All Things Moving...

Time is passing and I think I can speak for both Nathan and myself when I say that we are feeling a lot more peace about the house than we were at the beginning of the week. Thanks SO much for praying! God has been teaching us amazing things about faith.

Behold, our updates...

House selling:
We showed the house on Wednesday evening and the feeling I got was that the showing wasn’t great and that we wouldn’t hear from the family again. Today, Nathan went in to talk to our real estate agent and he came home quite encouraged. It seems there are only 4 houses in town that are in our price range, with ours being at the top end of the range. BUT…ours is the nicest and our agent said that he would be shocked if any of the others went (for their asking price) before ours. So that was good news. We also found out that my impression of the showing early this week was perhaps a bit inaccurate. Because the family who saw it was at the house for under 15 minutes, I assumed that they had just walked in, looked at the size, and walked right back out. Apparently they loved it! Who knew? One slight downside (though it looks like a pretty good option, all downsides considered)…this family is new in town from Germany so they can’t get financing for 6 months. So that means that we would get a “down-payment” now and in 6 months, when the bank gives them a mortgage, we would receive the rest of the payment. In the meantime, they would be renting the house from us. It wouldn’t be ideal but it sounds like a LOVELY second option. The “down-payment” would put us in the financial bracket we need to be in to be able to go to school for first semester, and then we would receive the rest of the payment just as second semester was starting (PERFECT!). So none of this is for sure, but it is the most action we’ve had on the house in months, so I just had to share a bit of it! Seems God is working something out for us afterall…why do we always doubt? Has he ever failed us?

Moving/Leaving/Gone:
I’ve realized that I’m very much like my mom when it comes to moving. I would rather just continue on like usual until right before the move and then just pack and move. Some people find it more stressful to leave the packing for last minute, but I’m the opposite. I enjoy coming home from training at work or changing addresses in town and having our house still feel like home. To me, it feels like the move is a lot less stressful when I can still relax in the same home I’ve enjoyed for the last few years without boxes crowding my resting mindframe. So packing is all set to BEGIN on Saturday. That will give us four full days to pack (three if we don’t pack on Sunday) and clean the house. I think this will be plenty of time. And it will also give Nathan and I time to organize as we pack. We’ll be packing into piles. Seminary pile. Saskatchewan unpack pile (what we will unpack at his parents). Saskatchewan storage pile (what will be in boxes for the next 2 years). We’re also in the process of saying goodbye to friends. I’ve realized that what I wrote in the “Here’s how I feel about Goodbye’s” post is not completely accurate. Moving just isn’t like that. You can’t just up and leave without saying goodbye. I’m finding that I’m enjoying these last farewells. But I’ve realized that they’re much easier and more fun when I’m actually seeing friends in these last days here than just seeing acquaintances. So yeah. Lots of farewells with friends this week! And I feel like I’m staying on top of the move with my mind too. It’s starting to feel real and I’m ok with that. I’m doing really good. Not even too stressed today. And we’re moving in five days! Five!

Nathan’s birthday:
Last year I surprised him with an XBOX 360 (which is way more than we normally spend for birthdays), and two years before that I made a surprise scavenger hunt for him in the city. I usually find it great fun to plan a surprise for his special day. But this year, with everything going on, his birthday (yesterday) just came and went without much birthday hoopla. I felt absolutely TERRIBLE because I didn’t even have gifts or a cake. BUT, I am planning a party for tonight with a couple friends and then I’m going to plan a super-duper surprise for him when we are in Saskatchewan. It won’t be his actual birthday, but then it’ll be even more of a surprise for him. So he knows that something is coming but has no idea what or when (neither do I at this point) but keep your eyes open for the surprise sometime in the next couple months!

Well, I think that’s all of our updates. We have moving on the mind and not much else. We’re excited and a bit nervous and scared and curious and everything all at once. But we’re doing good. We’re more in love than ever and are so glad that this next step is being taken with each other. I can’t imagine walking on this water…jumping off this cliff…stepping into the blindness…with anyone else but my husband. So happy belated birthday, Nathan! I LOVE YOU!!!



