9.21.2013

A Mixed Bag

The last few weeks have been a bit of a whirl wind.
A mixed bag of emotions,
and a mixed bag of regular life and a lot happening all at the same time.

A couple of weeks ago to the day
we woke up to a text message informing us
that the house that the clinic was in was ablaze.
There were tenants that lived upstairs and the practice was downstairs.
The fire started in the bedroom area of the home
and got out of control.
Thankfully they  got out safely and the neighbouring homes weren't damaged.
The house is a tear down, unfortunately.
And mostly everything was ruined.


Tom and Susan, the owners of the clinic and Spencer's employers,
were able to find a lease space and were in there by Monday getting set up.
Tuesday they were treating patients.

It is a terrible situation,
and we were in a state of shock for a few days.
But thankfully there have been some good things come of it.
Spencer, Tom and Susan have been working hard
to redo patient files, get the tables refurbished and setting up their new space.
I absolutely love our community,
so many people have stepped up to help both Tom and Susan
and the tenants that lived upstairs. 

It has made lots of work for Spencer,
but with him being an employee their in our very near future
he was able to set some things up the way he'd like to see it done.
Also getting lots of face to face time with the patients.

On September 11th,
tragedy struck in another way then the one we woke up to remember.
Kylee, a girl who went to school with my brother k-12,
lost her husband in a boating accident on Okanogan Lake.
He was on the front of the boat and went over.
He never resurfaced. 
They have been searching for him for several days with no luck.
My heart aches.
Every time I think about it my I feel ill.
Kylee and her husband, Dom, have a son Nixon who is under 2.
No one should have to lose a spouse so young,
but especially at 25 with a toddler at home.
So hard to understand why these things happen,
why God chose to take Dom home now.
But I trust it is ultimately for His glory and He will do amazing things through Dom's testimony.
The community has really rallied together
to support Kylee and Nixon.
She has an amazing network of family and friends.

I have been holding my family so close
and treasuring precious moments with them.



 Besides those heavy topics that have shaped our weeks,
there have been many great things happening as well.
Last weekend was adventurous!
We went to the UBC homecoming football game.
Many alumni come out for it and Spencer always enjoys reconnecting
and cheering on the Birds. 
It was an exciting game until the end, sadly the Birds lost to Manitoba Bisons.

Spencer's cousin Alana goes to UBC 
and her boyfriend Kehl plays for the football team.
Alana was asked to participate in the Biggest  Fan Competition
and she won!
Her reward -$1000 in travel vouchers.
  
A couple weeks ago I posted on my Facebook jokingly
asking if anyone had any extra Zac Brown Band tickets they wanted to give me.
Well, low and behold, my dear friend Whitney called me up and offered us tickets to 
go to the concert, in a suite, with her family.
Um, twist my rubber arm.
The show was awesome.
They play a wide range of music from country rock to country folk.
They also had some random covers by TLC, John Mayer, Metallica and Led Zeppelin.

Claire is right on the cusp of wanting to dress herself.
In the morning she will pick her shirt or pants,
and I will pick the coordinating piece to go with it.
She loves to try and dress herself too.
A couple nights ago she did not want to wear regular pajamas,
she wanted to wear this:

Claire has been potty training the last couple weeks
and has done really well.
We made her a chart with 30 spots for stickers.
In the beginning she would get a little chocolate each time.
Then every couple times she would.
At 10 we walked to Sara's ice cream,
and finally once she filled the whole chart we
went on the Canada Line into Waterfront in Vancouver for the morning.
She'd been asking to go on a train for a little while so we thought that would be fun.
And it was...until we went underground.
She did NOT like that. 
She hid her face in my chest with her hood up and her hands over her ears
("Put your ears on", she calls it.)
She did a bit better on the way back when she sat at the front 
where the headlight shone through the tunnel and she could see.

I LOVE Vancouver on a sunny day!

Spencer's official last day of school was Friday.
The rest of the students finished their final exams back in Portland.
Now all we have to do is wait for his license to arrive!

This week we leave for our first kid-less vacation.
Actually, its our first  vacation just the two of us since our honeymoon.
We've gone on a couple vacations since, but with other couples.
Which has been so much fun,
but I am really looking forward to some one-on-one time with my husband.
Its been three years of hard work,
studying, child-rearing and relocating.
Its time to reconnect and rekindle.
We have a busy year ahead of us of starting a business!
Claire has already been telling me she wants to "go live at Maga's now" 
for the past few days.
She's going to be just fine,
but I'm going to really miss her!

I'll post photos of our trip when we get home!


Our view this morning. I'll never get sick of it.

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