In the middle of our whirlwind trip, we've a day of rest. We're at the home of Ryon and Anna Holmedal, and they're both off to work this morning. Ryon is a friend from highschool days, and we have one of those special 'our steps will always rhyme' friendships. When we got to know Anna a couple of years ago it was like rediscovering an old friend because of our bond through Ryon.

He's a builder and plumber, and we're in their house that he built by himself--long-imagining every nook and cranny of it. It's amazing to see such vision and care embodied in a home. Makes it feel very homey.

Yesterday we spoke in the Blackfalds Christian Fellowship (George McKenzie was interim pastor at my home church in Melfort for about a year and Anna is his daughter). It's a very small and welcoming community and we were warmly received.

We flew into Portland on the 6th of this month and got to spend some lovely time with Joel and Jena and Paul (Deborah's brothers and Joel's wife) as well as making a lot of other connections. We were invited into the Calvin Presbyterian Church in Tigard on the 10th, and again very warmly received. We spent time in Seattle with Deborah's cousin, Randy, and his lovely family (Kristine, Nicole and David). Our children had a great time together.

Aubrey and Nicole both were excited for weeks about getting together. David's a little sweetheart, and followed the older two around like their mutual shadow. Auden's a bit younger, and his main contribution to the communion was screaming when one of his toys (i.e., anything he could see) was colonized by someone else.

We also got to make some more connections in the Seattle area.

Then we took the train accross Glacier National Park to Montana (though it was at night so we didn't see that much of it). Deborah took the boys off the train in a soft and lovely, huge flakes snow fall. Aubrey caught one on his tongue and Auden loved his first snow. We were met at the Shelby station by Dale Gunderson (Deborah's uncle) and drove across the border to Milk River. Keith and Caroline Dangerfield have loaned us their second car for this leg of our trip, so we picked it up there and continued up to Blackfalds.

I don't know how much we'll be able to update this blog while we're on the road (and it's new to me, so I don't really know how it will work for us), but it's one way to stay in touch. Of course, we'd love to hear from you. Write and we'll write back (afterthales@yahoo.ca).

Love.

Darren, Deborah, Aubrey, Auden