I came in here to wish you all a Happy Easter but moments ago I saw the news. 6 Canadians Killed. I feel sick. Please remember the fallen and their family, friends and comrades during your Easter blessings today. My heart and prayers go out to them.

Thank you for your sacrifice......you are our heroes

PM confirms six Canadians killed in Afghanistan UPDATEUpdated Sun. Apr. 8 2007 3:25 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Six Canadian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan after an apparent improvised explosive device detonated west of Kandahar, striking the vehicle the soldiers were riding in.

The Canadian Forces confirmed the deaths Sunday afternoon, and said one other soldier suffered life-threatening injuries.

"It's been a long day. I have the unfortunate duty of informing you that six Canadian soldiers were killed and two of their comrades were injured today after a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle," Col. Mike Cessford, acting commander of the Canadian Forces, told reporters.

Cessford said four other soldiers were evacuated to the NATO medical facility in Kandahar for treatment after the attack.


One of them had serious abdominal injuries and would likely be transferred to the U.S. hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, for treatment.

Of the remaining three, one received minor injuries and the two others were not hurt.

Cessford said he had spoken to the two uninjured soldiers and said they were shocked by the deaths of their comrades, who have not been identified pending notification of next of kin.

"They were quiet, as you can appreciate. They were full of thoughts, they were grateful for the comradeship they had, they were grateful for the friendship they had, and I think they were grateful the family had rallied around them at this point."

Cessford said six of the Canadian Forces' best soldiers had been lost, but the mission would continue.

"You can appreciate clearly we are saddened by the loss of six of our best soldiers, six of our personnel, but we stay committed to the mission, this is what we do, we're focused on rebuilding Afghanistan," Cessford said.

The attack appeared to have resulted from an improvised explosive device, but Cessford said it is much too early to speculate.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke in France, where he is attending ceremonies marking the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

"Sadly today has been a difficult day in Afghanistan," Harper said at a dinner for veterans in the French city of Lille.

"We've learned that an incident has claimed the lives of six Canadian soldiers and injured a number of others."

"Our hearts ache for them and their families, and I know as we gather here on Easter Sunday our thoughts and prayers are with them," Harper said.

It is believed to be the highest single-day death toll involving Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

I know, it's been ages since I've written. I have no excuse, just been busy and when I'm not busy, just too lazy! lol

Well, the weather is finally starting to feel like spring. A great time for new beginnings. I'd really like to have more time to update in here. I started a new job in January and its going okay. The pay is decent and I really like everyone in the office. It's small and there are only about 12 of us, but it's a great atmosphere. Way better than my last job.

Josh moved back in the middle of January. It hasn't been an easy road but he seems to be heading towards the right track most days. He's back in school but is still driving me crazy with all the missed classes. He's had some hard times but hopefully he's learned a few good lessons from them. Good news though! We'll be getting him out of this town and away from certain people in July. Looks like we're packing up and heading to Borden. I was a little shocked when hubby told me at the beginning of March that we were posted again. After all, we haven't even been here 2 years yet! The more I think about it though, the happier I am. It's a great opportunity to get Josh out of here and Cory as well before he starts discovering what this town has to offer (nothing good, thats for sure!) Both boys actually both seem happy to be moving. Brittney isn't thrilled, but thats to be expected. She hasn't been through this as often as the rest of us. She's pretty outgoing and friendly though, she'll make new friends quickly and will be fine. She is happy to know she'll be closer to her cousin and can spend more time with her.

Hopefully I"ll find more time to come in and keep you updated. Does anyone actually read this thing but me anyway?!?

Till next time.............take care my friends

The year started out on a sad note for us. I'm saddend to say my grandmother passed away on the 1st of January. She was 96! I'm so glad all her children were around her when she passed. I wish I could have gone to the service but sadly we weren't able to make it. The funeral was today. I was thinking of everyone all day.

Rest in Peace Nany Roy

Catherine Roy

October 10, 1911 - January 1, 2007

Mrs. Catherine Roy, 95, wife of the late Edmond Roy, of Ord Ave., Bathurst, passed away on Monday (January 1, 2007) at the Chaleur Regional Hospital, Bathurst, after a short illness, surrounded by her 13 children.

Born in Bathurst, October 10, 1911, she was the daughter of the late Jerome and Mary (Couture) Bertin.

She was the last surviving member of her immediate family.

Her greatest joy was her family, friends and her China doll collection. She loved looking after her home and flowers. She was pre-deceased by her husband, Edmond Roy, in 1978.

