Brady here!

As you may have read in the past, we’ve had an interesting year or two. And we’ve been very fortunate in the way that we haven’t had to worry about money whilst paraplegercizing (that’s a word now, just fyi). But our current setup is not a long term solution.

So I went and got myself a job.

I started on Wednesday as a contractor salesman at Zak’s Home Hardware in Warman! So come one, come all if you have and lumber or hardware store needs.

But don’t actually because I’m very new and I don’t know where anything is. Also, I’m not on the sales floor so I won’t be the one to help you. Unless you need a deck or garage package… I could sell you one of those.

As Solomon would say…

Anyway!

I’ve spent two days working this week and so far I have loved it! My brain hurts at the end of each day and keeping up with stretching my legs and back every hour is a task in itself, but the job is awesome!

I have been added to a team of people estimating and selling material packages for decks, garages, sheds, homes, and probably a lot more that I haven’t been clued into yet. I am given the architect’s drawings for a project and I make a list of all the materials needed for said project, price them out, and hopefully sell and fulfill the order.

So far I’ve been given a few practice estimates to learn the given software, but I was also fortunate enough to be able to estimate a small deck and a fence for a real customer yesterday! It was very exciting to potentially sell some lumber! 🙂

I’m working out of a temporary workspace right now but plans are in the works to renovate a sales desk to accommodate my needs and abilities from my wheelchair. The company and my managers seem incredibly generous and eager to help make things work for me.

Hailey and I have also been nervous about my energy levels being back to work for full 9 hour days. I mean, I have been pretty much just sittin’ on my butt for over a year now. 😬 So, my manager said for the time being I can start with three days per week. Tuesday through Thursday. And when I’m feeling comfortable with it, I can move up to full time.

We could not have asked for a better situation. A career with lots of potential and room to move up, positive work environment, accommodations for my disability, a place to apply my knowledge of the construction industry, and a wage that will cover our life.

God has truly been working and preparing this entire situation. And we are so thankful!

Thank you to all of you who have been thinking and praying for us and our future.

God opened this door and I am rolling through it!

I SO appreciated everyone’s warmth and support on yesterday’s post when we shared that Brady had taken a job 💜 It is SO cool to know how many of you are in our corner! Brady has promised me that he will write a post in the next day or two updating you on how his first two days of work, so I’m not going to get too deep into that, but I will say it is a great success. I am SO proud of my husband!

The days haven’t been too terribly crazy. Yesterday was low key, with puzzles and trampolines, and lunch with Cher while we watched the trial on YouTube. Today was much of the same, except Solly was at school. Wavy puzzles SO GOOD on her own, its crazy to watch!

This afternoon, we were graced by our loving neighbour/grandma Rae, filling our front planters with flowers. She is a sight to behold! Just ask Wavy!

Just as Brady got in the door from work, we all hauled out to the school for the family appreciation barbecue! This is the first one since covid showed up, so it was REALLY nice to be back and see all the teachers and kids in one big space 💜 It warmed my heart.

They also did a book swap, so we found some duplicates of books in our bookshelf and brought them to the school to swap out for new books. With SO many left at the end, we were told to feel free to find more, so we did, and came home with about 15 new books. Leave it to Dekker to snag a dictionary, lol!

I will admit, I felt quite haggard on the walk home. It has been a big week in a lot of ways, and in other ways, not at ALL. Only two days of work, and only three days of school so far. But goodness. I swear my brain has aged 200 years this week.

Is it bedtime yet? Probably have to wait at least until Dekker is down…

This is not clickbait! We are making some big changes around here and they began this morning.

Last week, Brady accepted a job offer. He is now a contractor salesman at Zak’s Home Hardware in Warman.

I believe it is safe to say we are both more excited than we are nervous. This feels more like a step back into normalcy than a step away from where we’ve been. We have LOVED our time together, but the financial setup we have been experiencing is not sustainable.

We are continuing to research and reach out to where we can still receive some financial backing, as it is our understanding that all disability payments will drop off in the next few months. We will not be at a full, life sustaining wage for a while, though the company understands where we stand and does believe that Brady will eventually reach the financial goal we’re aiming for. Knowing it can and will come helped us a lot in making our decision.

