Keeping it real…If you know us, you know that most days around here can be a hot mess…most of the time, without the “hot”. But holidays and special occasions seem to have their own unique gong show flavouring. This weekend has been no exception.
Let me give you the recap and how things went south quickly.
Continue reading “Valentine’s Weekend…a la Skinner”
Dear 2019, where do I even begin? If I were to try to capture you in writing, what would I say? How would I choose?
So many changes. So many adventures.
Would I start with how we put our brand new, beautiful, finished home on the market to buy a fixer-upper so that we could be debt free? Would I mention how hysterically difficult it is to show a house to potential buyers with three kids and a cat? The dirty laundry thrown in the back of the van, along with anything else that happened to be on the floors; the pretend living where no one is allowed to throw anything in the garbage; the cat climbing all over the dashboard.
Anyone else still recovering from the holidays? Despite my best efforts to keep focused, keep grounded, keep simple, there’s no denying that a busy family gets even busier around Christmas and New Year’s. Shopping to do, presents to buy, presents to wrap, decisions to make, dinners to attend, dinners to host, and still daily dinners to make—why do they always want to eat? Continue reading “A Minute to Win It…”
Continue reading “My counter is cluttered and my heart is a mess…”
It’s difficult to know where to begin to share a struggle so deep. It took me years to ask for help. It actually took years for me to realize that I needed to ask for help. The idea had circled my mind a few times but I dismissed it thinking that wasn’t actually the problem. What I needed was to read more parenting books, exercise more, get more rest, or be more creative with my time with my kids. All of that may also have been true and helpful. But there was a bigger problem. Continue reading “My Secret Struggle (and how I’m determined to overcome)”
I am surrounded by amazing women. Truly. I have friends who are so incredibly talented–ones who sew brilliantly, ones who write published books, ones who can teach a workout class like the Beachbody pros, ones who write songs, ones who bake Pinterest-worthy creations, and who can decorate and pull together an event that looks like it belongs in a magazine. Ahem, Pam Sykes, ahem. Click here for a glimpse of what this woman can do!
How do these women do it? I know this isn’t all they do. They also take care of their families, serve in their churches, and do laundry like the rest of us. Yet their talents often take my—and others’—breath away.
In the past when this level of talent was displayed in front of me, my insecurity would have looked for ways to un-celebrate these women. Ridiculous, I know. Jealous, maybe. But honestly, it’s what I did to make myself feel better. “When you have lots of help with your kids, you can do things like that.” “When you have money, of course it would be easy to do such and such.”
When, when, when. If, if, if.
Why do we do this? Is it just me? Is it just women?
Thank God I’ve matured (okay, I’m working on it)! I have a ways to grow yet, but I’m so thankful I can stand back now and applaud the gifts and abilities of those around me. Why the change of heart? Because I was not born to do what they do, or in the way they can do it.
Sure, I may still have moments when I wish I could cook like Connie, write like Shelly, have an household and family that is full of love and organized like Rebecca, create and captivate like Gloria, sing like Kari (she also runs her own country at home), 
or do ANYTHING like Joanne (seriously, pick a gift, this woman has it, I’m convinced). Now, though, I embrace these women as part of my life instead of comparing myself to them. I learn from them, and I admire the way God uses them in their gifting—the ones we can see and the many more that we don’t see.
He’s using me too. In the midst of building forts, 18 loads of laundry, picking up the
couch cushions a dozen times a day, and clipping sets of nails, it’s been easy to lose sight of my gifts, but I have purpose too. I’m changing the world in small ways, and so are you.
I am good at encouraging people. I see ways God is using them, and I tell them to lift them up.
I make amazing spaghetti.
I can teach an object lesson like nobody’s business.
I have a quick wit (sometimes that gets me into trouble, but is mostly fun).
I have a good singing voice (I’m no Kari, but I’m not bad).
I am an excellent story teller (I have a ton of material).
I am a good teacher. I’m not your Pinterest teacher or your “everybody-wants-to-copy-my-lesson-plans- teacher”, but I care deeply about my students, and can usually find ways to make them feel loved, special, and appreciated.
