Aug. 2007. Camping at Miracle Beach

This past weekend Charlotte went camping at Miracle Beach with her good friend Brady, and both sets of parents. Miracle Beach is a gorgeous beach just north of where we live on Vancouver Island and there is a wonderful Provincial camping site there too. According to her Dad, Charlotte had a great time as did they all. In the first picture you can see Charlotte and her good buddy Brady as they enjoy some snacks at the picnic table. Picture two on the beach tells us that they have discovered the joys of playing in the sand and learned what fun rolling in the san can be. Picture three shows Charlotte doing the rounds of the equipment, checking it all out, making sure that the four adults have set things up securely...not bad for 21 months huh?

Charlotte Stays Overnight...A first!

On the weekend Charlotte came to stay overnight. It was the first time for her to do this at our home. Andi and Tim had prepped her very well for it by talking about the stay many times well in advance. The overnight stay meant that Tim and Andi could have a nice night out to celebrate their third wedding anniversary. Tim had been in hospital earlier in the week which was on their actual wedding date. He had also missed Mother's Day this year and last year because he was also in the hospital on those occasions.
Charlotte arrived on Saturday evening with her Mum and Dad and then they took off for a meal and a visit to the theatre to see the local performance of Cats. We had dinner together at the house then took Charlotte to the beach to play and to visit the park. Cynthia got Charlotte ready for bed when we came home. Charlotte had a bath first then some stories, but it was quite obvious she was not ready to sleep, particularly as she had slept for a long while in the afternoon. At one stage, as I sat in the living room, I heard shrieks of laughter coming from upstairs and crept up to see what was going on. I found the two of them bouncing on the bed in the back bedroom and having a rare old time.
Eventually Charlotte was ready for sleep and she went out like a light. Early next morning at 5:45 Am, she awoke in a daze. Cynthia picked her up and took her into our bed where she slept until 8:00 Am. We had breakfast together and later on, about mid-morning, Tim and Andi came to get her. It had been a fine time, one which we hope to repeat many times in the future.
 

Tegan the Tank arrives

About a week or so ago, Ben and Josée went to Vancouver to the S.P.C.A. shelter there. For many weeks they had been looking for a puppy. They wanted a big dog. Josée had looked at several, then saw this one at the shelter in Vancouver via the web. They made an application and their application was accepted. They still had to be screened so they had to make the trip to Vancouver, to see if they were acceptable 'parents' to the shelter, and if they were, then to bring the dog home. All went well and they brought the pup home on the Saturday night. Ben and Josée searched around for a fitting name for the pup which is a mostly Neapolitan with part Cane-Corso Mastiff. Eventually they found one which they liked...Tegan...Welsh for beautiful...and she is too. Now they plan to take her to puppy obedience when Josée returns from Quebec where she has been on holiday with her family for two weeks. CurrentlyTegan is 30 pounds but she will grow to be the big dog they wished for...125 pounds of dog to be exact!

Gathering the rhubarb

Yesterday we had a surprise visitor. Charlotte came to visit with us when her Dad and Mum dropped her off while they went to an aquacise session. During the time she was with us, Charlotte helped Grandma to pick the rhubard. As you can see from the pictures, she did a good job of collecting the stems and discarding those nasty leaves. She seemed to enjoy it too, judging from the smile on her face. Later on, Tim and Andi came to join us and we all had dinner together, along with Tom Morgan who is a regular visitor for dinner each Wednesday evening.
 

Charlotte Rides the Log on Hornby Island

Just a week or two ago, Tim, Andi and Charlotte went to Hornby Island with Andi's parents Bill and Jo and Granny Liz. They stayed in a lovely cabin on Whaling Station Bay, one of the lovely bays with glorious beaches on Hornby. This picture of Charlotte was one of many fine pictures they took on the trip. A good time was had by all.

Tim and Andi at The Edge

Just a short while ago I picked up our local Comox Valley Magazine from the mailbox. As I glanced at the cover, I happened to notice this fine looking young couple gazing into each other's eyes from on the cover. As I looked closer, lo and behold I recognized Tim and Andi. Apparently the local editor had been wanting such a picture to be taken for the cover, so Jo, Andi's Mum who works for the paper got this all set up with the photographer for a morning shot at the Edgewater Pub in Comox. The picture turned out beautifully, so now we are in the line to get autographs from Andi and Tim!

