Tonight after I get home from work, Marion and I are heading down the road with our oldest son (Joe, 27) and our daughter (Bethany, 16).   We’re on our way to visit son #2 (Simeon, 24) who is married to Heather and living in Minnesota.  They recently had their first child, Sophie Grace – so she is the immediate reason for all the excitement.  Son #3 (Reuben, 21), who is studying at Ottawa U,  is staying at our place to look after the house and the dog.   Thanks, Reuben!  I know you miss your bro Simeon – hopefully you’ll get to make the trip soon too.

I love road trips!  Although I don’t have the stamina that I had in my twenties (that was a few years ago), I always find it exciting to head down the road.   I think that’s partly because when we go on a road trip, there is usually some reward at the end – something we are really looking forward to.   This time, the reward is that we get to see our new granddaughter – and her parents, of course.

In a way, this trip puts the cap on Simeon and Heather’s move to the USA.  So, we are bringing not only ourselves but quite a lot of personal items that Simeon and Heather had left in storage from the year they spent in Ottawa in 2007.    Joe, Marion, and Nick Fraser (one of our sons’ best friends – he used to be in the band Prefab with our 3 boys) went out to the storage place today to load up their stuff in a UHaul, and Marion listed it all for the border crossing people.

This trip has been a lot of work.  Besides the packing and planning, doing Sim’s taxes, and the various other details that go with making the transition from one country to another, lots of unusual things happened this week – like a laptop crash, to mention only one.   So it has been a bit of a crazy week.  But now we’re almost ready to head down the road – and the anticipation is building.

It will be a long drive – about 20 hours – and to leave ourselves more time to visit, we’re going to drive straight through, with only enough stopping time to make sure we stay awake.  But it will be an adventure – these are things you do for your kids, the things memories are made of.

At coffee time today, I mentioned my trip to some of my workmates and we got talking about road trips and how you can tell when you are in danger of falling asleep.   Last year, making the same trip, we came across a herd of deer in a snowsquall at 2 am – a bit unnerving at the time!  But I’m actually not worried at all about problems on the road.  Sure, I know they are a possibility – but we’ve placed our security in God’s hands, so I see no need to worry.  As long as He still has a purpose for our lives – and I believe He does – we’ll be fine.

Thanks to everyone who has asked about our trip, helped Sim and Heather by storing their stuff (thanks Nick and Paddy), told us how great grand-parenting is (helps me to get over feeling old), offered to pray for us, or offered various bits of advice and encouragement.   We appreciate you all !