2008 - A year end review!

I can hardly believe that today is the very last day of the year 2008. From last year to this year - much has changed. A lot of wonderful things have happened and we give all thanks to God for everything! Here are some of the highlights:

- Travelled to the Bahamas for our 5th year Wedding Anniversary. A well needed and deserved trip for us both!
- We moved into a new home up in Ajax
- Saj went from contract to permanent with the Ministry of Education - YAY
- Our car is finally paid off - YES
- I finally got a leather jacket - I've always wanted one!
- Saj got the iPod touch - he loves it
- We've been helping out with our youth group - and really love it. Its amazing to connect with the kids and watch as they've been growing. What a blessings.
- God has been teaching me patience - and we've seen what being patient can do.
- Good health. May we never take that for granted

This list can go on and on. God has been faithful and we've seen a lot of our dreams come true in 2008. Were not sure what 2009 holds, but we go in knowing that we serve a mighty and awesome God who loves us and takes care of His children!

Wonderful Christmas - and my friend got engaged =)

Well yesterday was Christmas and it was such a beautiful day spent with family for us. We woke up in our dream home on Christmas day. We made coffee and did our personal gift exchange for each other before heading over to my parents place for breakfast. Saj got me a leather jacket. I was so excited because I've always wanted one - but just never could bring myself to picking one up. Saj did a great job because I love the coat. I got Saj the Ipod touch. He's loving it. In fact - he's on it right now. He such a music guy and loves tech things so I just had to get one for him. I love that he loves it so much.

We had breakfast at my parents house which was tons of fun. Then later for dinner we spent time with Saj's side of the family. That too was a fun time for us.

Another exciting thing that happened that day was that my friend Lisa was going to be proposed to and didn't even know it -haha. Her boyfriend told me on December 13th at our Christmas gathering that he was going to pop the question to her on Christmas day. I was freaking out with excitement. He's such a good guy and treats her so well. I have no worries cause I know that she's in good hands and she has met her match. When he finally popped the question to her - she called me and laughed and was like "you knew and didn't tell me." That was the best. What I love the most about this is that when Saj was going to propose to me, Lisa knew about it and was on pins and needles awaiting my call. That's exactly how I felt all Christmas until I got her call. So for me to know ahead of time was the greatest feeling ever. I loved it so much =)

It looks like 2009 is going to be a wonderful year for so many. Between weddings and babies there is much to celebrate!

Cheers =)

Shopping on Saturday December 20th - Never Again!

I suppose I knew this would happen, but Saj and I still ventured out to do/start our Christmas shopping. Things have been so busy that we just haven't had the time to shop. With work being so busy for us both, we would never want to go out once we came home for the evening. Then on the weekends - well you just get tied up with other errands, sleeping in, social gathering, dinners, etc. So this past Saturday we decided to try and hit the malls. The first mall we went to was Pickering Town Centre. The parking lots were pretty full - but within about 5 minutes or so we finally found parking. We didn't spend much time at the Pickering Town Centre. There were only a few stores that we wanted to go to. Our next stop was Fairview Mall. BIG MISTAKE!! Just finding parking alone took us about 30 minutes or so. It felt like it was boxing day. I remembered going shopping on Boxing Day at Fairview mall with my brother, Andrew and Psegga and it was the same kind of madness. As we were driving around and around and around - it brought me back to that moment when we were teenagers. Finally, we found a spot - GREAT. We hit a few stores at Fairview Mall, but got what we were looking for - for the most part. Now trying to get out of Fairview mall proved to be very tricky and just pure madness. It took us just about an hour to get out of the parking lot and onto the highway. It was crazy. It felt like we were literally sitting on the Don Valley parkway during rush hour. NO MOVING. I honestly didn't think that we were going to get out. Saj was good - but I could tell that he was slowly losing his patience as was I. So we just turned on our Christmas Cd and talked and just tried to be patient. It was hard - but we eventually got out, Praise the Lord!

