What's a little adventure?

We seriously have been blessed with wonderful people in our lives.  John and Sonya Post {Leah, Ethan, Kaliegh, Caleb and Rueben} are two of them.
When they heard we had 12 days of "waiting time", that is, time between moving out of Drayton till the actual date we could hit the road, they generously offered us one of their basement apartments to live in till the day we were planning on leaving (October 8th).  We took them up on the offer as it really was ideal, the location was great,  our kids all have so much fun together and we would have a place to settle into for the time being.   Sounds good right? And it was. The first couple days anyways.
Turns out, God had different plans for both of our families. The second night at their place we woke up at 11pm to Sonya banging on the door telling us to grab the kids and get out, the place was on fire!!  Who ever, ever, thinks that will happen to them?  So we picked up the kids buckled them into the van, backed up from the house and waited for the firetrucks.
Looking back, we all were pretty calm considering what was going on.  John was gone to a Blue Jays game in Toronto, and Sonya was going to bed when she smelled smoke coming from her bathroom. She called her Father-in-law who lives just down the road he came over and helped confirm her fears. They together grabbed their kids then came to get us. After a bit of investigation it turns out some wiring had caught fire from a pot light in the on-suite.
Terribly Frightening.  But still so much to be thankful for. (The house had a fire wall which saved half of it!)  So many what-ifs. But God was gracious and all of us were safe and sound.  Seven firetrucks, two water trucks, a hole cut into the new (two month old) roof, axes hacked into the side of the house, insulation thrown all over, and a couple of hours later, the fire was out. But the Post family was homeless and so were we.
Imagine being Andy's mom who gets woken from her sleep in the middle of the night by the phone. Then on the other end is her son who says" Do you mind if we sleep at your place? The house here is on fire..."
Even though the stay at the Posts was short, we had alot of fun the time we were there!  And even if a fire is not something I would want others to experience it does create a bond that we will always share.

Our apartment was were the two basement windows are.

 

Seth and Leah biked down these steps...

...thump, thump, thump... (l-r, Ethan, Seth, Leah and Kaliegh)

Packing

Considering my hubby and I are both purgers (we love throwing things away), packing still was a big job!  Hours and hours of sorting, shifting, wrapping and resorting led to a real good feeling of organization and...me thinking that the trailer was getting smaller by the hour.  (!!)  Which leads to "if there's not going to be enough room for everything, what comes and what stays??"  
My sewing desk - (which I picked up from a garage sale for a few dollars) Demolished.
My computer desk? to the BIN.
The baby crib - It was well used and recently coloured with markers anyway...
White Ikea chair? SOLD!!
Couches from basement? Gotta go.
Outdoor play set?  Lauren from next door would love it.
Two big plants? Louise and Amy kindly took them off me.
Bob The Builder battery run Scoop?  Left in Uncle Auke's shop.

As the date got closer we also needed all the help we could get (it's easier to pack it into the trailer mentally then physically).  Leave it to Aunt Natasha {Gavin and Tanner} and Mom and Dad {Micah} to come to the rescue and save the day.
The departure schedule was as follows
Tuesday, September 24th, Tash came and helped (I could never have done it with out her capable cleaning and sorting skills!!!!)
Wednesday, September 25th, Mom and Dad came to help lift all the heavy items and make the inside of the trailer into a human Tetris board.
Thursday, September, 26th,  Aunt Margriet lovingly took the Seth and Tristan while Andy and I cleaned and sorted all the last minute things.
In between that all the worlds best neighbours came pouring over with offers to help, and advice/kind words, baking and gifts of all sorts.  When I say I'll miss Drayton, it's the people I'm talking about.  Those long evenings when Andy was working they were my sanity savers:) When in a pinch for a babysitter, I could always run next door.  If the kids needed a few more kids to share the soccer ball with, I could always count on someone seeing us and running over to save the day:) Never mind those times when I couldn't decide what to wear (how's this Louise??) or the fire alarms when off and Andy wasn't home (BEN!! I need help!).
Louise, Amy, Tammy, Sjoukje, Megan, Donna, Robin, Laura {and families!}, you all were such blessings in our lives!  Thanks for everything.  We will miss you more then you know!
xoxox

 This is the kitchen when Natasha and I were busy with it.  A picture worthy place of organized mess:)

Eating who-knows-what! Gotta get that freezer empty!

Boxes

We had 12 days of living in limbo - need to pack for that too!

Add caption

The day Opa and Oma came things really cleared out fast.  No more kitchen table! 

A much needed coffee break. 

Happy little boys through out it all!

You can see the trailer filling up...

...and the garage emptying out...

Tenting it

Seth and Tristan wanted to sleep in out beach tent for weeks already. They ask daily and my answer is always the same.  "No."  Sometimes things really don't seem fair do they?
This is where dad's come in. They are the best ever, and they come up with amazing ideas. Sleeping in the tent in the basement!!!!   That way if someone does get scared or have to use the washroom in the middle of the night its not a big deal since you are already in the house! 
Andy and I crept downstairs when we went to bed to gaze on our sleeping beauties, sleeping soundly, in a tent, in the house.  Ahh. This dream fulfilled:)

Taber - for the second time

So we are moving. If anyone has read anything from this blog, I'm sure they got that already:)
We are packing up and moving West, to a chicken farm that is really really far away from all that we know.  It's so exciting. And scary.  And.. so many "ands".  Somedays we want to jump up and go, other days I get jittery and want to crawl into my bed and never get out and face reality.  We made this decision together, thru lots of prayer and with the best interests of our family in mind.
But the fact of the matter is, we've only ever seen the pace we are to call home ONCE.  Yup. We were there for three days last year.  Thats not much time to base something this life-changing on. So we decided it might be a good idea to actually go again and see it before we really pack and bags for good and call it home.  We went for four days this time, with Rowan, while my mom and dad graciously cared for the big boys. 
And we loved it. Truly we did.  Driving up felt good.  Walking around was great. The town of Taber is not too small, not too big. Just perfect.  The skies are huge.  The ground is fertile.  There is room for growing boys. There is a congregation of fellow believers.  There are no traffic jams.
And the best part?
I will get to see my husband, the love of my life, Every. Single. Day. Breakfast. Lunch. and Supper.
Who wouldn't be excited about that?

We flew a red-eye flight out of Hamilton

Calgary is three hours from Taber so we caught a Hotel. Rowan LOVED it!

Tristan is 4!!

Wow. Time flies.  Because our Trissy is such a little guy - meaning petite and feather light - I always think he is younger then he really is so he gets away with alot:)  But Tristan is (according to him - finally) FOUR, and he was pretty excited about it. We love this spunky, bright, incorrigible character.  Tristan is inseparable from Seth, and they share everything, including birthday presents.   
We thank God daily for giving us this son to raise to the glory of His name.  We love watching you grow Tristan and pray that God will continue to bless you and keep you, that we may enjoy you for many more years, and that you may bring glory to your Father in heaven. I have to learn daily to stop and enjoy the small moments, to count my blessings, and revel in the dirty fingers, gooey kisses and messy floors. Children are only small once and I want to cherish every moment.

Four years old with lots of new little legos!!  How fun!

While the big boys played with the new Legos, Rowan dove for the Fishy game.

Party Time!

Cousins Aldrik loved the icing - sugar, sugar and more sugar

Trailer

We bought a trailer.  And it's pretty exciting. Who ever would have thought?  I had seen it a few times before purchasing it off a friend, and it seemed alot bigger when they owned it....:D Our whole house has to fit in it, we'll have to wait and see how that goes:)