Happy Anniversary - 3 Years!!

♪♫  Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversary, Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaappy Anniversary!!! ♫♪

Three years!!  Plus of course the almost 5 years we dated, almost 8 years together?!?  I feel like I barely remember anything different!  My heart is filled with joy at the notion of our Father God blessing us with getting to share our lives together every day!  We are not meant to live life alone, and our God is faithful and has allowed for the wonderful union of marriage to grow in selfless love!  I love my Andee so much, and am so very thankful for this journey that God has taken us on in our still relatively new marriage!  Through constant moving and changes of plans, He has taught us the true value of faith, perseverance, and joy!  I am overwhelmingly overjoyed at the perfect and wonderful plan of God!!

Too sappy?  Too bad!!  Andee and I celebrated this exciting occasion over the weekend by making our very first trip to Downtown Chicago!  We spent a gorgeous hot and sunny day walking around Lincoln Park and the Lincoln Park Zoo!  We saw some beautiful and cute animals including a very active Jaguar, shared an 'American portion' lunch at the zoo, enjoyed the beautiful view of the Chicago Skyline and even walked along the beach!  A perfect Chicago day!  And what made it even better was the fact that the Lincoln Park Zoo is FREE, and free things make me happy!  It may have taken us almost a year to make it to Chicago, but I am glad we can finally say we made it!

On our actual anniversary, August 14th, we enjoyed an absolutely delicious Italian meal at a restaurant close by to Harvest called Maggiano's.  Maybe it was a combination of rarely going out to eat mixed with eating late into the evening, but it was an extremely enjoyable dining experience!  We started off with warm bread with olive oil and cheese, followed by an appetizer of stuffed mushrooms, delicious pasta entrees, and finished off with an anniversary treat with candles and a massive slice of chocolate cake!  Very few things make Diana happier than a 3 course Italian meal!!  And to top it all off, we were given a gift card from a friend!!!  Perfect!!!

So there you have it - Three Years and Three Countries, what will we encounter next??  The saga continues........ ❤

Happy Summer!

After my fantastic vacation back to Canada, it has been quite busy here in Illinois with lots of reasons to celebrate and get together!  In addition to the obvious pool days that summer so wonderfully creates, we welcomed Sarah's baby-on-the-way with a beautiful baby shower hosted by the Ladies of Harvest!  We are all so excited for Sarah's new little one to come into the world, but will we ever miss Sarah's amazing work ethic and smiling personality at the church!  We hope to have her back soon!

This past weekend I was able to worship the Lord on stage with the Harvest Worship Team!  So much fun!  There is nothing greater than using the gifts that God gave us to worship Him!  It was a powerful service, and I am so blessed to be a part of something so amazing!  PTL!!

After the Worship Services, I had the pleasure of attending a Community Picnic hosted by Harvest!  It was a beautiful cool summer day, perfect for spending the day outside chatting with others and eating delicious picnic food!  A very busy and very fun summer weekend!

Unfortunately, Andee wasn't able to attend the picnic or really do much of anything this weekend, as he was hard at work preparing for the Step 2 CK licensing exam!  This exam has been months in the making, with tons of studying, online question bank, and prayers!  This exam marks the last of three American exams that need to be passed before applying to residencies, matching, and graduating.  This means that there is now an entire year before another American exam needs to be taken!  Hallelujah!!  Andee took the looming exam on Tuesday, and then decided to take it easy and relax.  Right??

Wrong.  Unfortunately, along with the ever-so-horrible residency application prep, Andee has yet another exam coming up in a month, and this time it is Canadian!  Andee takes the MCCEE, the first of many Canadian licensing exams on September 10th, followed by residency applications starting September 15th, and potential interviews and residency preparations in the Fall.  Let's also keep in mind that during all of this chaos, Andee continues to hold an unpaid (in fact we pay them), full-time job with erratic hours.  The fun never ends!  Please pray for Andee and I during this season of uncertainty and, let's face it, a little bit of fear.  We are fully confident that God's plan will complete it's perfect work in us and for us, and that God will be glorified through all of this!  Look how far we have come already!  Not only are we less than a year from Andee's graduation, but our faith and spiritual growth has increased exponentially in the past three years!  God is Good!  Praise God!!

