Currently reading....

"Shun the gossip of men as much as possible, for discussion of worldly affairs, even though sincere, is a great distraction inasmuch as we are quickly ensared and capivated by vanity.

Many a time I wish that I had held my peace and had not associated withmen, Why, indeed, do we converse and gossip among ourselves when we so seldom part without a troubled conscience? We do so because we seekcomfort from one another's conversation and wish to ease the mind wearied by diverse thoughts. Hence, we talk and think quite fondly of things we like very much or og things we dislike intensely. But, sad to say, we often talk vainly and to no purpose; for this external pleasure effectively bars inward and divine consolation.
...
Bad habits and indifference to spiritual progress do much to remove the guard from the tongue. Devout conversation on spiritual matters, on the contrary, is a great aid to spiritual progress, especially when persons of the same mind and spirit associate together in God."

From The Imitation of Christ - Thomas A Kempis

a day in the life......

On Saturday Nathanael went to dancing school with Supervising Adult, Nicole, and Brennen on the bus.
Daddy and Mommy were away.
This was a BIG adventure right on the tail end of a sleepover with Nicole and Brennen.
The excitement was immense.
Nathanael got to show the other kids how to get on the city bus because they had never done it before and because he's the oldest.
He was very important.
They got on the bus and sat down. They were halfway there. Everything was going well. Supervising adult was serene in the knowledge that all her charges were with her safe and sound. ah!
Then.....

The shriek of dismay!
"WHERE'S MY DANCING BAG?!"

That's when all hell broke loose.

Nathanael realised that he left his dance bag at the bus stop with his ballet and tap stuff. This is the stuff soap operas are made of.
When they got to the ballet school Supervising Adult, who is not so serene anymore, phoned the business near the bus stop.
They hadn't seen the bag.
Poor Nathanael was upset. He had to take his classes in street clothes. How embarrassing!
He felt horrible, the world was about to end. We weren't pleased either because the clothes cost around ninety dollars.
He's been sulking all week.
Supervising Adult felt awful about it.
We phoned the Transit lost and found. Nobody had seen the bag.
Today, Wednesday, Transit phoned back and told Daddy that the bag with contents had been turned in. Nathanael talked to the person on the phone and said "thank you" a lot.
Nathanael phoned Supervising Adult and told them all about the bag being found.
He ran upstairs to tell me the good news.
I now know what the phrase "deleriously happy" looks like.
And they lived happily ever after.

THE END

CBC Manitoba - Southern Manitoba snowed under by first blast of winter

here' s the story from CBC of the snow we got today:

http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/story/mb_storm-20051115.html

Want to see the snow we got? Here's the pictures from CBC - check out the image link:

http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/imagegallery/snow20051115/

I drove to work today - I got stuck 3 times, and dug myself out 3 times. By the time I got home, I was very tired, and quite happy to take ut our neighbour's children on thier offer to clean our walk for $2.

Pluckerbooks - Featured Works

Now that I got a Palm - and have started to explore the various software for it, I've been enjoying the availability of online reading material. Just found this site a while back - Plucker is a web page viewer for Palm (go to www.plkr.org to download it) - but this site has PILES of literature available for free!
http://www.pluckerbooks.com/

Here's the picture of the group! 

Halloween 2005

98 kids

That's how many came by tonight.

Witches, ghouls, lots of princesses and super heros.

A good night.

Here's what our party looked like. The theme is Alice in Wonderland - Can you guess who is who?

picture coming soon.....

Update One

Heh heh.... oops...

Like I said in the last post, I'm teaching Elementary Music - but now I'm in two schools, (one day one, one day the other) and I'm full time until May 15. Needless to say, I'm busy - Christmas concert, Halloween music, Remembrance Day stuff - all needing to be done for two schools. It's going well, though, and I am enjoying it all..

Nathanael has started in French Immersion this year in Grade 1. He is doing really well and is actually talking to us in French! Suzanne is enjoying it, I think. I guess I have to start brushing up as well; Suzanne says I need work on my accent.

There will be another post after this one with tonight's info.
TTYL.

And now for something completely different.....

Just when I thought I had it all firgured out...

When I graduated from University in 96, I had a plan. It included finding a school and a place where I could teach music, either K-12 or 7-12, and build a band program that would last for years. A program that would foster song writing, performance and music appreciation accross the school...

So I 'm idealistic.

Well, it appears that there are other plans in place for me. This fall I accepted a half time position teaching 1-6 general music in inner city Winnipeg - 10% of the school's population is supervised/assisted by some type of EA, and the school is in what is considered one of the poorest sections of Winnipeg.

And I'm excited about being there!

I'm also working at a High Speed Internet support centre (Call centre to those who want an easy label). I'm finding it a relaxing break from teaching - in that I don't have the lesson planning to do, I clock in, clock out, and still get to teach a bit. People phone in wanting to get their computers online, and I get them there, and teach them a little bit about thier machines on the way.

It's amazing to me how God changes our plans for our futures without our being completely aware about it until the change occurs.

More on this later.

Playing catch up!

After spending the summer feeling like I am under a rock - I"m come out for air. So I'm playing catchup with all the things that have been going on..... Check out the previous couple of months in posts!

Chris

Goodbye, Dear Friend

Sandy.

Your friendship was valuable.
Your love unconditional.
Your acceptance amazing.
Your friendliness abounding.

Rest in Peace.

See you in Heaven.

Chris, Suzanne and Nathanael.