Labour Day (a.k.a "Family Day")

Yesterday was filled with hanging out with both my family and Keeleah’s family. 

We went to see Grandma and Grandpa Edwards in the morning. They have been such a blessing in our lives ever since I was a little kid and through our marriage and even as we take this step and go to do missions. They have supported us in various ways not the least of which is their encouraging words. The crazy thing about my grandparents on the Edwards side is they are both 92 years old(!) and live by themselves(!) with no one checking in on them (!) in a house with stairs(!) and they still get out and do pretty much what they want, when they want(!). We told them we are on our way to Dominican this Friday and they responded with “Oh, We’re so glad we got to see you before we left. We are leaving for Bermuda on Wednesday.” Ninety-two! We love them very much.

Next stop on the family tour was the Matta House. The Matta’s are such great people.   They love being outside and doing “naturey” things. We ended up going to Christie Conservation Area for an afternoon of fun. We played Euchre, tried to start a fire (unsuccessfully) using our car cigarette lighter, went for a hike to the dam (“don’t use that language around my kid”) and played a hole of disc golf. Unfortunately for Randy I was his partner in Euchre and we lost both games. It wasn’t a blowout (10-9 and then 10-8) but it was enough for the women to rise up in triumphant rejoicing. Who turns down a bower, leads with a bower and then trumps his own teammate? I do. On our hike we found the place where we did our “trash the dress” photo shoot so we decided to take a few pictures there to try and re-enact the photo. The Matta’s are very adventuresome as well. Both parents got out there in the river bed with us to take pictures. I was impressed! I was also impressed with Cathy’s disc golf skills. She was just putting but made most of her shots in one throw. I think we have a competitor for next season! All around, although freezing cold, a great time with the fam.

Then we were on to the Paris fair for the annual Edwards family tradition of watching the smash up derby championships. It was loud, smelly and extremely cold which made for a memorable night. One of the first things that happened upon arriving at the fair is we saw a large, very nice, pickup truck accidentally ram through a chain link fence. From what we can guess, the driver put the car in drive instead of reverse and tried to peel out but instead lodge herself under the chain link fence in front of her and in the process ripped off the licence plate. It was hilarious for us. Probably not so much for her. Later, during the actual derby, we saw an illegal hit by one of the drivers which resulted in the driver who was hit climbing out his driver side window onto the hood of the car that hit him and then drop kicking the driver through the windshield. It was AMAZING! No one got hurt and the refs came in and broke it up before anything else happened. The illegally hit driver was allowed to get back in his car and finish the derby and he ended up winning. The night ended with a game of Settlers, of course, which my mom won even though she has no clue how she won and then came our final farewells before the trip. It’s always hard to say so long for a longer amount of time. I’m sure my parents have mixed feelings. On one hand they are “losing” a great daughter-in-law, a cute grand-daughter and a wonderful son (nice). On the other hand they have told us before and told us again last night how proud they are of us for going to do what we believe God is telling us to do.

Both our families are tremendous and we love each of them dearly. If you don’t know them you should get to know them ‘cause they are fantastic people.

Thanks Matta family and Edwards Family for such a great day! We love you SO MUCH!

Chris Edwards (and Keeleah and Abriel too, I’m sure)