-Ray Davis
"Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.-Roger Crawford
"Happiness is not the absence of problems;
it's the ability to deal with them."
-Steve Mariboli
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| This photo is one taken around this time last year… here are my nephew, Alec and my niece, Emily, along with my grand daughter, Mariah… doing some sidewalk art… here of the YIN YANG symbol… which is significant to my niece and nephew, who have faced many challenges this past year. It represents how opposite or contrary forces can actually be complementary… interconnected and independant. |
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| Here are my darling grand children with their great grandma Blanche, last weekend. We have been helping my mother-in-law deal with the many challenges she has had following the recent passing of her husband. |
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| Here I am with some of my favourite gals… and my hubby, too! My two nieces, Rowen and Emily… and my daughter, Jana. This was on the funeral day for my Father-in-law, Greg, when family gathered back at their home following. |
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| Here are my niece, Emily, nephew, Alec and their mom, Gail, while in town for Greg's funeral last weekend. We enjoyed a coffee get together with them here the morning they left to fly home again. |
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| Many challenges come with dealing with the loss of a dear loved one… it helps to know we have so much love flowing in always. Thanks for all the beautiful cards, messages, food, visits and flowers we have received… we are so appreciative of all the support. |
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| Here is a beautiful photo of my parents on their wedding day… August 24th, 1949. This year would have been their 65th anniversary … their best man(my uncle Charlie) and their maid of Honour (Mom's friend Florence) both passed away earlier this year… so they will connect for their first anniversary since they celebrated the 50th back in 1999 just months before my dad passed away suddenly. |
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| We have babysat and picked up the grand kids a couple times this past week, but I have been challenged to get many photos!!!! (so not like me!) I guess the kids figure I have enough… so I do not snap as many each time now. Mariah had a sleepover last weekend…and Beau loves to do a pool set up in the kitchen, I am always challenged to create a story line for the surfs we are playing with! |
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| We were invited to a wonderful evening get together with our dear friends, Bob and Jacquie, at their condo and some of their friends, including my friend, Ella and this little guy, Antoine, in the bottom left. It would have been a challenge to see the fireworks from here, but we felt we had the best view in the city watching them from their deck. |
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| I have been on staff at "Brenda's School of Baton and Dance" (BSOBAD) since fall of 2002. I retired from teaching dance there in 2008, but since have taken on the challenge to do their many bulletin boards. I was just there yesterday to see what needs freshening up for the start of the new dance season… so these boards need a little work along with the 9 or so others in the building… my biggest challenge with that is gathering info and photos since I no longer am there much! |
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| Today I was remembering this was the day we moved in to our house back in 1982… however when searching for a photo of any part of our house from then… this was the best I could find... My kids on the old deck back in summer of 1983. the bottom photo is our yard as it looks today… with our dog, Shuffle looking on! |
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| Bruce will be celebrating his 2nd Birthday in Heaven this Wedneday. I remember last year we sent him some birthday wishes in balloons up to the sky…and that helped make the challenge of coping with his passing a little easier for Mariah. When searching for old home photos today, I came across this cute one of my kids helping their Uncle Bruce celebrate his birthday back in 1982! The photo of Bruce on his own is one that is proudly displayed at the home of my parents-in-law. |
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| A lot of nostalgia in today's blog post… I love this photo of these two little cowboys… BRUCE and BRIAN. One can cope with challenges better... when they have on a cowboy hat! This post is a little different for me. The CHALLENGE I took on when beginning my blog back in 2010, was to record all the positives along the way and share some of the special moments of each week as they took place. I have enjoyed writing my blog, because it has helped me try to remain positive in life always through good and bad… thick and thin! We have faced a few rather challenging weeks around here, and have tried to make the most of our best through it all. Everyone is faced with challenges in life along the journey, whatever they may be, and it is all how one chooses to deal with it all, in how we all come out of the situations we are in. Sometimes things as sad as death are challenges way beyond our control… and we have to focus on the good memories, love and support from loved ones we have to carry us through. Today I was thinking of this date last year when we celebrated my brother-in-law, Bruce's life. It was a nice reflection of his time here on earth shared with friends and family. He will continue to be fondly remembered. He celebrates his second birthday in Heaven this week on September 3rd, too. This year his dad will be up there to help him celebrate it as well… a special time for father and son to reunite together again. Also on this date, September 1st, 1982… 32 years ago… we moved into our current house. Many events and occasions and things have taken place over those years… hard to believe our kids were only 3 and 1 years old back then. Together we have faced