gramma emmy and little rosie..

we went to visit MY great grandma, emily, age 92, who lives with my great aunt vicki on friday after the kids got out of school. it was so great to be with them, for the kids to spend time with their great great grandma, who just lost 2 of her sons in the last two weeks. sigh.. poor little grama emmy..

anyhow, this was a beautiful little shot of rosie and gramma emmy.. rosie watched her so intently the entire time.. she was so gentle with grama emmy.. it was so sweet..

job progress

so this afternoon I had my 2nd job interview. the first one was in north van so it was automatically a no-go because of the length of the commute. this one is about a 25 minute commute (if i time the bus transfer right :)) the company is a property management company. it seems like a pretty relaxed office. the people i met with all seemed really nice. we'll see what happens.. I have another interview on monday morning with a company that manages home care nurses in the lower mainland. i'm praying God will show me where He wants me to be and will work it all out. please pray with me :)

BNI...and early morning transit fun

so i went thursday morning downtown vancouver to attend a bni meeting. it was held at a really nice hotel restaurant, the century plaza.


bni, better known as business networking international, is based on building your business through referrals. you are a part of a chapter that only one profession of its kind can be in. (ie, one photographer, one car sales man, one lawyer) you then refer people work thru your network of businesses, and in turn they refer to you. it's called giver's gain. you give business to someone and in turn you will get business back to you. it's great.

ANYWAYS, i was a little nervous. i visited their chapter when we were out in january and i really like the feel of their chapter, their excitement and the opportunities for some contacts for me downtown.

here's my text that i sent out at 5:44 am pacific standard time. (yes i woke just before 5 am to be on the bus at 5:45 to then get on the train to downtown for my 7 am mtg)

well it's 544 am and i'm off to downtown for my first BNI meeting. nervous as heck..but trusting god has something for me down there. i am going by transit and i suddenly feel like an ant amongst all the people..so insignificant.. yet trusting god's promises for me. say a prayer for me..!

you'd be amazed how many responses i got! altho most of them were either 1 or 2 hours ahead of me.. hehehe..

and then on the sky train, it stopped at a station and wouldn't let anyone on or off, cuz of "intruder alert". no one seemed too shaken up about this...i dont have a hot clue what that meant.. maybe, as far as i could speculate, someone was on the tracks and they had to get them off, which i understands happens frequently. talk about early morning excitement! so i'm going to figure out what "intruder alert" is and get back to ya!

it turned out to be an awesome morning. i got a referral for a shoot for a couple already! i had said my 60 second infomercial (basically selling your business to everyone) and the lady there a part of that chapter was convinced after i had, to have her portraits done.. saweeeet!

so next week i find out if i'm accepted into their chapter. apparently there are several other photographers vouching for that spot, so i have an interview and then they'll tell me. dr eric, the chiropractor i met last time said to me, to have a portfolio there in the interview. "visual will be good!" so i'm going to do that! so pray for me this next thursday!

ps - oh! and a guy there who runs postnet.ca from downtown...i found out he prints business cards for cheap.. as in 5000 for $300 some bucks! so that was a blessing!

the last of us has arrived "home"..

wednesday jonathan did arrive, so you all know, as some of you texted or emailed me.

it was about 2:30 pm on wednesday and we were very thrilled.
especially the kids.. caleb ran all the way home when he could see the uHaul in the driveway. so cute.

and to celebrate, we went to our favorite greek restaurant, cristos greek taverna, and ate some lovely lamb souvlaki, kalamari, grape vine leaves stuff with rice and meat. 'twas a joyous occasion. :)

that night darlene's brother, nathan, (a fairly regular fixture to the house on weekends ) graciouly took all the packing off all the new furniture in the living rooms... what a help!

now the fun job of unpacking some more!

uHauls and deer...

so wednesday was a great day, all around... the sun shined, the kids were loving school, i had unpacked all i could until J brought more inthe next uHaul that morning...

