Louisville sights....

In between all the busy stuff we have managed to fit in a few fun things! School will start next week so it is nice to say that we have done a few summer fun things!

Yesterday we went to the LARGE Kentucky State Fair with the Gordon Family. We saw pigs sing and dance, Lumber Gills saw and throw axes, dogs jump 20 feet to catch a frisbee, Kenyan acrobats (wow!) and all the displays we could fit in with 7 kids! The cake decorating was the most incredible I've ever seen and some of the quilts were impressive. Again- it was HOT and HUMID- thank goodness for hats and sunscreen! Somehow we almost lost Megan as we were leaving, but she was only a little scared. I think I was more frightened that her! I think every one's legs were tired, but what a great day with the Gordon family.

We acquired season passes to the Louisville Zoo- which is only 15 minutes away. Luke really liked King Louie the albino croc. The day we went it was HOT and HUMID- so I think next time we'll plan our visit on a cooler day.

Keith and I drove the kids out by Fort Knox to pick up a kitchen table last week. On the way back to Louisville Keith decided to see Fort Knox- you know the place with all the GOLD? As we arrive Keith fails to completely notice the rules for visitors and drives us straight into the security section- the place with armed guards and SECURITY! We have a BIG truck with Canadian BC plates, a load in the back- our new table- covered in sleeping bags and tie downs and no visitors pass! I guess with the 3 kids and looking rather innocent the guards only took our ID's and asked a few questions. They started laughing (sort of) when I told them that my husband only wanted to say that he's been to Fort Knox. After a few more questions from the guards we were told that we could not visit and that we would need to have a military escort- that we knew- but we could go see the museum down the highway about 5 miles!!! Boy was I glad to get out of there- although I was briefly tempted to ask them for a photo. I'm pretty sure the guards had a good laugh after we left.

Today was back to unpacking and looking for beds for the kids! Keith is studying and reading as much as he can. I sure miss my mom today- she knows how to organize a kitchen!

Teresa & Keith and the kids!

PS- I broke the GPS when the kids and I were downtown Louisville getting water, electricity and gas hooked up. That was quite the adventure finding our way home...

What a crazy week....

Well.... Keith and Teresa own a house! As a friend said as we moved in, "It's the little house that seems big!" We are beyond thankful for this place and look forward to the time we will have here.

The transaction happened on Tuesday in between Keith's classes, school stuff for the kids and living in the extended stay. Of course in all the craziness my camera battery was dead- so no fun pic with Vince our amazing realtor! After we signed the papers, our family got quick take out, ate in the empty dining room and sent Keith back off to classes for the day!

The big move went on through out Wednesday and the trailer was finally empty by 7 pm! Mike W said, "That was the best packing job I've ever seen!"- that is a huge compliment to my dad given that Mike has helped MANY people move here to Louisville! The piano- my 4th child- arrived safely and looks great in the living room. Ellie is back at her music everyday now. As we unpacked all of my winter gear was commented on frequently! Apparently we do not need snow pants, sorel boots, gortex winter jackets, mittens and toques. The Gordons (from NZ) and the Withers (from Texas) could not believe that I brought all that! Now Andrew H- from Canada- was more sympathetic, but I have been assured that our family will be over dressed come winter- except for a couple of days.

In the afternoon, I had 3 friends come and help clean. There were 13 kids running around the house and everyone was SO good! The older girls helped clean too and the house looks great. It was a hard day given that my grandfather's funeral was happening at home and I was not there. Keith bought me a red rose to remember Pop and I bought MANY packages of orange Tic Tacs for all the kids who were here. (Pop gave out Tic Tacs to kids at church growing up) When I was at the checkout in Walmart with all the Tic Tacs, the saleslady asked about them and I started crying right there and then! I told them all about my grandpa and the funeral, the lady in line behind me was teary too- one of those moments I guess. At coffee time for the ladies we all sat down on my new kitchen floor and visited- I cannot begin to describe the blessing that time was for me! God always provides family where ever you go!

