Happy Easter!

Wishing you all a wonderful Easter day! Christ is Risen! Allelulia!

Kale Sale!

Tomorrow, Holy Saturday, I will be spending lots of time with food. In the morning I plan to bake three homemade pies using freshly picked rhubarb, local apples and the last of my 2010 frozen strawberries. Then I`ll cook up some locally grown cranberries to create a tasty sauce. In the afternoon I will be heading to Vancouver for the annual Kale Sale to stock up on the tasty treat. Kale Chips are delicious and I hear that pickling Kale is the thing to try this year! After that, a visit to the local winter farmer`s market will surely fill up my fridge for the week. I will end the day celebrating Easter with friends.

A Surprise!

Tonight the Healing Touch team at the church called me at the last minute to offer me a treatment. Two people cancelled at the last minute so the team was ready and willing to offer me time. After working SO hard over the weekend it was a great gift to receive an hour long treatment. If you don`t know what Healing Touch is then I suggest you google it. It`s amazing, powerful, relaxing and transforming. What a gift!

Food for the Journey!

This weekend I am leading a retreat for 30 women in my congregation. We are heading away to a retreat centre in the middle of an area known greatest for fields and fields of daffodils. It should be lovely timing this year.
I am leading the entire retreat; 6 theme sessions and 3 worship services including Palm Sunday. Last year only 12 women came. I think it was because I was new and nobody had experienced my leadership before. I am glad the numbers have doubled this year. It`s exciting! The theme is ``Food for the Journey`` and we will look at food in the bible, food in our faith, food in our families. We`ll be making bread, engaging in a chocolate meditation and eating lots of homemade organic meals. What A treat!

Go Canucks Go!

Hockey playoffs begin on Wednesday and I am SO excited. Unfortunately I have a church meeting right smack in the middle of the first game. I guess I`ll have to carefully plan my meetings over the next weeks and months until the Canucks win the Stanley Cup!!!! It`s so great to see all the car flags everywhere. The spirit of community has returned. Go Canucks Go!

Adoption

Mother`s Day will mark one year since I ended my adoption process. A process of which I was involved in for three years. That`s right, THREE YEARS! I am still frustrated by the experience and the BC adoption system. There are thousands of children in this province and in my city who are just waiting for loving homes and it makes no sense to me that they continue to wait.
Moving on....I am considering international adoption. I recently met with a friend who is a long time, amazing, encouraging & knowledgeable adoption worker in Vancouver. We met for two hours as we worked through all the possible options. It comes down to one country and a HUGE amount of money. I am not sure if I will begin this journey. It`s a big decision.

My Green Thumb

I have declared this weekend to be my first full on gardening weekend. Tomorrow I am heading to a ``Green Thumb`` workshop; a workshop on gardening from seed. It`s free and offered by the local nature centre in the city. It wasn`t until after I signed up that I realized it is being led by one of the people I admire the most. A local agronomist, garden writer and food advocate in Richmond. I have worked with her over the years through various food programs in the city. I am SO excited!

This year I will have three gardens and I have them all planned out. The seeds are purchased and I`ve already won a free bag of manure. Yay! Next projects include building a worm composter and a potato growing bin. I love spring!