What a Week...!

Hi family and friends,


        Well, if you follow me on facebook at all, then you already know some of how our week has been... ARGH! But more on that in a minute...
        Our week started out pretty average. We enjoyed a great service at New City Church just two blocks away from our house and then had Matt's brother Jason and his fiance Breanne over.  It was a good visit!
       Monday Matt was busy at school all day while I drove around the city running some errands and dropping off resumes. I then packed up a picnic dinner, picked Matt up from school and we headed down to the Bayfront Park in Hamilton. It was a GORGEOUS day and the park was busy with people enjoying what little remains of the summer weather. It was a great break and we both enjoyed it!

The change to fall colours has begun at the Bayfront Park.

 Enjoying the Beautiful Day and Yummy Picnic

 Hamilton Harbour Lakefront

 He's a goof... But he's my goof! :)

 Such a great view!

 Enjoying the evening out.

        Tuesday wasn't too busy of a day. I kept busy around the house and Matt kept busy working on his book report that is due tomorrow. He had a 200 page book to read and then review in a little over a week so he worked on it most of this week. Tuesday evening we headed out to a little pub that's close by to watch my brother and his band "Bruekke" play. It's been great to be in the same city as my brothers and having the opportunity to be a part of what they're doing out here. 

Here's the Band:

       We headed home shortly after and stopped to grab Matt's bike out of the back of our truck so that we would have the space we needed to pick up his desk the next day. 

        Wednesday morning started the same as most of our other mornings with us getting up, getting ready and heading out to drive Matt to school. But it wasn't meant to be this morning. We got outside to the side walk in front of our house and looked both ways and then looked both ways again, and then looked both ways one more time before realizing that our truck was NOT where we had parked it the night before. We walked around dumbfounded for a bit before actually admitting to ourselves that our truck must have been STOLEN! So not what we expected to have happen! I mean, it's a good truck, get's us from A to B and all that, but it's OLD! We called the police immediately who told us to come down to the station to make a statement. Which we did right away. At the station we were told that our truck was likely gone for good.... Ummmm WHAT? So not good news! We then came home and got on the phone with insurance, Matt's parents, my parents, etc. trying to figure out what to do! We realized there wasn't really alot we could do until we heard back from insurance so we just kind of hung tight until they called us back the NEXT DAY! We were a little frustrated by that point but once we talked to them and got the ball rolling, it seemed like it would all work okay. We were coming to the realization that we should probably start shopping for a new vehicle, albeit a little bit earlier than we planned. Insurance set us up with a sweet little SUV rental to drive around while the search for our truck continued. We were told to drive it around for 7 days, and then if our truck was not found, we would be offered a settlement and then be shopping for a new car. We made peace with this realization and started looking on Kijiji and the like for a new vehicle. Imagine our surprise then, when on Friday afternoon, we received a phone call that our truck had been found just 3 blocks from our house! We had mixed emotions at this point because we had accepted it was gone and were getting excited about some possible options for a new car. We met the police at our truck where it had been left with the lock on the drivers side damaged, and missing our stereo, GPS, Tim's I-Pod (sorry Tim!), and 300 of Matt's C.D.'s. Not quite the news we hoped for. The police also discovered that the ignition was now so loose that you could start the truck without a key... Not very encouraging!

        Well, we called insurance back on Friday afternoon and were told where we have to bring the truck for repairs. We brought in there on Friday and it is hopefully getting worked on tomorrow and Tuesday. We have been blessed in that insurance is allowing us to keep the rental vehicle until ours is repaired so at least we haven't been stranded. We now have to wait and see what ends up happening with the repairs before hopefully trying to actually sell the truck now. It's just not a practical vehicle for us to be driving around in the city. Insurance explained to us that only things that aren't "removables" from the truck will be covered. This means that while the stereo is covered, unfortunately we have no coverage for the GPS, I-Pod or any of Matt's C.D.'s. Definitely not good news, but thankfully just "things" and a lesson learned. 

        Thursday night we had a break and an opportunity to go out for dinner with my Uncle Jan and Auntie Veronica as well as their son Derek and his girlfriend for dinner. Uncle Jan & Aunt Veronica are here visiting for a week from B.C. So it was nice to see some friendly faces from far away! 

Here's some dinner pictures:

        Friday night I decided that I really wanted to get out of the city and convinced Eric and Joy to come with me. (No amount of convincing would get my sad/grumpy/frustrated hubby to come with us! :P ) We headed out for dinner and then to watch the fireworks that happen every Friday night at Niagara Falls. We met up with my cousins as well as my Aunt & Uncle. It was great to escape for even a couple of hours.

        Last night, Matt and I hit up the "Super Crawl" here in Hamilton. It's this big arts festival with booths and music and arts, etc. Tim's band was also "busking" on the street so we listened to them for a while as well. It was a nice end to a somewhat crazy week!

        Well, we are headed into a new week now. I had two job interviews mixed in with all the chaos of this past week and I hope to hear back on either Monday or Tuesday so prayers for that would be appreciated. Thank you to all our friends and family who are praying for and encouraging us. You guys are awesome and your presence is felt, all the way out here in Ontario! :)

Much Love, 

Matt & Jacquie