Cynthia's Birthday

A week ago today, on June 12th., Cynthia had yet another birthday! My how the years go by! It hardly seems a year since we were celebrating her birthday last year. Does she have more birthdays per year than the rest of us or does it happen that way for all of us? Anyway, enough of this foolishness.
We had a barbecue for her in the back garden. Jean, Ron, Claire, Tim, Andi, Charlotte, Ben and Josée came and I did the 'burning'. We had a grand time and ate to our stomachs' capacities. The other folks brought salads, nibblies and buns and I got the meat. The wine flowed and the day was fine. In the picture you can see Cynthia with Charlotte who coped well with all the big bodies around, ones which she doesn't see on a regular basis. However, she is getting very good at being in a crowd now. Cynthia really enjoyed herself having the family around and quietly confided in me after all was done, that she'd had a fine time and would much rather have the family over to the house than go out for a meal. I'm glad she had a good time, for she is a wonderful lady and we all love her dearly. Happy birthday again Cynth!

Good News!

Further to the post I did yesterday on the blog, we got a call from Tim at lunchtime today. He'd heard the result of his latest heart biopsy and it was a zero which is the best possible result on a scale of 0-4. That means there are no signs of heart rejection in his system now.
We continue to give thanks to the Lord for this and for the fact Tim is feeling more and more like his former self. We hope and pray now that he can get back to living his life, enjoy being a father and husband and be back at work in the near future, though we have no definite news of the latter.
This picture of Tim and Charlotte was taken at the aquarium in Stanley Park in Vancouver when Tim was over at St. Paul's Hospital for treatment a few weeks ago. 

Update On Tim

This past Sunday, Tim and Andi traveled to Vancouver to stay overnight. They had to be at St. Paul's hospital for Tim's heart biopsy at 0745 on Monday morning. The journey over went well and they arrived intact at Roland and Leisau's home in N. Vancouver.
Tim told us that all went well with the biopsy procedure and we now await the result of the biopsy which we hope to get in a day or so.
Tim also told mentioned the doctors are now speculating that the reason he has had this awful year of feeling ill and being unable to work is because his dosages of immuno-suppressants have been too small! We are all letting this gradually sink in. We have to get over this news, and move on for there is nothing we can do about what has happened, or the possible damage which has been done to Tim's heart.
During the time Tim and Andi were away, we (well, mostly Cynthia!) had the pleasure of caring for Charlotte. In this picture, Charlotte's about to lay a low five on Grandma!

Visit to Whistler

On Wednesday May 24th, we took Jean, Ron and Claire their grand-daughter to Whistler, B.C. which will be the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics. We had a fine trip over there, for the ride to the ferry, on the ferry and to Whistler all went smoothly.
We broke the journey once at Squamish, a small coastal community where we stopped for afternoon coffee and goodies.
We arrived at our accommodation in Creekside Village at about 5PM. We had booked into The Legends, which is owned and operated by Intrawest, which in turn owns most of the property at Whistler/Blackcomb mountains. We spent that evening playing games following dinner.
The next morning Cynthia and I attended a short sales meeting at the Whistler Village, then with Jean, we toured the village itself eating lunch there too. We also had a stroll through the Chateau Whistler, the magnificent main hotel in Whistler. Claire and Ron opted to remain at the hotel, for Ron wasn't feeling too good and Claire stayed with him. Eventually we took Jean back to the hotel too, where she had a rest. Cynthia and I did a tour of a local microbrewery and enjoyed the talk and the samples which came after the tour. That evening we ate dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Whistler and then I drove the crew around the Village at night to see some of the buildings all lit up. By the time we got back from dinner, we all felt like an early night.
Next morning, Cynthia and I went for a swim in the hotel pool which was a heated outdoor one. We also enjoyed the hot tub. Around 10:45AM we left the room, checked out and were on our way back to the ferry. We stopped again in Squamish for elevensies and then headed on afterwards. We were once delayed for about 20 minutes while some blasting was done on the new highway. We arrived at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal about 1PM hoping to catch the 3PM ferry but to no avail. Eventually we caught an extra sailing at 4:45Pm and arrived home at about 9:00 PM.
It had been a good trip as far as I was concerned, and I enjoyed myself.

