Tooth and Nail

It's always entertaining when you have a large family, and doubly so when you have small children in the large family.

Abram was following Mom up the stairs as she carried a load of laundry, and fell down the stairs. His brothers rescued him from the bottom of the stairs, and brought him up crying, and bleeding from a large split on his bottom lip.

We stemmed the tide of blood with a cold washcloth, and the little dude calmed down, and ate some stew for lunch. A few minutes after he was finished eating, I looked at him, and thought he looked different somehow.

Then it hit me. "Buddy, where's your tooth?!". A quick search down the stairs found the tooth, root and all, sitting on the step. We placed a quick call to the dentist, and found that he has just advanced himself about 4 years, when the new adult tooth will grow in. So for the next 4 years, he'll be missing his right top front tooth.


It looked pretty strange for a while, since I was used to seeing him with a full set of chicklets, but it's starting to grow on me now.

That was two weeks ago... This past week, we headed south to Calgary for Tanya's cousins funeral, a sad time to be sure. The next day, Liam's birthday, we headed back up to Edson... almost.

As we rounded the curve on the south end of Drayton Valley, with a water truck in the outside lane, and a pickup truck behind us, we met with Mrs. Deer. She was the fourth one across the road, and impacted squarely in the left front of the Suburban. As I watched pieces fly off to the left, I momentarily wondered if it was pieces of meat... but it was pieces of Suburban naturally.

After getting pulled over to the side of the road, I inspected the damage.
-Left front headlight - gone
-Left front signal light - gone
-Grille - smashed to bits
-Bumper- cracked and twisted
-Radiator - pushed back and leaking
-Automatic transmission fluid cooler - crushed and leaking-
-Hood - Bent back at the front
-Left fender- bent and dented
_who knows what else - broken to bits

Well, I guess we're done driving this rig tonight... After calling AMA, and getting the ball rolling on having it towed the 145km back to Edson, I visited with the nice police officer who stopped to make sure everything was all right and to start the accident report. What to do next.

-10C, with a truck that won't run. Could be getting cold soon. We called a cab, to take us in to Drayton Valley. 20 bucks later and two trips (they could only take 6 of us at a time) we were safely nestled in at A&W. Nobody even noticed that Dagmar had chickenpox. We ordered some food for the kids, and I called Pastor Steve to come with his minivan to pick us up.

Problems solved. Whew. Almost.

A few minutes later, a smell began to waft about the table, coming from the vicinity of Abram (2 years old). Poopy. Diapers and wipies were left in the Suburban... great. Kennedy, liam, Dagmar and I headed out to Walmart, just a couple cold snowy blocks away. The sidewalk wasn't bad, but cutting through the deep snow to get to the Walmart parking lot, was a bit refreshing, and Dagmar's shoes weren't going to cut it, so she rode on my shoulders. After getting the smallest bag of diapers they had (still huge by the way) and wipies, I decided that there was no way we were going to get them back to A&W without a backpack of some sort.

So armed with the new backpack, diapers, wipies, and with Dagmar on my shoulders we trekked back to the A&W, changed the bum, and only had a moment or two before Pastor Steve arrived to take us back to Edson.

Now we wait... for I'm not sure how long, before we have wheels again. It's an interesting walk to the the grocery store, and you do have to plan what you're going to buy. But we have many friends and neighbours who are helping us out, and taking care of us, so this too shall pass with much less pain that one would anticipate.

We are so blessed, that Abram wasn't more badly hurt when he fell, that the suburban bore all the damage (well the suburban and the deer, poor thing), and that we are home safely.

You can actually feel God's love through this whole incident, and through his people.

In the words of tiny Tim,

God bless us, everyone.

Morning in New England

What a beautiful Morning!

The sun is shining here on the shore of lake Winnipesaukee, and the fall colours are amazing. It was a warm evening, and we didn't even have to use the furnace in the Rubicon.

Once we pack up camp here at lake shore park, we have decided to head a bit further south, toward Boston. Since the autumnal equinox has come and gone, we realized we've never been to Boston in the fall....

Whoop! Sorry, for a minute there I was daydreaming about how things would be if the house had sold according to MY schedule, and the plan had gone according to MY plan.

We are here in Edson. Trying to keep the house as clean as we can, and waiting for the inevitable offer that will be forthcoming soon.

The German Measles seem to have run the ranks of the kids, (and the Dad) and we seem to be pretty much on the mend. Only Tanya and Caleb have managed to dodge the fever, chills, and spots.

It has been good to be here in Alberta this summer. It has been a beautiful summer, and as a family we have been blessed with a trip out to Kola MB and back through Rouleau and Moose Jaw. We had some great "Beach time" in Cold Lake, Moose Lake, and Pyramid Lake. Tanya and Abram and Elowyn and I had the opportunity to drive the going to the sun road twice (there to Kalispell, and back again).

