Oh Canada!

Monday, September 8, 2025

We overnight at the Grand Anara hotel in the airport and catch our flights with no problem. I pen a "Please Don't Wake Me" note for the flight attendants on the second leg. It's 10.5 hours of waiting for sleep. My watch says I doze for less than 2 hours.  zzzz

We get to Seattle and pick up our luggage within a half hour. Timothy is waiting for us and zips us home in good order. We hug him with thanks, unpack our luggage, toss the bedding into the dryer to heat and freshen after sitting in storage, and

fall into bed after 10 PM.

Tuesday

We're awake at 2:30 AM and can't get back to sleep until almost time to wake up. The lapse in rhythm is typical of jet lag, though we didn't used to feel it when we were younger.

We have breakfast with the kids: Kinsey makes pancakes ("See Oma, an old man with a mustache and sunglasses.") Melissa treats us to scrambled eggs and cherries. Ah, sweet cherries! We're usually in Seattle too late in the year for fresh cherries. What a treat.

A look in the spice cabinet confirms that there are too many options. Toss? When I open the glass jars, they are still fragrant and dry. Haven't been opened in years and were stored in the cool dark cabinet. I must think about that - tossing them was on my to-do checklist.

I call my mom to let her know we've arrived safely. We pick up a rental car, W does some banking, and goes for lunch with his friend Terry and son T. I head out on my own, sampling plump wild blackberries growing along the driveway. Yum.

I turn on a different street to see if it goes where I'm headed. Nope, I get completely turned around, circling through streets and neighborhoods I've never been in before. The development in the past years is unbelievable: apartments, new malls, shopping areas, and clusters of houses have grown in areas that used to be familiar.

The past few years, our trips have been packed and focused and I seldom get to drive alone. When I'm driving, I like to try a shortcut or new route. So I learn some new things in the unexpected miles before reaching my first destination.

I amble through the stores, checking out new trends in food, clothing, and decor. Forget about eating lunch! When I return to the flat, I'm hungry. I boil a few frozen pirogies from Grocery Outlet about 3:30 PM. Good enough. Along with sleep interruption, our meal schedule is askew the first week or so. This time zone is 14 hours "behind" our normal time.

I post our old piano on Craigslist: we're hoping it goes to a great home. It's resonant (tall enough for long strings) and has been kept in good shape since I was a music teacher and care about those things.

Supper is unbelievable. Melissa promised us steaks, which are seared after cooking in the sous vide bath. They are tender and seasoned well.

When he picked the guys up for lunch, Terry dropped off a freshly caught king salmon, hooked this morning. Timothy has cooked it to perfection.

K gets great news. She's made the next tier youth orchestra. She plays her audition piece for us, complete with vibrato, good rhythm, and double stops. Wow - her playing has taken a giant leap this year. Playing with an orchestra is incredible. You feel trampled and left in the dust if you're not yet up to its level. But the experience brings immediate improvement as you play along. (Cue memories of our orchestra dragging me through new music: I was not a good sight-reader but could play what I heard, so could reconcile the score with the sound the second time through.)

Isaac hauls out his guitar and plays a few songs for us as well. What fun!

Our apartment showcases relics of my parents' travels as well as our own. These East African souvenirs, picked up in the markets in the mid-1970s, now hang on our wall.

 Before we came, Timothy vacuumed the rugs and took away the spiderwebs so it's a pleasure to walk into the space we know so well. We're here for a day before we head up to Canada to see our moms. The flat is a mess of bags and boxes as we sort what goes to whom - when and where.

I throw the blankets into the clothes dryer to heat them up, do some reading and writing, and call it a day.

Wednesday

W falls over something in the night. I wake and am ravenous. I make noodles, have a cup of tea, and can't get back to sleep for 4 hours. Our sleep schedule is adjusting to a new time zone. (We get about 5 hours of rest.) We're packed and headed to see our moms in Canada today.

We're on the road about 7:00 AM after saying goodbye to our grandkids. W drives us 1 1/2 hrs north to have breakfast with friends and former work colleagues LeRoy and Lynette Johnson. She's made an egg casserole, blueberry muffins, and tea - our eating schedule is off. It's delicious.

Lynette has remembered that spekkelaas cookies are a special treat and hands over a bag from the Netherlands, plus some of her breakfast muffins = good eating to come.

