Lodging

Five weeks have passed since we left Ontario.  We arrived in Edmonton (technically St. Albert) on June 27^th, a few days before treatment so we could settle in before the business began, and at that time I didn’t realize how busy it would be as I was counting on Marietta to be home to help with the basic housework. 

Over the past three and a half weeks we have been housesitting at a couple places.  From June 27 to July 11^th we stayed at our first place, from there we moved a bit further north in St. Albert to our second “home”.  We “camped” in their basement for a few nights and when they left on July 14 we took over the entire house.  This will be our home until this coming Saturday, July 28 and then we will move on to our third housesitting location. 

Our first housesitting location had been in the plans for some time.  It was supposed to be our backup plan if we didn’t get into the Ronald McDonald House (RMH), but then about 10 days before we left while we were confirming details our “hostess” offered to see if she could find any other people that would be willing to offer their homes while on holidays… and this is how our next two location came to be.  We so quickly take for granted the Communion of Saints, but it just makes us stand back in awe from time to time when we see how even when we are far away from home this communion still functions so well. Complete strangers opened up their homes to us and we have been very welcomed in the church community here in the weeks since we have arrived. 

On our second day of treatment we received a call from the RMH that they had an opening for us.  We had a few hours to let them know whether we would be taking the room.  We discussed it briefly and decided that to have our own “home” was probably more ideal and felt that since we had an opportunity for lodging we would rather give up the spot and let someone who did not have a backup plan have the spot.  We have asked to be placed back on the list for August 10^th as currently we do not have a place for our last three weeks here.  It is our prayer that this was a wise decision and that a room will become available again at that time, or another opportunity will arise in the meantime.

Our first location was about 25 minutes from the Clinic, we are currently 30 minutes from the Clinic and our next location is about 20 minutes from the Clinic.  All of these locations are in St. Albert and are a nice and easy drive to the Clinic taking the Anthony Henday Highway most of the way.  The RMH is about 20 minutes from the Clinic as well, but its location would require more city driving.   Since Marietta and Matthew are done treatment earlier then Rebecca it would of course be nice to be living closer to the Clinic so they could quickly go home, but it’s not really the best neighbourhood in the city, so we’re okay with the extra driving.

And what’s a post without a few pictures:

Daily Vitamins, Minerals, Nutrition, etc.

Matthew has never like smoothies and with treatment he has to take them every morning in order to get down all the powder vitamins, greens and nutrition.  When we started it was quite the battle and we had to coax him along as he plugged his nose ...

... but now he drinks them without a problem and evens says there not so bad.

Sophie the clinic dog.  Sophie is a 10 week old Mountain Bernese/Poodle who is in training to be a therapy/clinic dog.

For Marietta's 18th birthday the Clinic bought cake (a big cheat on our very strict diet).  It took us until the end of the day to understand what the big deal was for her birthday ... being from Ontario, we didn't realize that 18 is the legal drinking age here.  

Catching some sun-rays ... relaxing behind the Clinic trying to catch a bit of the outdoors while Matthew and Rebecca were still doing treatment.

After a long day at the Clinic Rebecca usually just wants to lay down and rest or sleep when we get home.  We encourage her to do so outside so she at least gets a little bit of sun each day.

Jacuzzi tub makes for a fun way to have a detox bath ... add a nice tablet holder for a good video and it's not so hard to have to lay in the tub for about 40 minutes.

Just a little taste of Alberta ... Magpies and Hares throughout the neighbourhood make for some fun entertainment at times, especially when you combine the hare and the neighbourhood cat

I have to try remember to get a better pictures of the magpie ... for those Ontario people who have no clue what they are.  Our current house doesn't seem to have as many of them hanging around.  We were only at our first home for about half an hour and Rob was already complaining about what an annoying noise they made.  Apparently Edmonton is Canada's magpie capital.  Not only are they a large bird  (from the crow family) they are also known to be an aggressive bird.  So while there is much beauty to them they are not very well liked around here.