My Son the Doctor!

Good Morning Company Girls!!

Well, this week I have wonderful news to tell you about so I'm going to start off with that right away! Last Friday was hubby's alternate Friday off and we were able to travel to Toronto...which is about an hour away from here. Toronto is a very busy and for me, confusing city....to say it intimidates me would be an understatement! I was glad it was hubby's day off because that means he was able to do the driving! If he hadn't then I would have gathered up my courage and made the trek to the big city myself if I had to because my eldest son was defending his doctoral thesis!!!! Yes, can you believe it...a very exciting day, to be sure. I had never been to a 'defense' before..didn't know what to expect..didn't even know what to wear! Fortunately we left in plenty of time to find parking and get in there before it started because they had signs posted that latecomers would not be admitted! I knew my daughter-in-law, Jennifer would be disappointed at this because she had hoped that hubby would be able to slip out part way through the defense, and take the baby and she would be able to come in and observe her hubby, at this pivotal part in their lives. I felt bad for her, if it was my hubby I certainly would want to be in there! Anyways, if you've never been to a 'defense', I'll give you a brief overview....in this room, a little bigger than most living rooms...and placed in the centre there is a long table with chairs. Six chairs are placed with water glasses at each place and a pitcher of water in the middle. Also, in the middle of the table was one of those 'spider' speaker phones that you see on television shows...this is needed because one of the questioning professors lives and teaches in Michigan and would do his questioning via speaker phone.

At first, it was just hubby and I and Ryan in the room....slowly, other men started coming in...these were the other professors...and last to come in was another professor who was the chairman of the committee. So, do you have the picture set in your mind? The next thing to happen was that we were sent out of the room! Apparently all the professors had to chat and decide who was going to ask what...oh yes, they had already got the Michigan professor on the phone.....so, we waited at a little sitting area for about ten minutes, then we were called back in.

Hubby and I sat over, against the wall and for the next one hour and forty-five minutes were quiet as two mice could be while we observed our son as he defended his thesis. Each professor took turns for approximately fifteen minutes asking him questions...'Why did you say that', 'What is the meaning of that section', 'What were you thinking when you said that'.....I will admit to being fascinated...I will also admit to not understanding everything they said...you see the topic was from the New Testament.....in fact I'd really have to get my brain working at even understanding the topic of his thesis,...Conjectural Emendation in New Testament Criticism with the Epistle of James as a Case Study. Say that five times fast!

When Ryan was much younger, like in elementary school, he was a challenge...in fact one teacher thought he was ADHD.....I questioned that...to me he didn't seem that way at all....they said....'he's always looking out the window, not paying attention'....I questioned Ryan on that...he said ' they teach the same thing, over and over for three days...I got it the first day'..ahhh, so there you go.....another thing he liked to do was challenge what you said...everything we'd talk to him about, or the teachers did..he'd challenge...we began to call it 'his word games'...he'd love them, you could tell...he'd also loved to debate....whether he'd believed in the topic or not, he could debate it and do it well.....this is the son that we cut our parenting teeth on.....he was definitely the kid that 'walked to the beat of a different drummer'! At first I thought that he'd be the death of me(so to speak) but when he was older I could appreciate his thinking, I no longer found it frustrating but found that it was a marvellous strength! No one was going to convince him to do anything that he didn't want to do! A fabulous trait to have when faced with peer pressure every day! So...you get the general idea of the personality of my son...which hasn't changed a lot in this thirty-four year old man!

After the professors had their allotted fifteen minutes then they went for round two...five minutes each.....then,...they sent us out again!

After about ten minutes they called him and us back in again....the professor that was his advisor came and got us...smiling from ear to ear, and tipping the committees hand when he said 'Congratulations, Ryan!'

When we were all seated again, the chairman gave the official news, that other than a few minor corrections before it could be published, he congratulated Ryan on successfully defending his thesis!!!!! After fourteen years of post secondary schooling, it had come to this! To say that hubby and I were proud, was an understatement, really, words could not really describe how we felt.

As we were getting ready to leave one of the professors turned to us and said....'Well, you both did very well, just sitting there quietly and not jumping in and defending your son!' I replied, 'well, no, Ryan has always been able to express himself well, we didn't need to'.......I knew, and had tremendous confidence in him......I had witnessed it from the time he was a young boy, I knew he could do it....and as I sat there observing and praying, praying that the Lord would speak through him, that whatever words that came out of his mouth would be from Him, I was assured that all would be well.

Apparently, his convocation isn't til next fall...good grief...I don't think we'll be able to call him doctor before that..but...it does have a nice ring to it doesn't it?

Dr. Ryan Wettlaufer...cool eh?

Now, if any of you know of a bible college needing a really, really fabulous new testament teacher...please let me know...I can personally vouch for him..if that counts!

Have a good week, with last minute Christmas preparations!

A Christmas Memory...

Good Morning Company Girls!

Rachel's suggestion this morning sent me waaaaaaaaaaay back in my memory banks.....I had to have been only 6 years old. I went to bed that night with visions of Santa and sugar plums dancing in my head...as well as a loose tooth! When I awoke the next morning, I discovered it was missing!! No longer in my mouth, not in the bed..no where to be found...it must have been swallowed...oh no! I immediately didn't feel very good, I remember having a stomach ache...knowing me it was most likely my brain working overtime.....when your only six it does give you a moment of panic to know you swallowed a tooth! My older sister went racing down the stairs to see what Santa had left under the tree...in our family, Santa gifts were never wrapped but just displayed under the tree...something I will admit to continuing with my kids...after all, Santa doesn't have the time to wrap gifts you know.....anyways, back to my story....