erin and rosie and i went to walmart to get a small shelf for our movies to be stored on. then i get a text from him. i had known earlier that he had left my parents at kelowna. the text read:

well i hit a deer. so...truck is dead by the side of the road... tow truck on its way. chuckle.

first of all i was NOT chuckling. erin and i were out loud saying our thoughts. "how on earth? what size was the dear to total a uHaul truck? are you ok? oh my gosh, i hope the truck's insurance covers this. what ELSE could happen in us getting to the coast."

we were not chuckling.

so i texted back, asking the important questions like, 'are you ok? what do we do now?'.
no response.

i'm sure it was only a minute til he responded, but i tell you, did it feel TONS of minutes.
then he texted back.

just kidding. am bored and tired of driving.

i was not impressed.
neither of us were.
so i texted back something like,
'you're a jerk! i can't believe you said that, i was so upset that i just rearended the car in front of me and the guy's yelling at me".

his reponse?

nothing.
absolutely nothing.
i couldnt' believe it. it seemed fairly believable in the city for that to happen to me, don't ya think? we thought it was fairly good.

unreal. no response. sigh.
better luck next time. :)

the kids first day of school

well... lochdale community school has two new students.

they did it.. and LOVED IT!

caleb, and "the look"...
caleb wanted me to stay in his class at the beginning and we had agreed on a secret "look" for when i was to go. met his teacher, miss normoyle, who is a middle aged single lady, so nice, so soft spoken, so earthy... :)

then when caleb sat down, and they started, a boy, of chinese ethnicity, comes up to caleb and talks his ear off, telling him what they are doing, what the assignment is, where his name goes on it...instant friendship. caleb looked at me and smiled, then gave me the "look" and i headed out.

i was so teary.. there sat my son, in a class where he is 1 of 5 caucasians in his class of 19. my little missionary man... he has since been received into the pack; his friend from the first day, ernest; jeffery, another chinese boy; and austin, a caucasian. it's so cool...they are "friends", as caleb tells me. it's amazing to me how kids can do that. and i also see where caleb was born, in the philippines, and being there for his first 4 years, has made him so open to other cultures. so very very cool...

little miss rosie, the tall kindergarten chick

well, once again rosie towers the kids in her class..hehehe..but it didn't stop her from completely engaging them all and not minding when i said, "do you want me to go or stay"...she was in the throws of reading a book on the reading couch with 2 little girls..i knew she'd have no problem..she's the most social of us 4! her teacher, ms hernandez, is very good, rosie says. so funny..

so the first day of school was amazing...the kids love their school, which is a 13 min walk from the house here.. they have begun their adventure too.... :)

I Miss... but I'm Assured..

As I was getting ready this morning for work... I was thinking about what shoes to wear and my mind immediatly jumped to rosie sneeking into my office trying to scare me (quite like her father does) and then running around my desk to see what shoes i was wearing - hoping i was wearing my fashion boots... and then seeing that i'm not asking 'why are you wearing those shoes?'... oh i miss that little girl. and of course all of you...

it was sort of finalized last night hugging PJ goodbye that this is real now for me... that you guys are there... and i am here, i'm recognizign it will now be a fight for me to 'be here'... i'll try to keep my heart pure and honest and throw out any jealousy... b/c God's timing is perfect and if i just look around I know i'm supposed to be here now... it's amazing to see the amazing things taht are happening with our youth, the leaps individuals are taking, im so encouraged being here... when i actually let myself focus on now instead of tomorrow...
God is faithful and good. Here in Estevan and there in Burnaby...

doing "church"

This morning I was thinking about how I miss "church." I don't know for sure what I miss about it so much. I think part of it is someone thinking for me and regurgitating scripture. Part of it might just be the act of going... My "religious" experience makes me just feel wrong to miss it.

I was reading this morning in Romans 14:17-18,
"For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men."

I'm probably taking this out of context - again - but what is says to me is that it's not about the practices and processes and procedures, it's about the heart. It's about serving the purposes of God - righteousness, peace and joy. As we serve God in these things we are acceptable to Him BUT the reality is, we can't "do" these things on our own. Righteousness, peace & joy can only be "attained" by relationship with Him, by walking in His grace with the help of His Holy Spirit. They can only be found as a result of our pursuit of Him.

