time to say goodbye

this is the hard part, the part that brings me to tears, the part that i didn't want but because it is here we embrace and look forward to what it is that we are heading to. to start off, i need to share with those who read these little writings of mine and encourage me along the way that i find that so very important. written words are often hard to come by, but i find it is a love language of mine and i cherish those things dearly. i cherish quality time as well, something that those who live provinces away can not offer but i understand. however, not in place of anyone, but alongside them, have been added some dear friends from lethbridge, friends that i am not looking forward to saying goodbye to, but friends that i know i am not really leaving. friends that have stepped up and carved a place in our hearts. by name, these are people that during these last few days here have been instrumental in our lives. joan. a member of the church staff who worked with scott, who makes me giggle just thinking about her. anutie joan to sophie, who held her on her third day here in this world, who hates letting her go, who honestly loves her and cares about her and for her. joan is a kind spirit, a woman of many graces. she is the one who would ask how i was doing, how i was enjoying the wind, how i was enjoying the snow. she is the one who i would ask if scott could stay home from work cause the snow was too deep and we people from bc don't venture out in such conditions. she is the one who everyday would patch me through to scott as i phoned just to check in and tell him that i was thinking of him. joan, who has a gameboy in her purse and most likely plays it during church, is a woman who took us under her wing and cared for us well. she is one who i will miss dearly. i would like to say to you joan, that i have enjoyed your smile, i have been encouraged by your words and i will not soon forget the goodness of your husbands baking! pam. i have mentioned pam before...but i find that i need to write more about her as she has shared in tears and heartache over the decisions and processes that have happened here. pam who brings cold drinks to have outside, even if for a few minutes, during her busy schedule, has come to be a bossom friend. she is a blessing from our God. she knows my heart and i have so appreciated talks about our faith, talks about the journeys we find ourselves on, and the need to be real even if it means that the words we use do not sound okay in our Christian communities. she has challenged me on being honest in my pain and has allowed it to be real. pam i need to say to you that i am and will be forever thankful for you and your family and their kindness to myself and my family. i also need to share with you that if you move to the coast i will never leave you in the summer times like your sister! our youth families and the youth themselves. there have been many families that have had us over to their houses, that have invited us in to journey with their kids and themselves, you have all been so instrumental in our stay. your kindness has been overwhelming and your support to my family has not gone unnoticed. i thank you. to the youth, thank you for sharing your time and energies with scott. it means so much to me to see you all so excited about him and i take joy in watching him interact with you all. i know that you have worked your way into his heart and it won't be easy to let you go. thank you for being excited about him when he came and encouraging him during his exit. now for the moving on part. our journey continues, regardless of the people we have to leave behind. it brings us back to the west coast to the little town of langley. scott has accepted a position at trinity western university as a residence director...this means that we will be living on campus and interacting with the college students. each dorm has residence assistance that live with the students and share more one on one with them. however, scott watches over and cares for the assistances and encourages them with the decisions they make and the challenges them on their problem solving skills etc. this position will also allow for myself to be apart of the trinity challenge course, something that i have been passionate about for some time now, since i myself was a student there. it will also allow us to take some courses and further our education...i am excited...scott ummm, i hope he embraces that part of the move! so to langley bc we go...we come... we are excited. our hearts are lifted with the news yet saddened by the reality of leaving. i must continue to pack... our move is happening fast... i need time to say goodbye... i hope this helps...me.

straws and memories

straws, i know that using them does not reduce ones carbon footprint here on earth, and it seems that they go very much against what i stand for...but for some reason straws in the summer can make even a lukewarm drink taste good. perhaps it comes from childhood memories, the cup that was in the shape of an ice cream cone with a plastic vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce topping lid, with the hole in it for the straw...ahhh i loved those cups, and perhaps this was the start of the true joy i get from drinking a drink in the summer time with a straw. i am sure that we all have memories like this, memories of summer time with our family, the funky shorts that were too short and were attached to the gathered top finished off with little bows on your shoulders...all made out of valour. the pink skirt that had the white flowers on it...the skirt in all the summer pictures, the skirt that belongs to your sister, but you took because you want your daughter to wear it for the same reasons your own mom wanted her daughter to wear it. it just makes summer time real.

and so we try to create memories for our daughter...we set out in may with big plans to come to the coast for our annual summer vacation, our vacation in which sophie would be able to put her feet in the ocean, our vacation in which we would camp and surf with our friends on the west coast, our vacation in which we would relax, spend time with family and friends and just enjoy our time together as a new family on our very first vacation. but does anything ever go as planned? not in our family!
we came out at the end of may for my brother in laws wedding with heavy hearts in the news that scotts position at the church may not be his for long. come june 9th he gave his last day there and packed his little office and started a road trip out to the coast, where i was waiting for him, to start our vacation...no...job hunt. we had a few leads to a couple of really great positions in the church and apart of the rdn...however after many interviews and being theologically kick in the behind, we emerge with the slight stress that we have no real place to go and no real job to go...our plan b is for me to return to work in october and scott stay home with sophie.
as things never go the way we think or the way we plan, we still managed to capture some great moments on our trip and spent some quality time with friends...even if we drove three hours one way in the wrong direction to add a little spontaneity to our time! we truly enjoyed the time we got to spend with our family and friends...we send our apologies to sam and rob for overstaying our visit as we waited for our car to be fixed in the garage...to chelsea and scotties for the unfortunate event between our pets...to jeff and gina for putting you out as we borrowed your car as we waited again for ours to be fixed in the garage...to our moms who saw us sob more than usual or normal!
thanks to all those who we got to see and spend time with, thank you for sharing in our journey and encouraging us along the way. we are anxious yet excited to see what the Lord holds for us and the opportunities that await us. i am not yet ready to say goodbye to the friends i have made here, but i will have to soon enough...so until then, this is me, this is my family, this is our adventure.

