Settling Back in Canada

To update those checking our blog, we have safely arrived in Canada. We left Mexico City on June 7. We nearly had an accident in San Antonio when we crested a hill and saw that all three lanes of the freeway were completely stopped. After looking for a good spot to pull off the freeway and check the tires, a tire on the cargo trailer blew so we had to stop at the side of the road where we were. We later met some nice Mexican Americans who had a tire shop open until 8pm. We were grateful for God's protection.
We headed to Canada via Phoenix, Arizona. We were able to spend four days in Arizona enjoying the vacation home that belongs to the moderator of our new church. We all saw the Grand Canyon except for Emma who was in Canada with her Grandmother. Our border crossing went smoothly which was another answer to prayers. We accidentally brought a scorpion to Canada from Arizona but were happy to have discovered it under our truck seat as we were cleaning up after the long drive.
July was spent camping in our new city of Medicine Hat, Alberta, house hunting, and our elementary aged daughters went to camp in Saskatchewan. Marcel drove 22 hours across the Canadian prairies to Winnipeg, Manitoba to attend our church denomination's triennial conference. The moving truck full of our furniture that had been stored near our previous church arrived. Furniture and boxes were moved into our house, Marcel spent one night with the girls and I, and then we awoke to receive a telephone call that Marcel's grandfather had passed away. We were planning to unpack our boxes and make a quick trip to see Marcel's grandparents before his new job began but God's timing was different.
We made a 3 hour trip just into Saskatchewan and back to pick up our two teenagers from their camp (after just one day being there). Marcel drove another 11 hours but this time, with the whole family and headed west to his hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia. We happened upon a heat wave and record temperatures for Vancouver of 34*C. We helped his Grandmother as much as we could over 10 days and attended the funeral before another 11 hours return trip back through the beautiful Rocky Mountains.
We've been enjoying sleeping in our own beds after two months of travelling. Brittany has completed a Drivers' Training program offered in our new city and the little girls have enjoyed a few sleepovers with new church girlfriends. I (Ingrid) was relieved to have a second ultrasound here in Canada and know that our littlest one is continuing to develop well. My tummy's growing and I'm feeling lots of kicks. We are expecting this little one to be born some time around Christmas. Our baby will be part of a baby boom at our new church as I am told 10 moms are expecting this year, just a couple more than last year's 8 new babies.
Marcel had his first official day on the job at the church yesterday and started right off with 5 hours of meetings. He is at an appointment right now to get his clergy parking pass to use at the hospital when he does visitation there. We've all ready been able to visit with six families at their homes and are beginning to get to know the new-to-us congregation at Temple Baptist Church in Medicine Hat, Alberta. On Marcel's way home from work yesterday, he saw a snake on the road a couple of blocks from our house. We've all ready talked to a local doctor who said that the rattlesnakes here are much less venemous than in Texas. Though Alberta has been our home for 19 years before we lived in Mexico, southern Alberta is semi-desert. We are about an hour north of the Canadian/American border and 5 1/2 hours to the south of where we used to live in Alberta.
Our immense thanks for your many prayers on our behalf during this transition in our ministry! Little Ahava hardly remembers Canada and is excitedly awaiting the snow to come. She didn't understand me when I said "icicle" and our older girls don't remember "kovasa" (koo-bah-saw) which is Ukrainian sausage - the local specialty.
We hope to meet some Spanish speaking people here in Medicine Hat as the city statistics report that 1% of the city listed Spanish as their first language. I've all ready seen one young woman at the store here who very much reminds me of a young woman at Christ Lives Bible Church in Ecatepec (NE Mexico City)!
Though we all ready miss Mexico very much, we are excited to be able to minister here as well.
Our brakes on the truck were locked up last week at 9pm so Marcel got to work on the driveway taking things apart to see what was wrong. A neighbor graciously came by to offer his help and three hours later, we headed to bed knowing that we have a new friend in this young man. He owns a distinctive truck and we have been told that he used to have a 666 decal on his back window. Marcel shares some other hobby interests with this young man besides fixing trucks. Please join us in praying that God would soften his heart to receive the gospel as our friendship develops and we spend more time with him.