Since my last post, the weather has gotten colder, but so many warm memories have been made! Firstly, Kristin and family moved temporarily to Illinois for a few weeks for a hospital rotation, and Andee and I were able to see them a couple times while they were here! It was really nice to see one of my first Kititian/American friends back in the US! It was much to cold to do our usual hang outs at the beach, but we made the most of the frigid weather and had fun anyways! So great to see you Kristin!
Andee and I were also able to see our Kititian/Canadian friends before the Holidays, enjoying some fun winter festivities complete with crafts, cookies, Santa, and even a Horse drawn carriage! A very cold but enjoyable winter day!
Christmas time at Harvest was also in full swing, and although we headed north for the holidays, we were able to attend a couple Christmas events! Beautiful Christmas trees!
Upon hearing the news of the looming ice storm heading for the Toronto area, Andee and I decided to leave a day early to avoid the slippery conditions. We headed home on Friday, and managed to have only a short delay and no issues at the boarder! For those of you that know the story, we Praised the Lord for this all the way home!! When we arrived back home in the evening a day early, we tried to surprise my Mom. However, I had apparently already given it away during our skype conversation the day before, proving that I am indeed a terrible liar. I suppose that is a good thing! We arrived only a few hours before the rain started to freeze, which we were so thankful for! We had no idea we were in for such a crazy storm that night!
We noticed that we had lost power for several hours during the night, but when the power was back on come the morning, I assumed that was the worst of it. I was wrong! I learned quite quickly the huge blessing it was to have power that morning, as hundreds of thousands of homes in the Toronto area were without power that day. What had happened was that temperature was hovering right around freezing, making it perfect conditions for rain, freezing rain, and a wintery mix for the entire night. When we looked out the window the next morning, all of the trees were covered in a thick layer of ice, and countless trees had snapped under the weight of all the ice - some splitting right down the middle! Trees that were close to power lines were bringing the lines down with them, and so causing power outages all over the place! The damage was so bad in Toronto that the working crews were not able to attend to suburban areas until the major intersections and roads were cleared. This led to days and days of traffic lights out, homes, and lots of stores and restaurants in the area. Even the ones that still had power were often without phone and debit/credit machines, and so were down to cash only - right before Christmas!! Our Auntie Anne, who lives under 10 minutes from my parents, were in the dark for 6 days, and Christmas had to be moved to our Aunt Nancy's house who had power! Even when we were leaving Canada over a week later, many were still without power! So crazy! I have never seen anything like that before! We were so thankful to have power during the whole thing, and I was still able to work my 3 scheduled Dental Hygiene shifts, as these offices were not without power! At least the trees looked beautiful!! We caught them on camera!!
There were many Christmas shenanigans at Nancy's house, Andee's parents house, my parents house, and April and Darryl's house! We enjoyed the delicious food (including Auntie Anne's delicious selection of Christmas cookies and Grandma's delectable date squares!), and the wonderful company of all our family and friends. The week was packed full of fun parties and dinners, and we received some great gifts too!
We had such a wonderful week with our families, and we are so thankful that they will always have us back to sleep over, for however long we need to! With our forced last-minute planning that medical school creates, we are so blessed to have families and friends that will always be there to take us in, and help us out when we need it. With the Lord God always on our side, and our loving families always around, we really are so very blessed!
Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!!
