The Siever Family

Sinéad convocated today. They had been taking the child and youth care programme at Lethbridge College, and they finally finished their coursework last month. Sinéad is our first child to graduate from postsecondary school. I graduated from Lethbridge College in 2001, so this made it extra special to me today. Oh, and they graduated with honours!

Sinéad’s partner, Fay, also convocated today!

Last year, Kim had submitted 9 poems to be included in an anthology. He heard back today from the editors, who told him that 8 of them had been accepted.

The anthology will be called CHERISH Volume 2: 365 thoughts on Heavenly Mother, and publishing is planned for this spring.

Ash and Ace both took their learner’s test today, and the both passed. Now, we have four children who have their learner’s license. These two are pretty excited about getting some driving practice in.

Today was the end of an era.

For the first time in 20 years, we don’t have any children homeschooling. Ace entered grade 9 at LCI today, graduating from middle school at Gilbert Paterson. Quillan started grade 6 at Gilbert today, and he got on the wrong bus on the way home; Ace got on the wrong bus in grade 6, too, so it may now be a family tradition. Siobhán starts grade 3 at Fleetwood Bawden tomorrow.

Mary also teaches her first class tomorrow of the semester and will attend her first class of her PhD coursework on Friday. Regan is in university in Winnipeg, and Sinéad starts their final year at Lethbridge College. Ash and Kim are the only ones not in school this year.

Okay, technically, it’s not our first wedding, but it is the first wedding of our children. Today, Sinéad married Fay Blackmore, and now our family is 9!

Ash and Ace were attendants, Quillan was the ring bearer, and Siobhán was the flower girl. Regan and his girlfriend, Cherice, were able to fly out from Winnipeg, and Kim’s parents drive out from Vancouver.

See more photos here.

Our last child was baptized today. Everyone was out for Sinéad and Fay’s wedding, so we had everyone together for the baptism, even our children who don’t attend church anymore. It was so nice to have all our children together for this special day. They didn’t all attend at Quillan’s baptism.

Kim baptized and confirmed Siobhán. His dad and Regan also helped with the confirmation. Ace and Ash acted as witnesses. Kim’s mum did one of the talks and Cherice, Regan’s girlfriend, did the other. Mary conducted the music, and Quillan did one of the prayers.

This was the first time Kim has baptized one of our children since Regan was baptized.

Ace had their Grade 8 farewell today. Mary and I attended, and Sinéad joined us. Sinéad actually did their Lethbridge College practicum at Ace’s school this past spring. Ace will be attending Grade 9 at Lethbridge Collegiate Institute in September. Quillan will be attending Gilbert Paterson Middle School for Grade 6 in September. So, Ace will be filling the absence left at LCI with Ash’s grade, and Quillan will be filling Ace’s absence at Gilbert.

Lethbridge Collegiate Institute held their Grade 12 convocation today. All of us were able to attend Ash’s grad.

This Christmas, we drove out to Vancouver to spend time with our extended families. This was the first Christmas since 2016 and the first time since September 2018 that we had been to Vancouver. Ash stayed home, but Regan, Ace, Quillan, and Siobhán all came with us.

We stayed overnight in Spokane on the way there and back, and also stopped off at the temple in Seattle, where we were married back in 1995. The trip through Snoqualmie Pass was pretty stressful, as we drove through a snowstorm. Luckily, shortly after we began our ascent, two snowplows entered traffic in front of us. We stayed behind them until we passed through the storm. The trip back had much better weather.

We stayed at a hotel in Langley, and spent most of the time in Surrey with Kim’s family; although, we went out to eat with Mary’s dad at IHOP in New Westminster on Saturday night. We spent a few hours with Kim’s parents Friday night, then had family photos on Saturday; spent a couple of hours at Kim’s parents on Saturday; attended church with Kim’s parent and two of his siblings and their families; had brunch with his parents after church; then spent most of the rest of Sunday with Kim’s family having a meal, opening presents, and playing games.

During our final leg home, on Tuesday, we hit a huge puddle in Cranbrook, which tore the protective fabric covering our battery under the vehicle. While it was being serviced at Canadian Tire, we took everyone out to eat at East Side Marios.

One thing we learned from the trip is that Kim’s arthritis won’t allow him to drive long road trips anymore without leaving him in a lot of pain.

With the loss of our cat, Lily, we decided to get a new kitten. Her name is Horatio. She will be a companion for Sparrow, who is Ash’s cat, unti Ash moves away, and will be our mouse catcher after Sparrow is gone.