many challenges but all toward the growing process of a family and the making of a house into a home! I think our kids, Colin and Jana have many fun memories from growing up here, too. I love this house and all that it holds in it, and hope to be here for many more years to come. With the recent loss of my father-in-law, we have spent the past week helping my mother-in-law, deal and cope with the challenges of what life holds for her in the near future without Greg in it. We felt very fortunate to book a spot for her in a lovely assisted living complex due to open this fall. Although it will be challenging to move Blanche from her home of 57 years or so... she is up for the challenge. In fact she is very excited and realizes she needs to go where she will have assistance. Until that day, family will be happy to assist her in the house she is still in. I have had a nasty cold this past week… which doesn't make challenges any easier, but I think I am on the mend now, finally, yay! I have been challenged in getting to the gym lately, too, but finally made it to a class on Saturday, but due to the fact I haven't been in a while and the class seemed extra challenging this time. I hope to get back to routine now that fall is here again. Fall is always one of my favourite times of the year for many reasons . The trees become so pretty and the air is warm but has a crispness to it as well. However the challenge of fall is that we know winter is not far behind! I always loved fall, though, when I had my dance studio… and when my kids were growing up as well. It marked the beginning of a new season and year of school, events and curricular activities. I used to look forward to planning my dance season by searching for new music ideas, trends, themes, etc to kick off the new season. Now that I no longer teach dancing, I still keep my foot in the door, so to speak, by doing the BSOBAD dance studio bulletin boards. It may seem like a minor job, but I enjoy the challenge of getting it looking fresh with new photos, themes, etc as well as upcoming updates pertaining to the dance world. I need to get on that challenge this week as lessons will begin again there on Saturday. We have helped out with the grandkids this week by getting them from day care a few times. Normally that isn't a big deal… but getting there from our house has recently become somewhat of a challenge with all the road construction etc! We always enjoy our chances to hang out with the grandkids. Tomorrow Mariah begins grade 3 at school already. Beau returns to daycare and next year will begin kindergarten. Times sure flies! I just talked to my daughter and she was sounding a bit overwhelmed with challenges of all that she has to deal with in this next bit in their busy little family life! I remember those days when everything starts up after a crazy but fun filled summer! Speaking of challenges…. there have been a couple floating around Facebook this past little while. I was nominated in both of them, too, as it turns out. The first one was the 7 days of gratitude challenge… where a person is to write out 3 things they are grateful for each of the 7 days and then tag 2 other FB friends to do the same each day. I enjoy seeing what people are grateful for, and love to share that as well. However, the challenge for me was in tagging others to do the same. I know many of my friends are grateful people, but lots do not necessarily like to share everything on their FB pages. The other challenge which has been going strong now for a few weeks is the ALS Ice bucket challenge. I am all in favour in donating to a good cause. However the challenge of this one for me is there are so many good causes and charities in need of money. Some people may not be as close to the ALS cause as possibly others pertaining to their families and life. I also did not feel the urge to dowse myself in an ice bucket of cold water after this past week around here. That being said, though, I was mildly entertained by everyone who displayed their videos. I am in favour of a donation and feel it is great to donate to causes. I was not up to challenge others to get on board with this one either… I do not feel comfortable challenging people to do things they may not feel right doing. So anyone who chooses to do so… that is great, but I will not be challenging others! (that is the most challenging part about it for me!) I have enjoyed the talents on SYTYCD and AGT on TV this past bit… and it will be challenging to see who ends up coming in on top. I am so excited to see 2 tappers in the top 4 of the dancing which is the first time for that ever… YAY TAP… too bad they do not CHALLENGE the other dancers to do TAP as well… I think it is because it is too challenging for dancers who don't tap to catch on to it! This week we will look forward to a house guest for about 5 days. Brian's friend, Steve, from Tuscon, is coming to stay at our house. I need to get on cleaning the house so it is guest friendly… (cleaning always seems a bit challenging for me… but sometimes it takes a good reason to give me that extra motivation!) WE will both enjoy our visits, I am sure! I know in life everyone is faced with various challenges, and we just have to keep on powering through to make things turn out the best they can. So on that note… here is my rhyme of the day. Life is such a journey, with challenges on the way, It is how we deal with it, and how we seize the day. Some days the sun shines brightly, but often there's a cloud. Some days we are feeling down, while other days we're proud. Some days we're feeling lazy, and others get lots done. Some days are more challenging, and other days such fun! Life is what we make of it, of that I have no doubt… So that is when I try real hard, to not just sit and pout! Everyone is challenged in different ways and things, That's what makes the world go round, with all the stuff it brings! It's fun to take a challenge and turn it right around, And look for all the positives from it that can be found. Challenges are not so bad… and when some things go wrong, Challenges bring out some good…. and keep us going strong! |
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