Our Family Visits

At last! My family came on the 17th of October, and stayed on and off until the 29th, and we had such a wonderful time together. What joy it was to see them all again, and to really catch up in their lives. I'm so thankful for all moments we got to share together...to laugh together, to cry together....to pray together, and to sing together!
Picking up Andrew and Rebecca from the airport - the two cousins side by side.

Auntie Anne-Marie reading to Katelyn. I think that is one of her first books that has been really 'read' to her. :)

We spent one afternoon, having an absolute blast playing tag at the playground. We put down a few towels/washcloths, and could only step on those and the quipment. It was such fun. The monkey bars were the worst though...even Alisha didn't want to on them again. :)

Poor Charissa wasn't feeling the best, so she watched us go around and around the playground.

Us all at the playground.

Singing in Ottawa at the Metropolitan Church. I know this is out of order, but I can't quite get them all perfect. :)

The two cousins, on the floor, and holding hands during one of the concerts. :)

Alisha played the flute and sax on a couple songs with the family, as well as ran the sound system - doing an amazing job on it all!

The Fehr Family singing somewhere. :)

Breakiefast at the Windmill.

I got to sing a couple songs with each concert. I'd take Katelyn up with me for the "Keep on the Sunny Side" song... :) My family was so nice to let me back in the group, even it was only for temporary time. I guess, they didn't like my voice anymore, cause they left me in Ontario while they continued their tour. :) (which I'm glad of! :)

Sunday dinner at the Windmill.

While waiting for the church doors to be unlocked, the family started making music. :) Violin, mandolin and saxophone. :)

I love this picture of us two....

And I love this picture of us Three...

Waiting in solitude...

Our little church goer. Quaker like I'd say. :)

Singing in Waterford one night.

Mark climbed up on the lighthouse, to take this fun picture of us. :) We were in Port Dover, and it was absolutely freezing by the water!

Freezing by the water together.

We went bowling in Simcoe - and had the whole alley to ourselves. Hooray. :) Mom won of course, then Andrew.

Thing 1. Isn't Katelyn just too cute with hair. :)

Thing 2. (Karina)

Playing dutch blitz with the dutchies. :)

The brown girls. :) We just had to get a picture by the distinguished wooden door after the concert. Matchy matchy...

James and Mom... :) He gave her roses, and scored some more brownie points. :) I just love him!

The night before the family left left for Ottawa, James and I decided to go with them up there. So they took us along, even though it made for a full van ride. It was so nice though, and so special to tour the Parliament buildings for the first time together. This picture was taken at Mom's cousin, Brian, and his cheery wife, Diane's, place. They were super hospitable, and we had such a fun and enjoyable time with them. They blessed us with the most delectable meals.

All of us, except Charissa who took the group shot at Parliament. We were able to get in a tour which was special. The tour guide told us after the fact, that we weren't supposed to have strollers in the tour 'time'...that would explain why we climbed a bunch of stairs... :) It was fine though, and we discarded the strollers for the rest of the afternoon. :) Inside the rotunda.

We sang "O Canada" on the steps together - we hadn't sung that together for a very long time. So special.

Ta-ta-ta-da! Miss Alisha Roby. :)

Our little family.

Katelyn's first time at Parliament. She is our very own MP - "Most Precious" Child to us. :)

Us three sisters in front of the Parliament Buildings - how special it was to go there with them, and experience Canada's Capital together.

Back at Mount Pleasat: a darkish picture of Alisha's 22 birthday brunch,which dear Mom Heikoop made for us all. It was simply wonderful! Omelets, sausage gravy, toast, fruit, and much more.

For the first time ever, the Windmill had live music. :) James and Rob arranged to have these four talented people to play for the customers. It was absolutely gorgeous, and the people loved it. One person asked, "Do they do this every week?" -sorry...we can' just fly these wonderful people here every week! :) We went biking to Brantford, and took Daniel and Karina with us in the bike trailer. It was fun taking the bike trail by the river and back up again. I must confess though, I didn't bike the whole way home - mom and dad picked me up - :) My tires were going quite flat, and I was needing to attend to my daughter who was at the Windmill. :)

Alisha blowing her candles out. :) We made an ice-cream cake to celebrate - oh my, sigh, it was yummy. As you can see, the whipping cream is melting and falling down.

I had fun taking some pictures of a few people in the maple leaves outside. :) Here's two of my adorable people. :) Auntie Anne-Marie and Kate.

Elegant Mom. :)

The girls in their finery. Most of the group: we spent the last evening together playing volleyball at the gym at our church. Somehow the hats got started, and we had lots of fun looking adorable. :) Kind of reminds me of when James first came to Alberta - playing round the table while switching hats around and around.

The happy couple: Henry and Heather joined us for a bit towards the end of the evening.

Mark holding Daniel, and Heather.

Uncle Tim and Katelyn...just two days before his surgery. As everyone reading this blog probably knows by now...but just in case. Tim found out on the 22nd of October that he had something very wrong with him; at first the doctor thought it was a large brain tumor - which left us all, quite shaky - but later after a MRI, realized it was a brain cyst, with a lot of fluid. That would explain at long last, why he's had so many head/back/neck problems over the last few years, and especially over the summer, the pain, dizziness, black eye, nasuea etc. he's had. So, he had surgery on the 30th of October in London, ON. (one of the better brain surgerical teams around) The surgery went really well - from 8am, to 3:30 p.m. and they were quite confindant that they got all. The doctors think the cyst could have been there since birth. He is doing well as can be expected - in a lot of pain, starting to slowly walk again. He has some more problems, and will need a long time of rest...keep praying and thanks for praying...

So there ends "our family's visit". They left us on Thursday, a week ago, with a lot of tears shed. It was very hard to say goodbye to them once again, but you've heard all that before. :) Every time someone leaves here, yes, it's great to get back to normal, but it leaves an ache in my heart. But thankfully, there's always the phone, and now my family can talk to me with a straighter head as they now have a headset to use. :) So blessed by my family, both in Alberta and Ontario.