The Smithsonian Saga Returns to wish you all a blessed end to 2012 and a most fabulous 2013.
 

From our “ordinary” family to yours, we wish you health and happiness for the New Year.  May you adjust with grace to the inevitable challenges and move forward with hope to that which you do not yet see or understand. Most of all may you embrace the deep presence of Love Himself who was wrapped so tenderly and given so generously as the very first Christmas Present ever! 

  SMITHSINIAN SAGA 2012

• Tim is the new Construction Manager for Continental Pipelines
• Roz is the new Chaplain for the Fort St. John Hospital
• Eli is going to school on line
• Naomi and Eden are both driving

It’s strange to say that it’s hard to be home, but after such a phenomenal year away together the “everyday” life has been harder to adjust to than we thought. 

I suppose we thought coming home would be like when we come home from vacation. But a year isn’t really a vacation – it’s a year away being different.  Coming back then isn’t the same – it’s coming back different.  And so we find we are all adjusting in our unique and different ways.  

School is not the same for the kids now as they approach learning differently. 

Work is not the same for Tim or me either as we both have new jobs in new places.

Still it is not what we “do” that causes us to wonder why we are here or where we would rather be… it is the restlessness within our hearts that makes the “same old thing” so hard to settle into. 

I love that we have changed. 

I love who we are becoming. 

I love that we are not satisfied with who we were or even how we are.

Fortunately there is always room for change!

Change is: motion in response to stimulus, a constant shift… and shift we have!  Unfortunately, within this shift we are forced to confront our true selves… and so the wind does blow.

Tim is enjoying NOT being “The Boss”  but rather working with a local team in an energetic and growing company. He works literally right next door which makes his commute fairly straight forward (the mileage on his shoes is greater than on his truck!)  and his work schedule is awesome which helps us maintain that little bit of difference we desire.

I am now the Chaplain at the FSJ Hospital and Peace Villa Care Home. It is a part time position but one that is very rewarding. I thoroughly enjoyed my many years in the school district but it seems that my focus in counseling is shifting.  It has always been in my heart to work with the elderly, and to offer restoration and closure to those in palliative and nursing care.  I have now been blessed with the opportunity to work alongside those walking through grief, and to present an avenue for wholeness and healing to begin.  I also get to celebrate brand new babies, encourage those who are lonely, pray with those who are afraid, stand with those fighting cancer, and rejoice with those who return home healthy.  

Never ending quotes:

“I have so much to teach you before you die, Mom.”

“Oh why am I not Scottish?”

“Funny how your brain doesn’t remember things that your sister’s brain does.”

 The Smithlings…

NAOMI:  is 17, driving, and is taking both grade 11 and 12 courses this year.  She dropped the French program this year in order to focus on the sciences but is fluent enough in French that she will never be lost for words. Her passion for science is astounding and she is becoming quite a little Nerd.  There is nothing sacred about our bodily functions that she cannot describe to us in incomprehensibly detailed terminology.

Being intent on maintaining her 98% average, she has little time for much else in the way of sports or entertainment. She continues to play the piano for fun and often joins me at the Care Home to play for the seniors.  She is also enrolled in a job shadow program at the Hospital where she will be able to determine first hand if she really wants to become a doctor. 

EDEN: is 16, has her learners driving permit, and is in Grade 10. She is still in the French Immersion Program   but loves her English class (and her English teacher).   Not quite as “nerdy” as Naomi, Eden prefers language and literature to science and matter although she too is headed toward the medical profession.  She is a Junior Volunteer at the hospital again and gets to hang out with me at work.  She loves the interaction with the patients and will be a fabulous nurse.   She continues to dance, draw and bake – from which we are all benefitting!

Elias: is 15 and very much like his father! He too is in Grade 10, and is completing this year on-line through Surrey, BC. He is enjoying the freedom of getting his courses finished at his own pace, which is much faster than traditional school, and has therefore had time for projects like harvest in Saskatchewan, woodwork with Grandpa, and odd jobs with his Dad.  He is very busy with soccer 5 times a week on 2 different teams and if you follow us on Facebook, will notice that his social life is hardly suffering!

 

We look forward to staying home, maintaining a semblance of balance, and embracing the New Year as openly and with as much enthusiasm as we did the "old" one. 
       
                                                                                                  Love, Tim, Roz, Naomi, Eden and Eli



SS 2 Site 26 Comp.1 Fort St. John, BC, Canada V1J 4M7  (250) 263-9876  tnrsmith5@gmail.com  http://tnrsmith.blogspot.com  

 

 

I have finally decided to create another blog! Our Off Exploring blog has been closed and we had it printed into a book for our keepsake!  It is a priceless bathroom reader now, from which we all get a giggle now and then as we read about silly little things we have already completely forgotten.

I have so enjoyed keeping in touch with all of you - many we have known "forever" - many we have met along the way - and many more we have yet to meet – that I can no longer suppress this relentless urge to Blog.  It's so exciting that there are people right next to us every day that with a little effort can become new friends (how fun is that?).  My new job has put me in the middle of an entirely new circle of amazing people, as has Tim's... and so the friendships grow...

We welcome you again on our journey. We are not travelling any great distance over any great land, however, ‘Travel’ is defined by Miriam Beard in such a way that we may cover more ground from within than even we are prepared for…  “Travel is more than seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”