OUR NEW HOME: THE STOVELL FAMILY IN HAMILTON (AND HOW THEY GOT THERE!)

This blog promises to be full of stories and pictures from our recent cross Canada trip.

FROM VANCOUVER TO CALGARY

Jon, Elena, and I left Vancouver on June 30 and travelled across BC and into Calgary, AB on our first day. We spent Canada weekend with our friends the Kern Family.

Elena enjoys seeing the mountains in Banff.
Wow, Daddy, those mountains are really tall!!
While in Calgary, the people at the table next to us at a family restaurant we were eating at decided to win Elena a stuffed bull "just because she is SO CUTE!" (they said). Here she is playing with her bull and eating lunch.
Here are part of the lovely Kern family who we visited for two days.
This was a common sight looking in our backseat. Elena loved her new carseat and slept fantastically (and she was so adorable!)
This was also a common sight: Our Happy Elena!
Elena had a great time playing with her Uncle Kevin. Kev is a friend that Jon and I made while at Regent. He now lives in Calgary where we visited him. Kev has been like a big brother to me.
After a while, Elena decided she had this whole driving thing figured out and she should take a shift! : )

ACROSS THE PRAIRIES

All of us really enjoyed our time in Saskatchewan. Here Jon and Elena take in the beautiful view from our campsite.
We were struck by the beauty of the expansive sky in the Prairies. In Saskatchewan, we had an adventure. When we went to set up camp at 9pm at night, we realized that we left our tent poles in Vancouver so we decided to sleep under the stars. That was just fine until around 3am when a storm blew in and almost drenched us. We took down camp quickly and decided to start our drive to Manitoba early.
We were one of the only cars on that Saskatchewan road at 4am! But, WHAT A SUNRISE!!
In Manitoba, the park we camped in had a beach right beside it so our little monkey Elena had fun learning about sand.
One morning Elena decided she wanted to sleep in and snuggle with her daddy. Jon was so happy that "it was her idea!"

NORTHERN ONTARIO

Travelling into Northern Ontario, Jon realized that we would be driving past his godmother's house in Sioux Lookout, ON. Jon hadn't seen Harriet since he was little. It was such a gift to be able to spend time with her and her family. Here Harriet holds Elena on her deck.
As we continued along our way in Northern Ontario, we found a beautiful little rest stop with rapids.At first Elena was afraid of the rapids, but after Mommy and Daddy showed her it was okay, she had fun splashing in them.

SOUTHERN ONTARIO (AKA VISITING WITH FAMILY)

As part of our trip into Southern Ontario, we took a chance to see the places that Jon grew up. Here Jon and Elena spend time at Boiler Beach in Kincardine, ON.When we visited another hometown of Jon's, Paisley, there happened to be a tornado storm that ripped through nearby and we caught some pictures along the way.
While in Kincardine, we stayed with friends of Jon's mom, Josie and Bill.
Jon's brother, David Noah and his girlfriend Chrissy were nice enough to let us stay with them at their new house in Welland, ON while we apartment hunted and visited family in Hamilton. Elena really loves her Uncle Dave!
Elena also loved spending time with her Aunt Chrissy.
Jon's Dad (Dave, AKA Grandpa) was very excited to see his little granddaughter and she was SO happy to spend time with him!
Jon's StepMom (Ovelina, AKA Grandma) loved playing with Elena and making her giggle and laugh.
Elena even got to see her GREAT Grandma Beulah!Elena also got to visit her GREAT Grandpa Bruce...
and her GREAT Grandma Gwen (Jon's maternal grandparents). We are so excited that we will be living so close to so much family!

VISITING NEW BRUNSWICK (AKA VISITING FAMILY)

From Ontario we travelled to New Brunswick to visit Jon's mom and brothers. Elena had fun learning how to swim (which for Elena meant splashing her arms and legs around and putting her head under water.) Elena had fun with her Uncle Zac.
Elena and her Gram (Jon's mom Debbie) had tons of fun swimming and playing together.
Elena was our Hawaiian bathing beauty with a flower behind her ear.
Elena's Uncle Nathan spent lots of time looking after her. Thanks, Nate!

COMING BACK TO HAMILTON

After our trip to New Brunswick, we returned to Ontario in time to visit the Stovell Family Reunion in Northern Ontario. We will add pictures of that event later (we haven't processed them yet). Then we spent a few days with Jon's step sister Crystal and her fiance Dave. On August 15, after a month and a half of travelling we finally moved into our new apartment in Hamilton. School starts in a few weeks as well as our new jobs. We have had a wonderful summer visiting with so many friends and so much family. We LOVE Y'ALL!! Thank you to everyone who provided us with a place to stay. We are very grateful!

We are looking forward to this new adventure here in Hamilton, but a little nervous as well. We will keep you updated as this adventure unfolds.

The Big Move Is HERE!

