Not again!

Brace yourself, I know it's a shock, but yes, I'm blogging two days in a row. Crazy! But apparently there are people who do it all the time (fanatics!). I thought I'd try it for a change... Since I'm getting off my drug of choice (sugar) I have room for another addiction... oops! I mean hobby.

It's -27 here this morning and I returned about a half hour ago from driving the kids and Ken to school in my pajamas. It was still dark of course and is only now starting to brighten up. Sunrise or sunset here is so pretty as the mountains seem to make the most of whatever sunbeam they catch. I find it fascinating that I lived only an hour and a half away from here for 10 years or so during my teens and really had no idea about it other than the name! It's quite a vibrant little community. It is an undiscovered (by many) jewel of the Yukon.

One of the things that fell by the wayside while I was going through the "Plight of the Crappy Foot" is updating all of you about some of the neat things we've experienced here so ...

Halloween was a ton of fun here but I must confess I was really missing our Syndey Ave. home leading up to the date because of the fun it always is there. For the past five years we've served hot chocolate out front of our house and it's become a great tradition for our family as well as the neighbourhood. We'd become "The Hot Chocolate House" and people had begun to plan their trick or treating routes accordingly. They knew we'd have a fire going in the outdoor firepit to warm their outsides if it was particularly cold and some hot chocolate to warm their insides. And for those we knew and were our "special" friends, there was "special" hot chocolate that was particularly warming to the insides!

Here it's a different set up as everyone trick or treats til just before 8 pm and then everyone shuts up their houses and heads down to the BONFIRE. Capital letter BONFIRE because it's big enough to warm the whole town. It's made of thirty foot trees so it's big! And there's hot chocolate and hot dogs served by the Lion's Club and then the fireworks start! This year they had enough fireworks to last a full hour and they were stunning. Who would've thought?!? Smart people here to have fireworks at Halloween. When I lived in Whitehorse they insisted on doing the fireworks on Canada Day. That's fine in most places but here we have the midnight sun so fireworks really just look like puffs of smoke. Ohhh, ahhh. Look at that pretty puff!

A highlight for me was having my sister Laura and my nephew Tyler here for the night. I'm really enjoying Laura's company and getting to know my nephew. He's Will's age and is a big, sweet teddy bear. Laura and I never had the opportunity to live together as I had gone to college before she moved in with my mom and her dad (blended family), so it's been a real treat to get to know her better. She's a wonderful blend of tender and strong. I have a lot of respect for her.

Pictures of the kids in their costumes...

Brenna as a "Anne of Green Gables" kind of character.


Jay was a clone as were 4 other kids in his class (there's only 9 kids in the class!) He really looks happier than that usually!

And Will. Ever my Anakin Skywalker. My girlfriend Kate helped me make this costume three years ago and it is well loved. The last two years Will has come up with different costume ideas but when it comes down to it, he can't resist being Anakin again.

Okay that's enough. I'll tell you about the Community Potluck and Barn Dance we had last month another time. I just realized I've got to get my ass in gear and get ready to get over to the school. They're having a community potlatch in the gym at the lunch hour to say thanks to the elders for imparting aspects of the Southern Tutchone culture to the students in the school this fall. Each of the kids has to bring along a potlatch bag (bowl, plate, cutlery, cup) and a food item to share. I made a big pasta salad that I've got to run over there.

Jesus,

Thanks for knowing me and loving me anyway. You are my hero.

'til next time,

Dianna

Remember?

Yesterday driving home from Whitehorse (after grocery and Christmas shopping) I had the most glorious time! It's hard to even put into words for fear of cheapening how wonderful it was.
So many of you have responded SO kindly to my "Plight of the Crappy Foot". Thank you all! It has been doing remarkably well. I'm sleeping great, walking around and I noticed this morning that the swelling has gone down quite a bit! Whatever that "CRACK!" was (see previous post) obviously helped in the long run. Really helped. It's what I needed to get me going in regards to looking at my health and dropping the weight I'm carrying around. I like to think of the "CRACK" moment now as a little "God ChiroCRACKtic". Whatever needed to be shifted in my foot so that I could sleep again got shifted, and whatever needed to be shifted in my soul so that I could find the strength to get healthy again got shifted.


