And how we all found out our visa were approved was also amazing!
Mr Alwyn Terpstra was visiting Cornerstone Christian school on Friday, the 3 October. He was doing a presentation to the kids, and parents were invited too. I don't normally make a habit of attending assemblies but I did this time, just to support an Aussie!!
The assembly was being wrapped up and and then Darryn asked Steve to come to the front. That day was also formal dress day for grades 1-6 and so Steve did come to school just for the assembly as well and came dressed in his suit and tie! The minute Darryn asked him to come to the front, I knew the reason! However, as he got to the front, Darryn announced that our visas had been approved and that he could work! And he did right away!
It was such a momentous occasion! The email had just arrived that minute and the secretary had rushed to the assembly and motioned to Darryn the good news! It was such a wonderful feeling; very hard to describe, of the relief and the weight that fell of our shoulders at that moment. Because even though we had placed it all before the Lord, and knew He had a plan with our lives, there were moments of wavering and doubts and not knowing what was going on and the uncertainty of the whole thing. God is good and in His time, the approval came through. There were lots of hugs, handshakes and tears of joy and relief!
Following the assembly, a bunch of ladies (and kids) went to an apple orchard to pick 1500lbs of apples for apple pies. I was in the apple committee and joined in the picking. Around noon we finished our picking and to celebrate Corrie and myself went for a hot drink at Woods! Delicious! Vincent and Taleesha loved it! Can you tell!
That evening warranted a dinner, so with very good friends Rick and Janice, we celebrated with a dinner at the Steakhouse! It was a wonderful and happy evening! Again, can you tell?
Several other events that took place in the last few weeks:
We made our apple pies. 634 of them! Here's Bernice and myself working on the last stages of the pies.
We had dinner with John and Veronica at Bob's in Sumas.
At the Lynden City Park. Taleesha had been begging for a while to go the park, and since it was a sunny afternoon, and I had no pressing reason why not, we went to the park! And of course, she loved it!
The kids had an afternoon off from school so that the teachers could have their PD, so a few ladies and lots of kids, went to Lake Padden for lunch and a walk around the lake.
Cassie and Taleesha. They are never far from each other!
Another dinner, this time with the Aussie 'delegates'!
We also celebrated Tante Fien's birthday with a dinner at Hester's house! Heel gezelig!
The moment our visa papers arrived (Saturday noon), Steve hit on the idea to load the RV and that us and the two little girls cross to Canada (the last time was in May), and visit Anthea. We hadn't seen her house at all, so that's what we did. We arrived around 8pm. She has a cute little apartment, ideally suited for her! The following day we went to Yarrow church and had lunch at Anthea's.
After the second service we headed to John and Veronica's for Thanksgiving dinner! It was great to be there again!
And then the girls went in the hot tub.
Taleesha's favourite person of all times! Loves playing, sitting or reading books with John!
The following day, we headed to Walnut Grove community centre for a swim. It's a very nice complex and since is was raining, the ideal place to be.
Shantel coming down the indoor slide.
Anthea and the two girls!
A bit of an overview of the complex. Spot the slide?
On Wednesday, the 14th of October, was Anthea's 22nd birthday. We are thankful for the fun-loving young Christian woman she is today and pray that God may continue to bless her in the year ahead!
We celebrated with dinner at Bob's!
Our homegrown garden did well this year with pumpkins, tomatoes and cucumbers!
The orange ones we used for fall decoration around the house. The kent ones I've been making pumpkin soup and pureeing them for future pumpkin soup.
This week I've been busy canning. I had a box of apples that needed using so I made 12 jars of applesauce. We had a good amount of tomatoes so I made tomato juice for future pans of tomato soup.
Jaclyn wanted to try out crossing the border as she hadn't been across yet, so we went and did a quick shop at Costco Canada and then had a coffee date at Tim Horton's!
As part of Home Economics, Stefan had to make a meal for us. So he made ham chowder and chicken cordon bleu with a Caesar salad! For a guy, he did a good job!
(Just a little less dishes next time mate!)
Fall is a beautiful time of the year. The leaves are changing color and many mornings a fog will roll in and hang around for awhile and then lift.
Sumas Mountain!
So that's another update. As you can read, lots of things have happened. We continue to keep busy and are all enjoying good health apart from an occasional flu or cold/cough that makes its rounds!
We are thankful for the many blessings we experience here.
May you too be blessed in your corner of the world.
Thanks for looking!
