Is this thing still working? I thought I had lost my account forever...I guess we shall see. What I should be asking is, will I be charged for using this? lol Jode

Yes, you are right, it has been a much longer time than usual. Lets see, my last post was about 6 months ago, and although I can't guarantee that posts will become as common as they used to be, I shall endeavor to do one once a year. Ha, yeah I know, keeping those expectations low. But if on the other hand you feel that I should give the blog up altogether please drop me a comment saying so. Life as I'm sure you can imagine has been very busy. You are likely aware that I became Jody Hackett as of the 22nd of May (if you haven't seen any pictures go here http://freezingtimephotographyblog.com/?p=299 ). Life before the wedding was full of wedding planning, work and, more importantly, Mitchell. Life after the wedding included a honey-moon, and the weekly ritual of getting our lives in order and, still more importantly, Mitchell. :)

I'm happy to report that life has slowed down a little, even allowing me the leisure time to sweep my floors at home. :D

As for the long awaited details of Italy, I shall try to recount some of the highlights.

It was a very looong flight, with very short, and mostly uninteresting entertainment. I was very happy to have company for the trip, as most of my flights had been alone up until that point. Mitch read to me, and we listened to music on his IPOD and entertained ourselves the best we could. I even managed to sleep. Our layovers were brief for the most part, with the longest one being in Ontario, which gave us enough time to switch from Air Canada to Alitalia. We got to hear all of our flight details and instructions in Italian, peppered with thickly accented English from then on. I think it was then that we realized that although we had learned a little conversational Italian, keeping up with the speed, variety and mumbling would be a challenge. Not to mention the challenge of being able to recognize your own name being called for boarding, when it's pronounced entirely different, cutting out some of the sounds, like "J", altogether.

I suppose it's kinda obvious to say that we made it there in one piece, although we had to wait around for over an hour in Genoa because one of our bags decided to take a later flight. We found lunch in the mean while, picked up the bag and caught a train to Spotorno, where we stayed for the duration of our trip (other than day trips). We used monasterystays to book our lodgings. Our hosts were the friendliest people we met our entire trip, and that is saying something. There was a language barrier, but with the help of charades, our mini conversational Italian dictionary, and google translator we managed to get by. We mainly had to satisfy ourselves with the simple niceties such as good-day and so on. There were a few oddities we discovered while in Italy. For instance, people in Spotorno do not own washing machines, they use a wash board or send their dirties the the launderer who would return them clean. Another thing was that they go shopping for their food pretty much every day. We discovered this by the fact that if someone owned a fridge it was no bigger than apartment sized.

Next, I shall cover the day trips we took..but I have run out of time, for I must away to work.

To be Continued...

Jode

Life has been rolling smoothly along. I know, for those of you who are not on my facebook account, you likely thought I was dead. As for the rest of you, you would know that I am engaged to Mitchell, and thus my long absence would only seem natural. I decided from the get go not to have a wedding blog, as blogging about every detail would probably take just as long as it took to choose every detail. These days just getting my laundry done is a challenge. We choose how to spend our time, and for the most part I think I've chosen wisely...hmm, more time with Mitchell, or a blog post..that's a hard one. :P

God is good every day, I do not think I can feel it more than I have lately. He has provided for me in every way I have needed, and pretty much have ever wanted. I suppose the only thing lacking is an even deeper gratitude of all of His mercies upon me. So yes, I have a wonderful fiance who I love deeply, wonderful future parent-in-laws, a wonderful church family that would be closer to me than my own, if my own family members were not members of the same bride of Christ. Even all of the small details have and are coming together..we've set the date for May 22, we've procured dresses at a great price, suits, a building, invitations, and flowers, food and photography are in the works.

God is amazing.

Cheerio,

Jode

Tiss fall so I deemed it safe to put up a new post. I guess I've dropped from once a month to quarterly installments, but I figured I should use it or lose it as the lame saying goes. What is new to my life since my last post? I guess the first major deviation from the "plan" was my remaining in Edmonton instead of returning to a year of books in Prince. I had many a debate over which course of action to take but the doors seemed to open and close to a satisfactory conclusion, resulting in peace of mind, garnished with a sprig of happiness. :)
I was able to keep my job, which has worked out really well thus far, as they were short staffed and I was soon to be short..jobbed? I am currently working to assist a group of maternity doctors, and I generally enjoy my work, albeit, Friday nights are always welcome. There is something to be said about resetting the clock every week. You get to start almost all over again, and you have a chance to adjust and jump back in.
I am now a bona-fide member of the congregation here in town. I don't know if I can find words that are able to express how very, very thankful I am, and how God has blessed me. His mercies last forever, and His ways are past finding out.
Next weekend I'm going to be taking a trip back to PG for a week in order to do some packing/visiting, after which I shall return to Edmonton with Mark and B for the fall conference where we shall enjoy hearing Dr. Murray speak on Leviticus.
And courtship? I'm staying aren't I? I think that would indicate how that is going in and of itself.
And if you somehow missed it, I am an Auntie again! Shawn and Tammy had their little boy last week. He was soon after dubbed Shawnie Fransisco Jr XII Anderson. Er...Simeon Grant Anderson. :D

Now it's off to bed, off to bed..

