We’re visiting Shari’s brother and his family (actually, Shari’s brother is away, but coming back tomorrow night). It’s the first time the cousins have seen each other in 3 years (as you can imagine, for that age it’s a looooong time!). Here’s proof that they really are together!
Thanks so much to all of you who prayed as we crossed the borders over the past few days! God was good, and we did arrive safely in Canada yesterday afternoon.
We actually did get a bit of a hassle at all three borders (just to be consistent).
As we left Mexico, the Mexican officials had questions about our vehicle paperwork, so that was a bit of a delay as we heard their opinions on what we should do. At the US border, the official had questions about some of our boxes. And at the Canadian border… well, I don’t think they really knew what to do with us. So they searched our van for hidden compartments while we waited in the waiting room.
But none of these delays were major, and yes – we’re in Canada! No more border crossings for a while!
As soon as we crossed the Mexico/US border, we felt like we went from being Canadians in Mexico to being Mexicans in a foreign land. People looking at us funny when we spoke Spanish, not being sure what to do or how to act…
And of course we’ve been full time teaching things to Hannah and Nathanael. We’ll tell you more about that later. Now that we’re in Canada, while we’re in our van we blend in (we actually have a Canadian license plate!). As soon as we get out of our van, there are so many things that we do differently, don’t know about or aren’t used to that we stick out like a sore thumb.
Still, we’re glad to take a little break from driving.
A reminder – if you’re in Calgary, come see us on the 5th of July (this Sunday) morning at Calgary’s First Evangelical Free Church on Elbow Drive. It would be great to see you!
Hymns. We sing hymns written hundreds – in some cases thousands of years ago. They come from all over the world, from all different cultures and languages. They were (and are) written by men and women of all different ages from many occupations and backgrounds.
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Would you like to look at this remarkable heritage in a whole new way? Then you should check out my Dad’s blog!
That’s right, my Dad (Robert Cottrill) just recently started a blog, called Wordwise Hymns. And here’s the plan – for a whole year, to post a hymn fact for the day – ending up with a one-of-a-kind hymn almanac.
For example, maybe it’s a day a hymn writer was born, or died, or when some other significant event happened. You’ll learn some background about a hymn that you never knew before.
My Dad is drawing on years of study and resources, and so you’ll be guaranteed to learn something you’ve never heard before.
One of my favourites so far, the story of Margaret Clarkson, author of "So Send I You":
Margaret Clarkson was born in Melville, Saskatchewan, a small city on the western prairies of Canada. She was a school teacher, an acclaimed author (of 17 books), and a hymn writer. I met her around 1985, and found her to be a sharp, no-nonsense kind of person. (I wondered if she could be a bit of a tyrant when she taught school!) … (continue)
And one of the most remarkable hymn stories is the one about Robert Robinson, whose life was turned around by his own hymn!
So if you like hymns, you’ll love these facts and thoughts about well known and lesser known hymns. It’s going to be a great resource.
And wait for it – my Dad is also publishing a book about Christmas carols, scheduled to come out in time for the Christmas season! Stay tuned for more on that.
Meanwhile, go visit Wordwise Hymns, and be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed!
So, we leave in 1 week. Sure, we need to pack, take care of financial responsibilities, find places to stay, make sure the van is in shape, find someone to watch the house, and so on and so on. But there are other things we need to do to prepare for a trip to Canada. (Didn’t know about this trip? Read this newsletter)
For example, one thing one must do to prepare for a visit to a foreign country is learn about the culture. This is going to be especially interesting for our two little Mexican kids, one of whom doesn’t really remember Canada at all.
For example, how do you greet people in Canada? What about table manners? How do you … drive?? (Gotta be honest – I’m a little nervous to drive in Canada)
We’ve had some discussions with Hannah and Nathanael. They think some Canadian customs are pretty funny, but we must teach them.
In Canada, don’t ask for the chilis to be passed, because there might not be any. In Canada, you might want to be a little more diligent with the bug repellent. There are some interesting bugs there. They bite, and they’re BIG. Oh, and in Canada, please don’t call anyone "fat".
Nathanael was pretty excited the other day to find a dandelion. Boy is he in for a surprise.
If you’re two hours late to a birthday party in Canada, you will not be plenty early for the piñata. In fact, you might miss the party.
