Harapnuik Adventures

Our 1998 van served us well the climb up to 12,640 feet to Winter Park, CO. The mountains on both sides, in our eyes, are like summers before on mountains before. The richness of green, the smell of pine and cedar began the excitement of being in a space in time where Levi and Caleb could enjoy the thrill of driving their bikes down a crazy high mountain and test their skills that have been somewhat dormant for a year.

Keystone, Colorado 12,900 feet

A born and bred West Texan said to me today, “Been to Victoria and it’s beautiful, but I’d never want to live there. I’m a true Texan who loves flat: blue and brown. Green is not my color”. I laughed with him and his obvious contentment in his home.

Driving away after the 2 1/2 weeks of  the  Colorado Rockies we began the descent. I was amazed at the beauty and thought how I had missed the view of what was behind when we were working our way to the top. Looking back, we see beauty we missed the first time.

Going back to Canada I saw the beauty that I missed the many other times I’ve traveled the way.  When people in Texas hear that I’m from Canada they always, and I mean always say, “It’s so beautiful up there”. I often reply that there are parts that aren’t so beautiful. I will change that response.

Driving from BC into Alberta I could hardly grasp the beauty. I was constantly interrupting the boys with, “Look at how turquoise the water is,  look at how white the snow is, how purple and gray and ragged the mountains are, how many greens there are in the trees, how rich, how fresh, how blue, how… have I missed it all before?”.  Our God did His great work in the Canadian Rockies. Then there’s the Alberta prairies stretching like long open arms across the horizon where the blue meets the green and nothing stands in the way. Where angry skies wait to unleash their tears onto blazing yellow miles of canola held up by fragile green legs; all of this vastness making it difficult to return my eyes to the road.

My memories were not this vivid. I am reminded. How. Beautiful. Is. This. Land.

And the people. There’s something unique and deep being with people who know and are part of your history, my brother and sisters

Glen and Sarah Stuart's children

and to those whom I’ve adopted as sisters.

Jann, our lives entwined before we knew how to spell entwined and became my “RCMP friend” that Levi and Caleb know will bring with the mention a story about stealing (me, not her).

Trudy and her family, whose connection runs across growing from quasi adulthood to walking through the years of watching our babies grow and becoming people whom we admire.

Typical time with Trud...tipping a canoe

Elna, the one who never lets me off the hook and shows me my inner face and teaches me to love what’s there, cause she does and “it’s all good”.

Julie, who asks the right questions and isn’t afraid to hear the answers and listens and breathes deep sighs with me and feel the pain/joy/doubt/hope/instability. Leah, with her excitement fresh off the plane from 1/2 a world away; contagious experiences that connect across miles.

Cathleen: time stands still with her and nothing else matters except now, and I’m forever late leaving the coffee bar for there’s always more to know and ask and tell.

Joan(ie) sharing what’s new after many adjustments in both of our lives; me moving away and her moving back. She’s the owner of my most quoted quip, “it’s not wrong; it’s just different” which has taken my stubborn brain through banking, medical and grocery store mishaps in the last year and partnering in my second most quoted quip, “it’s not where you are, it’s who your with that matters”. All ladies tremendous gifts from God.

But greater still is family. The rest that comes with being with the first gifts God gave me. No fake fronts or time of hesitant eye contact to see if it’s still there; the acceptance and love and depth of understanding that I’ve come to rely on for rest. Peace.

I enjoy being in two families as a daughter and sister and aunt and cousin and niece again.

I met new babies that will be loved as I was in circle of our family.

I’m not quite sure how humans can operate without this circle. I know they do, I’m just not sure how.

Looking back to Canada allowed me to look back at Abilene. It’s been just over a year in our new home of Abilene and we drove into Lethbridge on our one year anniversary of leaving Lethbridge. It’s been a climb for me. I’m not a hiker. I’d rather sit in a coffee shop with my book and look at pictures that others took on the hike than do it myself. Last year I am in the boots sometime carrying a walking stick, but mostly not.

I follow the path, looking down to make sure I don’t stumble over rock or root. I miss the excitement of the top, the details on the side, the beauty on the way. I only notice the obstacles that trip me or make me work too hard to avoid, or fight too hard to get over.  But God in His grace gives me a second look and a second chance. I see what we have become. I hear the boys say they miss Abilene. I feel a draw to return to our home. And when we land, I know we are in the right place. I know that the climb has been hard, but when turned and looking  back, it is beautiful and awesome and good.

God knows what He is doing, not letting us know the future. We would run from it, hide, lock ourselves away. We would never know the beauty of looking back because we would never move forward. We would never know how good He is if we didn’t trust in His goodness. He gives us spiritual markers, “a ha” moments along the way to remind us how far we’ve climbed. Stop. Turn. Look. The climb is part of the journey. Even if it’s long and high, the beauty that it’s grown in you wouldn’t there if you didn’t take the steps forward, in trusting it’s where He wants you.