Howdy, everyone! Well, the big move is finally upon us. Jon, Elena, and I will be travelling in our car across Canada from Vancouver to Ontario and then on to New Brunswick and back to Ontario. Tomorrow the moving truck is coming to move our stuff and today is CRAZY move day! We are working hard to pack everything in time and Elena is working hard playing with every box and piece of tape and cord that she can (when we aren't looking of course!)

Just to let you know, this website will continue to exist while we are away, but our photo gallery and Beth's Blog will not be available for about a month as we get settled in our new place.

We love you all and promise that we will post lots of wonderful pictures of our trip in about a month or so and let you know how it went.

Love,
Beth, Jon, and Elena

BEACH FUN, OUR ANNIVERSARY, AND THE BIG MOVE!!


Elena has been having a blast playing on floors these days since she has learned how to crawl backwards and is on her way to crawling forwards. Right now she does this thing that looks like she is doing a full body push-up and then lunges forward. It's amazing how far she can go! Elena with her shirt on her head looking very proud!

OUR ANNIVERSARY!

Jon and I celebrated 3 happy years of marriage on May 30! We celebrated the occasion by taking Elena to experience her first day at the beach, at the beach where Jon and I first decided to date one another. Then Jon and I spent the evening dining at one of our favorite restaurants, Banana Leaf, a Malaysian food place. After dinner Jon took me to Fisherman's Wharf to look at the boats and see the beautiful skyline at sunset.
Jon and I at Fisherman's Wharf.
Elena, the bathing beauty, and her first experience of sand!
Elena and her daddy explore the water and mud.
Elena poses with her mommy.

It turns out Elena's eyes have turned my colour and are now a grey-blue with a brown center just like Mommy!
Elena makes a grab for the camera!
Jon and I spent part of last Sunday at a birthday party for one of our church friends and someone took this great picture of all three of us together (a rarity). It was a Greek restaurant and Elena experienced her first pita bread and her first taste of spanikopita. She LOVED IT!! Our friend Amber noted that Elena was all dressed in purple...she was a purple pita eater...hehe!

ELENA AND THE BOXES

Elena has been having lots of fun with all the boxes everywhere around our apartment since our moving day is quickly approaching. Jon and I decided if Elena liked boxes so much we would put her in one...here were the results.

"Playing in a BOX!" says Elena.
"Wow, this is fun!"
"Hmm, Daddy is closing the box...""Okay, I'll just stay in here, Dad..."
"Whoa, now where is Daddy taking me?"
"Daddy, are you sure this is how I should go to Ontario?""Um, can I come out now?"


Moving day is June 29th and we are mostly packed. We are tearfully saying goodbye to life in Vancouver and starting over anew with joy in Ontario. Jon was offered a job this week as a teaching assistant for the professor of theology at MacDiv and Jon very happily accepted. Jon will be teaching on subjects that interest him, grading, and assisting the running of the courses. Jon couldn't be happier about it.

The Newest News (and Some of the Old Stuff : ) )


ELENA UPDATE

Elena gives big smiles to everyone! If her lip looks shiny, its because she is drooling preparing to get TWO TEETH!! The second one popped through this week! We had a fun time at the beginning of April celebrating Easter with Elena.

We also introduced Elena to solid foods. So far she has eaten rice cereal, potatoes, sweet potatoes, avocadoes, queso (a hot cheese dip used with tortilla chips common in Texas), and most recently smushed green beans and brown rice organic baby food. Here are pictures from Elena's first bites ever!



Also on the Elena front, Elena is now sleeping in her own bed and sleeping through the night!!! Her very sleep-deprived parents breathe a loud sigh of relief (and sleep very hardily!) I'd show a picture, but I think a picture of her sleeping might wake her up : )

JON'S TRIP TO NB

In April, Jon went to visit his mom in New Brunswick to celebrate her 50th birthday. Great joy was had by all, but Jon did feel a bit homesick for his wife and lil girl! The theme of Jon's mom's b-day party was 1957 and everyone dressed the part. Jon wore a 50s style suit-vest.

Jon's mom was trailer trash from the 1950s. She put curlers in her hair, wore bright makeup, had a glass of liquor in one hand and a cigarette in the other, and she kissed all the men at the party wearing bright pink lipstick! She was the star of the party (as she should be for her b-day!). Here she is with Jon and his brother David Noah.Jon's brothers played the part as well. Here are David, Nathan, and Zac.
Here is Jon's mom, Debbie, with several of her friends.
This is Chrissy, David's girlfriend. This was the first time Jon got to meet Chrissy. Here she is dressed in her 50s outfit (not her normal fare).
Here are David and Chrissy, posing together.

