Our House in the Middle of Our Street

top photo: The Blainiacs; self-titled, our group from bible study There are too many words to share everything about Malibu , so I'm going to share a few pictures, and some words in this post. Malibu is a Young Life camp that is it's own little village in the middle of nowhere, British Columbia, or at least it feels that way--very isolated. It's right at the top of Lake Louise Inlet (right before Lake Louise) but really, there is nothing out there. It is what a leader called "The Thin Place"; the place right in the middle of heaven and earth. It's beautiful, welcoming, joyful, and raw, pristine. This lodge is where "Club" happens. This is where the large group of the 220+ women who were present for Women's Weekend  would get together twice daily for skits, singing, and hearing speakers before breaking out into small group time. The Women's Weekend follows the Young Life way in how they structure the retreat. Everything we did rese...

Something totally new we've done with the kids this year is get Lukka involved in Cub Scouts. I had a neighbor who was a Scout and I knew it was a highly involved membership, but I didn't really know what that meant outside of camping trips and the famous yearly derby. Back when I was at the Whatcom Homeschooling Association Workshops, I made a last minute decision to skip a workshop I had planned on and instead sit in on the boyscouting one. The parents who had boys in scouts talked about the subject passionately, and I could easily see how homeschooling and scouting could really go hand in hand. It's always interesting to hear someone who speaks with enthusiasm. It's infectious.  I decided to go home and talk to Stefan about it, and with my new knowledge of what scouts was, and what kind of projects the kids got to tackle through the years, we decided it was something we could really see Lukka enjoying. We borrowed a few copies of the scout magazine from o...

 This past summer has been a whirlwind of fun activities, vacations, family time, and of course down time. I normally choose to use most of my free time for reading, and instead of doing bi-weekly reviews of individual books, I find it's just been easier to do them in one lumped together post. Here was my first , in the middle of summer, and today I'm going to share the eight books I've read or am currently reading these past two months. I realize the majority of these are spirituality books. I must have been on some sort of religious kick. Like all of my hobbies, this must have gone in spurts. * Love Does by Bob Goff was the book my women's bible study settled on for a summer read. I couldn't have been more pleased with this book over the summer. It's not a hard theological book, it's a light and breezy, yet somehow deep collection of autobiographical stories of Bob's learned lessons going through life meeting people, loving them, and spreadi...

A month or two ago, I won a giveaway package from a sponsor on Soulemama's blog. The sponsor for the weekend was   Ottobre Design  and boy did I get lucky! It's always fun to win giveaways online, and I have definitely won my fair share of them. I've won books, fabric, jewelry, and e-courses, and I am grateful for the opportunity to get something for nothing (or rather, just a comment on a blog post).  I was so amazed with Ottobre's generous package I decided to take a picture and put it here on the blog, so they get a bit of free advertising. The staff member who contacted me for my address asked what age and gender my kids were, so she could put fabrics and items that would match. Since Ottobre Design is based out of Finland, the package took so long to get here, but of course it was worth the wait! I remember that I had waited a long time for an Ottobre Design magazine a few years ago when I ordered it for a few adorable children's clothing pieces. When ...

This is just one of the beautiful views you'll take in if you ever find yourself at the Capilano Suspension Bridge park. You'll want to check out that nice website, and see the incredible aerial view atop of the 450 foot- long bridge. Since marrying a Canadian eight years ago, something I've always wanted to see in his home area is the Capilano Bridge. Lucky me, a year or two before, they install two more attractions to the park: the incredible Cliff Walk (what?!) and Treetop Adventure. When my mom and step-dad came up to Washington this summer, she was gung-ho to go to this bridge, which she'd seen in a book some years before.  I, of course, was game! It was, after all, on my 28 Before 29 list... As we led up to the day we spent here in North Vancouver, I wondered how this would work. My mom has always been afraid of heights, and this was her idea. I have never been afraid of heights, but I'm no adrenaline junkie, either. This bridge is huge...