August to October

Snap Shots of Moments

So my last post was in July so here is a recap of events since then.

There are My plans and then there are the Lord's plans. Often the two are NOT the same. Originally my plan was to take my 6 month home assignment, to comply with my totalization requirements, starting in August then return in January to study Czech for the remainder of the school year.

Change in Plans:
To shorten a VERY long story here is the reader's digest version:
After 60 months (5 years) of living in a foreign country we are required to return to our home country to basically reinstate ourselves. Most countries have a written agreement for how long you must be out before you can return. For example if  I were in Germany I would have to be out of the country for 60 days before returning. For Americans in Germany it is 366 days. It was believed that in the Czech Republic it is 6 months. However, upon further investigation it is not written anywhere in the agreement between Canada and the Czech Republic how long I must be out of the country for. SO long story short instead of going home for 6 months I will take one month in December. We have applied for an extension on my current certificate of coverage as well as renewal and waiting for approval. So far no news is good news.

With this change in plans I was going to stay in the CZ for the summer and return for a month in December. However at the end of July my Grandfather (my dad's dad) passed away. He was in his early 90's and his health had been in decline over the past year. So during the first two weeks of August I took an impromptu trip back to Canada to remember and celebrate the life of my grandfather and to be with family.

It was a time of remembering, walking down memory lane as we visited the old farm and went to Steeprock Lake where we would go to Grandma and Grandpa's cabin on the lake when we were kids. It was a great time of reflection and making new memories.

Robinson Clan minus Rolandia (we missed you!)

We travelled to see my great uncle Alec my Grandpa's brother who was unable to make it to the funeral. We were able to listen to many of his stories of life with Grandpa and it was really neat to hear about the journey of their lives.

While home I was able to visit some friends and familiar places. Got to visit with two of my students that I taught 5 years ago in grade two at KCS in 2010-2011. It was great to see them and hear about what God is doing in their lives. Also a trip out to SA isn't complete without a stop off at Margret Falls!

  

After 12 days in Canada it was time to get back to Prague and I hit the ground running. I had secured a new flat just before I left which we moved into at the end of August. It is a beautiful 64m2 place and suits us just right.

My new flatmate is Brecklyn. We lived together last year for 6 months while the Keller's were in the States on home assignment. Her plans were to only be in Prague for a year and mine were to go back to Canada. Our plans changed and so we decided that living together longer term was a good idea.

September

We started school August 31st. I began the school year with  having 6 students on the list to start grade one. However some families' circumstances changed leaving us starting the year with 4 students in grade one. One of the students we found, though he was academically ready for school, he was not developmentally ready. Since he would not be 6 until November we advised another year of pre-school and to re-enrol next year, which the family agreed to be the best fit for their child.

So now I have 3! But what we lack in numbers we make up for in personality!

October

With October comes Canadian Thanksgiving! I hosted 13 people this year in our wee apartment. It was a very busy evening and taking pictures was not my priority, so only a few pictures to show for all my efforts.

New exciting things coming:

We are looking forward to welcoming a new grade 2/3 teacher. She is from my home church in Vernon and our prayer is that she can make it here before the new year. Please pray for Brenda as she raises support and gets everything tied up at home in order to be able to come here as soon as possible.

So that is all for now. Onward and Upward!