He speaks

Andrew often brings Lincoln into bed with us in the morning, as I'm half-awake, and can't seem to move before 7 am.

As Lincoln begins to wake up, he rolled over, looked at Andrew, and said: "Dad. Hi, Dad."

Andrew calmly replied: "Hi, Lincoln."

Seriously, it's just too cute! I couldn't believe it.

I haven't had the energy put towards posting lately, but I would like to add that we did try another park about two weeks ago, and took pictures and everything! So I will add another pb&j to the list, but may cheat by not writing about it. =)

Fair Trade?

Okay, okay, I know it's good to only try to change one thing at a time in life, but I can't help it. I've previously blogged about my new fascination with organic body products, now I'm learning about fair trade items.

I was in my doctor's office yesterday, and there is an ad talking about slavery - mainly, that there are more slaves today than ever before in history. I find that crazy. And, it's due to my love of chocolate. Okay, maybe not directly my love of chocolate, but more due to our Western culture's demand for cheap items, the price of cocoa plummeting, and corruption in different levels in the country itself.

Of course, there are different types of slavery, trafficking and all of that, but the ones that directly impact me in my day-to-day consumption is coffee and chocolate. These are the ones I can change today by making different shopping choices, anyways!

The facts:

• Close to 14 million people, in over 30 countries, depend on cocoa production, mainly grown in the tropical regions of of the global South - West Africa (the Ivory Coast)
• 90% of the world's cocoa is grown on family-owned farms
• Cocoa farmers work with intermediaries, who pay only a fraction of the cost of the actual value of the crop, and have limited access to information on how much their crop is worth.
• The value of cocoa has plummeted, leading to an increase in child and slave labour.

There are many more statistics out there, but I have a 10-month-old screaming in my ear, so I'll have to make this quick.

Basically, I am endeavouring to buy my coffee and chocolate made by providers with the Fair-Trade logo and certification. It will cost more. But this is one area where I have no second-thoughts: I believe God wants me to protect the dignity of human life. And this is one very easy way to do it. I trust that God will provide for my needs if I walk in His ways.

'Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your way acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight'. Proverbs 3:5-6

Link to Transfair Canada for way more information: http://transfair.ca/en

Summer plans

I have decided to term this summer the "Summer to Visit Parks We've Never Seen". Good, cheap fun while enjoying my babies' younger years. So, I will endeavour to discover parks in the Lower Mainland and visit them on the down days in the week.

Today's visit was to Port Kells Park. About 3 minutes from our house, we've passed this park many times enroute to the highway. Kate was very excited as we packed up our picnic lunch and headed out.

As we pulled in to the parking lot, there was one lone car with a scary-looking man inside talking on his cell phone, and two moms walking away from the park. "Come back!" I think, as I wonder if I'm interrupting some sort of sordid drug deal.

I brave on, take Kate to see the empty pool ("Must need to be fixed", she says), and check out the rambling playground. This playground was clearly past its prime, constructed in the days of lead paint and wooden play structures. While watching over my shoulder for persons of questionable nature, we did the swings, played "Troll Bridge" and enjoyed the see-saw. Lincoln ate sand. All the while, I'm pretty sure there were unmentionable activities going on in different sections of the park. It was just that type of place. I had to stop myself from bolting - if my mother is reading this, she will be horrified that I didn't high-tail it out of there within the first 60 seconds.

As we sat down to our picnic lunch (pb & j, of course), another vehicle pulled in - I've never been so happy to see City of Surrey workers.

I ask Kate if she liked this park.

"It's a little short, Mom." Hmm...good thought, Kate. Short of something, but I'm not sure what.

Score? 2 out of 10. And that's only because I didn't find any needles in the grass.

Andrea saves the universe!

These days, I have a new fascination with things natural and toxin-free. Credit it to my good friend, Kristy, who is a Norwex salesperson - although not a pushy one - but knows all the good stuff to know.

Not only that, but I have a urge to purchase my fruit & veg from local farmers, so I have been on that hunt for a good farm market. Turns out, the market right across from the Superstore will soon be all local produce, which makes my life easier. Although it may make for a two-day grocery shop experience, depending on how long it takes for me to get through the Superstore with two kids.

So, I have purchased my anti-bac cloth, dust mitt and window cloth from Kristy/Norwex (all to clean without the use of chemicals). Now I am looking around for body products (shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc) that do not contain parabens or SLS. Burt's Bees and Nature's Baby are the forerunners, but I'm not sure if they're worth the extra money. Part of me says, "Hey, we're all going to die one day, right?" And although there is valid concern regarding the harm of these ingredients, there is also little actual research to show their link to cancers, etc.