BETH AND ELENA'S TRIP TO TEXAS

While Jon was in NB, I (Beth) was visiting my family and friends in Texas showing off Elena to everyone. Elena and I were in Austin, TX for 9 days, but it felt like much longer because of the whirlwind of visitors. We arrived on Tuesday after a surprisingly successful plane flight. (Flying alone with a 5 month old is NOT easy! But God really blessed me with patience and blessed Elena with lots of sleep!) On our first full day in Texas, my paternal grandfather Joel Moskowitz and my Aunt Janie (my dad's sister) and Uncle Harold Babitch came down from Plano to visit for two days. This was particularly special because none of them had seen Elena yet and I hadn't seen my grandpa since I was 11 or so. The last time I saw my aunt and uncle I had only been dating Jon for two weeks and they visited Vancouver. They met Jon at the time and really liked him. They joke that they had to approve him before I could marry him : )
Uncle Harold watching Elena show off rolling around:
Aunt Janie holding lil Elena:Grandpa Joel and Elena had a real rapport. She loves her Great Grandpa!


After my dad's family left, my best friend Heather and her husband Tim and two year old son Hunter came to stay with us for the weekend. On Saturday night, I threw a big party at my parents' house for my group of closest girlfriends and their families. Our group of friends have been close since high school and some of us since junior high. We used to meet as a discipleship group every week, praying and hanging out together. Through my university years, we continued to remain close and even since life has taken all of us in different directions, we still make a point of seeing each other whenever we can. Out of the 8 of us ladies, 5 of us have gotten married, and all 5 married ladies also now have kids. Our current kid total is 7, but two of the girls are currently pregnant (Heather and Natalie) and by this fall, there will be 9 kids. Our ladies will be outnumbered by our kids! The party Saturday night was a big success. All except one of my dear friends came with their kids and two brought their husbands as well. We managed to snap a picture of most of us (Elena was sleeping.)In the front row is deb coleman, Keri Giambrone, Natalie Little and her son Timothy, Rachel Bickford and her son Luke,and Rachel's husband John holding their daughter Sarah. In the back row is Tim Morgan (Heather's hubby) with their son Hunter, Heather, Lorna Hunt, and me.

The following day, Sunday, Natalie had a party celebrating her son Timothy's 2nd birthday. All the ladies came except deb and we all had a great time. It was Elena's first kid party and she had a lot of fun watching the other kids. In the picture is me and Elena, Keri holding Rachel's son Luke, Heather, Lorna, Natalie holding her son Timothy, Angela, and Rachel. Angela brought her daughter Michaela to the party (her daughter Emily had school the next day so she stayed in Houston).

Here is Michaela being silly. She's so cute!

I can't tell you what joy it was to see my family and friends again and to introduce them to Elena! There were so many beautiful moments that I could write many pages in the blog. For example, most nights Elena would show off for my parents and roll all the way across the living room on a big comforter, laughing and smiling. My parents had such joy in spending time with their granddaughter.
Grandmama Mary Louise (my mom) with her little granddaughter.
Grandpa Steve (my dad) and Elena in her cute sailor's dress.

On Monday, I spent some time with my best friend Rachel at her house in Kyle. Rach's son is only a few months older than Elena and they had a lot of fun playing together, along with Rach's older daughter Sarah who is 3.


Also on Monday, my Auntie Beth (my mom's sister) and Uncle Jack came over for dinner and got to visit with Elena. On Tuesday, my Uncle Bill (my mom's brother) and my Cousin Cindy (Auntie Beth and Uncle Jack's daughter) went to dinner with my mom, me, and Elena to one of my favorite restaurants, Bamboo Gardens. My family has been visiting Bamboo Gardens since I was a very little kid. We know the owner and all the people who work there very personally. My Cousin Cindy brought her two kids, Brianna and Justin. We had a lot of fun! When we returned home to my parents' house, the kids asked me to read them a story so we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar together.
My Auntie Beth hugging Elena.
My Cousin Cindy with her two kids, Brianna and Justin.
My Uncle Bill with Elena in her car seat.

Elena and I flew back on Wednesday with joy and sadness. I was so happy that my parents made our trip to Texas happen and were so kind to share us with so many people. It was a truly blessed time!

POST TRIPS

After returning from our trips, Jon and I rejoiced at getting to see one another again. We really missed each other, while loving our time with family. Unfortunately, I must have caught a bug on the plane because our whole family very quickly came down with the flu and were sick for several days. In the midst of this flu, I preached at church. Man, was I exhausted! Shortly after our sickness, Jon graduated from Regent College with his Master of Christian Studies degree. We were SOOO proud of him! We also found out this week that Vineyard International Publishing wants to publish Jon's thesis and make his thesis into a course for the Vineyard Bible Institute. This is FANTASTIC news!! We couldn't be happier!


We are very excited about our upcoming move to Ontario. We are counting down with less than two months to go! Then we will be doing a cross Canada drive to move our car to Ontario (as well as ourselves). We are so happy that we got to spend time with family and friends and look forward to spending time with more family soon.