We were so blessed to be nearby during Jedediah's birth, to meet him, and keep the families spines in tune. To help with pouring concrete in the basement. To be here in Edson for the patients and friends who needed me so much they just had to come see me at home.

So many reasons that we were blessed by God not following MY plan. It has been a season of waiting, and watching God's wonders around us. Wherever we are.

We will enjoy this season, as we look forward to the next one.

Happy Birthday JO!

Sicker 'n a poisoned pup...

Yipes.

First Dagmar and Elowyn, then Abram, Liam, Palmer, Kennedy. The two girls seemed to follow the pattern of German Measles (Rubella), with the fever, and then spots a couple days later. Just a few spots though, on the face and arms for Dagmar, face and diaper area for Elowyn.

Certainly takes the wind out of the ol' sails. Today even I feel sort of tired, and achey all over, and cold. Sheesh. It's quite a roller coaster, but since it's up to God, I'm going to relax and let Him handle it.

Since the last blog, the bus went away again with another offer, and then came back with the offer being withdrawn.

We had a second showing on the house, but no offers yet... soon.

We have to renew our listing too, I can't believe it's been 3 months of waiting.

Ethan, Palmer and I attended a creation home schooling conference. Very interesting stuff. There sure is a lot that they don't tell you in school, and a lot that evolutionists don't want us to look at or study about the fossil record. Fascinating. It was fun and entertaining to have a look at all the evidence for creation, and a worldwide flood.

Well, that's all for now, back to the trenches! Talk to you sooner next time!

A day late and a present short (and slightly off key)

Happy Birthday Diana!

We miss you and Love you! Even Abram sang!

If you read down below, you'll find out why we didn't get to you yesterday. It was an 8 hour trip home from your house to our house.

Tired, and ReTired, and Tired of Tires.

Remember the tire blowout by Eckville?

So we still have the trashed tire on the trailer, hanging where the spare used to be. As we were heading back to Edson, it seemed logical to go to Rocky Mountain House to get a new tire, so off we went. When I stopped to dump the tanks in Rocky, I noticed the left front trailer tire was looking a bit low. We went to Sobey's to get some food for our hungry tummies and after eating, I looked and the tire was now completely flat. ugh.

I unhooked the trailer there in the parking lot, and drove over to Kal-Tire to get an airtank to put some air in it so we could go over and get it patched. After hooking up again, and getting everyone in and buckled up, I wrestled with the tire and air tank, and managed to get about 40 pounds in it. Enough to make it across town.

We drove over to Kal-Tire, and they had a look. The factory tires were pretty much shot. The right rear was in shards over the highway, the right front was replaced in June in Lloydminster, the left front was half bald and flat, and the left rear was bald and cupped but not flat.

The tire guy said it would be wisest to buy three new tires to match the new radial we had on the one wheel. Sounded like the best bet to me, since I had two tires go in the last 100km. They pulled all three tires off, put my spare on the wheel that was somewhat bent from the blowout, and went looking for 3 new radials.

They didn't find any. The tire size I needed were on backorder.

We called ahead to Drayton Valley, and they had 5 tires in stock, so we put 3 of them on hold. They patched the leaking tire, and sold me a used radial that was not the right size but would "work" to get me to Drayton. 2 hours and 50 bucks, and we were back on the road, off to Drayton.

When we pulled in to Kal-Tire in Rocky they had the order in the computer, and I pulled around back to get the tires put on. 40 minutes later, while I was in the front of the building, a young tire guy came up to Tanya with one of the caps from the wheels. He told her they forgot to put it on, but it would take half an hour to put it on... so (I guess he figured she'd just say okay, well forget it then) She said he should talk to me. He came to me in the tire "showroom" and told me they forgot to put a cap on, "Do you want it?"....

Duh. Of course not. Cuz nothing looks nicer than a trailer with 3 matching wheels and one ugly one. Kinda like wearing different coloured socks on each foot - a fashion statement. Actually, I said "that would be nice"... They even had Caleb saying, well Dad and I could put it on when we get home.

Nothing like paying 300 bucks for some new tires, and then having to jack up the trailer, and pull a wheel to put it back together when you get home.

They fixed it. It didn't even take half a hour.

It was quite the trek home, but we make it, and now we have 4 radials with tread and everything on the trailer. We're Stylin'!

Once home, we bathed Palmer, Liam, Dagmar and Elowyn (two separate tubs of water, that was missisipi muddy by the time they got out.) Nothing like a week at the farm to create dirty bath water.

We're home for a couple days, to do wash, and celebrate Mom's birthday on the 13th, and then back to central alberta. We still have Ethan and Kennedy at Whitesides that we'll have to get back some time.

Life in the fast lane... who needs it! It's too hard on the tires!

Baby, Batteries, Tires, and more terrific fun!

More showings on the house this week, and we're off in Spruce View again. The biggest news, is the new baby, Jedidiah James Branson, born on September 8! There are some pictures on our pictures page.

