Blessed!!

Today is the last day of school for the kids. I can't believe we have been here in Ottawa that long! I honestly don't know what I'm gonna do with them all day long now!! :P They tend to bicker when they are together...so having them at school has been a great distraction for both of them (and a welcome break for me!)

Aila has been in Jr Kindergarten this year, gone every morning...here in the afternoon. It's been so great to have the morning for work. My job (designing book covers) has continued to explode. It's normal to have 15 books on my desk at a time. One gets completed, and another comes in. I still love it so much. I love being creative for a living. The websites, logo designs, ads and billboards continue to come as well. So needless to say, having a quiet house every morning has been a perfect scenario.

As for summer plans...we are going to Winnipeg for almost a month! We'll be driving...so it will be a long long adventure as a little family. We've offered our house to friends here who don't have a/c, and our amazing neighbors have also offered to water plants, and mow our lawn. Humara, my neighbor even said she'd make sure the house was tidy before we arrived home (do any dishes that we had left undone etc) I've never had amazing neighbors like this!

More on our neighbors...

They are a young couple like us. Same age. They have 2 little boys, the oldest of which is Anneka's best friend. We have alot in common. The biggest thing? Well...they are Muslim. Now, you may ask why that would be 'in common' with us...(being hard-core Christians!!). Well...they've never met any non-Muslims who are as passionate about faith as they are. We both live our lives by moral standards that are different than alot of people around us. They were surprised that we don't swear (much...heheh), that we put God first, don't party, don't smoke, didn't have sex before marriage, and make our decisions with God as the centre, and His will for our lives. They've lived the same way....and we're the first "Christians" they've ever encountered who really live their faith. (I guess they've only ever known nominal Christians...which is pretty sad I think.)

Anyway...they have been a huge blessing to us. We're developing a great friendship, and I'm really excited about it. I'm just praying that God continues to give me the right words...and the right opportunities. Maybe they just might see Jesus in us.....

Soooo....the point? Well...going to Winnipeg for a month is exciting, but expensive. It means that every dime that we've had come in has had to go towards that trip. Saving every thing. It means that I can't work for 4 weeks, and no income was not something we could do. I had planned to pack up my entire desktop computer and bring it along, set it up in my Dad's office...and work from there. Big hassle.

Suddenly, Humara comes home from her job at Bell...with news that Bell was selling a warehouse full of brand new laptops for 1/2 the retail price. (I had some concerns about it, in that it's running Vista, and I had to be sure that my Adobe products could run on Vista without problems) She was excited to tell me...because it meant that I could take a laptop to Winnipeg...remotely connect to my PC at home...and not miss a moment of work!! However, there was NO WAY we could afford that. Not even at that great price. Every dime was going towards the trip back home. I told Humara that it wasn't possible...and I resigned myself to wrapping my CPU in blankets and hoping it didn't get damaged in the van.

The next day, Humara's husband called me. He had heard about my pickle...and offered me the laptop NOW...and said we could talk about payment after we get home from Winnipeg....in 3 instalments. "It's not about money...we're neighbors. I trust you, and I really dont' care about the money. If you need /want the laptop...it's yours! We'll talk about it after the summer."

I FREAKED!! I had just gotten confirmation that CS3 (photoshop etc) could run fine on Vista, and the machine had more than enough power to run the programs. I ran next door right away with a huge grin on my face to get my new laptop. And they also gave me a new HP printer to got with it.

So....can you say MIRACLE??? I'm so excited!!!!