunity for me to do the park and ride before so I left lots of time to arrive, park, walk and purchase my ticket.

Certain areas of my life have an obsessive control component to them. Timing things is one of them. So I timed the walk. Dumb shoes and a little carry on with wheels dragging behind me...19 minutes. Not too bad :-)

My weekend was wonderful, family time is always worth the effort for me. Toss in a couple scrumpdillyicious bb boys and voila! Brilliant!

A very significant part of this weekend is that I also successfully navigated the Vancouver transit/rapid transit system, from and back to the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal. ALL BY MYSELF. LOL, too funny, I feel like a big girl now!

The trip back was delayed due to high winds, the Shwartz Bay ferry was delayed over an hour, hence our ferry delayed due to their delay due to weather due to the hand of God.... yeah I was just trying to see how many times I could put the word 'due' in there.... it is starting to sound weird to me..... due due due due due due due... Okay! I am back...

When we arrived at Duke Point it was 10:35 p.m. I looked at the clock and said out loud,"okay, it took me 19 minutes to walk here in dumb shoes hauling this crazy little wheeled bag. Today I am wearing good shoes and I am motivated to get home. I will do it in less than 15 minutes."

Hmmmm, are you starting to grin already? You should be, this will crack you up! The initial break from the pack was extraordinary, I can't be sure but I think I may have overheard one woman say she wondered if I was a professional speed walker ????? Olympian left over? Crazy woman on a mission more like it!

8,9, 10, 12 minutes... excellent, I was making fabulous time. There was a strong wind, but with my level of determination, I barely noticed. One thing I did notice was that the road seemed to be extra rough, which was creating more drag than on the trip over. Oh well, keep movin', doin' great! Wait a minute, this is really dragging, I must have a rock caught in one of those stupid little tiny wheels designed for posh airport flooring. (Do the designers think that all of us travel by air???)

I pulled over (haha!) and had a look at the wheels. OH NOOOOOOOOO!

You know all those massive treads that we see on the sides of the highway? Hunks of rubber scattered all over from retreads blowing apart as semi-trucks blast across the map? Guess what? I blew a wheel!
Can you believe it? I was competing for my own best time and I blew a wheel! Now I know how athletes feel when their bike crashes or their ankle twists.... NOT! For crying out loud!My determination was greater than my lack of motion, so I kept dragging for a few feet. How ridiculous. I could see my car, just up ahead, but not close enough for my keyless remote to light it up! yeah, another little game I play....ya wanna go on a road trip with me? It's pretty fun!
The moment of truth presented itself, ditch and run in order to maintain my best time, or persevere and haul the bag slowly behind me.
DITCH!!!
I plopped the bag behind another vehicle, ran up to my car, hopped in, whipped down to where I stashed the disabled wheely bag, hopped out, tossed it into the back...check the clock....ARG.

Oh well, next time! Hey, I am looking for a new wheely bag...any recommendations for sturdy wheels? I will be making this trip at least monthly for awhile and really have a challenge packing lightly so need good wheels!

Almost forgot to share my time....
19 minutes!

No shame in that...but next time I will blow the record out of the water...just sayin'!

The French Connection (aka part 2 of the keyboard!)

okay, so assuming that you have read the first part of the computer/keyboard story, I will carry on with my never ending adventure to the correct store for exchanging the keyboard.

DISCLAIMOR: names have been changed to protect the guilty! Just sayin'!

As I arrived in the Future Shop parking lot, feeling EXTRA relieved as I knew I really was at the right store this time, there was a spring in my step with each foot placed closer to the front door.

Unfortunately there was an instant recognition as I approached the customer service counter, that the person behind it was probably not going to be the one who could help me. Sigh....her name tag said 'ms.trying to be helpful', so I continued. Hi 'ms.trying to be helpful', a lovely angel bought me a new computer from your store right before Christmas, unfortunately we did not realize right away that it had a french keyboard. I brought the receipt with me to show that indeed the product came from your store, if you would be so kind as to exchange the keyboard for an english standard one, I would greatly appreciate it. yeah...so it wasn't quite that easy. 'ms.trying to be helpful' looked at me and scrunched up her nose,"I don't think we can do that." My professionalism restricts me from sharing the thoughts that were whizzing through my mind at that point, instead I will tell you what I said. "Well, let me try this again, a lovely angel bought me a new computer from your store right before Christmas, unfortunately we did not realize right away that it had a french keyboard. I brought the receipt with me to show that indeed the product came from your store, if you would be so kind as to exchange the keyboard for an english standard one, I would greatly appreciate it.This keyboard does not work for me." Once again 'ms.trying to be helpful' scrunched up her nose,this time she put her finger on the receipt and pushed it an inch forward in my direction before saying,"Ummmmm, I don't think we can do that!"

