Well, we made it! After 24 hours of traveling including a 6 hour layover in Minneapolis, we are home! Now to get out our toques and gloves as there's 4 inches of snow, and still snowing, and the temperature is a balmy -10C! The trip wasn't too bad, and we got to spend some time with our friends Katie and Travis in Minneapolis and got to go the Outback steakhouse! Yum! My feet were hurting pretty bad by the time I got off the plane 'cause I didn't take my boots off til we got home, which meant 24 hrs stuffed in cowboy boots! Now we have to get a bunch of stuff ready and packed for our move down to Michigan. It is strange to be back home, but know that we are leaving again soon. Oh well, it will be fun getting everything ready for our new start. Let you all know a bit more as we get closer to knowing when we move and everything. We have a one bedroom townhouse lined up to move into when we get down there. It is owned by the Seminary, though not on campus. Anyway, we better get back to work

We have been having a really good trip so far. Greece was really nice, and cheap too!! We stayed in a nice place with a private bath for €12 each. The weather was really nice and we did some hiking and looked at some really old ruins. We are now back in Italy, in Bologna, and the weather is not so nice. It is only 10 °c and wet. Oh well, I guess that is what we get for waiting until off tourist season to do our travelling. We are really looking forward to the end of the trip now. There are only two weeks left before we fly back to Calgary, and then it is another three weeks before I start classes again. I must be crazy, at least that is what Sherilyn thinks. I am glad that we have found the direction that God wants us to take, it is just hard to resign myself to another four years of study. It will be fun though. At least we got to see Europe while we were here. I think our next trip will be to some of the Greek islands, if we can ever afford to come back out here.

Chad

We loved Greece. We are back in Italy now, in Bologna, heading up to Venice to take our flight back to London. We are flying back to Calgary Nov 2nd. I start classes on the 1st of Dec. so it will be pretty hectic when we are home.

Chad

We are writing this from an email cafe in ROME!!! Pretty cool, eh? We spent the last day traveling on the train for about 14 hours, including stopping for lunch in Milan (McDonalds). We are having a really good trip, two nights ago we stayed in this tiny town in the Swiss alps and no one spoke any English. It is a good thing that I know a bit of French. We went to an Irish Pub for dinner, but all they were serving was this really stinky cheese fondue, really Irish !?! We were not all that impressed with the Netherlands, but I think we should have gone in the spring. We did enjoy Kinderdijk with all the windmills though. Rome is finally the place where we don't have to wear a sweatshirt, what a relief. We are heading off to Greece tomorrow on the ferry, should be fun. Oh, I almost forgot. We saw the Pope today. He was outside St Peter's Basillica and shaking hands, etc. We got a picture, though I think he will be pretty small in it. Anyway, I should be going, this is costing us money. Talk to y'all later.

Chad

We are not on our trip yet. We don't leave until the 30th of September, but we are really looking forward to it. My parents are going to come over here on the 19th of September, and we are all going over to the Netherlands on the 30th for a week, and then Chad and I are continuing to Switzerland, Italy, and Greece.

We have been living in an old 5 bedroom Victorian house in the outskirts of London with an older
couple for about 7 months now. It is nice because they are letting us stay here for free!!! Four more weeks and we will be travelling around the continent for three weeks, then it is back home to sunny southern Alberta for three weeks before we head off to Grand Rapids to start my M Div. It is going to be hectic, but I can't wait to get back.

We are slowly getting things in order to head out of here. I have put a for sale sign in the car so hopefully it will sell soon. I want to get that out of our hair before we get too close to leaving. Sherilyn finishes her job this week, but she is going back to cover some holidays for another
girl so that will be nice. We have a nice budget for our trip, so it looks like we don't have to scrimp and save and can enjoy ourselves a bit.

It is hot here and the tube and trains feel like ovens. It gets up to 35 outside and I am sure it is another 10 degrees hotter inside the tube. They just don't have proper ventilation for the
trains. Anyway, I better get back to work.

Chad

We are about 9 weeks away from going on our trip around Europe. We're going to Greece, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands. It should be pretty fun, but I am really anxious to get home again. We're going back to Alberta in November for a month and then we're moving down to Grand Rapids, Michigan and Chad is going to go to school to be a pastor for 4 years.

