Friday, November 21, 2008

Our long journey to Canada.











So, I know I haven't added much lately but we have been busy. As you may have read below, we left Jacksonville in September and drove for 6 days to visit our new job in Calgary. We thought that was a huge journey, but now we know that was just the beginning. We were asked by the Canadian immigration office in Washington DC to come for an interview. They would not let us do the interview here. We had to do it in DC since we had sent our application to that office. We had to leave Canada by the 7th of Oct. anyway, so we headed out to DC for another long journey across the states. The company would have sent us on a plane, but we still had to pick up our trailer in MT and we didn't want to be stranded there in case they said no they wouldn't give us a work permit. We thought it would just take a few days and we could head back, but it was a month later when we finally arrived back. We got our trailer in MT and headed to VA to stay with my cousin. That drive took 5 days. Once we got there, the trailer was stuck in her driveway because we came in at night and missed the driveway a little. We had to get the insurance to send a tow truck and do a claim. Then we actually went to DC for the interview and it only took her about 15 minutes to talk to us. She was not very nice and we thought she may say no. So we had to wait a couple more days for her to call us back. While we waited we did some tourist stuff like Williamsburg, Yorktown and Busch Gardens. When we got her call, luckily it was good news. We were finally approved to go back to Canada. Then we headed back for another 6 day journey to our new home in Calgary. It was a long month, but we did lots of fun things as a family and got to see lots of the country. The babies did fairly well traveling and sleeping in hotels. We are all so happy to finally be here. Our new kids were happy to see us again too. Now we are working on getting settled in and beginning a new routine as a family of 9. :)

Sunday, November 16, 2008

We finally made it!

We are finally in Calgary and working in our new position as teaching parents. It took much longer than we had anticipated and much more traveling, but we perservered and made it to our new home. We are enjoying the new company and the people we work for. The kids are great and have welcomed us in warmly. We are getting settled in and getting used to having 7 kids. These kids need a little more direction than our last place. We are finding it to be a rewarding challenge. The babies are doing great. Growing quickly and learning something new everyday. Hannah is now standing straight up from the floor without pulling up on anything. Alyssa loves to mimic any sounds we make. They are both talking and motoring all over the place. They are 9 months old now, but no teeth yet. They have outgrown all their clothes and are now in 12 month clothes. They needed more warm clothes any way. :) It is snowing here and I can't wait to get them snowsuits and see how they like playing in the snow. I have to go make dinner for my family now, but I will add more pictures soon.