I am fairly organized.
I am thoughtful.
I am a grammar/spelling wizard. If you need something proofread, send it on over.
I am a good friend.
I try hard to give my boys what they need (healthy food, exercise, laughter, love).
Dreaming big is important. I want to continue to grow and have more impact and see God do big things through me.
Dreaming small is important as well, though. I want to give God what I have. Right now. In this season. And let him do big things with it, much like how that little boy in the Bible gave Jesus his lunch—two fish and five loaves of bread—and Jesus fed over 5000 people with it. He can bless and multiply our little gifts, and our big ones. It’s okay that my gifts don’t look like anyone else’s. God needs both of us, all of us to reach the world around us with our own unique flavour.
Thank-you, my friends, for sharing your talents with us. The quiet gifts, the spoken ones, the seemingly small, the not-so-small—you’re changing the world. Dream small.
“Dream Small”
By Josh Wilson
It’s a momma singing songs about the Lord
It’s a daddy spending family time the world said he cannot afford
These simple moments change the world
It’s a pastor at a tiny little Church
Forty years of loving on the broken and the hurt
These simple moments change the world
Dream small
Don’t bother like you’ve gotta do it all
Just let Jesus use you where you are
One day at a time
Live well
Loving God and others as yourself
Find little ways where only you can help
With His great love
A tiny rock can make a giant fall
Dream small
It’s visiting the widow down the street
Or dancing on a Friday with your friend with special needs
These simple moments change the world
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with bigger dreams
Just don’t miss the minutes on your way, your bigger things, no
‘Cause these simple moments change the world
So dream small
Don’t bother like you’ve gotta do it all
Just let Jesus use you where you are
One day at a time
Live well
Loving God and others as yourself
Find little ways where only you can help
With His great love
A tiny rock can make a giant fall
So dream small
Keep loving, keep serving
Keep listening, keep learning
Keep praying, keep hoping
Keep seeking, keep searching
Out of these small things and watch them grow bigger
The God who does all things makes oceans… from rivers
So dream small
Don’t bother like you’ve gotta do it all
Just let Jesus use you where you are
One day at a time
Live well
Loving God and others as yourself
Find little ways where only you can help
With His great love
A tiny rock can make a giant fall
Yeah, five loaves and two fish can feed them all
So dream small
Dream small
Tomorrow marks the closing of a chapter for our church family. After 22 years of serving as lead pastor of our church, Parkwood, we are bidding Pastor Mark and Val Hazzard farewell as they assume a new position as Director of Missions and as workers in Latin America. 22 YEARS! It’s essentially unheard of for a pastor to stay that length of time in one place. We have been incredibly blessed. 
Everyone knows that no church is perfect. Everyone knows that no pastor is perfect. And everyone knows that you can’t please everybody. But tomorrow will come with extraordinary emotion as this church family says, “see you later” to an incredibly man of God and his amazing wife. I can’t speak for everyone, but if you ask me why I am sad to see them go, I will tell you (I’m so glad you’ve asked). I’m not sad because I think Parkwood is somehow Pastor Mark’s church and I’m not sure what Parkwood will do without him. I know that God has His hand on our church and His plans are not dependant on who’s in the pulpit. I’m not sad because I’m questioning Pastor Mark and Val’s decision. If you know them at all, even a little bit, you would know that this transition isn’t something that would’ve been taken lightly, and they obviously feel called to this next chapter.
No, I’m sad because I love them. I’m sad because I’ve never known anyone like them. I’m sad
because their heart for the people they pastor is so tender and full of love. They’ve been beside us through much of our journey. Tom and I knew Mark Hazzard as our pastor individually, and we’ve known him as the pastor of our family. He’s been our pastor through some highs and lows. He stood with us at an altar as we said our vows, and stood with us when we were confronted with the reality that marriage is hard. And then again when we found out marriage with kids is even harder!
