The car is packed! Today, June 1st, we are Canada bound for a four-week road trip to and around Manitoba. We will be visiting some of our supporting churches (see the calendar below) and many of our awesome friends and family in the area. It/s been a year and a half since the family has been to Manitoba, and we are eager to get back.
Here’s how we look:
① Tom – Our fearless leader who usually does 98% of the driving. By the look of our current schedule, he will be driving just over 4,500kms. He has been known to sing folk songs when boredom sets in and make crazy faces to the kids when filling up with gas (by my calculations we’ll probably need to fill the tank about eight times).
② Me (Candice) – The schedule coordinator and manager of children’s entertainment while in the car. There will be many stories to be read, get-togethers to be scheduled, and snacks to be distributed during our total estimated forty hours in the car, round trip.
③ Jonathan (age 5) – Just graduated from preschool-at-home. He is now our first kindergarten student at the “Scatliff Homeschool Academy”. Jonathan will ride with a load of easy reader books, pencil crayons, connect-the-dots, and a road map. He is very much looking forward to seeing his cousins and grandparents again.
④ Matthew (age 2 ½) – Loaded with sippy cups, Thomas the Train audio CDs, and a wooden train set, Matthew will probably be passionately resisting his car seat for most of the ride. Oh Matthew…
⑤ Electric cooler – Containing milk, raisin boxes, fruit, cheese strings, and any other at least semi-nutritious snack to buy us time on the road and fend off the unhealthy road-food tragedies of long car trips. We hope to keep eating out to a minimum to keep costs down.
⑥ Box of support-raising material – Brochures, SonSet radios, prayer cards, business cards and the like for setting up info tables at churches. We pray this material is informative to those interested in our ministries!
⑦ Presentation material – Tom’s computer, laser pen, projector, and Prezi slideshow. Tom is our spokesperson at churches and comes prepared with his own gear to use if need be.
⑧ Two suitcases of personal items – Clothes, pillows, teddies, pajamas, blankets and the like to create a sense of home for the kids while on the road for four weeks. If you would, please pray that our children will transition well from place to place. Although often exciting, these types of trips can be quite difficult on the kids (complete loss of schedule and home and having to say goodbye so many times).
⑨ Brayden’s belongings – We had an intern from southern Manitoba stay in our home for five weeks and work with us at SonSet Solutions. We are honored to help bring some of his belongings home to Manitoba for him.
⑩ Bag of over-the-counter meds, car jack, spare tire, and random car fluids – When crossing the border, hanging out with crowds, and putting on so many miles it’s inevitable that someone (or the car!) gets sick. Hoping to not have to use any of these items!
Did we forget something? I sure hope not – Here we go! See you soon, Manitoba!
The best way to contact us while we are traveling is by email: candice.and.tom@gmail.com, or text: 574-575-8735 (calls are terribly pricy).