The Haggett's Are On The Move

It's holiday season.

Luke took 2 weeks off.

So...

last minute planning and we are off to Logos Land 

with our two little girls

and our close friends

Te Kapua & Lindsay.

We rented an RV

because you have to be INSANE to tent camp

with two toddlers!

Either that,

or really hardcore campers

which we are not.

We got to Logos Land and it started 

POURING!!!

Not just raining...

it was POURING!!!!

So....

a hang out in the car was issued until the rain died down

enough for us to run into our new home for a few days.

and what do you do in a car with 

two parents who are photographers?

PHOTOSHOOT!!!

 Finally it stopped raining and we got to see what we had in store.

The camper was AMAZING!!!

Full kitchen, bathroom, enough sleeping for 10 people.

We had no real plan.

all we knew was we were going to have some fun 

with our little family

and 2 of our closest friends.

We spent the next 2 days on waterslides, at the beach, at the petting zoo,

on paddleboats, sleeping, eating and of course playing games. 

Ellie even fell asleep on the kitchen floor on morning!

Here is a little glimpse:

these are iPhone only. We didn't bring our big honker cameras so my phone will have to do.

 This first picture ^^^ was right after we got back from a visit at the playground.

Lindsay & I thought it would be a good idea to take the girls on a walk.

We ended up at a playground, 

like most people with children often do.

We were there for 5 mins and it started POURING!!!

We ran under the play structure for shelter

but you can only crouch under something

while holding onto 25 pound little girls for so long.

our legs felt like they were going to break off.

The rain didn't look like it was going to let up,

so I looked at Lindsay and said

"do you want the lighter one or the heavier one?'

She took the lighter, Ellie

and we picked up the girls and ran as fast as we could up a big hill to shelter.

We got drenched!

 We are so glad we got to get away with our friends

because it seemed like summer was just so busy,

we barely got to spend any lengthy time with them!

After a breakfast in Noah's Ark,

we departed from each other and went our seperate ways.

We had no idea what was in store,

we just started driving.

We decided we would take a trip up north.

Luke has never been north at all,

and I spent half my childhood up there,

so we decided to take a roadtrip up there so I could show him where I grew up.

We hit North Bay and decided to rest there for the night.

We rented a hotel room and took a little tour of the city. 

Luke ended up driving down an underpass walkway which was HILARIOUS!

People were walking on it and had no idea why a car

was driving down it.

We got some dirty stares while we were laughing hysterically,

trying to figure out what was going on!

We found a BEAUTIFUL old carousel that they have running all the time.

The girls LOVED it.

We also took them on a little miniature CP rail train.

 We ended up at the GORGEOUS waterfront 

with an INCREDIBLE sunset.

It was a perfect day.

The next day,

we were off to New Liskeard & Englehart.

When we got to New Liskeard, 

we took a walk along the boardwalk.

I forgot how much I loved being down there.

It brought back so many memories.

It had seemed like nothing had changed,

but everything had changed all at once.

I have not been back to that area for over 10 years.

It was nice to re visit.

See everything through the eyes of an adult. 

A parent.

I forgot how beautiful the north is.

and how friendly the people are.

Everywhere we stopped,

people were just so friendly.

So willing to stop and chat,

even though you were strangers.

It's as though time moves slower up there.

We drove by my old house

and the school I graduated grade 8 from.

We drove up to Englehart and I showed him all the houses we lived in.

We traveled back to the booney's in Marter Township,

down the big dirt hills.

One house particularly,

was my favourite house I think I have ever lived in.

and I have lived in a LOT of houses.

The A frame.

I remember playing up on the balcony,

with my best friend Rachel.

Pretending we were old women,

dressed in my moms clothes

and using tv table stands for crutches.

I remember having the BIGGEST Christmas tree EVER!

It had to be like 10 feet high!

I remember laying on the couch with a broken arm,

a cast from my wrist to my shoulder.

and this is where I shaved my legs for the very first time.

We used to make forts under the edge of the roof

when it snowed.

It would become a little cave

and we would bring nailpolish out and decorate in the icy walls.

So many memories.

Flooding back.

It's wild how vivid your memory can be.

After our little visit,

a stroll around Englehart and a good 

workout on the play structure,

we headed back to North Bay.

We stayed another night in our hotel room and had a pizza party.

The next day we headed our trek home.

With construction and a hail storm that was so fierce,

we had to pull over and wait it out.

We finally made it home.

It was an incredible trip with my most favorite

people in the whole world.

A spontaneous road trip

that was not planned

but turned out just perfect!

6 Years Ago

6 years ago.
6 years ago I married my best friend.
I walked down the isle in a white princess dress
to the man in the white tux.
We said our vows.
and Luke missed the kiss announcement.
and after a few moments of gut wrenching laughter,
we sealed our vows with a kiss.
And I became
Mrs. Haggett.
It's been 6 years.
We have had quite the adventure in our 6 years of marriage.
From living on the top floor at Tyndale
staying up all night and sleeping all day,
to the top floor of his parents house.
Only for a month.
From our little house on McKenzie
to South Africa for 2 months.
Coming home and a couple months later
finding out we are pregnant with our little Pea-Diddle.
A year later Pea came into this world and the world became a little brighter.
3 months later our little Ellie-Bean was made.
We were blessed with our house here on McGill
and Ellie-Bean was born.
A little fire cracker entered this world with her big blue eyes
that will steal any one's soul.
And now.
6 years later.
A lot has changed.
Pretty much everything has changed.
but the one thing I know
is that my love for Luke grows stronger
EVERY DAY.
I married an amazing man.
I couldn't think of a better man for me.
He is perfect in every way.
and even his imperfections are perfect for me.
We fit like a glove.
His strengths are my weaknesses.
and his weaknesses are my strengths.
It's funny how God plans that.
So today.
We celebrate 6 years of marriage
and the many more we will have to come.

