And Here We Are A Year Later

As I scroll through Facebook this past week and see pictures of final days of high school and Grade 8 graduations I am very much reminded of life a year ago. 

A year ago it was our last day in Ontario. There was a lot of uncertainty about our future plans at that time and so we left with mixed feelings, or maybe confused feelings is a better way to describe it.  The girls were more quiet and did not show their emotions, but I'm sure there were plenty there.   Matthew would be helping one moment with packing and getting ready and a few minutes later crying because he didn't want to leave, like riding a roller coaster.    It felt like we were leaving for holidays, which we were as we took our time getting to Alberta, but at the same time there is a large possibility that we (except Rob) would not come back again, so it was hard to know how to feel.  Were we saying good-bye to our home and our life in Ontario?  Or was this just an extended holiday?  In a sense it made it easier because it felt like a holiday, but yet inside we each knew the uncertainty of our coming back.   Such a hard time and so difficult on the emotions.   Regardless as we pulled out of the driveway during the very early hours of the morning on June 16 we knew that it was good-bye to our current home as no matter whether we stayed in Alberta or came back to Ontario we would not be living there again.

And here we are a year later ... we survived some crazy years and are now settled into a more "normal "life in Coaldale, Alberta ... and I've been terrible at updating the blog, so hopefully I can do a 8 month update now :)  I'll start with the general life stuff and then hopefully in the next days do an update on each the kids health and where they are at.  

As mentioned in my previous post we arrived in Taber, Alberta just after midnight on Saturday, September 1st.  This gave the weekend to settle in before school started on Tuesday. Thankfully someone allowed us to use the items from their camper for the first weeks, so we had camper mattresses and kitchen items until Rob arrived.  Rob arrived safely in Taber on September 12th, thankfully he didn't start work until September 17th, so this gave him several days to catch up on some very much needed rest.

The first months were a time of "newness"  New church, new school, new town, new city, new places to shop ... and lots of shopping as we had to replace all our items.  We got the basics to tie us over until our house sold.  Our house was listed fully disclosing the mold issues and that we had fixed them to the best of our knowledge and this did not deter interest in the property.  It sold in 3 days for more than our asking price with a closing date at the end of October.  It was a big sense of relief to not only have it sell, but to sell so quickly and easily.  It made all those hours of hum-hawing about what to do, whether to fix it, how to fix it, etc. melt away. Once again we could see God's goodness and care in carrying us through those difficult months and helping us to move forward.  Of course, as is typical for us, the closing didn't go all so smoothly when a couple days before closing date we found out the buyer could not get a mortgage and needed to look at other financial options, even though there had been no conditions of financing in the offer. Needless to say, after some back and forth the house did end up closing a few week after the original closing date.  With the money in the bank we could finally finish purchasing our furniture and random other items.  Thankfully our rental home had come with some furniture so we had been managing until this point.

Rob and I were suppose to fly back to Ontario from October 22 to October 29 to finalize things with the house ... but Rob decided to desert me and drive to Ontario instead.  His work had a truck that needed to be delivered to Toronto, so Rob chose to get paid to go to Ontario ... unfortunately I had already booked our flights (without cancellation) before he had the lightbulb moment of thinking that work had trucks that needed to be delivered.  So Rob left Friday night and arrived on Tuesday.  I flew there on Monday.  We spent another crazy week cleaning out what was left in the house during the days and partying the rest of the time 😆  We had picked our dates to line up with Rob's nephew's wedding, while we were there we also had a company farewell party and a friends farewell party as well as attended an anniversary party for friends.  

We were worried about the adjustment for the girls to a small high school, but they easily settled into their new school and very quickly felt at home here.  Marietta has eleven students in her grade and Rebecca has nine.  Math and English are taught separately by grade, but for the other classes Grade 11 and 12 are together.  For the girls this meant they were together for  Biology and Bible, since Marietta did not take Chemistry and neither of them took Phys. Ed.  This creates some friendly rivalry for the top mark between the two overachievers.  Marietta and Rebecca also found themselves on Student Council,  Marietta as secretary and Rebecca  as president.  In the spring an ARPA Club was set up which the girls are both involved in and Rebecca is the president of this as well.

Matthew has had a bit of a harder time adjusting to the changing of school, but overall seems to be settling in well and enjoying himself (even though he won't actually admit it).  Matthew also has a small class with ten in his grade, but Grade 6 is combined with Grade 5, which is a larger class, putting him in a classroom with 30 kids.  In the fall he joined the Basketball Team  and also the local Hockey group.  Hockey is still his favourite, but after learning basketball he has also come to really enjoy it.  While Matthew seems to be enjoying himself here he is the one who most often says he wants to go back to Ontario, and still continues to say he would rather be in Ontario.

Rob on the other hand is loving it here.  He has had a desire for a couple years to move to Alberta and so far is not regretting that desire.  He has a great love for the prairie landscape and the big blue open skies here.  His first three months here were in the shop at ITB getting to know the company and how things were built.  In December he officially began his position as the mobile service guy.  While that was when he officially got the position it hasn't been until the last month that he has actually really begun the job to the full extent.  This is a new venture for the company and so this meant setting up a truck for the job and working out various other aspects of the job.  The company in the meantime discovered that Rob has knowledge in the hydraulic department and so they put him on a big challenging job in the shop, which has taken far more time and energy then originally expected, but is finally done and now Rob is free to focus on his main job.  