Those are just little details. For now, he just settles in. And he was SO happy to go in this morning 💜

This job is a clear gift from God. It will provide our family with structure, routine, and a guaranteed income. It will continue to raise our credit, and even make it more possible to buy/build another home someday. We will finally appear lower-risk to lenders. Brady will feel productive and accomplished, and I will feel more secure in my role here at home.

There are tricky parts. We’ll need to sell Brady’s work van and find a different second vehicle for Brady to commute in. Ideally something that doesn’t require him to dismantle his chair down every single day, but something that is still good on gas. And affordable, as its a 2K bill to have hand controls installed. Thankfully this is less of a must until winter starts rolling in.

None of this is perfect, but it is clearly God’s plan, and if we know anything at all, we know we don’t always get to know the plan. And thats ok. We have faith that God is at work!

Please, if you’re the praying kind, carry us with you 💜 We have a lot to navigate in these coming weeks and months. We’re anticipating great things!

As I mentioned in the previous posts, it was a very full weekend! Lots of fun, lots of memory making, lots of working, lots of visiting, and lots of photos to prove it 💜

So forgive the lack of organization on this post. There is no rhyme or reason. I also didn’t ask ahead of time about out friends kids being on the blog, so no unfamiliar faces in this one! You’ll have to take my word for it that our campsite was often filled to the brim with people we love 💜 It was AMAZING. Last year, we usually had our two chairs set up. This year, we had six adult chairs up at all times, as well as four kids chairs, and someone was still always sitting on a stump or the golf cart nearby. I loved that so much.

The drive up is always well loved by all. Its such a tradition now that rarely do the kids feel antsy or impatient. This time around, we opted to treat them to supper on the road so they could just arrive at run! It was worth it 🙂 They were SO happy. Definitely won’t be able to hit a restaurant every time, but I will ALWAYS try to arrange supper that we can eat in the van!

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Fires are an immediate part of camp. The first move was to scoop out the ashes from the last weekend, but then we started a fire. It just feels more like home.

You might remember that Laela became quite the tagalong to my bathroom visits last year once I told her that girls pee together. Its really the cutest thing 😍

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A very big part of this weekend was getting our deck roof completed. We did a little bit of work each day and it came together very smoothly.

Dekker has grown up a TON in the last year and was eager to actually be helpful and push himself in new ways. Isn’t he incredible??

Rowan couldn’t be left out, of course.

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We brought the Batec out this time to see how well it would do in the camp setting. Its ok. Its not perfect. Its not great on hills, of which there are a lot. The golf cart is still vastly more versatile and makes more sense. But the Batec makes going for an actual walk as a family more possible. It was really nice, honestly.

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Did I mention Cher was with us? She came on all the walks, picnics, dock viewing parties, etc. She is always a delight to have along with us 💜

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We had one iffy moment where we misplaced a few kids, so Brady and I took a rip around to find them. It was a quick fix, and everyone was easily accounted for. Dekker chased us home. We won.

On the very last day, we got the final roof panels up, and the deck roof is officially all shaded! Next time, we will put up an eavestrough, and then that should be IT! Isn’t it SO pretty?? It looks like home. Because it is.

Going home is hard.

But we will absolutely be back! We have some BIG things in the works this week, so I’ll fill you in more about that tomorrow 🙂 For now, we’re just going to get through week and prep for the next time we’re out at Kinasao!

💜

I have to say, this was possibly the best May long weekend we’ve ever had. The kids only had a blast, and no one struggled to fall asleep or to acclimate, as crazy as that sounds. They just settled in to their environment, and thrived. Not a lot beats camp, that’s for sure.
We played, and worked, and ate, and chatted. We walked and rolled and explored and wandered. We felt SO relaxed but were also so productive!
Yesterday wrapped up on the beach with our friends, marvelling at the view of our beautiful lake, completely ready for the season ahead.

Thank you Lord for creating beautiful things.
Until we meet again, Kinasao 😘

It has been just such a wonderful weekend 💜and it continues to be. Our site has been bustling consistently with people we dearly love. There has been some fun and excitement in the way of using out new camp chef grill for the first time, the docks being put out on the water, and a cold, windy picnic by the lake. We’ve had good treats, scraped knees, and lots of sun. I could not have asked for more fun! 

We still have one day here before the week of reality begins again. Tomorrow holds music, more good food, hopefully a bit more work on projects around the site, and soaking up more hours with our friends 💜 

We are SO fortunate to have this second home. 

