Here's a picture of our living-dolly at "the lake" on the weekend (after she washed the dishes even!)
Les & I were talking last night about what a great place Saskatoon is to live. You read so many things these days about how much more there is to do in larger centres, but we really feel blessed to call Saskatoon our home...and really, if you are creative, there is no shortage of things to do here.
Certainly, for Amanda, living in Saskatoon means there are more things she CAN do. If Les & I had chosen to make our home in Vancouver, there are many opportunities that Amanda would not have. We live in a nice house in a good neighbourhood that is affordable...in B.C. the words affordable and housing do not go together. And by virtue of where we live, Amanda is in walking distance of a good school where she's made wonderful friends that she can play with outside of school. She can also play down the block, go out and ride her bike around our crescent, and the little girl down the street (Miss Britney) is always knocking on the door to see if Amanda can come out and play. This is quite a contrast to Vancouver where you can't let you child walk to school and the teacher releases the children each day directly to their parents only. In grade one in Surrey, Amanda was in a class where she was the only caucasian girl, and the other parents wouldn't let their children play with her outside of school because of that. In Vancouver, there is no chance that you can let your 9 year old out to ride a bike around the crescent or to walk three doors down the block to play on a neighbour's front lawn.
I see how Amanda is flourishing here, and I feel very blessed indeed. She came here as a very shy girl to the outside world, and I have seen her open up so much. I see her get to try new things and imagine and play to her heart's content. When she grows up she wants to be a teacher, and I really think that growing up in Saskatchewan will be a great advantage for her in that because of all the carefree experiences she will have. She's not as shy as she used to be, and I just think that growing up in this environment will provide her with even more in terms of experiences that will mean alot for her as a teacher (perhaps even more than a university education can provide).
Growing up here, I had those experiences. I never knew anything different, so I guess I took them for granted.
This week Amanda is off at Vacation Bible School (VBS) in the mornings (Son Games)...together with her bossom-buddy from school, Brianna, and they are loving it! God sure knows what He's doing! Right from the moment Amanda moved here, He has placed such wonderful girls around her to be her friends. I couldn't ask for better friends for her! Brianna is actually older than Amanda, but they connected because Amanda ended up in a gr.3/4 split this year. VBS is at Brianna's church, and Brianna's mom is helping me out this week by having Amanda over to their house after VBS each morning. She's a wonderful woman who is always so encouraging to me...which is yet another way that God is blessing us these days!
"Know that the Lord is GOD. It is He who made us, and we are His. We are His people."
Ps 100:3 (Today's VBS memory verse:)
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