Now to clean out my office…*sniff,sniff*

A Story

There was once a woman. The woman lived in her house and had very little. Her husband had just passed away and she was left alone with their two sons and her husbands’ debt. She was worried that she wouldn’t be able to put food on the table for her growing boys. You see, she was very poor.

One day, while talking with some friends, this woman learned that a very well-known man was going to be in their area. Immediately she thought of asking him for help. She didn’t know much about who he was, but he was known to help people and it was said that he was a good man who could be trusted.

The next day, she went to where he was staying and as he passed by, she called out to him. She told him briefly of her situation and shared her fears that her sons would be taken if she couldn’t pay her debt. The man asked her what she had in her house.

Wondering why he would want to know that, she replied that she had nothing. The few cooking supplies that she had would run out in only a matter of days.

The man, unhindered by her answer, told her to go to all of her neighbours’ houses and to collect as many canisters and jars and bowls as she could. Then, she was to bring them all back to her house and go inside with her kids. Once inside, they were to start filling everything they had collected with the last of her oil.

This seemed slightly strange to the woman, and she hesitated. What would everyone think as she collected jars from them? But she thought quickly through her options and realized that this one was probably her best. And besides, if she was going to lose her house, her sons, and everything she owned, her reputation would be ruined anyway. What harm could it do?

So, the woman sent one son to the left and the other son to the right and told them to knock on every door and ask for jars. The sons protested, afraid they might run into some friends while completing this unusual task, but one look at their mother’s face and they quickly ran to obey. The three of them collected jars until they covered the table. They collected jars until they covered the floor. There were many, many, MANY jars. Then, they went inside and closed the door, just as the man had said.

Once inside, the woman took a deep breath, looked at her half empty jar of oil and began to pour. Before she knew it the first jar was full and there was still oil to pour. She thought this was strange and moved on to a larger jar. To her amazement, her oil filled this jar as well. What was going on? Another jar was filled. And another. And yet another. Jar after jar was brimming with oil.

The woman excitedly called for her sons to fetch another jar, but they only shrugged and shook their heads. All the jars had all been filled. The woman glanced into the jar that she held in her hands and noticed that the bottom was dry. The oil had stopped flowing. The blessing flowed to the brim of each jar that had been gathered in faith. What if she hadn’t stepped out in faith and put her reputation on the line? She shook her head, her heart beating in her chest, at what she’d almost missed in her hesitation to collect jars. The blessing ran out only when the jars did.

Adapted from 2 Kings 4.

Update on house selling

Our house is still not sold and moving day is only 8 days away. It kinda all caught up with both Nathan and myself today and we've been having a rough day with trying not to focus on the waves and to keep our eyes up on Jesus. (walking on the water analogy) Long story short, having the house not sell by fall might put our plans for school on hold for a while. We're trying to be patient and wait, but that 8 day "deadline" seems to be creeping up quickly...suffocatingly so. Please pray.

Not much of a Green Thumb

So, I used to always say that I would never have a garden. This statement was due to the fact that I hated the jobs that I used to have in my mom's garden. Planting. Weeding. Picking. Cleaning up. My mom sometimes reminds me of a time when I was going to plant my own garden (we always had that option, from what I remember) and just as I was set to begin, I decided against it because I thought of all the work yet to come (especially cleaning up the plants at the end of the season!). Scared of hard work? Nah...I just like to choose my hard work carefully!

But about two years ago, I decided that, since I was all grown up, I could handle having a garden of my own. So, with my mom's help, a garden of perrennials was planted. I thought I could handle the weeding (see picture). Apparently not.


A couple hours, two tired people, two sunburned backs, and one terrible blister later, we had a fully weeded garden. I love the look of a clean garden...I love how black the dirt is when there are no weeds. I hear that you just need to stay on top of it. That's what I'm not so good at. Ah well. I'll blame it on the rainy spring that we had and move on. : )



I'll probably plant another garden at our next house. I'll probably keep on top of the planting and weeding and picking and cleaning. I'll probably love it next time. Or not. But I do LOVE to see gardens produce. I love the fresh flowers and the fresh veggies. Somehow the end makes all the sweat and tears worth it.