On the trip down, as we neared Eckville, there seemed to be a point where the road got very rough, so rough in fact, that I thought I should pull over and check the trailer. The right rear tire had shredded itself. Ethan, Palmer, Caleb and I got right to work changing it. As I was undoing the lug nuts, it seemed that the hub did not turn at all. I was worried that the bearings had been damaged, until we had the wheel off. The tread from the tire had gone in and wrapped itself around the hub, melting itself into place. It took all three of us pulling, and tugging, and yanking, but we managed to set the tread free, to see that the hub turned freely again. YAY! We put the spare on, got everything put away, and washed up (nice to have a trailer in tow).

I was amazed at how dark it had gotten in the time we changed the tire, and was glad to be climbing back in to the driver's seat to finish our journey. Then I tried to start the truck. Somehow it wound up turned off, but with the lights on, and the DVD player on, and the trailer lights on, and the hazards on, and ... so there was not enough juice to start it. I called Keith, and after a short 20 minute wait, we were boosted, and on our way.

It's been an eventful visit, and I managed to help Keith prep his basement for cement, and helped pour it too. Oh, and there was a baby born too. Jedidiah James is quite the handsome little fellow. Mom (Merryl) and baby are doing fine.

We had to get boosted in the parking lot at Costco. It seems the battery hasn't had enough time to recharge, and after playing the radio in the parking lot while I shopped with some of the kids, it wouldn't start. It was about a 40 minute wait for AMA to get there, but we're back on the road again.

We had some feedback on the home showings, and it seems we are in the top two homes, with two separate buyers, so we should be getting an offer pretty soon (please oh please)

God is sooo amazing. He has kept us safe and sound with blown tires, and dead batteries, and He is healing Palmer. Selling a house is a piece of cake for Him.....

Don't forget to see our new pictures.

Importing your chickens after they've been counted

It's Baaaaaaack.

First the bus was gone, and we began the search for a new bus. An entertaining one to be sure. One fellow, in response to my request for more information, responded with:

"What do you know about bus conversions and what are you looking for? This is a 102" MCI do you know what that is? I'm not trying to make you feel bad, a lot of people ask me about our conversion that don't know anything about them. Then they compare ours to a junk conversion and I'm not interested in getting into that.

I'm sorry if you don't like my attitude and I don't really mean to have one. I converted our MCI with subs working on it and I know what we have but that may not mean a thing to you? I have thousands in this conversion and if you did the conversion through a conversion company it would cost you around $150,000 today. If you did all the labor yourself besides taking years to complete it it would still cost you around $100,000.00.

So if you are still interested in seeing more pictures and more information, let me know. On the other hand if you think I'm arrogant or have an attitude then maybe I'm the wrong person for you to deal with?

So please tell me more about your being interested in a conversion?"

Obviously a very charismatic salesman.

Entertaining to say the least.

Anyway, this morning I received an email from Ms. Nash in Kalispell that the sale of her bus fell through, and it is now for sale again. The people who were buying it were supposed to put 3500 down, and included in the price was an inspection and oil change. They pulled out before

putting the money down, while the bus is in for the inspection and oil change, so she was left holding the bag for the bill and still has a bus. A pretty bad deal for her, but the kids were excited to hear that we may still be getting the "Jungle Bus".

As for me, I believe this is an answer to prayer, since after giving it to God, and relaxing about the bus not being available anymore, He brought it right back into view. Now he just has to sell our house. Perhaps the next post will be all about that!

Still riding the emotional roller coaster, I remain, yours incredibly amazingly,

Cameron (and troupe)

Counting your chickens before they are imported.

Next!

We recieved word yesterday that the jungle bus we had visited, and examined, and pondered over, is now sold. Argh!

You are not supposed to count your chickens before your house sells and you can afford to buy them,... er, that's not it... well anyway, we had plans for this bus. Now we will have to make plans to find a new bus.

Caleb said that God didn't want us to get that bus because it was not the right one for us, so now that it's sold, our house can sell and God can get us the right bus. He's a wise old man sometimes that dude.

The house was shown again yesterday, and another showing is scheduled for tomorrow evening. The offer is coming soon.

In other news, the iMac is up and running again, following some very adept surgery performed by yours truly to replace the internal hard drive. So you can expect our website to be off and rolling again soon, and hopefully some podcasts from myself and the dudes as we prepare for the launch of the Rubicon...

And Palmer tried to open up his cranium on a tree last night, but only put a 1cm split in his scalp. The blood was quite impressive though. Caleb said he looked like John McClean from Die Hard. Rather blood covered.

Well, it's my birthday, so I'm getting out of here, and on to other things!

Dinosaurs and Screaming....

Talk about an ear piercing scream.

Parked at Kure's house and Elowyn came in to the trailer screaming, and covering her knee. She wouldn't let us see it, but said "a bee stinged meeeee" She fell asleep shortly thereafter, and an inspection of her right knee revealed a large swollen bite, and two other bites that were not as swollen.

