Why Nova Scotia?

When Julie and I finished up our first year in Abu Dhabi, we had the opportunity to go practically anywhere in the world. We're next door to a host of Asian countries; Africa's not that far; and there's so many European countries we'd love to visit while on this side of the world. It would have been easier and cheaper to visit almost any part of the world other than Nova Scotia. So, why spend all that time and money (especially when the US Dollar is taking such a beating) going someplace we'd already been? It had only been a year, why not push back the visit to Canada just a little more and do something new? These are good questions.

There's really only one answer.

We visited Nova Scotia for the people. While we were there we had some great visits with friends and family and that was a great comfort to us. In many cases it felt like we had never left, and had we not had a departure date looming over us, it would have been easy to pick up right where we left off.

No doubt, the highlight of the whole experience was Miranda's baptism on August 14th. It's always nice to go out on a high note, and I don't know how we could have left on any note higher. There were so many people who came to share in the experience and we were grateful for the love we felt and the desire to share

This is the point in the blog where I would post some of the great pictures we took during our last few days in Nova Scotia. There were pictures with grandparents and friends. We had some great shots from the last day of swimming lessons and, of course, Miranda's baptism. But we lost those pictures along with the camera and computer. It could have been worse. I might not have kept the blog and we would have lost everything. Things could always be worse. But ultimately, we didn't go for the pictures, and the relationships we renewed and strengthened will endure longer than any souvenir we might have brought back. Sure, the trip ended up costing us a lot more than we had planned, but it was still worth it.

Miranda at the Temple on her special day. Eight years old already.

The kids with Grandma, Grandpa and Miley on the morning of our departure. I was able to find enough of a
break in the tears to get this one.