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2006, we move to the land of "Far Far Away" ...So, you may wonder a bit about our "Happily ever after"? Well, before we reveal the surprise ending which also happens to include a "Far Far Away" (a surprise even for us) ... first a little background info: Encountering someone who really just does not like you (but prefers to ignore you and gets on with their life while allowing you to do the same) is really relatively easy to deal with. Not everybody has to like us, we know and understand that much. While it is substantially tougher to deal with when the person is family, ultimately, when given absolutely no choice, one simply makes peace with this and moves on with life ... that's the theory. But what if someone really does not like you and makes it their life's goal to destroy you, your life and your every chance at success and happiness - even if all you ever do is plead with them and passively "turn the other cheek"? Well that is what the young Snow-White had foisted on her ... and I say "foisted" since nobody in their right mind would choose such a fate for themselves and their loved ones! The evil queen (The birth mother in the original version of that story too, by the way, NOT the step-mother!) wanted the fair young Snow-White and her life destroyed, and wasn't ever content to let her live out even a limited, cloistered life, hidden away from the real world - with only the seven Dwarves for company. As long as she knew that Snow-White was still "out there somewhere", she obsessed with her total destruction. So the evil queen relentlessly hunts Snow-White down, resorting to all sorts of devious wickedness, to destroy her and to deny her any form of "Happily ever after", and she very nearly succeeds! For Snow-White, simply living her own life and ignoring the queen just did not work! Well that is exactly what Jennifer and all of us (her family) have been facing these many years now. Even after disowning Jennifer (many years ago) her birth-mother still never misses an opportunity to hamper and destroy Jen's life! She goes to great lengths to launch attacks (whenever possible) even though we never contact them (directly or indirectly) and simply try our level best to ignore them and to get on with living our lives - as the reclusive Snow-White did. But as long as there is any avenue left open through which she can "get at us" - she carefully plans to make full use of it! For us the logical solution was to deny her most or all opportunities to harass us - which means that we have to carefully plan to stop her from discovering our whereabouts. Thus we tend to move a lot and try to keep information about us from reaching her. Though we realize that very few people purposely would be so evil as to betray us (but believe it or not, some have done so) it is amazing how, over time, vital information (about us and our whereabouts) slowly leaks out or is cleverly coerced from naive mutual acquaintances or relatives. One can only speculate as to why these "witch-queens" are so obsessed with the destruction of their own offspring, but as in the fairy tale the obvious answer seems to be that they simply cannot stand to observe in their daughters that which they so desperately would have wanted to be - but are not. Then, rather than trying to improve themselves or their lives, they seek to destroy that which, by contrast, makes them look bad - so that they can then feel better about themselves by default. Clearly this is crazy thinking ... but it exists (and always has) though in blessedly small numbers! That said, let's see if you've guessed our surprise. Pictured below is the last 11 years worth of our family's "hide-outs": 1995: Our dream home was situated on 2.2 acres in Bears-paw - on the western outskirts of Calgary, Alberta - a short drive to/from beautiful Banff. We lived in Calgary for 15 years, a truly lovely City on the doorstep of renowned beautiful tourist spots: Banff, Kananaskis country, Lake Louise and Jasper, but as you read, the "queen" sure ruined that one! For us there was not a moment's peace to enjoy our lovely dream home! It was clear, for our family's sake, that it was time to say "Goodbye" (for now) to our lovely home. Jen was understandably pretty sad to leave her dream-home, and did a lot of praying and asking for God's guidance and reassurance - and what she got was two answers:
and a reassurance that we would be "resting, relaxing and growing stronger" ... but only be for 2 years!
1998: So we "Eloped" (as you may recall) to live in the forests of the Niagara escarpment - just above Niagara falls. Since the "queen" and her two henchmen had no idea where in the world we were exactly (but thought we were in Australia) we finally had peace. There we rested up, recovering our strength in pristine, safe and secure surroundings ... but as you have read, we knew up-front that our sojourn there (see below) was just going to be for 2 years - that much was made clear to us at the onset.