Tim to St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver

On Sunday, May 14th, Mother's Day in Canada, Tim was transferred by ambulance from St. Joseph's, our local hospital, to St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver. (This was the second year in a row Tim had been in hospital for Mother's Day and Andi and Charlotte must be tired of this!)
During the previous week, Tim had been in and out of our hospital with fluid retention problems. He was admitted for the second time on Saturday night, the 13th. It was then decided to move him on Sunday to St. Paul's so that doctors in the transplant field, and familiar with his case, could check him out and treat him.
Tim and Cynthia traveled together in the ambulance and I followed them a little later by car. When we arrived, we were told to prepare for Tim being there for a week. Cynthia and I stayed in a local hotel for the first night, then with friends for the remainder of the time.
Tim was treated with intravenous steroids and a new drug called Zentrac. The latter, in the words of one of the attending physicians, was "intended to blast the low-grade rejection out of Tim's system."
Fortunately Tim suffered no side effects from this drug and we were allowed to return home to Comox on Wednesday 17th. Tim has to have a second dose of Zentrac in two weeks, but this will be administered in the Jubilee hospital in Victoria, on Vancouver Island. We hope to see him gain in health now as the days go by. Please keep us all in your prayers.

The Gospel of John

On Sunday April 23-06 we took a look at the movie, The Gospel of John. Our little home church group watched the first hour together and then followed it up with discussion about the movie, We concluded the evening with prayers followed by a pot-luck dinner together. Next week, the 30th, we plan to finish the remainder of the movie and break bread together again.
The reason I post this is to let you know that this DVD format is very good, beautifully filmed, very well acted with a narration read by Christopher Plummer. The text of the film is straight from John's Gospel. It is well worth seeing and the film extras are good too.

On Easter Monday we had twelve guests for dinner. There was the usual group of family members from Comox... Ben and Josée, Tim, Andi and Charlotte, Jean and Ron. Claire, Ron and Jean's grand-daughter was visiting from England, while Roland and Leisau were here from Vancouver after spending a wet weekend break on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island.
Cynthia had made a marvellous meal for us, mostly of cold foods as we weren't quite sure what time Leisau and Roland would arrive from their jaunt. We had Melton Mowbray ham and egg pie, various salads, and cheese-cake and trifle for desserts. It was delicious!
It was great having everyone here for the meal, but especially to have Claire, Roland and Leisau, who we don't get to see too often.
Unfortunately, we forgot to get out the camera until some of the party had left. Roland opted to take this picture, so unfortunately he didn't make it into the shot. Ah well, we'll get him next time. It was great to be together with other members of the family and to be able to remember at this time of the year just how much the good Lord has done for us. Christ has risen! Hallelujah! 

Nice Evening Out

Saturday April 1st Cynthia and I managed to round up the family and get us all in one place at one time. We had invited Tim, Andi, Charlotte, Ben and Josée out for a meal. We managed to get into the new restaurant in town called Fluid, which is located in the old Mc.Donalds building on Cliffe Avenue. We had a good meal together and Charlotte had a great time after she got over the intial shock of hearing the noise and laughter in the restaurant. When the meal was over, Tim, Andi and Charlotte headed for home and bed for the babe. Ben, Josée, Cynthia and I went on to the Sid Williams Theatre to see the second night of the play called Maggie's Getting Married. It was a comedy and a good one. We knew two of the actresses, Gail Limber and Anne-Marie Lewis, both of whom worked with us in the school system. The two ladies were great as were the rest of the cast which numbered six in total. It was a lovely night out

Sad news

It's with a heavy heart I write to tell you that on Thursday March 23rd Josée had to have Chloé, her Great Dane and lifelong companion, put to sleep. They had been together for 13 years and Chloé played a huge part in Josée's life. Chloé had been growing steadily weaker due to her great old age. She hurt her back leg on the garden steps. When Josée, Cynthia and I took her to the vet, the leg was fractured and the break was also full of cancer, which is probably why the leg had broken so easily. The vet informed Josée there was no way the leg would heal. Josée knew the consequences of that announcement and was heartbroken. At 4pm, and while resting comfortably on her couch at home, Chloé was put to sleep. We will all miss the old girl so much, but none as much as Josée. Please pray for her healing as she struggles through the days to come. 

