Friday, July 24, 2009

BIRDIE IN THE BARF BUCKET


Being a parent often brings situations you have to laugh about, if you don't, you may end up on the floor in the fetal position, rocking and crying. Last night was one of those nights.
I got a call from my sister. My niece, Courtney had been thrown off her horse and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Thank goodness her spine is fine, she never lost consciousness, but she does have a broken arm and needs to stay in the hospital for observation. When I get those calls, it makes me want to jump on a plane and head on back, and take care of everyone. This call had a terrible connection, not good when trying to hear the details about a potentially serious situation. I called Judy back on our cell and head outside to hear the rest of the story. I tend to walk while I am on the phone, especially if I am feeling stressed. I walk inside to the lovely view of barf spread out over our white tiled floor, and Josh, looking green, shaky and sweaty. The first thing I do is turn around and finish my conversation, away from the fumes. Am I such a great Mom or what! Once I finished my conversation, I headed inside to deal with poor Josh. I wipe his brow, get him to rinse his mouth, and lay him down in our bedroom. Josh looks up at me and asks if he could have a bowl of cereal now. I laugh and say no way.


Paul and I start cleaning the puddle. For those of you who know Josh, know he has a pretty hearty appetite. Paul and I look at each other and say "This boy needs to chew his food a little more!" Suddenly, I hear a crack and see Syd in the kitchen, holding her head with both hands and crying. What I mean by crying is, mouth open, tears streaming, face getting blue and no sound coming from her. Not good. I rush over and check for gashes and blood. There were neither. I comfort her and put an ice pack on her head. She had hit her head on our concrete counter on her way up from picking something up off the floor.


By now I have both kids on the couches with cool clothes on their heads. Josh throws up a few more times: on the way to the bathroom, in our bedroom, on the couches. Seriously, get some aim boy! At least now, the vomit is just fluid, no chunks. Paul and I continue the marathon clean up. We just shrug our shoulders and shake our heads.


At the moment, we are taking care of a friends bird, Ozzy. Ozzy is a friendly little fellow who thinks he is already part of the family. He eats popcorn with us when we watch movies, he chews on erasers when the kids are doing school, he follows me around if we have him out of his cage. He is a great bird. I am outside doing my 2nd load of barf laundry and I hear "MOM, Ozzy just fell into the bucket." I run and to see poor Ozzy floating in a bucket of barf. I rescue this poor, wet, stinky bird and bring him to the kitchen. How do you clean a bird? I have never had a bird, so I had no idea. Ozzy just looks at me with a cocked head and shakes, splashing most of the vomit all over my face. Nice. Paul gets a warm washcloth and starts wiping him clean.


This morning, the laundry is done, the floors are spotless and everyone, including the bird, is feeling better.

Josh and Ozzy, both feeling a lot better.



Ah, the day in the life of being a parent.

Until I blog again

Linda

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

MORE PICTURES

More pictures from our trip.
This was taken at 9:30 pm. It is light so late. We are used to sunsets at 6:30pm. Gotta love DQ Scor blizzards right before bed!!!
My men totally rock! We went to the 3D movie "Up" with Gerald and Judy, what a cute movie!!

Sydney and London


We were able to stay with Leong and Shannon's house while in Discovery. What a treat to have a my first cup of coffee with Shannon in our PJ's, just like the good old days! I used to walk out my back door and walk into her house saturday mornings for this ritual.




While away, Paul and I celebrated 19 years of marriage. Can you believe it? Our lives have been such a great ride. Looking forward to many more years together. Thanks for being such an incredible friend and husband. I love you more today then I did yesterday.







We were so excited to be able to be a part of Jorge and Julia's wedding. It was such a beautiful day. One thing they did that I loved was combine two varieties of wine for communion to symbolize the blending of their lives and their culture.


Sisterly love. Here are Kate and Julia, both looking oh so lovely!!
Until I blog again.
Lin


Saturday, July 18, 2009

GRADUATION DAY

One of the reasons we chose to visit Canada in June was so that Sydney could attend her grade 6 graduation with friends she has been in school with for 7 years. Glendale was extremely accommodating and we were all welcomed back with open arms. I actually felt a little sad walking into Glendale. Sometimes you forget the things you have given up until you stand in front of them. Schooling our kids in Panama has been a challenge. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have had the kids in Glendale for their initial few years of formal education. Seeing all the incredible supplies, artwork, books, friendly faces, out of the box teaching styles, and teachers that actually hug me and welcome me into the school, reminded me of what I gave up moving to Panama. But I digress.


