The Harapnuik’s flew to Ottawa today to see our nation’s capital, take some tours and learn some history of Canada. We crossed the Ottawa River into Quebec, so we were in three provinces today. The leaves are all the colors we could ask for and because this is my favorite season, it’s an extra special trip for me.
Dwayne will be at a conference for most of time time we are here, but we hope to get a tour of the parliment tour together and maybe the tour Canadian Mint as well.
I took some pictures of a few things over the last week and I’m going to put them up for you to see.
A old log that fell in the stream
This is just cool
This is a really weird tree :/
On the first day, 2nd run, I wiped out and messed up my fork and we had to get a new one so I could continue biking. This is what $1,600 will get you, but we only had to pay $1,000 :)
I wiped out yesterday and broke my crank so we had to replace it too. We went to Totally Wired Bike Shop and they were busy so we bought the part and used their tools and replace it ourselves.
We have to locked up our bikes in a ski locker room because we don't have anywhere else to put them.
These are just pictures with captions because it would take to long to explain all of it 
I'm stuck in the sand, haha
We made fires in a hole.
and we went quadding
We went canoeing and mom and Trudy tipped it trying to splash me.
We built the floor to a grain storing thing.
and we went boating but we only got video of that which I will put up soon
Canada was not that cold. I only used my hoodie once, haha. We flew into Seattle WA on July 24 then got picked up and drove to Abbotsford, Canada. A week later we went shooting guns with our cousin in law. We shot a 22 rifle first, a 22 rugger, a 9 mill Glock 19, a 357 revolver and a 12 gauge shotgun. Here are some pictures.
This is the Rugger and you can see the shell coming out of the gun and the next bullet loading into the chamber. It's pretty cool.
This is me shooting the 22
This is me shooting the Rugger
This is me shooting the Glock 19
This is me shooting the 357
This is me shooting the shotgun.
My favorite gun was the Glock 19 because… well I like Glocks.
Friendly chipmunk that came inside our apartment in Colorado.
"Ewww, Caleb's feet are stinky"
"Hey, what's over there?"
Cute little guy eh?
Peanut?
"Peanut up here?"
"Why do they make me climb up here to get peanuts?"
Theses pictures are from BC.
Mount Baker
At the Brianna and Tessa’s farm.
Yeah, that's what you think it is.
At the beach with friends.
Me....
They tipped the boat.
WHEEEEEEE!!!!!!
Hammer guitar..... yeeeaaaaahhhhh
In Edmonton
Jamming in the basement.
Lyndon Washington
BOOM!!!!
Fun
Ready.... Aim......
The big guns. My favorite. 
Yeah so, that’s what we did all summer…. Plus 3 weeks of biking.
Please forgive my forgetfulness and I pray an English professor isn’t reading this, but I read something somewhere by somebody (3 strikes) the other day and it filled a spot in me.
God knows how hard it is to say goodbye to a loved one. He said goodbye to His Son when Jesus took on the form of a man and left His place in heaven.
Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross! Phil. 2:7-8
As we left our friends and family this summer, I know that God said a difficult goodbye as well. I don’t compare ours to God’s but once again, He knows how we feel.
I walk in the coolness of the evening, the dampness creeping up my legs and the sun retreats behind the mountain. Another day has past and I am at wonder of the peace, coolness and freshness of life in the mountain village.
I find it’s interesting to be sitting in one place for days 9 now. The same bed, the same crackling crow alarm clock, the same coffee cup. To have some repose from moving one hotel room to another, to find a spot to rest and make our own for two weeks.
Rest. What is vacation but a change, a rest, a re focus. Yet, what is it in us that causes us to always be working? Dwayne wakes every morning at 6 to sit in front of his silver square of information – his to gather, his to impart. He takes calls from a learning institute in another country to counsel, encourage, advise. He plans for the term of teaching, writing, thinking. He downloads pictures and videos of our boys adventures of the day.
