Blessed Enough

Around St. Patrick's Day we read a blog post called Lucky Enough where she was talking about the many blessings in her life. It starts out "On the local Facebook page someone wrote: 'If you’re lucky enough to live in the mountains, you’re lucky enough.' " and then went on to list many ways she was lucky enough. It's worthy of a read, including the comments. We started thinking about some of our blessings, and now that we're about halfway between Thanksgivings, decided this would be a good time to list those things we feel blessed by.

If you're blessed enough to see a sunset, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to walk around the block and know someone who lives there, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to have no pain, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to lift someone's day simply because you smiled, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to hear a bird sing, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to take a vacation, even if it's just a staycation, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to read a good book, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to touch your toes, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to have a child love you, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to brush a mouthful of teeth, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to go to bed with food in your tummy, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to enjoy a hug, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to have a steady paycheck, no matter the size, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to take a nap, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to know how to drive a car, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to have an opportunity to serve someone else, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to love someone and have them love you back, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to have family connections, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to follow the words of a prophet, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to have see the world beyond your backyard, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to do something you enjoy, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to understand any of Isaiah, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to know God loves you and knows your name, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to have opportunities to serve the Lord in any way, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to follow what you believe, you're blessed enough.

If you're blessed enough to have the Gospel in your life, you're indeed blessed.

Thank you for being a part of our blessings. We are blessed enough.

Belated Mother's Day

     Sister Holbrook's mother, brother (Scott) and sister-in-law (Mary Jane) came to visit us last weekend. It was wonderful to see them again. Scott and Mary Jane went up to Shediac to visit some Canadian friends, but we had a nice visit with Mom. They think all our claims of a late winter are bogus, because they enjoyed sitting on the beach and riding bikes in Shediac on the warmest, sunniest day we've seen since we arrived. 

Rainbow Beach

     Their visit just happened to coincide with a holiday weekend, so people were out in full force everywhere, soaking up the sunshine.    

     We found this beautiful sandy beach nearby. We had driven in the general area a few months ago, but the gates to the road to it were closed, so we had no idea it was there. It was nice to see they have some sandy beaches here (most of the beaches we've seen are very rocky).
     
     Saturday we went to see Lunenburg again. We've been told it's a very popular tourist town, but when we went a few months ago, there weren't any other tourists, the shops were all shut down, and it was a dreary, drab day. Today it was as great as we'd been told.

The view of the bay out the restaurant window at lunch

Lots of brightly painted houses overlook the bay

     Many of these houses were built in the late 1700s and into the 1800s. We imagined women keeping watch from the top floor to see when their fishermen husbands returned from the sea. Of course the cars are a modern addition.

     We saw this broom in a gift shop. It's all one piece of wood, but the bottom part was shaved and splayed. It probably wouldn't sweep up much because the "bristles" are so stiff, but it was cute.

     This is more like the Pinterest picture we missed out on because of the rain and snow the last time we were there (see the post from April 5 if you don't understand that comment).

     We had a delightful day of visiting with Mom, soaking up the sunshine and warm weather, and catching up on family news. We visited more than we took pictures, and loved every minute of it.

     All too soon it was Monday morning and time for them to leave again, but we l-o-v-e-d having them here!

     Thanks, Mom, for setting such a wonderful example for us.

Let Your Light Shine

     Our P-day is Saturday instead of Monday like the rest of the missionaries. Last Saturday was a busy day. It started with an outing with our ward. We went to Pier 21, a landing place for immigrants in the early 1900s until about 1970. It's now a museum.

Some came with little more than the shirt on their back, some with a suitcase, some with trunks and trunks. Some were fortunate enough to sail into the harbour in luxury. Others, mostly refugees, had tighter quarters but were glad to arrive. Most of them, rich and poor alike, suffered terribly with seasickness and were pleased to be able to stand on land again. It often took hours and hours for the passengers to get processed and given a health clearance. The lucky people whose names started with A or B got through quickly. A Zimmerman might feel like it took him a year to get through, although it probably wasn't more than 10 hours.