The morning of Syd's grade 6 grade was very exciting. Sydney showered, put on her new dress and I actually put a little make up on her. Syd, Josh and I piled into the 1996 Plymonth van my brother in law, Gerald, so graciously let us use. As I was turning onto Glenmore Trail, the van died. It simply died in the middle of the intersection, during the busy morning hours. I hopped out and popped the hood. Don't know why I did that, I guess it is something everyone does when their car has died. Nothing looked out of place,,, like I would know if it was.


Now, people talk about re entry, and I experienced it at that exact time. In Panama , by now I have 6 burly men all shouting at me in Spanish, with hands flying through the air. Every time I have had car trouble, I hop out, pop my hood and wait for the inevitable flurry of activity and the eventual fixing of my car. I wait, I hear nothing but cars flying by, Syd weeping, "I am going to miss my graduation!!!!!!" and her dear supportive brother saying "Yup, it sure looks like your going to miss it. There is no way we`ll make it in time!"


I look around, no one is stopping, no one is helping, people are actually driving by, avoiding eye contact. I have no cell phone. I try to wave some people down to help, but I am completely ignored. I guess I look like everyone else, which is a novel experience for me. No one stops. I feel a little confused and go over and comfort Syd and tell her we will get her to school. My first thought is grab a cab, the only problem is there are so few in this area and I only have $20, that won`t get me very far.



I decide I must take action. I must get my baby to her graduation. I safely run my kids to the side of the highway. I then confidently walk in front of the first car stopped at the closest red light. I knock on the window and there in the drivers seat is sweet little old man, probably around 93 years old , who asks me how he can help. I sweetly smile and say "Have a nice day. ". The next car looks promising, I glance behind me to be sure the light is still red. The next car rolls down the window, and there is a man, around 55 who has the obvious signs of obesity, hypertension and possible cardiac disease. I ask him if he has a cardiac condition and he answers with a surprised "Why, yes." I walk away starting to feel a little discouraged and extremely useless.


Suddenly I see it!!! A landscaping truck with 2 young, strong boys smiling at me. I run, stand in front of their truck with my feet firmly planted and my hand on their hood and yell " STOP!" I tell them to get out, push my car over to the side and give me a cell phone. They both blink and answer "Yes Mame, anything else?". I must have had the Mama Bear look in my eyes, because they seemed a little afraid of me and they did exactly what I had asked them to do, and very quickly I might add.

I took the following picture, because I told Syd that soon we would laugh about this and that it would make a great blog entry. At the time, she was pretty angry, but she got to her graduation, only 5 minutes late. Thanks Leong for picking us up!



Syd is kind of hiding because she is embarrassed by her blotchy , tear stained face :(

Until I blog again.

Linda

VISITING IN CALGARY

It was simply amazing to know we have so many friends that we could have spent the entire time in Calgary visiting and catching up 24 hours a day. By the end of our time, we were all exhausted. Here in Panama we may have one major event a week. A potluck, a party or a simple coffee. In Calgary we had our days jammed with food, friends, family and fun. Here are only a few shots of our time in Calgary. I have so many pictures, I will post a few separate blogs to show the best ones!
This is Josh with his best buddy, Connor. One incredible gift was seeing my children play with friends they have so badly missed.
This is a group shot of almost all our "old" small group. (L) to (R) Rob and Amanda, Robert and Gen, Linda and Paul.

Syd had a sleepover with a bunch of her friends.(L) to (R)Tristina, Melanie, Evie, Nicole, Racheal Sydney, Linda, Liz and Becky.


Joshua pretending he is not enjoying the love from his cousins, Nicole and Marley.




We were able to go to a farewell the Biro's at Laura's house . Even thought it was a brief visit, we picked up where we left off. This group of woman are like family to me! (L) to (R) Laura, Keira, Linda, Sonia and Erynn



Sydney's grade 6 graduation at Glendale, with the grade 6 girls. We were so please Syd was able to be a part of this day.