Then, 2 years later, right on cue, the oil-company I worked for got a new president - the CFO of EXXON in Houston became our president. One of the first things he did was to "down-size" our company, getting rid of many highly-paid individuals. As a result of this (and also of a lot of "pretty-please prayers" on my behalf) and as we had understood God's plan for our lives some 2 years prior, almost exactly 2 years later I was "laid-off" by the company along with probably some 20% of my peers ... but with a severance package so huge that, at age 43, I was able to retire from the rat-race of the corporate world. I remember well how the "HR-types" were so worried that we would do ourselves an injury after the "bad news" of being "laid-off". Well, I smiled and re-assured the rather perplexed ones among them by saying: "Don't worry, the only reason I am going to need any special care or your kind offer of a Taxi-ride home, is if I hurt my 43 year old back doing cart-wheels out that front door ... while laughing and holding tightly onto this lay-off package"! I mean really ... some people must think we live just for the sheer joy of working for corporations? What is more, they kindly paid for the sale of our home, all our relocation and other expenses, real-estate fees, moving, lodging, meals. But where exactly did we end up living next? Well, once again, as we humans often do, we foolishly started to chart our own course and went to look at several places in the "1,000 islands region" of Ontario - the easiest option for us since it was in the same general vicinity (see below) and since we really had enjoyed the blessed peace and security of being that far away from our relentless old enemy. Good idea, but that plan certainly just did not go well!
Then we thought about moving to Princeville, Kauai, where we had a beautiful property in the neighborhood of that famous "Kiss" from that old musical: "South-Pacific" (see below). Now this was definitely my (and likely would be most people's) "personal favorite", and I was lobbying very hard for it! But (sigh) that option too was shutdown quickly! Jen and our sons just saw no practical future there. It's really a small island with no university etc. But what a truly beautiful dream ... I'd certainly have loved it!
Next we considered moving to the Gulf coast of Florida around Fort Meyers (Lee county, see below), where we had a property, but that option was also shutdown pretty quickly! Very nice place too, but rather flat, with no mountains or hills and (as we saw over the ensuing years) plenty of concerns about Hurricanes!
So then we thought, "Why not move back to our beloved West" - to the Rockies, but rather than returning to Calgary (which is just not really a retirement kind of place) we could instead head "just a little to the south" ... and on to the hidden paradise of Western Montana (near Whitefish, MT) where we had a beautiful 1/2 acre property on the green of a private Golf course, overlooking the back of the Rocky mountains and "Glacier National park" (see below). That development even had ISDN access to the internet! Wow, imagine that, high-tech convenience, country living, back in the Rockies, close to friends and safely hidden away! Well, for a variety of reasons, that option too was shutdown pretty quickly.
2000: Now with all of these dreamy options gone, that left only one place we loved that we had just not seriously considered (for obvious reasons) ... In the same valley, across the lake from where Jennifer's birth-mother (the "queen" and our relentless enemy) lives! Well, try as I may (and believe me I tried real hard to nix this option) it just kept on coming back on the table (again and again) as the all-round "best option"! But then we would be living right under their noses Yikes ... That was going to be dangerous!!