The car overheats before the border crossing. Before we meet W's family, he pulls over and parks the SUV at the side of the road. No further! W's brother-in-law Gord comes to get us. We have his family lunch at C-Lovers (seafood), a favorite of W's mom. After taking her home, Gord comes back for W, who calls AAA for a tow to our hometown 70 km (40 miles) away. 

My brother sends an Uber taxi to the restaurant to return me to our hometown and Mom's house. The sun is out and hot! as I wait outside for 15 minutes. The Indian driver tells me about his family, growing up in Australia, joining his cousins in Vancouver 13 years ago, their cricket club, and what he likes about countries and food and community. It gives me lots of prayer ideas for him. Dropping me at Mom's, he drives back to W's mom's city where he picked me up.

At Mom's, two caregivers explain the routines of her care. I make supper (which she picks at and refuses) and hear the details of her day and her philosophy of life. She likes the ginger drink (bandrek diluted 4X) and sips as she talks. It's a precious time, not one I take for granted: Mom is 90 years old. 

Mom tells me over and over that I should get a good rest tonight "as someone will be here soon to give me the night pills." I explain each time that the caregivers are not coming for the next days: it's W and me. Sandy will bring her breakfast at 6 AM. W washes the supper dishes and joins Mom and me for an hour or two before heading upstairs for sleep.  W and I are beyond ready for rest. (Our Indonesian clock stands at 9 AM, so we've been "up all night" two days in a row.)

I excuse myself with "goodnight" and shared prayer at 7 PM. Mom turns on a favorite TV program while I close the drapes, make sure the doors are locked, and report it to Mom. After making myself a cup of tea, I'm off to bed as well.

Hopefully we'll sleep well. W keeps the night shift monitor beside him and his alarm is set for Mom's meds at 10 PM. I have trouble falling back asleep if I'm wakened while he's asleep within minutes. I'm glad W is already in deep slumber by the time I get to the bedroom. I'm completely done in: I've had 11 hours (counting generously) of sleep since we left Jakarta 57 hours ago. zzz

Thursday

Nope - 4.5 hours of sleep, though W gets up to give Mom her meds in the night. A flower is blooming in the living room, a gift from her son in Switzerland a year ago.

We walk a couple of miles to and from the Canada Pension office. The car's still in the shop. Late summer flowers are finishing their run.

Such different climates and plant life than where we live.

In the government office, cheerful and capable Marilyn helps us fill in the forms. We drop by the Main Street Church office to howdy and set up lunch.

I wake Mom, who chats, eats a big snack, and refuses lunch. She falls asleep when W and I leave for lunch with Ps Shaun. My rice & Thai green curry is good.

We have a lively discussion about Bible passages and our purpose in the world. I walk home while W goes for another discussion with a group of men. I'm at 7 km/4.5miles - feels so good to be outside.

I cook for Mom and she sends me on a few errands in the house. We find the family histories collected by uncles and my dad. There are old family photos, too. This one is of my paternal grandmother at her wedding in the early 1930s.

Then Mom and I agree: at 5 PM, it's time for a nap.

Read more:

* God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness. Psalm 57:3

* The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23

* Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 5:7-11

Moravian Prayer: Holy Spirit, we are steadfast in our faith because of the calm you bring. Guide us and be gentle with us so that we may enjoy your peace and love. Through you, we pray. Amen.

Friendly family and friendly fire

Roadside beauty

Family reunions can be heaven or hell. "There's continual drama when my family meets," someone told me this week. "We could never be together for nearly a week."

In contrast, we Dahers (my dad's family) like each other - and we have peacemakers in every family group. Our clan is outspoken, opinionated, and flexible. We don't care much what others think of our ideas if we think they're good ones.

"I know what I'm doing, but feel free to convince me otherwise," my dad used to say. "I'm open."

Coming or going
in the cabin?

Even the Jefferson
staircase is non-traditional

That's true - if you have a better idea, let a Daher know; it's not done until it's over. I can't count how many times over the years that I've heard a family member say, "I don't care what s/he thinks. I'm doing it this way." And off they go to plan, prep, or accomplish what needs to be done ... in their own way.

So when my dear sis-in-law asked, a week ago, "What are we doing when we get there?" I just laughed.

"We'll see. You know the Dahers. They hate being micromanaged!" I replied. "We'll set a loose schedule, assign meal cooking and cleanup, and figure it out as we go." I had a very rough count of who was coming.

