Rich Nana, Poor Nana

Staying at Nana's house is a real blessing!  Our square footage has increased, there's cable TV (HGTV for us, Treehouse for the girls), good food (we're having salmon tonight!), and toilets with plumbing (don't laugh, the plumbing in an RV is manual, if you get what I'm saying)...

Also, it's nice to be with family and friends again.  But take a good look at this picture...  Poor nana... her once neat, attractive and quiet home has become a breeding ground for lego, pet shops, games, snacks, the crumbs and spills that accompany snacks, doll houses, and stuffies...

On the other hand... rich nana, for all the same reasons.

Indiana is well.  We will keep you all updated.

Life Without Plans...

The girls are hard at work...  And that about sums-up our day...  

We are quite literally, and for the first time, living without plans.  It's a unique way to live.  We don't have a house, or jobs, or any place to go, and nothing to do... We are in limbo; waiting to hear the results of Indi's biopsy, eating, sleeping, and, as you can see, working at serious play time together.

We are so thankful for our health, and for our time together today.  We are in God's hands.  And what comes next is a mystery...

Recovery

With the sounds of the best hospital in the world still ringing in my head, I realize that Indiana is not the only one in recovery.  

When someone we all love faces uncertain and unusual circumstances, we worry.  We fear.  We pray.  We hope.  We cry.  We wait.  We wonder...  And when it is over, and we see her lying there for the first time and she smiles, the whole world suddenly slows right down, and we smile back.

The rest is just recovery... for all of us.

Thank you everyone, for your prayers and your support.  We don't know what the next steps will be, but for now we are thankful, and that's enough...

Back to Life

Scrolling back through the last several blog entries I am glad to see the joy of it. Truth be told, the kids are happier and healthier that we have ever seen them. We are so grateful for this time with our girls. Picabo is laughing louder and more fully than ever, and Indiana is doing so much better. She is wonderfully curious, and funny, and full of life...

As for me and Blaise, we are... We are uncertain - perhaps more than ever. Why are we out here? What are we doing? Where is God in this? This last question is the toughest to wrap our heads around... Let me tell you why.

We were about six hours from Thunder Bay when we heard from Sick Kids Hospital... Indiana has a growth on her liver that has been growing, and they want to do a biopsy. The news broke our hearts, and when we told Indi, the news broke hers. She just wants to be okay. We, of course, are now almost home - - be back tomorrow in fact...

It doesn't make any sense. Maybe that's the way it is supposed to be...?

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" says Phil. 4:4. Note here that the verse is not followed by "unless you are struggling in any way or if you are unsure about your purpose in life..." Instead, the verse is followed by "Do not be anxious about anything." But that is hard to do. Indi cries at the thought of going back to the hospital. And we do not sleep as peacefully as the girls do night after night...

The vacation part of our trip is over... Back to life now.

Name Contest Winner!

To catch everyone up, a little while back we had a name contest for our home-on-wheels...  

Up until recently the front-running entry was “The Star Ship,”  submitted by our good friend William... you were sooo close!  Thanks for your brilliant mind (hey everyone, go to the Loblaws at McCowan and Hwy 7 and ask for William, in the health food section.  He will give you some great tips on healthy eating, healthy living, and how to throw a serious party)!  

The official WINNER of the name contest goes to auntie Anne-Lis.  DUSTY ROSE was her entry, and we love it!  (Dusty for short... and it’s a girl - according to our girls).  Your prize is coming Anne...

Tour de dog

Make no mistake, ours is not a trip around the continent, nor is it a walkabout, a mobile vacation, or any other purposed enterprise apart from discovering and collecting the names of K9s... Yes folks, ours is a tour de dog!  Led, no doubt, by our fearless 5 year old and her adorable love for dogs (preferably small and gentle, but any dog will do).

With the help of mom and older sister, she has started a journal to collect and list the names of all the hounds we track down!  

Here’s the list so far:

Missy (see above pic)

Chip

Rover

Sam

Kansas

Misty

Oliver

Kayla

Snoopy

(+ a few more; names have been forgotten)

The quest continues... Look, there's one now!!!

The Teeth... They are A Changin'

Two teeth in two days; one naturally, the other as a result of Picabo's elbow... but it got the job done!  That's a cool $4 in Indiana's pocket (and a dollar goes to Pica as a finder's fee).  Dollar store, here they come!

We're currently in North Bay.  We need to stay close to home for a bit... just until we hear from Sick Kids regarding Indiana's MRI.  Until then, we continue to explore Northern Ontario, watch sunsets, catch caterpillars, name them "fluffy," swim, fish, and dream and drive!

Digging for Treasure

We are currently in Sault Ste. Marie, ON, staying in a KOA.  For those of you who, like us, have no idea what a KOA is, let me tell you.

It is the full-service version of RV camping... Pool, mini golf, playground, staff in matching t-shirts, and a movie rental outlet.  It is just about the opposite of our place on Manitoulin Island, where we were much more secluded.  See above pic of Picabo digging for treasure beside an amazing waterfall!

No waterfalls at this KOA, but the kids love the pool and the amenities, and they "don't want to leave!"  The problem is that this full-service campground comes with a full service price tag.

We head to WAWA (that's just fun to say) tomorrow morning.  After that, Thunder Bay.

***Just a footnote, I love diesel.  From Markham to Sault Ste. Marie on only 3/4 tank of gas!    
- About 700 km, and over 8 hours of driving!  Waahooooo!!!

Room with a View

Great place to park a home...

Lake Kagawong, Manitoulin Island

Agony and Ecstasy

The agony of leaving was remarkable.  It was an overwhelming process, and everyone close to us over the last two weeks has been witness to our fatigue, illness, anxiety, worry, sleeplessness, emotional exhaustion, and so on...  Thank you for all of your support, prayers, and practical help.  We are so grateful for everyone who chipped in in these final preparatory days (wink, wink, momma KP, and aunt Annie)!

And then, of course, the ecstasy of hitting the road.  We are all still trying to wriggle out from under the weights of stress we've been carrying, but already there is a sense of freedom and adventure before us.

We are currently about 40 miles north of Perry Sound.  Today we head to Manitoulin Island.

We will be in touch.