The next chapter

After Daryl and Janice left Nova Scotia we got right to work packing up our apartment! That's right, you heard correctly. Just 12 months later, we are moving again! This time though, we put our stuff into a storage unit in N.S. and we will move it to Saskatchewan in January after we have found a place.

Where will we be in the meantime, you ask?! Well, Zambia of course!

In just 8 sleeps we will board a plane and start a new adventure. For the next three months I will do research for my thesis project and Matthew will volunteer with a health organization - the specifics of this are still to be determined. Our dear friends, the Mbumwaes have graciously lined up a little flat for us to stay in while we are based out of Lusaka. We hope to spend December staying with them and visiting many good friends around Kalomo. We are so excited! Well, at this point actually, we just feel busy: Matthew is working like crazy, I do errands every day to get ready to go, just finished a quilt that will be a present for a Zambian friend, and we are visiting with friends and family in Regina at every opportunity - especially 3 cute little nieces! So, when we stop to think about it we are VERY EXCITED to go but there are still a few more details to figure out before we can pack our bags.

Here are a few pics from packing up our Halifax life. I wish I'd taken a picture of our storage unit and our amazing friends that helped us load it - but that day was so busy I didn't even think of it! We were SO VERY thankful for our dear friends Melissa and Scott who helped us move, Melissa orchestrated the janga-like stacking of possessions into the storage unit like a pro, calmed me down when I had moments of panic, and generously let us stay with her for our last couple of days. I miss her so much and I've only been gone from Halifax for 3 weeks! :( Anyway, here we are packing up.....

This is how I sort clothes - trying to decide which to store, which to send to SK for winter, and which ones to take to Zambia - it was quite the process!

Sad to leave Nova Scotia....

Stitching on the binding on our balcony.

One last rest on the leather before wrapping it for storage!

Last weekend we got to camp with my parents and Alisha and Myles at Echo Lake in the Qu'Appelle Valley. So great to see them and I just LOVE those hills and autumn colours!

Gorgeous!

Autumn is more beautiful when you know you get to skip 3 months of winter! ;)

Climbing the big hill in LeBret, SK

The prairie mountain-man pose. Dad made it all the way to the top of this crazy hill. And then he refused to take the stairs down - he had to go the steeper way with the 'young' people. What a trooper! (I still took the stairs down though!:)

Another highlight from our time in SK was seeing Kevin and Crystal get married on the long weekend. The day was a beautiful tribute to their love for one another and for God. The vows they exchanged made nearly everyone in the church tear-up! They were just perfect. So happy for these two!

 Another bonus of the day was seeing many special friends, like the fabulous Jilly and Andrea!

Love scrunchy faces with these two!

Living with little girls is lots of fun too - there are always lots of giggles and little chatter to decipher. I love watching them grow and seeing their individual personalities emerge. So blessed to have such sweet nieces!

We always read TONS of books!

A trip to the Milky Way is a Regina classic.

Birthday ice cream for Auntie - cheers!

Making fancy sand castles in the backyard!

A cherry pie made from scratch for Shannon - in honour of having Elena 4 months ago. Better late than never! :)

This cake was destined for Souper Harvest Sunday but on Saturday evening E and K were left unattended with a cooling cake for about 5 minutes......and when Auntie came around the corner she found 2 little girls with fist-fulls of chocolate cake and crumbs on their cheeks! SO FUNNY! We laughed and laughed. Pretty sure this story will be told for years to come. Auntie is still laughing!