On our way to Guelph.

Well I had posted about our recent camping trip in the pop-up camper but for some inexplicable reason it's been deleted...who knows...must be a conspiracy somewhere.
[Please note...now it's back again...now I just sound paranoid. The following is what I'd posted while thinking the camping post was deleted. Anyway...if you are able to follow that then you're doing better than I]
So I'll re-post the pictures but the 15 minutes I have before our plane departs for Ontario won't be enough to re-craft the previous brilliance and mastery of language (assume lots of sarcasm there).

Let's go camping.

Breakfast in the camper

We had this week off, before going to MAF, so when the forecast showed +20°C temps for the next few days I hooked up the pop-up camper (photo) and we were off. The first camping trip of 2011! It wasn't a long way away, it wasn't a really picturesque campsite but it was open before the May long weekend so we took it. And to be honest...it was perfect.

Moving on...

This weekend signified the end of our run at Prairie. In just under a week, we travel to Guelph, Ontario, to attend the candidate orientation for Mission Aviation Fellowship Canada. It has been 6 years getting to this point and it feels great to be here, looking forward with a healthy mix of excitement, anticipation and a dash of nervousness.

Looking back at my time at Prairie I can think of two things, among many, which I will carry forward with me. First is a sense of community and the importance of building it around oneself. The community which I found at the airport, both as a student and as a staff member, was instrumental in the growth I've experienced during this season. Merilee would attest that the community of young moms in Three Hills has been equally sustaining for her. I only have to look back to times in my life where I didn't actively search out community and I see the negative results of that passivity.

The second nugget that we will carry forward with us into service with MAF is that the notion that being content is an active decision and not a passive result of a situation. Contentedness is the make or break aspect of any situation and realizing that it is a choice made before ever entering the situation will help to sustain us in any situation. As fundamental as the vows made at our wedding are to our longevity, so the decision to be content in any situation is to the resiliency of our character and witness in the midst of anything life throws our way.