So, for several years, what our aggressive old enemy, the "witch-queen", did not know (and you now do) is that we did not live thousands of miles away (as we once did) or in Australia (as she once thought) but RIGHT UNDER HER NOSE - across this lake from her, us all there living in our God-given dream-home, in an awesomely beautiful setting, amongst the forests and mountains of BC, overlooking that 120km long lake and even with 3Mbit ADSL high-speed internet! Now, with our old enemy just across that deep cold moat from us (stuck there in "her virtual prison") you will understand why earlier I referred to Pippin's famous remark: “The closer we are to danger, the further we are from harm”! Perhaps the phrase: "Living in the Lion's den" is more accurate ... but we were back in our beloved mountains again! In that time we did have several very close calls - one of which was particularly harrowing! On one shopping trip to the city, Jennifer appeared (quite unexpectedly) for a split second barely a few feet away and directly in front of the unsuspecting "witch-queen" - in plain view, as if she was an apparition, but then safely disappeared again at the very moment when the startled recognition (of who it was that she was seeing) set in on the "witch-queen's" face ... and this 10 years after their last face to face meeting. Now one would expect a mother's heart to be softened by all of this? But having her "long-lost" daughter appear thus before her, for an instant, did not result in any softness (or even a loving, wistful expression or gentle words) but rather instantly triggered the same old iron-willed aggressive resolve and attack mentality - the same behaviors in her as always. But, as she rushed to corner Jennifer, she found herself, in her haste, choosing the wrong pathway in the maze of horizontal and perpendicular isles in Wal-Mart, ending up in a dead-end instead of in front of Jennifer, allowing Jen to safely escape her nasty intentions. Since we used to love vacationing in this valley (similar to Lake the Tahoe area) when we lived in Calgary, she assumed that we were now living somewhere back in Calgary and were just visiting her "old haunts" - and that is a play on words! For the longest time she never thought to look for us "right under her nose". So, "surprise surprise" - that's where we all ended up living for almost 6 years, and I would be tempted to add: "Happily ever after" ... though the "ever after" obviously relates more to our attitudes and choices than to any beautiful homes or their physical locations which, as you have seen, for us changes quite often! But "Happily ever after" is required to travel along with us to a new home, wherever that may be. No, this was not our "Far Far Away", just the opposite! It's probably best called our "Near Near at hand"!
Even I have to admit that, for all of us, this was a "Giant leap of faith"! Though we refused to be intimidated any longer, and did regularly venture into her side of the valley, we were not foolhardy, so we regularly dated and shopped along Harvey Avenue - but mostly on the other side, often wining and dining in their neighborhood - barely 200 yards from the mother's home, and also across the lake from it, where we often sat savoring God's righteousness and Love's victory while gazing across the "moat", sipping some of the local beer and wine, enjoying lobster tail and steak, listening to the waves and music before returning to our safe-haven, "Chalet Rose", tucked away in the forest on the "safe side" of this beautiful deep cold lake - with it's floating bridge. In fact, as I write this, I'm sitting still kind of savoring the moment, though now it's a decidedly "different moment", but I had better not give too much away ... yet.
Well, from there ... ironically so handily placed for a all-encompassing "happy ending", we waited patiently to hear these words from our old enemy: "I'm sorry, please forgive me" ... and we had all given her so many golden opportunities to do so easily (short of us all rubber-stamping her past behaviors and telling her to continue with all of these unabated) but it appeared that we had to stand in a rather long line and behind some very important people and those words never did come, for them, or for us, or for anyone. Having proudly proclaimed to a bewildered Pastor Jim (and to us) that "she was (and is) perfect, and has never done anything wrong - ever!" ... we now know that we most likely will never hear those words from her. However, this was (and is) not our "reason for living", it's just a small whimsical hope and an honest prayer. Time will tell ... as clearly this story isn't over yet, and so we waited patiently, right under her nose, for her to start showing signs of just even a little bit of humanity - just a little bit of normalcy, as a mother, a grand-mother and a person. Yes, it's rather strange that we found ourselves living in the last place we would have expected to live - simply because we listened up and obeyed as God closed down all of our other options, one after the other (often attractive even downright dreamy options) leaving us with only one. But what God had in store for us all, stayed a bit of a mystery for a while ... then one day we got word of how the Witch-queen had done something so unspeakably evil using (as always) a proxy, to some very dear friends of ours - something so dark and cruel that (it seems) God finally lost patience with her, and just as God had asked us to go and live in the last place on earth we would have ever expected to or wanted to live, we now got this very clear message: "Leave now, do not delay, do not ever