1) Thanksgiving weekend is here! 

Yippee! I had so many plans. Some DIY building projects. Some yard work. Some time with the family. Lots of good food. And then we had a week for the ages. Behold:

It snowed for nearly four days straight. Cancel those plans. Most of the province has been a mess of snow this week. Yet that hasn't influenced the powers that be to call a snow day at school. They don't do that around here. A couple of days we had no buses running. Yesterday they were running, but getting stuck everywhere. Some of our students showed up just before lunch. Their bus had gotten stuck. So another bus came to get them, but it got stuck. A tow truck came to pull them out but then it got stuck. Another tow truck came on the scene, but it got stuck. Finally a farmer in a big tractor was called in to clean out the mess. It sounds funny, but I seriously wonder how long it will be before someone gets killed on a bus before they realize the odd snow day isn't the worst thing in the world.

2) Rake or Shovel?

The early start to winter has been the strangest I've ever seen. I mean, the leaves haven't even fallen yet. Although today, with a balmy temperature of two degrees, they've started. So... are you supposed to rake the leaves or shovel them?

3) Three is the Number

Three stands for three in a row. Our Roughriders are on a roll! They won again last night. It's too late in the season to make the playoffs (unless we were in the lousy east division). Still though, they are playing some great football and everyone's excited about the prospects of next year. It's been quite the rebuild. Our average age is just 25 years. We've also set a CFL record for starting the most people in games (due to injuries). For a while we were getting blown out of games. But I remember back in August when we were watching the Riders practice at Taylor Field. One of the daily practice goers was saying nobody would want to play us later in the year. Although we had several more losses, that saying stuck with me. Today it's true. And for the record, despite the many losses, the Riders continue to lead the league in attendance, their road games are the biggest draws for the home team, and their games rank highest in the TV ratings. 

4) Emilie

What can I say about this little girl? She's our sweetie. Our cutie patootie. The princess of the country (as Joseph calls her). Today she slept in. And slept in. And slept in some more. Finally at 11am we just had to go wake her up. We missed her so much!

Here's a sideways video of her chatting away.

5) "In the middle of that riot, couldn't get you off my mind."

Not to be outdone, the boys are pretty amazing too. I mean... picture a little fuzzy blue bear, holding an empty juice container, singing Bobcaygeon by the Tragically Hip.

6) Sneak Peak

I'm probably not supposed to post these pictures. But last week, before the storm, we took some family pictures at my parent's place. Because every year Becca forces us to take pictures (Gosh!). I think they might be intended for Christmas cards, but who knows.

Us on the hill where we're supposed to build our house someday. The church in Nipawin would drive us to drinking too quickly, so we'd better not. Unless, of course, some holy Benedictines feel so inclined to move into the area.

Hanging out on old Betsy. Betsy was the best truck. Except when it rained. Running out to squeegee the windows every minute or so was a bit much. But it added to the charm. And at least we had a windshield!

7) Thanksgiving

It goes without saying that the purpose of this weekend is to give thanks. Something I am terrible at. Thanks be to God, family, friends, enemies (you know who you are) and even the snow mixed with leaves on the ground.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks: Like Little Children

It's been a while since I just blogged on life in our little family. Sometimes the events and happenings of the world take focus away from what's really important. I could write on the (enter adjective) Synod in Rome, or the election, or even Collective Soul's latest CD. But it's good to sit back and watch life, true life, unfold right here and now. Oh life with our little boys.

Coca-Danny

I was pretty pumped to see my name on a bottle of Coca-Cola. Of course I just had to buy it. Stupid marketing tricks. They get morons like me every time. So I posed for a picture with me beverage of choice. Little did I know that a certain boy was about to photobomb the picture.

John Paul is a... SQUIRREL!

Becca and I were doing dishes and in walked, or rather strutted, John Paul. You have to understand that John Paul literally walks around like he owns the place. He strutted in and opened a cupboard door. Then he reached in deep, pulled out a sippy cup, took a nice refreshing drink, put the cup back, closed the door and strutted off again. Becca and I just stared in disbelief. I checked the sippy cup and it was filled with tea from much much earlier in the day. He decided to store it away for later. I can only imagine what else is stored away in our house...

Like Little Children

Lately the Mass readings have had Jesus telling the apostles to be like little children. As I was getting Joseph ready for bed tonight I was chatting with him about this. I asked him: "Why do you think Jesus wants us to be like little children?" Joseph thought for a moment, then gave a puzzled look and said, "I don't know." Well, a part of me doesn't know either. Truth be told, little kids can be the most self-centered of beings in all of God's creation. And as Joseph and I knelt down to pray, I looked down at him as he tiredly said his prayers dutifully. Just that, dutifully. Suddenly we heard John Paul running down the hall frantically. He came barreling into the room yelling: "Woswee!! Woooswweee!" (Rosary). Then he looked at Joseph and I praying and quickly got on his knees beside us. He remained there, with a look of utter awe and something you don't see very often in prayer, a happy happy smile. We finished our prayers and John Paul did his little sign of the cross attempt, and it was off to sleep. As I lay there with Joseph for a few minutes I asked him: "Did you see how happy John Paul was when we prayed? Do you think that's why Jesus wants us to be like little children?" Joseph quickly responded with a yes.

Oh those boys. They teach us how to pray, and also how to learn. It's amazing how self-centeredness can coincide with a complete absence of pride.

Thanksgiving

I had a little side rant with my students on Friday. I was talking about Thanksgiving and how we should actually be thankful. I laid it on straight to them. I told them that I ran many programs at the school such as floor hockey, flag football, archery, cross-country running and so on. Through all this, I can count on one hand the amount of times I heard a student say "thank you" to me for all this. It's not that I need to be thanked for it. I'm happy to do these things. It's just the lack of gratitude for what we have. But I told them that I was too often the same way. Ungrateful. Sadly, as our priest Father Mariusz once told me, long ago, lack of gratitude is a sign of pride.

But it's not all bad. There's one little girl at our school, now in grade two, who always made my day. She's a sharp cooking. She came into kindergarten already reading. Boy she must be bored at school. Anyway, every morning I would see her while I was on safety patrol. I would help her cross the street and she would always, always, say: "Thank you Mr. Millette. Have a good day." That might not sound like much, but you need to see this compared to everyone else. Mornings are hard for little kids. On safety patrol it's hard to get eye contact from kids, let alone a "good morning." But this little girl always was thankful for me standing out there and stopping traffic for her to cross the street safely. Her little "Thank you Mr. Millette", said so sincerely, made me so happy and, well, feeling useful. I can only imagine how God reacts when we show him true gratitude.

Which obviously leads to my most important point-insight-wellduhmoment: I am too often the child who doesn't raise his head to acknowledge the good Lord when he's out, in the 40 below weather, watching over me. I am too often the child so busy playing and having fun that I don't stop to thank the provider, Providence, for it. But we learn. Hopefully I am learning. Like being thankful that I don't have to do dishes anymore. The clean up crew takes care of it:

Ok, maybe not yet, but it's pretty awesome to see. There's so much to be thankful for. It always struck me that Eucharist actually means thanksgiving. It also always has bothered me that many in the Church here in Canada try to get people to stand right after Communion, as opposed to kneeling down and praying, traditionally called the thanksgiving. But there I go off again. Forget Synods, politics, Church politics. Or better yet, thank God for them. He provides me/us with so many opportunities to work for His kingdom. Yes, thank the Good Lord. Like that little child.