Lesson of the Month:

Don't lock yourself out of your fiancee's parents house when they are away on vacation.

Second lesson of the month:

If all else fails - ask a truck driver

Yup... that was me last Friday morning. I thoughtlessly locked myself out of my home away from home while bringing all my 'junk' out to the car that I needed to take home that night. Not included in my junk, however, were my keys, cell-phone, or any numbers that would be helpful to call in such a situation as I found myself in. Needless to say, I panicked a little and raced around the house looking for any opportune places to break in. Fortunately for the Speelman's (unfortunately for me), there were no such places. At this point I was really stuck as I was out in the country with no way to call any one, and no way to break in to the house as I could not recall the code number to the garage. Searching for options, I happened to spot a truck about 100 metres down the road by the corn fields. I rather sheepishly approached him, explained the situation, and requested the use of his phone for a short-long distance phone call to my fiancee. Needless to say I was quite thrilled to hear Marty's voice when I finally got a hold of him (I may or may not have accidentally called Michelle's number first... oops!). Marty (after wondering where on earth I was calling from) informed me of the number that would allow me access back into the house and I finally allowed myself to breathe easy again. Whew! Thank goodness for friendly truck drivers! :)

Home away from home

This is my home for the next 8 months, pretty isn't it?









The side entrance, and just a taste of the GORGEOUS gardens here!





Some of the pretty flowers in the pretty garden at the pretty house :).

For those interested...

For those interested, and haven't already noticed the link on the side-bar, Marty and I have started a wedding website for those interested to see some of the details of our wedding. We'll be updating it as we go along and know more information , so feel free to check it out!

Happy 50^th Birthday Mom!

It is this wonderful ladies birthday today. If you see her, be sure to congratulate her for me and give her a hug in my absence!

I am so blessed to have her as my mother. My mom has taught me the meaning of the word hospitality and is one of the most loving people I know. My mom is talented and very creative - I can still remember the endless work she put in to making the most unique cakes for us as children and the little notes she would include in our lunch packs (I always loved those!). She has spent hours doing homework with us as kids and as we have gotten older, has encouraged each of us to follow Christ with all our hearts. I love you Mom, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Love you always,

Rachel

And so it begins...

So my first two days at Western's Faculty of Education are done, and I can confirm that they are much like the first two days at any University (or at least Redeemer). Thursday consisted of registration (MUCH easier than Redeemer - consisted of me entering the building, finding my name, and picking up a file), opening welcome, orientation tours, bbq lunch, etc. VERY busy, but not bad. The only hard part was getting OUT of the campus, battling all the other students who were attempting to exit at that precise moment. The second day was a little different in the fact that we actually did some work, unlike Redeemer where the 'real' work doesn't start until at least part way through the week ;). Mind you, the work was light, and the company was quite good. All in all, it was a decent two days and I feel slightly more prepared now for what is ahead of me. I have now secured my parking transponder and have succeeded at not getting lost from the campus to Marty's parents place, my home for the next 8 mo., so thus far I am feeling good. I also found out that I have a wireless connection anywhere in Althouse (Faculty of Ed. building), which makes me very happy since I have but a dial-up connection at home, which would make research some what difficult. Now I can research at school, save the webpages and view later at home at my pleasure :). I am quite pleased. So that is my update for those interested, and here is a map of my 'school home' for the next 8 mo. :