It helps that each household is hospitable and accustomed to hosting big groups. There's a warm welcome at anyone's doorstep, so this was business as usual. Everyone pitched in to serve fantastic meals and left the kitchen spotless afterwards.

Boys' bunkroom, ready for occupancy

We're cool with the assumption that each will "do our own thinking." We grow up that way from childhood: every member of the tribe is creative and active, eccentric and smart in his/her own field. From aunts and uncles to young cousins, we become accomplished at a lot of stuff by trying new things. Few of us follow traditional careers to traditional success. So when plans change, we adapt and no one gets a bee in their bonnet. (Or the bee has a short buzz.)

To accommodate that flex, we:

• posted a 2-hour breakfast window for early and late risers. For lunch, we enjoyed the fantastic surroundings (Kallispell, Bigfork, Whitefish, and - 9 miles away - Glacier National Park). At supper, we met again to feast and tell stories
• thought up evening programs on the spot
• Thursday, we celebrated my parents' 60th anniversary
• Friday, we played "Truth or Daher" (best family memories or bucket list)
• Saturday, we shared what each has recently done and what we're going to be doing
• Sunday was Dad's 81st birthday

• came and went, tried things we hadn't done before, hiked the park, swam the lakes, shopped the tourist towns, and went to the gun range
• spent hours and hours visiting
• got the clan together after one breakfast for our 19th "Historic Point" photo at the side of the highway. We've never had such a huge group for our annual tradition. We got lots of astonished honks and waves from passing motorists and motorcyclists. (There's a historic point nearby: we take a picture of us lined up next to the road sign, pointing in whatever direction suits us.)
• had more (and in 2 cases, less) guests and dogs than planned. We felt privileged and happy to hug every one who showed up
• saved money by cancelling a few hotel rooms for cabin-sharing
• enjoyed the most incredible huckleberry pies and ice cream on a night with enough dessert. (Is there ever enough dessert). Thanks, Rita.
• etc. My guestbook is full of new memories, recorded by young and old and those between

Kids' hangout, the family room's chaos
gets tidied at night

This first-ever family reunion (outside of well-attended weddings and funerals) was in Hungry Horse, MT. My friends at home prayed that it would be peaceful, fun, and glorifying to God. It was.

I wasn't sure how we would accommodate the extended family. Our cabin sleeps 20 (8 bunks, 5 queen beds/futons, and 2 spare camping cots.) A friend rented us their 4 bdrm cabin for a "steal-of-a-deal," honoring years of friendship and W's computer help. A few families stayed in nearby hotels.

There was plenty of room upstairs and down. God blessed us with great weather, so the 12-person picnic table outside - plus the neighbor's donated round table - complemented the table and sofas inside.

Cabin, sweet cabin, we'll miss you

"Bye! See you again!" the family waves as their car begins the trek to Edmonton. Another group heads for Winnipeg. Our Seattlites get stuck in hours of grid-lock traffic on Snoqualmie Pass. Daughter Kirsten and poodle Zoe fly to home to Austin.

W and I are left with the quiet that follows a lively storm of conversation, good food, and shared memories.

Sunday evening, we invite about 20 friends from the campground over. We share the thrill of this new adventure facing us - living in Indonesia after next June. They pray over us and promise to continue to continue praying. Several commit to support us with finances. Above all, in that devout company, the friendly Holy Spirit ignites our hearts with His fire.

By tonight, the cabin will be cleaned up and packed up for the winter. We may not be back, after this year when we finished building. Perhaps the whole purpose of this long building process has been the weekend reunion, sharing our calling, and years of making friends who are mature in the faith.

Whatever, we thank God for his provisions of people and resources. Thanks, girlfriends, for your prayers.

Read more:
*The Lord answered Job, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? and said to the sea, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped'?" Job 38:4,11 NLT 

*It shall be one day which is known to the Lord -- neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen that it will be light. Zechariah 14:7 NKJV

*(Jesus said,) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

*In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. John 1:1, 3 NLT

*The night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Romans 13:12 NLT

Moravian Prayer: O Holy Spirit, you are our light during the day and at night. We thank you for this day. Help us to make the most of it. Help us to let our light shine so that others see you through us in work and at play.

Everlasting God, you extend your righteous hand. Let us feel your touch. You inspire and encourage us in the face of our troubles. Help us to know all strength comes through you. We worship and adore you. Amen.