Deep down, it rings true to me that the less ingredients in an item, the better it probably is for you.

The real question is: why the sudden interest in these things? Maybe now that I'm healing from my post-partum depression, I need something else to worry about! Isn't it funny how our minds can work?

Anyways, I would love some feedback from anyone on these issues!

Have a great, sunny day!

Jobs I have to do that bother me daily, but I don't have the time or energy to do:

• Dust light fixtures and bedroom
• Vacuum stairs and upstairs
• Weed front garden (it is a ridiculous jungle out there)

I feel a bit better now. Writing them down is the first step, right?

Conversations with God over Coffee

In my experience, I don't always know when God is speaking to me. Is it just me? Is it God? Is it a combination of factors? However, I am trying to develop more of a conversational relationship with Jesus - speaking to Him as a friend that is literally with me. Just reading that over sounds a bit crazy, but I know some of you may understand.

To backtrack a bit, I had a bit of a freakout at the Superstore over the pricematching of butter chicken sauce. I've been on a coupon-craze, trying to save money on groceries. Which tends to make me a bit of a jerk sometimes; I forget to be grateful for what I have. After a harrowing trip through the renovated layout of Superstore, I had a bit of an altercation with a cashier supervisor who did not want to honour the pricematching on the aforementioned butter chicken sauce. I was all riled up: I phoned a girlfriend to be affirmed in my rage, I started and stopped writing an email to the store, I phoned the store itself to be put through to a manager, and then hung up because I was afraid I would get the same supervisor that I had talked to.

All throughout my righteous rage, I couldn't help but think: I hope she doesn't come to church one day, see me and think, "Oh, yeah, these Christians. They're such hypocrites."

The next morning, I was sipping my coffee, staring out the kitchen window and warming my feet on my favourite spot, the heating vent at the bottom of the cupboards, thinking of the situation:

"Oh well," I thought to God, "nothing I can do about it now."

You could apologize

"Oh no. There is no way I am going to the Superstore, dragging my kids out of the car and searching the Superstore for this lady. It would be way to.."

Humbling?

"Yes, humbling."

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.

I went to check my email. Then I thought about the wisdom of disobeying the God of the universe. So I said:

"Ok. I have to be out of the house by 9:40am this morning to make it to music class. Kate & I both have to shower and I have to get everyone dressed and out the door. If you want me to go to the Superstore first, God, you're going to have to make us get ready in a hurry."

It was 8:35am. At 9:25am, I walked down the stairs with two fully clothed children, and looked at the clock.

"Guess I'm going to the Superstore."

So off I went, dragged both kids out of the car, and began searching the cashiers for the mystery anti-pricematching-cashier. All along, Kate is asking, "Mommy, what are we doing here?" "Just looking for someone, Kate."

I was comforting myself with the thought that I could simply search for the cashier next time, knowing that it was likely I would talk myself out of this craziness. I walked passed the podium where a cashier supervisor was working.

"Um, excuse me, I'm looking for someone who was working yesterday. Dark hair. Cashier, probably a supervisor. Maybe her name is Karen?"

"Yep, she's on till 5."

"Hmmm, no, not the right person. Anyone else you could think of?"

After some searching, "Susan*. She was working cash yesterday at about 1:00. I'll call her."

"Oh no, it's OK, I'll go find her. What department?"

"Oh, she works in the office. She's our boss." Calls Susan. Susan wonders who the heck wants to see her, and why she's being called downstairs by some psycho customer. She comes down.

"Hi Susan, I don't know if you remember me. I'm the crazy butter-chicken pricematching lady from yesterday. I just really felt like I needed to apologize for the incident yesterday. I was feeling quite stressed out, and I felt that I could've communicated my thoughts in a more positive way. "

"Oh. Well, I should've just given you the pricematch. If you have any problems in the future, just ask for me, and I'll help you."

Thank you and have a nice day on both sides.

I walked away from my God-directed experience and thought, "Well, I don't know what that was about, but there you are, God."

So I am on a journey on learning to hear from God. I hope to really know one day definitively how to know if I'm hearing from God, or just being me. But I'm going forward with the knowledge that I am going to keep trying to be a friend with Jesus, and see what lays ahead.

*names changed for protection of identity. =)

Alert, Alert!

Free Mars chocolate bar on http://www.save.ca/

Yum!