She was playing out at the front of the house, and when we checked it out we found a steady stream of bald faced hornets going in and out of a crack in the steps down to the basement.

Ah we manage to find excitement at the Kure's even when they are not there.

Over the course of the past week Caleb and I made the trip back to Edson for his last driving lesson (he passed the practical portion of his lessons - YAY!) and we have visited the Big Valley Creation Museum - a must see for everyone. Very educational. We also performed the annual Team Drumheller Tyrell visit. (check out the photos) Because of everyones busy schedule, it was Cameron and Taigen who drove the convoy down to Drum.

Grammie packed us some buns, and chicken, and veggies, so we stopped at WalMart in Drumheller, and bought some cups, ice and juice to drink, and had a little picnic in the parking lot. Then off to the Museum, where we find out that it's only from September to June that homeschool kids get in for free. We then decided we were a family, with 15 kids, and managed to get a 30 dollar deal for all of us to get in.

The kids all had a blast, running around, and checking things out. Everyone had a buddy or 2, and we still stopped about 4 times for a headcount. Afterwards it was off to get some gas for the Sienna, since Taigen was running low, and then back to WalMart for some ice cream sandwiches, etc, and then back to Kure's house (Where the Trailer was parked)

We visited with the Branson's and helped a bit with furniture moving as they prepare to get back into their home.

The only family we haven't seen much of is the Kreil's, so we'll have to make a trip over to visit with them a bit more soon. We did see Katelyn yesterday, as we headed out for home. We stopped for some Ice cream (methinks she gave me the deal of the century) and a little visit with KK before we began the trek home with the trailer. After stopping in Rocky for fuel, dumping the tanks, and picking up sandwich stuff, we headed north.

I thought it would be fun to stop and have a little picnic at the Pembina Provincial park by Evansburg. BAD IDEA. It seems that Saturday is a bit crazy there, and by the time we wound our truck and trailer through all the people and cars, and busses, and trucks and trailers in the parking lot, we were glad to be out of there. We headed into Evansburg and stopped at the abandoned and closed for the season visitor information centre.

Once everyone had their sandwich, I thought I'd go for a bit of a walkabout the place while I ate mine. As I was headed back to the trailer, I looked up and saw Abram grinning at me through the screen door. As he grinned, he pushed the door and it opened, and he tumbled headfirst down the steps to the parking lot. I dropped my sandwich. A few seconds later I had covered the remaining ground to the trailer and scooped him up. No major harm done, just a little shaking up, bumps, and a bruise on the forehead. He was even smiling again after about 5 minutes.

Today we are at the Edson House, doing laundry, cleaning the trailer, and preparing to get out of here again, so that we don't totally trash the house we're trying to sell... still no forward progress on that front.

Well, we know that God is Semper Fidelis!

You can take the critter out of the tree...

You can take the critter out of the tree, But you can't take the tree
out of the tree critter's needs.....

Yep, it's a squirrely bunch. This past week we left the big critters (Caleb and Ethan) at home, and went off to Didsbury for a week of VBS with the smaller critters. (Palmer on down).

We had a great visit with Kevin and Michelle, and the kids had tons of fun at Zion Evangelical ... We stayed in our trailer in Best's driveway, and on Friday morning, about 3 am, Tanya heard the patter of little feet. I heard the trailer door close. Elowyn awoke, and made a bee line for the Bests front porch, and then began to Scream. If that doesn't get the old adrenaline flowing.... I threw on my pants from the night before, and ran out the door barefoot through the wet dewy grass to their porch, where she stood screaming in terror, in the dark. I spoke comforting words to her (with my heart pounding) and carried her back to the trailer, and put her into our bed, ignoring the wet grass stuck to my feet as I climbed in to snuggle her.

In about 10 seconds, she was asleep, leaving her mother and I laying wide awake, listening to the Train pass our trailer (seemingly only inches away) Horn blaring, cars screeching.... It took me a long time to settle down (at least 5 minutes, an eternity for me) before I could get back to sleep. The queen bed felt quite full of people, but at least there weren't any more escapees for the rest of the evening.

Tonight the trailer is at Whitesides house, along with Palmer, Liam, Kennedy and Dagmar. We are in Edson, with Caleb, Ethan, Elowyn, & abram, Taigen and Jayden. We arrived at about 11, and have done some cleaning, and now it's 12:48 and time for a shower and off to bed. We're up early tomorrow, to finish the cleanup, see some Edson Folk, and be on the road back to Big Valley by around 10 ish.

The house is being shown tomorrow at about 10:15am, and then again later in the weekend, we just haven't heard when yet. We did take a few more pictures in Didsbury and points south, and we'll post them when I have a chance. Probably from Big Valley.

In His grip,

Cameron, and the Rubicon crew.