 At the end of February we found out that the house we were living in had sold.  This meant that we had to find another place to live and we quickly found out it was a challenge to find nice rental properties for a family(as in well maintain to avoid water damage issues) and even more challenging when you insist on having a garage as well (for all of Rob's tools).  Due to changes in mortgage laws, many are unable to get a mortgage and so the rental supply is limited.  Our desire had been to stay in Taber and not have to change churches again, but in the end we found ourselves in Coaldale.

We spent some time debating whether to buy a home, but in the end concluded that at this time it is still more reasonable to rent until we know for sure where our "permanant" (if that is possible for us) location will be.  Since Rob's job is mobile service that means he is travelling a lot and not always home.  Since the position is completely new to the company we have no past records to look at to see where the demand is the most and to know where would be best to settle.  It is not ideal that he is away from home, but with the kids being older it is much more manageable.  Ideally we would really like to stay in this area, and if Rob is only away a week out of a month then we do not need to uproot again, but if we are finding that he is gone more often and it is effecting our family then we need to consider moving to the area that he is most often.  That being said, the company is very family oriented and encourages him to spend time at home if he has worked long hours, meaning he is able to take days off here and there.  At this point we can say that we see more of Rob now then we did when we were in Ontario.  We realize it won't stay like this as his job ramps up and then he eventually finds himself back on committees and such, but for the time being we are thoroughly enjoying his time off as elder and the more ideal work hours.  I think more than that we realize that when he is home now, he is actually not just physically home, but also mentally home, something that was often a struggle for him the past few years with so much on his plate.

So on April 6 we settled into a new town again and a new church again.  There is much to enjoy about living in Coaldale as now Rob is just minutes away from work and can bike to work.  This leaves us with another vehicle and since Rebecca got her license in March she usually takes the van to school as there is no bus service for those in town here.  School is also only a few minutes away and on most days Matthew bikes to school.  Since Marietta does not have classes all day she will often walk home in the afternoon. Rebecca has tried the walking home thing a few times, and while she can manage the walk most days, she can't carry her school bag because of the neck pain that she has.  So in the end we just went with letting the kids take the van to school, unless I need it.  Being closer to school will also come in very handy next year when Matthew starts begging to be on every sports team 😁

And here we are only days away from the end of another school year, so unbelievable how fast time flies.  So that's the big picture of what we've been up to the last 8 months.  I will try to get around to doing the actual health updates in the next week, but overall I can say that there has been improvement in the past year and for this we are so very thankful.  The rollercoaster ride has been much smoother in the last months.  There are still things to figure out, yet we know that loops and bumps are a pretty common part of life and so we pray the Lord will continue to strengthen us and grant us what we need whether we're riding the smooth path or the loops.  He has upheld us thus far, we have no reason to doubt that He will continue to do so.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do no lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make straight your paths."  Prov 3: 5-6

And a few pictures, since pictures are always what makes a blog interesting 😏

Working 44 hours a week was a new concept for Rob.  He quickly found himself an after-work job helping one of the local farmers to help fill his love for field work, for the open prairies and every extra penny helps after the additional expenses this past year

After 12 weeks of being separated, Marietta's bunny made the drive across the country with Rob and arrived in Taber.   Marietta got Thumper for her 8th birthday and trained him to be a indoor litter trained bunny.  He is now 11 years old (rabbits live about 8-10 years) but you would never guess as he's a spry as can be still.

Matthew wasted no time making sure we checked out the local hospital.  For those in Ontario ... it's even better and faster then Dunnville 😀  On the third day of school he biked to the bus stop but wiped out on the way, gathering some war wounds here and there.  After a few days his wrist was still really bothering him, thankfully it was only a sprain ... but this did end any questions about whether he could join the volleyball team.

And I just have to include a few photos of the regular wildlife we could enjoy right from our house windows in Taber (no zooms used ... they litterly are right outside the window).  The house we were living in was on about 3 acres of land, backing onto the coulees (a coulee is a valley with very unique character, shaped more like a box then a v as most common valley's are).  The coulee is home to various wildlife, although some of that wildlife felt more at home in our backyard most days.  I seen coyotes a few times, but the mule deer were around most days, usually mid-morning to mid-afternoon.

This was the area behind our house.  It looked more like a regular valley, but in other areas you could definitely see the uniqueness of a coulee.  The other uniqueness about them is that if you looked out the house window all you would see is flat prairie, with no indication that all of a sudden there is this valley.

Of course I can't find a good picture of coulees when I want to ... I should just check Marietta's phone as she feels it necessary to take a picture of them every time we drive through them in Lethbridge.

While Rob loves the prairies, I love the mountains ... although I have to say I have a greater appreciation for the beauty of the prairies and the prairie skies now.  In February Rob and I had a chance to get away for a few days to the mountains.  Of course we picked one of the coldest weekends with the weather between -25C to -35C ... but it was still beautiful.  

The mountains always seem so close and yet are still an hour or so away.  On good clear days we could see the mountains from Taber ... which is about a 2 hour drive from the moutains.  This picture is taken about 45 minutes from the mountains.

-25C and extremely windy at Waterton