That sets the stage for my time driving home from Whitehorse yesterday. I was listening enjoying the beautiful terrain, with the setting sun in the blue sky. Absolutely gorgeous. I'd gotten lots done in the "city", had a great visit with my Mom over coffee, was wonderfully surprised by the arrival of my nephew, Brock (he flew in from Salmon Arm to surprise the family), got help from my step Dad with all my groceries (it's a huge job!), hit the thrift store and got some fun craft supplies for CHEAP. And now I had a wonderful one and half hour drive all to myself, no kids bickering in the backseat, no dog whining at me to lower his window so he can stick his head out, and no Ken to snicker at me when I sing at the top of my lungs, off key no doubt, to whatever C.D. I want to listen to! Pure heaven!

And the C.D. of my choosing you ask? Steve Bell's Romantic and Mystics and sing I did! And then I wept. And sang. And blubbered some more. All because of this song, "Remember Me".


Remember Me - Music and Lyric by Steve Bell
adapted from Psalm 25

To You oh Lord do I lift up my soul
You are the only recourse that I know
When shame denies me a place in Your fold
In Your love remember me

Show me a road with respect to the truth
Hold not against me the sins of my youth
There’s no one to turn to if You don’t come through
In Your love remember me

In Your love remember me
In Your love remember me
All because of Your goodness Lord
In Your love remember me

Yahweh confides in the ones who have faith
And shares from the secrets of old so they say
Dare I presume He would treat me this way
In Your love remember me

Show me Your favour Yahweh
Let it never be said that I’ve trusted in vain
It is Your reputation that makes me outrageously brave
Hold out Your mercy to me
Go ahead and correct me for the sake of Your name
It’s not much of a thread but my hoping is keeping me sane

In Your love remember me
In Your love remember me
All because of Your goodness Lord
In Your love remember me

Oh, how that song met me and how He met me. Because ultimately that is my cry and the answer to my cry. He is "the only recourse that I know". And "there's no one to turn to if (He doesn't) come through". If He doesn't remember me I'm sunk. Finished. Shipwrecked. I need his mercy, his willingness to share "the secrets of old" with me. I need to be in a relationship with my God where I can be outrageously brave because of his reputation of goodness. I need his correction, I need the sanity that hoping in him provides.

And the weeping? Because He has. He has remembered me. And He still remembers me. He remembered me 24 years ago and saved my butt in that crazy accident and He remembers me now when my ankle (broken in that accident) is bothering me. He remembers me whether I live in Winnipeg or in Haines Junction. He remembers me when I feel so full of shame about gaining back 80 lbs that I hide from people, and He remembers me when I need the strength to lose it again. My trusting in Him has not been in vain because, although I wander and stumble and struggle - He remembers me. I could go on and on in the ways I have felt "remembered" by God. But posts need to end somewhere...

Needless to say I'm in a grateful place. Grateful to all of you for your prayers and kind thoughts, grateful to Steve for the worship time he led for me in our Taurus stationwagon, and grateful to God for meeting me, loving me and mostly for remembering me.

Jesus,

Words fail me. You amaze me.

'til next time,
Dianna

An important aside...

It's been an absolute hoot and privilege for Ken and I to get know Steve and Nancy Bell over the last number of years. So when I listen to Steve's music now it impacts me differently than before. I know that these are real people, down to earth (oh so down to earth!) and sincere, and my heart opens up to the message in the songs that much more. I have loved Steve's music for many years and can't urge you enough to get your hands on some if you don't have some already! As well as being musically fantastic, it feeds you in the deep places of your soul. Check out the website at http://stevebell.com/. There's a great Christmas sale on right now. And if you ever can get to one of his concerts I swear I'll slap you upside the head if you miss it! He's a marvellous storyteller and you simply have to go. Tell him the Symanskis sent you!
Cheers, Dianna