(read post below first, then this one will make sense)

Getting my word in (edgewise):
I AM very proud of Nathan, but I didn't interrupt his blog writing because I also know that he's a great writer and knew that he would have fun writing and I would have fun reading. WAY TO GO, NATHAN!!! Funny how he lost lbs in the last 8 weeks and I'm pretty sure I gained! I guess I ate those cookies that he refused...

And Nathan's beard is pretty sweet. In general, I'm not a big fan of bearded men, but on certain men it is alright. But in my opinion, this rule of thumb should apply: If you have to comb it, shave it.

What is Svelte, Bearded and Rich?

In the interest of full disclosure this is not Niki writing. Nope it is her Svelte bearded and slightly richer than he was yesterday husband writing. Niki told me that I was supposed to “guest author” this post. Really I was hoping that she would go and sing my praises, but I guess since I’ve been as humble as Moses (Nu 12:3) lately I guess it would be ok to brag for a while.

During my first week at Cargill, the other employees and I all chipped in $20 and created the BIGGEST Loser… Altona Style. Well after eight whole weeks of Celery Sticks (no dip) no carbs, no red meat, no dairy, and a hour of grueling cardio followed by 45 minutes of weights every day…. or perhaps closer to the truth, eating slightly better avoiding Niki’s baking like the plague (there is just no saying no to 8 fresh buns in a sitting) and using Turbo Jam once a week when the guilt set in. I was crowned king!

It was actually a pretty intense competition. Second and third place each lost a little over 12 pounds. But I surprised myself weighing in at a very svelte 193.4 lbs. for a total lost of 14.6 (also known as losing 7% of my weight). So what did I receive for all my hard work you ask? I feel great about myself, my pants are all way too loose (usually a good thing) and $160 cold hard CASH! I started my “I’m done this competition” by promptly falling off the eating well wagon, and eating not one but TWO 10 oz steaks (There was a worker appreciation at lunch today) and now I am making plans for my hard earned money… I’m torn… do I take my beautiful wife out for a night on the town or… do I spend it selfishly on myself (*sigh*) this is almost enough so I could buy myself a Mandolin (I know I’ve been listening to too much folk music but they sound so cool). Right now I’m leaning towards taking Niki out, after all she was my encourager through this all so she obviously deserves her fair share… although… let’s face it… just looking at me should be reward enough :D

Well enough bragging about me on Niki’s blog… sorry to all of you who just wasted your time reading this hoping Niki was going to stop me and take over sooner.

By the way… I’m growing a beard… it’s killer Indie right now!

A little about Me (no pun intended)

I am someone who…
- would rather walk or bike than drive all summer
- loves to be creative, but needs to be creative on her own terms, in her own time
- hoped that she would have 2 or 3 kids by now…and one on the way
- loves to read, write and doesn’t mind public speaking…pretty much anything to do with words is great
- enjoyed math and science and English in high school MUCH more than history
- loves to smell good…like Bath & Body Works soap and lotion…mmm…
- enjoys colourful clothing…in a tasteful, moderate way
- is not sure that she remembers how to just sit and waste a day in front of the tv…
- loves rivers and nature
- used to tell stories to her friends and brother, just to see if they would believe her…they usually would
- loves a clean house
- can’t imagine life without my husband
- isn’t sure how excitement and nervousness is supposed to mix
- likes to think about big questions…and talk about them once they’re thought through


Pretty much, I am me. What you see is what you get. I’m pretty open and honest, though quiet, which makes it take a bit longer to see that. I like such a variety of things and am pretty adventurous, as long as the adventure isn’t financially irresponsible or potentially stupid. For instance, I would love to go skydiving and/or bungee jumping, though I’m not sure I would ever pay the money for it. I would also love to visit all but one of the continents of the world long enough to see and live in the vastly different cultures for a while. If I had to name the continents in order of my desire to visit them, it would be as follows: South America, Europe, Australia, Africa, Asia, North America. I have no desire to visit Antarctica. I played piano for 9 years in grade school and have my grade 8 completed. Some days I dream of continuing my music education, but I realize that I would need to be dreaming about it every day for it to happen. I enjoy music, but it annoys me like crazy when people talk about bands and albums and songs and tours. Currently, I am reading “Follow Me” by Jan Hettinga and “Animal’s People” by Indra Sinha. I enjoy long walks on the beac…

This is a picture I drew…

When I was little and was asked to draw a picture, I always remember drawing the same thing. Green grass; blue sky; a tree (with apples, if it was a special day); a big sun in the top, right-hand corner with yellow rays, short-long-short-long; a flower (always pink or purple); and a beach ball. Sometimes a stick person would make it into the scene as well.