So I'm not saying the act of going to church on sunday is bad or good. I think we as christians need to gather together but the point of the gathering is to pursue and praise God and edify each other. So if our going to church isn't doing that then maybe we need to think about why we are going...

the best quote on the road trip

so the best quote was when we were driving into
kelowna to my folks' place and i said to caleb,
"isn't this sooo exciting to now be a bc-er? to live in bc now??!!"

and in his very caleb-style, he says to me in all sincerity:
"mom, i'm homeless. i have no home yet. i'm just staying at grama's."

oh the brain of a 9 year old. :)

part 2 of the journey west..

so we left off when we parted ways and the wall's landed downtown vancouver at a gastly hour and we were at my folks place in kelowna.

from there we will continue... :)

friday, march 16 - moving in day
i got up early to leave by about 630 am and get to burnaby before lunch with lots of time to spare.

6:19am - i'm off! snowed in the night..dont know what to expect in the mountains on the highway.. once again i'll be looking for the son!

about an hour later i hit merritt..

7:38 am - approaching merritt.. i can't tell you how weepy i am.. we get the house today.. we begin this journey today..

8:12 am - oh my gosh.. i see a rainbow. sigh. jesus rocks.

the roads were great! and i was beginning my decent down the mountain into hope.

8:24 am - roads are clear sor far. a little traffic on roads but not bad.. spitting at times. blue sky in front of me.. :) i'm overwhelmed.
listening to steven curtis chapmans album, "all things new".. so fitting..

finally got to hope at 9:06. there was a detour.. they had to clear off the hightway from the landslides. i had to go across the bridge and take the highway thru agassiz.

9:54 am - back on the number1 highway. detour at hope - slides - and the rain has welcomed me to the lower mainland, my new home. :)

a little rain as i hit the lower mainland, but nothing windshields wipers weren't built for!

what a weird feeling to drive into greater vancouver, thinking that this is where you will hang your hat and call home..it was so full of emotion, driving past landmarks i knew as a kid.. wow..and here i was not akid anymore, driving back into the city.. crazy!

as i drove into the GVRD (greater vancouver regional district) i called our most excellent realtor bruce as per instructions to get into the house. he had to locate the keys. now THAT was an interesting piece of pertinant info!! so when i got the call back from bruce, saying that they were above the front door on the door sill, i was a little shocked... this WAS the city, hello!

11:10am - i am in burnaby! crazy reality!!

then as i went to the house and waited for the wall's to meet me there, i understood why it wasn't a HUGE issue - the door sill is about 7 feet, and there was NO way in safeway i was about to "reach" for them...i had to wait for scott to save the day!

so they came and we went into our new home.. empty...waiting for us to unload our boxes. and that we did! luckily for us, darlene's dad had an interview in vancouver the day before and would be here to help us unload the van.. YEAH! so for the next 4-ish hours, that is what we did.. backed the uHaul up to the garage and started unloading boxes. i kinda became the box sorter; as scott and henry (dar's dad) took them off the van and either handed them to me or placed them inside, i would take them up or down to the rooms they were to go in. little did i know the next day i would wake up with THE sorest quads and calves i have EVER had! and bruises on my legs to show for it too! but we got it done and met dar's brother, nathan, for greek lunch at 330 as the men took the van to it's drop off station.

noticed as we unpacked, that both backyards beside us had kids' toys.. nice. :)

we all started unpacking boxes as we wiped out cupboards. what a job!
i was definitely ready for bed that night.

the weekend...some Ikea, good sushi, erin's arrival, and more unpacking..
the next morning, i woke up as tho a MAC truck hit me, from all the stairs i did for 4 hours. unreal. that morning i had made a list and went to Ikea to pick up somethings before i went and got erin from the airport.

we decided to all meet for supper at the airport as dar's dad was leaving just as erin got in.

