I had a very long post written and LOST IT! Maybe that is why I wait for months between posts, I’m just not that good at it!! I will begin again and try to remember everything I had written.
It’s been a busy summer. As I have posted, the June 12 fundraiser was a great success. I’m afraid however that I was a little like a bride on her wedding day … I had a great time but remember virtually nothing! I think I was in a total daze all evening. I obviously had no idea of how exhausted and run down I had become during the preparation but it all hit me in the week or two following! I could easily have slept for a week but the kids still had school and life continue on and I with it!
The kids finished up the school year and summer officially began. We had a busy fun summer. One weekend in early July was spent camping in Red Deer so that Matt and I could attend the Canadian Gospel Music Celebration with my parents. That’s always the highlight of the summer for me! For the last two weeks of July we pulled the trailer down to Southern Alberta.
We camped at Beauvais Lake for 10 days. Didsbury friends joined us for the first few days and we had a good time showing them our “old stomping grounds”. We took them to the Great Canadian Barn Dance, Waterton and Thunder in the Valley, a fireworks show in the Crowsnest Pass. Later in the week my friend Shelley came from her Waterton campsite to spend the day with us. She’s a wonderful wildlife photographer and we enjoyed taking her out in the fishing boat to photograph the birds at the far end of the lake. Another afternoon, our friends Stan and Lois from Lethbridge came out to do some fishing and have a BBQ.
For the last week of July, we moved the trailer to Lundreck Falls where Ben spent the last week of holidays while Matt attended camp at Southern Alberta Bible Camp and Dawsyn and I hung out with friends in Lethbridge. It was so good to spend time with my Aunties Irene and Ruth and with friends Glenda, Lois, Carolyn, Shelley and Pam. There were many more that I missed. There is just never quite enough time!
Camp ended the evening of July 30 and we returned to Didsbury to meet my sister, Shauna, and two of her children who had come for a short visit. We returned the favor a couple of weeks later when the kids and I drove to her place in Grenfell, SK, for a week on the farm.
When we weren’t on the road, we stayed very busy at home. Dawsyn worked hard on all her skills, physical and academic, with Emily. We are so fortunate to have Emily working with Dawsyn for the past two summers. She’s been such a blessing, not only to Dawsyn, but to the whole family. I would quite like to adopt her but her own family will have none of it!! Besides, she’s 18 years old now and off to college. Although she’s only in Red Deer, I will miss her very much.
School started on September 3 and the kids were very happy to go back … not as happy as their mother, but happy nonetheless! Matt is in Grade 7 this year and has officially moved to the high school. I can hardly believe it! He is bemoaning the loss of recesses but thinks he will enjoy the high school experience. I think he may be surprised at how much harder he has to work to keep his grades up.
Dawsyn is in Grade 3 and has a very good teacher. She also has the same two Educational Aides as she did last year. They have a good system in place and she learns well under their direction. We are very pleased with the progress she made over the last term of school and over the summer. Although there is a long road ahead, we keep working towards catching up to her peers in social behavior and academics.
There has not been a lot of news on the dog front. We submitted our monies and know that the dog is in training. We have to complete a video introducing our family and showing some of Dawsyn’s behaviors that the dog will have to be prepared for. Unfortunately, it is difficult to catch those moments on video because we’re too busy DEALING with them! However, we are slowly capturing what needs to be conveyed. Ben is working on editing the clips together and we will mail it to 4 Paws by the end of this month. We also have to send them an unwashed article of Dawsyn’s clothing so that the dog can learn her scent and be trained to track her when she runs away. We certainly could have used that skill a few times this summer!
We have been scheduled into the April/May training class. We will travel to Xenia, Ohio, for two weeks of training prior to bringing our new member of the family home. April still seems a long way away but I think the time will fly. We can hardly wait!
At http://www.4pawsdogs.org/in_training.htm you can see some of the dogs currently in training. We think that one of the Standard Poodles or poodle crosses is probably our dog! We particularly like Knobby, Frodo and Murdock. Guess we'll find out soon enough!