When I got older, and a little more advanced, sometimes I would draw mountains (I probably saw my sister draw them and wanted to be just like her). There was nothing else in the scene but lots and lots of snow capped mountains. (see below)


Oh, the simple joy of coloring with crayons. What did you draw when you were a kid?

Are you my Neighbour?

It’s a beautiful day in this neighbourhood
A beautiful day for a neighbour
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?...



No, I never really watched Mister Roger’s Neighbourhood. I have no idea what the show is about. My first guess would be neighbours, but I really have no clue. For some reason, though, when I sat down to type this, the first line of the theme song came into my head. I guess it’s a pretty popular line, because I sure don’t know it from the show. The only reason I have the next three lines here is because I googled what I knew and found the rest!

But neighbours seems to be a good theme for today. Is it just me, or do you see your neighbours more once the weather is warm too? It’s so nice to be able to go outside and see who has been living next to you all winter. And a lot of people seem to become more “neighbourly” with the nice weather too. There are the daily greetings, the sharing of lawn-care tools, and the smell of what everyone else is having for supper each night.

And then there are the random things that make having good neighbours extra nice. The things they do because they see that you need it, even though you don’t want to ask. The things that are offered, just because of your close proximity to them.

The other day was garbage day. Moving brings out a lot of extra garbage. The town limit for number of bags is 2 per week. I understand this. It makes sense. But I put out 4 bags. Every week I put out my one or two bags, so I thought that this week, and only this week, I might receive some grace and have my 4 bags taken. And surely the fact that my neighbour across the street had only one small grocery bag would help my odds of a 4-bag week. Not so much. I came home after work to see two big black garbage bags still sitting on my driveway/grass. I was pretty ticked. Later that afternoon, I went over to our neighbours’ house to pick up our lawn mower so that I could mow quickly before supper. She made a comment that our garbage hadn’t been picked up and I, still feeling pretty ripped that I was stuck with two extra bags of garbage and only two more garbage days to get rid of them before moving day, told her what had happened. She, having just moved in, said that I would be welcome to use her driveway the next week except that she usually has her two full bags on her own. I said that was fine and might just have to look for empty driveways the next week but would be stuck with these two bags until then (with an open house the next day and nowhere to store them). I went home, freshly annoyed with the garbage people, but when I went inside to change my clothes for mowing, I caught a glimpse of this neighbour and her son walking back across the street with my two garbage bags in their hands. Now they are sitting on her driveway, waiting for garbage day.

I felt incredibly humbled and grateful. It’s such a small thing, but it just made me feel so grateful for my neighbours who would sacrifice their driveway so that mine could be clear for our open house. I think I’ll have to bake some cookies and take them over as a thank you. It has made me think, though, am I a good neighbour to have? I’m probably not a bad neighbour…I keep our lawn mowed and our dog quiet. We don’t party late and loud and don’t use more than our allotted space. But is being a good neighbour about your neighbours not noticing you, or is it about them noticing you but in a good, appreciative way? How can I go above and beyond to be a good neighbour wherever I am? What can I do to be intentional about that? Hmm…

60th Post and a list of 60...

thoughts about moving...

