A Taste of Home

JULY 8

At the library, a young girl, Maddysen, befriended Naomi and Diana. She stuck to them like glue and invited them to her house for a sleepover. She asked Diana how many siblings she had. When Diana replied, "nine," Maddysen was dismayed. She tried to figure out how she was going to fit all of them in her bedroom, and how many she could squeeze on her floor in a desperate attempt to make her wish a reality. Sweet girl. Her mom works at the library and we assured her we would see her there again soon.

Auntie "Shell" and Uncle Ike made it to Fort McPhoo, and they had the most interesting story. Remember the couple with the eight year old girl, Kate, cycling down the Dempster? I had told Shell to keep an eye out for them on their way. Jo and Boo saw the family twice on the road, to and from camp. Anyways, camped along the Dempster, Michele looked up and saw Kate and her parents bike right into their campground. She knew it was them without a doubt, because, really, how many kids do you think you see riding tandem down the Dempster? Michele said, "Hi, I've been waiting for you!" And Kate said, "Me, too!" They ate supper together and then Kate had a sleepover in Ike and Michele's fifth wheel. O, what wonderful lives we weave!

I talked to Paul again and found out that another fellow was flying into Inuvik for the building project in Fort McPhoo. He needed a ride, and on Kurt's advisement, I offered to pick him up and bring him down. So I left Bronwyn holding the fort once again, and Keegan, Jo, baby and I hit the road again. The road was good and we made good time. Two and a half hours later we were in Fort McPhoo.



The church building has started and we saw many people at work, some on the church site, and some painting Paul's house. We walked over to the school, the eating headquarters, as well as sleeping quarters for some of the workers. As we approached, who should walk out the door, but Elbert. It was so good to see him. Then Ike, Michele, and Les soon followed. I can't tell you what joy it was to see our church family up here, a community of believers all working together with others towards a common purpose. We had supper together and the boys and I did some tedious work cleaning sticky, gummy wrappings from new cutlery. One couple was celebrating their 42 anniversary, so we all sang them a song, and Paul sang a song to them that he sang to his wife on their wedding day.

Michele also brought up goodies for the children. She brought shoes, assorted activity books and toys, Bronwyn got painting canvases for her birthday, and Keegan received a hoodie that he likes so much, I don't think he'll ever take it off. We had to leave to make the ferry and Josiah did a good job keeping his little sister happy and was so proud of himself when she fell asleep. We got back at 12:30 am.

Bronwyn and Mackenzie were still up and said they had a good day. They made a picnic and ate by the camp playground under our play parachute we brought along. They made sandwiches and set them up on a log. Ezra was so excited when he saw his 'McQueen' plate, he jumped up and down and catapulted some sandwiches into the dirt. All the girls simultaneously exclaimed, "EZRA!" He immediately burst into tears and cried, "Sorry, sorry, sorry, Bronwyn!" They managed to salvage some sandwiches and still had a good time. I left Fort McPhoo later than expected and tried to call the girls but I couldn't get through. When we got back, Bronwyn and Boo said they wondered what happened to us, but decided they shouldn't let it spoil their fun. By the time everyone shared about their day and Michele's gifts were distributed, it was 2 am. Everyone did get to sleep, but with all the excitement, it was not soon in coming.