Blue Collar Comedy Tour - The Night Before Christmas

This is too funny! Merry Christmas all!

kelly taylor stand up comedian-300

Prayer Request

To save sending a ton of facebook messages I shall blog.

We finally found out that Jonny does not have West Nile. Normally this would be a good thing. However, he is still sick and still off work. Also, he has been having these killer headaches that will actually be so painful he will throw up. Because of this his doctor is sending him to a neurologist so that we can find out what is going on.

Please pray for Jonny. The Bible says where two or more are gathered in God's name he is there. I believe the same is true in prayer.

ps. I'm sad today.

The Storm

Two blogs in one month - almost unheard of it seems. But as I sit here while Emerie and Jonny are both getting some much needed sleep I can't think about how fortunate we are. It's no secret we're going through a bit of a rough patch right now - which has made me have a lot of heart to heart conversations with God lately. Reading my Bible today I came across a letter written by Gigi Graham Tchividjian (Billy Graham's daughter), who by the way I saw her son on tv today and he talked quite a bit about his family. A coincidence I happen upon this note? I think not.

Here goes:

I lay on the soft white sand while the children played happily in the surf nearby. Suddenly a shadow fell across my face. I looked up just in time to see the sun disappearing behind a big thunderhead. I turned my gaze to the ocean, which only moments before had been a bright mirror reflecting the blue sky. Now the whitecaps danced restlessly, and the gray waves angrily pounded the shore. Before I could collect the children and run for shelter, the heavens opened and the rain poured down. I was amazed how quickly the storm had gathered.
As we huddled in the shelter, my mind wandered back to anther storm.
Jesus had had a busy day. Helping, healing, and teaching, he was surrounded constantly by people. Now it was evening. As Jesus gazed out over the peaceful blue of the Lake Galilee, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side" (Mark 4:35). The set out in a small boat and soon Jesus fell asleep.
While he was resting, a powerful storm arose. The waves beat against the sides of the ship, filling it with water. The disciples were afraid and cried out to him, saying, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" Jesus got up and looke dotu over the sea. He saw the waves and felt the wind and said, "Quiet, be still!" And all was calm again. Then he turned to his disciples, "Why do you have so little faith?" (Mark 4:35-41), author's paraphrase).
Storms arise in our lives, too. A telephone call brings sudden jolting news. A letter brings disappointment. A child has an accident. A small pain develops into a serious illness. Death...divorce...financial reverses. Or maybe the source of distress is jus the everyday pressures and tensions that build and bulid unti the thunderhead erupts into a storm.
I, too, have ahd my share of storms. Some have been brief afternoon showers. Others have been caused by tensions that have burst upon my life suddenly, hitting had and leaving in their wake damage and debris. Like the disciples I have been afraid and have cried out, "Lord, don't you care?" And later, when all is calm agian, I hear him say, "Gigi, why do you have so little faith?"
He has never promised a life free from stomrs, but he has romised to be with us in the midst of them and to bring us safely to the other side if we believe in him and rely on him.

Okay, It's Leah again. Isn't that a great little letter? A week ago I was definatley asking God why he wasn't looking out for us. No sooner had I asked God that question we then started to receive God and his blessings. I see now that we never really were in any real danger and that we were in God's care and God's plan the entire time. Praise God for all of you who God has used to help pull us through all of this. We do see a light at the end of this seemingly endless tunnel that we've found ourselves in.

Up-diddly-date

Well at the request of my adoring fans I am updating my blog.

It seems like so much is new but the only thing that is on my mind these days is Jonny. A loving sentiment? Maybe. But really it is (as most of you know) because he has been so sick lately. We appreciate everyone's concern and prayers. He really is feeling better. It started about two weeks ago he was sent home from work. We've been in and out of the doctor's since then. He's been tested for west nile and mono. One doctor even asked if he had been out of the country and caught malaria somehow. They've ruled out mono and malaria (obviously) but we are still waiting for the west nile test to come back. I guess to make a long story short Jonny's still off work (by doctor's orders). Hopefull this clears up soon, work needs him and we need him working ;)

Moving on to more exciting things. Last night was the Beyonce concert. Soooo good. Beyonce doesn't exactly make my top ten list as far as music goes but we went with a group and we sat sooooo close and she really is a great performer. I was excited because Sean Kingston was opening for her and I really like "Me Love". What a disapointment he was - I don't think he sang a single note on key. I have the say the part of the evening that was most humerous to me was because we were so close and off to the side we could see all the goings on back stage. At one point about 3 or 4 of the roadies were doing all the dance moves as the dancers on stage at the same time as them. Very funny for me to witness this, but very distracting.

