Packing

On New Year's Day our wonderful son and his lovely wife, along with their 3 little angels, came up for a few days to help us begin the packing process.  What a HUGE help they were - when the time came for them to make their way south again, our attic, back shed and garage were all empty, not to mention all our books, wall hangings and lots of odds and ends.  This gave us the confidence that the remaining things would be doable.  

Taking our picnic table apart.  

Room for a bit more?

Lots of coworkers and friends from our church offered to help with various tasks, including cleaning our house after we left!!  What more could we possibly ask for?

However, one week before we expected the truck to arrive for our belongings, we received word it would be there 'the day after tomorrow'.

What should we do?  Panic?  Call and ask them to postpone it for a few days? Roll up our sleeves and go to work full speed ahead and be ready 4 days early?

We choose the later and it is amazing how it all fell together.  The loading of the truck went smoothly, and away went the Niclasen's earthly possessions that evening. 

 The blessing of it all was it gave us a few extra days in the end to finish of tons of odds and ends.  

January

January - the month that would bring huge changes into our lives; the month we were both looking forward to and dreading at the same time.  We were excited about getting back to the Philippines and our new ministry, but dreading the upheaval of packing and the many difficult good byes.

January - the month another chapter in our life was completed; the month of packing, good byes, getting rid of all of our electric appliances, farewell parties, meetings with the Real Estate agent and lawyer for the sale of our house, canceling the phone etc. in our home, more packing, more good byes, last time for this, and last time for that and the story goes on.

Another chapter in our lives had come to an end.  That chapter that had us in England for 6 years included settling into our new home, making new friends, finding a new church and getting to know the folks there, learning new jobs and trying to change many words in our vocabulary so our dear British friends would know what we were talking about.

We look back on those years with fondness - it would have been so much easier to stay put until retirement, than uproot once more and go through the process of settling back into life in Asia.  However we both felt very strongly that this was what God was asking us to do, so in comparison to what He has done for us, it was a very small task, and we wanted to do it with joyful hearts.

About 10 min before our good byes to these precious girls.

We know tons of people were praying for us and God's grace brought us through that first big step.  Somehow in the midst of it all we were able to leave our home, hug our close friends for the last time and have a couple days with our British family.  The Lord was very gracious to us, helping us to continue to put one foot in front of the other and now our feet are in Canada.

Locking our door in North Cotes for the last time. 

I'll post a few short blogs with some of the bitter/sweet; happy/sad stories of our process of good byes, packing and leaving our home and family in England; from being settled in our home in North Cotes, to being with our wonderful family in Canada.

Austria - Part IV - Ice Caves

One day we had the joy of walking through the largest Ice Caves in the world.  Werfen is close to Salzburg and a beautiful drive to where the hike begins.

After the scenic route to Werfen and a 45 min. hike up the mountain, followed by a quick and exhilarating ride in the steepest cable car in Austria (1/2 km.) and then 700 steps inside the cave we were in awe of the gigantic and bizarre ice formations.  

Almost to the opening.

Looking back out of the cave.

Truly impressive ice figures.

Amazing underground world of natural ice formations.

Spectacular natural attraction!!

These gigantic and bizarre ice formations and sculptures leave a lasting impression.

The beauty of the ice sculptures rewarded the 700 step climb.

Fascinating display of ice and rock.   

Enjoying coffee at the top before we got our ride back down.

Within minutes this cable car took us from 1076-1586 meters above sea level.

On the path down there is a good view of the 900 year old medieval castle.  

Austria - Part III - Lake District

One day we took a drive to the beautiful Lake District.  With being so close to this breath taking scenery, we wouldn't have wanted to miss it.

As we were winding our way up and down the mountains, villages and picturous lakes kept appearing.

 We stopped in at several villages recommended by the locals and strolled though the scenic places with lots of small cozy shops and cafes, seeing more of Austrian life. 

A beautiful sight - we're happy tonight

Walking in the Alps of Austria!!

Hallstatt - one of Austria's oldest and possibly the most photographed village. 

 Mountain climbers. explorers, romantic poets, painters and Niclasens are attracted to this gorgeous village.

We needed to park our car up on the mountain and hike down to this unique place.

Glass like lake and delightful houses built into the mountains.
 

Tiny village tucked between mountains and water. 

Stunningly beautiful and quaint little village.

 Crystal clear lakes and picturesque hillsides.

We can understand why it is known as one of the most attractive areas in Austria.

Austria - Part II - Salzburg

We so enjoyed our little cabin on the hillside, near Salzburg.
Sitting around the cozy fire - readying a book, doing a sudoku or watching a DVD by the cozy fire was a dream holiday - maybe extra special because we seldom take time for any of those things when we are home.

The owner brought us freshly pressed apple juice, bread just out of the oven, cheese, cold cuts and other home made products from their farm each morning.  Spoiled!!

Salzburg is not only Mozart's home town, but also the town where the well known 'Sound of Music' was filmed.

Our first day there we went on a tour of the various places where 'The Sound of Music' was recorded.   Seeing the various sights from that still popular movie was so much fun.

There were reminders every where we went of Mozart.  I also enjoyed a tour of his childhood home which is now a museum. 

 Note the colours on the keyboard - opposite of our pianos today.  

Although I must admit Opera Music is not my favorite, we really did enjoy the Mozart Dinner concert.  The performer's talents were stunning.

We thought the car park was interesting.  Here we are in line to drive into the car park - built into the mountain.

I'm in the oldest Restaurant in Europe - it opened in 805!!

Enjoyed a sheep cheese (roasted with honey and lavender) and walnut salad.

On my way to Hohensalzburg Castle at the top of the hill.  

A fun, free aircraft museum called Hangar 7.

My favorite part was the cup of tea, and Ragnar's was the Super Cub, bringing back memories of the first aircraft that took us in and out of the tribe.

One day we took a cable car up to the top of Mt. Untersberg where we had a  breathtaking view of the city of Salzburg.

Sophie was one of our Volunteers here a couple of years ago.  She lives just outside Salzburg, and invited us to their home.  It was great to be able to have a visit with her one afternoon and meet her family.