She grew up in Bathurst, met and married her husband in 1929 & had 13 children,

49 grandchildren, 72 great-grandchildren, 8 great-great-grandchildren, many nieces and nephews.

She was pre-deceased by 5 sisters; Ida Cormier, Ethel Chamberlain, Marrion Bateman, Marguerite Pinette, Delima Bertin, 5 grandsons; Gerry Pinette, Wallace Pinette, Rickie Pinette, Kenneth Bernier, Barry Boudreau and one great-granddaughter, Andrea Clowater.

2007, can you believe it? Happy New Year to you all. I wish everyone a happy and healthy year and I look forward to spending time getting to know all my online friends better.

Thought I'd pick up where I left off in the last post and keep going with my year in review.

October: October was a rough month. Constant struggles with the oldest child.  Josh is hanging with some "bad" kids and school isn't an issue to him in any way. He just doesn't go and basically is screwing himself this sememster. It doesn't matter what we do, he just doesn't go to school. I have no idea what he's doing with his time. Just hanging out with his friends I guess. Everyday its calls from the school and fights going on when I get home in the evening. I have to wait till the end of November before I can put in for a shift change at work and be home in the evenings. Every day is so stressful. I think I had a headache every day this month! We had several birthdays this month. My dad, my son, my husband, my grandmother and my nephew.

November: Things can't get any worse I thought. Boy was I wrong! November was the worst month this year. Josh turned 17 and things went downhill from there. He's still not going to school and has now thrown the semester away. There is no way he will manage to get any of his credits at this point. He's smoking and hanging out with his friends all day. We were at a loss with what to do. We gave him the choice to get it together at school or go get a job until the next semester starts. He didn't like those choices so he left home. Maybe he'll learn how tough the "real world" is right? Wrong! A friend of his asked if Josh could live at their house and the mother said yes! Who knows what he told them but they have no problem with him living there, feeding him and giving him money. Now he thinks life is just grand. He has it just how he wants it. Doesn't have to follow our rules or earn his money. How great for him! What a moron this woman is who took him in. The kid just turned 17 and she doesn't have the decency to even call us and say he is staying there. Nothing! I'm so stressed and upset everyday. It was a couple of weeks before we heard anything from him and he just acts as if nothing has happened. Why don't we go get him you ask? Because here in Ontario if he wants to leave at 17 he's entitled to do that. If he breaks the law however, we're still held accountable. Nice huh?

On November 27, just 2 days after his 46th birthday, my husbands brother-in-law was killed in Afghanastan. CWO Robert Girouard. We were heartbroken to hear the devastating news. He had just returned after spending an early Christmas at home with his family. He was due to return in February when he planned to retire. He was a very well liked, well respected soldier who touched the lives of many soldiers and their families all across this country and beyond. He will be missed by so many. Rest in Peace Bobby.

December: The beginning of December was a blur. Between the Repatriation ceremony for Bob and travelling to Petawawa for the memorial service, the first week of December was gone before we could blink. Unfortunatley the circumstances were the worst I could imagine, but it was nice to see my husbands family after being away for so long.

By the middle of the month we finally got our Christmas decorating done! Then it became a whirlwind of Christmas activities at school, cadets and work. Mom and Dad came to visit for a few days before Christmas. My grandmother has taken ill and went to the hospital just days before Christmas. She had a stroke while she was there and sadly they don't think she'll make it much longer. She turned 96 in October!  They decided to go down east the day after Christmas so they could see her. By the end of the month all 13 of her children were there by her side. Although she's not very responsive, I'm sure she was thrilled to have all the kids there together.

That pretty much sums up the year. My goal this year is to write in this journal more often. I hope you'll all stop by and see whats new in my world.

Wishing all my family and friends a New Year filled with good health and happiness. Until next time, take care everyone

Well, here we are at the end of another year. Almost 2007, can you believe it? I didn't have much time this year to do anything with the site, but i hope to be working on it alot more often this year. I also plan to get back into writing in the journal alot more often again.

It's been one of those years that alot has happened. It started out as any year does for me, full of hopes and dreams for my children, my husband and I. I thought with the move back to Ontario, everything would start to fall into place in our lives again. It seemed to be starting out that way, but has ended up being a year of not so good changes and alot of sadness. I thought it would be nice to go through the year and try to remember some of the happier and more positive things along with the not so good stuff.

January- The boys are both doing well in school and actively involved in Cadets. I just love going to thier parades and seeing how well their doing and how much they've learned and accomplished. It's always one of those proud parent moments. Brittney is settled in her new school now, has a new "best friend" and is comfortable there. I'm glad she adjusted so well.

