bewildered by grace

I'll give you two guesses which I like more. The mom thing is very overwhelming, and I have nothing but respect for women who do it full time. Can't wait to be one...or maybe I can.
I've been babysitting my niece Naomi three times a week and have been having a blast, but like most four year olds, like most people actually, she had an off day a while back and was being rather naughty. Now, her mom counts to three when she's being bad, and usually gets the proper response at about "two and a half". I've done the counting thing with her, and again, usually works. Thank God, because I don't know what to do at "three" but a week ago I found out. I was telling her to do something and got zero response, other than a totally straight face and some blinking which I took to mean utter defiance. It was time to test how far "Auntie Mellie" could be pushed. The day had to come sometime I guess. So after "one", "two", "c'mon Naomi, time to listen please...please?" my fears came to pass. I spanked her. Rather wimpily (word? not a word?). I tried not to be scared, tried not to show that I did not want to do this at all. Tried to keep a straight face. I thought I did a pretty good job even though the swat itself lacked force, or heart... Dead serious, she looks up at me with these big brown eyes and says in the tone of a snotty 13 year old girl, "My mom gives better spankings than you do" and proceeds to do exactly what I asked. Had I not felt so insecure about my discipline abilities already, I'd have laughed my face off. Later the next time I babysat, when her mom showed up, Naomi tells her "Mom, I was a little bit naughty for auntie Mellie today". Then I laughed my face off.
She came over again yesterday and we got some great pictures, she was a total angel all day, and we had a blast with her. Looks like the spanking incident didn't harm our relationship much.
Me and Naomi playing in the tree.
Naomi and Peter making grass whistles. Actually, only Peter, since Naomi just put the grass to her mouth and tried to scream in a whistle-like manner. They were so cute playing together I took a million pictures, and told Peter we needed to start having our own kids, soon. He He He.
Naomi and Peter playing "Pirates". She was in a tree, and when Peter the Pirate tried to get to her, then she would kick him out of the tree and giggle like crazy when he fell out.
Peter, finally defeated, and exhausted.
Just gorgeous. There are few people in the world that Naomi loves as much as her "Uncle Petey". Can't say I blame her.

You know that feeling when something makes you so angry but half of the reason you're really mad is that you're trying not to cry about it, since deep down you know it's not as big a deal as you're making it? If you're a guy, I've likely lost you by now, so don't worry about it. What do you call that feeling? I'm not furious, I'm not depressed, but I'm a bit of both. The half that's angry is angry mostly because I'm so sad about this, and the half that's sad is sad that something like this could actually make me angry. I remember in the counselling course I took, whenever you felt something extreme over something little, you had to chart it, and to do that you had to accurately name exactly how you felt. They gave you a huge long sheet of feeling words to help you. This feeling wasn't on there.
Here's what happened. For our wedding as a gift from some people who couldn't be there, we got a gift certificate to this hotel, for one night, and a dinner in the hotel. Well, next week, we have to go right to where the hotel is, for a wedding. Most people are tenting it, but ask any woman how she gets ready for a wedding in a tent and she'll look at you as though you're either stupid, or mean for trying to play a cruel trick on her. We were going to use our certificate. We've also been living with Peter's parents for over two weeks, and I've gone from having about 950 square feet of personal space, to a bedrooms worth. I'm a big girl, I'm adapting, I'm fine - for crying out loud, I lived in YWAM for two years where the absolute most personal space I had was a bed and a dresser. The floor around my bed? Fair game. Occasionally I would find someone on my bed. I lived, and it was the best time of my life. But oh, how I was looking forward to two nights in a hotel with just Peter and a romantic dinner alone.
We called to book today, and they're full. I'm tenting it. For a wedding. In the middle of September in most northern part of Minnesota. I'm feeling that feeling that I can't describe. Part of me is so mad that we didn't just book earlier, that we needed more info from others before we could do that, I hate everyone staying in that hotel for those two nights. We know the people that own the hotel so we're going to try calling them, giving them our cell number and begging them to call us if there's a cancellation. We'll see but I'm not getting my hopes up. I will look like a shaggy freezing idiot meeting a lot of Peter's extended family. Fan-freaking-tastic.
Just for added spite, here's some pictures of the hotel. I'm going to go cry for ten minutes, and then, as my mother says, put on my big-girl panties and deal with it. Blast and Wretch.

You have to see this site, especially if you've ever been to Asia, or ever tried to understand an Asian speaking English, while politely nodding and not getting a word. Most of it is from Japan, and it's just hillarious the way people have managed to misunderstand the English language. Cut them a little slack, they say it's the hardest language to learn. One quick thing you should know is that in Japanese, a letter L, D, or R are all kind of interchangable. They don't say L very well at all, for example a Japanese person can't say my name, they call me Meranie (may'-ra-nee). They can't say the word rural at all, it's horrible to make them try (hey, I can barely say it). Anyway, here's some pictures to make you laugh, and another gloriously funny way to kill some time at work, at home, whatever. I laughed my butt off (nope, not that lucky, I just checked, still there), but I did just spend the last hour killing myself laughing, and think you might too.
The site is www.engrish.com





I love this last one, I couldn't stop laughing... brilliant. I love Japan.

So this is the second of these I did. The first one, Peter only scored 50, so perhaps it was a little too difficult. I was trying to make it easier on people than Becky's, but it occurred to me that perhaps I just don't know Becky as well as I'd like, and perhaps I should meet her for coffee, and buy her a taco.
If you score less than 30, you have an instant coffee invitation from me.