You can imagine (after having already reading the first part of the story) that I am a little frustrated by now. I saw a lovely young woman headed toward the counter who looked like she was going to be able to help*, unfortunately a young man was also headed in my direction. Before the *LYWHTTCWLLSWGTBATH could open her mouth, the young man (who shall remain nameless) came right over and swiped his finger across the keyboard that I was trying to return and asked me what was wrong with this keyboard. I told him that it was french. He told me that it was MULTILINGUAL. I told him that I am not. He said, "Well, this country IS." GASP,choke,splutter,cough!

I said,"Did you really just say that to me?. . . . . that was very inappropriate." He replied that he is french and proceeded to flash me his name tag which showed that indeed his name was spelled in french. My eyebrows were raised so high up my forehead that my hairline was feeling a little uncomfortable about the invasion of space. My reply in an evenly toned voice was very straight forward, "I have no issue with french, my boss is french, her whole family is actually from France, I quite like them. I on the other hand, DO NOT write in french, I am asking to exchange this keyboard for a standard english keyboard, I brought my receipt and would appreciate the exchange. I never would have bought a computer with a multilingual keyboard. Thanks!"

Now *LYWHTTCWLLSWGTBATH stepped in, perfect timing I'd say. She told the young man who shall remain nameless that she would be happy to help me and he might like to go find something else to do in the back. He left. I think my eyebrows were still a little confused as to whose territory they were supposed to be residing in, but eventually they settled back down into their own zone. Whew!

*LYWHTTCWLLSWGTBATH told me that she was going to go and see about getting me that replacement keyboard. About 2 minutes later, she came back with a lovely standard keyboard that looked so familiar to me that I nearly kissed her! I thanked her and said how much I appreciated her help. I also told her that for the record I really thought that the young man who shall remain nameless had made a very inappropriate comment. She told me that she agreed and had already spoken to him in the back and assured me that he would not be saying anything like that to other customers. WOW....great customer service from *LYWHTTCWLLSWGTBATH.

I do greatly appreciate people who are willing to help to the best of their ability without serving their personal shoulder chips as an unrequested side dish.

Thank you *LYWHTTCWLLSWGTBATH! You made my day. And because of you I will return to your store.

NOTE: I have worked in the service industry for about 30 years and have been a small business owner. I recognize that the greatest thing any customer could ever do is tell me if they have had a challenge with any of my staff, services or products. I would not have refrained from returning to this store without first having contacted the management and given them the opportunity to rectify the problem. In this case, the young woman, who I believe was the section manager, was delightful and did a wonderful job of rescuing the customer who really was on the brink of losing it! Great customer service is priceless.

I know I haven't finished the missing keys story BUT!

I know I haven't finished the key story...and trust me it is worth the wait...but SERIOUSLY?! You Want This Story!

Oh MY Gosh!

I know I can't be the only one who experiences this kind of stuff in their daily life...but how come I don't read any other blog posts like this on a regular basis? Hmmmmmmmmm......

Just before Christmas, a very lovely angel type person bought a brand new computer for L'Arche Comox Valley for the Outreach Centre. That means that Rebecca got a brand new work computer. Oh it was so appreciated, the old one had served a long hard sentence and was trying to make me pay the price of longevity, not fun.

Something I didn't notice right away was that the keyboard was "French". Anyone who knows me very well knows that I am not in the slightest way French, which means that I do not need a french keyboard in order to transpose my brilliantly witty thoughts...just sayin'! I did not take it back right away, I thought maybe I could work with it. NOT! Yesterday was January the 5th, we came back to work on January the 4th, 11 days after closing for Christmas. I hot footed it over to the office to ask the bookkeeper for the receipt from the purchase of the amazing new computer in order for me to exchange it with the least amount of grief possible.

I know you are chuckling as you are in the moment realizing it is "I" who am making that statement. yeah well.... read on my dear friend and addicted reader...read on!

