What to write today?

What to write today? So many thoughts whirling around inside my head.


Yes, it is Mother's Day, Sunday, 9 May 2010 and it is interesting that this day is celebrated by Australia and Canada and the US (& probably other countries, continents, too); but yet, Father's Day is different...hhhmmm....I wonder why that is?  Research for another day I think.


So, first, Happy Mother's Day to Moms, Mums, Mas, Mummys and Mothers and a special Happy Mother's Day to very special and beautiful Mom! My Mom! Luv ya xo

My family in Canada celebrated another significant event last weekend - my mom's mom turned 90! Happy Birthday Grandma Mason.  Although Peter and I weren't able to be present at the celebrations, we sent special greetings via YouTube and also participated via Skype - special mention to my brother John and cousin Daniel for coordinating the Skype call and showing our video greeting to Grandma.

Here's a view more photos of the celebrations including the family visiting Peter and I via skype and my immediate family photo (minus me!)..lol  All the family took awesome photos and thank goodness for facebook! It is a great way to share the memories....

Back Row - John and his children, Allison, Daniel and Nicholas and Cathy

Front Row - Mom, Grandma Mason, Dad and Bently (Cathy and Taylor's dog).

Oh, wait...two pictures....one of the cousins.... and one of Aunt Barb and Grandma - you see she was also celebrating her birthday - 60th.  She was born on her mom's birthday!


Cousins!

Beautiful table, gorgeous flowers, love the colours and the cake with the picture of Aunt Barb and Grandma - very nice!

Family and friends are, indeed, very important and I am thankful that technology allows me to stay in touch; in fact, an hour ago I just rang my brother on his mobile, to discover that he is with mom and dad enjoying a Salvation Army bank concert in Guelph!


I rang mom and dad, too and left a voice mail message for them and particularly to wish Mom a Happy Mother's Day and to invite them via the skype call for Sunday brekky/brunch.

In closing, to all my friends at Childnessnotbychoice praying for all of us today. We are thankful for our Mothers; altho we, ourselves, were not able to be mom's by choice, we rejoice with you (all moms across the world), but it is still hard. Friends, be kind to yourselves-some years are more challenging than others, but thank goodness, our Heavenly Father comforts us.

A VALUABLE LESSON FROM A CANADIAN ABOUT PET OWNERSHIP IN AUSTRALIA

Allow me, if you will, to impart to new residents of this Country some wisdom that I have gained about pet ownership in this beautiful country.


When we (Peter, Chase and I) started our pursuit of a new family addition, we knew up front that the puppy would have to have permanent quarters outside of the house (not something I was very accustomed to, nor did I like); but as renters, we did not have the luxury of making this decision on our own - it was made for us, by the property management company on behalf of the owners of the home.


So, we were on the lookout for a hearty sort of puppy that could endure the elements of cooler evenings in the Winter (yes, I know that it doesn't get as cold as the snowy White North); but nonetheless, it does get quite chilly; in fact, in the Western Suburbs of Brisbane where we live, the temperature has been known to go down to freezing.  Picture your feline family member having to sleep outside in their house, while you are cuddled up warm and toastie in your house. And of course, the outside elements of the scorching, hot and humid summers must be a consideration, too - this past summer the temperatures were in the 40's Celsius.


So, alas, we got ourselves an adorable tan coloured female kelpie-cattle cross puppy and called her Jessie.

She is gorgeous and she has provided a lot of great company to our family over the past 7 years - yes, she just had her 7th birthday, but alas, she is an outdoor dog.  When we come home from work at night, she stays outside and that is where she lives.  We used to occasionally let her come into the house and watch television with us (but that was before her brother arrived on the scene).


You see, spending all of the time that she did on her own outside, she got bored and started digging holes and barking a bit more (understandable, don't you think).


So, in our efforts to make her life more enjoyable, we did what we thought was the right thing to do at the time, and got her a baby brother - he, too, is a kelpie cattle cross.  He was equally as cute, in his own way - resembling more of the cattle dog with his colouring.  We called him Jake.

