I did not realize that the last time I posted in our blog was two years ago. So much has changed in those two years. The obvious - the kids have gotten taller and older, Steve has lost even more hair, I've gained some grey hairs, we've moved, we've said goodbye to close friends and family, and the adventures - oh the adventures have been huge.
Our 2021 belated New Year's Cards say "Cheers to New Beginnings and Great Adventures 2021". I'm really excited to see what 2021 brings us. 2020 was pretty fantastic - so enjoy this walk down the year memory lane with us.
February 2020
We knew
that change was going to be happening in our family. We weren’t sure when or where but we knew
that change was happening. We welcomed
2020 in with a peaceful heart waiting to see what God had instore for us. Secretly we were hoping that it would bring a
transition to Texas (the USA ALBERTA).
But those doors kept closing so we kept patiently waiting. Mid February Steve was asked to head to the Cervus
Mississauga Branch to do some consulting work.
The flagship of all dealerships and it was sinking. So, he headed out for a two-week trip and I
joined him the second. It was at the end
of the second week that we received an offer of transfer to join the Ontario
Cervus team. ONTARIO. We did not want Ontario ha. Those of you that know Steve really well,
know that he is a big truck, gun loving, Jesus friend, CONSERVATIVE – and yet,
here we were, wondering why Jesus wanted to place us in Ontario. And the conversation continued and the
decision making began.
March 2020
When
you try and test Jesus, He just makes you realize that you really can’t test
the Big Guy! We tried every road block
to prevent the transfer, but alas, mid March we accepted the promotion transfer
and Steve joined the Cervus Ontario group as a Regional Branch Manager. March also brought the famous covid-19
lockdown. Not what we wanted when we
were wanting to spend our last few months filling memories with friends….. this
momma bear wouldn’t let anything stand in my way of that.
April 2020
Steve
moved to Ontario without us. He started
with the Ontario group on April 6 and because we made the decision to finish
the school year out, the kids and I remained in Lloydminster and he rented a
basement suite at an Airbnb just 15 minutes from the Branch. He had no tv, terrible cell service and even
more pathetic internet at the Airbnb.
Add in the fact that everything was shut down due to covid – it allowed
him to focus on work and he spent many long, long, long hours at the
branch. Working hard at gaining the
trust of employees and customers that had not been treated well for many years. This month also brought my best friend and
her children moving into our home - our children are also best friends – as they
had sold their home in Lloydminster and were waiting to gain possession of
their new home in Airdrie to join Jon as he had received a position in Calgary. This helped dull the sadness of the lockdown
because it meant a party all the time with friends. I’m so thankful that Jess and the kids were
with us and our “sisterwife - hood” turned out pretty great. She cooked lunch; I cooked supper. She helped man the “at home schooling”; I
worked full-time. This month also
brought a decision in our “best culdesac in the world” that we would communal
live – so we became our own community and the kids played with many of their neighbour
friends and we all managed to survive exceptionally well this Spring. It takes a village to survive a lockdown and
we did it really well!
May 2020
It felt
weird having a calendar with nothing to do.
The house went up on the market officially with our realtor. Steve came home for the first time at the
beginning of May for a week. Jess and the
kids moved out after 5 weeks of living with us (something about needing to live
with her husband haha) and the reality of “I don’t do well as a single parent”
sunk in. We headed out every weekend to
my parents so that someone else could parent for me and I could recharge for
the week haha!
June 2020
We made
a trip down to Airdrie to spend a weekend with Jon and Jess and took the kids
to Canmore – Ryder desperately wanted to see the mountains before we
moved. It was such a great trip for all
of us! This month also included Orthordonic
appoints via zoom (who would have thought!), Ryder turning 9 on June 6, Mckenzie
turning 8 on June 20, our last visit with our favourite family doctor, plenty
of biker gang Circle K trips with the culdesac friends and the first drive-in
Church service at NewLife Church. We
celebrated Father’s Day with my dad since Steve was in Ontario (his Airbnb hosts
treated him very well for us!).
July 2020
Our
birthday month – Steve turned 49 on July 8 and I turned 39 on July 18 (I could
handle my 30’s but 40 is going to be really hard adjustment lol). We sold our home and had three weeks to be
out (ha). Suddenly the rush was
one. I’m so thankful for family and
friends who came to help pre-pack and load up three trailers on the official
moving day. We could not have done it
without you!
August 2020
Steve
left with one trailer and headed back to Ontario with his brother, Kent, as
co-pilot. We did not gain possession of
our home in Paris, Ontario until August 20 but Steve needed to return back to
the branch. The kids and I moved in with
my parents for two weeks and I FILLED the calendar these two weeks. We enjoyed Ryder’s baseball games, hosted the
kid’s joint birthday part with all their friends at Explosion Gymnastics, had
children out to the farm or dropped kids off at friends, last time suppers, etc. On August 14, with all of our remaining
possessions crammed into two trailers, I loaded up two dogs, one cat, and three
children and my parents and I began the drive to Ontario. I am thankful for vet’s who gave sleeping
pills for animals, dog parks in Portage la Prairie, dvd players in vehicles, and
parents who let me lead the convoy. We
stopped in Manitoba for an important surprise visit at Jess’s parents’ cabin
(no children had any idea what was happening) and we really enjoyed the quick
24 hours with them. We just about
successfully made the trip without any incidents – but alas on day 4 we had a
wheel bearing stop working at 9:00pm in the middle of nowhere. We were able to limp the trailer along 2.5
hours and pulled into Sault St Marie at 1:40am.