One evening we had a neighbourhood BBQ, just like the good old days. We all camped out in front of Bernie and Anne's and waved at all the curious on lookers as they drove by!

(L) to (R) Ann, Shannon, Syd, Lynn, Brooklynn and Linda.


Looking through olds photo albums. Courtney, Syd, Nicole and Judy.


One of Syd's close friends is Grace, on the right, and her sisters, Cam and Beth, (Not in this photo.) Syd has skyped Grace may times and we have all seen Tessa the dog on our screen, but not in person. The person in the pink wig is Josh, trying to fit into a household of girls!


My dear friend Liz (seen on the right) had a lovely lunch for me and some of my friends from Glendale school. It was wonderful to drink water out of crystal glasses, eat an incredible lunch and get all caught up. (L) to (R) Paula, Elaine, Kim and Liz.



Off to upload some more picture.
Linda







Saturday, July 11, 2009

WELCOME HOME DAY FAMILY

We have just arrived back in Panama after a 3 week vacation in Canada. During those 3 weeks, we were able to visit almost our entire extended family. We had an incredible time catching up with both family and friends. I will blog some of the interesting events that occurred at a later date, like the blood that dripped on me while at an amusement park, and being stranded on Glenmore Trail, the day of Sydney's grade 6 graduation. Good times!!

Inevitably, I get the questions. One, how was it being back in Calgary, and two, how is it being back in Panama?

Quite simply, it was wonderful being in Calgary. It took me about a day to stop thinking "How do I say........ in Spanish?" I was struck by some interesting things; how clean the roads are in Calgary, how incredible the road signage is, how big the houses are, how clean the floors stay, how few bugs are present, how many beautiful and big new cars are on the roads, how long you spend waiting at red lights, how incredibly dry the air is and how expensive life has become there. I spoke with many people who have taken on more than 1 job to pay their bills in Calgary. I thought life was busy when we lived there, that speed has escalated in the last 8 months, or maybe it just felt that way to me. I felt incredibly grateful to visit all our dear friends and family, but also grateful for the change our family was able to make 8 months ago.

Our time in Montreal was mostly spent being with family. The time flew by, yet by the end, we were all ready to go home. Interesting how that happens at the end of a vacation, any vacation. Your simply ready to go home. I am not sure if it is like waking up just seconds before the alarm clock rings, but somehow, your heart, mind and body knows, it is time to go home. After a 19 hour travel day, filled with much coffee and ice cream and the occasional cat nap, we finally pulled up to our little A frame in the mountains and crawled into our own beds. It felt great.

The other day made me laugh and think, "Welcome back to Panama." The day started late, as I was simply not able to drag myself out of bed, so the entire house slept in. Next, as I was starring out the kitchen window nursing strong cup of Boquete coffee, I suddenly saw our gardener walk by. Both Paul and I jumped and ran down our little dirt road after him in our pyjamas. We have had a lot of rain here, so our grass was up to hip length in some areas and in need of some love. After a quick morning at home schooling, we piled into our car to head to Spanish school, except the car wouldn't start. I thought, maybe Josh had prayed for that to happen. He was not pleased about going back to school after 3 weeks off. Josh promised, he did not pray for that, then suppressed a little smile. Paul started making a few calls, I hauled the kids out of the car and started walking to the main road to grab a taxi. On the way, I turned to be sure Josh wasn't dragging too far behind. He was laughing, a nice change from being sad, because he had just passed a dead chicken, squished flat with the exception of his head, on the side of the road. Ah, the simple things in life that bring us pleasure. We grabbed a taxi, which happened to be waiting at the corner, and the kids got to school with 10 minutes to spare. On my taxi ride home,an extra 7 people piled into a 5 seater Toyota Tercel, making the grand total of people in the taxi 8. You see, here, taxis ride up and down the main road and keep piling people in. The more people, the better the cash. It is also a great way to get to know new people! The entire drop off and return home took 20 minutes and cost me $1.25.

After arriving back home, Bruce , a friend of ours, was already working on fixing our car and I had 2 girlfriends over for coffee. It felt like we had never been away, with the exception of having clothes without holes, a ton of incredible memories and photos, and real maple syrup from my sisters farm, which , by the way, we enjoyed this morning over french toast.


Welcome home Day Family, welcome home!
Until I blog again.
Linda