A full House!

What a great hangout day.

After a fairly miserable day at work and a rushed drive to Delta and back it was nice to slide into the house and sit down for dinner amongst a bunch of familiar and some new faces.

One of the first things I heard was, "here comes trouble". Little did she know that I was called Trouble when I was 3 or 4.

At the table there were the Brothers J, Single J, AJ, and StepJ. Volunteers Santos, Amanda, and Joan, all onsite for the night.

Let it be known that I ate too many servings of potatoes and chicken and fish.

As usual we tend to meet up in the schoolroom to hang and to figure out what we can do for the night. This works for AJ because she gets to listen to and watch Shania Twain on the comp! We always end up having cool discussions finding out how things have been with everyone since the last time they were here for respite, or getting to know those who we haven't met before.

After a while we split up: me, Joan, and the Brothers J move outside. Last August the Brothers J were in the house. Read about it: http://canuckplaceadventurechallenge.blogspot.com/2009/08/week-after.html

We played some bball, we played some hockey. We played for a long time!

After a while we went back upstairs. Walk into the classroom and I get a great surprise! There is a teenage girl (KJ) at the house who I have known for 5 years. She doesn't talk, but she sure knows how to smile...especially with her eyes. Every time I see KJ I break out into "I'm walking on Sushine" by Katrina and the waves, take her hand and do a little dance. It is worth it to see the smiles on her face!

A little bit of Wii with the Brothers J, a little bit of hangout and the night is done.

Some of the most rejuvenating 4 hours I get to spend anywhere.

Messages from the house

On occasion we (volunteers) receive an email notice about our kids passing. More often than not the notice contains the words "in his parents arms", or "surrounded by family". I am always saddened by these emails. Most often they are about the kids that I don't know and the news will always makes me sad. I am not sure how I will react when it is someone I have come to know better than others.

For the first time in 5 years I replied to the email from our volunteer coordinator. I just replied without much thought. In it I expressed how proud I am to be a part of Canuck Place

In fact I am proud of every doctor, nurse, volunteer, parent, sibling, and Canuck Place Kid I have been fortunate enough to meet there. Even Santos.

When you are sick...just stay clear,

One of the things I notice when I look at the blog is how much stuff gets missed. I was sick on Friday and had to call in to the house to cancel for the night. Miss a shift and all of a sudden my time there is reduced to once in the month. I HATE calling in sick. I realise that it is my time at the house that creates awesome moments with awesome people for me to write about!

Even if you are just 'a little' sick your bug could be devastating to the kids in the house. So we steer clear.

The start to another 6 months of fundraising is underway as I officially signed up for the 5th Annual Canuck Place Adventure Challenge! www.adventurechallenge.ca

Take a visit to the site. Take your time to go to the house as well: www.canuckplace.org