SUV Packed...Goodbye Island...Hello Lake Superior!

Day 1: Friday August 10, 2012

“Blogging.” It’s an intimidating word.

I’m going to treat this “Blog” as more of an online journal - a chance to update many interested, caring family and friends. Rather than sending an email and making all of you feel compelled to read my babble - I will post on here occasionally with some stories and pictures to represent this exciting adventure! I do not mean to suggest or imply that my life is more exciting than anyone else's - I'm a firm believer that we are all on interesting journeys...however, my life is taking quite a different turn at this point and I figure this is a quick and easy way to update you all at once. I'm not much of a 'blog-reader' myself, so if you skim/skip or NEVER read this - I won't be offended in the slightest. 

If you have further questions or comments - please message me back and I’d be happy to call any of you as I will have an unlimited long distance phone plan. I want to start this off by thanking each of you for your support through love, prayer and words of encouragement. I am very grateful for the unique relationships I have with you all and I look forward to continuing that, even if I am 30+ hours away!

I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to move to Northern Saskatchewan as a Grade 2 teacher. Mom and I left the Island yesterday around noon and split the drive between home and Thunder Bay. I was just happy to be all packed up and “finally starting.” Leaving a place and people that you love is never easy, but God has been slowly preparing me mentally and emotionally for this journey. As I drove out of my Island home, there was a song playing on the radio and the lyrics served as a perfect reminder: “everything you are is everything I need Jesus!” I am expecting to feel lost, scared and overwhelmed during the coming year, but my Jesus IS enough.

For the first few days, I will try to post daily and the posts will likely be long and detailed. I'm assuming that once I move to the reserve and start teaching, the posts will be far less frequent. We left the Island Friday around noon and although the sky was overcast to start off, it was a super scenic drive...I started driving but was very distracted by the beauty of Lake Superior. If I had it my way, we’d be stopping every 10 minutes to have a photoshoot...thankfully, Mom is more determined to make good driving time and arrive at our destinations before dark. She and I are very different but I think we make a good team. Sure, we’ve had our fair share of disagreements, but they are interspersed with hilarious and memorable moments. For example, I was driving and was quite adamant about stopping to get a picture with a particular sign. Mom initially refused to get out of the car because of her discomfort associated with her bladder. She quickly realized how badly I wanted the picture and headed to the bush. Of course, this led to my disgust that she couldn’t wash her hands and would be handling my camera! We both got over our selfishness and smiled about the scenario. What a picture God sees when He watches us!

Mom took over driving yesterday before White River and I couldn’t manage to stay awake for very long after that. I was thankful for the break and I was then free to take pictures while she drove! Mom was quite proud of the fact that her Telus cellphone enabled her to keep texting all day, whereas I was stuck textless. 

We spent just over 100$ in gas and made it to Thunder Bay. We stayed at a nice Days Inn and said hello to the city for our loved ones who used to and who will be living there. Thunder Bay is the furthest West that I’ve ever been.