after our goodbye's and hello's, we headed "home" once again. and unpacked more boxes (are you seeing a running theme here??!) we pretty much did this all weekend. :)

we still had no phone/internet (we had a vonage phone, which is THRU the internet, so without the internet it was pretty much useless.)

sunday afternoon led us to another trip to Ikea.. we fit a king size frame into my car, if you can believe it! (my dad gave us an almost new king mattress and all we needed was to get a frame for it! thank you jesus!) thankfully, Ikea boxes up their products real good..but it was still long and fit in!

when i called the kids today to check on them, i mentioned to them that our neighbors must have kids, cuz of all the toys in the backyard. and rosie, in only true rosie-form, convicting her mother, says: they do? well did you go meet them yet? :) oh my daughter.. i can see she's got evangelism in her blood. so funny!

and did i mention it rains a lot here?!? :)

monday...where is thy sting?
first thing monday morning i was on the phone with Shaw Cable setting up our internet - wed morning they'd be here.. saweeeeeeeet!

my mission , since i left the kids in kelowna, was to make up their rooms and have them all unpacked so they would have some sense of home and familiarity when they arrived. that and unpacking my office/room.. oh joy!

hayley pretty much started doing the walking thing full on this week..impecable timing! :) she is so cute!

and the rest of the week sorta melts together...
i went back to kelowna wed after the internet and phone were all good to go, and stayed there til friday, yesterday. brought the kids home here and they were so excited to be here.. went straight up to their rooms.. was so sweet. it still seems all surreal.. altho i see our stuff here, it MUST be real.

i'm not sure what else to write.. my brain is fried.. it's amost midnight.. i will post what i sent to lani in estevan to share with our church family there tomoro during service.

really looking forward for jonathan to be here with us.. being apart for almost 2 and a half weeks, gets old REAL fast!

thanks for sharing this journey with us. will post more soon!

trace

To our church family in Estevan,

Well we have arrived! We got here thru the mountains and your prayers and thoughts were much appreciated! We had an exciting adventure! If you don’t read our blog on the internet about our trips’ adventures, they are posted on the bulletin board for your reading.

We are still unpacking boxes and settling in. There is lots of emotion for all us in our move – excitement, anticipation, uncertainty, expectancy. To not know where we may be going on a bus route, or knowing that “SOMEWHERE down one of these streets is a gas station”, everything is so new and unknown. We are all very thankful that we are not here individually and alone – that we have this core team here together, to come home to, to brainstorm with, to love and live with.

Yet amidst the chaos and transition of settling and getting into a groove here, there is no doubt the assurance in our hearts that we are in the right place, and know that God’s got something for us to do here in our new city.

We think of you often, as our family, knowing that you are all going through transition too. Know that we think and pray for you in it all…and that not a day goes by we don’t think of you and see all your faces!

We do have a few prayer requests that we would love for you all to pray for us this week:

* Caleb & Rosie start school on Monday (tomoro). Please pray that their transition to their new classes would be smooth and they would feel welcomed. Hayley, as she settles into routine and is in the fun stage of walking!

* Darlene starting work in a week at the BC Women’s & Children’s Hospital, and strength to finish papers for her course for work, due at the end of the week.

* Erin is in the throws of job hunting and meeting with recruiters. Please continue to pray that the right job comes quickly!

* Tracey starts BNI (Business Networking International) this week in downtown Vancouver. pray she will begin to build relationships with the business she comes in contact with.

*Scott – that his application process for UBC will be quick and his interviews go well and he is able to meet key people in the school that will help build bridges for what he is pursuing in his education. And for all the “mom groups” he and hayley will attend together… chuckle chuckle. J

* Jonathan and traveling safety for he and Pacey (our dog!) as they travel together in the big uHaul.


