Smiles, Laughs and photo shoots with Jer

Well - we finally took some long awaited family pictures!! (although this photo on top is not one that Jer took - but one I took this time last year, of our back yard) The family pictures were very long awaited considering the last family portraits were taken when Josh was 3 1/2 and Ashley was 6 months barely. Oh, I guess we also have taken family shots when Josh and Leah got married, and most recently, a year ago when Ashley and Michael got married. For my birthday this year - besides the Goldeyes game and supper - my gift also included getting Jeremy (www.jeremyhiebert.ca) to come and do our family photo shoot.

So here we were, this past Wednesday night. Jer got out before everyone arrived home in Anola - and surveyed some good photo spots. Jeremy used to be a very common person in our home - as he and Josh have been such great friends for so long. In fact, I used to do alot of baking for the boys - that was before Jer found out he had gluten allergies. It seems when the kids grew up and moved out - our home became much quieter - as the friends no longer came out! We went through withdrawal in those days!

Anyhow - on Wednesday, there we were - with Jeremy capturing some shots of the family. We wanted to make sure we got photos since this setting - our farm in Anola has been our life for over 26 years. (I should have gotten Jeremy to get a few shots of the junk-free, decluttered home!!)

We went outside and had photos taken first of all down the path - the path that led to Grandpa and Grandma's house. The path that we walked so many times, to go to Mom and Dad Klassen's or they to come to our house. The path that Leah walked down to meet Josh where he was waiting for her, on their wedding day. The path that Ashley walked down, to where Michael was waiting to see her for the first time on their wedding day too! We had a few pics taken here. The path that has grown over a little since Dad K. passed away, and Mom moved in. We don't walk that way anymore.
It used to be a path - our kids walked alot! So did our dog Oreo. Such it was that Oreo also followed us, and made it into some of the pictures too.

We had pictures taken in the poplar trees in the pasture, after the cows moved away. Yep, had to dodge some of the freshly left behind cow patties! We had a guys only shot, and a girls only shot, as we hung over the fence. We had shots taken on a hill with long grass (really the old and seasoned manure pile!!) and we had shots with the red shop taken in the background. We had shots taken in our front yard by the old implements that have graced our yard since we put them there years and years ago. Some of the shots that we DIDN'T take but are forever etched in my mind's photo album are when Ashley got stuck up in the old Oak tree and Uncle Nelson had to try to get here out - or when she got stuck down between the piles of 1000 lb. hay bales, or when Josh was teaching Nikki how to be a sled dog, or when he took up the art of graffiti/spray paint. (maybe you wondered why some of our back buildings are graffittied on!). Or pictures of when our dog got stuck up on the hay bales - or when I had to help deliver calves during the dead of winter! Or family shots around a campfire in the front yard, or the boys snowboarding down the ramp that they and Alvin made in the yard! Lots of photos stored in this memory.

And, Leah asked if we could make sure to have shots taken as we walked Springfield Road. I was so glad she asked Jer about those. You see - Springfield Road has been a road that we as a family have walked ALOT!! I remember pushing the kids in the big English pram that my dad bought from a second hand store - when Ashley was born. I could put her in there, AND let Josh sit in the pram too - it had great wheel suspension!!

I remember when I walked through my depression - walking, talking to God, crying, and it was while walking this gravel road that God often gave me affirmations of His love, through the sight of those little fuzzy caterpillars!

We walked as a family and planned ministry events - some of our best ideas came out of our walks.

We walked - just us girls.
We walked - as a family.
We walked - just Alvin and I.
I walked - just me and Oreo....
And, always our Lord. His presence has gone with us on each walk.

I remember the night of Jay's birth - that Alvin and I walked - talking, weeping... holding hands. Looking at the beautiful sun as it set.

Springfield Road - sometimes I think that when we leave this house - that I should take a jar full of gravel - to represent our journey here -
My tears have aided in "dust control".
I often wondered if neighbors watched and wondered why my lips were moving - as I walked and talked to God - out loud. Or I sang...

Such it was that on Wednesday, as Jeremy took photos, we, the six of us - well actually seven, as our little grandbaby was incognito!! But we walked - perhaps the last time we walk "as a family" before we move - or maybe not - who knows, we may have another walk before then. This family shot will always be dear to my heart.

Jeremy and Meagan and Aaron, their son, shared supper with us - and we talked and laughed. It was good. It felt like a bit of the past, mixed with the future.
A bit of the old - alot of the new. A bit of the familiar - with alot of the unknown. And throughout the night - God was the unseen guest. The constant presence with us. Walking... holding...catching tears... getting dusty with us!

I can hardly wait to see the pictures. They will be part of our life forever. And once we move - we will find a new path - to walk, to talk, to laugh.

A huge thank you to God - who has given us the gift of family - our kids who make Alvin and I laugh ALOT.
A huge thank you to God - who has given us the gift of friends - which includes Jeremy and Meagan and their little guy Aaron.
A huge thank you to God - who will take our past - and wipe our tears - who holds our present and walks through each day with us - and to God who knows our future and loves us so completely. God - we give you thanks and praise.

And Jeremy Hiebert - we thank you - for taking the pictures of our little Jay - so that we have them forever. (www.jeremyhiebert.ca/jaybenjaminklassen) If you have never yet seen how beautiful my little Grandson Jay was - then please check out the site.

And thanks Jer, for taking the pictures of our family in our current home, so that we will always have the memories of this place. I can hardly wait to see the pictures!!

Posted Saturday, October 3
10:05 pm