1. the move is only19 days away
2. the thought of the move being only 3 weeks away (less now) kept me up for over an hour the other night
3. the house has 19 days to sell and we really think it will...
4. we've had 2 farewells...church and "former youth" aka friends
5. I've seen some people for the last time in a while
6. when I meet people on the street, I keep thinking that it could be the last time I see them for a LONG time
7. the house is not packed
8. we have a small stack of empty boxes in our house, waiting to be filled
9. I have a mental list of things to do before we move
10. I have a mental list of things that we need to do shortly after/during the move
11. I have a mental list of things to do after the move, before California
12. I think soon I'll be stressed enough to write down all my mental list in an effort to keep my sanity
13. I have moments of sheer excitement when I think about all the change
14. I have moments of near panic when I think about all the change
15. I only have 10 more days of work after today
16. Ok, so 16 sounds like 60, right? I think I'll have to stop here and just call it a random list of thoughts about moving with no relation to my 60th post.

So the move is getting closer and closer and, as you can probably tell from how often I mention it here on my blog, it is at the very forefront of our minds these days. Some days I just realize again how close it is, but most of the time it still feels so far away. Life still feels so...normal. We're both still going to work everyday, like always. (I'm not even training for my position yet) Our house still looks like it always has. We still own our house. I still mow the lawn every week. I still get my groceries from the store and pay my regular bills like usual. Lennox still gets walked every night and our evenings are still mostly free (when Nathan isn't working). So I guess it's not a surprise that sometimes the nearness of the move shocks me. Doesn't stuff need to change and feel different when you're so close to such a large move? Yes, my mind feels different, because we're making so many plans...but I almost feel like we're just planning an extended vacation. I just feel like we'll be in Saskatchewan for a month and a half and then we'll just come back to our town, to our house, and continue life as always. Truthfully, I hardly even think about California when I think about the move. It's still too far away. Do I dare pause here and count the weeks until that move? What if I panic? Hmm...now I'm curious. Be right back.

... ... ...

8 weeks.

56 days until we leave our home country and venture south. Hmm. It still doesn't feel very real. I'm glad. I didn't really want to have a little panic attack here in my office when I counted the weeks. 8 weeks still sounds like a long way off. That's still 2 months. Manageable. That's a whole lifetime away...

p.s-how do you like the new blog title and layout? I felt like it was time for a change, but didn't want to confuse anyone with a new blog address. Like it?

Cloud Pictures...

I've been practicing my picture taking when it comes to clouds. I always love pictures that show just how "big" the sky is on the prairies (as if it's actually larger on the prairies...we can just see more of it), especially when we have awesome weather and the clouds are amazing. I think I'm getting it, but I still have some work to do...





The blur is Lennox rolling in what is probably a disgusting smell...but he had fun.



And then I decided to play with the custom settings on the camera and got this. I like it. I really like all kinds of road pictures...

Naturally...

When there is humidity outside, I can straighten my hair and use as much product as I want in the morning but after being outside for 20 minutes, my hair starts to curl. Having grown up (for the first five years of my life) as a missionary kid (MK) in South America, where the humidity is pretty high, I had blonde, naturally curly hair. The move to Canada straightened my hair out pretty quick, but often in spring, if we have a really wet one, my hair will curl again. Thankfully it’s not too hard to control, humid or not! Unfortunately, the curls happen most beautifully in the front and the back just decides to flip every-which-way it wants (or stays straight). I guess that means I would make a pretty good Jewish man. (no disrespect intended)

So a while ago, probably back in February/March now that I think of it, I started working out every day. For about a month, I was faithful to my daily after supper routine. I would clean up from supper, do the dishes, work out, shower and then relax. All was going well until one day…*cue suspenseful music*…I didn’t feel good. Now, I’m pretty sure we all know what that means. Bye-bye happiness. Hello lonliness. I think I’m gonna cry…bye-bye love… (Ok, so if you don’t know George Harrison, that will have made no sense to you) BYE-BYE ROUTINE!!! So last night, after a 3 month hiatus, I pulled out the good old Turbo Jam DVD and the little bit of gumption that I had and whipped out a pretty mortifying workout. I had no idea I’d lost that much ground. Oops. I decided two things last night. 1. Don’t ever let one sick day ruin your routine for 3 months again. 2. I don’t so much like the Ab Party. “Party” might have been the wrong word for it…

I’ve been having dreams about baldness, comb-overs and strange men with shaved heads…

Our "former youth" farewell:

Ryan - the "guitar hero"

Maggie - the "world traveller"

Andrew - (my brother) - another "world traveller" and summer hobo

Nathan and Brett - the "deep thinkers"

Patti - the "knifer"
Ryan - the "sword swallower"
Maggie - the "fondue-fork fiend"

I'll let the pictures take it from here...

