Terribly Poetic

So I glanced at the calendar and realized that it’s March…. What? How did we get here so fast? It seems like winter is fading away and I hardly remember it. Maybe it was all the craziness of Norah’s journey that made everything seem to pass by so fast. Either way I am now looking at the calendar and the huge amounts of things on it as Spring brings many things for us. House renovations getting done; which will bring a slew of jobs for me soon; to spring LIT retreat, youth group visits, lots of R/C Truck Events, planning programming, beginning to start thinking about video for this summer, and the list goes on and on. And this doesn’t even include all the things on the calendar for our family. Luckily one of those is a family vacation in Edmonton for Easter. I am really hoping this will help put my head on straight before Spring really hits and I start heading out to camp for rentals, staff training, etc, etc.

As always, the think to take a backseat is this site. Many are probably checking back here for updates on Norah. But she is doing so well that I forget to tell everyone that. She’s great. Growing, getting chubbier everyday. So makes us all smile each day. I wish you could all come cuddle her and see for yourself just how much she has changed. Pictures are cute (I guess I should post more too) but they don’t really show how much she has changed in the past month. She has healed so well that we are starting to pick her up under her arms now. So glad for that. Makes it easier to cuddle with her. Before we know it she will be rolling over.

I wish I could write something profound and earth shattering here. But life really seems to be “back to normal” for the first time in a long time. And by normal I really mean busy. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

Before you know it, it will be summer and we’ll be moved back to camp for the summer.

Well life hasn’t slowed down much around the Grunau household. Seems we got back from Edmonton and have been busy with Norah and Libby. Then add work ontop of that and I have really good excuses for not posting on here. However, I do apologize for not posting since we’ve been home. Shame on me I guess.

Anyways, first I will update you on Norah. This past week we have seen a big change in Norah. She is learning well how to drink from a bottle and has already begun to learn how to nurse again. While we haven’t had her weight checked we are certain she is gaining as she is looking more ‘chubby’ each day. Praise God. This transition has been alot smoother than we thought and are so happy that Norah has been off the feeding tube for over a week now. She is more alert, more cheerful and gives us alot more smiles than before the surgery. It almost feels like we have a new baby at home. We still have some appointments and check ups for her, but the Cardiologist has given us the next appointment of 6months from now!!! Libby is learning to have fun with Norah too. She is always wanting to help out, or ‘teach’ Norah something. This is just the beginning of Libby getting Norah into trouble! I keep wondering what I will catch those two doing in a year or two.

As we try to settle into a normal routine of life, we are extremely thankful for Jessica Benson having organized supper meals for us for the first couple weeks when we got home. We have enjoyed them alot and look forward to another few days. This is just one of the many many blessings that have been poured out to our family through this journey. Thank you to all of you that have donated funds, cooked meals, phone calls, and most importantly your prayers. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful and caring people.

Words cannot fully express our thanks. We hope that one day we will be able to have the opportunity to bless someone else going through the same things our family has gone through.

So this marks the beginning of the end of this chapter. Until next time.

So its been a whirlwind past few weeks. When camp ended we left the very next day for our family vacation to Idaho. It was a great trip and if you aren’t alive and haven’t seen some of our pics on Facebook, just look me up here. I could give you a long story on our vacation but I don’t feel like updating many weeks in one post. I just need to get back into regular posts here. So here goes…

In my last post the most pressing prayer request was my job situation. For those that don’t know, my job at Ranger Lake Bible Camp will continue to year round. We are so excited about this answer to prayer. Already I am busy preparing program, brochures, theme for next year at camp. I am excited to use the skills and gifts God has given me here at Ranger. I am also very excited to be doing alot of work with our newest program of the Radio Controlled Trucks. So much so that I bought my own! More on that on another post. So our fears are done away with and I will have a job when our new baby arrives in around 7 weeks!!

So vacation ended and then I got sick! This has been the worse sickness I have had in 10 years. So much that when I went to my doctor they didn’t have record of me being a patient because I hadn’t been in 10 years. I guess sometime ago they upgraded to a new computer system and “old” patients didn’t get put into the system, so I got deleted. Needless to say I ended up at a new doctor in Stonebridge area, which actually helped me, and with very little wait time. After going on antibiotics for awhile the sickness seems to be gone, however, the energy levels aren’t quite there yet. After all these years of not being sick, I realized how blessed I am for my strong immune system. Here’s hoping it returns soon.

So mark this down on your calendars, Daryl is back from summer. Holidays are over, summer camps are done, sickness is gone, so I am officially back. If I have a long time between now and my next post, I blame it only on myself.

We are very pleased to announce that sometime at the end of October we will be blessed to have a second child. For those that know us well, you will understand how blessed we are to have another kid. You will also know that this is another miracle story. For those that don’t know us well, just rejoice in our good news.

This week we had the chance to see our little one through an ultrasound. We also got to bring Libby in to watch and while she was abit shy of the technican at first, her excitement came when she could see the babies hand, nose, belly, head, etc, etc. She also become even more excited when we got the news that she would be having a sister. That’s right folks, the Grunau Household is about to get even more girlie!