Take the quiz

As previously stated, I can't keep a secret. We found a place to live, it's an absolute miracle! I'm more excited than I can possibly state, and if you look at pictures of our old apartment, as seen on my other blog, you'll see why, when you compare it with this.
So in looking for places around Nanaimo, rent is fairly reasonable, about the same as here actually, which is amazing, since BC is just such a nicer place to live. For example, Robyn's apartment is about the same in rent as ours was, and hers is WAY nicer, so in the end, renting in Nanaimo is a really good deal, except that utilities are much more expensive in Canada than the US, for some reason. We weren't loving the idea of an apartment again, but what can you do, if you get a basement suite, everything is so so loud, and it's kind of personal you know? Shared entrance, shared laundry...etc.
Somehow, we found the perfect place. Not somehow, God. I can't explain it. Literally everything we wanted we found for a VERY reasonable price. There's a beautiful neighborhood in North Nanaimo (right where we wanted to live) that we used to drive around and look at all the pretty ocean view houses. Well, one of those exact houses has a basement suite that they just finished. The people built the house from the ground up, and they made a (get this) soundproof walk-out basement suite. Here - take a look!! I can't believe how happy and excited I am. I feel like a little girl at Christmas, getting the Barbie Dream House! I feel like Barbie in her dream house!!
So you walk from the driveway down some steps, and this is the front outside of our place. The patio is all ours, and there's a gas hookup for a bbq that comes included, so we don't have to buy that, or pay for it. They've even offered to give us nice wooden patio furniture. The windows on the left are to our living room/kitchen area, and on the right, is our bedroom. On the right of the patio door, though you can't see it, is another big door, with a glass window. Why all the glass?
This is the view from our little patio. Their deck is above ours, so this one is all ours, and covered from the rain which I like a lot. I can't get over the view. After living for a year in a place with no mountains, water, or even trees, this is incredible!!! They're still landscaping the yard, but who cares? We're moments away from a very nice private beach.
This is the view from where I would stand to do dishes, except that I have a new dishwasher! I've been doing all our dishes by hand for a year, and this is a huge plus for me. Something about appliances make me happy. They're so clean, and they keep things organized and clean things that are dirty, and they just appeal to that hyper-organized side of me. We also have a little fireplace, that I don't have to worry about using (for fear of the bills) because my utilities are all included!
This is looking from the front door into the living room and kitchen. I love the floors, and the matching cabinets. The ceilings are 9 feet, so you don't feel at all, like you're in a basement. The first door on the left of the fridge is my pantry, the other door, leads to the other half of the basement which we don't use.
This is the (left to right) guest room, bathroom, and the master bedroom. I could gaze at the beauty of that washer and dryer for days. They're so pretty. Why am I so weird? Is there a program for people who are this addicted to cleanliness? I'm going to have to stop myself from doing laundry all the time, or wiping water spots from the stainless steel inside the washer and dryer.
This is the inside of the guest bedroom. They're going to leave the furniture in there for us, cause we don't have an extra bed and stuff. The mattress is of course, top of the line (these people are very well off). All the appliances too (I can't stop talking about them!!) are also the best they could get. Gas stove. I can't wait to cook!! So if you come to stay, this is where you can sleep! All visitors welcome! Yippee!
This is the bathroom. Weird shot, I know, but I love the cabinets! The vanity lights and fixtures are all nice too, and the tub is nice and deep. My tub in my last apartment held about 8 inches of water.
And this is my bedroom. I can't believe I get to live here, in just one month!!! I'm more excited than I've been in a very long time. I'm so thankful to God that he led us to this place, and these wonderful people. They were going to rent to someone else for the first of this month, and make more money, but then they decided they'd rather have us live there! They both seem like really lovely people, and have been super nice. We asked about hooking up a few extra sports channels so we could watch the NFL games, and pay them the difference in the cable bill (cable comes with the place included in the rent) and they offered to upgrade their cable for us, at their cost. These people are amazing. God is amazing.
This is also our bedroom, you can't see it, but the middle line there is actually a little shelf. I want to put my little recliner in this corner so I can have my quiet times looking over the ocean.
And the view from our bedroom. They e mailed us to ask us about what kind of blinds or drapes we'd like for them to get before we get there. Crazy. I can't believe how nice these people are.
This is Peter's favorite part, so far. The guy's hooked up sound in the master bedroom, the living room, and out on the patio. All you need to do is hook it up when you get there, and you have music in any room of your house. Before I saw pictures of a bedroom, or the bathroom, I got this one:
Praise God for being so good to us, for finding us the perfect place to live, exactly what we wanted, and so much more. Even funny little things I've said or thought lately, like "I'd love to cook on a gas stove, instead of electric, they're so nice" are in this house. I've dreamed of the day when I don't have to save my quarters and run down two flights of stairs for my laundry, and then worry about other people touching it, or finding someone's pet's hair on my clothing when I take it out of the dryer. (EWW!) I've wanted my own washer and dryer for a long time. I can't believe how blessed I am, and how cool it is that God is actually concerned with little things like that. I even said I would love to have white appliances (my last were almond colored, which is better than avacado but they look so much cleaner white). And it all fits our budget too, so we don't have to worry about that. Thanks Daddy, for answering my prayers, and blessing me so much!!

Hey everyone, just thought I'd let you know that I won't be blogging much for the next little while. We just moved in with Peter's family for a little while, and my internet is rather slow. We're coming back to Canada for Thanksgiving weekend and just yesterday, finally found a BEAUTIFUL place to live. Pictures to come eventually, but not really sure when. They did just send us some pictures so maybe I'll post them soon. I can't believe we found such a great place. I'm super excited. Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know that like my mom, I'm not ignoring you, I'm still reading the blogs when I can, and all that stuff. Will blog more later.