Buying Tickets Home

It is almost 8am Wednesday July 15. Dano and I are sitting at the dining room table, eating breakfast with laptops at our finger tips. We are purchasing our tickets home online. The kids are asleep as it is winter holidays and there is a feeling of peace and relief that our decision to return home is but clicks away. We will be flying from Dunedin August 12 at 9:45am and fly to Auckland. We will have an eight and a half hour lay over in Auckland, which is good with us since we did not get to Auckland we plan on check our baggage and then getting a cab to see the sights. Then we board in Auckland for the big flight to Vancouver. It is the red eye flight and Air New Zealand does it beautifully. They have excellent food, excellent staff and we look forward to all flights but especially the long one. Once in Vancouver we only have and hour and a half to clear customs and get to our next flight taking us back to Toronto. We will end up flying into Toronto at 11:28pm August 12, after 30 hours of travel. We will stay in a hotel once we land in TO then my Dad and Dan's brother Mark will come to pick us up the next morning and bring us home.

We had dinner down at the dining hall last night. There are 3 families living at Camp Columba in buses and trailers. They work for MMM, Mobile Mission and Maintenance. The husbands are builders and they are lining the inside of the dining hall. The board of the camp was here too for a meeting and to discuss Dano's replacement. While sitting at the table the Chair of the Board leaned over to Dano and I said, "what would it take to make you stay?" We joked about him twisting my arm and that would be all it takes. This is such a weird feeling. I know that we want and need to come home. We need/want our kids to know Canada, their grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. We want to be close to our fantastic friends. BUT, we will miss New Zealand. I have said before that our move back will be bittersweet and that emotion is becoming very real. There are so many things that NZ has given us. We have met many wonderful people here and will always have friends from across the world! NZ has given Dan and I the change we needed in our jobs and brought us closer in our relationship. It has provided Sammer with the much needed freedom and sense of belonging to grow into a happy, easier going boy. And Abby has continued on her path of strong personality and leadership. But the biggest thing that NZ has done for us, is made us a tight family unit again. We have not had the demands of all of the things that pulled and tugged at us back home. We have consciously chosen our life here. It has just been us and we have seen things and done things with just us. I feel closer to my children and to Dano than I ever have. People ask us what we will miss about NZ, my answer is always "the scenery", because that is the easy obvious answer. It is stunningly beautiful here. The real answer is that I will miss the pace of life here, less demands, less running around, simple, non materialistic way of life where the four of us enjoy being together. We talk more here, we rely on each other, we look forward to coming back together after being away at school/work, we enjoy each other's personalities...so that is what I will truly miss! It is hard for people to understand this and I hope and pray that this sense of family closeness will stay with us even when we return. So, yes it is tempting when the Camp Columba chair of the board, and my principal at school asks what they can do to make us stay...very tempting!

Now for the SWEET! We are looking forward to so many things back home. The kids are ready, Sam would have come home with my parents had we let him. Abby needed the rest of our time here to digest this whole move. This sounds strange but we have become closer to many people back home since we have been here, some people that I never thought. Through facebook, our blog and emails it has been special to "refriend" some people. I feel very good about coming to Chatham to be near friends and family that have kept in touch with over our adventure. I am also sooo looking forward to teaching Kindergarten, working for Ken Gregory and with Cheryl. I am not sure I would have got a move out of Grand Bend if we did not take this detour in our life. Dano, too is looking forward to what lies ahead. And the kids...although they have a wonderful time with the NZ school system we are all excited for them to become part of McNaughton school. They are already making sleep overs with their cousins, and talking about kids that might live in our neighbourhood (which they have never had before). Since I left for university twenty years ago (HOLY CRAP) I have not lived in Chatham, it feels right now. Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Until next time,
Samantha