The ultrasound also told us that she is doing fantastic and so is Mom. So until next time, enjoy our good news.

I know, hearing all about my life is exactly why you all read this isn’t it? Okay you probably just check the site, or subscribe because I know you or I twisted your arm to do it. Sometimes I think my blog is more like Creed Thoughts but then I realize that I am not nearly that creepy, weird, popular of a guy. But for whatever reason I still enjoy coming back to this site and putting out an update, a thought, or whatever else strikes me; even when I have know idea how many people actually read it, know exactly how few of you actually read it. Yes, that’s right I am also a geek (duh right), and I track my blog’s stats quite often and know how many of you there are. Wow, that may have been my longest pre-blog I have ever had. Nonetheless, I will care on.

So it has almost been 1month at my new job and I gotta say, I LOVE IT! It has been a challenging month just learning the ins and outs of Ranger Lake, but I have so much to be thankful for already. I am working with so much more purpose and direction than I have been in awhile. I feel that my skills and giftings are being tested and that I am being pushed to use them to a greater potential. While its hasn’t been all easy, no its been challenging, but I love that. I want to be challenged to be more effective in the things God has given me. It’s nice to be working with a small group too. The full time staff consists of only four people, one of whom lives out at the camp and I don’t see him much. So between myself, Greg Benson, and Dave Thiessen it makes for a very fun atmosphere to work in. We have had a lot of laughs already, but between the laughs, I get to see a man with a clear mission from God push me to use my gifts to be apart of that mission. The amount of “God Moments” in the past month has given me a new outlook on prayer. WOW is all I have to say. In this short time I have seen some amazing answers to prayers. I can’t wait to see what God is going to do this summer. Man its great to be working back in camp ministry. I forgot just how the environment of camp ministry pushes one to rely solely on God for EVERYTHING. So with that said here are some prayer requests that we have right now.

• Female Senior Cabin Leaders
• Leader in Training (L.I.T.) Director(s)
• Volunteers as we have TONS of work projects to do before camp
• Greg and I as we are in the midst of developing the summer discussion curriculum

After much prayer, guidance from friends, and the like, I announced yesterday that I will be leaving my job at Saskatoon Youth For Christ. I have been feeling some uneasiness for the past while and now know that God has been promoting and guiding me to move on. It is one of the most scary things I have ever done as I am leaving into the unknown. Already, God has been giving me peace about this decision and already He has been at work to show me a job to step into. I can’t talk about it yet as it isn’t finalized, but I can say that it is a term job that would run from April 1st till probably the end of September. I am trusting God to help me decide if this is the right place to be, especially as it would mean, going through a job change in the fall again.

I will be leaving YFC after some 5 years here and have been able to work with some amazing people. Both staff members and students. I am very thankful for the time I have spent here and look forward to what God has in store for me. I heard it said once that every job and every moment God is preparing us for what He has in store for our future. Now I can’t wait to see what that future is.

First off I will preface this post by saying that I am not downsizing the blog. While it may appear that way because of the lack of posting to the site, I am in no way planning to downsize my blog. In reality, I would like to increase the amount I post here. However, I would rather wait to post something good, than post alot of junk. If you are looking to here more from me than I encourage you to follow me on twitter here, if you don’t know what twitter is, then you are missing out. You can also see my most reason twitter in my lifestream on the sidebar to the left.

Now to what I meant by downsizing. I have decided that I own to much stuff. While I don’t think of myself as a pack rat, I have accumulated too much. Oh sure I have many useful things that I might like to use more often at a later date, such as my pool table or coke machine. The reality is that I don’t need this stuff and can easily get rid of it, sell it, or even throw it away. While the idea of selling the stuff I have to get new stuff is a reality, I hope to be more diligent in spending this money. For instance, I need new tires for our car, this would be a wise use of money I would get from selling my coke machine. However, one of the biggest reasons I want to downsize is because we don’t need all this stuff to live. Modern consumerism has played a HUGE part in helping me acquire all the stuff I don’t use. My plan is to get rid of stuff and not to free up space for NEW stuff as consumerism would tell me to do. Jesus told a parable about the rich man, and when told to sell everything he had and give it away he was very sad, because he had lots.

How many of us have too much stuff. I know I do and I plan to do something about it. I will sell anything of large value, like my pool table. But I hope to be able to donate alot of it as well. We have so much and others have so little. Sometimes when I see my garage, my basement, my storage rooms, I get sick to my stomach by all the waste. Today I am letting you all know that I have had enough. It’s time to downsize.

While I wasn’t official tagged for this meme, I did find it interesting when reading these entries at The Eagle & Child and Living in the Gray so I thought that I should really write my own.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?