Well that’s all for this week! Again, we miss you all and love you lots!
Oh by the way…Have you seen our sun? I think we left it there. J

Tracey, Caleb & Rosie,
Scott, Darlene & Hayley,
and Erin

the MissionBurnaby Team

Impressed

The emotion I have tonight is confidence. (Is that even an emotion???)
Confidence in Jesus and in myself .
For the past week and one half I have been committed to praying and reading and seeking Gods vision, voice and strength within myself at 6 am...I'm really excited about this because I wasn't forced or required like usual, but this has been a personal choice for my own character building, and I keep saying that I love my LORD, and I'm so desprate for Him, but now I need to live up to it. I decided to have an even more personal relationship with Him. Which has been incredible! With these choices I have been making, my brain has been more clearer then ever before, and I have been able to speak into people's lives like never before. It's completly awesome. Lately at monday night painting I have been so discouraged about what God's vision has been...I guess I'm only seeing a fog, when I need to see a beautiful view. But ever since I have been in such a close relationship with Jesus, I have been in a deeper relationship with others, I'm more able to speak into their lives. It's like they see Jesus within me, and that's my hearts cry. I pray that I keep this commitment constant that it becomes a habbit. That I learn to understand my saviour in such a Intimate Embrace!

Megan.M

leaving day approaches fast

well, my last week in estevan is about to draw to a close... full of packing, cleaning and purging... good byes and estevan "lasts"... some comedy and white trash moments as only a trip to the dump can facilitate...

my house is almost completely empty... only a couple last minute things to do tonight before it's officially not my house anymore. sigh.

my mom comes to estevan tonight... tomorrow we are going to moose jaw to spend the night with my cousins, aunt and uncle and grandparents, as well as mike & alison and brian & meryl. Dad is flying into Regina tomorrow night so I will get to be with the whole family the night before i go. i'm really excited about that... it might be a while before we are all together again.

so many changes, so many new things on the horizon... so much anticipation, wonder and
nervousness. it's hard for me to accept that a season of my life has ended... it's been so awesome living in the same city as my immediate family... so much time to spend together... not having that in the next season will be different, hard some days... that's why i am so very thankful for you guys... my community... my adopted family...

God has showed my two verses in the last few weeks...

Ps. 27: 10 "when my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me"

not that my parents have forsaken me... but you get the drift :)...

Col 2:7 "let you roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will over flow with thankfulness."

i'm excited about what God is going to do in me, through me and around me... in us, through us and around us... i don't know what it will look like, i don't know how it will happen but I know that God will do it... i have faith that God will reveal His heart through us....

love you guys... so glad to be walking with you in this adventure...
erin

part 1 - some tears, mud, wind and a whole lot of sun..

as i sit here on thursday morning and think of the adventures the first half of our team (namely scott, darlene, hayley, caleb, rosie and i) has first had, i can hardly believe that we're at this place already!

after our most amazing farewell our church home had for us in estevan, we continue packing up the moving van for our 530 am departure on monday.

(i'm going to include some texts i sent along the way in smaller italics thru out this blog, fyi!)

sunday - bittersweetness at its finest
sunday had lots of tears and much excitement and anticipation for what lies ahead..
i was overwhelmed with how many and who all came to our farewell; some of our most closest church family and some of our community friends who are priceless to our hearts. it was amazing.

11:55 pm - well layin in my bed about to sleept til 445. thanks for tonight..i love you guys tons... i'm so glad our friendship doesn't end tomoro :) will text en route!

monday - boy does 4:30 am come stinkin early!
went to bed just before midnight, so functioning on a limited amount of sleep seemed to be the running theme for me this week! (little did i realize that i think its drinking the casi cielo-which means almost heaven, which it stinking is!!-coffee from starbucks in the evenings that has been keeping my brain buzzing thru the night!)

so we said our departing goodbyes to our house, the kids and i did. then we had to leave daddy/lover.. boy did that all of a sudden hit us all hard - no daddy for 2 weeks.. WHAT ON EARTH WERE WE THINKING?!? for a moment i wanted to just say, no either you come or we'll stay. but we departed and we were off.