So we are in the door and slowly unpacking. Our queen bed will not fit into the basement or the upstairs bedroom, we do not have beds for the kids nor do we have a couch. The kids' cubby closet for their backpacks- that Keith made us- will also not fit into the house! Oh dear. We will slowly unpack around here and acquire furniture off Craig's list as it comes up! All in good time!

I am sorry that I could not make the funeral for Grandpop. It was a celebration of God's goodness and grace to our family and many others! Looking back over the past couple days I can see that I was meant to be here in Louisville- for many reasons!

Thank you for your prayers and love! I will post again soon as I still need to write about our trip to Fort Knox and the Kentucky State Fair!

Teresa

Mixed Blessings....

Today sure had all the emotions it could.

FIRST.... The house we hoped to purchase in Louisville will have Canadian Hanson kids in it next week!!!!! Their parents will join them too... along with the piano and everything in the horse trailer! We are REALLY excited about BEDS!! There are not many hurdles to pass now -sellers want to move out and buyers (us) want to move IN!!! Now if the Canadian dollar could just take a big leap upwards for a day or two..... We are excited and pleased- now the task of trying to find mattresses and furniture with out cluttering up the place!

A few hours later we heard the sad news... early this morning my dear Grand Pop passed away one day before his 93rd birthday! I am incredibly thankful that we took the trip down to the coast to see him before we left for Louisville! It will be tough to have him gone.... I will miss his deep laugh, loving prayers and big hugs! A little hard being this far away too... I guess we'll see what the next few days bring...

One year ago today we flew to New Zealand!! How much more could we fit in a year? I am blessed as I look back and see God's good hand in everything- easy and hard!

Please pray for all our family... here in Louisville and home in Canada...

Teresa

PS this is a pic from our visit with Pop in July 2009.

Off to School for Keith!

So the big day is here! Back to school for Keith! I remember taking a picture of Keith on his last day of Agriculture school at UBC in 1995- he had his mountain bike and back-pack. We lived in a tiny basement suite in Vancouver BC close to where we got married. Shortly after he graduated we moved to Creston to begin farming. When I took that photo I remember thinking that we would never be students again- how wrong I was!

Keith will begin his Masters of Divinity Program today at SBTS- classes start at 8 am and he has 3 today- Systematic Theology 3, Models of Divine Providence and Greek Exegesis 2. Keith challenged the Greek first year course last week, passed the test and got the last spot in the Greek 2 class he really wanted to be in- thank you God! He was pleased that after a long break from school he still can write a test- and pass! I am so proud of him! He also has another class that starts Friday- so his week is really full with classes Tues, Thurs and Fridays!

The kids are officially signed up and registered for the Homeschooling school- Dorothy Sayers. I am also quite proud if the kids for working hard over their summer break so that they can be ready to jump into Classical Education. Megan has Grammar 3 and all her Phonograms to learn, Luke- Phonograms and Ellie grade 6 math review. Ellie will take a math placement test tomorrow- she is nervous. Megan and Luke will need to demonstrate that they know and can write all 71 phonograms by next week and Megan will need to show that she knows her grade 3 grammar, sentence diagramming and Latin prefixes! Yikes! This has been quite the task considering we are living in a one room hotel.

The hotel thing is getting old, but I am always amazed at how 3 kids can get along; play AMAZING games with Lego; use the Costco box for rides, Lego homes, dolly beds, turtle shells and drawing art; sleep on the floor in one room; and NOT drive their mom crazy! And of course the pool was closed this week- grrr...! We do get out pretty often though- the kids have joined the cross country team and run 2-3 miles 3 times per week and there are a lot of things to sort out with moving/ buying a house and starting school- we get out lots!

Please pray for the house we are hoping to buy- there are a few details to sort out and with any deal- things could fall through! We would like to know soon if things are going to sort out- I can live in the extended stay for a while longer if I know I have a house to move to- BUT if not- we need to be in a rental apartment ASAP! I would prefer a good house, but as always God provides the best for us... never a dull moment I guess!

