Meet Your Superhero!

Up in the sky, look! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s your friendly neighborhood Wonder Woman!

Or maybe I’ve mixed up my superheroes. It can be tricky.

At a recent Toastmasters meeting, I was challenged to speak, extemporaneously, on what superpower I would choose and why. Fortunately for me, I had answered this question elsewhere and was able to fill the two-minute time slot without too much stumbling. I’m not always that lucky.

Without delving into my answer here, I do want to talk about superheroes because a whole bunch of them—along with a few princesses—are coming to Portage la Prairie! Make sure you and your children don’t miss out on meeting them.

Westpark Children’s Centre (a licensed, non-profit preschool) has already proven itself capable of throwing a superior carnival. Last year was the first time they took this excellent event to Stride Place, where they received nearly two thousand visitors! This year’s carnival promises to be even better, with improved traffic flow inside and out, and streamlined queues to help make your participation in all the activities even better.

For the price of admission, your kids will meet Superman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman, Elsa, Anna, Ariel, Belle, and Captain America. They’ll enjoy professional face painting, animal balloons, three different bouncy castles, a petting zoo, and twelve carnival games—each with prizes to be won. They can explore a real fire truck and police car. In addition, upon entry each ticket holder will receive a draw slip for the grand prize—a themed package of summer outdoor toys worth a hundred dollars!

Optional for-purchase items include rainbow auction tickets for a chance to win some awesome prizes, fifty-fifty tickets for a chance to win up to five hundred dollars, princess and superhero-themed glitter tattoos and party favors, photo booth pictures with a character for five dollars (purchase also comes with one draw slip for a prize), hot dogs, chips, drinks, popcorn, cotton candy, snow cones, and fancy coffee. The lobby will contain 35 craft and vendor tables.

Whew! Sounds to me like the ninety volunteers bringing us this event (under the leadership of super organizer Susan Hiebert, Director of the Westpark Children’s Centre), are all superheroes in their own right. You know what the best part is? All funds raised will go directly to creating more public daycare spaces in our community. You don’t need superpowers to know what a dire need this will meet. Last year’s carnival raised $26,000 toward the future daycare at Westpark, thanks to everyone who sponsored the event and who came to participate.

So, here’s your chance to be a real-life superhero to your kids and grandkids. Bring them to Stride Place on Saturday, May 25, from 10:00 – 2:00. Tickets cost $15 each (children under one year of age admitted free) and can be purchased at Westpark School, Byte Me Computers, and Stride Place.

As for me, I’ll be practicing my dubious superpowers in the main lobby, selling and signing my books. So please stop to say hello. I’d love to meet you!

How to make a mother's day...

I’m eagerly anticipating spending Mother’s Day with my daughter in Calgary. The last time she and I spent Mother’s Day together was 2002. Seventeen years ago—nearly half her lifetime now—when she worked as a nanny in Switzerland.

There, it’s known as Muttertag and it’s still on record as my best Mother’s Day ever.

The day began with a bus ride through the breathtakingly beautiful Swiss countryside to Mindy’s church in Sursee where she had a big surprise for us. She was performing in a short drama with the church’s youth group! Though we couldn’t understand a word of Swiss German, it still melted this drama director’s heart.

The sermon that morning was lost on us, too, but it didn’t matter. If the drama hadn’t been enough, the music more than lifted my heart. Although the songs were unfamiliar, we tried to follow along with the German words on the overhead screen. As we joined in praise to God as best we could, I was struck with a brief glimpse of how it will look when we gather around the throne of God in heaven, every tribe and tongue worshiping together—but without stumbling over foreign words. I looked around and saw faces of people who clearly knew Jesus as an intimate friend, not the distant and lifeless icon portrayed in some of the historical churches we had toured. 

Then they sang a song we knew, first in German, then in English. The familiar tune and words brought tears to my eyes as we sang along wholeheartedly: “God will make a way, where there seems to be no way. He works in ways we cannot see, He will make a way for me. He will be my guide, hold me closely to His side. With love and strength for each new day, He will make a way.”

God had indeed made a way for Mindy to find Christian brothers and sisters thousands of miles from home. He had made a way for us to visit her and share this experience. He’d made a way to show me his children are family, regardless of language, customs, or geography. My heart was full.

After the service, all the mothers received little tin buckets with live roses in them. My bucket still sits on my dresser.

At McDonald’s for lunch, they were giving away free coffee and cookies to all the mothers—and if you know anything about European coffee, you know it got me through the rest of that busy day. We spent a delightful afternoon walking around looking at the abundant flowers. We laughed at a sign that said, “Do you like to know how your English is? Ask for Linguaskill and we will tell you!”

Hubby and I called our mothers, neither of whom had ever received a phone call from Switzerland.

We capped off the beautiful day with a delicious dinner at a lovely restaurant with a family Mindy had grown close to. The other mom and I enjoyed complementary dessert.

I don’t expect to experience such an exotic Mother’s Day this year, but I’ll have something far better. My girl is now a mother herself, and I’ll get to spend time with two little boys I haven’t seen for seventeen months. Thanks to modern technology, I hope they know me even if they’re shy at first. Shucks, I may just be a little shy myself at first.

When merely being together is a rare treat, it really takes nothing else to make a mother’s day. Have a good one!

Stuff I Don't Get

If you know the answer to this riddle, leave a comment!

It’s easy to make a long list of stuff I can’t get through my thick skull. I can’t seem to grasp football rules. My eyes still glaze over when my husband starts explaining financial investing. I don’t get how someone ever decided eating oysters was a good plan. Were they starving to death? I still haven’t figured out who let the dogs out. How is it that, if every cell in our bodies regenerates every seven years, our bodies still deteriorate with age? What does IDK stand for, anyway? Nobody seems to know. Also, I can’t tell you how to get to Sesame Street.

That’s just a warmup.

The biggest thing I don’t get, though, has to do with how we all got here. And by “here,” I mean here, on this planet. A lot of people don’t believe they have a creator and I want to respect their opinion. But man, it’s hard. I’ve had evolution explained to me. I just don’t think I could ever muster the level of faith required to accept it.

The room I sit in as I write these words is filled with things. I can look around the room and see each item and I know it was made by someone—some highly intelligent, creative human. The books, the furniture, the photos, the lamp, the walls themselves—all designed and assembled by someone. I can’t fathom the hours involved in the invention of each individual item in this room, let alone add up all those hours.

Our world abounds with marvelous man-made creations. I don’t think anyone would argue with that point. I ask myself what is the most complicated item in this room? My sewing machine? My piano? My computer? Oh, surely, it’s my computer!

But wait. I’m in the room, too. And I’m kind of complicated. How can I believe I wasn’t created? I suppose one could argue that my creator is far more complicated still, yet I accept that HE doesn’t have a creator. So where did my creator come from? To say “He is eternal” sounds like a pat answer. How could someone have no beginning?

Well, I guess if I knew the answer to that, I could figure out football by now too. If my puny human mind can’t comprehend the size of our universe, how could it ever hope to understand the creator of said universe?

That’s where faith comes in.

As I see it, you will always be the most complicated thing in any room you enter. So—if all those less complicated things required a creator, how come you did not? If anyone wants to enlighten me, I’m open to your explanation. But I’ll warn you—whoever designed my skull made it good and thick.