The Daily Hailey

A really, really exciting thing happened on Friday.

Brady’s drivers license was fully reinstated!

Brady has been working at getting his license back for a while now. He did the initial drive with the hand controls driving school guy. He confirmed that Brady understood how they worked, and that he would tell the right people on Brady’s behalf. When Brady called SGI to ask about the next steps, they said they required his doctor to write a letter to the medical assessment unit, who would then decide whether or not he could move forward, and then Brady would get a learners license of sorts, practice practice practice, and then he would have to take a road test before he could FINALLY get his license!

So. Many. Hoops.

But he’s been willingly, happily working towards this goal. We contacted Dr. Guselle and she wrote the letter almost immediately. We waited a week before contacting the medical assessment unit, and they said they didn’t have the letter. So he called Dr. Guselle’s office, where they confirmed it was sent when they said it was, and agreed to resend it. Brady called the medical assessment unit again, and they confirmed that they had it.

It was only a day or two before it was reviewed and put through. The MAU told him to go to SGI, and have their employees call them, and once they had spoken and confirmed to SGI that Brady was able to operate a motor vehicle, he could get his license.

Don’t I need to take a road test? What about a learners permit? I’m just… good to go?

There were a lot of question.

The person on the phone triple checked, and said there was nothing in his file to suggest he didn’t know how to drive, and he should go get his license.

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Sooooo I bawled. Because things rarely feel easy. There are never less hoops to jump through to accomplish goals. Ever. It is always more difficult than it used to be.

And this time, it wasn’t. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for Brady. For Brady’s heart. For Brady’s independence. For our family.

So we switched spots and went to pick up ice cream!

Oh, and we filled up with gas. Brady wanted to.

It was really, really nice to drive together like we used to 💜

He even had the opportunity to drive us out to Tom and Rae’s camping spot. Two and a half hours. He was SO happy. And so was I. We all were.

This is just one thing. One small thing. But in our world, it is victorious!! Thank you Lord, for this one part coming with more ease than anticipated. We are overwhelmed with gratefulness.

Ok, friends. Its mid-August. Its time for me to crush everyones summer dreams (my own included) and tell you that warm weather is on the outs, and fall is coming. Don’t get me wrong, I am pro-fall. I just really love to soak up the summer heat before I can’t anymore. An exciting part of fall for me iiiiiiiiis…..

the homemade gift exchange!!!!

For the last two years, I’ve organized a gift exchange of solely homemade gifts! I usually try to have names picked by early September, so that means you have two weeks to decide if you want in or not!

I’m here to lay out the basic parameters! Not every little detail, because those will come later, but I really hope lots of you want to participate!

First of all, a small change from previous years. Gifts can be homemade or thrifted. That way, if you want to participate but you don’t feel particularly crafty, upcycling or thrifting is always an option!!

When I say “crafty,” I want to specify that gifts do NOT have to be crafts! We’ve had baking, canning, and fancy food come through our exchange. I don’t know anyone who would turn down a few pans of cinnamon buns or a big bowl of guac! 🤷‍♀️

I want to specify that this exchange is for ANYONE. EVERYONE. If you are not from the local Saskatoon area, I will ask that you please send your gift in the first week of December. And that being said, if shipping costs are a hangup for you, PLEASE get in touch with me! I am happy and willing to pay for you to ship your gift. I’d ask that you would try to produce something that would fit in an expresspost envelope, to ensure it makes it to its point of arrival on time.

The last thing I’m throwing in here this year is that we’d LOVE if some MEN wanted to join! This has never been an exclusive exchange just for women, and I know many men who are talented and gifted in creative ways. So if you’re even thinking of joining, please comment or send me a message! I’d love to talk you into it!

Its never too early to start working on your nifty thrifty gifty! 🎄

We did not go to the lake this weekend.

I know. Its SO unlike us.

Weeks ago, we planned with Tom and Rae to join them at their camping spot this weekend! They even included Cher 💜We’ve all been looking forward to it, and it did not disappoint. It is a very private, secluded piece of land that they, along with a couple of their friends, have transformed into a little oasis. There is comfortable housing, delicious food, friendly people, low expectations, and quad rides to last a lifetime. No big agendas. It is very restful there.

Tom and Rae brought the kids bikes from home in their truck, so the kids ripped around from place to place, treat to treat, hunting down their next quad-driving victim, all the while dodging wasps. What is up with the wasps this year?! Yikes they’re terrible!!!

I don’t have too many pictures of our time there, but I can show you a couple from the way home.

These two were TUCKERED OUT! Solly didn’t even make it to the highway. Wavy was maybe 20 minutes after him. They were wiped. The others were awake, but intensely quiet almost the entire drive home. It was perfect. We knew we had run them hard.

We came home right at suppertime, and my mom faithfully arrived right around 5:30, armed with hot rice and curry, cooked carrots, and watermelon. Not only did we not have to cook, but we got to eat GOOD homey comfort food! Thank you, mom!

And thank you, Tom and Rae, for having us to your spot once again, and for driving the point home that we are family. We are SO grateful to call you ours, as well.

What a beautiful weekend.

