Late to graduate, that is! Through no fault of their own!
Yes, Hannah finally “officially” graduated from high school!
We’re so proud of all her hard work for so many years! Way to go, Hannah!
Speaking of late, I’m late posting this too! But the good folks at Prairie Christian Academy decided to do an outdoor graduation on the 26th of September. So we all sat out in the parking lot on a beautiful sunny day.
Hannah graduated with honours, and was nominated for the Timothy Award. Her tribute was read by her art teacher.
And it was very cool that Hannah’s Grandpa and Grandma Winger and Grandma Cottrill were all able to be there for the big event.
And we were able to be there! Because there were times when we thought it might not work out.
I’m sure I’ll post some better pictures in our gallery eventually, but I wanted to make sure I had something here on our blog for this big event. 🙂
I’m finally taking a breath and sitting down to give you a bit of an update. But it will take more than one post to get through it all! So let’s go in order. 🙂
So after we talked to you last, we spent some time in Saskatchewan, in the Lashburn/Maidstone/Lloydminster area, with my Mom and other friends there. We enjoyed some time with the folks at Grace Community Church in Maidstone, and as planned I spoke there on the 13th of September.
Also in September I spoke at our church in Mexico! By recorded video, this time. 🙂 Actually, this was much more of an “adventure” than we intended. We have had tremendous technical difficulties with one laptop, and since then we’ve gone through hours of tech support, and the problem still isn’t solved. So that has certainly thrown a wrench into the works.
Preaching on the last part of Romans 5 from Saskatchewan to Mexico!
However, thank the Lord, the sermon somehow got edited and uploaded, though not quite with the excellence I would have liked. 🙂
Now, big news. For quite a few months (actually, even longer), my Mom has been batting around the idea of moving to Three Hills. Why Three Hills, you ask? Well, because of the lovely view of the three imposing hills, casting their massive shadows over the landscape of the vast Canadian prairies, of course! Well, a lot of reasons.
First, she has family here now (Hannah, her granddaughter), as well as “in-law” family – Shari’s parents. Also, there’s a place for seniors here (the Golden Hills Lodge), which has the bonus of providing meals (my Mom’s a good cook, but she’s been busy with a lot of things, so this is one big time-saver).
We came to Canada knowing this was a possibility, but she didn’t finally decide until we were in SK last month. Now, how this went down was interesting. Hannah was graduating on the 26th (more on that later). I believe my Mom decided to move on the 16th. And she also decided that she would like to move before Hannah’s grad, so that she could be there for the celebration. Which, when we worked in all the logistics, meant that we basically had 7 days to move, start to finish.
I’m not sure I would have been that ambitious, but since that’s what my Mom wanted to do, we decided to give it a try (and when we had time to think, we realized that there were a number of reasons why this may be a good idea, but we won’t get into all that).
So – the short story — we did it! By God’s grace and through a lot of insanity!
All packed up and ready to leave Lashburn, SK! (or, “Three Hills or Bust”)
So, my Mom has moved to Three Hills! Her address, phone number and email will all be changing, but there are forwarding services in place now. So get a hold of her while you can, and you can get updated on all the new info. 🙂
There’s still a lot to do while she gets settled, but we’re trying to lend a hand where we can. Otherwise, she’s doing well and enjoying catching up with friends and family, and making a lot of new friends.
So I’ll try to update you on our next speaking engagements, and also other adventures (including Hannah’s grad!) when I have the change to take another breath.
So we had an event for Independence Day at the Jesús María community centre, with lots of activities. The first picture shows you-know-who with our friend David Gomez, who served with us in Jesús María (and is now a missionary in Uruguay).
The second picture is, of course, Hannah and Nathanael, same day, at the community centre.
Now, back in the “old days”, we were thinking that we would be eating our way through a grad banquet, and sitting through a grad ceremony, this week. As I’m sure you all know, everyone’s plans have changed rather drastically since those “old days”, and we have discovered that God had completely different plans!
So, we’re in Mexico, Hannah has been out of the dorm since March, and – banquet and grad ceremonies? Who knows (besides God)? Those things may still happen in the fall – or not – and if they do, we may be there – or not. Did that cover all the bases?
All that being said, this week has not been without celebration. Tonight, Lord willing, the grads will still have a party. And yesterday, there was some kind of grad recognition – thingme – something – thanks to the good folks from Prairie Christian Academy!
Hannah was at Shari’s parents’ house (which is not far from the school). Honking was heard – honking like you rarely hear in Canada (unless there’s a wedding going on) (and there wasn’t). And turning onto the street was a caravan of vehicles. The faculty had put together the “PCA Grad Parade” of 2020, with balloons and waves and smiles (and, as previously mentioned, a lot of noise!).
A banner with Hannah’s picture and the class verse (Psalm 62:2) was deposited on the lawn. Hannah received a cap and gown, and had her picture taken with the principal, Darryl Hern.
You can actually see a video with pictures of all the grads on Facebook: PCA Grad Parade
So congratulations again, Hannah! And hopefully the celebrations will continue – maybe even into the fall – actually, who care what happens? We can celebrate as long as we want, wherever we want. So there.
I’ve been posting these “retro” pictures for a while, and I don’t just want to post birthday pictures every May, even though it is “birthday month” around here.
However, 10 years ago today was kind of a classic joint party, with a joint theme. And strangely enough, the picture I posted last May was about the H1N1 Flu!
So – 10 years ago today was a party “on the ice rink”. Not literally. But it was a joint birthday party – Hannah’s theme being figure skating, and Nathanael’s hockey. It was a big party for the whole neighbourhood, with piñatas and face painting and everything.
These were taken before the party. I really liked these cakes. Simple but elegant.
Eleven years ago, Hannah and Nathanael’s birthday parties were small family affairs. Everyone was concerned about the swine flu pandemic, and so big parties were out of the question.
In 2020 we found ourselves in the same situation again, but this time with significant advances in technology, and advances especially in people’s comfort with and ability to use that technology. The other difference – Hannah was in Canada, Nathanael in Mexico. So – the party went online!
Often Shari has made a cake with matching cupcakes. This year, Shari and her Mom schemed together – the cupcakes were made in Canada, the cake (cheesecake this time) was made in Mexico. Matching chocolate-peanut-butter flavours, matching colours, and matching themes – unicycles.
It was a family party again, but this time expanded to grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins. Not everyone could make it, but we had a good group, spread out from Alberta to Ontario to Mexico. Everyone was encouraged to bring their own cake – and some indeed did!
This was the first joint party in quite a few years. As was mentioned, unicycles was the theme. Decorations went up. And the party began. GoToMeeting was the app of choice.
We had some activities – a get-to-know-you type game, and then a how-well-do-you-know-Nathanael-and-Hannah type game. And of course some time to chat and hang out.
Of course, not the same as having everyone together. But far, far better than not getting together at all!
In these days of being so disconnected – every once in a while, you get a little bit more connected than you would have otherwise.
Happy birthday Hannah and Nathanael! May this be a year of unexpected God-ordained connections!