I turn to my stack of books to read and prepare for another year of learning. Finally, after 9 days I’m ready to take on the boxes of receipts and struggle to place them in the right creamy yellow files as they are matched to the bank statements on my own black box. Why not rest? Why don’t I wake to the crackling crow and roll over, to enter into the dream again. Instead I think I must rise and start a day that doesn’t even care if I meet it. There’s no rush to be somewhere, get something done, answer any calls, plan any errands. Instead, rest. Watch the news. Make a strong coffee. Take a walk. Watch your children as they sleep. Feel that same sun that left us last night begin it’s long walk across the brilliant blue field of sky.
“A change is as good as a rest”, but when we have the opportunity, I shall take both. It just takes a while to be ready to rest.
The first week at winter park has been fun. The runs are long and some are quite smooth. Some of them are harder but they are still fun. Here are some pics.
That’s one of the biggest step up on the Mountain. I’m not sure how big it is. But It’s really fun.
As I stroll around a mountain village, I regret the person I never was. I always pictured myself as someone who was a little off kilter, drawn toward a simpler life and a bit renegade in my way of doing things or living. I regret the fact that I haven’t lived that way, truly.
Sure I recycle as much as I can, but I still buy the silly things in the packages that need to be recycled. Sure I homeschool, but I don’t take advantage of every opportunity for learning, especially the simple small ones that would be a natural outcome. I tend to latch on to the big ones that inspire a lecture instead of small statements of fact and insight. Yup, I try to buy local, but I’m continents away from the 100 mile diet. And yes, we did drive a “Jesus” van for a few years, but truth be told, I was a little embarrassed about it being parked in front of our house.
I don’t have dreadlocks, have never pierced anything and my Birkenstock have long been donated. So as I stumble into these fabulous coffee shops and bookstores where the customers linger over art or discussions in their fisherman’s sweaters that hold cable knit stories of their lives, I feel a bit fake; like I don’t belong, yet I’m trying to fit in. Guess it’s the age old struggle of humans. Wanting to fit, but not sure if I’ve quite made it.
I walk through another part of the village where wine and cheese tents are set up for tasting and buying. I hear conversations of “oaky, deeper, clairvoyant, smokey” and I go, “huh”? It kinda makes me feel like an idiot; as though I deeply know nothing. I know I like ice wine from Germany and Asiago from Costco but the descriptions fail me. To me they are just yummy.
As much as I feel a bit out of it, I am enjoying our mountain experience. I love hearing the guys talk about their day, seeing their smiling, yet sweaty, muddy faces. I love the cool air, the green, soft grass, the friendly people, the lovely little condo we found. I even enjoy cooking the meals with whatever the SAFEWAY (yes, I’m excited about safeway, though still too expensive, it’s a safeway) store in town inspires. I love the dry air, though the hands and lips need lotion and I’m experiencing static cling again. It’s crisp, and clean, and smells of the mountain. The sky is brilliant against the green and grey of the elevated 12,000 feet. The flowers are exploding everywhere. It’s a lovely place, so much like our Rockies. I’m so thankful to be here.
I know I wasn’t meant to be like someone else. God made me me, and though I can admire others who are more like I want to be, I am thankful for the place I am at and definitely thankful for the people I am with; for the place we have come from, for the place we are going to, for the many people that God has given us to learn from and enjoy from Alaska to Texas and all the homes in between.
If I was a elephant, I’d thank you Lord for my fine trunk,
if I was a fuzzy, wuzzy bear, I’d thank you Lord for my fuzzy, wuzzy hair,
and if I was a crocodile, I’d thank you Lord for my wide smile,
but I just thank you Lord for makin’ me me.
For you gave me a heart and you gave me a smile.
You gave me Jesus and you made me your child.
So I just thank you Lord for makin’ me me.
Perhaps it’s that simple. An attitude of gratitude instead of regret. For if I did live another way, I wouldn’t have lived, or be living, this way. And, oh God, I am so thankful for what you’ve given me in this way of my life.
Here are some pics from Winter Park!!!!! We need this to do down the hill to go up the hill to go back down the hill. (try to figure that one out)