Swimming with a Frost Warning

Jasper National Park. The kids were getting a little stir crazy, and wanted to get out of here, after sitting around doing nothing for several days. Since we have a park pass, Jasper's pretty cheap (except for gas) so off we went. Caleb and Ethan preferred to stay home and clean house and play a few hours of video games, so we took Palmer and down along with us.

We dawdled along through the park, and were amazed at the wildlife. Well, more amazed at the tourists... standing not 3 feet away from a huge Wapiti with a rack about 6 feet across. Just out there with their cameras without a thought to the fact that if they moved wrong, they'd be just a decoration hanging from that rack. Reminds me of the japanese tourist I saw a couple years ago taking pictures standing between a Grizzly mom and her cubs.

We stopped for some Ice cream (well for the 6 kids we had along) and walked around a bit in the Jasper Townsite. It was nice and warm, about 19, and felt good to be out there in the Sun. Then we drove out to Pyramid Lake.

I don't recall ever going to the day use area where the beach is before. It was pretty nice, and since it was a cool day, with a pretty good chance of showers, we were really the only people there. Those of you who know us will know that we do not plan ahead very well, so we had no jackets or changes of clothes along with us. It didn't clue in with me that the beach was not a good place to go without swimsuits, or towels, or changes of clothes. I seem to worry a lot less about those things these days, and since we weren't originally planning on the beach, well there we were. You can tell from the pictures that the water was too enticing.

Kennedy was quite thrilled "Dad! It's warmer than Cold Lake" So we had some wet kids for the trip back home. Abram was in there with his shoes, and socks, and having a great time. Until he and Liam sort of trotted into the water, and the drag slowed his feet down, and he went face first into the water. I snapped a picture just prior to the big splash that you can see here. He was pretty unhappy till we got his clothes off, and snuggled for a minute, then he was fine.

We drove around to the other side of the lake to walk over the bridge to the island, and after we got out and were walking down to the bridge I looked at Dagmar. She was hugging herself, and shivering and goosebumpy. It had dropped to 12 degrees, and the kids were all wet, and all the tourists around us were wearing long pants and jackets, and looking at our wet ragamuffin family in shorts and sun dresses and t-shirts. I decided not to get the girls a case of hypothermia, and took them back to the truck, while the warm blooded hearty Harrison boys made the trek across to take photos.

It was neat to walk over the bridge. It's been a couple decades since I was there, so it was vaguely familiar and the boys had a blast running around and watching squirrels and posing for the camera.

It was pretty fun, and just a taste of what we will be doing very soon, when the house is sold.... Soon and very soon..... Tanya is just ranting at the moment that Edson has a frost warning. Not Inuvik, not Ft. McPherson, not Red Deer, not Jasper, but Edson... I want out! ;-)

The Art of Surrendering

Surrender.

I truly believe that God just wants us to surrender this whole thing to Him. All this waiting, and stressing, and wondering what's going on, and when the house will sell, and.....

He has been working in our hearts for the past couple of years to prepare us for this journey, and showing us the path he wants us to take. I, naturally have my own schedule, and agenda that I think this should all follow. I think I should be in charge of painting this picture, and that the canvas is mine to do with as I will. I think that I am the artist of my life, and I am in control of it all.

He naturally has a plan that is way better than mine.

So it seems that we need to surrender this whole thing to Him, and let him run the show. That is the work that I will be attending myself to over the next... however long it takes. It's a difficult thing to do, and will take some concerted effort, but Surrender is the name of the game now.

I may be the Captain of the Rubicon, but the Admiral tells us when to set sail. We will remain in Harbour and continue to prepare for our voyage.

And while waiting in Harbour, maybe I should drink more ;-)

RESET

Our hard drive on our iMac failed. Along with that, all access to our .mac website, and the ability to change anything.

In our absence, Scientology moved in to the google ads, so our webpage became a walking ad for scientology.

Sheesh.

So, now as I wait to get the other mac fixed, I have reset our webpage so that we can have some control over what is on the website while we get the iMac fixed up. The ongoing blogging will happen here for the time being, until we are up and running with the full tech that we are used to having.

Love is all around...

It's Scheduled! Another Showing! August 5th, at 2pm.

Woot woot! This is the one.

"I feel in in my fingers, I feel it in my toes. Home sales are all around me, so the feeling grows.

It's written in the wind,

It's everywhere I go!

So if you really love us, pray for the house to gooooooooooooo....."

(sung, - rather tongue in cheek - to the the tune of Love is all around - or christmas is all around if you've seen the movie Love actually...

Hot Child (ren) in the City

Hot hot hot. Well, not Iowa hot, but we have hit 31C, so hot for Alberta

The open house was on Saturday, and we pulled the trailer out of the driveway and over to the church so it was out of the way.

Since I haven't heard from the realtor, I don't know how it went, but there haven't been any offers on the place yet, so the right people must be waiting for God to say GO!!! I hope he does soon. We still have the little ones sleeping out in the trailer, to keep the mess down in here, but it is amazing how well we can trash things.