So today there is a dance in Melfort (this is just for Shannon and Kristy's benefit). I really wish I could be there ladies - but alas I must stay and look after my hubby. After all, as you say, I am whipped.

Summer...so far.

FUDGE!!!!! I just finshed this blog and then my stinkin computer froze and I lost it all. Hmmm - serves me right for not saving. People - save your blogs periodically before posting! ARGH!!

Okay - enough venting - happy thoughts - happy thoughts.

So on to summer things. This summer seems to have been stupidly busy. I have been working an insane amount of hours. Like some 87 hours a pay period - so much for part time. Oh well - it turns out I really like money - or spending it rather - so this works out good for me.
I have had a little bit of time for some fun so let me tell you about that instead of boring you with details about my fabulous job.


Well, in July my dad got married - I supposed that is blog worthy, wouldn't ya think? So I now have a new step mother, Joanne, two step sisters, Amber and Jenna, and two step brothers, Justin and Cody.
It really was the place that they got married that impressed me the most. This place is set up like the wild west. It was so cool. This must be Saskatoon's best kept secret.You can actually rent one of the houses and stay for the night. It's like having a sleepover in boomtown. Crazy!

These are goats. I dared not get any closer than this. There was a sign on the bridge "Goat Drop Pass". This too me said "Don't come any closer unless you would like to be pooped on". Nuff said.Ah yes, Satanic chickens. I tried to touch one and it growled at me in it's very chickenish way, I swear it told me to "bruck off".

I always thought the idea of "family camp" would be absolutely lame. Turns out I'm wrong. Living Waters was a blast. We will definately be going back next year.
There was tons of our friends there that we got to hang out with. Even the girls found friends to play with.Speaking of friends. My friend Megan, who I hadn't seen in 3 years came to visit me. Alanna and I double dated with Megan and her daughter Cassidy at The Cave. I don't think I've laughed that hard during a meal in a long time. Turns out our girls are quite the comedians. The girls made fast BFFs and put on little dances for us afterwards. It was "just one more" up until they were sent to bed. Alanna and I hope that it isn't three more years until they visit again.

So that is the first half of my summer, in a nut shell. I hope everyone's summer is equally as fun - maybe a little less busy - as mine has been. August looks like it'll be just as full so I'll post a blog for the second half of summer later on.

Ears Pierced...again.

So to preface this story - Alanna had her ears pierced when she was 4 six months later on my wedding day I went to change her earrings - for the first time. She panicked because she thought it was going to hurt like when we got them pierced so we got the earrings out but she wouldn't let us put ones back in. So of course, her holes have since grown in.

Today Alanna decides that she would like to pierce them again because she is brave enough and really would like them. So we go to the mall and she meticulously picks out the exact pair that she would be most happy with. They pierce the one side and she decides that she cannot bare the pain of having the other side done and won't get it done. OH FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!!!

To make a long story extremely short after much coaxing and bribing and grocery shopping she decides that she'll get the other side done because she can't very well walk around with only one ear pierced. (and by now the other side isn't hurting anymore) Then when we get back in the store she decides she can't go through with it again. I'm sure other people in the mall thought we were making our kid get her ears pierced without her consent at all. So finally she agrees but only if I get mine done as well. So I agree that I will get mine done as soon as she does hers. So then she agrees that that is acceptable and says to the lady that she can go ahead. So they lady (who is using a gun) is pretty wound up after this kid has made such a fuss in the store - her hands are now shaking which I wasn't going to point out in front of Alanna. But then the gun is jammed so with it up to Alanna's ear it is clicking but not actually piercing anything. Way to psych the poor kid out. But alas it finally works and Alanna is now pierced in both ears.

So as we are leaving Alanna says wait a minute....your supposed to get yours done too. Oh...yeah.

Now, I have been pierced a ton of times all recently with a needle(both my ear lobes, the top of my left ear, my tongue, and my navel three times) so I'm like this is no big deal. So after the gun clicks a few times to psych me out it turns out that the gun friggin hurts. I guess I should mention that because I'm me and really don't like doing anything too normal I only got the one side pierced and it turns out I quite like it.

I told Alanna that I would take pictures of us for my blog - she says that my earring did not show up enough - hence the close up.