I'm quite happy to be going back to the States. Everything over here is so unfamiliar, and I just want to get back to where things are normal! The other girl at work has quit, so now I am working her hours too. I'm doing 10 hour days, and the people here can't figure out how I can do it. Most people work 5-6 hours. I don't see how they can afford to live that way, maybe they are being paid more than I am!

So, yes, we are going to the States again. We were trying to decide whether to go back to the farm, or for Chad to continue school for a PhD. Both are really good options, but we couldn't make the decision, neither one seemed to be the right choice. So, in church one night Chad said "show me what I'm supposed to do" And God said go into the ministry. It's not like Chad hadn't though about it before, he'd kinda always felt the call, but never took it seriously. So once he knew the answer, he knew he'd better take it seriously. So we're going to Grand Rapids, Michigan to start school in December for Chad to become an ordained pastor.

Chad got accepted for the Winter term at Calvin, so we'll probably go to Grand Rapids mid-Nov to look for a house/trailer. Now we are here not really doing much but biding time while Chad does a few more drafts of his dissertation, but it's pretty much done, and we have our trip in October, but we are gonna be so rushed and busy once we get back home! Would have been nice to have a little more time, but we probably do better when rushed anyways. We have to get furniture and everything!

Chad and I are hanging around here earning money this summer and then in October we are off to the Netherlands for a week, and then we're doing Switzerland, Italy and Greece in 2 weeks. We've got train passes and I think we're just gonna stay in whatever hostels we find. I'm a little nervous that it's gonna be stressful, but hopefully it'll be more fun than stress!

It sounds like everything is going well back home. I hear you have had good weather. We had a 28 degree day yesterday and it is supposed to be more of the same today. This is very unusual in England, and most of the people can't handle it! They are not used to the extremes that we are. They can't handle cold OR hot!?! The church here is going well. We have started up a student bible study with some friends and we are studying Galatians. It is going very well, there are about 10 of us at every meeting. The church really wants to get more involved in the youth community around it. There are some campuses from US schools that send kids over for a semester abroad. Many of them stay close to the church, but very few come.

Sherilyn and I have finally figured out what we are going to do with our lives. I have decided to answer the call to ministry. I am applying for the Master's of Divinity program at Calvin Theological Seminary in Michigan with the goal of becoming an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church. I have felt the Lord's hand on my heart for some time, I was just reluctant to take the plunge. I now find it all but impossible to consider anything else. I was having trouble deciding between doing a PhD at King's College London, or going home to the farm. I was not satisfied with either of them. It was because I was not considering the right options. As soon as I decided to go into the ministry, I was put at ease and realised that this is what the Lord wanted me to do. We will try to keep in touch as we start this new journey in our lives.

Chad

Life over here is ok. I really miss farm life and all the wide open spaces, but I am trying to make the most of the time we have here b/c everyone keeps telling us that we'll really treasure this time that we have over here, so I am trying to enjoy it. Its not always easy. I spend my mornings reading, and my afternoons and evenings at work. I kinda wish it were the other way around b/c in the mornings I feel like I can't really do much b/c I don't want to be late for work (you know how I am...early, early, early!) but if I worked mornings, then it'd be done and I could go home and do whatever! But I work 'til 7, and then it takes an hour to go home, and then I have supper and watch a little telly and go to bed...sadly, that has contributed to my jeans shrinking! :)

We are having really nice weather here! Except it has rained for the past 3 days, but it is quite warm out! We are told that it's not going to get real hot here though b/c Summers generally aren't all that hot apparently, so I'll miss that. My job is going ok.... I just told them though that I am applying for another job b/c this one is only 5 hours a day, and they have told me that I'm not allowed to say anything, but they are looking at hiring me on for more hours, more money, and permanently instead of as a temp, so I'll get benefits! Not that we know for sure that we are staying here next year yet. Chad just got his letter from the school for his PhD this morning that he is accepted, so we can stay if we want, but Chad isn't sure it's worth all the money we are spending if we are just going to end up on the farm in the end any how. So we'll see.