In keeping with my computer trend, the PC did a major crash yesterday after installing some kind of wonderful update from Windows as it shut down the night before. It couldn't even find a startup disk. Had to reload windows on to one of the hard drives, and then spent the rest of the afternoon trying to fix the partitions on the other two drives so they would show up in windows again.

Caleb had his first driving lesson last thursday, and we have only been out once since then. I'll take him again today to get some more miles under his belt. He drives again on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week, and then once more at a yet unscheduled time.

This weekend is the big slo pitch tournament, so we'd really like to get out of town, but with Caleb driving, that won't happen until probably Sunday.

Well, Caleb and I are off for a drive! He needs 40 hours of practice along with his lessons, so they say, so here we go!

P.S. - Sell house sell!

The Future is Fiendly

Yep. Exactly the level of incompetence one has come to expect. Closed the business in February, and started a transfer of the internet service contract to Edson Alliance church, so I wouldn't have to pay 2,000 bucks to cancel it.

The transfer got cancelled in April, but nobody told me. Called in June, and they said to disregard the bill. Called again in June and they said to still disregard the bill. Then they called me to say it had been cancelled, but they could reopen the transfer, if I paid the bill in full up to date.

Now it is cancelled again. Called and they said that they weren't involved in the transfer of internet services, only phone lines (funny they hadn't told Steve or I that over the past 5 months). So on to Telus sales, and they set it all up so Steve only had to call them. Steve phones them and finds out that they can't transfer only the internet, but he has to take the whole bundle - phone line included.

5 months later, and I'm back where I started, owing Telus for another two months of service in a building that I have no access to.

So, we're back to cancelling the service, and paying the huge bill, unless there is a way to get the new cancellation fee of a meagre 150 bucks to apply to me, but it would appear it's only for contracts signed after may 2008.

It is amazing. Absolutely amazing. On the upside, until the house sells i'm not paying anybody anything. The old blood from a stone thing...

Open House!!

The big news is that our house is having a public open house on Saturday July 25 starting at 11:00 AM

Please pray that we will have a buyer from the open house, or before the open house.

Please pray for calm hearts and minds as we try to get the place cleaned up and ready for the open house, with 8 kids in it.

It's an Owl's Life...

I feel like an Inuvikite. Can't seem to be tired enough to go to to bed before 2:00 - 3:00am, and then when 9:00-am rolls around, it feels really early... So much for the getting up at 5am to run mornings. By 9 Dagmar is up and hungry, and the house is starting to move around, although Abram and Elowyn seem to be on the same late night schedule, so they are not really awake at 9.

I was wondering why I have these numb fingers on my left hand, and thinking I just needed to get some fish oil in me, and then last night Tanya remembered my amazing slip off the step of the trailer in Moose Jaw last month. I recall telling her then, if I have symptoms of whiplash later, this was the cause. Then shortly after that these fingers have been numb, my neck is sore, and I keep waking up with headaches. Hmmmmm. Whiplash. And one of my chiropractors is in Inuvik. I went to Hinton yesterday and was adjusted, so that's a good thing. Maybe I need to go to Inuvik to wait for the house to sell, so I can get checked a couple times a day.

But, since we're in limbo with this whole home selling issue, I guess I'd better wait for the house to sell. I hate waiting. Maybe God is trying to get me more comfortable waiting before the house sells.

This week is a week of trying to keep the house clean enough to show, even though we don't have any showings booked yet. Caleb has AMA driving on Thursday, and Josh and Megan Rigby's Alberta wedding thingy is on Saturday, so we'll probably try to stick around here until then at least. Caleb Drives next week on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but he probably wouldn't mind if we left him "Home Alone" for that.

Well, off to make some stew, and clean the kitchen so that it looks like nobody lives here.

Who Loves ya Baby?!!! That's right.

Water water everywhere...

Wow. Technology. It has it's ups and downs.

Up - posting to your blog over your tethered iPhone

Down - When your card from your camera cracks, it still lets you take lots of pictures, but you can't get them off the camera to post on your blog, leaving you to put up some lame picture you took with your webcam in your trailer.

Camped at Cold lake provincial campground for the past couple nights, and it looks like we're here to stay for the next couple nights too, judging by the activity in the campground. Even if we wanted to move, we might wind up in WalMart or at the end of a dirt road, since all the sites are full.

We have a decent spot here, with power, and it's high enough for the internet to work, and sort of secluded, so here we'll stay.

As for excitement - during our short drive up here from Moose lake, the realtor called to say that my neighbor (the RCMP officer) called her to say that his basement was flooded, and it was my fault because my downspouts weren't attached to the house. He also called the town to say the same thing. Strange that he didn't just go out and fix them. As it turns out, it isn't looking good for his insurance to pay, so he feels it will be a liability issue for me, and my insurance company is going to have to pay (or me, I guess). I'll talk to my insurance company when we get home and see what they have to say about all this.