Speaking of three years, guess what monumental occasion is happening in under a week?  You guessed it!  It's Andee and my Three Year Anniversary!!!  It's kind of fun having our Marriage anniversary and Medical School anniversary so close together, because it allows us to reflect on the last year of marriage and how much God has used this difficult schooling process to strengthen both our marriage and us individually.  Even though times are sometimes tough, it is so encouraging to know that God has gone before us, and he has our back!  PTL!

So there you have it, even more summer shenanigans!  I hope the Exhibition can survive without me, because we are staying in America for the rest of this wonderful season!  I will keep everyone posted on our Fall plans, but until then, Happy Summer!

Summer in Canada!

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to take a trip back home to Canada!!  Instead of the usual roadtrip with Andee, this time I traveled by plane - and traveled solo!  I flew with Porter Airlines, which meant that I boarded at the smaller Chicago and Toronto airports, allowing for an extremely quick and easy process!  After nightmare-ish experiences with American Airlines at the major airports in Toronto, Miami, and St. Kitts, this was quite the treat!  We even got free drinks and snacks, and the flight was only an hour and a half!  I am definitely sticking to Porter if I can from now on!    

Upon landing in Toronto, I was greeted to my luggage waiting for me, and a beautiful ferry ride from the airport to downtown with a gorgeous view of the Toronto skyline, complete with the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre!  HOME!!

After braving rush hour traffic in downtown Toronto for far too long, Cassie arrived to pick me up and whisked me away straight to the cottage (after picking up Nicky in Ajax) where my parents were waiting patiently to take us out for dinner!  We had a wonderful dinner at the Fallsview restaurant in downtown Fenelon Falls starting with a beautiful view of the falls, a warm and sunny day, and a delicious seafood alfredo and pizza meal!  We finished off the evening with Mennonites cinnamon buns for dessert, and a family game of euchre!  An excellent start to a wonderful week in Canada!!

The next day was a gorgeous warm summer day in which we spent the majority of the time at the beach!  It is always a good day when transitioning straight from pajamas to bathing suits!  We headed down to the beach in the morning, and with the exception of a quick lunch break, we stayed there until dinner!  Tons of the extended family were there, and we spent the day chatting and lounging in the sun, floating around, and swimming out to the floating dock!  I love the cottage!!  We then had my grandparents over for dinner and had a wonderful time catching up, as well as a delicious surprise of date squares from my Grandma!  We headed back to Ajax later in the evening, and definitely had a successful cottage weekend!!  CANADA!!

On Monday I headed out to brunch with Lori and Cassie, only to be extremely dissapointed with the dreaded Angelique's Monday close that is constantly forgotten about.  We begrudgingly picked out a new brunch location, and determined that it was a close (not so close) second to Angelique's, but still a valiant effort!  Cassie then headed off to work, Lori and I chatted a while longer, and then I spent the afternoon with Mom!  For dinner, I was picked up by Dave and Arielle and we joined the high school gang for dinner!!  It was so nice catching up with friends that we don't see often enough!

I also had the opportunity of working three days of the week as a Dental Hygienist!  Another great thing about Canada - I can work!  I ended up making back substantially more than the cost of the flight, and so ended up on top for the week!  How often does that happen in the life of a student?  Never.  So happy to use the skills and schooling I learned!  I also had a hot tub family evening and a sleepover at Dave and Arielle's when I was finished working, adding to the severe lack of sleep that always accompanies fun-filled vacations!  Worth it, for sure!

On Thursday after work I was picked up by my parents and after a short packing break, we headed back up to the cottage again!  Cassie joined us Friday early afternoon, and we had a wonderful family day soaking up the sun on the floating raft and listening to (and singing along to) wonderful cottage-y music!  We finished off the day with a family (+ Nicky) game of Clue, and had yet another wonderful Canadian summer day at the cottage!

The following day was my last day of vacation, and we definitely made the most of it!  A family photo shoot, beach day, ice cream in town, bonfire, and a game of euchre (which Cassie and I won!) made for a perfect ending to the trip!

