Grab a cup of hot cocoa for a lengthy update.
In no particular order except the first one.
We left BC. After 21 years we have returned to Alberta but this time not to Southern Alberta. Funny thing is we are north and west of Silverton and the Slocan Valley. Directly South as the crows fly, we would get to Vernon, BC. Hilarious I know. We now live in a small isolated town of Grande Cache, where our new ward meets in Grande Prairie, 2 hours away. There are 2 benefits; Marilee, Drew's Mom lives in GP and it is the Stake Center. This is the first time since leaving Alberta where the drive to the Stake has been less than 4 hours. So when we head up to church, we go on Sat and spend the night with Marilee before going to church at 9am. TBH I am not looking forward to the January switch to 1pm. It will mean driving home in the dark on those days in the winter when the roads are driveable, which I anticipate will be few. Drew has received the approval to perform the ordinance of the sacrament in our home. The first time we did it Drew barely had time to finish chewing the bread before it was time to bless the water. There were only the 3 of us. OH BOY! What a transition this has been. Today we had 7 in our home for church. We only had the sacrament. Upcoming plans are skyping with the Aaronic Priesthood for lessons and receiving a video feed for sacrament meeting. I know Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. It is humbling to BE a part of the answer to someone's prayers. It has been 5 years since there was a sacrament meeting in Grande Cache. I am grateful for the Priesthood in my home.
Drew and I work at the same school. Sheldon Coates is a K-3 school of about 160 kids. He is the Principal and I am the Library Assistant. Alick said it is my dream job! Part-time, library and young children!! He is right. There is a LOT of work to do there but I am up for the challenge. I started training last week. Tuesday, class visits start! I have so many plans. I will try not to work too hard or too much overtime. I do have other responsibilities.
Next challenge! Early Morning Seminary. My boys know I am NOT an early bird. Always dreamed I could be. Well now I have the chance. 7 am classes necessitate an early rise with clear thinking. Doctrine and Covenant is our course of study. If it weren't for a couple of wonderful living examples in our former Nelson branch I don't think I would have even thought of attempting this venture. I know it will be for Alick's benefit, spiritual growth and learning and this is why I am jumping in to do it. Sorry to my 2 eldest sons who had to slog through home-study and online seminary. Life was way too full to overflowing back then I am not sure I could have handled it all. Funny thing happened, our first class we woke to no power and 6 " of snow!! I hope it isn't a sign of things to come..
Before leaving the Slocan Valley we planned and prepared the best we could. We are very grateful for all the help we received in packing, cleaning and moving. This move went much smoother than leaving the island for a number of reasons. It was still tough to leave our dear loved ones behind but we knew we couldn't stay there. Our dear friends from the Branch and Drew's Dad, Wayne came and loaded the truck. We fit everything we wanted to take even though at one point it looked like we would have to leave a 3rd of the load behind. OH we did leave one of our dear kitchen chairs behind by accident. :( I had help packing boxes and cleaning up the place which was timely. Sad thing happened the weekend before we moved. Alick's bike was stolen, the rotter, whoever it was. Apparently it was discovered after we left behind the garbage dumpster by our place a couple of weeks later looking not so nicely. Upon arrival we received some timely help again. This time to move in a few things namely the couch, cupboard units and the piano. I love hearing Drew play the piano and so I INSIST we continue to lug it around with us. It was pretty cool to use the 100 year old freight elevator to take our belongings down from the apartment in Silverton to the street level. The piano just fit on.
We purchased a new vehicle. We prayed our dear red grand caravan would get us moved. The tranny was starting to show signs of tiredness whenever we put it in reverse. So we parked in places where we only had to put it in drive and go forward. That was fun! We had too much stuff to put in only the uhaul truck. We needed the van and little utility trailer for the bikes, canoe, houseplants, table and chairs, and a number of fave things that I didn't want squashed into the truck. Many prayers for that vehicle were spoken and in the end answered. Our drive here was uneventful! It even continued to take us up to church and back 2 Sundays. Drew felt we needed to look around and knowing ICBC only gives you a month to insure it in your new location plus we figured it would not likely pass inspection that we would have to pay $200 for, we chatted about what vehicle we would look at. First let me share with you that the highway we now travel to church on is a lovely road for the first half of the trip. After that it is filled with large trucks. I'm telling you very LARGE trucks. Oilfield ones, diesel work trucks, over-sized load ones. More truck traffic than I have ever seen. On our trip here in May for the interview we saw Moose, Caribou, a Wolf, Grizzlies, and Deer. Needless to say I did NOT want a cute little car that is excellent on gas. A truck isn't so great on gas and you have to worry about empty truck boxes in the winter. Drew wanted something good on gas. I wanted bigger. We compromised with a white Nissan Rogue. It is a lovely vehicle. A little something I will need to get used to is only having 5 seats.
My parents came for a visit. I must admit in days gone by it was stressful getting things ready company, most especially my Mom. This time was pleasant. Probably because we now only have 3 of us in the home, our home is bigger, and we haven't seen each other in quite a while. We toured around our little town, went out for Chinese food to celebrate my new job and enjoy the time out together, walked through the labyrinth, chatted and really had a lovely time.
We are renting a bigger home with 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, a fireplace, dishwasher, washer/dryer, a basement to store our gear and a yard with trees for Drew's hammock! Mom had a little nap in the hammock and did the ice bucket challenge there! Way to go MOM! We have a lovely view of the valley. The best thing is we still live in the mountains but because of our elevation we are up closer to the tops of the mountains and not down in the belly of the valley. The leaves are turning yellow and Fall is approaching. I have a little garden growing under a little temporary plastic greenhouse. I love to experiment in the garden. Kale, Beets, Spring Greens and Radishes.
Living on the North Island for a time we didn't have missionaries. The Campbell River Elders would come up from time to time and stay at our place. I invited our new 'local' serving Elders (Grande Prairie Wapiti Ward, our ward) to spend the night if they needed when they come to Grande Cache. I got a call from the Mission office to confirm we knew the rules and checked on some things about us and our place. Apparently there is a law we are not to run an electrical cord across a public sidewalk, which in the Winter will not be a problem because the driveway is long enough for at least 3 cars.
Our first Sunday in our new ward we were greeted by a couple of friendly faces, hugs and a picnic lunch in the park across the street! Dear Evelyn Smith was visiting her daughter and family in GP who happen to be in our ward. I love the church family we are a part of! We are still connected to our dear friends the Smiths from our former Island Stake. The following Sunday Drew was greeted by a good brother he knew from Lethbridge days, Wyatt Carrel. We are loving our new ward. This past weekend Alick went on a YM overnight camp and had a great time! He is looking forward to the next one already.
Hyrum graduated High School and Seminary! Way to go SON!!
Dexter moved to Edmonton!
Carter moved to Calgary!!! He found a place near Mount Royal University and Dexter moved in.
Cody, a friend of the boys from Castlegar was planning on moving in and the weekend his folks were taking him over they offered to take Hyrum for a 'visit'. He enjoyed it so much he decided to stay and look for a job. So before we moved, the boys all settled in Calgary together. I find it amusing we all moved to Alberta within a few months of each other. Now all of a sudden our family shrunk to 3. Alick admits he LOVES being the only child now. :D I am still getting used to buying less groceries. MUCH LESS!! I bought a 3 pack of cucumbers from Costco and ended up throwing half a cucumber away because it was rotten and gave one to the neighbour kids who's cheer for having cucumber for lunch Alick said it sounded just like they were on the movies.
Phew, the end for now.
Photos another time, sorry.
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