My other neighbor, (the Fabulous Fontaines) went over, and fixed the downspout issue, and got it all put back together. I guess the kids probably kicked off the pipes back there or something. My basement is okey fine and dry.

I took the little ones to the beach yesterday, and they had a blast playing in the sun, digging in the sand, and going up to their knees in the very Cold Lake. Elowyn took a bit of a deeper plunge. While we were building an amazing moat on the beach, she decided without anyones knowledge to go for a float on a boogie board, by herself. The next thing I knew there was a teenager carrying Elowyn, soaking from head to toe, on to the beach. It had only been maybe two minutes of sand castle building and she had gone out, capsized, and been saved, all without me knowing anything about it. I thought she was still beside me digging in the sand. To quote Count of Monte Cristo "Zitara, God sees you out of the corner of his eye". I feel so blessed to still have an Elowyn today.

Today we took a trip to the Cold Lake Fish Hatchery, and had a tour. The little ones caught little fish in a net, fed and held some medium sized rainbow trout, and even got to pet a larger rainbow. Liam complained all the way there because it was going to be "Boring!" but he had a blast once we arrived.

Well, I guess we're off to the beach again, a little later today, to prevent burning the hides off the kiddies and their Dad.

We have another showing tomorrow at 11:45, so please pray that these are the buyers we're waiting for. I may have mentioned it before - "I hate waiting"

Moose Lake Memories

Yep. Here we are. At the provincial campground in Moose Lake. Just the 7 of us.

Caleb, Ethan and Palmer are at AWANA camp up here by Bonnyville, and that leaves the 7 of us to hang out, and breathe. Today we went over to Cold Lake, to check out some other spots where we could camp as well. With the wind there were some nice whitecaps on Cold Lake. We even did a little off roading in the suburban, and almost got stuck in some really soft sand on the south side of Muriel lake. I had visions of having to press the old OnStar button to have them come rescue us from "way off the beaten path", but with some back and forth, and lots of backing up, we were out of there.

We've even done some of the standard "camping" things. Last night was smokies, over the fire, followed by marshmallows. Tonight was barbecued hamburgers. We found a nice spot, with power, near the playground, and the little ones have been having a blast over there. Today was cold and windy but we walked down to the beach to check it out, and when it warms up there seems to be a desire among the littles to do some beach time.

In sharp contrast to Inuvik, we have few to no mosquitos to deal with. Pretty unusual for Alberta really..

On the house selling front, still no news. We had two more showings on Sunday, but our realtor had her baby on Thursday, and has been a bit busy being a Mom to keep us posted on how they went. No offers yet, and I'm pretty sure we would have heard about that.

Well, I figured out how to tether to the internet on the ol' iPhone, so perhaps we can do a few more posts this week, but it's almost 2am - my bedtime!

If I can figure out how to get pictures off my camera (the xd card is kinda broken and won't plug in to this computer) i'll post some here tomorrow!

God Bless you all, and keep on praying for that house to sell, unless you WANT us to run out of money and move in with you ;-)

Frayed, frazzled, feeling faint...

Still waiting...

In the rain...

Parked the trailer at Whitesides, and Dan took us out on the town. It was great fun, and great food at Sam's. Then off to a movie (the proposal - quite funny). Unfortunately, while we were out with Erin and Dan, the deluge started. When we got home after picking Jayden up from her Montana excursion, it was well after midnight, and dark, puddly, and muddy. The walk to the trailer was like slogging through quicksand. Jayden lost her shoe on the way to the house. The next day was very messy getting everyone loaded up, and out of the house. Used 4 wheel drive to pull the trailer out of the muck, and moved on to Kures house.

The whooping cough is doing better, although Elowyn did a great job yesterday with a huge coughing spell. I was holding her and Abram, and by the time I knew I was in trouble, my shirt, and her pj's were covered in her partially digested supper. God blessed us by having a shower nearby, and shampoo, and soap, and clean pj's and clothes, and...

We had a wonderful time visiting with whitesides, and today we had a great weenie roast with Bransons and Kreils and we've had fun with Grammie here in spruce view, but nerves are very frayed. The uncertainty of it all, waiting for the house to sell, wondering where $$ are going to come from while Dad's not working... it seems to be wearing on everyone.

The trailer is still not really working well for us, as no one has found the spot for clothes, and dirty clothes, and the dishes and the garbage can pile up, and the mud from the rains is tracking in, and .... Life is a bit crazier than usual. I apparently do not have Elaine's organizational skills.

Tomorrow we will head back to Edson, mow the lawn, do the laundry, and pack the boys to go to Camp next week. Hopefully we can regroup and get a bit more organized. I can see the benefit of the bus with about 10x the storage space we have in the trailer, and bigger tanks, and instahot hot water, and a generator, and more room, and ...

Did I mention I hate waiting?

Well,

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

Isnt' there anything I could'a do to speed things up?

I feel like Indigo Montoya... I hate waiting.