I LOVE YOU BIGFOOT!!!!

Raising Godly Tomatoes

I have recently been connected with a few mothers

from the USA.

Godly women who are trying to raise their children 

in the best way possible.

Through this connection,

I have been introduced to a book:

Raising Godly Tomatoes

I am still waiting to get my copy in the mail

but I wanted to share a little piece from the book

that has inspired me 

and made me as a mother try to be the best mom possible

to my two girls and any other kids that come my way.

When parents....

"let their ambitions, housework, or hobbies become a 

higher priority then parenting,

and they begin to view their children as annoying interruptions,

this attitude guarantees failure, frustration, and anger.

Only by reordering your priorities and recognizing that parenting

is a highly demanding job will there be any hope 

for decent results and the absence of frustration."

Raising Godly Tomatoes

by L. Elizabeth Krueger

I have noticed myself feeling like this.

I get so focused on what needs to be done around the home

that I begin to neglect my children's needs.

I begin to get frustrated, angry, annoyed.

I get mad at them for bugging me.

For interrupting what I am doing.

but this should not be the way.

Parenting is not like that.

We should be there for our children.

They should be first.

My laundry can wait if I notice that one of my girls really needs my attention.

My dishes can sit there if they need my help.
Facebook & Instagram can wait.

It is a selfless job.

Parenting.

There isn't much room for selfishness.

I am excited to get the book and I am sure once I do, 

I will probably share more of what I am learning 

as I am growing into my parenting role.

Neglecting The Blog

The blog.

Oh, the blog.

I have come on here.

thinking I will write.

planning I will write.

writing and then deleting.

what do I say to the world around me that is so close and yet so distant.

so many people read this blog.

I see it after I have written a post.

but very few, 

if any,

reply.

very few make known that they read it.

instead,

they hide behind the secret number of views.

never to be seen.

but instead,

know me so intimately.

without ever having an opinion.

a word.

an expression

to what I am saying

or what I am feeling.

blogging.

I am torn.

part of me loves to open up.

loves to bare it all.

it is a freedom.

a way to let it out.

but part of me wants to stay hidden.

because I cannot know what others think.

I only know if they express themselves.

Today,

I had a wonderful little conversation

with a friend.

Sarah.

She is a kindred spirit to my soul.

When I first met her,

Luke's first year at Tyndale,

we clicked.

and it's been history ever since.

She is honest.

Real.

Pure.

She had recently wrote a blog about being true to the person God made you.

It struck deep.

because this is what I have been struggling and overcoming lately.

In her blog, she posted part of a devotional she was reading:

“Parker Palmer captures the wonder of Psalm 139:
Vocation does not come from a voice ‘out there’ calling me to become something I’m not. It comes from a voice ‘in here’ calling me to be the person I was born to be, to fulfill the original self hood given me at birth by God.
It is a strange gift, this birthright of self. Accepting it turns out to be even more demanding than attempting to become someone else! I have sometimes responded to that demand by ignoring the gift, or hiding it, or fleeing from it, or squandering it- and I think I am not alone. There is a Hasidic tale that reveals, with amazing brevity, both the universal tendency to want to be someone else and the ultimate importance of becoming one’s self: Rabbi Zusya, when he was and old man, said, ‘In the coming world, they will not ask me: “Why were you not Moses?” They will ask me; “Why were you no Zuysa?” “

So many of us focus on other people.
Focus on the gifts that other people possess instead of  focusing on our own gifts that God has given us.
We want what we can't have or what does not align to our own selves
even when we know that is not who we are.
In this society,
it is so hard to be true to yourself.
I have been working on it lately.
really searching for who God has made me
and what MY gifts are.
It is so easy for myself to look at my husband and feel inadequate.
Not because he makes me feel that way.
but because he is so good at everything he puts his hands on.
He is able to be and do anything.
but even that has it faults.
he is so good at everything,
he lacks being great in one specific field.
Whereas a person can be great in a gift,
but lack in other areas.
God has made us all so unique.
So treasured.
He has made us all our own person so that we can balance out this crazy world.
I mean,
if everyone was "good" at everything
but lacked in being great in a field,
we would not have the specialized people that have so much passion for the one thing they are great in!
and if we did not have the people who are "good" at everything,
well, there would be a lot less people helping others 

because they would feel like they are not good in that field so they can't do it.
Does this make sense?

So here I am.
Finding myself.
I have opened up the gift of creativity that God has blessed me with lately.
I have found it is a real passion.
It gets my heart thumping.
My hands sweaty.
It gets me excited to be me.
The little Lee-Anne God has put on this world.
He has given me a gift to make this world a little more beautiful with my hands.
So that is what I am doing.
I am learning every day.

and it is a long road of discovering myself.

I pray that each one of you are true to yourselves.

That you do not try to become like someone else,

but embrace the person God made you.

We are all unique.

Let's be just that!

Excerpt from: Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening to the Voice of Vocation (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000), 10-11
Devotional: Scazzero, Peter, Daily Office: Remembering God’s Presence Throughout The Day (Barrington:Willow Creek Association), 24-25.