look back, do not worry about how you are going to be able to cope, everything will be taken care of for you". We had grown to really love our life in the forest and mountains, overlooking the lake, and our beautiful "Chalet Rose" so we could quite easily have said: "No thanks Lord, we are really quite comfortable here now, you must be mistaken" ... but by now in our lives we are a little smarter than that, so even though we would be dismantling our entire adult lives (27 years) in Canada and not even beginning to think of how such a massive task could be achieved (remember, we are 50 and not quite so energetic or organized anymore) we simply, in faith, obeyed God ... after all, God's view of future events is, well, perfect, and ours is simply speculation, so no point in arguing. But where to go next? That was a indeed a mystery for us ... even so, we started to get ready to leave Canada. 2006: But not for long ... now a crucial bit of that "mystery" is solved! Since writing this chapter, as you may have inferred in recent updates, and after pretty clear signs that we should do so, we have effectively ended our quest for the hoped for "all encompassing happy ending" to this - our own real-life fairy-tale. We are content now to settle for 95% of the always unattainable "perfectly happy". As you and others already know, that other 5% is realistically just beyond our reach or influence. Then again you may recall that not even the classic fairy-tales have everyone turning over a new leaf and becoming kind and loving - all going on to live happily ever after. Generally the bad guy/gal gets their punishment if they do not change their ways - as well they should! This is what has happened in our case as well. So, just like in the classic fairy-tale: "Snow-white", where in the end the old "witch-queen" was fitted with a pair of red-hot iron slippers (I suspect that's her "searing conscience"?) and forced to dance - in the agony of defeat and in total humiliation, at Snow-White's wedding ... forced to watch as Snow-white finally started the "happily ever after" adult phase of her life, realizing she had failed to thwart Snow-white's God-given right to that happy life - right before she dropped down dead. So too, sadly, it seems to be for Jennifer's birth-mother. Too bad really, it needn't have ended that way. What more to say than: "She certainly had her chances and she very purposely blew them all". (Actually, she had many more chances than most people will ever get - but still persisted in wanting to act like her alter-ego in "Snow-White".) However that's just me (mere mortal human) talking, one never really knows what may happen in the future? Her life is not over quite yet ... and far stranger things have happened. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Now you may think I'm being a wee bit irresponsible for divulging the information above (and below) so I want to re-assure you. After God's clear warning to our family to move and to do so speedily, we received disturbing evidence that the "witch-queen" had begun figuring out our exact whereabouts, and so not particularly looking forward to her dropping by "with an apple", we moved ... understanding (at least partially) the reasons why. Can we safely share this information with you without compromising God's rescue plans? Maybe ... you see our eldest son figured out a way to block entire countries from this website (our home country Canada being one example) and to safely redirect them to an innocuous website instead. That we did ... not just to protect our family, but also to ensure that any former victims be spared any continuing discomfort and spared any unwelcome publicity. We thought it best that Jen's mother, her spell-bound dad and her zombie-like sister, not find this site, as supplying all the information contained within this story would serve to refuel the "queen's" narcissism, and narcissists tend to thrive on attention - negative or otherwise! That said, it has enabled us (for the first time ever) to tell the entire story which, for obvious reasons, was not all that wise to do before now. Recently we learned that Jen's mother insisted that her husband disconnect from the internet (and we know her sister was never allowed to have access). We speculate that it's to tighten her control over them by limiting their access to the real world - the world outside of hers. So one day we could removed the "block" and let even Canadians read this story. There are still some small parts I would want to add to it (gaps to fill-in really) and a really neat "fairy-tale like" ending to add ... which I will at least partially do now. You see, most people expect that since our own loving little fairy-tale started (as almost all memorable ones do) "A long long time ago, in a land far far away", that it would be perfectly fitting for our family's own little "fairy-tale" to end up back in the land of "far far away" again ... and so, in a way, it has! So then, here's a peek at our "Land far far Away" (without winters) and our "Happily ever after":
Our favorite place (above) for quiet leisurely lunch dates will only be some 15 miles away from home!
(above & below) 2 of our favorite romantic hideaways both only 90min by car from our new home.
(Below) We will be doing more canoeing
in these lush jungles, as we often did in our youth, but this
For almost a decade now, we have
played a game of "hide and seek" with our family's old enemy,
always staying just one step ahead of her, ending up living
(for the last 5 years or so) in the last place on earth that
she would ever dream of looking for us - right under her nose.