We’ve been doing projects left right and centre at the lake, while simultaneously feeling SO restful and peaceful. It is ONLY God who makes it possible! We are immensely grateful for the people through whom He works to make these things possible.

Last weekend at the lake, we worked on getting the ground levelled out.

Our campsite had a pretty significant slope to it, which is why we built the nice big deck – even ground. With that, though, Brady took a few falls and it felt a bit more urgent to get the rest of the ground more level. The campground manager offered to help us, and was SO willing, but he’d forget and we wouldn’t ask, so it kept getting pushed back. This last weekend, he noticed again, and we set a time. And it got done!

First he scraped it way down, as level as humanly possible. The small amount of slope that was left is perfect for drainage.

Wavy did not like the skid steer. Nor did she like the shoulder ride.

We did a bit of shovelling while our help went to grab lunch and do a few other things, and then he came back and scraped a little bit more. He got it perfectly right!

Then he brought a few loads of gravel and sand, and used his scoop to flatten out as much as he could.

Aaaaand then Brady and I got to work! We shovelled and levelled and raked out all the rocks.

As soon as it was possible, Brady put the fire pit in place. We had delayed having a fire that day so nothing would be hot when we were working, but we were EAGER to get back to it!

When our landscaping work was finally all done, I went for a couple loads of wood and split it all in preparation for a nice ongoing day fire!

As I’m sure you can imagine, there is more to do. I would love to have a short little retaining wall type of thing around our fire pit area, as there is a significant drop there and I think it would look tidy. And patio stones would be AMAZING, though we’re not holding our breath. For now, this felt like AMAZING progress! It is WAY more level, and WAY more secure. Before we left for home, we enjoyed two nice rains, which is going to help pack the sand and gravel down good and proper.

Just one more step towards making this place perfect for us. As if it isn’t already. This is aaaaall just gravy.

Brady’s chemo schedule is funny. It makes total sense, don’t get me wrong. He always starts on a Friday, because it seems like it would be best to be sick over the weekend and not as much in the week. With the way our life currently is, that means Brady has done all three rounds of chemo at the lake, with all five of the kids, and countless projects. This may seem repetitive if you’ve been following, but for the third cycle in a row, Brady has had NO complications or challenging side effects. Praise God!!

This particular cycle fell over a weekend where kids were coming off of colds, and on the Friday he took his first dose, it was clear he was starting to develop a runny nose. He was discouraged, but what can you do when you have six people living in your house, all with snotty noses? We joked that maybe his chemo could kill his cold online with his sick cancer cells, lol!

And it did.

Ok, God did. I know this. But his runny nose ran (ha!) for the hills, and he was completely healthy and strong through his entire chemo cycle!!!

Thus far, Brady can attest that the worst part of chemo has been that he can’t eat for a few hours before he takes the pills. So that means that weekend at camp, he can’t snack after the kids go to bed. And thats a BUMMER. But if that is the biggest hit he takes, so be it! We are both overcome with thankfulness that he is not suffering worse.

The next cycle is right as the kids start school. If you want to pray in some way, please pray that Brady’s chemo continues along as it has been, and that there are no ill effects at such a time when the kids are finding their feet in a new school year and as we all work for the new schedule, yet while we still work to get to the lake on the weekends while we can. God knows what we need, and we’re listening, but those are our prayers, if you care to pray them with us.

Thank you, friends. And thank you, Lord.

This morning, a couple we know from years ago came by our home to pray for us. I kid you not, they drove to Dalmeny, chatted for a few minutes, laid hands on Brady and I, and prayed over us. And then they left. The intentionally came to pray. This is something we should ALL do more often.

It was a powerful stretch of time in prayer, where they thanked the Lord for all the blessings He had already reigned down on us, and asked for more. They prayed for our physical and mental health, and for that of our children. They prayed in a way that we knew they had followed along, but also in a way that made it clear that their prayer was led by God Himself. We felt truly touched and accepting of the prayers that were offered. We receive your gifts, Lord!

I want to thank the people in our lives that understand Brady’s situation is long game. It did not end when he came home from the hospital. It did not end when he could walk on crutches. It did not end when radiation ended, and it will not end when chemotherapy is over. Of course our needs will vary over time, but our need for prayer will not.

We are overwhelmingly grateful for the continued pray and support from our people. God is working. He always has been. He’s never stopped. He’s never left. And He won’t.

Today is my moms birthday. She is the BEST mom I could ever imagine calling my own! The BEST mom to model much of my parenting after! The BEST mom to grow closer to through adulthood and become close friends with! And the BEST mom to have in my corner during this last stretch of life.

The last year has been radically different for my mom, and she has rolled with the punches more gracefully than anyone could have expected. As if 2020 wasn’t enough for her, our life turned upside down in February and she was THERE for it. She dropped EVERYTHING. She left her job. She moved in. I drove her car everyday, which she filled with gas. She watched the kids. She communicated with the outside world for me. She fed kids, bathed kids, and put kids to bed. She signed day planners and read books. On top of her own life, she took on mine and that of my five children, while I laid in bed in horrible anxiety, a shell of a human being.