Mark and Val have sat with us and helped us wrestle through where our place is during this season of our family, offering practical, real-life wisdom that’s come from experience. He’s been the type of pastor that you can laugh, really laugh with, be raw and cry with, and know that sometimes when you put your foot in your mouth, there’s no judgement (not that I’ve ever done that). A true shepherd, we have felt led by him, but also felt him beside us, like the time he came to our home after a flood and helped rip out carpet and rotten baseboards. Who does that? 
His heart for people has taught us so much about living and loving for Christ. And still, you’ll not get away with always hearing what you want to hear from him. He’ll tell you the truth, even if it’s hard. That makes us love him more. Yet if anyone was tempted to even for a minute place him on a pedestal, he would be the first to tell you his imperfections and point you to the Perfect One.
It’s been our honour and privilege to have been pastored by Mark and Val. We’ve been able to watch as he meets our kids Sunday after Sunday with a bent knee for a high-five, no matter how many people are waiting in line to speak with him.
On one hand, always ready to gather our family in a team huddle for prayer, and on the other hand, whispering subliminal messages to our kids about how we need more ice cream in our freezer. Fun enough to jump on a trampoline with them, serious enough to sign us up for a financial course. Always ready to party, always ready to listen, always prepared to pray.
And Val, his wife? For many reasons she is a treasure as well, not the least of which being her advice, her musical talent, and her humour (being in choir with her was always so much fun)! Among those, however, and worth mentioning in my opinion, is how she supported Pastor Mark through the many many years he was our pastor. When he fo
und us in the ER at our son’s bedside again during a season of sickness, when he has stood beside anyone’s hospital bed, when he’s showed up because there’s been a death in the family, or when he answered phone calls or texts at night during an emergency, she was there behind the scenes giving him the freedom to be there for our church family. I can’t imagine the countless Saturdays she gave up with him because he was there for someone getting married, or there for a family burying a loved one. She gave up evenings when he was at church meetings or counselling someone. She gave up money when he spent his change on someone’s kids buying them candy at the soccer concession stand. Little things, it might seem, but oh, so significant. Her sacrifice has run deep all these years, I imagine. A pastor’s wife has an enormous calling to fulfill, and Val has done it well.
So tomorrow emotional? You can see why. Tom and I (and our kids) feel abundantly blessed to have been able to call Pastor Mark and Val ours. And they’ve been ours
for a long time. However, the season has come for us to remember that they aren’t actually ours. They are His. And somehow God saw fit to lend them to us for an extended period. And we are thankful—oh so thankful.
So Pastor Mark and Val, thank-you for leaving a lasting imprint on our lives. Thank-you for teaching us about life and love for each other and God’s love. Thank-you for showing us what it means to sacrifice, to be extraordinarily generous, to be practical and also full of Faith, and to chase God and his calling and His blessing. Thank you for being an example to us as we learn about tithing and living generously, as we raise our families, and find our place in His calling for us. Thank you for loving us while we figure out this life and make mistakes, for your encouragement and you gentle way.
We love you. We will miss you. And please know there will always be a spot for you at our table (at home or Applebee’s), and there will always be room for you on our trampoline.
You’ll all be happy to hear I haven’t lost my cool in a store lately, resulting in a non-need to return to apologize. I’m happy about that!
So as it would turn out, I am not suffering a bad sprain in my thumb, but something MUCH more annoying called “Skier’s Thumb.” I couldn’t bear the pain anymore and went for a second opinion. Apparently I’ve torn the ligament between the thumb and forefinger, resulting in inflammation, pain, and an 8-10 week recovery period! What the?! My chances of a quicker recovery hinge on my ability to keep my hand braced and attend physiotherapy sessions weekly. Clearly an attainable goal given that it’s summer, I’m home with my three children 24/7, it’s my right hand and I’m right-handed, and I can’t perform any routine tasks when my hand is in the brace. Driving, grasping, writing, opening any kind of container, helping children change, buttering toast…all a pain in the butt. AND THEN there are the really critical things that are making me crazy: using eyeliner, applying mascara, texting, putting on nail polish—come on! What is a girl to do? I‘m using several oils and being as careful as possible 🙂
Team Skinner 