Feeling very confident, while clutching the receipt and the "french" keyboard, I headed to the store. Walking in, I was thinking how fantastic it was going to be to be able to respond to emails and write documents without having to backspace continually, fixing the /i or /t or what ever other letter I was trying to capitalize but instead hitting the 'now split shift key' that accommodates for french grammar in typing. There was only one person in front of me, nice...when it was my turn I put the shiny new keyboard down, put the receipt on top of it and explained what had happened to the lovely sales girl. She was smiling, but I could tell she did not really understand. When I was done, she said very graciously,"There is a problem with your receipt, it is from Future Shop." I looked at her....hmmmmmmmmmm, "what is the problem....Where am I?" ( as I look furtively around the store for any indication of a problem with my Future Shop receipt) With every bit of grace and customer service GOLD she could muster she replied, "We are in Staples."

I nearly fell on the floor, but thankfully, as I have stated before, I was blessed with an incredible DNA humour gene! I started to laugh, I looked at her and the lady in the line up behind me and said,"Can you tell there is a little bit of stress in my life at the moment? Oh my Gosh, that is so funny! This is your laugh of the day, now I need to head over to Future Shop and exchange my keyboard so I can get back to work."

I know that the lady behind me in the line up was secretly and quietly in her mind wiping her brow thinking, "Whew! glad I am not the only one who does stuff like that!"

Oh how funny is that? One of my friends nearly lost her breath laughing and actually had to run to the toilet!

Friends, I am here to serve. My firm belief is that God graced me with a terrific sense of humour that I might entertain you in those moments when you might be needing a little lift. Glad I can help!

Blessings upon you, may your day be filled with laughter, even if it is at yourself...or me!

When a Wild Adventure Turns Safari

(this was written on the way home from my g'bb boyz.....hence some of the time reference)

As many of you know, I seem to have some magnetic quality connected to my being that draws wild adventure. My impression is that most of you actually would not be surprised to see some of these stories on a cable show.(this photo is the sight my bleary eyes beheld as we entered the hospital on Sunday...true love...)

Can I just start by saying that in the past 24 hours I have been the recipient of the "Nanny gets to snuggle" bb's prize, so all in all things are bloody brilliant.

Now,to give a little more detail and put the minds at ease that have been hanging by their fingertips on the rock face known as "Rebe's FB status teaser".... here is my story...are you wearing depends? You may need them, or at least take a little trip to the loo before you proceed with the reading....

So, Monday morning my mumma arrived at Julia's place bright and early, we snuggled the beautiful little samples of our DNA one last time and headed out to the Greater Vancouver Transit System.... are getting where this is going?

We chose to leave extra early because both of us would rather arrive early anywhere and wait as opposed to running in frantic and late. I needed to be on the 12:45 p.m. Twassen to Duke Point Ferry, in order to be home for 4:30 p.m. yeah so nice try on that! All was looking well until we had our FORTY minute layover in cold-nowhere-ville-transit-region. OH MY GOODNESS! we were so cold and there was not a shelter to be found...okay so there was one, but a particularly inconsiderate teenage male was smoking in it.... GROSS! ( this picture is sample of the miserable weather that day, brrrr!)

We chose the cold, we were laughing our little butt's off, since that is what our DNA line does in the face of adversity. Finally the bus showed up.

We got on and felt as though we had arrived in heaven. Aaaaaaaah, it was warm and the seats were very cushy. Nice!

It was a fairly long ride, when we finally arrived at the exchange area where we would catch the last bus that would take us out to the Tsawwassen Terminal, we were feeling pretty good. Much to my chagrin, mumma asked the bus driver one more time to confirm that this was the bus to Tsawwassen Ferry.... "uh, no actually, it isn't. You should have got on the bus with the same number with the same name going in the opposite direction. " WHAT!!!!! It is nearly 12 o'clock, I NEEEEEED to be on the 12:45 ferry!

We got off the bus, I not only was slightly stressed about the time, I had to use the LOO! Mumma called the transit or somebody while I went into the last leg station of skytrain to look for a biffy. Yeah, NOT! there wasn't one. Arrrrrg.

We decided a cab was our best option. We saw this really cute little bag-lady type person and asked her where we were. (are you scratching your head yet....was the description not enough to make you laugh?!) She starts telling some glorious tale about the war years and coal heat.... blah blah blah... I interrupt and ask her,"If we were going to call a cab, where would we tell them to pick us up?" Yes I did ask this to the same really cute little bag-lady type person....oy! Will we ever learn, oh Mumma, we are so hilarious! Sigh. So she told us where we were because it is where she has to get home from everyday....yah....great...still don't know where the heck we are!

