Reflections

For those of you who are hounding me to update the blog, here it is. I have to apologize for how long it has taken me but I guess I am going to use the excuse that life has been quite busy. In order to catch you up with the last 2 months of our lives and because it is a new year, I am going to write our family christmas letter for you that never quite made it into the Christmas cards......


This last year has been quite the roller coaster of emotions for us. To start off the new year, we found out that my Grandpa Schellenberg (my mom's dad) was very ill with cancer. We knew already in August that his cancer had come back but it wasn't until the new year that we realized that he was to see Heaven sooner rather than later. He finally slipped from this world on January 16th at 7:40 pm (Sask. time) surrounded by family and my Grandma. I was told that it was a time of sorrow but also of rejoicing that he left so peacefully. On that very same day, we welcomed Arinn Nicole into our family. She was born at 7:40 pm (BC time) and when we called my parents to tell them about her birth, we were greeted by the fact that my Grandpa had passed away. I came home from the hospital on the same day as his funeral so I was not able to make it back to Saskatchewan at that time.




Arinn has been an amazing addition to our family and is incredibly loving and easy to make laugh. She is growing up so fast now and I am scared to say that her first birthday is just around the corner! She is crawling all over the place and I am realizing that it is going to be not too long before she starts walking all on her own. She can stand by herself without holding on to anything if she does it without knowing. As soon as she realizes what she is doing, she sits down. She looks like a little version of Carathy and I am excited to see what else will come out in her personality in the next few months.




Caleb turned three this year and he is starting to get more and more independant. He really has a strong personality and we are constantly trying to understand what he needs and adjust our parenting skills accordingly. Needless to say there are times that I feel like I have failed miserably as a parent but at the end of the day when he stops and gives me a hug and says that he loves me, I just melt and realize we must have done something right! He still struggles with his allergies but we are getting quite used to it now and we are still hoping that he will grow out of some of them. His special diet adds a little twist to his eating habits and I am praying that some of it will be sorted out before he starts preschool in fall.




Carathy is our little scholar. (She definitely takes after her father in that aspect). She LOVES school and is cruising through Grade one. She looks forward to getting up and going to school in the mornings and always looks so happy as she drives away on the school bus. She is in a Grade One/Two split this year but seems to be adjusting well to having the older kids in her class. She is reading smoothly now and I am always so happy to see her sitting down with a book and enjoying reading for herself. She hopes to be starting baseball in the spring so I imagine that will keep us busy. She hasn't really been interested in playing sports up until now so I am excited that she wants to this year.


Steven graduated with this spring with his Masters of Arts in Christian Studies from ACTS Seminary in Langely. I have to say that I was extremely proud to see him walk across that stage to accept his degree. He had worked long and hard for that moment so when it arrived, I was quite excited. This fall was the first time in many years that he didn't have to get ready to go back to school and it was a bit different for us as a family. With no pressure for him to get his school work done we have had more time as a family and I have had more help at home......which has been appreciated since having our third child. He is still working at the wood flooring mill here in Greendale and has been since 1997 with a little break when he went back to school full time for 2 semesters.


I am a stay at home mom and I am loving it. I have just recently taken on the added responsibility of watching two of my nieces every Monday and Tuesday while their parents are teaching. I think it will be lots of fun for Caleb to have kids to play with during the days when Carathy is at school. I just finished helping with the children's Christmas musical at our church doing props and costumes and I have to say that I put many, many hours into it and when it was all over, I really missed it. I am quite involved with the nursery at church and also on a couple of committees. I am finding it quite rewarding to be able to commit a little bit more time now that Arinn is a bit older.


My youngest sister, Debbie, got married this July to Dylan Paetkau and that was definitely a highlight of our summer. When I left home to go to Bible School, Deb was just going into grade 2 and that is only one year older than Carathy is now. Wow, that sure makes me feel old! They live in Gem now just a couple of miles away from my parents.....finally my mom and dad have a daughter that married and stayed in Gem!



Right now Steven's parents are back here in Canada after serving with MAF in Botswana for the past 2 years. It has been good to see them and the time for them to go back to Africa is approaching quickly. It was fun to watch them meet Arinn for the first time and get reaquainted with Carathy and Caleb and catch up a little bit on what life has been like for them.



We are really looking forward to this next year and what it will have in store for us. Through these last few months, we have learned that life can change so quickly that we cannot take it for granted......at all. We need to soak in every moment and remember to give God all the glory.