canada

this post has been a long time coming but here it is........

this is my first summer vacation as a teacher at a university and i could see myself getting very used to this!! 2 months off is a lot.......but oh so nice!

on june 24th i arrived home......a little later than expected. my father originally agreed to the mid-week 12am pick-up at the airport only to have my last leg of the whole trek delayed and not arrive until 3am! luckily he was working late the next day.

i arrived home to find out that our church was having a fun run fundraiser for building water wells in africa. what fun! i have dreamed of helping africa (wanting mostly to be in africa to help) have clean water for a very long time so this was an amazing opportunity placed right in my lap. i had a chest cold and couldn't run, but aunt linda was running so i sponsored her instead. i was able to help our church raise more than enough money to build a well and now because of us another community in africa will have clean water! so great! this was my first saturday home and after being at the run to cheer on the runners (and especially aunt linda!) amy and i were off to new brunswick to see wendy and michael for about 5 days.

amy wendy and i camped in shediac saturday night and then went to saint john for the rest of our days with wendy and michael. we went shopping on monday while michael was at work, tuesday we took in some of the canada day festivities and then wednesday we were on our way back to the valley. amy had the rest of the week off so we spent most of it together. one day we went to the south shore with amy's friend laura. it is so beautiful there. everytime i go home i am reminded of nova scotia's beauty. i love it!

the rest of my vacation was filled with visits with my grampy and uncle bill at grandview and a few visits with my nanny in port williams. amy and i actually got to take her to one of her favorite spots in kingsport for lunch with aunt janet as well. i also made it to the south shore a few times and the whole family got together to camp in lunenburg on my 3rd weekend at home. it was really fun to all be together.

it was also really great to be able to go back to church. i miss the church i grew up in when i'm in korea. everytime i go home there are more and more changes and it's quite a bit different from when i was home to attend regularly, but there's nothing quite like a church family. i am so blessed to have such great people that are interested in me and keep me in their thoughts (and i'm sure prayers too!) when i'm so far away. it means a lot to know that you guys are happy to see me when i'm home. thanks!

i ate great food and even got to babysit some really sweet kids. i always hate the 25-30 hour trip and dread it happening but i always am so blessed by a loving family and friends when i return. i love you guys too! thank you all for making my time at home fun and meaningful.

here are a few pictures...........

this is our campfire in shediac, nb.

amy and wendy making breakfast the next morning.......

michael, wendy, amy and me at the canada day fireworks in hampton, nb.

lunch with nannie and aunt janet in kingsport, ns.

the beautiful sunset looking out from our campsite in lunenburg.

playing some cards at the campsite.........me, wendy, amy, michael, leesa, ryan.

eating breakfast the next morning.

us on the cannon at the lunenburg visitor's center and campground.

amy and i getting ready to eat some delicious lobster on the fundy coast of ns.

cleaning up and getting ready to go home on my last night in ns.

thanks for stopping by. i'll be putting up a post about the trip to taiwan soon. i hope all is well with you all........