The Now

If you’ve been following our story you’ll have shared in the many laughs, tears, experiences, miles, and motorhomes that have accompanied us the past several months. I thought it would be helpful to add this page to keep you all informed of ‘The Now’. I’ll update it if/when major changes of place, vocation, belief, or role come about.

And now?

Summer 2013
Sometimes ‘the now’ moves faster than my fingers. I’m laughing at how to sum up where our rhythm now holds us….
There are not three wilding boys in our home. They are gorgeous and hilarious and tough. They daily reveal to me my need for The God. Jeremy has a permanent placement as an EMT in our home station, while working on his final year of studies as Paramedic. He remains THE most diligent person in my life. He is a gift of Breath and Truth to me. And me? I’m studying (of course!) towards midwifery! While not accepted into the program (yet!) I am working away on the courses and waiting for them to see that yes, I will be a midwife. Within all that, we have moved into a crazy project of a house, love our small-town community, share some Sundays with the most fantastically small and honest congregation, drink lots of wine, eat great food, and sleep even less than before. Our life is RICH. It’s a good Good life. I am so blessed.

 

Autumn 2012

Autumn 2011
We’re settling into this prairie town and home and life. After months of waiting, Jeremy found a decent company working as an industrial medic up north on the rigs. He’s gone for about three weeks at a time, then home for one. This is going to be life as we know it until he can find a suitable position at a station where he can practice more as a ‘real’ EMT and look towards moving onto to the final stage of medic. I’m wrangling the boys and looking forward to the arrival of our next son in the early days of February. The days are long and busy and a little (a lot!) crazy, but we’re figuring it out. I still can’t believe we’re back in Three Hills, but it really is such a great place to raise kids, to share life with other women, and to rest. Looking forward to a cozy winter.

June 2011
WOW. Intense winter. Learned much about living in community. Didn’t quite make it to August 😉 Back in Three Hills AB, the town where we began. Weird!!! We didn’t expect to be back here. Ever. Then again, we didn’t expect most of the experiences of the past three years. Interesting 😉 Jeremy is completing practicum and applying for work as an EMT throughout the province. I’m finding my prairie-town groove. The boys are settling in. We’re living in our own home, working on bits of stuff here and there, and hoping to get some backyard chickens. A whole new season.

Our gang. Summer 2011

December 2010
We left the ranch December 1st and drove through snowy mountain roads all the way to Edmonton. Jeremy begins EMT studies at ESA (Sherwood Park, AB) in the New Year. We’re homesharing in my brother’s house (and his lovely family including wife and three girls), likely until August when they’ll head to the Dominican Republic and we’ll move into EMT service…somewhere. Total isolation in a huge beautiful cabin in the middle of nowhere, to a shared home of nine people in a winter-locked city…wowzers! 😉

(summer 2010)
While we had hoped to root into this beautiful ranch for several years, we were recently notified that our term here has come to an end. We love our home, our work, the opportunities, and the beautifully integrated lifestyle we’ve experienced on this mountain, but ‘to every thing there is a season’, right? (Maybe we should have chosen a different motto for our marriage! 😉 ) It looks like we’ll be packing up in the early winter, likely by December 1st. In the meantime, we want to conclude this pregnancy with strength, bring our new son home with health, collect our thoughts and visions, pray through the unexpected, and center our hearts to move ahead with grace. The best is yet to come!

As for today (summer 2009):
Jeremy and I share a fulltime caretaking position on a beautiful mountain ranch in British Columbia Canada. With respect to the owner’s privacy and the security of the property, I won’t share the physical address or proper name. For now, let’s refer to the ranch as Windy Hills, our cabin as Augusta, the owners as Mr and Mrs Boss, and us, well, you know us already 😉
The ranch is gorgeous and sprawling and filled with every possible type of beauty and recreations. Recreational machines, horses, lakes, fishing, hiking, and pine-studded mountains allow tons of outdoor fun and breath-taking scenery. While guests are constantly visiting from ‘The Big City’, we live here fulltime and LOVE those days of quiet that crop up from time to time. It’s a simply amazing life.

The cabin?
Augusta per Angusta, To High Places by Narrow Roads. This is our little haven where we tuck away and live as a family. This is where we read, craft, write, rest, and cook. The logs were cut and milled right from this forest and our neighbour crafted it by hand. It’s gorgeous and we have space for you to come visit.

kayaking, my favorite get-away

So…what do we DO out there???
It’s funny to me how most of the guests envision us spending our days lolling on the dock or cozied by the fire. While that would be fantastic, we do have loads of responsibilities and tasks to attend to.
Deanna: My day begins with Baby J, then barn chores (mucking the barnyard, tossing bales, chasing The Five, hauling water, and ensuring that all things ‘Barn’ are in order. This takes one or two hours every morning and explains my manly biceps as well as the unique scent on my boots. From there, it’s back to the house where I feed the boys 2^nd Breakfast, think about showering, tidy everything up, and kiss the man goodbye. During the day I’ll add in more work with the horses, gardening, meal planning, writing, and cleaning the Big House.
J: Depending on the level of snow, guests, construction, etc., he begins with coffee and goes from there. Moving to the shop, machines, town, or Project of the Day, he generally float around the property in butt-framing Carhardt overalls and tool belt. Good man! 😉 He’s in charge of maintaining pretty much everything; machines, boats, fences, generators, etc. If it goes wrong it’s his, um, hat, on the line. He’s fairly handy and presents a mix of electrical, drywall, machine, and housing trades.

littlest bronc summer 2009

And when the list is complete: There are moments in the week when the list is done and we can, in good conscience, just be. In those moments if either tuck into a writing project, sleep, bake, or concoct something tasty. Jer’ settles in with some kind of history book, video game (yup), coffee roasting, or baseball moment. Together, we also like to run off on the quads, boats, or horses (with the kiddo), read aloud, hike, or listen to academic lectures (highly recommend Peter Kreeft), generally with fresh GreenValley coffee or a nice glass of red.

This is where we are today. Working, living, learning. It’s wonderful and tough and the best place for us to be in this season.

Spring 2009
GreenValley Coffee. Business. Living. Camping. Wow.

presenting GreenValley at a tradeshow

awaiting the press (we got the front page– cool!)