On the Prairies - Road trip part 3

Here is yet another installment of pictures for the Debu Tribune There is the last couple of pictures from the conference... Adin and Callie and Amber play ball... saying goodbye to Adele Denzin... visiting the old Tregarva prairie cemetery. Pretty much everyone who is there I think is going to leave those graves in the rapture, the return of the Lord Jesus for His saints on earth: the evidence of faith is on nearly every stone. I thought about all the time these graves were covered with snow this past winter. The place is so open and sunny now. You can see for miles. We visited the old Craven meeting room which you can see a ways off from Ben and Susan's home.(can you imagine 200 people in there knee to knee on the benches? My grandfather spent a lot of time here at the conferences, although I think the building was moved: this is not the original location. I was so happy to go inside. I have heard my father speak of it often, and I was there as a young person myself, but only briefly. Davy and Peter have high hopes of catching up with the kids who are running for exercise. I was not running that time because of a nasty wasp sting on my ankle. Keeping it still was the only way of coping. It was like the world's worst mosquito bite. The happy home where we were staying the last two nights of our time in Saskatchewan is in the distance. There you had the mirror in which the ladies coming in for meeting in the middle of the last century would most certainly have peeked in to check that their pillbox hats were at just the right angle... and a bird's nest settled happily near the ceiling. Harriet's Garden Brethren dwelling together in unity This wall cloud kept producing quiet little fingers of cloud wisping out the bottom of it, dipping down halfway to the ground. A tornado touched ground 45 minutes west of there that day. This was a really wonderful part of our trip. The hospitality and kindness we received and the time spent with those who really took the time to be with us was a real encouragement and joy. The Lord is good. More later...

Road trip pictures part 2

More of that trip... Here we are hiking near Canmore. The boys threaten to tickle, and even a large dragonfly lands on the front of her T-shirt!

In Calgary we were pleasantly surprised with our hotel value- we got this one because it was right next to where the meeting in Calgary was, and the room was nice! we slept so well, and the kids made good use of the waterslides! I wish so much that I had taken pictures of the loved ones in Calgary, but we were having so much fun visiting for an hour after the meeting, I confess I completely forgot to use my camera!

That trip across the prairie dragged out... we listened to many many hours of world history on CD: We went from the Tokugawa Dynasties in Japan through the forty-niners in California. The kids did really well on that stretch: listening to history, playing together, quietly singing, looking at passing trucks or trains... I think it was the adults in the car that were struggling with impatience at the similarity of one hour to the next... We were so glad to see the sight of the city of Regina!

Our first evening at Regina we spent at the Bible study at the Brown's house. The kids made friends quickly. And in the morning we took a short breakfast at McDonald's with the Clark's who stayed across the hall from us in the dorms at the university then we went on together to tour a tabernacle display that was set up by the airport. We did not make an official visit: they were not open, but the man watching over the display let us make our own tour, which led by Marc and Uncle Vern went pretty well, I'd say! We were awed by the size of the brazen altar, and I was surprised that the laver was so small by comparison: I think I'd had the grandeur and dimensions of the laver of Solomon's temple stuck in my head. Overall it really helped get an idea of how things seemed in the original tabernacle. We popped in through the back to see the representation of the holy of holies, and were careful to explain to the kids that in the real thing this would have been really bad to do. Even as it was, it gives you a funny feeling, knowing that under the Mosaic Law one would have been struck dead for crawling in the back. Then we went to the picnic!! The conference was officially begun! The kids met some really great friends. Also, Hoon afforded Lukey the pleasure of being accidentally plastered with mustard without it being his own fault. Yay, Lukey. Hoon apologized about fourteen times, but Lukey was so happy with being messy and not bearing the blame that you could not help but be happy for him. I am not sure if Hoon knows him well enough to see it from that point of view, but we did whatever we could to let him know he was completely forgiven!

The Giant Slide at Evraz Park looks like generations of children have profited from its ripply incline. Ours certainly did. And the excitement of sitting by friends in meeting! I once looked on the other side of Marc just as a meeting was about to start, and I saw four little girls! I was afraid he was going to be kept really busy, but they were good.

More coming soon...

Good Times on the Road

A good long road trip always has to start with an inaugural shot of the car stuffed with snacks and luggage and children hyperventilating from excitement. The day in Spokane was wonderful, with a few other visitors as well. We had a wonderful visit with the James family and went on Monday to play in Lake Pend Oreille. Then, on to Canmore! We had to push to get there before darK: we did not like the idea of winding through the Rockies in the dark.

We hiked in Banff about 12 miles on Tuesday the 29th of July (a month ago now!) and only found the glacier viewing area to be a bit challenging due to some drop offs and loose rocks, but the delightful time by the lakes and the chipmunks living at the tea houses were more than enough to make up for any scary moments that day. The next day we returned to Lake Louise to canoe. You feel like you are paddling down the sidewalk on that bright green water. It is hard to imagine it goes down 200 feet.

We stayed at Inn of the Rockies in Canmore, and loved having our own apartment. It was a great area for running, and the town was picturesque and convenient. Can you find a prettier Safeway?! And after a long hot day of canoeing, hot springs, -Can't show you a picture of that!:)- and running, a very nice treat is what we need! This picture is the commentary on the hot springs: too hot! It would be good for a snowy day, but not for good weather like we had.

to be continued...