So, living in suburbia creates a problem with having these two gorgeous puppies.  They are technically working dogs and help with rounding up of sheep and cattle and hence, have loud yippy like barks.  Now, if I had done more research when initially deciding to get this breed, I probably would have thought twice.  This is why I am imparting this knowledge to others considering this breed.


They are beautiful dogs and very faithful to their owners, very people oriented and although a bit heavy to have on one's lap, Jessie has grown particularly fond of just being loved and petted.

New Year's Greetings from the Grimes'

Greetings from the Grimes’                                                                                 29 December 2009          

Wow…it has been an eventful year and Peter and I are very blessed to be enjoying a bit of a break between Christmas and New Year’s.  God blessed us both with permanent job this year – I am currently working with the Department of Education and Training in Human Resources and Peter was successful in obtaining a Senior IT position with a division of the Department of Mines and Energy at SIMTARS close to our new home.

Yes, we had to leave our rental property in Forest Lake so we decided to move closer to our church home – Westlife.  Peter’s morning commute has been shortened substantially, but I am blessed with a wonderful friend who I receive regular rides to the Brisbane City every day with.  Our new home we found has enabled us to keep our puppies Jessie and Jake and has a reasonable sized yard and a water tank which was a real bonus. Not to bore you, but I created a slide show/video mainly for overseas family and friends-email me and I'll send you the link if you'd like to check it out.

My other big news was I had the opportunity of joining the Crown Law Choir in the City and in addition to performing 8 times in Government Buildings, we recorded and sold CD’s to raise funds for the Ecumenical Coffee Brigade.  The music “The Little Drummer Boy” playing on the slide show/video of our new home is from the Crown Law Choir CD.

The other big news from our family is… We have a Graduate! Congratulations Chase – Well done! Those who are friends on the fabulous facebook will have seen Chase’s Formal Pictures and she looked beautiful!  She did extremely well and achieved an OP Score 1 – for my North American rellies and friends – this is the bestest (yep, love my good grammar!) and means that Chase’s opportunities are wide-open; e.g. whatever area or uni she wishes to study at would be pretty much a guarantee.  She truly deserves this as she has been extremely disciplined balancing her studies, dance and work all at the same time! And Chase’s other exciting news – she has her “P” plates and her own car – this gave her a bit more independence and flexibility during her senior year and will be a real bonus next year as she starts Uni to study Physiotherapy!  Her father and I are very proud of her and were able to celebrate her OP score with her recently and look forward to having our Christmas soon!

Peter put Computer Solutions Sales and Service Forest Lake to bed earlier this year but he continues to challenge himself, looking for new business opportunities.  I won’t recount all of this year’s past memories; e.g. my surprise trip back to Canada; but rather encourage you to check in with Peter and I every so often with our blogs which we both enjoy writing. Mine is: http://cutecanadianprincess.blogspot.com and Peter’s is http://peter-grimes.com. We always enjoy connecting with you by email, facebook, blog, etc.

God bless and we trust that you had a good 2009 and are looking forward to an awesome 2010.

Westlife Women's Christmas at the Beach Break-Up Party - 13 Nov 2009

Enjoy a peek at our Women's Wrap-Up Beach Party at the Goode's.

To Be Or Not To Be - One Of The Questions

Now, I have never been a historian, so I really don't know if the video below is completely accurate in that Albert Einstein said these things to his professor or not, but what I do know that it is a very profound video and gets us to thinking and this is good.

I had a look on a couple different websites and I believe that as Albert Einstein got older, he changed his views and did, in fact, believe in God.

For anyone interested in pursuing this further, I recommend reviewing Louie Giglio's DVD series.

One is Indescribable - Here is a small taste.

Another one is entitled "How Great Is Our God".Again a quick introduction to show you why you need to buy it!

The message on the DVD will give you something to think about.  Why not do a google search on Laminim.  Or check this out!

And then, there is Kirk Cameron's website (which is were I researched a bit about Albert from) - it is an excellent reference point as well.  The Way of the Master

Happy investigating!