On Sunday we woke up, packed, and headed for the airport from the cottage.  I am so blessed to have been able to fly back home to Canada to see my family, while actually making money in the process!  I had such a wonderful week taking advantage of everything Canada - and have so many amazing memories and pictures to look back on!  Canada is still my favorite place in the world, and God-willing, we will eventually get back home.  But until then, I had a Husband and a cat back in Illinois to come home to that had been truly missed!  I was greeted to a smiling Andee at the airport, and a purring Aloe at the apartment!  Puuurfect!  Until next time Canada!!

America Day!

Since my last blog, Summer has been in full swing here in Illinois!  Everything has opened back up here at the Towers, Andee has the weekends off, and the weather has been 'HHH' (Hazy, Hot & Humid) just the way I like it!!  Andee and I have enjoyed many a day sitting by the pool and going for a dip, taking paddle boats and canoes out on the lake, long walks on beautiful summer evenings, fishing galore, and excursions to popular suburbs hot spots in the area!  Summer really is the best, don't you think?  Let's elaborate with the help of some photos!

A couple weekends ago, Andee and I headed to a local arcade to use up some gift cards we had been given!  We played some of our favourites such as flamin' finger and of course the claw machines, and ended up with some fun toys for Aloe as our prize!

We then headed to Downtown Naperville, a very historic and beautiful area filled with specialty shops and restaurants, and a beautiful River Walk with tons of interesting artistic statues and memorials.  It was on the cooler side of summer days, which made it perfect for a long walk with the Husband!  We treated ourselves to Taco Bell for dinner, and it was great to spend some time with Andee!

This past week we were also able to participate in our first 4th of July Independence Day celebrations in America!  Shockingly, Andee was given the day off, and so we were able to enjoy the celebrations together! Our first stop was a local parade with some Harvest friends which included a beautiful float promoting Vacation Bible School Kids Camp coming up next week!  We then headed out to lunch at a cute little breakfast place down the street, and were completely comfortable in our summer clothes in the shade!  Success!  

Andee and I then headed back to our apartment where we spent the afternoon boating and fishing!  We took out a paddle boat and enjoyed the beautiful sunny day fishing and paddling away!  Unfortunately, only the little fish were hungry, but at least we enjoyed the boat! We ended the day with a Blue Jays baseball game and a beautiful fireworks display that could be seen from our window!  An excellent first 4th of July holiday!  Happy Birthday America!

This past weekend Andee and I were also able to spend some time at the pool!  With three pools now open at our apartment complex, there is always lots of room to swim and lounge in the pool chairs!  And the very hot and humid day only added to the pool fun!!

We then headed over to the boathouse to take out a canoe!  I had forgotten that canoes are really tippy, but got the hang of it pretty soon!  After a couple hours of boating and fishing, as we were beginning to think that all the fish got swept away in the flood and found a new home in somebody elses lake, Andee catches this guy!  A big bass!  So now we know that at least some of them are still here!  We concluded the day with a long, warm summer walk around the nature trails at our apartment!  Amazing summer weekend!!

I was also surprised this week with a visit from Naomi!  Such good news!!  After visiting her parents in Texas, Naomi and kiddos flew back to Illinois for a couple days on the way back to Canada so they could have a visit with Joey, and while Joey was at work, I got to spend the day with them!  We headed over to a coffee shop called "Cafe and Play", where half the space was a coffee shop, and the other half a huge play area for kids!  Such a good idea!  So while the kids were playing away, Naomi and I had a great time catching up and getting excited about her return to Canada!  Such a nice surprise to see Naomi one more time before she heads home, and I hope to see her again soon!

So, as I am typing this, I just realized that it is only 8 days until I fly home to Canada for a mini-vacation!  What a long way I have come - from counting down 86 days in advance to arriving back in Canada to shockingly realizing that a Canadian vacation is a mere 8 days away!  God really is so good - taking this fearful, stagnant believer and changing my heart to finally be accepting of His perfect plan - and actually enjoying it too!  PTL!!  I am of course extremely excited to see my family and spend some time in the home country!  I'm planning on getting the full Canadian experience when I am back - Dental Hygiene shifts, free doctor appointments, cottage with the family - the works!  I am also extremely excited to be flying home on a direct flight straight to Toronto!  Canada, see you soon!!