That's all for now- thanks for reading- miss you all at home and love you lots!

Teresa and the school crew!

PS the photos are taken with Al Mohler the president of SBTS! He asked the kids if they liked broccoli ice cream....

Oh- That Storm!

We have experienced all sorts of new Louisville places and events in the 1.5 weeks since arriving, but the massive thunder, lightening and RAIN storm somehow was not all a big deal for us! It happened last Tuesday morning (Aug. 4) while we were waking up- still groggy from all our travels. It rained HARD for a couple hours and when we checked the radar all we could see was heavy rain. The lightening and thunder was almost continuous and the building across the road had water POURING out of the downspouts for a couple hours after the storm. As it turns out it was the largest rain storm for Louisville in history- 6.5 inches of rain in one go and then another inch in the second storm.

The sort of cool thing about the storm is that we went to look at houses that afternoon- 4 out of 5 had water in the basement! Talk about a good test for basement waterproofing! As we went out to meet our realtor we were in the second wave of the storm- in Dad's big King Ranch truck. We could go through puddles and water no problem- and there was water everywhere! At a bus stop the whole group of people there had their umbrellas open in front of them to prevent cars splashing them! All were soaked!

I guess Louisville has had odd weather this past year- a massive wind storm, ice storm, an earth quake and now this historic storm that flooded many homes! We heard of people with up to 2 feet of water in their finished basements- not fun. Some people were stranded in their vehicles from flash flooding, a huge library lost 1 million dollars in books and lightening strikes caused some fires! I guess we should have turned on the TV news- maybe we would have been more "impressed" as the storm went through the city.

Adjusting and keeping busy...

The days are just packed around here! We are still at the extended stay hotel and will be for a while longer. We have made an offer on a house in Louisville and hopefully it will all be good to go in a couple weeks- Lord willing! The house is in a quiet area and has plenty for our family and guests if when they come visit! We have agreed on a purchase price- now the house inspection and details. So for now we will be thankful for the roof over our head and look forward to a house- with more than one bathroom, a yard that is not pavement, a key to the front door that will de-magnetize in my purse, more than a one pot to cook with, dishes for two maybe even three meals, sleeping on beds and walls- not creatively hung sheets! We will remember this experience!

The kids have been accepted at the homeschooling school and all 3 joined in the cross country running team. We were not quite ready for the running yet- Luke only had his hand-me-down heely shoes (without the wheels) as he gasped and griped around the track! At one point I told him the complaint department was closed- I had my fingers in my ears! These were his only shoes that would even come close to working for the running-other options were flip flops and crocs. Somehow I don't think the running coach would be MORE impressed with those. Luke is quite proud that his heelies can do tricks- without the wheels- like when he kicks a ball they fly UP into the air and OFF his foot. I know that trick would impress his enthusiastic coach even less! He really did well- as did the girls- they all have new runners now and are excited to go to another practice. (I hope)

I have attended a couple sessions at the school to get some training to help the kids be ready for the classical education- grammar, latin and phonics based spelling! Wow- we are in for some learning around here. I do feel a little overwhelmed at times- along with everything else we are trying to get into place. We have not even attempted looking for a vehicle yet! So I'm pretty sure we are the only ones at the Seminary with a BIG Ford diesel F350 truck! A few people have been surprised to see a lady driving a truck around! We found out that Dad's truck has come "home"- it was made at the Louisville Ford truck plant!

The kids have been amazing- all 3 will play lego in the room and keep each other entertained- mostly. Luke still likes the parking lot and his scooter!

Well- must sign off for now- bed time yet again and another full day tomorrow!

Teresa

PS Temperature outside has been 28+ degrees with high humidity- we sure notice it!

Getting to know Louisville

We have been lost enough times now that we mostly know our way around. The GPS- Garmin- has been polite to us- instead of saying "You are totally lost and have no idea- yet AGAIN!" It simply says "Recalculating, Recalculating, Recalculating...." - most times we have found our way to where we need to go. Today Keith needed to get his motorcycle off the back of the truck- the GPS led us to the wrong spot- but at our lost spot- there were loading bays and a large ramp off the bays- so we asked if we could unload- no problem! The guys there were pretty impressed with how far we are away from home!