She just knew what to do, and when to do it. She knew how long to stay and how to gracefully step back while making sure we were still cared for and content.

During this time, my children did not suffer in the ways we had expected. They had warm consistency and security with their grandma, without their dad, and with their mom barely there. ALL glory goes to God, of course, but He worked through her, and she was willing to put in that brutal hard work to keep us afloat.

If I can be a shred of the woman she is someday, I will have succeeded.

I feel truly grateful to be connected to this incredible woman. She is an example I watch closely, and value greatly. I want to be her when I grow up. Gentle. Thoughtful. Humble. Strong. The strongest woman I know, bar none. Persistently seeking God’s voice.

I love you dearly, mom. Words cannot express. I hope you feel celebrated and loved and truly cherished by your people today. 💜

I’ll admit straight up that this is a bit of a nothing post 😬 I know that’s not the way to preview it. Yet, here I am, shamelessly posting something unimportant during a really bananas time in our lives. Because sometimes stuff has to be light! Shall we begin?

Does anyone ever feel this way about their Facebook memories? Just me? 😬 Cool.

I’ve been online glasses shopping recently as Bradys glasses broke and mine got severely scratched. We both want co tact’s but need appointments so in the meantime, we need glasses. Facebook showed me these and I’m a BIG fan of the top pair!! 😍

This popped up on one of my groups and it makes me want an excuse to crochet something Halloweeny. Anyone? Anyone?!

Yes. The picture was saved like this.
saw this body spray 🤢 Anyone buying this these days?? Sounds horrendous!

Don’t judge me. I just had a little giggle 🤏

Does anyone feel this deep in their soul the way I do sometimes?

Aaaaaand this. Because nuggs means poop huggers at our house. Even Wavy refers to tiny poops as nugs. Original or spicy? Is that even a question? No one wants spicy!

Sooooo the end! 🤷‍♀️ I know these posts don’t appeal to everyone but I like them once in a while 🙂 I hope you had a great weekend!

Brady blog: entry #… I have no idea. I’m here again to blog about another project we took on this weekend.

We built a small outdoor kitchen at our campsite, next to the barbecue. Though it’s not much of a kitchen yet and more of a table with storage. 🤷‍♂️

This whole thing was built out of scraps from the deck roof build so we had to do some planning as to where to use the different materials we had.

We started with a basic structure and used the existing roof posts to our advantage.

Side note, Hailey had the idea to make it a bit taller than a standard kitchen countertop so that I could stand straight while I’m working at it. Standing at standard counters makes my back sore since my surgery because I have to lean over just a few degrees and my back doesn’t have the stamina for that anymore. 🤷‍♂️

Next was adding shelf supports and figuring out what to use for the back and sides of the cabinet.

I’m gonna be honest and tell you that there was some tension in these decisions and while I’d like to say I’m a decent builder, I’m not the best planner. But we came to a resolution with a small amount of hushed discussion and we were back on track.

At one point I may have found myself inside the box.

Maybe many times… 😂

Once I had the sides all filled in it was on to the shelves which we made out of two by material. Various 2x6s and 2x8s. Cut to length and screwed down. Very simple.

At that point Hailey had the idea to use 2×2 spindles glued together to create the countertop which I was totally on board with. 🙂 But we didn’t have enough spindles here to make the whole thing. So we waited for the next day when Cher was coming and she brought the rest of the spindles from the garage and we were back in action.

This isn’t the most clean and precise wood shop setup for glueing things up but it worked for our outdoor countertop.

I did end up glueing and clamping sections of spindles together and then glueing the sections together as I screwed them down. I didn’t want to screw each individual spindle down separately. And the glue ups worked well.

Then came notching and cutting the sections to fit in place. Last was screwing them down as you would with any countertop, from underneath so that there’s no screws through the top of the counter.

Hailey and I are both incredibly happy with it and we’ve used it a couple times already.

We also plan to add some doors to the front in the near future and maybe some more cabinets on either side of the barbecue next year. It’s a work in progress but this is a start. 😊

Yesterday had the most beautiful weather. We enjoyed some of it at the beach. It wasn’t warm and balmy but there were people to play with and rain to dance with! 

And again, you cannot beat that ponytail 🙌

The kids were all starving after all the rowdiness so they awkwardly stopped for a very bizarre obvious apple eating break 😆

They ate supper well still, thankfully, but Brady and I cooked up our meal after the fact. In one of the many care packages we received along the way, there was a Swanson skillet meal. It looked beautiful and tasted even better!!! 🤤 

I really really enjoyed it!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wavy looked a little funny by the end of the day, but she reacts to all bites, and I wasn’t surprised. 

By morning, she looked craaazyyy!!! 

Poor girl! But she didn’t complain! We fed her sugary cereal from a cup and she was good to go! 

It helped that auntie Cher was here 💜 

She makes everything better!

We spent the day sooooo chill, beside the fire, at rest. That in, with the exception of the project Brady worked on today! Hopefully we’ll tell you more about that tomorrow!! Ack! 

The day wound down with perogies and bacon on the barbecue, and the kids playing with their friends. I am immensely grateful that our children have developed true, meaningful friendships here. Thank you Lord!