One Year



So what do I say? Three years ago I wrote about The Plan and how it hadn't turned out. Two years ago, Claudio quit his job as youth pastor and went back to painting full-time. Although we both agreed that this was the right move for us at that time and it was technically a return to The Plan, a better financial situation and potentially the ability for me to be a stay-at-home Mom, somehow it didn't really seem to fit. One year ago today, we drove off the ferry onto this island that has now become our home. Oh how The Plan had changed!

The truth is, when we came to Victoria, I was nervous. Although I saw this move as potentially good for our family and for Claudio, I wasn't sure it would be that great for me. We had sold our house in Calgary but hadn't been able to find one to buy on an earlier trip out to the Island. We were headed to our short-term rental suite that, although we'd had Claudio's boss check out, we hadn't even seen pictures of! There was a province wide teacher's strike going on and it looked like it was going to drag on for quite a while. We had no family on the island and knew no one except Claudio's boss at YFC. All of this was disconcerting to me but my main worry was community. I was concerned about Claudio and me fitting into a new church, Lemon Boy having to switch schools, that him and Googa would have to make new friends and in all honesty, I was worried about me and whether or not I was going to make new friends!


My best friend, always

To say that everything worked out would be an extreme understatement! Our rental unit was perfect for the time we stayed and the connections we made with neighbours there gave our boys their first friends and have helped Claudio make connections into schools that we thought would take months. The teacher's strike lasted just long enough that the day the offer was accepted on our new home (Wednesday) we registered Lemon Boy at the right school and the following Monday school started, which meant he didn't have to switch schools more than once.

 

The boys have adjusted remarkably well. Although they occasionally mention their friends and cousins back home both boys have made good friends here. Lemon Boy had an amazing teacher for grade 2 and Googa has been waiting for Kindergarten to start since March!

 

Our house is everything we could have asked for. Although it is smaller than our place in Calgary the location more than makes up for the slightly less space! We are across the street from Royal Roads Forest and our home backs onto the school yard. Lemon Boy hopped the fence to get to school all last year and I could see him go in the doors from the back window. We have great neighbours and a very quiet street.

 

The church here has wrapped their arms around us and made us feel like we like we belong here.

 

As for community, well the friendships I've made here have been amazing. Seriously, I wouldn't even have believed it had it not actually happened to me. I posted yesterday on Facebook about how it had been a year since we moved here and one friend summed it up perfectly "So hard to believe I only met you a year ago. It seems that our hearts have been friends for way longer than that!"

 

To say that I am blessed sounds so cliché but there is truly no other way to describe it. Despite my complaining, whining and unbelief, God worked in my life and changed things in a way I never could have imagined or would have done on my own.

 

All this to say, we love living here! There are a few downsides, the spiders are big and plentiful and if you google silver fish and firebrat you'll probably feel a few shivers go down your spine but all in all, this beautiful island has come to feel like home.