We wanted to see what else was in the area. People were coming and going along the boardwalk, so we knew there had to be other things going on. First we walked through an area full of crafty things--exhibits, activities for kids, and a lady and her spinning wheel. It was cold enough that even her coffee wasn't keeping her warm and she packed up and moved inside just after we snapped this picture (you can see her fingers are red from the cold).





This drumming band was made up of people our age-ish. They were very good. Fun to listen to for a few minutes, but we don't know how they could play as long as they did and not go deaf.

 Just down the boardwalk from Pier 21 is a Farmers' Market. We'd heard about it but didn't know where it was. It was a delightful thing to stumble across! We expected a lot of booths selling produce. What we got was a vast indoor marketplace selling everything from carrots to full meals--lots and lots of food in all forms--plus flowers, meat, artwork, jewelry, clothing, and various musical groups in different places in the building. We walked until we were worn out.

From a balcony on the second floor of the Market we snapped this picture of a lighthouse. Last fall at a fundraiser for Syrian immigrants we bought a painting that looks almost exactly like this! It's the lighthouse on Georges Island. There used to be a prison on the island. Unfortunately now it isn't safe and now no one is allowed on the island, so we just satisfied ourselves with seeing our picture in real life through the mists.


That evening we went to a ward talent show. It wasn't for the ward we attend (that will be next month), but we were invited by someone who helps in the office to go to his ward's talent show. There was everything from a cowboy kid singing opera to a 42-year old showing off his skateboard tricks, a young girl skipping rope, someone playing Name that Tune with an ocarina, to a cute twist with a ventriloquist. The audience was very supportive of all the acts with enthusiastic clapping after each one. No one seemed embarrassed to share their talent.

Lots of hula, grass skirts, and ukulele, acts--I think they're all yearning for warmer weather!

And yes, even the missionaries were asked to participate

Bill Green from the office--he's quite the character and an amazing ventriloquist

President Pratt asked us to attend the Sackville Ward instead of the Dartmouth Ward (we live within their boundaries). The members of the Dartmouth Ward have let us know they were sorely disappointed they didn't get to have us. We LOVE the people in Sackville, and it's almost as close as the Dartmouth building is from our apartment.

Transfer Week

We give up--no time to write much about what's happening or add pictures. Long days in the office during transfer week have limited our blog time. It's not just transfer week, because we've pretty much learned how to deal with that busyness. This time on top of transfers, we also have a visiting General Authority, Elder Randall Bennett, doing a mission tour, so we're really being kept hopping.

We're alive and well and having lots of fun!

Funny Money

Before we came, someone told us that the Canadian bills are now plastic. That sounded strange, but it's true--a very flexible, lightweight but durable plastic-coated bills that work very well. We have never seen one that is torn or even looks worn. There's a section with a clear strip and pictures in each bill. Each denomination is a different color with different pictures in the strip. Because it is plastic, they can emboss the denomination in Braille in the top corner. Much better for the blind. In the US, blind people have to be careful to always put certain denominations in certain pockets or fold them a certain way so they know what bill they are holding.

There are no $1 bills. Instead they have coins called Loonies because there's a picture of a loon on it. Two dollar coins are called Toonies (the two-toned coin below with the copper center). We've heard talk that they will be doing away with the $5 bill in the future and have a coin called a Doonie.

They price things with cents (plus tax always kicks in) but you don't get them as change. They just round the amount up or down. The store keeps or loses the extra cents, so we think they mostly just round them up.

(A related side note: Elder Holbrook has long said that he thinks the US should do away with pennies and nickels--round everything up and the difference goes to pay down the national debt.)

Something we've found here and in other places we've traveled--no matter what they call it, a ruble, a peso, a loonie or a dollar, the locals are all glad to take it from you!


We recently heard a thought we liked. "Sometimes when things are falling apart, they may actually be falling into place." The hard part is learning to trust that everything will be okay.