Hence...the scary dreams mentioned in the title...

Moving is 3 weeks (23 days) away. It still doesn’t seem real. The house isn’t packed yet. It’s not even sold yet, for that matter. We’ve had some “see-ya-later’s” already… people we won’t see again before we leave. But most people we will still see around before we leave, so even that doesn’t make it seem real. One thing that makes the move seem as close is the lack of food in our house. It’s quite funny, actually.

Our deepfreeze:
- 3 turkeys (thanks to the last 3 Christmases when I cooked a chicken instead)
- 1 lasagna (I’m looking forward to enjoying it after a long day of packing)
- 2 Pizza Pops

Our fridge has a few more things, and our cupboards and pantry…but I’m trying to do as little shopping as possible and when we run out of things, we just do without. So, as of today, in the next few weeks we will be eating a bit of farmer sausage, a frozen pizza, a couple home-made pizzas, lots of rice and KD (which is also easy to move, so I don’t plan on finishing everything!), and frozen vegetables. Mmm… I may bake bread/buns yet before we leave so I can use up the last of the flour. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of cleaning out the food in our house. We won’t have to move much food. As my meal options get smaller and smaller, the move feels closer and closer!

I’m getting really excited about moving. We’ve been offered that we can paint Nathan’s parents’ guest room, which will kinda be our “permanent address” in Canada while we’re gone. I’ve been dreaming of different options for paint and curtains and set-ups. Even in our house, with only 3 weeks left, I haven’t been able to stop re-organizing and switching up the layouts and accessories in our rooms. When I’m inspired, why hold back, right?

Being able to look ahead on our calendar and figure out where we’ll be when has been fun. This also makes the move seem more real. We have lots of ideas of things we want to do and people we want to see while we’re in-between here and Cali. I think perhaps we’ll have to start scheduling (loosely, of course!) things in so we don’t miss anything and still feel like we have some down-time before the next big thing!

Last night, I lay in bed for quite a while, thinking about moving and people and random stuff. I started thinking about the “what if’s” of our finances. With the house not sold, I can’t see us affording more than one semester of school. And what if we can’t get student loans? I wasn’t thinking about it in an “Oh, no, our life is going to fall apart!” panic-y type way. More in a “Well, if the house doesn’t sell before Christmas, we’re going to have to have a backup plan in place,” calm and thoughtful type way. I’m sure it’ll all work out, but the house selling would make things MUCH easier in the financial way.

As I have been praying about the house selling, I’ve been wondering what exactly to pray for. Of course I ask God to please help our house to sell. But how much control does he really have over our house selling? Sure, he can influence certain people to look at it or help certain things to work out, but eventually it boils down to human free will and God can’t won’t force anyone to buy our house. So when I pray, should I be asking God to provide for us, instead of for our house to sell? Should I be focusing more on the big picture? I think, probably, that I should. I should focus more on the big picture of asking God for his care instead of always the specifics of the house selling, but perhaps a mix of both are ok. Children, for example, feel free to ask their parents for a honey sandwich with no butter and no crusts and peanut butter on the side for dipping(???). These are specifics that would make the snack, in the child’s eyes, absolutely perfectly ideal. The parents look at the situation from their parently viewpoint and know that the child needs, and would like, a snack, but understands that an apple might be more appropriate or healthy for their child at that point. So they give an apple (with peanut butter for dipping). The child could be quite disappointed because it’s certainly not the snack that he asked for, but it is, in fact, provision, so he shouldn’t complain if he’s truly hungry. If our house doesn’t sell, but God chooses to teach us about faith or walking in the unknown or provision instead, shouldn’t we be grateful that He sees the big picture, even when we just see the picture of our house not sold? Sigh…why are lessons so hard to learn sometimes?

Ok, that got long. I’m going to leave it for now.

Bottom line: Moving is a learning curve.

Here’s how I feel about goodbye’s…

Ick.