The house is listed, and with 5 of the 8 kids at their cousins in Big Valley, it's possible to clean up the house. It has been shown 3 times so far, but no offers yet, although I AM EXPECTING one today! Even Elowyn wanted to stay down there, and is apparently having a great time without us.

I am now officially an unlicensed chiropractor, I changed my status to inactive, so as to save $2500-3000 that we totally don't have until the house sells. As long as I become active within 3 years, I will only have to take an open book jurisprudence exam, and pay 150 bucks to be reinstated.

Today I will haul some garbage to the dump, and do some tiling downstairs. Then we're off to big valley, and the kids for a couple days again. We are waiting.

Waiting

Waiting

Once the house sells, then we pack up, move out, and get the bus, and then we are back on with our lives (not that we're not living now, but it's patience practice)

Maybe God will say "I have some rope up here..."

Well, we're off again!

After a slow start on Tuesday (following a leisurely breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express, and two hours of trying to start a bus that clearly is having some battery problems) we headed back to Canada.

The trip home from Kalispell was equally beautiful, since we opted to go back over the going to the sun road from the other side. Walked with the little ones through the water on the weeping wall, a 40 metre wall of rock with little waterfalls splashing down it's entire width. It was sooo beautiful, and refreshing too!

We stopped to take the obligatory "Kids at the border" picture with Elowyn and Abram, since it was their first trip to the USA.

Now we have moved the Trailer to the Whiteside cousins house and today it's off to Edmonton (with Tanya and whatever kids don't want to stay with Whitesides) to pay The College of Chiropractors up to date and make sure they have my change in status form all squared away. I'll be unable to practice chiropractic until I reactivate my status, but in the meantime there is no further dues, marketing dues, continuing education, or any of that stuff till I reactivate.

Then we'll head to Edson to see how Caleb is doing, and to do yet another Dump run, and do some tiling of the basement bathroom, and put some lattice up on the fence. Then back here to Whitesides and then ???

We pray that this house sells quickly, so we can get on with the rest of the adventure. Hanging in Limbo is no fun at all, and if it lasts too much longer I'm going to need to get a job at walmart or something until it sells. $ gets extremely tight when you are an unemployed bum ;-)

Going to the sun to find a bus

So we started a little later than planned. On the road by 9:05, and cruising.

Stopped in Innisfail for some eggers, but Elowyn slept till after Calgary, and wanted some "little yogurt". Since the yogurt we bought yesterday was in the trailer back in spruce view we stopped in quaint little Stavely Alberta to get some yogurt. Unfortunately the little store was too small to stock yogurt, so we settled on an oreo ice cream sandwich, which turned out to be "yucky for me", so Abram wound up eating it for her.

A few short hours later, and we were in the USA. I hadn't been here since 2001, and Tanya since Elaine's grad in 199... 6? It's hard to believe we used to live in the USA.

The going to the sun road was amazing. It is probably the slowest way to come to Kalispell, but beautiful. Check out some of the pictures of Elowyn by the lake, and standing in the snow near Logan summit. Abram slept through the whole thing.

Once in Kalispell it was on to the bus. Its amazing. The interior is done beautifully, and it has nice large water tanks, and Webasto for heat and hot water. We would have to figure out the sleeping arrangements since there is only three bunks. But, since it's been sitting at the RV place, the batteries were unhooked, so it was impossible to see anything about its mechanical function.

Sharon (the owner of the bus) is a very nice lady, and did a great job of giving us a tour, and we enjoyed visiting with her. Unfortunately she does not know much about it's mechanicals or anything since her ex husband was the main operator of the bus.

Tonight we sleep, and tomorrow I'll go back and see if there is anyone there who can hook things up and start it, etc. Then it's back to spruce view to share our adventure with the rest of the kids!

Vehicular Vomit and other Vastly Vernicious tales

Spruce View.

Yes, we made it out of Edson. Finally. Trying to clean up a house while there are still 8 kids in it, is like trying to shovel snow during a blizzard.

We finally gave up, and hopefully Caleb can clean while we're away. The house is listed though, as you can clearly see from the picture.

The kids will stay with Grammie, while we head farther south, to check out the `jungle`bus .

During the trip up, Elowyn managed to spray herself, and her seat, with a copius amount of fresh smelly puke. No real warning, just `RALPH`! «I was so glad to have the trailer with clean clothes, diaper, and hot water, for the cleanup.

Off to Kalispell tomorrow, so we`ll keep you posted on what we find out about the bus!

The new home of the rubicon blog

Welcome!

We had a bit of a crash of our iMac last night, to the point where it won't even recognize the hard drive to reformat it. Sheesh. Makes it a bit hard to get to our .mac blog, and edit it, so here we are.

Today we are trying to get out of the house, so it can be sold without the constant disaster that 8 children create in it. Then off to Kalispell to check out a bus that could become the "Rubicon", our new home.

More later!