If there's one thing we have learned from this experience, its that we will not leave our Christmas shopping till the last minute. Were going to try and get it done by at least the first weekend in December so that by this time say next year, all we'll doing is wrapping up our gifts =)

Final Exam

Today was my final exam for a class which I've been taking at Durham College - Business Computers Applications 1. I definitely had mixed emotions going in today. In one sense it was the end finally. But at the same time I was going to miss my Prof, the people who I made friends with, and getting off work early on Thursday's to actually take my class. I still can't believe that its all over. I began my class on September 18th and now December 18th marks the very end. When I first started off in mid September I wasn't too sure what to expect. I didn't know that I was going to enjoy it so much and would want to learn like how I have. I didn't have to take this class - but I wanted too for fun and to stay up to date on all the new applications out there.
I will certainly miss Wendy Johnson - my Prof. She had so much patience with us and always helped us when we were stumped. I will miss Ryan and Gayle who I sat in between. They were great company and we always helped each other out.
I have no clue how to spend my Thursday evenings now. Perhaps I'll take another class in the new year - after all it was a great class. I just hope to have another wonderful Prof like Wendy =)

Half the month is already done!

I can hardly believe that half the month is already done. It feels like just the other day December hit and already we've reached the half way point. December always seems to be like that. Between work parties, Christmas gatherings, dinners, events - your days literally fly by. I haven't even started my Christmas shopping. There just hasn't been any time!

Although this is a busy time of the year - I love it. I love the Christmas decorations and connecting with people and writing out Christmas cards and mailing them out. I also do love the shopping part too. Its so much fun to shop for other people. My goal for the month of December is to really enjoy the season, the great smells of baked goods and to appreciate all of the great blessings which the Lord has blessed my life with =)

Our First Big Christmas Tree!

So Saj and I finally have a Big Christmas Tree and we are so excited about it. We've had a smaller tree since we've been married - which we still do love. But this year, we finally got a big tree. We actually got a great deal on it too and at the Bay of all places. They were having major sales last weekend and thankfully we were able to snag one for under $100.00 believe it or not. We bought the finishing touches yesterday and today, and now its up and we just love it. We went with a silver theme. At first I wanted to do the gold and cranberry thing, but than we just started to really like how the silver things were looking. Now were starting to get more excited for this beautiful Christmas season. Its almost hard to believe that Christmas will be here in less than a month.

I personally hope that December goes slow so that we can take in and enjoy the beautiful scenery and the happier people around, plus enjoy the music and all those wonderful Christmas treats. Oh how I just love the Christmas treats :-)

Too busy to blog!

So I just realized that I haven't had the chance to blog in a long while. Between being busy at work, personal functions, baby dedications and getting over a lovely cold, I feel like I've been all over the place.

Last Sunday November 16th, precious baby Rachel was dedicated at our church. She did so well, and was as cute as can be. I absolutely love this girl, as you know from one of my older blogs. It was a great celebration with the family and friends of the proud parents - Jerry & Olga. I enjoyed taking tons of pictures at the event.

Other exciting news is that Saj (my husband) has finally become permanent at his workplace. He's been working for the Ministry of Education since last year, and he's been on an official contract since the end of April, but starting Monday November 24th, he's becoming official - YAY!!!!! It's been quite the journey getting to this point. One day we'll have to write about our life. Although we've been married for only 5 years, there is so much that has happened. We know that with each thing that may come up against us, its really just preparation for something bigger. I just have a feeling that God is truly preparing us for something - not too sure what, but it is something. We'll leave it in His hands.

The last thing which I've been battling is being sick. Gosh, I take my vitamins and everything too. I guess its just that time of the year where more germs are everywhere. Now I don't leave the house without a bottle of hand sanitizer, and I try to wash my hands often. I'm pretty much almost over this last cold, but its still just annoying. It takes so much out of you, and its hard to work and function well, but thankfully it is going away and I'm sure that by Monday I'll be back to my old self. I'm going to need all the strength in the world for next week. It's definitely going to be a busy work week!

So in a brief nutshell, that's been life over the past couple of weeks. I hope to do regular blogs again, cause I've missed doing it!