5:05 am - k i'm messed up - they're packing up rest of our stuff and i'm sitting in my first house we bought, and the reality of leaving has just hit me.

the travelling arrangements were very german, i'd say: caleb and scott in the uHaul and dar, hayley and rosie & i in my car. their car was also being towed on the back of the uHaul on a trailer. we were PACKED full! so westward we began!

7: 32 am - we're 2 hours in..the girls have jus woken up..will stop in moose jaw for a breakie..can't quite believe this is happening!

8: 01 am - just gassed up in moose jaw. got food and changing all the kids. wind is really bad.

all was going well up until the little town of herbert, where we stopped to see gramma wall, scott's gramma. you see it's startin to get warm out in sask, so all the snow is melting and it's what is called "spring breakup" for the oil field peeps - road bans, cuz the roads are too soft.
who'd have thought we'd need to be aware of the innocent little road in front of sweet grama wall's! so yes, the van and trailer got stuck, and thankfully, a backhoe was there and pulled us out of that predicament!

so scott got us stuck in mud in front of gramma's house!

a back hoe has arrived.

the truck is out! woo woo!

so onward we went.. and it started getting really windy..and it was coming AGAINST us. makes for AMAZING gas mileage... NOT! :) thankfully we still have litres on our 20cents off a litre at petro canada!

just left swift about 1.2 hour ago.. gorgeous day for driving, just nasty wind - great for the mileage :s

we stopped and had some eats and starbucks in medicine hat - you know we need our starbucks fix!!

officially in alberta!

4:06 pm - 254 km to calgary..wind's rough..will take more time than norm...

from about brooks to strathmore, the wind was so mighty strong the van was actually on a slant! but the redeeming factor was that it got up to 22 degrees at one point!!! we were NOT complaining..just praying for strength for scott's arms!!

4:20 pm - we're driving 90 km/hr and we're watching the uHaul drive sideways almost like it's dogtracking..it's so bad, the wind. prayers for scott and caleb and truck would be most helpful and appreciated!

so we pretty much have the airconditioning on in the car!

5:42 pm - we can see calgary buildings in the distance.. we're actually at chestermere... woohoo we made it!!

just before calgary, the temperature suddenly started to drop, and fast. in no time it was at a cool 9 degrees and the sky was looking a little bleak. we made it to the zondervan's home (dar's parents) in one piece and got our clothes out of the van and packed our little car full and was headed off to meet J's sister, mel, and her family at IKEA. hugs were exchanged and we planned to be back at the zondervan's the next afternoon for the celebration of hayley's 1st birthday!!

then the snow/sleet started.. and its dark.. and i'm tired.. and very emotional. all great ingredients to a cry for me! so we made our way to IKEA, and had supper with themthere (its amazing that 3 adults and 4 kids can eat salmon and meatballs and salads and veggies for under $33 bucks!)

then the beginning of a dumb evening began for me: i dropped my camera , and luckily caught the majority of the fall with my foot, and cracked my lens up real good...

7:09 pm - i'm going to burst into tears..i just dropped my camera on a cement floor..i broke the lens, which caught the fall..

then later trudging thru snow, by myself to get the stuff from our car up into mel's place (they were gone to a church service that evening) and reefing my monster HUGE bag out of the car and busting off hayley's arm rest on her carseat in car...

love, i just broken off one of the arm rests of hayley's chair when getting the bag out. what else can go wrong? i can't do this without you..sigh..

then ripping open her gift bag as it caught on something, and her gift falling out everywhere... it was then, while blowing up the airmattress, that i began to cry and fall apart, and both my amazing little kids came around me and consoled me. it was a sight to see, i tell ya. but we prayed that jesus would help us get thru and hit the hay at 9:15.

