Again I must apologize for being MIA

Sorry I keep doing this. Been working insane hours. Daniel asked when I would be home from work yesterday; I told him after the war. I was partially serious. Sigh. Turned out to be just after 8 which wouldn't be all that bad except that's pretty much what its been for FOREVER as long as you don't count 1:00 am last week. Ugh! Tomorrow I need to pack a change of clothes - comfy clothes - because dashing out for a dinner break and buying a new set of clothing because I know I'm staying until midnight is getting expensive. lol

I guess I shouldn't complain -- no one is trying to blow me up. Life could be more difficult.

For the first time, on Easter Sunday, I had a good long cry over what is happening to our guys in Afghanistan. We lost 6 guys Easter Sunday. I've felt sad before over losing soldiers but this was definitely different. It was EXACTLY what the Taliban had hoped to achieve. Bloody Taliban wanted to shake us to the bone and they did. They aren't nice guys to put it mildly. I have nastier descriptions of them but I spent the day drafting different ways to say "bad guy" and my brain is fried.

Easter Sunday Canadians were busy commemorating not only Easter, but also the 90th anniversary of Vimy Ridge. They knew what they were doing when they planned that attack. They succeeded in rocking a nation. But, Afghanistan isn't Iraq; its a VERY different situation and I do believe we belong there. Still it is hard. I've written statements for the Minister to give after a death. I've drafted countless justifications as we struggle to explain what we are doing so far away and why our guys are dying for people who for the most part have never heard of Canada. When you do stuff like that day in and day out you have to do a pretty thorough personal inventory. I don't know how I would do my job if I didn't believe that what we were committed to was right. No matter its an emotionally difficult job to do but... no one is trying to blow me up.

Hmmm... 3 kids?

So last Monday we got 15 cm of snow. They were calling for rain and snow overnight so it wasn’t a complete surprise but I was a little surprised when after getting up an looking out the window Daniel started to laugh. I asked him if it had “stopped raining.” He looked at me and said you could say that – there is a half foot of snow on the ground. It was a miserable day. It was wet and slippery and rained/snowed all day – picture slush falling from the sky. YUCK!

Friday, I wore a sleeveless blouse to work with a hoodie over it to keep out the early morning chill (it was casual Friday). I took the hoodie off at around 10 am and never put it back on. I was hot walking home from the bus stop after work. What a glorious weekend we had. It got over 23 each day. Humidity was non-existent (very odd for “the valley”). And with snow still on the ground in some places (VERY few places) there were no bugs. Glorious.

Daniel and I played golf on Saturday. 18 holes. We walked because the course was too wet for carts. I normally prefer walking anyways. This was torturous. A swampy LONG course (4 ½ miles if you play like Tiger Woods and don’t have to dipsy doodle all over the course) combined with my out of shape body – by the 14th hole I was completely dead. We great to be out this early though.

Sunday, the kids were barely indoors. We went to this huge new park near our house. It’s still technically under development I guess (i.e. they seeded for grass in the fall – said grass is still pretty sparse but it is only April). The play structures are wonderful. It’s a “fully accessible” park. So if you’re a kid in a wheelchair you can pretty much get everywhere a mobile kid can. What it means for parents is that you can climb on the play structure without fear of anything (on you or the play structure) breaking. There are ramps and handholds and steps. It’s wonderful and big and the kids get a great kick out of it.

We got there and I commented to Daniel that Kamryn and Sam were at a great age. An age where we can let them just go – we have to watch to make sure we know where they are but we don’t have to hover every minute. Almost (but not quite) totally relaxing. Lol So there we were; I’m comfortably reveling almost being completely out of the toddler stage and then I started thinking that this would be a great place to take pictures for an “Dear Birthmom” letter.

Daniel said “no way!”

I wasn’t really serious, but it did cross my mind. Briefly. :)

The Gospel According to Kamryn

So I'm trying to explain Easter to my Kamryn. We do go to Church BUT the Children's service is at an inconvenient time for our family so she's stuck with the adult service and most of it goes right over her head I'm sure. She also goes to a Catholic school but I have no idea what they are teaching them about this given their ages. Anyway we've been talking a lot about the religious meaning of Easter in the past week trying not to be overwhelmed by bunnies and chocolate eggs.

She gets that Jesus died on the cross (my children have an odd fascination with cruxifixes). In fact she was explaining to Sam this morning (with the help of a book)how bad men came and took Him away (this is what prompted the conversation in the first place). She kind of understands sins (not really but getting there) but it's her idea of resurrection that had me stiffling some giggles this morning.

Remember my whole "mission d'étre" here is to try to explain the religion behind the whole thing absent commercialization. So we were talking this morning about how after Jesus died he "came back to life" and she looks at me and says...

..."like Frosty?."

Ah well. If the commercialism of one holiday will explain the next I guess I can't knock it too badly. Frosty as a Christ figure? Hmmmm.... :)