I found it interesting a few months ago reading about "reverse culture shock" in Duane Elmer’s Cross-Cultural Connections. He explained some of the things missionaries go through returning to one culture after being away.
In the book, he lists re-entry issues for people who have had a short term stay (1 week – 1 month), medium term stay (2-6 months), long term stay (6 months – 2 years), and very long term stay (over 2 years). Interesting that, after two and a half years we fit into the longest term category already.
Now of course we’re in a unique situation since we’ll be travelling all summer and not settling down to life in Canada. Still, it will be interesting being tourists in the True North. (I won’t explain everything Elmer says about reverse culture shock – you kinda have to read the book. Good book, though).
So please have patience as we teach our children, and try to recall a few things ourselves. Things just don’t look the same anymore.
Some of you have been wondering what’s up with some of the craziness we mentioned in our last post.
First, Shari was able to take Nathanael to the doctor that day. He was diagnosed with "seasonal allergies", and the doctor gave us a note that said no way does he have the flu.
So, with that official documentation, he was allowed back into the school, and has been there ever since!
The computers are working fairly well, although we’re still at the stage where we keep realizing to do such-and-such we still need to set up such-and-such.
The gate to our street – is still not fixed, so we still can’t get in or out without knocking door to door. We’ve taken to parking outside the gate quite often, which can be a little inconvenient if you’re unloading groceries. Or we watch out the window and wait for someone else going out or coming in, and jump at the chance!
Interestingly enough, we have another broken door – the back door of our van can no longer be opened. The mechanic I took it to today couldn’t fix it, so hopefully I can find someone who can do something with it before our trip.
Shari and Hannah continued to make incredible progress with the schoolwork – in fact, Hannah is done! Praise the Lord!
So now we need to get all the paperwork together to send to Canada to prove that she’s done.
Lots of other things going on. Due to a change in our paperwork I had to send some documents back into Mexico City today, so we’ll need to get those back before we go. I’m still trying to get vehicle insurance for our trip. And the schools are busy catching up on all the activities they skipped during the height of the flu outbreak – Nathanael has a Children’s Day outing on Friday (that I will be joining him for), and Hannah’s big Mother’s Day performance is coming up on the 19th.
I had a great time in Puebla at the conference. And we’re looking forward to getting together with our local team for a time of prayer tomorrow night.
What – you didn’t want us to be bored, did you?
Things have been a little crazy around here.
For one thing, an update on Nathanael. He went back to school Monday and Tuesday, but then Wednesday he was sniffling more and they told us we would need a doctor’s note to bring him back.
All very well, but on Wednesday I was sick in bed all day (migraine attack) and Shari wasn’t confident she could find the doctor’s office herself. Hopefully we can go today, but I’m also going to a conference (Lord willing) today, tomorrow and Saturday in Puebla. Hopefully we can squish in a visit to the doctor in here somewhere!
Nathanael? Oh, he’s fine. Just a few sniffles, as he’s had most of the year.
We had some major computer problems, which are more or less worked out now. I’m just finishing getting things set up again. Everything is ok, it just ended up being extremely time-consuming.
Also, they’re having some problems with the gate in our neighbourhood. We have an electronic gate that lets the cars in and out, which is great when it works. But it’s not working.
So, they locked the gate with a padlock. No problem – most people in the neighbourhood have a key … but we don’t!
So, we have to go begging door to door whenever we want to get in or out – which is 8 times a day just to get the kids to school and back (ok, so now we’re not taking Nathanael!) plus everything else we do. So many times a day we go knocking and knocking until we find someone with a key.
Apparently it’s a lock and key with a special code. Only one guy has the code, and he doesn’t live here anymore, so the lock can’t be duplicated. So until the gate gets fixed…
So all those things we’ve been trying to get done for normal life, plus all those things we need to get done before we leave on our trip – well, they’ve been mostly on hold while we watch Nathanael, spend time in bed sick, look for keys, and repair computers.
To add to the fun, we thought Hannah had until the end of the month to finish her Canadian school work, but we just heard from the office that she actually has to be done before June 12th. Wow! So we’ve ramped up the school work schedule with her, trying to get everything done. Shari has been working with her and they’ve been making incredible progress – they might actually make it!
And we’re having a party when it’s done. I don’t care what else we’re behind in. 😉