Home!

Our kids are really confused about where we actually live now:) But today we are sleeping in our new home in Three Hills, Alberta (at least for the next 4 months). We will unpack our things tomorrow and get settled in. Emma will start school (Grade 2 at a local school) on Wednesday and David will start working (with a construction company) the same day. It will be strange having a schedule and sticking in one place for so long!!! We are glad to be here- we wish we could be closer to all our relatives and friends but are glad to live so close to a bunch of them anyway. We had a great drive around Canada (and back through a bit of the USA) but feel ready to settle down for a little bit. I'll post again soon.

Some American Photos

The Local Ford/Mercury Dealership in Malta
Should be Josiah in the chair since he was born in the U.S.
Many of you know that we live in the geographical center of Asia so we were thrilled to be in the geographical center of North America today!

We're in Montana!

Tonight we are staying in Malta, Montana. We will finish the drive to Calgary tomorrow. We are just heading out for a little walk/fresh air but I wanted to let our mothers and anyone else checking in on us know that we are safe and sound.

Fun in Thunder Bay

Hudson
Josiah- crazy hair!
The older kids- Peter, Rianna, Josiah, Heidi and Emma
All of the kids- Baby Stella is in the stroller, Huddy is between David and Rianna, then Kyla, Benjamin, Peter, Heidi, Emma and Josiah.
Kyla- super cute
Kyla
Tea Party back at their house.
We spent a few days at my brother's house so that we could have some really good time with Robin and Carla and their kids. We are their kid's only aunt and uncle and our kids are their only nieces and nephews... It is too bad we are so far away:(
My parents are doing well with grandkids- there are only 2 of us and they already have 9 grandchildren. Huddy, Josiah and Emma had a lot of fun at their house- so much space to run around and rooms to play in and so many people to play with! We also went to a little waterpark in town which was really fun for the kids. We will miss you Rianna, Heidi, Peter, Benjamin, Kyla and baby Stella!

Oops...

I'm getting worse and worse at this blogging thing...
We are in North Dakota!!!! We left Thunder Bay this morning and now we are settled in nicely to our beautiful hotel room in Grand Forks. We had a swim and are just waiting for David to come home with some supper. The kids are quite content though- we have the biggest TV I've ever seen. It is amazing what you get for the $ here. I'll get out the camera and see what pictures I can come up with.
Thanks for the wonderful visits in TBay. Thanks so so so much Mom and Brian for everything!!! We wish we had been able to spend more time with everyone. We'll be back there though sometime this year.

Right now we are staying at my brother's house. He has a huge backyard with a trampoline, swings, a slide, a little kid's pool and lots of riding toys. The boys love wandering around in the yard- such a difference from parks in Russia! We are having a great time visiting with my brother Robin, his wife Carla and their 6 kids- Rianna, Heidi, Peter, Benjamin, Kyla and Stella. We'll have to get a picture of all 9 kids together. They look so cute all sitting around the dinner table.

9th Anniversary

A few days ago we were in Dorion in the chapel where we got married 9 years ago so we got our picture taken where we exchanged our vows.

Hair

This is how my hair looked when I got home from the hairdresser the other day. I will probably never be able to get it to go like this again so here is the only pic I have of it how it should be- didn't realize it was blurry until I loaded it on here, should have taken some more- but you get the idea. I haven't had my hair this dark before but I like it.

Visiting friends and family in Dorion

With Mrs. Keatley
David with his cousins Micah, Josh and Caleb at Dorion Bible Camp. (DBC is where David and I met and got married)

A family picture at DBC!!! (thanks Josh!)

Fishing with Ruth and George

David, Ruth and George at one of his secret spots:)
David caught the biggest fish of the day. He also caught the smallest though.

fun on Aunt Ruth's trampoline
raspberry picking
josiah
David eating fish cheeks

This Week

I am really doing bad with the picture taking. I should be taking pictures of all the friends and family we are visiting with...
We have been busy with family gatherings and getting together with friends. Today we will head out to do some tenting in Dorion. We speak at the fellowship on Sunday morning and hope to have lots of time with some friends and family out there. We are popping back into TBay for Sunday night (or at least I will) so we can go to a little party at my brother's house. We are really having a great time. People ask if it is strange being here or whether or not we have culture shock. It is incredibly different but because maybe 100% ?:) of the changes are desired it is easy to adjust:) It is strange talking to the others returning shopping carts at the same time as you but I like it.
Ok- this is the weirdest thing that we have noticed. Almost everybody- no matter what the age wears Crocs. Entire families in all shades of these rubber shoes. I guess if we consider ourselves truly Canadian we will all have to get a pair. I like the skimpy ones with two straps personally. I don't know what russians would think of these things- I am pretty sure they wouldn't like them. style vs. being comfortable...hmmm. they aren't at all pointy.
Anyway, I'm packing up our stuff to head out. I'll post on Sunday when I pop into town I think.

Thunder Bay Marina

Fun in Dorion

New Dorion Fellowship Building

We have been really enjoying this time with our family. Right now the kids have both of their sets of Grandparents in one place- very nice. Today we spent the afternoon/evening out at David's Aunt Ruth's House. There are so many fun things to do out there... we'll be heading out there again next weekend as we'll be sharing with the group out there about Tuva. We were out there in Dorion last Sunday too as the were celebrating the opening of their new building- we were so glad to be there and see so many old familiar faces.

We are enjoying staying with my mom of course- she takes care of us very well. So many foods we've been craving for years- Roast beef, greek olives, rocket lettuce, passion fruit, avocados, fresh peas from the garden, fresh broccoli....mmmm.

I need to go to sleep but thought it was time for me to post- I keep forgetting to take pictures when we are out. I forgot to take pictures of watching the meteor shower on Monday night and then Centennial park with the cousins today....

Josiah finding a nice outhouse:)

I found a free wireless connection in my mom's house. It's only on the middle floor though so I'm in the kitchen:) So here are some pictures of our trip to TBay. We really are enjoying Canada's beauty. It isn't that there is anything super amazing or anything but just how clean it is. It is nice.

We are having a great time at my mom's house. And tonight we even had both sets of parents around the table as David's parents are here too! So good. Tomorrow we are going to Lakehead in the morning and then we will drive out to Dorion in the afternoon. I'll try to remember to take some pictures there as I keep forgetting to get it out:)

We were watching some of the olympics and when they interviewed one of the olympians Josiah yelled out "He speaks English!!!" It is getting really funny because Josiah does that everywhere, at restaurants, on the street, at the park- he doesn't quite realize yet that everyone speaks English here:) He is so delighted when someone speaks in English still...