(verses from a quilt hanging in the Gleaners lunch room).

Tweet This Post

One 3 year old’s eternal life with Christ begins the moment her whispered heart’s desire falls on the ear of God. She will live out her days with eternity in her heart.

One man’s last whispered breath moves him from his lived out days into eternal life with Christ, to rest in His arms forever.

The mystery of eternity: we have it now in Christ on earth, and we look forward to it then with Him when He brings us home.

Tweet This Post

On day six of creation, God announced to his archangel underling, “Today we’re creating a place called Canada. Pull out all the stops. Give it beautiful mountains, lakes, plains, forests, and sandy beaches. Under ground, give it oil, gold, etc. Oh, and plenty of fish and wildlife.

“Sir” interjected an archangel, “aren’t you being overly generous to these Canadians?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll balance it out,” said God. “Wait ’till you see the neighbors I’m giving them.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

An American couple get hoplessly lost while driving through Canada. Over the objections of her husband, the wife calls out to a pedestrian, “Hey buddy, can you tell us where we are?” The pedestrian smiles sympathetically and says, “Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.”

After she rolls up the window, her husband says, “I told you it wouldn’t do any good. They don’t even speak English up here.”

Tweet This Post

And now for something completely different. I want a dehumidifier. Ever heard of them? I hadn’t until I asked someone if there was a way to take out the humidity in our home. They suck the moisture out and drop it in a pan that you need to empty or if you by a window unit it runs out of the hose into your yard.
I’m sorry. I’m a die hard prairie girl where the cold is a dry cold and I can say when people complain of the rain, “ya, but it’s a dry rain”.
I know humidity is great for the skin and does wonders for my natural curly hair (no curling iron needed), but it’s just a bit different than Alberta air. I mentioned to someone that we have humidifiers attached to our furnaces so the static cling and chapped skin in the winter can get some relief and that was quite a concept.
So another difference in my life from north to south. Also, they vent the dryer and to the attic…wouldn’t that cause some major damage in the winter of the frozen north?
I’m not getting a dehumidifier. Apparently air conditioning does the same thing and we are using quite a bit of that.
Oh, and our home has a stove and dishwasher made in Canada.

Tweet This Post

Yesterday we moved in to are new house. We started packing up are apartment at 6:00 and had it unloaded by 9:15. We only moved are apartment and not the stuff in the storage because dad didn’t have enough time to do it. But that is ok because he will have enough time on the 29. We have not finished cleaning and we haven’t even started painting so YALL will have to wait for the pictures.

Tweet This Post

Tomorrow I may be needed some help to move. After 3 days of moving using the van, we got a roofless trailer and moved the big stuff tonight. The apartment is empty and the house is already full. What will happen when we move our storage bin over???

Sometime over the last 6 months Levi has surpassed me in strength and Caleb has surpassed me in stamina. Levi took over for me to carry furniture and Caleb was up till 11 helping Dwayne hook up the tv, internet and phone. We were pushed for time cause Dwayne has a business trip tomorrow and he didn’t want to leave it all to us.

So tomorrow morning we will wake up to birds instead of diesel trucks and stomping up and down the stairs. We can jump and drop on a bed and play basketball in the living room without bugging our downstairs neighbors.

Our house still needs some cleaning and the grass needs a serious haircut but Levi was out tonight in the moonlight planning his bike jumps and when the bikes came from the storage bin I could tell the summer trip is too far away.

We thank God for giving us a day of no rain, thought the heat and humidity gave reason for ice cold root beer. So on to unpacking for the last time. In 10 days the storage things come and I’ll see if spending so much time packing 10 months ago was worth it We are getting plenty of help that day.

Tweet This Post

As the title says WE BOUGHT A HOUSE YAHOOO and so on. The address is: 7825 Saddle Creek Rd. It is the nicest subdivision in town and you can look at it on Google earth but if you don’t have Google earth here is a few pictures

This is when you are entering Saddle Creek.

This is the house from the end of the driveway.

This is from the front of the yard.

We would like to see your face at our door.

We will update the photos when we are done painting, panting and cleaning.

Tweet This Post

It all happened last Friday night while Dwayne and I were trying to get our Canadian taxes done. Nothing like waiting till the last minute. We been trying to narrow the search down between 3 houses all week and finally got to the last two on Friday afternoon, but thought we’d wait till after taxes and the weekend. The tax incentive to buy before the end of April would be off and maybe some prices would drop.We thought.

Our realtor called us at 8 to say that she thought we’d qualify for the tax rebate cause Dwayne was a resident worker and this would be his first home purchase. She also said that one home had come back after our verbal offer with an offer of $5000 more than we offered and we jumped at it. So by 11:30 that night we had bought a house. We did all the paper work from home then got back to the taxes. We wanted to have them ready to send by midnight via netfile and 2 minutes to 12 we sent them…rejected cause we were sending them from America…sigh, oh well. We won’t be penalized cause we won’t be paying, but we had to laugh about how we burn through stuff when we don’t need to.