Keith has now registered for most of his classes and I am hoping to get into the Seminary wives program once I get all registered. Our kids have LOVED every moment with the Gordon kids- what a fun bunch. Keith and I have looked at enough homes to know that this task may take awhile... I am not really keen on the extended stay hotel for months on end- so we'll see! God certainly has a way of allowing us to grow and trust Him more.

The kids are waiting to hear if they have been accepted into the Dorothy Sayer Classical school. All 3 would wear uniforms and the only keen one is Megan! A skirt for Ellie and a white shirt for Luke are not first choice! The school curriculum looks like all 3 will learn a whole bunch and I will have my schedule busy with keeping up!

Keith has been buying school text books and filling out his new day-timer! Today he was SO happy when he realized that he had 18 BOOKS to buy- oh the joys of books! And of course they were all on sale too! I can't totally relate to the love of filling book shelves, but he loves his books! Now that we are on the Seminary budget I can't even go out and compete with some clothes shopping! Such is life!

We appreciate any and all prayers! This is truly a challenging, but exciting adventure- we sure miss family and friends.

Teresa and the school crew!

Getting settled in Louisville

Hey y'all..... We've heard that one a few times now. I guess we don't hear our Canadian EH's- but we sure hear the Louisville Y'ALL's! Louisville is a beautiful city with a lot of history- all of the brick buildings and stone work. This year SBTS will celebrate 150 years! As we look at homes to buy we find the "new" homes to be 40-50 years old- some are 105 years old!

Keith found a safe place to park the trailer for now and we are getting used to our "hotel" room. The kids are sleeping on the floor for now- sleeping bags and foamies will do. We are meeting a real estate agent tomorrow to look at some homes to potentially buy- let's hope and pray we find something soon! If not then I guess God has other plans and that will be okay too- but we'll need to get the kids off the floor and Keith into a better BED!

For the past two evenings we have gone out to a park to look at Fire Flies- Lightening Bugs! It is almost magical to stand there and have all these green bugs fly around and light up. You can catch them in your hands and they'll glow too! I wish we could just park a lawn chair under a tree and watch- but the mosquitoes would eat me up!

There are lots of things to do on our list- and if we get more than one checked off in a day we are doing well! Today everyone got a haircut (except mommy- we don't trust daddy with mommy's hair after NZ) - not a popular option for Luke- but he did not have much say in the matter. Afterwards he was happy because he figures that he will not have to comb his hair for a bit. BOYS!

Will keep you posted as we get settled.

Love Teresa Keith Elaina Megan Luke

We have arrived!

We are here in Louisville tonight. We arrived around noon and were able to meet the NZ family and their kids. Luke became instant friends with Matthew and Joel- the lego, Star Wars stuff and bikes were an easy connection ! The girls were thrilled to meet Rachel and Anna-Marie- what a fun bunch. As we left all the kids were planning the next time they could hang out!

The Louisville Extended Stay hotel is okay for now. The kids are really good about coping in interesting situations after NZ, but we hope that we can find a home soon! Poor Luke lost his treasured pocket knife from Grandpa Morris- at least we cannot find it today- he is a sad lad! Ellie and Megan are praying for some new friends here in Louisville, and they are asking lots of good questions as they realize that we are far away from home. The most frequent question has been- "Mom- Do you think that Isabelle will remember us?" I have assured them that with Skype they can see Issy and all their cuzzies- lots I hope!

So tomorrow we will attend church and hopefully catch a couple open house tours. Hard to plan every day- will have to trust God and see what He has planned for us!

Miss the grandparents and family at home! Love to you all!

Keith and Teresa- Ellie and Megan and Luke

PS stay in touch with comments- then I can know who is keeping tabs on us!

PPS- will post new pics soon- I forgot my camera when we visited the campus today!