So much to write about! I can’t remember how many times I wanted to sit down and share some of life’s challenges amidst God’s blessings over the past month. 1/4 cow. Dog? Dorian. Another KW visit. Peaches! Plums!! Frost. 10 years.
We purchased our first quarter cow, grass fed and grass finished. The picture below actually shows a half cow, since we took receipt of the entire amount but shared it with our close friends. It’s somewhat ironic that we move halfway across the country, only to buy meat from a Mennonite family originally from KW themselves! Loving the Bowman’s meat!
One of our goals of moving to the country included buying a dog — a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, to be precise. Towards that end, we attended a local dog show to meet a breeder and several of his dogs. The kids were fascinated by the hunting exercises, with dogs trained to fetch the dead ducks amongst decoys and return to their master. We’re now on a waiting list!
Our kids may now spend the majority of their weeks outside, but I still enjoy setting up a LAN party on occasion. Shoutout to SuperTuxKart for free, open-source racing game akin to Mario Kart that I can run on our Macs!
Kathryn is growing into the one-year old she is! Still not walking, but eager to pull herself up everywhere she goes. We found her on the stair landing this afternoon as well!
Despite the distance it had to travel, Hurricane Dorian hit the island pretty hard. A colleague of mine had conveniently shared a link to windy.com which came in handy whilst trying to predict how the storm was travelling:
Nova Scotia took the brunt, of course, but we still lost power for 48 hours. As it turns out, you need electricity to pump water out of your well — who knew! Praising the LORD for the the kindness of our landlord and church elder who opened up their home Sunday afternoon. Enjoyed a steak cooked on the wood fire, and fresh water from a spring carried back to the house through the forest.
Awkwardly, I was scheduled to fly out the Monday morning for a team meetup back in Kitchener/Waterloo, leaving my family behind still without electricity, running water, or even a source of heat — the pellet stove requires electricity too! Praise the LORD for dear friends who hosted my family that evening, and for restoring power on their way back to the house.
While we’re grateful for all the island has to offer, we were somewhat disappointed by the absence of good quality peaches. My trip to KW and access to the St. Jacob’s Market alleviated that somewhat. Probably the most expensive peaches I’ve had to buy, but the resulting jars of canned peaches for the winter are totally worth it!
We’ve also been privileged to harvest plums from the property, but lost most of our peppers and tomatoes in a surprise frost last week while we were sick.
Finally, Charity and I made our way to Victoria by the Sea for our 10th wedding anniversary. Think something akin to a micro-St. Jacobs. Except with water. Enjoyed a lovely walkabout, custom candle purchase, and dinner at the Lobster Barn. Yes, we did eat together, but just forgot to get a group photo!
No update on a house purchase at this time. The LORD has provided all we could ever ask or need, and we’re determined to enjoy that while we wait patiently for the next step of this adventure.
That is so wonderful! I’m glad that everyone is doing better now. It is wonderful to hear how God is blessing you. Love and miss all of you.🥰