Homesick

Every night we sing "O Joyful Light" at the boy's bedtime.  We've been doing this for a long time but slipped out of the habit over the summer and just recently returned to it.  Tonight Gabe climbed into bed and then said that Joyful Light reminded him of St. Aidan's, at which point he teared up.  Then John piped up with, "When can we go back to our real home?"  Oh dear.  Both boys were then crying.  John then said, "We have to take Justin and Sina with us back to Cranbrook." and then of course more names followed. 
We knew that moving would be hard for the kids but moving towards friends and family would be helpful.  They miss Cranbrook lots though and even though they'd find it hard to leave behind friends and family here I've been surprised by how much they feel drawn back. 
So, dear friends out there, we miss you, and our house, and our wonderful church.

The mountains from Ft. Steele.

Gabe serving at St. Aidan's the Sunday (or two) before we moved.

Update!

Well, it really is time for our blog to be overhauled and updated. We no longer live in the East Kootenays...but I'll put it on my to do list and hopefully get to it soon! 

In the meantime here is a recent photo of us in Fort Langley enjoying an afternoon of sun and sights.

Strawberry Picking

 We went to a local strawberry farm yesterday afternoon and picked (and ate) a ton of strawberries! 

 We were a tad surprised to find we'd picked 45 pounds of strawberries in under an hour!  So Sarah and I came home and began washing, chopping and cooking!  We canned 27 half pints of jam - yum!!!  So much fun to be able to do this together.

The kids loved picked picking and last night when putting the boys to bed I found another basket of strawberries stashed away in their room.

Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday

Gabe with his giant willow branch.

Planting our Easter garden

More dirt - always need more dirt.

Planting it with wheat and watering

Holy Thursday

Planting an Easter garden was such a fun activity!  Everyone got really involved.  On Holy Friday we rolled the stone in front of the tomb and Pascha morning the kids woke to the stone rolled away.  John especially got very involved in re-enacting the story.

Gabe turns 8! (almost two months ago now!)

 

Ice Skating

Lily and Gabe often ask to go ice skating and I finally took this them this week. We first had to make a stop to exchange Lily's skates for a (much) larger pair and then we headed to Mt. Baker Park.

Lily helped Gabe get going and after a couple falls he started to get his balance. The ice was pretty slushly with all the warm weather we're been experiencing but the still had fun.

John loved walking in the grass in his skates but was much less certain aboou the ice! I did get him on the ice but only for a few minutes.

The Hunt for the Perfect Tree

We had the best time hunting for a Christmas tree in the woods. Our friends, the Moon family, took us to their favourite hunting ground and we spent the afternoon on the prowl. After finding the tree we built a campfire and roasted hot dogs. This was also the moment that I discovered that my camera had opened up and lost it's batteries!