a little treat

a little treat for you before i write about our travels

today's story

just a quick note to let you all know that we are still alive and loving life. we have been up island, down island, across to the mainland and back, through to the west coast from the east and are still playing here with the intent of heading off to the mainland this coming week and then back to lethbridge to pack and point our moving truck in a direction that we are still not sure of. we will let you know. scott has had some interviews and handed in lots of applications. this has been a fun yet a little stressful holiday/job seeking time. as of today, we have had some car troubles which means a rental, which reminds me of being in a spaceship...not that i have ever been in one, but if i had, this is what it would look like. anyway, a day to remember, a day that it would have been sweet to have a cell phone! if you can imagine, i was in our friends car taking three crazy little girls to mcdonalds to play in the playground as it was pouring rain and they were tried of being wet. scott was to meet me (in our car) there after he had gone to his brothers place to pick up his moms mail. and he did, he met me with sophie in his arms but i did not see the car...he had ran from one end of town to the other, about thirty minutes with sophie in his arms who almost had her head bobbed off from the run! he was wet...both from rain and sweat! so what were we to do, we had four children, two needed car seats and and two adults, and one car...with errands to do. so after some problem solving we all managed to get home and all in one piece...i won't tell you how we did it! as i explained the story to sam, whose child was still with scott getting the rental car, her little eyes got wider and wider, then she smiled and laughed and said she was glad it was us! but we are home safe and sound. we finished with a marshmallow roast and fire. so here we are, leaving the island a little later than we thought, but enjoying our time with our friends. i promise to have some pictures next time...i have lots. take care, we are looking forward to visiting with many of you soon.

its fathers day

so today was scotts very first fathers day...
and i know that it is a day for sophie to enjoy her dad and celebrate just how great he truly is...but i would like to add a few words as hers are not yet understandable.

scott has been a really wonderful dad. starting at the birth, he held my hand and sat with me through every moment, he held her tightly and watched her for hours as she just sat in wonder of this new little world she had just entered. he prayed for her during her first few minutes with us and thanked our Lord for the most beautiful gift He had just given us. soctt has cared so well for our little girl, he has bought her puppets to play together with and lets her watch wrestling with him. he has encouraged her in all her successes and loves her so well...i wish i could write better what it is that i would like to say about him. scott is a great father, one who is whole heartly willing to care for and love his little girl. as a mother, i am so thankful for a man like him...he really is the greatest.we took scott to goldstream park today with nanna...we had a blast... until sophie blasted! poor scott, who was holding her, got it all over him...happy fathers day indeed! she had to ride home naked! poor little sophie.so heres to scott on fathers day...thank you from both sophie and i for being a truly wonderful daddy.

letters from sophie

dear family and friends...

i wanted to share with you what i have been doing since i have arrived on the island, ps i have been having a ball and have had much to do.

we flew into comox and my auntie chels and uncle scotty picked us up...this was the very first time i had seen them...it was so great. my auntie chels is a little weird, but i do love her. she put me in a brown paper bag, held me and loved me for the whole time we were together.

i was even fed my very first orange...not sure if i liked it or not...

my uncle scotty held me and played with me during the reception of my new anutie tiana and uncle thayne's wedding. how fun. my very first wedding and it was beautiful. i am so lucky to have such a wonderful family and now to have a new anutie...yeah for me.

the new addition to our family...tiana werdal!

we visited with friends while we were in parksville, a friend of daddy's who he has known for a very long time, erica and freddy. they have a little boy named charlie, he was very good looking...and he decided he needed to bless me!

then my daddy left to return home and finish his work...i missed him a lot, he is a great dad and i get to celebrate him on sunday, my very first daddy's day. i love you dad.

when dad left, my nanna came upisland to visit with gramma and i and mommy. we went to coombs together and gramma bought me a really fun watermelon hat. we had lunch together and poked in the shops,i even got to see the goats on the roof.

wow...lots to share, and i am not done...

we were finished in parksville and so headed down to victoria.

i have been to dallas point, the beach, fort rod hill and even drank mcdonalds thanks to nanna...mom was not very happy!

i have started to eat solids...rice cereal, squash and peas. have rolled from my front to my back twice and still love my baths.

i thought i would just add a few random pictures of myself before i carry on with my letter...

lets see what else...

i have been up to my pappa's house and visited with his sheep, he also took mommy, auntie shannie, her friend and i on a tractor ride. we have had my great grandparents over for dinner, and i got to go out with the girls to celebrate my auntie shannies 30th birthday. happy birthday.

so,

that's me and my family. my mommy says hi to you all. thanks for thinking of us and waiting so long for all these pictures. we will keep you posted as to any other adventures we have...