The next morning Caleb and Dwayne drove into Dallas to scout for some roller blades. While I was doing some paper work, a notice popped up that our visas had been approved the day before(Friday) and were in the mail. One of our hesitations about purchasing property was that if we weren’t allowed to stay (everyone said that was highly unlikely, but still…), what would we do with a house in Abilene? I guess it was a confirmation of sorts that the day we bought a house was the day our visas were approved.

Everyone we needed to talk to on Saturday to give our apartment notice weren’t around, so we knew we were off the hook for that till Monday. On Monday morning I went to talk to the manager and she said there was a line up to get into a 3 bedroom, so whenever we decided on the house, it was fine with them. The buyers contract allowed us till last night to back out (5 Days) and we used them. On Monday we had building and foundation inspectors, paint salesmen, and a flooring salesmen all at the house at the same time to give us the info we’d need to confirm our choice. The next day the termite man and the airconditioner man met us there. The AC wasn’t working so yesterday a man came out to clean and service it. Definitely a requirement in Texas is a quality air conditioner for the Canadian family. We decided last night that it was the one for us, so today we are in shell shock. After 9 months of looking, the search is over. Now my Sunday afternoons will be free. Maybe I’ll have to take up airsoft with the boys

The home needs a lot of elbow grease, paint and some tender loving care, but I think we can manage it. The shop is such a find and will be so beneficial for all the tinkering Levi, Caleb and Dwayne do on bikes, guns and projects yet to be named. We’ll be getting a ride on mower for the one acre lot and I’m hoping the boys will also use it to serve the neighbors. I am so excited to get the trampoline up with a sprinkler on it so Levi and Caleb can enjoy some memories of the past. They have privacy for target practice (not on each other), ramps for their bikes, and whatever else they have up their sleeves.

I’ll be a busy month and once again I’m so thankful we home educate. I need the muscle and the excitement to help us along.

Tweet This Post

Things I miss about Canada:

Our family

Our friends

Nabob Full City Dark Roast for Dwayne, Espresso for me (don’t try sending some. I think they’ll take it at the border. Coffee has been known to harbor drugs).

Long sunsets

Snow (believe it or not)

Sidewalks (businesses have them, but not housing areas) (perhaps only in Abilene)

Smooth dry wall

Smarties and Mars bars (no Mars Rice Crispy Squares this year), Snickers don’t cut it.

Celsius and Kilometers

Watching the Calgary Flames

Chocolate Advent Calendars

Coat racks in churches or businesses

Mandarin Oranges

Our neighborhood in Lethbridge

Loonies, Toonies and colored money

The Old Man Coulee

Lloyd Robertson, Dave Rutherford, Bob Layton, The CHED’s Jerry Forbes “a creature was stirring”  (no, I don’t miss Brian Hall),

Clareview Bible Church (collectively) and UDAC

Superstore, Costco, Chapters, 360, Sugar Bowl, Chianti‘s,

All the babies being born to my family and friends

Holding Avilene

Things I like about Abilene:

NO Timmy’s and the line ups

Gas prices

Milk prices

Butter prices

Egg prices

Art Walk on 2nd Thursday of every month, even in the cold December evening (3C)

People saying “all ya’ll” with out a hint of a grin (they don’t know how cute they sound)

People saying Mam and Sir even if they’re older than you

The art teacher, Jan, at the Grace Museum

Not having to take off your shoes in your house

Postal service on Saturday

Abilene Christian University

Abilene Christian University’s Director of Faculty Enrichment – he’s a pretty cool guy

Tweet This Post

Oh my goodness, this one will be a long one. I should let the boys tell you most of it. Dwayne had Friday off (fall break) and he took the boys to Lubbock for a bike hunt. It’s 2 1/2 hours north/west of here. They walked into the house from the trip and handed me a handful of cotton they had picked from the side of the road. How cool is that, but it brought up a conversation about the term “cotton pickin’”. I remember it as a expression of frustration and disgust, but never thought of it as a racial slur until now. Duh! What is it about getting older when some lights start coming on.

We rented the truck for moving from 3 on Friday to 3 on Saturday. By 4 started loading and by 7:30 we shut the door of the back of the truck all finished. We are getting good at this moving thing. too bad Uhaul doesn’t rent by the hour. This apartment is almost double what we had; from 700 to 1300 sq. feet and the boys each have their own room again with room to park their bikes, air soft and Lego! The kitchen is bigger, so I no longer have an excuse to not cook. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

I know the boys complain about doing dishes. Don’t feel sorry for them. They have limited responsibility for home and land and dishes actually is a bonding experience They won’t agree with me of course, but it’s good for them.

Here’s a picture of what’s across the street from our new apartment complex, the parking lot, the pool area (that’s a bit too chilly right now), and the new basketball court.

Parking Lot

Buffalo/Bison

Cool Pool

Almost Finished Baskeball Court

Tweet This Post