- Obviously, we made It safely to Alberta, our new home. The trip here was, well, long! It took us a total of eight days to get here - seven of those actually on the road. Our sixth day we got to Manitoba at our friends, Rob and Lena's house. They actually had just moved there from New Brunswick just a few months before. You know you're good friends when they let your family of six stay with you in your new house the day after you moved in! They have three kids the same ages as our three youngest and it was so nice to see them. We decided to stay an extra night and day to just have a break from the road. I think the kids needed it and they loved being out of the car and playing with their friends. It worked out nicely as it turns out I got one of my really bad headaches that day. You know, the kind where I can only lay down in a quiet, dark room with my eyes covered in order to get rid of it. That would have been miserable to deal with in the car!
- We got here on Wednesday, December 5, around 3:30 in the afternoon. We stopped by the house we are renting to see it for the first time, and then headed over to the church building. The kids were able to meet the pastor and his wife and the secretary and see the building. Then we headed out to some church members house where we stayed for the next three days.
- We didn't stay at "our" house for a few days because it, we'll, it needed a good cleaning. It basically needed a GOOD scrubbing from top to bottom. Ad I didn't want to stay there with Lexi crawling all around before we could clean the carpets. So a sweet couple was kind enough to take us in.
- The Friday after we got there, a bunch of ladies met us at the house and we cleaned and cleaned. What a blessing that was! There was even a mom in the church who offered to watch our kids for us so we wouldn't have to worry about them. The neat thing is that her good friend who has four young kids lives right across the street from us, and they both watched our kids there so they kids were close to me and they got to meet and play with the neighbour kids. They loved that.
- Exactly one week after we got here, the moving truck arrived with our things. That was an exciting day! And overwhelming. Remember all that packing I did? Well now I had to UN - pack everything! I'm still not totally done, but the most Important things are done.
- We love, love, love our church. They have welcomed us with open arms. We have been invited over to their homes, given furniture (remember how I sold most of our other furniture?), and truly felt welcomed. They had a special welcome fellowship for us, and took up an offering to help us with the settling in expenses. Let me just say the amount blew us off our feet. On top of that, we have been given beef to fill our freezer, jams, and so much other goodies to fill our pantry. This church body has been so giving. The kids got more Christmas gifts than they even needed, as well. We are truly humbled by their generosity.
- After only being here for a little over two weeks, we took off again on another road trip. Apparently we thought we hadn't had enough of the car. But actually, we drove 20 hours south to surprise my family for Christmas. All along we were telling them we didn't think we were going to be able to come. But, due in part to the extreme generosity of the church people, we were able to go, we just didn't tell anyone. (In case you didn't know, my side of the family tries to get together every other year for Christmas). So, we drove through the big ole state of Montana, and then Wyoming and finally Colorado. We took two days to do this. We got there around four in the afternoon, on December 21. I had been praying the whole time that God would work it our that we could totally catch my parents off guard. S when we pulled on their street, and saw my parents going to their neighbours to deliver some goodies, I new it wasn't going to be as fun to yell "surprise!"
But, God knew what my hearts desire was and my parents didn't notice us - even though my mom looked RIGHT at our van! S the went around the corner to the neighbours door. We quickly jumped out of the car, telling the kids to be quiet. We all stood in a line in the driveway. My dad came around the corner first and just stopped in his tracks, staring at us - not saying a word. My mom came right behind him, almost ran into him, then looked up at us. We all together yelled, "Merry Christmas!" Well, my mom's mouth dropped to the ground almost, she started to cry, and said, "What are you doing here?" We then all started hugging and laughing and it was great! My brother Jeremy and his family were there as well. They must have heard the commotion as they all came out of the house and we all hugged and such. The surprise couldn't have gone better. It was awesome!
- We spent 10 days in Colorado and it was great to be with my family. I hadn't seen my brother's Kip and Jeremy and their families for two years - since the last time we were out there. And they hadn't meet Lexi yet. So it was really nice to see them. We had a great Christmas, complete with kids getting that awful stomach virus. One night my sis-in-law Jenni and I were up all night with kids who were throwing up every few minutes. Thankfully, though, Lexi didn't get it. Its so much worse the younger they are. And that virus is pretty bad. Be thankful if it hasn't reached your household!
- Once we got back to Alberta, it was time to resume life and get on with our new normal. Matt officially started at church, we started back up to school (we are still a bit behind, but we have an good excuse - at least I think so), and life has sorta slowed down. We have been sort of in a state of limbo the past 5 months since July, so it is nice to have some normalcy again.
- We are loving living here. I love the town, I love the church. I'm thankful for the home we are able to rent and we are very happy here. It was a hard transition - this past year was not one I would necessarily want to repeat. But God showed Himself so real in so many ways. He took care of us in ways I could never have imagined. Honestly, we have been without an official paycheck since the end of July. We still won't get one for another two weeks. But we have not gone in want for anything. If anything, we have had more than we ever have in our married life. And that is all attributed to our awesome, incredible, and loving God.
So, I suppose that, in a somewhat large nutshell, fills you in on us. It feels good to be back to blogging, although I really haven't had the time or energy (yes, it takes energy to blog) to sit at the computer lately. But I'm back, so stay tuned to hear all about our new adventures in our new lives!
Until next time...
1 comment:
Happy you're back! :)
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