Jode

Wow, I didn't even realize that I haven't blogged since May. Well, I shall remedy that now. It may be hard to account for everything that has passed in the last couple of months, but I shall try to start from where I left off. :)

I applied for work, I believe that is the starting point. And thanks be to God, who gives us all that is needful, that I obtained employment at a medical clinic in town. I actually applied through a member of the church here, thinking that the likelihood of my being hired was slim. My work isn't quite one to one with what I did in clinical, but I have obtained a large range of experiences that include much of the paperwork side of things, as well as dealing with patients who aren't in emergency, hospital, or long term care settings. I started on the switch board, just putting calls to the caller's desired location. It was a great way of learning who was who with all of my co-workers. From there I learned to sort faxes, attach documents to patients' charts, and then I worked for, and have continued to work for, a range of doctors, filling in for, or helping out, the regular nurses/assistants that work for them. Lots of weights, heights, calls, messages, requisitions, patients in, patients out, results, medications, tests, bookings with the old, the young, and the pregnant. So that is my work in a nutshell. :) And my experience as also shown me that there are a lot of nice doctors in the world, at least if you consider that the clinic I work for has over 40 of them, and I haven't met a mean one yet, not that I've worked with them all...

I've been spending a fair deal of time with the H's as they prepared to, and eventually moved from the house they have been renting for the last few years. Lots of cleaning, packing, planting, and prep work. Which leads to the more note worthy news of my courtship with Mitchell H. No, this wasn't my motive for helping out, but it certainly didn't hurt anything. :) So that is new as of nearly two weeks ago, although it feels like it has been longer as time appears to have wings.

Other news, Dor and Jord just returned last night from a camping trip...and all the kids are still alive, a sign of a successful adventure. Not sure if Dor will live through all of the aftermath, but she is a trooper.

I've truly enjoyed the fellowship of the church here this summer, and feel very blessed in having the opportunity of getting to know everyone better.

Well after such a general post is another summer update really needed? We shall see. :)

The trip out to the camp we were staying at was almost as much of a challenge as finding it. Lets just say that after two days of driving, somewhere around 15 hours in total, both Levi and Natie had had their fill. Their cups were overflowing.....with tears. And no tears in their state could come free from whines. They howled, and as Dor tried to stay focused upon staying on the twisted string of a road, I tried to con Natie into at least a temporary silence so that we could both focus on not missing our turn. I was unsuccessful, but we thankfully didn't miss our turn, and were flagged down by Calvin, who was waiting for us at the end of the drive. I could have kissed the ground when I got out, but the smidge of better sense that I possess restrained me.

Now to the more condensed account.

Manda and her kids were able to come out that afternoon/evening (Josh was also able to join us more towards the evening), and even provided us with food. :D All of the cousins were drawn automatically to the course gravel drive and busied themselves with making roads, piles, and just playing with the dirt in general. This was the boy's number one occupation the entire stay, followed by their natural propensity to wrestle, ie dog pile each other. The girls alternately busied themselves between war and peace. Most of them (Natie, Addie, Lydia, and Geneva and Emmie somewhat) are at a territorial age when it comes to dolls, and doll equipment. The camp owner also keeps two horses, so the girls picked handfuls of grass to feed them. The next day I presented the kids with bubbles and a number of blowers. That kept some of them busy all day.

The last day of M and B's stay we all went into town and spent the afternoon bowling. The kids loved it, and what adult can complain when they're playing in a bumper lane. Manda took hoards of pictures, so hopefully some of those turned out.
Then we went to a very pretty park were we ate an early dinner and the kids played on the sets, and where Calvin fell in the river. He was retrieved, all was well. :)

Tam, Dor, her kids, and I returned to the camp for one more evening. Manda came out again and after lunch we all headed to the local dollar store to pick up traveling bribes...er amusements for Nat and Amos. Then we were off to Spokane, where Tam was to fly out from on Tuesday.

After Tuesday, and Tam's departure, Dor and I were headed back to Edmonton. We again took the trip in two days. For the most part it was uneventful, as we didn't lose our way anywhere, but a portion of narrow road was not the most friendly with its blowing snow. We made it back to Edmonton late in the afternoon, and began the process of unpacking.

Now I'm attempting to obtain a summer position as a nursing assistant here in Edmonton. And if the Lord wills that I do obtain one, my summer will be set out for me.

TTFN,

Jode

PS I shall attempt to post a couple of Dor's pictures of our trip in the near future.