But now that "gig" is done, so as to say. We have disturbing
evidence that she has ferreted out enough information from
others to piece together the puzzle of our exact whereabouts.
Though it's not the only reason for moving, it sure provides
an added incentive! We have enjoyed the almost 28 years we spent in Canada immensely! We've lived in beautiful places and the
majority of people in Canada (and also America) are really quite
extraordinary folk ... kind, generous, friendly, helpful,
innovative, industrious and really quite under-appreciated in
most of the rest of the world! If you make the effort to get to know
them, I'm sure you will agree that they are some of the
kindest friendliest people on earth. Even so, as you have
read, we did and continue to do whatever is necessary to
enable our family to live as normal a life as possible, free
from unwelcome relentless harassment ... and it's time to do so again.
Who knows exactly (but God) what the future holds? Still, in a
way we can kind of relate to horses being put out to a lovely
green pasture after years of having endured much. Building on
this analogy, without Jennifer's mother being around to use
her cruel spurs or whip on us, life should be a lot more
normal now - perhaps even somewhat boring? I expect that
we will be able to enjoy the lush new pastures and eternal
spring of our "far far away", while proudly watching all the
young stallions and mares (and their little foals) romping
around us in these peaceful, beautiful pastures. After moving
to Canada from Southern Africa in 1979, and doing our level
best for 27 years to reconcile Jennifer and her birth-family,
it's finally time now to think of our family's needs. We know
that God knows how long and hard we tried - and how much that
hurt us all, and it's as if God finally released us from any
further obligations in that regard. In fact, since we do
nothing without patiently waiting for God's answers to our
prayers, what was strikingly evident to us was that God
clearly wanted us out of "The valley of the shadow of death"
in a big hurry! We are not exactly sure why, but we sure are
glad that we did not have to stick around to find out why. As
well, we were stopped from contemplating a move to what we
thought was the best destination for our family, and
re-directed here.
Much as we loved Canada (the country and it's people) Jen, sitting next to me in our mini-van, many thousands of Kilometers between us and Canada - our home for most of our adult lives, said this to me: "Ian, the 1st chapter of our lives, Africa, which we loved so much, closed after 23 years, and we never did reopened it. Now this 2nd chapter of our lives, Canada, which has encompassed so many wonderful times, as well as some bitter-sweet ones, has also now closed, after 27 years, and you know ... If it's all right with you, I'd rather we don't reopen it either. I mean ... here we all are, together on yet another incredible adventure - easily the most adventurous one, by far, journeying into the 3rd chapter of our lives, at 50, not knowing exactly what lies ahead ... but still in love, still with each other, still all happy and healthy. I just know that with God's help we will build a wonderful life - a safe, happy and prosperous one, in our new homeland, and that my old family's bitter curse - one brought on us all as a direct result of my mother's very bad decisions; one which we have labored under for so very long now, is also finally completely broken! We are now finally free ... let's keep it that way." Well, what could I say, but "Amen!" 20 Feb 2009: It's almost 3yrs later now, and Jen's words are fast becoming reality, Our adventure continues to unfold miraculously. For me everything is tinged with nostalgia. We loved Africa ... we loved Canada. Both of them have such awesome people, such beautiful places! We leave behind, at least, a small legacy. Jen's books, this story, the several computer systems I architected - for banks, oil companies and the 1988 XV winter Olympic games - for which I built the scoring and results system, so key to it's success. Still today, whenever truckers fuel their rigs across that vast land at any Petro-Pass site, they're using one of my innovations. As well, we were instrumental in a now famous (elsewhere - as is usual for Canada) artist not giving up on himself, but continuing on, with our financial support, to paint many exquisite masterpieces, and after a while, not needing our help any longer. You may have noticed his artwork illustrates this story? Oh well, all of this seems unimportant now. People rarely go back and re-read a chapter of a novel, rather pressing on to see how it all ends - to see what lies ahead in the rest of the story. Then they close the book, sit back, reflect on the ending for a while, place it on the table next to them and get on with their lives. Later they lovingly place it in their library of memories, and there it sits on the bookshelf until someone takes it out, sits down, opens it up and begins to immerse themselves in it's pages. So too it is for us. So, remembering how and where our love story began 35 years ago ...
