Day 1 of the BC visit

Last night was full of a bunch of rushing around to be ready to leave for my trip today. My friend Laura picked me up from work, I did a load of laundry, cleaned the house (EWW centipedes!!! ... came flying off the counter, ugh!!) and went to the Higson's overnight. Shannon's dad picked me up and as we came to the bridge (which is currently closed going northbound, but should have been accessible to us), saw that something happened and there were emergency vehicles all around, so we went around town and got to their house about 10 minutes later, silly detour. I stayed up for a bit talking to Robin & Dave and telling them how excited I was to get to meet my nephew (yay!!)... and then I went to bed.

Up early today, off to the airport and on the plane for a VERY turbulent ride from Hamilton to Edmonton. At one point when the stewardesses were serving drinks, they had to get down on their hands and knees and hold the carts into place, with the help of passengers nearby, because the turbulence was SO bad! I spilled my drink on myself, but thankfully in all the jostling about I never smacked my head on the side of the plane. Crazy ride!

Then I stopped and picked up books for the kidlets: Robert Munsch's "I Have to Go!" for Kylie, a Little Mermaid sticker book for Summer and a touch & feel animal book for the baby. Then it was time to get some lunch in the airport and so I enjoyed a delicious slice of meaty pizza and smiled to myself as the ladies a couple seats over howled with laughter over who-knows-what. It was nice to see happy people in the airport, as opposed to the usual rushed and stressed-out people you typically encounter.

...Edmonton-Abbotsford was my last flight and pretty uneventful. While waiting to board I met a cute little girl who kept trying to offer me some chocolates that her mom had given her. Finally her mom said, "she'll let you know if she changes her mind", as the girl pondered this she chatted away and a couple minutes later asked "did you change your mind?". She was too cute!

Mami & Mischo picked me up in Abbotsford and off we went down the slippery roads in the beautiful wet BC weather to get back to Maple Ridge. To make up for the uneventful ride from Edmonton-Abbotsford, we got in a car accident on the way home. As we were coming down a hill, my brother hit a patch of water and couldn't right the car and we were in the oncoming lane, facing a very large truck. He made a quick (and very wise) decision and chose to veer even further to the left and guided the car quite smoothly into a ditch. As we were surveying the damages (of which they're were none, praise God!), a number of good Samaritans stopped by, mom says it's because Abbotsford is God's country-so true, it's like the Bible belt of Western Canada. A father and son team pulled over and with ropes and big trucks, pulled us out! Didn't cost a cent, didn't break a thing, and we were on our way. Not twenty minutes from home my brother and I very nearly had a fight, but I chose not to pursue it and kept my mouth shut-I'm still angry, but nothing I can do about it.

....what a long day. Then we got back to the house, unloaded, rested a bit and then Mischo dropped me off at Kandy's house to see the girls and meet my nephew. I spent a big chunk of the afternoon playing with the girls, they needed some outside air and so I took my two nieces and the neighbour girl to the park (in the rain) and we had SO much fun. We sang songs (Old McDonald, B-I-N-G-O, Twinkle Twinkle, and a couple camp songs I taught them) and ran and played and learned about bugs and about listening to adults and sharing. It was a very good day. The girls ran home and proudly told their mom that they found 5 snails, 2 slugs, 2 wood bugs and a worm. Unfortunately once we got inside the girls acted up so I had to give a couple time-outs, but all in all they seemed to have a good day. 

And I met my nephew!! I've had fun playing with him, feeding him, trying to make him smile, and not changing his diaper yet. haha :) My brother is a very proud dad, it's really neat to see how he interacts with him. I pray that he will understand the need for God in his life and raise up these kids with an understanding of who God and Jesus Christ is, aside from a curse word. Last night as I held baby Ashton I whispered a prayer that God would protect him and that he would grow up to be a man of God. Sometimes I wish I was closer to home for these kids, but they're not mine and I have to trust that God has a bigger plan for the whole family.

Bedtime. more tomorrow.