Home From the UK

Hello everyone! I got back from the U.K. on Wednesday evening, around 8PM local time. I had been over there to see my mother who will be 94 in June. She had not been too well recently, so I traveled over to see if I could be of any help to her and also to hopefully cheer her up by surprising her. We had a good two weeks together and I think she was feeling much better by the time I had to return to Canada. She had gained weight and her swollen legs were looking much better. During the time we were together, we spent a lot of time chatting over years gone by and recalling memorable times together and from her lifetime. It was very interesting that she could recall clearly events from 50 years ago, but was now having trouble remembering things we had discussed only an hour or so before. When I left, her spirits were good, she was still able to care for herself in her own home and she made it easy for me to leave.

Home Again

Hello everyone in the family who might read this. I am very happy to be able to tell you that as of Thursday last, February 23rd, Tim is home again from the hospital. He had been there since Feb. 07th following a regular scheduled visit to the transplant clinic at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria. The doctors have considered that the improvements seen in his recent blood work have been sufficient that they were able to predict a continued improving trend, and therefore were able to release him for home. I had been withTim at the hospital on a daily basis since Sat 18th, Cynthia before that for a few days, and me again before that. One of the nurses told me that I looked like a permanent fixture at his bedside. I mentioned to her that either his Mum or I had been by his bedside whenever he's been sick since he was three weeks old.
Thanks for all your prayers for Tim.

Update on Tim

Hello everyone....Tim is still in hospital in Victoria. He has been there since Tuesday, February 07/06 following a regular visit to the transplant clinic at the Jubilee. Tim has been short of breath and retaining more fluid. Tests done on him have so far revealed that his transplanted heart is fine, with just minor narrowing of some of his arteries. The attending cardiologists are not too concerned over this. Tim is also about to receive a new (to him) medication which is now routinely given to new transplant recipients. This drug, delivered in two IV doses four days apart, goes to the part of the brain which deals with rejection, and further suppresses it. The drug is coming from St. Paul's Vancouver. He should receive his first dosage today. Please keep Tim in your prayers and also pray for his wife Andi, daughter Charlotte and all of us in the family.

St.Kitts-Caribbean Cruise-Jan.2006

January 5th. 2006, Cynthia and I headed to Seattle and flew to Norfolk Virginia. We overnighted there and then boarded the Maasdam, one of Holland America's ships for an 11 day cruise to some of the islands in the Eastern Caribbean. The ship left Norfolk late due to prop problems and as we left on one engine only, we missed our first port of call at Half Moon Cay, Holland America's private island. Other stops were at St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Dominica, St. Kitts (where the picture above was taken), Bridgetown Barbados and finally San Juan Puerto Rico. We had a fine time and felt it was a marvellous way to celebrate our fortieth wedding anniversary which was earlier in January.
When we returned to Norfolk, we again overnighted there and did some exploring before flying back the next day to Seattle. It was one more overnighter there and then came the drive back to Vancouver Island which took us about 7 and a half hours. It had been a marvellous time, but we were also glad to be home with friends and family.

First Driving Lesson!

This picture was taken at Tim and Andi's home on Christmas morning. Charlotte had unwrapped one of her gifts and Tim was trying to show her how to ride it. She wasn't quite sure about the whole thing and for a while preferred to push it around, which was just fine with us. The morning was great, for as usual Andi had invited family members on both sides to come and have breakfast together at their home. Everyone chipped in something, we all got a chance to see each other and to wish each other a Merry Christmas. It was a fine time!