.....there I was, sitting on the toilet with this stomach ache...the bathroom in this very old house was directly across from the top of the stairs....my dad was sitting on the edge of the tub with his arm around me....sister dear came to the bottom of the stairs and started hollering, telling me what I got...dad, quickly shushed her....he didn't think it was fair that I was stuck in the bathroom while she was having all the fun! I remember, even at that young age...it wasn't my mom that stayed with me...(she was probably trying to keep younger brother from tearing the place apart)....it was my dad...I remember being pleased that he stayed with me til I felt better. When I finally got downstairs I was so excited....a brand new Betsey Wetsey doll...ya, you guessed it..you gave her a bottle and she wet her diaper....quite the new innovation for a doll 53 years ago! The only other thing I remember about that morning is that my sister wrecked the cellophane on the doll box getting to what she thought was her doll, only to have my mom tell her that the blond haired Betsey was mine and the brown haired one belonged to her....I remember not being thrilled over having a wrecked box!

....I guess what I'm saying is the best memory of that whole thing was my dad patiently waiting with this little girl in the bathroom....being ever so nice to me.....it made me feel special on that Christmas morning.

I pray that on this Christmas morning that each of you feel very special in some way....we all need that sometimes, don't we?

Oi vey!

Good Morning Company Girls!

I hope that the ones that celebrated Thanksgiving last week had a wonderful time....these two pics are of William , he's our youngest grandson, and he turned one this week...yes, he really is that cute.....

This week I did a lot of driving and on one trip to take Maya back up north, which was on William's birthday, I was recalling the trip I made a year ago to witness his birth.... oh . my. goodness! Never have I ever been more scared in my life as I drove through a snow storm for over 45 minutes and I couldn't even see past the front of my van!!! It was just me, praying constantly, knuckle gripping the steering wheel and using those poles at the side of the road with the diamonds on them to guide me. Thankfully, in taking Maya home I just ran into some very light, hardly there, flurries.

So, this week is one that I'm very glad is over....too much driving..really, I don't mind driving..it's especially easy in my 'new to me' van.....but it was a lot and at gas prices..up to $1.12 a litre..(if you multiply that by 3.79 then you get how much that is per gallon, if you don't live in Canada that is)......so, that to be said, when I took Ben for his shift on the Salvation Army 'bubble' or 'kettle'...whichever way you say it.....at the mall 25 minute drive away...I took a good book and sat in one of the comfy mall chairs and read while he did his 3 hour shift....if I could just figure out what to get my adult children then I could have been shopping...but....I hate shopping and so I hate just wandering aimlessly...thinking...'well, maybe they might like that'....good grief!

On Tuesday, Maya had the biggest adventure so far in her life, I think...she had to come down from up north because she had a specialist appointment on Wednesday morning at 9 a.m., hubby decided that taking the bus down into our area would be the way to go.....speaking of go...we have a fast transit system that involves bus and trains around our area called the GO system...good friends of ours, well the husband is a GO bus driver.....hubby talked to him and gave hubby the scoop on what Maya's suppose to do...it involved her taking the bus so far and then getting on a train to come the rest of the way...she was nervous...I don't blame her...I'd have been nervous too...but I did the mommy thing and told her that she'd do great, that I'd be praying for her and that it was a great adventure!!! Inside I was thinking...oh my goodness!

She did just fine.....very pleased with herself...and so was this momma!

So, on Tuesday, before I picked Maya up, I had to take Ben to his kettle shift, then take Emma and Megan to another city, down the main highway about half an hour away, for an appointment that Emma had...then back home, drop the girls off then out to another city on the other side of ours to pick up Maya then back up to the mall to pick up Ben....all that took about 4-1/2 hours...non-stop, go, go, go.....did I tell you I just turned 60, I'm old people...too old for this stuff....

Then, the next day...took Maya into the city for her appointment...stopped to visit my mom ...home again for an hour then onto another appointment in the next town...finished that at 2p.m., drove Maya back up north, stopped long enough to use the facilities, grabbed a hot chocolate and donut at Tim Horton's, then drove back, getting home around 7 p.m.!!!

Yesterday, I went to the naturopath...she wanted to try this treatment on me,...called Bowen.....it was kind of weird and I kind of wondered about it's validity since she didn't seem to be doing much...but, good grief..was I ever in pain by the afternoon! Then I had to take Emma to the church...her and I were attending a ladies Christmas dinner...I was eating and she was serving...(I was mildly surprised that she actually went!)...eldest daughter, Leslie also sang at it...it was a lovely dinner..turkey with all the trimmings...haven't enjoyed having that done for me in years!

That brings us to today...no appointments so to speak...but I do have to go and get some bloodwork done for the naturopath.....not my favourite thing to do...since I'm physically disable in my arms then they have to take the blood from my foot..ya, ouch!...plus it has to be a fasting one so when hubby brought my tea this morning, I had to remind him that I couldn't have it...he knew but had forgotten....so, I'd better go and face the music...it's the only way I'll get a cup of tea!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend...we plan on travelling north to have birthday celebrations with that cutie at the top of the screen...and his parents too, of course....then on Sunday after church, we plan on going and cutting down our Christmas tree at the tree farm...then in the evening, we plan on meeting with(just hubby and I) my siblings and spouses to celebrate my mom's 85th birthday!!!

Ya, tis the season! go, go, go....