Just how then do I
begin to end this story?
Back again in their beautiful tropical land of "far, far away" - their new surroundings so reminiscent of Africa - where they first met and fell in love "a long, long time ago", the 2 childhood sweethearts, Jennifer and Ian (now 50) along with their sons, Daniel & Jonathan, and of course, that ever-smiling furry little canine rascal, Happy, all lived "happily ever after" ... and they enjoyed it all so immensely! May Almighty God Bless you and your loved ones too! With much Love from all of us ...
(Left to Right) Dan (22), Ian (50), Jen (49), Jon (19) ... and let's not forget
The End <- little movie.
Closing credits ... giving credit where credit is due for "the loving script" we were given: Yes, we have lived an unusual love-story and an awesome adventure ... a blessed story that does indeed bear some strong resemblances to the original Snow-white fairy tale - but before you conclude mistakenly that I'm in any way like that "handsome young prince" in the original fairy-tale, or that Jennifer is like "Snow-White" ... Let me set the record straight. Alas no, only half of that statement is true. While Jennifer is indeed a bona-fide "African Snow White", I'm neither handsome nor even young anymore, was never a prince and am not one now. In fact, I'm not even a prince's acquaintance, though you may recall that Jennifer once dated one of those and that he was the "chosen one" the mother wanted her to marry. So, no prince ... I'm just a loving, supportive caring aging old "dwarf" ... and since I cannot use any of the Disney copyrighted names, you may as well call me "Faithful" or "Stalwart", though some have suggested "Smitten" is more appropriate ... Perhaps they have a point? But just as in that fairy-tale of old, Jennifer was indeed rescued from that dark forest by a very real "Prince" ... You see, for my beautiful Jennifer (and many other blessed folks - possibly even you?) her "Prince" was and is - Jesus Christ, God's son; for it is Jesus who saved Jennifer and all of us. He is Jennifer's savior, not I or any other! So please understand me giving credit for the happy ending of our own story by simply saying: "To God goes all the glory for our happy ending ... for true love's survival and for victory!" Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." This verse clearly outlines God promises for those people that trust in Him and follow His plan ("script") for their lives - that He will turn the "bad situations and circumstances" into "good and happy outcomes" for those people. Well, we did ... and He sure has! P.S. I remember one day, as we were in the throws of moving yet again, somewhat pensively picking up my bible and randomly opening it, hoping perhaps for some words of encouragement regarding the long arduous journey that lay ahead of us. The very first words my eyes alighted upon? God's People Will Celebrate (Isaiah 55: 12-13. Contemporary English version)12 When you are set free, you will celebrate and travel home in peace. Mountains and hills will sing as you pass by, and trees will clap. 13 Cypress and myrtle trees will grow in fields once covered by thorns. And then those trees will stand as a lasting witness to the glory of the LORD. Well, in a way, that is exactly what
happened. You see, we really were set free Disappearing: I'm sure you will forgive us for not sharing exactly where we all ended up. I figure you will understand that we just want an anonymous life in a beautiful place (with friendly people) where we can blend in and appear just like everyone else. If any of you ever do figure out where we ended up ... and we doubt you will, you are most welcome to come and visit with us. I will be sure to buy you coffee/tea/beer/wine offer you a meal, personally congratulate you on your excellent detective work, answer any questions (within reason) and then swear you to secrecy regarding our exact whereabouts - that's the deal. Now it's time now for us all to "disappear" into this vast and fascinating world of ours. One day, possibly hundreds of years from now, people will look at this magnificent oil painting of Jennifer and wonder who she was, why it exists and what the painting's story is? Then hopefully someone will still remember enough about this story to say: "Ah yes ... that's Africa's Snow-White! I seem to recall that she came to us from out of Africa, and despite her mother's determined efforts to destroy her love and her life, she managed to find true love and lived happily ever after with her loved ones - all around the world." Well really, that's the very essence of the "Snow-White tale" isn't it ? Mothering gone bad, a weak dad held "spell-bound" by his wife - unable to help his beautiful daughter much, an innocent child targeted for destruction ... but who miraculously survives and goes on to live a new life apart from her birth-family (an adventure-filled happily ever after) thanks in part to a bunch of dwarves, and more importantly, thanks to a "Savior Prince" and a "Good King" (and His Kingdom) who adopt Snow-White into Their Family and whose protection and provision she then enjoys and benefits from. Well that's how it was for all of us - and now you have met us and know our family's story. Really though, ideally we all learn something from this story - and that's why we shared it.
