Canada, eh?

   Look who's finally getting around to posting about a mission trip to Canada that took place a very long time ago?  Better late than never.  Isn't it beautiful though?  That's a view of Thunder Bay from Mt. McKay.  

But before reaching that view, there was a whole lotta this involved:

 We crammed into a bus and a couple minivans and made the long (30+ hr one-way) trek from Oregon to Thunder Bay Canada.  I would be lying to say my girls were perfect (one was actually teething, so she gets a free pass for that one)  and I would be lying to say it "flew by" or was super easy.....but all in all I am glad we went! :)

   These two very special girlies, (Anna Funk and Charlotte Smucker) share a birthday and that special day happened on our trip.  Here they are in all their glory:

 I would tell you which boy is which, but to be honest I have no idea.  I am still horribly awful at telling these guys apart!  Supposedly, Jocelyn already can.  But I choose to think she's just gotten lucky on a couple of guesses.

In case you didn't know, these are Brandon & Cindy's twins, our Associate Pastor and his wife, and they accompanied us on the mission trip.

   This is Sondra, the mastermind behind the cupcake creation.  Not only is she good at baking, but she is a prayer warrior, servant-at-heart and just in general a very warm and welcoming person to be around.  Ken and Sondra Funk (Brandon's parents) are missionaries there in Thunder Bay, and we were doing some work projects around their church, New Hope.

    This was one of our evenings "off" after a day of hard work painting, putting in new windows, serving at the homeless shelter and other various projects.  We went to the park and the kids threw a football around and we all just relaxed for a bit. 

    We had such a fantastic group of youth.  The trip was a lot of hours on the road and in a motel and lots and lots of hard work, but they were such troopers and I never heard a complaint.  It was so good to get to know them individually a little bit better.  Parents, you all raised wonderful young people and I am excited to see what God has in store for them all!

  It wasn't all work and no play though, because on the way home we spent a day at both a theme park and the Mall of America before heading home.

    And proof that social media is a beautiful thing....I was sharing pictures of the theme park on Instagram when I received a message from a high school friend who said she was in the area and could meet with me!  Unbelievable.  And that's how Instagram allowed me to meet up with one of my closest friends from high school, Anna Liggett, in the Mall of America.  Crazy times, crazy internet world.

And because one napping girl is already up and the other probably soon will be, that is the briefest-of-brief, update of our trip to Canada.