I know I am so late to the game tonight. It has been a beautiful, FULL day of friends, food, work, plans, walks, and playing. Getting reacquainted with lake life, if you will.

Please trust me when I say I will tell you all about it later 😘 It has been too precious to interrupt 💜

We have officially coined the best way to prepare to go away for the weekend! It has been such an enjoyable morning, while being super productive. I’ve loved it!

Cher has been here, helping out in a huge way! While Brady’s gathered up tool and started loading the van, Cher and I packed all the kids, found blankets, stuffies, outerwear, books, and everything under the sun. She also chopped all the veggies, cheese, and meat that are standard lunch options at the lake. Then we carried everything out to the garage and Brady got everything loaded up! All three of us worked HARD this morning!

Its important to note how cooperative Wavy and Solly were, reading books in the living room pretty consistently while the adults buzzed around them.

Since we pushed as hard as we did this morning, we will be able to have lunch, nap the nappers, and then I believe the three of us are going to spend some time playing games! Tile rummy, I believe, is on the menu! I’m really looking forward to the relaxation and fun following all the work this morning.

I can’t wait to go get the kids from school and whisk them off to the lake!

I don’t even know what to tell you. There is not a lot of places for boxes to go missing around here. But we have lost some camping stuff and it is nowhere to be found! I am coming to terms with the fact that they are officially gone, not worth ANY more sweat to search for, and that its time to just buy new. Le sigh.

Those items include a whole box of bug spray, sunscreen, and some pretty solar lights. They’re easily the biggest loss of that box. Also, we lots ALL the linens we used last year. As in six full sheet sets, and a king sized duvet cover. We have NO idea where they are.

So today was the day to bite the bullet and do the big shop to get us set up for camping yet again. We spend $450 at Walmart, buying groceries, sheets, lake water bottles, double of vitamins, etc etc etc. We would normally go to Costco for a lot of things, but reading online that the lineups went aaaaall the way to the back of the store, we opted to do all we could at Walmart and leave Costco for a different day.

The only thing we left before was some kind of ice cream treat. I was thinking fudgsicles. But I was worried they wouldn’t make it home since we were sans cooler. But we’ll get there.

I think we have most of what we need. I have a water cooler worked out (thank you, Kim!) to pick up next week, which will save a HUGE amount of space and hassle! I have one kids helmet and am on the hunt for four more so the kids have helmets both at home and at the lake. I even have a booster seat in the works (Thank you, Ang!), which is absolutely something that would improve our summer drives! Lots of things are coming together beautifully 🙂 I’m still hoping to find some light summery quilts for the kids who hate sleeping bags. Lol! We’ll see what we can find.

The kids are SO excited to get to the lake this weekend, and so are we!! The rain can stay until we get there, but then I anticipate good weather, and sun, with lots of productivity and campfires and dirt, hahaha! Aaaaany minute now!

Last night, I was determined to sleep. Its been over a week of horrid sleeps, or lack of sleep, rather. I knew there would be an adjustment coming off of the medication that helped me sleep, but I figured at some point, my body would be tired, and would sleep. After not sleeping a wink the night before, I was absolutely convinced my body would have to give me that sleep last night.

Guys. I did everything right. I kid you not. I did it all.

I went for a long walk with my family, and then another shorter walk right after they went to bed.

I took magnesium with Rowan in the evening.

I took my sertraline, as usual.

I had a hot, comfort food meal.

I had a warm bath.

I got off my phone shortly after 9:00pm and turned off all the lights.

I took Melatonin as I was snuggling in.

And as a last ditch effort, I took NyQuil, which I do very rarely, in an effort to make me drowsy.

And wouldn’t you know it – I was up for HOURS. It was completely absurd. Because I had done everything! It felt like, no matter what I did, I would simply never fall asleep!

Knowing full well that my brain was feeling a touch on the irrational side of things, I used that helpless feeling and put a message in to speak to my doctor. Praise God for her, and her willingness to always go the extra mile for me 💜 As I anticipate a call from her, I carry hopes that she will have some direction, whether thats adding a medication, or even just the knowledge that this is a normal part of switching meds, and we need to battle it for a couple of weeks and it’ll all even out. I just need her input, and I’m incredibly grateful to be able to ask for it.

This is not an update, unfortunately. I don’t have an answer yet. But hopefully very soon 💜 Wish me luck, friends!