Georgia St colours

I love school

This 'gift' I received from a cute little boy today just made my heart sing. I love being back at school and in the classroom with children again. My grade 2's are just gorgeous. And I love learning WITH them.

My Canadian experience is certainly all the more richer for being back at school. I get a bit choked up every assembly when I sing the Canadian anthem. And last week we did an investigation into why trees loose their leaves - fascinating.

I love the crafts we make and the terrible jokes they tell on Tuesdays at sharing time. I love it when they sound words out themselves and come up with beautiful new spellings that communicate EXACTLY what they meant them too.

Thanksgiving

Last night we had a thanksgiving dinner in our home. Our (Josh and myself's) first Thanksgiving and hopefully not our last! It was fun to all pitch in. Steve made a beautiful roast turkey and some yam mash, Matt made delicous stock and stuffing from scratch, Josh whipped up a gravy (using said stock and delicious juices) and I tried my hand at a cranberry and jalapeno sauce and some potatoes. Jen arrived back from a big weekend away in New Orleans (gifts in hand!) to a warm house wafting of home-baked joy. Someone read this poem which was perfect for the occasion.

We give You thanks

for You sustain us

with real food

and real drink.

You nourish us with friends

as real as food

with joy as clear as water

with love as good as this meal.

This is enough.

We do not ask for more.

This is more than enough

reason to bless Your name Forever.

Make us always mindful of those

who do not have enough food

and friendship

water and love and joy.

Give them enough

that they too may be thankful

Amen.

Mary Jo Leddy from Radical Gratitude

Some other photos from Thanksgiving long weekend (Canadian date is about a month earlier than the US). The bean photos are of Steve roasting coffee !! on our (currently messy) back deck. Imagine that, home-roasted coffee! Oh and the pictures at the top are my first fall experiences captured. Have I ever mentioned I love the seasons?!

Harvest in the City

Thanksgiving weekend seemed the perfect time to share this harvest story. Back in April, as part of a Good Friday service we walked together around the local streets, stopping at various places to think and reflect on Jesus's journey to the cross and connections to suffering and hardship in our own neighbourhood. A part of this journey landed us in the community garden on the corner of a big intersection just across from our church (our new neighbourhood!). We were invited to throw wheat seeds into freshly ploughed soil. There is a lot of symbolism connected with seeds and the potential they hold, and faith. Seeds must be buried and lay still before they can bring new life... What a joy it was to walk past the garden recently (months later) and see the tall stalks of golden wheat. So when an invitation was put out to be a part of the harvest I was very keen to come along. Two of the photos show Ryan separating the wheat from the chaff as the grain heads are rubbed vigorously between palms and the chaff is blown away. The left behind grain makes a nice chewy gum - or can be ground into flour. Harvesting the wheat it was also necessary to try and separate weeds which had grown in among the wheat - including wild oats. So many lessons are best learnt through hands-on experience. This wheat is yet to be prepared into flour for use in communion bread throughout the year (what a beautiful concept!), but in the meantime the drying stalks hang in the windows of the church - a visible sign of resurrection.
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds…” John 12: 23