This trip also began the start of Zoom interviews and I had my first
interview with Canterbury Hills Camp while at Kakabecka Falls (which I highly
recommend seeing!). We rolled into
Mississauga on August 19th – exhausted but so excited to be together
as a family again. We gained possession
of our home and on August 21st, with the help of old friends and new
friends (and some family thrown into the mix), we unloaded our trailers and began this crazy adventure. A few days afterwards, we watched my parents drive
away and I realized that this adventure was now a solo adventure – mixture of
emotions really! Ezra turned 11 on
August 27th and all he asked for was to go to Niagara Falls. So that we did – and enjoyed the wonderful
experience of the greater Toronto area traffic on the way back ha!
September 2020
We
began the purpose of settling with a determination like no other. I knew that I only had a short-time frame to
get the kids settled before they started school (praise Jesus!). The kids had the chance to meet lots of other
kids at a family BBQ that we were invited to, which was a huge blessing in
disguise. School started on September 13
– Mckenzie Grade 2, Ryder Grade 4, and Ezra Grade 6. Mckenzie’s teacher is amazing, Ryder was pumped
to be with friends and his teacher is a delight, and Ezra started off rough,
but a change in teachers in October helped change that perspective
quickly. We also decided to start
renovations on our brand-new home and knocked out a wall in the kitchen to try
and make momma happy. Steve’s parents,
Bob and Jan came to visit the week of September 21. It was such a treat to already have family visit
and we enjoyed the week spent with them.
I began to settle myself, enjoying lunch with new Church friends, receiving
the occasional text message to not be such an old lady and get out of bed and
come for a glass of wine with friends in Paris, and each weekend we headed to
Carl’s, to not only feed him, but also to enjoy the quiet of country and get
away from the city. Carl and Bonnie’s is
beginning to feel like mom and dad’s and is always a welcome trip for
everyone.
October 2020
Our
first Thanksgiving in Ontario. I
promised the kids that I would still cook turkey and all the fixings and we
enjoyed Thanksgiving with Carl and Kent.
My mom had a farming accident middle of October and it took everything
in me not to teleport myself back to Lloydminster that evening. I’m happy to report that after an emergency full
hip replacement surgery she is on the road of recovery and I’m confident she
will be back on a horse by summer. We
enjoyed a weekend with our Rainie friends and are thankful that we live closer
to them just so that Janet and I can continue to remind the boys that we are
better at cards than they are 😉.
Hallowe’en this year was different but still so great. We headed out trick or treating and it was so
much fun to see how people still made it a social affair. Our theme this year was Men in Black and the
kids all enjoyed it. I suspect that we
are nearing the end of the family themes (☹) as Ezra was more reluctant to be with us, so we
will see what next year brings.
November 2020
A HUGE change for me. I accepted a position with SafeBridge Financial in Toronto. I’m a client care specialist with two of the mortgage agents and really enjoying it. The job came out of nowhere, hit me from left field, and suddenly I had to teach an old dog new tricks. Haha! In order to be able to do my position, I had to be licensed so that I have insurance, which meant that I was having to take the Ontario Mortgage Agent Course. And so, the learning began. Steve left middle of November back for Alberta to enjoy two weeks of quality time with his friends and also with the hopes of finding the “big buck”. The kids and I joined him the second week and that week was filled with the kids seeing the majority of their friends and me soaking in some time with my mom (it was so good to see her doing well). When we flew back to Ontario, I realized that Ontario had become home as well because I was ready to be back home again at the end of the week.
December 2020
My
parents flew in on December 23 for 10 days – it was so nice to have family with
us for Christmas. We were asked to
participate in the Christmas Eve service at Calvary and mom and dad were able to
join us as well. Nothing like – welcome to
our Church – please go up on the stage lol. We are
so thankful for our Calvary Church family and have settled in really well
there. We celebrated Christmas Day with
my parents, Carl, and Kent. New Year’s
Eve brought the Rainie’s to our place – which meant a full house but we made it
all work and it was a few days of tons of games (we won’t talk about who won
the most 😉), fondue meals, the kids playing Among Us, and
a large amount of laughter.
January 2021
School
did not go back. This was a huge disappointment
for our family. I’m juggling three jobs
and suddenly had three kids trying to do at home school learning. I commend the families that love home
schooling – but it is not for us – yet I am thankful for the teachers that
seemed to have online schooling figured out.
It was a quiet month because we entered lockdown 2.0 and even though we
resist as much of it as we can, there just wasn’t anywhere to go this time
haha.
February 2021
Here we
are. The kids headed back to school on February 9th. There is an abundance of extra regulations in
place that none of us are thrilled about – but at least they are back. I passed my mortgage agent exam (yeah!) and
so am officially with the team at SafeBridge.
I’m still working part-time with Ironjet Promotions in Lloydminster, casual
for Canterbury Hills Camp (we continue to remain virtual right now) and moving
to full-time with SafeBridge. Life is
busy. Steve is busy with work managing
not just one branch but four now. He
spends more time on the road than any of us like and is exhausted each night
but he is slowly making progress with the staff and customers and I know that
in the end, he is exactly where he is to be.
Mckenzie continues dance via zoom calls and fills her extra time with her
good friends. Ryder has taken a liking
to skating thanks to a family here in Paris and seems to think he might be a
hockey player (sigh). He is very hopeful
that he will be back on a ball diamond this spring. Ezra continues to have the hardest time
settling but we are thankful for a good friend here who did at home schooling
with him each day (they swapped homes every other day). Eventually he will settle but I suspect that
I need the world to settle first for him to eventually do that. We are all looking forward to Lockdown 2.0 coming to an end - we are hopeful for that to be February 16th!
With love and thanksgiving,
Steve,
Correna, Ezra, Ryder and Mckenzie.
****I promise to do my best to post on here regularly to help those close and far be able to watch all of our adventures!***
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