One thing about moving away from a place is saying goodbye. That’s one aspect of leaving that I could do without. I don’t recall ever enjoying the parting moments when I know that I am taking a permanent step away from where I was. Saying goodbye after a visit with someone is one thing, even if I know that the next time I see them could be years away. It’s the whole, “Today I live here in this place with you and tomorrow I won’t anymore,” that I don’t enjoy. I dream of slipping away, unnoticed…one day the house is full, the next day it’s empty.

I guess I see a move as a “see ya later!” type goodbye. Like after a good visit. It just happens that this visit was almost four years long and I didn’t “visit” with you every day…but it has been a visit nonetheless. Afterall, what residence is ever permanent until Christ comes, right?

So the more I think about it, the more I realize that the difference between a visit goodbye, which I don’t mind, and a moving away goodbye, which I dislike, is the mindset. Moving away goodbyes are always so final. “It’s been good knowing you.” Are we done knowing each other? Will we never speak or see each other again? Perhaps not, though even that is unlikely.

In the past, I’ve avoided these “moving away” goodbyes. I would slip away from camp unnoticed. Even leaving Bethany after both years, especially my second, I would just slip away from the crowd, hop in the car, and drive away. I understand that this probably could come across as me not caring or that I won’t miss being where I’ve been. I assure you this is not the case. I would just rather…rather not have it feel so final.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Here's some pictures that I took last night...still gotta learn to watch for the correct exposure and white balance. These would be so mcuh better if the background was actually white and not sort of pinkish...

Been gone...

Life has felt pretty crazy these last 7 days. I feel like it's been a month since last Thursday...

Last Thursday started like any normal day. When I got home from work, I had a message from my mom. I called her back and heard that my Grandma wasn't doing too well and that her passing would be only a matter of time (short time). This was early afternoon and at supper time we got another phone call saying that she'd gone home (eternal home).

Friday after work I re-arranged the living room (which only took two hours this time). We were selling our lamps in our garage sale so when we took them out, we decided that, without the lamps, the corners looked too empty, so a re-arrangement would have to be done. (yes, I'm smiling...) After that, I carried all the boxes of garage sale stuff upstairs and set up the tables for our sale. I put up a sign and some balloons (because balloons always help). Then all evening I sat outside with Nathan, selling ALOT of stuff!

Saturday came early as I was sitting outside with the sale by 8am. Nathan was at work, so I manned the sale alone with a short half hour break when Nathan came so I could run in to work for month end. I was freezing cold for most of the morning, but by the afternoon, the sun had made it over the house and it was a beautiful day. I burned the left side of my shoulders, legs and chest in the sun (thanks to sitting sideways to the sun all day - oops) but now it has turned into a nice base tan for the rest of my summer tanning.

Sunday was church, lunch, packing, and a solo road trip to Hudson Bay, where the funeral was. I arrived to the sound of my mom's voice saying, "Fred, get everyone's attention. It's time to eat." This is when I realized the perfection of my timing. I walked upstairs, we prayed, and I ate. Alot of the extended family was there, so the evening was spent reminiscing, writing the eulogy, and catching up with everyone.

Monday morning started with breakfast with the extended family. Afternoon was the funeral. I read a tribute to Grandma (what I wrote on my last post), which went well. I'm glad I had the opportunity to do that. It was a celebratory funeral, given that Grandma's life was lived for God and that she was ready to go (both spiritually and physically), but, as all funerals are, still emotional. The rest of Monday was spent with family and family friends at the church and later at my parents' house. By the end of the day, we were all ready for a good sleep.

Tuesday was another big breakfast with extended family. Once they left, my mom and dad and brother sat around and visited. We had lunch together (the first meal that was just the four of us) and then I headed back home. Just under 7 hours later, I arrived to meet my very happy boys.

I'm very glad I went down for the funeral. It was good to see family and people I hadn't seen in years. One cousin I hadn't seen in almost 15 years. We'd never really talked because she was older than me, but we really got along, so that was fun. It was good to catch up with everyone and just to be there for everything. I figured that soon I'll be too far away to just jump in the car and drive over, so I'd better take advantage of it while I can. And it was good.