Unfortunately for us we had to say goodbye to Dan recently. His time with us went too quickly and he is missed. Before Dan left he and Arlyn went on one more fishing trip. Like true hunter gathers/cavemen (with lots of facial hair), they went out fishing and came home with some interesting looking supper. Unlike cavemen (not that I’m a caveman expert but I don’t imagine them cooking) Dan and Arlyn prepared a feast of deep fried catfish in batter and grilled catfish, I never imagined that a fish that looked so ugly would taste so good!

Although Dan left us for a while, and the good folks of Smithers will benefit from our loss, we’re glad that Dan will be returning later this year. While he’s gone he has generously allowed us to use his motorbike. We are so grateful for Dan’s kindness and so are the children at the children’s home; Dan came to give many of the children bike rides before he left and they were excited to see Arlyn coming to get me on Dan’s big, orange motorbike and even more excited when Arlyn continued to give bike rides too.

The first term of school ended recently and now the children have two weeks holidays, with fun filled days of sports, cooking and other activities planned. Before the term ended I was able to attend the primary schools end of term concert and was astonished at how talented the children are. All of the primary school children learn to play musical instruments including the recorder, piano, drums, flute, trumpet and guitar; many of them play several instruments. It was so wonderful to watch as they sang and played what they had learnt this past term.

The great news from last week is that we have a new niece; we are so excited to meet her and wish we weren’t so far away so we cuddle the newest arrival, welcome to the world Emma.