Hi everyone, this is Eden. First of all, living in a full sized house again is great! Lots of space, three showers, an upstairs that is higher than three steps and a washer and dryer. But it takes a lot more time to get around and there's a lot more space for mess! For this reason I prefer MY "step saver" kitchen. Wednesday and Thursday of this week were spent hand harvesting a fifteen acre orchard with our cousins. Naomi keeps saying that it was so fun and ...

Today the Smithlings and their Giesbrecht cousins began the daunting task of harvesting a small walnut orchard by hand. They get the profits but must divide it by all 8 of them: Esther and Levi, Amy, Kimberly and Clayton, Naomi, Eden and Eli. They worked very hard today and covered 8 of the 15 acres - but they have 33 rows and 857 trees to cover altogether. They are becoming quite the little farmers, even with a broken toe and crutches!

Welcome November, J Goodbye Grandpa and Grandma, L Hello broken toe... L We took Grandpa and Grandma to the airport this morning and said our sad goodbyes.We will miss them both very much and their "stabilizing" effect on us! From the airport, we went to Immediate Care with Eli's broken toe.While playing soccer he accidentally landed on his big toe in some outlandish would-be-ballerina toe step, with a hook and a twist!? As he can be a bit of a Drama Q...

The world is getting smaller by the day. Just when you think you're somewhere where no one knows you, you find someone who knows someone you know...It's as though Destiny Himself enjoys the surprise as much as us.In a crowd of over 1000 people we sat right next to some other Canadians whom I'm sure thought they were somewhere where no one knew them. It's such fun meeting people like that. Bruce Taylor and Jerry Weekes are two new friends who live in Trail and Sal...

We have had a lovely week with Dad and Mum visiting old and new family and old and new friends! Dad and Bob Holdstock hadn't seen each other since their grandmother's funeral back in England 50 years ago (they have some catching up to do!). And "old friends" included Asher and Suzanne Motola who have been attached to our lives both on the Smith side and the Holdstock side for many years. It is odd how the world keeps shrinking. In Fort St. John in ...