I went out on a limb and printed my own T-Shirt Designs to sell as a fundraiser for relief in Africa. Unfortunately, I really only broke even on that and still quite a few shirts. Anyone want one for $20? They are the first three designs over at www.poeticindustries.com

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I never made any. They are lame.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

My sister did.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

My last Grandparent, my Grandma Heppner.

5. What countries did you visit?

United States, boring huh.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

Hmmm, maybe more design work, although I did alot of that. But more importantly, what I really want in 2009 is another kid.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Probably finding out my Grandma died.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

The website I built over at www.cornerstone-church.ca

9. What was your biggest failure?

The fact that I lost way to many connections with students I work with.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nope. In fact, I can’t really remember the last time I was actually sick.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Of course this has to be my iPhone 3G.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

My daughter. I love her to death and she is my little Princess.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

I won’t mention any names here.

14. Where did most of your money go?

To pay for my house and renovations.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

See #11

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?

Unfortunately, it will probably be the really annoying Katy Perry song, “I kissed a Girl” simply because it was so over played as well as the Wired 98 BillBoard conflict. If you don’t live in Saskatoon and drive down Warman Road you won’t understand, but I trust you understand my dislike of the song.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?

Probably no change on happier or sadder; thinner abit due to playing 4 nights a week of Ultimate this past summer; and of course poorer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Loved other people.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Sulk and complain

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

Since I am abit late on this meme, I spent Christmas with family in Saskatoon and at my folks farm in Waldheim. It was a blast seeing Libby and her cousin Taylor play together. As well it was awesome having Dawn’s folks come to Saskatoon for Christmas, thereby eliminating our driving this past December.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?

I am always in love with my beautiful wife, Dawn and my daughter, Libby.

22. How many one-night stands?

hello, I’m married. come on.

23. What was your favorite TV program?

Chuck

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Nope. I’m pretty laid back, so I don’t really hate anyone.

25. What was the best book you read?

Probably Wide Awake, by Erwin McManus, but I can’t really remember as I am not a big reader of books.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

That indeed I am not musical.

27. What did you want and get?

I wanted an iPhone and I got it. See above

28. What did you want and not get?

A 2nd Child

29. What was your favorite film of this year?

In, Bruges and The Dark Knight.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I can’t really remember and it was only a couple months ago. I am 27 now.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Probably if I wouldn’t have had to cancell my Dimension Four program and join up with the D4 Group because our numbers were so low.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

I wouldn’t. I would ask someone else to describe it cause I don’t know what I am talking about.

33. What kept you sane?

My wife and daughter.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

None, they all seem pretty boring to me.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?

Anything related to economy or low income families such as myself.

36. Who did you miss?

My Grandmother Sarah who is in heaven.

37. Who was the best new person you met?

Hmmm, that’s a hard one, I don’t think I could boil that down to one person. It would probably be all those members of Irish Smzmigielskis, or anyone new that I met who is know coming to my small group on Monday Nights. You know who you all are. If you are reading this. Please let me know.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.

Perserverance, perserverance, perserverance.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

Can’t think of one right now.

Okay, so I know that people are reading this blog now thanks to moving my subscribe feed over to Feedburner, as well as the wonderful tracking of Google Analytics. So I wonder then, who are you people? I don’t seem to hear from you. Those people who read blogs and never ever comment have are known around the blogosphere as lurkers. I know you aren’t all strangers checking up on me, but some of you know me personally. So now is the time to give up your lurking and come clean. Just who is reading this blog anyways?

Ooh my honey, you got me working day and night*

Actually its not that anyone is making me work day and night. I mean who’s to blame that I wanted to do a complete redesign for my Church’s website and redesign their letterhead, envelopes, and other printed materials? Who’s to blame that I also fit in transfering the church’s web host and transfering domain names, and setting up the new site with Wordpress? Me? Is it really my fault? Come on here. And for sure its not my fault that I already work a busy job at Youth For Christ in a rather active ministry and that my wife also happens to work in a completely different ministry over at our church. So when I promise to do these redesigns and have not time to do them; what do I do then? Well the answer is I work till 2am. And not just for 1 or 2 days, but for several. In fact at least 5 days and counting and the website isn’t finished and I haven’t started on the printed materials yet. Okay so maybe it is my fault that I agreed to do to much work at once. But in my defence, I am addicted to Design. Whether its building websites, creating logos, rebranding a company, reading many design related blogs, or skimming through a new magazine article about the latest Photoshop Tuturials, I just can’t get enough. In fact, the reason I work late at nights is because I can’t sleep because I have a need to get the ideas in my head onto my computer before I forget. So in my defence I do believe that I was created with this desire. Actually do we not all have this same desire? You know that one that loves to create. Deep down I think we all have it. I believe it is our way of breathing life into this dark world. Oh sure it isn’t all art and visual design like what I and so many other do. Some build things, some teach, and still others help. All of it I believe is the same desire to bring life. Its part of who we are, who we are created to be.

That is my defence then. I can’t help it. I was created to do this and I a lack of sleep isn’t going to stop me.

*Bonus points to whoever can name the group and band that sang these words