February- Can't say I remember too much of what February brought us this year. Although I do remember that the weather was much more to my liking here in Ontario than the February's we spent in Alberta! LOL My unemployment ran out in Feb and I wasn't so happy about that. This month brought the beginning of my loooong job search!

March- March was a tough month. I was looking for work with no luck, no savings and getting very depressed about it. It was a long month to get through.

April- This month we heard my husbands step-father was very ill. We spent alot of time worrying about how he was doing as well as how my mohter-in-law was holding up. Sadly, we heard the news that he had passed away on April 11th. We weren't able to go to the funeral. There was no extra money for a plane ticket. What an amazing man he was. Always able to make us laugh and feel good, and he treated all the grand kids as his own grandchildren. I'm sorry that we were living so far away for so many years because my children never got to know him very well. He will be missed very much. 

May- May was a good month! I finally found work again. I was hired on with a moving company to do the packing. Let me tell you, here on a military base, there is no shortage of this kind of work during the next few months. The pay wasn't great, but the long hours did result in some pretty decent checks. Finally we were starting to catch up on some bills and not having to struggle so much. I missed the entire summer because most nights I didn't get home till after 11pm but it was nice to have a job again. It helped to eliminate some of the stress we were under. I did miss my computer alot once I started working again. I hardly had time to check my e-mail never mind visit with all my friends and my groups online.

June- Still working long hours in June. I don't recall much of the next couple of months unless it involved work! The kids finished school and everyone did pretty good. Josh finished catching up on some credits that he was missing because of the move, Cory finished elementary school and Brittney passed grade 2. I think the kids enjoyed the summer. They all have lots of friends now that they've been here almost a year and were busy hanging out with them all summer. Josh didn't end up getting a summer job so he babysat for me during the day to earn some extra money. I believe this was the month he started hanging out with "John" and where things began to go wrong for him, although at the time I wasn't aware of it.

July- Was a pretty average month. Work, eat, sleep, play. At least it started out that way. We found out later in the month that my 45 year old cousin had died of a heart attack. Everyone was shocked. It was only a couple of weeks later that his daughter also died. She had cancer that had spread through her entire body.

August- Things started slowing down for me at work this month. Cory was away at Cadet camp for 2 weeks at the beginning of the month and he had a great time. When he got back we went and spent a week at my parents place. It was nice to be able to spend the time with them. Everyone had a great time. By the time we got back, there wasn't much work for me anymore. I knew at the beginning it was seasonal, so it was back to the job boards. It wasn't looking so great but at the end of the month I did find something new. Pay was a little better but again, long hours. I was grateful to find something else so quickly, but the time I spent working in the evenings started taking a toll on the family. Josh is pretty chummy now with "John" and John's bad habits are starting to rub off on Josh. I'm starting to see a change in him.

September- Things seem okay when the kids go back to school. Everyone is doing well. Cory is adjusting to high school nicely and Brittney is very happy with her new teacher. It wasn't till the end of the month that we start having major problems with Josh going to school. By the end of the month, every day is a struggle with him. Fighting to get him to go to cadets, school, do homework, you name it, he puts up a fight over it. By this time its getting really hard to do my evening shifts know so much crap is going on at home everynight with him.

I'll be back later to finish off the year. Gotta go get some laundry done because its back to work for me tomorrow. C-ya later

Hello friends. Did you miss me? We went up to visit my mom and dad over the long weekend and ended up extending our little vacation until the end of the week. We got home on Saturday. We had a really nice time. It's been a year since we've had a chance to go up there to see them. It was nice to get away, but as always, its good to be home again!

I guess it's back to the job search for me. I had no hours last week (thats why we were able to stay away for the week) and I have only 2 days of work this week. I knew the job was seasonal when I took it but I didn't think it would slow down this much already. I guess I'll be spending the afternoon sending out some resumes. I really hate the thought of having to do interviews again and sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. Will be keeping my fingers crossed that something comes up quickly this time.

I think I'm going to go over the site and do some updates this morning. Brittney is at the youth center this morning so I'm free till 11:30. I have some pages I'd like to add to and a new siggy from Tracy's Always list.

Have a wonderful day everyone. I hope the sun is shining on you all today

Couldn't sleep tonight so I thought I'd come in here and play around with the pages a little.

I just updated the "links" page. I'll be adding to this page all the time so don't forget to check back often for new links

Got this in my e-mail the other day and wanted to share it with you. This happened on the base where we live.