8:44 pm the night has only gotten worse. i'm a wreck. i can't stop crying and my poor kids must think i'm a mess.

tuesday - a day in calgary
we woke up and the kids played with their cousins, madison and malachi, for the morning. it was so cute to see them hanging out and caleb is madison's new hero apparently.. :)
i spent the morning on the phone calling around for a new lens, which i intended to get in alberta to beat one of the taxes! i found what i wanted, downtown.. oh the infamous downtown! my old stomping grounds..

so after lunch i left the kids to continue playing ("do we HAVE to come with you, can't we stay and stay with our cousins????") and i went on my way.

i decided to go by our old church downtown, the very place J and i met.. and lo and behold it looked like there was someone there! so i decided to stop in. and sure enough, pastor john greets me at the door with "tracey, how are you?" funny... i guess you dont really change much after the age of 23..heheheh.. and they his wife and another friend were there, so we had a nice little time reminicing! it was great! talk about blast to the past.

after that, i had to rush to get the lens then go get the kids to go visit grama hunter, my dad's mom. found my lens, and headed back. said our goodbye's to the cousins and off to grammy's.
it was nice to see grammy.. we visited with her for a bit and then headed out to hayley's birthday event.

we decided that it'd be easiest for us to stay at zondervan's that evening for packing up purposes the following morning - so all the stuff back in the car and off to the party we went.

dar's mom, grama pauline, had planned a huge party.. i wasn't aware!! it was awesome! dar's family from her mom's side (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents) and then scott's family - parents, bro and girlfriend, aunt from montana and grandparents... it was a huge event!

birthday girl had a great time, i had lovely visits with long time friend and scott's mom, carol.. and the kids played with all the other kids there! after the feast of pizza of almost every choice, the fruit and veggie platters, the pooh bear birthday cake and opening gifts, we were bushed! and it was only 820 pm!!

after all the goodbyes said and done, we started getting our stuff ready for loading and darlene hermitted to her dad's (grampy h) office and studied for her test she was to take the thursday morning after they arrived in vancouver.

we were a little stressed-well me for sure!- about the road situation..wasn't looking forward to driving thru ice and snow, with the big truck and all. i was pretty much worrying about that..

we kept checking the roads, not sure which way we were gonna travel, cuz of all the road advisories.. it was slightly disheartening and finally we said we'd look again in the morning.
i think i saw bed around 11 pm, not sure of scott, and darlene said she saw bed at 2...then hayley woke at 3! oh dear! i was up every hour cuz of calebs LOUD blow up sleeping bag making a ruckus! we were all in the lack of sleep department.

before i went to sleep, i got a text from my dear sweet little nai in australia..and it was so timely and so the voice of god to me right where i was at:

10:24 pm "lay down your burden, i will carry you, i will carry you, my child, my child. i can walk on water, calm a restless sea, i've done a thousand things you've never done. i'm weary watching as you struggle on your own, just call my name, i'll come." xx nai

ok i dont know about you, but that stopped me right in my tracks and i wept..it was so god, to use my friend on the other side of the world who had not a HOT clue what was going on, to talk to me JUST then.. sigh.. my jesus so rocks my world!


10:56 pm - also please pray for me..i haven't been able to sleep wel in two weeks, so am getting physically and emotionally exhausted. thanks bunches. night.

wednesday morning...a new day
4:55 am my alarm went off and we started organizing the cars, etc.
we looked again on the map and decided we'd try the #1 and see how far we could go. the thing was darlene HAD to be down in vancouver that following thurs am for her course.. so that was a concern, we didn't want to get stranded and not be able to not get her on a plane if we had to.

at 6:42 am we started our journey to the big mountains.

8:10 am - just at canmore.. didn't sleep hardly last night, up every hour. darlene up til 2am studying.. pray for us all, for strength.

after we got thru canmore, scott walkie talkie'd me that the sign said that the #1 was closed. great. now what? we would have to detour. should we have taken the 22x from the beginning of our trip to save time? will we even get thru if we take the detour thru radium hot springs? we decided to do it, and it was like we were going in blind thru the next several hours..

so..highway #1 is closed from field to golden - landslides. soi we have to reroute thru the #93 and get up past golden.

so off we went... and about half way up the pass, scott decided it would be easier driving for him down the hills if the car was off the back trailer. darlene got in their car and the 3 vehicle carvan began..the sun was out and it was a dream!

we got to radium.. heading upward to golden now!

the driving conditions to radium were fairly great..there was some slushy sections there..but for the most part, great winter driving..then i had talked to my dad and he had said there was snow up to golden. and as we began to drive there was..but only for a bit, and it wasn't really sticking, which was great! then more sun, like the rest of the day had begun..

then the unexpected happened.

we approached a 3 car accident that apparently just happened. no ambulances were there yet.

