Calgary to Moose Jaw!

So we got away a little later than hoped today and drove for 7 1/2 hours to Moose Jaw Saskatchewan.

It was a beautiful sunny day out which lifted our sad spirits (see next post for why). We had our newest toy working ( a vehicle GPS mapper i co-bought with my dad) to easily guide our way and our truck is packed to the hilt!





We stopped in Medecine Hat and saw the Worlds largest Teepee. It was...big.



Then we crossed over into Saskatchewan and the roads immediately got worse. Im not lying. Those of you who have driven there know its true!



The scenery was beautiful. Big rolling plains and hills and fields. Im thankful for a day to be joyful for all we have and not only sad for what we give up.

The sad goodbye

So as some of you know, moving to Africa for us has meant we need to give away our dog. He is a 3 1/2 year old wonderful chocolate lab names Sanka. We could physically take him with us, but his quality of life would plummet. The heat, the bugs, the disease, not to mention no place to go for runs or swims, and people who would hate him and try to poison him (im not even joking). So we had to make the hard choice to love him enough to give him a good here where he would be happy. I am getting tears in my eyes all over again even typing this.

Well our good friends Clark and Jenn and their son Carter are taking Sanka. I am reassured that he will be well loved, maybe even spoiled, and still have a great life. But letting go of him was sooo hard. We told Bennett to say bye to sanka, that he was leaving to go live with someone else, and Bennett gave him huge hugs and love while Paul and I watched and both cried. Then sunday night we brought him to C & J's house and left him. I cried for a long time. We love our dog. WHy is letting go so hard? If we clearly didnt know that this was what we were supposed to do in life we would never put ourselves through the torture.

We also had to leave Bennett and Arielle behind with the grandparents for a few weeks while we are in training which is killing me too. We have never been away from bennett more than one night. I know they will be having lots of fun, i just hate not being there with them. This too shall pass.

SO I guess I am going through a natural process of grieving. I know it will continue to happen, especially as we leave our family when we fly to Niger. *sigh* I know grief is natural and God is with me through it all. But its still awful and we appreciate your prayers.

Giving the love

The BIG Thank Yous

So we are almost out of our house. I say almost because we still have a few little piles of scattered junk lying around to get rid of, and our truck to pack for Quebec. But our storage is all moved out and the shipping container is all packed and ready for pickup Monday am. There is some hard stuff coming later today...but i'll save that for a post a few days from now.

So i wanted to say thank you to some people who helped us tremendously over the past little while with the gigantic work load of logistics and moving far away. Please indulge me to list a few of you :)

Thank you first of all for all of those who love and have prayed for us during this very stressful time.

Thank you to my neighbors Gina and Janet, for your oft offered childcare so I could pack, for towels so i could pack mine,for our organizing the scrapbook memory sheets which are precious, and for having a little champagne send-off.

To Kirk for helping us with all the physical labour and finally emptying our garage ;)

To Dad, Chad and Michelle - for giving up your vacation time and taking time off work to come pack like crazy. Chad you are shrink wrap king and michelle - i dont know how i would have done it without you.

To Bryan and Lisa for staying that extra while back up here to be part of our days, build things with paul and helping us pack and throwing the family get together for us. And for storing some of our stuff!

The container has begun to be packed!!


To Danielle - for taking our couches to love and for helping pack and making us supper.

To Kristi -for making the diaper run to Costco for me even though you are moving too and have no kids. Im sure the stares you got were pretty funny! In case anyone was wondering, 13 cases of diapers is over $600!! Yikes.



To all our family who came for our commissioning. It was so special you were there.

To Captain Mike for stopping by and giving us free Fire Department t-shirts :)

Its hard to believe that we leave for out East tomorrow. Wow. We will update along the way as we can!!