Hey there is a nice "normal"looking guy... tongue in cheek....well....hahahahahahahahahahahahahah, we should not have been surprised to find out that we were actually in RICHMOND! Yes that is right, the same Richmond that is NOT on the way from Surrey to Tsawwassen! Yuppers, yip, Yessiree, that is right-a-mundao! Same Richmond! the one by the Freakin' Airport!

At least now we knew where to call a cab! LOL!

So, all the way to the ferry we are howling, the cabbie must have thought we were nuts! we could hardly breathe we were laughing so hard... hey! That is what we do! What do you want? Crying? Okay, we thought of that but we were way to cold and tired....oh my goodness!

I actually texted Wayne that the cabbie was texting him because my fingers were numb....I think it was almost the truth!

We arrived at the ferry with 40 minutes to spare, mumma told me it was my "baby gift" . Perfect! and it fit beautifully!

A few minutes later I was upstairs waiting in the temporary waiting area under construction. Do you realize what that means? Yes! It was FREEZING COLD! LIke the rest of my morning! Puhleeeeeeze, can I catch a little warmth? and there is a jubilant family that has obviously just come back from some amazing tropical hot sweating tanning vacation sitting across from me laughing and joking and telling really funny warm stories.... WHAT EVER PEOPLE! (kidding, it was a really nice distraction! tee hee)

The ferry arrives, mum texts me from downstairs in the ladies arrivals bathroom, she has discovered the amazing gift of a heat blowing hand dryer....NICE! As I read her text, you will not flippen' believe this.... ready? Guess who I see checking the change return in the payphone on the wall of the freezing cold waiting area under construction? YES!!!! It is the same really cute little bag-lady type person! You have to know she did NOT spend $60 on a cab! OMG! I am almost in convulsions trying to text mumma back. Quick, bring the "undergarments", my bladder is not going to hold up for this one!

Oh, oh , oh, oh.... breathe, breathe, breathe. Whew, heart rate is coming down , stars are gone from my line of vision....aaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Okay.

I board the ferry. Hallelujah Lord, thank you for your goodness and grace.

La dee da dee da , llaaaa lllaaalalallalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I am feeling great! Have a little lunch, every hot beverage they serve, TUB sized, and decide to sit in a quiet area and look over my photos and video of my beautiful little grand baby boys. Oh I love them so much I cannot even begin to tell you. My eyes fill with tears just thinking about them. Oh Lord you are So Good!

As I was looking at the pictures I was feeling so great. I thought I would be really organized and get my car keys ready so that when we docked, I would make an uneventful exit.

OH Joy! Uneventful was not to be the word of my day. My car was at Duke Point in the long term parking since Saturday...heh heh.....My keys were at that very moment NOT in my possession. (this photo was taken while I was on the ferry, by a very well meaning person who then emailed it to me to show that my keys were not really lost at all, THEY WERE JUST VISITING THE USA!)

But that is a story for another day!

Glorious Day...even with sandy eyes!

Catchy title isn't it?

The summary is that I have been on high alert for 2 days waiting for the arrival of my 2 new grandbaby boys, as far as I know who will be named Anthony Roger and Micah Gabriel.

My sleep is not whelming over me as I would desire at a time such as this...this being the post arrival time.

The boys entered this wild and crazy world that we live in sometime after midnight. My poor gurlio Julia was so exhausted when I talked to her at 3 something dark a.m. that I only got the essential details. Imagine that! (smirking!)

My g'bb's both weigh 5 lbs 8 oz! How is that for fantastic? I am so excited, huh! Wonder if that is what is keeping my weary bleary sandy eyes from slumber?

At some point in the decent hours of the day Julia and Thomas will send me pictures of the newest in our DNA line. I look forward to that more than I can put into mere words. I have talked to 2 of my closest people, one of whom did not mind me waking him up and the other whom is across the globe and was sort of maybe thinking about preparing for a nights slumber herself.

Thank you Lord Jesus for the safe arrival of my g'bb's. Thank you also for being able to connect with someone at oh dark thirty . Thank you for sleep, and the speedy healing of my beautiful daughter's amazing body whom you enabled to nurture and deliver 2 beautiful little people. You are the most incredible phenomenon this world will ever know. Hallelujah.... Amen.

Okay Beloved, I will once more (3rd time!) try to encourage slumber before my trusty alarm goes off in less than 2 hrs. I will take all I can get!

Blessings and rest assured....there will be more... and photos :)

G'ma Rebes xo