10:52 am - major accident on highway to golden from radium. dar's helpin til the ambulance gets there. maybe this is the reason we were to come this way.

11:00 am - still waiting. dar still not here. no sign of paramedics yet.

12:12 pm - still waiting...

at this point in the game, caleb and scott were on the side of the road hucking snowballs, the girls in the back chattering and laughing..hayley was so amazing - she'd been without her momma in our car for hours, and rosie was in "charge of her" and was doing an exceptional job! :)

12:18 pm - just left accident now. fairly serious, but they will be ok. onward to golden.

12:39 pm - about 10 minutes to golden. the snow has started.. sigh. i hate driving in this.

1:29 pm - at golden, getting lunch then getting thru rogers pass.

it was amazing...the sun shone the ENTIRE time we went thru the pass..the roads were clear as though it were summer. i drove amazed and thanking the lord.

3:57 pm - we made it thru rogers pass! it was absolutely clear roads. and scott drove awesome in the truck. the sun was in front of us most of the way. we believe it was the SON.. our light in seemingly darkness of not knowing how road conditions are. every step of this journey to burnaby, starting over a year and a half ago, has been faith... why should this part be any different!

Isn't it amazing how the lord is ALWAYS in control?? seems like we have continued to learn and glean so much from this trip so far!!

we got to sicamous, and we repacked and got what we needed.. we were going onward to mom and dad's in kelowna, where the kids wills tay while i unpack the house, and the wall's thru kamloops on to vancouver so darlene could make it to her course at 830 in the morning on thurs.

at 5:40 ish we left scott and dar and hayley.. it felt weird parting ways.. we had been together thru this thus far.. with hugs and blessings we drove off into the sunset to get to our destination before dark...which we did.

542 pm - ok i'm choking up cuz we just left you... sigh. - this is what community is all about. :)

545 pm - well, we have parted ways..us to my folks and wall's to van for tonight thank you for your prayers thus far. walls have a bit more mountains left..keep them in mind still. love you and will update the blog!

we got to my parent's place around 730pm, and with open arms and lots of hugs. of course i broke down and cried, from exhaustion, glad the trip was over and glad to be able to rest for a day til i went back on the road friday to meet up with the rest of our "family" (namely the wall's) and get our house on halifax street!

we got several updates from s&d en route to vancouver..

6:32 pm - we're cruising..will stop briefly in kamloops.

7:23 pm - you're almost there. . wish we could chill with you tonight. getting close to kamloops. sigh..still a ways to go.

9:10 pm - in merritt!

1:32 am just driving into van..got to park the truck somewhere and get to our hotel. thanks for your prayers. please pray i get throu my certification (darlene) class tomoro. wont be getting much sleep tonight.

so that is the saga thus far...

i know its a novel..but it's an adventurous novel! i will try and put photos up on the missionburnaby.com site tonight.

again, thank you so much for your prayers and check back soon!

trace, on behalf of the crazy team, phase #1
xxooxxoo

ready for shipping

sigh...i'm done my job...and now all that's left is the sea of unpacked goods and the maze of boxes waiting for shipping. it's hard to believe that we've been here for 6+ months.
had a couple of conversations today that reminded again that i'm sooooo glad to be in this adventure with our team. from day to day i waver in my levels of faith for different things...but one thing i continue to have hope for is our collective ability to hear His voice and follow Him. in the midst of this shifting week...He's my source...and i feel like our team is my support. thanks for walking this out with me...i think i'd die if i was staying where i am [and i don't mean estevan!].
happy packing.
sw