Summer's over - time to get back at it

I hope you have all enjoyed your summer as much as I have! I was asked to be the garden chair for our Strata Complex and of course, have jumped in with both feet! We're suppose to run on a budget, but with the expense of things it is almost impossible to be able to get everything done. With my upbringing of 'If you can't afford to pay someone to do it, learn to do it yourself' that's what I have been doing. I've learned to lay sod, move sprinkler lines, add and remove heads, learning about pruning shrubs and all sorts of general garden knowledge. I can't begin to tell you how sore and stiff this old body is most of the time now, but you'd think having been doing the hard graft all summer it would have eased up by now! I'm quite enjoying all the work, but now with the colder weather coming, it's time to get back to my World Vision work.
During the summer I was invited to volunteer at a small fund-raiser in Duncan. That was a good way to get my feet wet, as it was my first volunteer assignment. I then had an open house for anyone who contributed to the trip or just wanted to hear about it and see my pictures. I assembled a display showing my sponsor children, with letters etc., ran the hour long video I made of the trip and served awesome cheesecake! I made a book of all the pictures everyone took, using the program Blurb, 200 some odd pages, and it was a great hit. Most of the volunteers from the trip have purchased their own copies, and Marie carries hers with her everywhere.
The special part of the summer was an unexpected visit to Vancouver by Hilda from World Vision. Of course I had to go over (took Angela with me) and we had a great dinner with Hilda and were able to visit the World Vision Office in Vancouver. The next day, Hilda, Angela and I took the Granville Island Water Taxi to Bowen Island, where we met up with Andrea and Marie (from the trip). It was so exciting to see them all again. I guess once you have been together on a trip like we had, the folks you went with are almost closer to you than family! We sat on the sun soaked deck and looked at all the pictures in my book having a wonderful time reminiscing .
Then, lo and behold, last week, Hilda was here again. Her first 2 trips to BC ever! Another surprise. She was here to promote a concert fund-raiser in Langley with the christian group Casting Crowns. Again the other 3 of us immediately volunteered to work at the concert. My husband Tom came with me this time, as our daughter Kerrie lives in Vancouver. We arrived in Van. on Sat. and we had another wonderful dinner with Hilda and Kerrie. Then on the Sunday our group met up with Andrea and Marie for lunch. So much fun having everyone together. Marie brought her Mom, so we're all getting a chance to meet extended families, which is a nice treat. The concert was attended by over 5000 people, so we really learned fast how to fill out those child sponsorship forms. We were able to find sponsors for about 150 children, from all different countries. What an awesome feeling to know that many more families and communities will now have a better chance at more nutritious food, clean water and medical aid. It was certainly an uplifting way to spend a weekend!
I have a date to speak with a church group on Oct 14th, which I'm a little nervous about, as that again will be a first. I'll be becoming an old hand at this soon though. I have 2 more tentative offers for speaking engagements with church groups and have offered to volunteer at a few more World Vision programs coming up in the near future.
I have a chance to put my name in for 1 of 2 new trips planned for the new year. Ethiopia or Rwanda! Again it will depend on being accepted and of course the ever popular fund-raising to raise the monies to afford to go. But what a different experience either of those two countries would be! I'm sure we wouldn't be nearly as spoiled as we were with the SA trip. If I have the privilege to go, I would hope, this time, to get more interaction with the people and be able to spend more time actually seeing classrooms, visiting outlying villages and things like World Vision water projects. The last trip, there were so many ceremonies at each school and the tree planting, that I was never able to really get time to see inside classrooms or hold any lengthy conversations with folks.
Last, but not least, a couple of new letters from Nikki and his family.
That's about all for this edition. I'll post again after my speaking engagement and let everyone know how it went.
Sala kahle.