I originally commissioned this painting: "BORN AGAIN" in 1995 to make up for Jennifer not having had the usual big white family wedding day of any young woman's dreams, back in 1979 ... But looking at it, you may notice that some major changes made their way into it. For one thing, I'm not the groom in this particular "wedding portrait". (You can read more about this gift by clicking on the link above). I gave the artist a lot of artistic freedom, and strangely, this resulted in a painting (done in Canada by a now famous Canadian artist) that is very un-Canadian. The forest and flowers are not Canadian scenes. Well, many years later, we now live in the place depicted in this painting, which, as you have read, is indeed "far far away" from our previous lives.
"Taking back lost ground"
Joel 2
25: The LORD says, "I will give you back what you
lost to the locusts".
To read
the Final Chapter (Addendum)
.... [Click Here]
Below
Mother's
day 2006: Daniel
(22), Jonathan (19) & Happy (11)
PS.
I'm sure you can imagine how Jen and I feel when we get these
kinds of cards from our sons. "Happily ever after" actually
has a really nice feel to it! Still, it's essential to stay
humble and not to get a swollen head - to ensure that
our sons know (and they do) that we are not and never
will be perfect - but that we do, unselfishly, try and make
our family work as best as we can, each day ... and that we do so with
God's help.
To read
the Final Chapter (Addendum)
.... [Click Here]
Or, if you have the stomach for it,
click to read:
EDITING THE WITCH Out of the
rest of our story |
Excerpts from ...
Leaving Canada ...
In
January 2006, Jen and I flew here to survey "the promised
land" - and we loved it! So we conferred with our sons, flew
them down to look at it too, gave either one of them full
veto-power and simply prayed that God direct their decision
and ours. Both of them agreed with us that this was indeed a
preferable place for us all to be living. Now, when we
accepted God's new directive, we simply asked that the
daunting details of our move somehow be taken care of - after
all, we did have 27 years (all of our adult life really)
invested in Canada. Within 3 days of returning to Canada, a
Christian family man and his son, both football fans, on
Super-bowl Sunday in February 2006, obeyed God's direction -
even though it was also his wife's birthday, got on a plane in
Calgary, flew out to view our home where, upon his arrival, he
told me that He had known before the plane took off in Calgary
that within the next 2 hours he would buy "Chalet-Rose" from
us ... which he then proceeded to do in front of a stunned
(veteran) realtor! As Christians, we simply shook hands on the
deal and asked the realtor to please fill out the paper-work
for us, while we chatted about how awesome God's protection,
love and provision for our families has been! Oh, by the way,
since "Chalet-Rose" was to be a cottage for their family, he
also bought most of our furniture and 3 of our vehicles -
greatly simplifying our move at the same time. Now, if you had
told us even 1 year ago that we were going to sell our
dream-home (Chalet-Rose) and would leave Canada and be living
in this beautiful tropical land along with both of our sons,
we'd both have nervously laughed and wondered about your
sanity. But here we all are ... and we're certainly going to
do our part to make God's plans for us here unfold as
intended. By the way, many of our neighbors were stunned at
just how fast and for how much our home in the countryside
sold, so they quickly placed their homes on the
market. Many months later now, they are still not sold! They depended on realtors
and just smirked when I told them we
had asked God to sell our home and ease our relocation, that a
realtor was just required to take care of paperwork and other
minor details - as that's exactly what happened. (Did
you notice that the name of the motor yacht above is "God's Will"?)
Jen ... this story bears witness that God indeed delivered on
His promise to you 