Trip to Ireland (Day 1)

This week Aaron and I are blessed with the opportunity to share a trip to Ireland (North & South) with my dad (Bob) & Carolyn. 

Here are a few pics of our first day. Today has been in Dublin and visiting our friends Mickey & Kathleen. 

We are having such a great time! Looking forward to what we do today!! 

Jeremiah turns 1!

Jeremiah turns 1!  

Our last first birthday! 

Everyone in the house enjoyed it and had lots of fun spoiling him with extra love. 

We had a family breakfast that he enjoyed and as you can see in the photo's below he enjoyed opening the presents... and had lots of help from the older siblings and even an older cousin. 

(ok, i will admit it... he turned one on February 14th... i am a bit behind on the posts, but the pics are from the real day!)

The Ceremony!

Well, it is now completely official.  

Today I (Eileen) had my ceremony to become a British citizen.   The ceremony was an interesting British experience where I (Eileen) had to actually sign the national anthem at the end, thankfully only the first verse and in a large group but it was the first time i have ever actually sang it. 

Thank you to all of you who have prayed with us through this process.  It has taken longer than we had expected and cost more than we hoped but we are so thankful it is complete.  

I did spend some time this afternoon in my excitement applying for my very first British passport. 

The question i know some of you are wondering... yes, i did keep my Canadian citizenship.  I am now a dual Citizen. 

You wanna build a snowman?

Snow in London!!  Yep, today was that special day that each year the kids are so excited for... Snow in London!!! 

The photo I (Eileen) have included isn't that great but if you look really closely you can see the complete excitement on Zachariah's face.   Aaron was able to take some time this morning to take him into the front yard to build a snowman before it all melted.  The picture of the snowman alone is just a few hours later and as you can see... it's the only bit of snow we have left!  

There is simply never enough snow!!!

The Phantom of the Opera

On January 31st Aaron and I (Eileen) had the opportunity to take Eden to see Phantom of the Opera.  This was the present for her 13th birthday which was in May but she agreed.... it was completely worth waiting for.  

At 13yrs old Eden has already developed into a lovely young lady.  She has a true sense of proportion for fun and responsibility and a gentle spirit to see the needs of others.  We are thankful for the blessing she is in our lives and those she meets. 

Now I (Eileen) just have to figure out how to get Aaron to agree to come to a real opera with us...

The waiting is over....

Some months ago, actually May 2014 we asked you to pray as Eileen put in her application for British Citizenship. The 6 months that we were told it would take came and went and the various phone numbers and emails we were told could let us know where they are at in the application all came back with the very helpful... Yes, we have your application.  Not the question we asked but atleast we knew it wasn't lost!! That's a starting point. 

We continued to wait with no real news but really... What other option did we have? 

Thankfully, today in the mail we received two letters. One stating the application was successful!! The other giving the info for my ceremony!  Wow! I guess no news really is good news!! 

Thank You to all of you who prayed for this process! 

Goodbye is never easy....

Goodbye is never easy.  This is a statement used in so many ways... used without really thinking about in many cases.  I have had the privilege of saying goodbye to friends that are moving far from me knowing that they are entering another wonderful stage in their life, i have had the opportunity to say goodbye to friends who we always knew we would only be physically close to for a short time. I have also unfortunately experienced the pain of saying goodbye to those i love. Some with notice, understanding and planning and some because of circumstances, medical and otherwise out of our control.

Earlier this month my dear Grandpa passed away.  He was a lovely man who is now at peace after a long healthy life of joy, laughter, music and being surrounded by those he loved.   Grandpa had been unwell for a short time and we new with the inclusion of Hospice care into his life the outcome would probably not be as we hoped.  It appears that even with advanced warning and waiting for this info it sill does not make the final news any easier to take.

Grandpa... he did love the music!!
(The fiddle was his favourite!)

Grandma & Grandpa not to long ago. 

On a postive note; I was already planning on being in the USA for a short time with some friends which meant i was in the right place at the right time.  I was able to add a flight on to my arrival into Newark and fly home to actually be part of the goodbye's with the rest of my family.   What a blessing that was, and amazing to see how as always God knows the plans he has for us and had arranged for me to already be on my way in the right direction making it possible for me to be there.