Algoma Mills, ON

I am sitting in the township offices of Algoma Mills in a room they have provided for free internet access and I am crying. Crying because of all the love and encouragement you have sent my way - through notes, gifts, phone calls and comments on the blog. There are so many of you that I am shocked at how large the family of God is. Your words of hope and encouragement are like a strong wind at my back moving me gently forward. EVERY word and prayer is important and needed so please don't give up. Stay with me all the way.
And then there is our faithful God. Nothing changes in Him. Nothing is frightening or overwhelming. I am without words to describe the way God has provided in every little detail - and as I write those words I am thinking, "They won't understand what I mean. Those words aren't big enough." But all I have is the feebleness of words to express God's faithful provision. The psalmist says, "How majestic is your name in all the earth!" Was it a question? Not really, just an open ended way of saying that there is no way to express how majestic, powerful, gentle, loving, providing, attentive .... our God is. My heart bursts with gratitude that He thinks on me.
I am happy walking everyday. Each morning we pray that God will provide a place for us to park for the night. And every night there is somewhere - last night it was a snowplow turn around. There was a big no parking sign that read SNOW ROUTE. We did hear of snow forecast for east of Sudbury but not where we were (how strange after so many days of 30 degree temps). So parked and played a game of scrabble (yawning and not able to sleep - I did get 125 pts for one word). We went to bed thinking that the police might ask us to move along in the night and that would be ok. Instead when we woke up (slept in til 6 am)we had two neighbours (2 semis sleeping in the turnaround too). We hadn't even heard them pull in. We must be getting used to sleeping through the highway noise. We have an ongoing joke about needing to have a train go by so that we can sleep. EVERYWHERE we stay is close to a train track. This is more of an indication of the north's dependance on the train system than our propensity to find a noisy place to sleep. Although that night beside the train tracks under the hwy overpass was very very noisy. One train took 4 min to pass that night, and trains passed every hour.
Sorry that I am unable to post any photos today as I am working on their computers which don't have the capability to download the photos from our cameras.
Today we have got our first good view of the North Channel. This is a historic waterway that runs along the north shore of Lake Huron. It was a beautiful vista and will post the photos asap.
I have mentioned blisters - with Joshua's advice I have stopped soaking my feet every night so that they can get hardened. Am also use Gold Bond Body Powder on my feet and in my socks to keep the moisture down. The blisters are hardening now and there is no pain. Josh also told me I should be changing my socks at breaks. This has been excellent advice.
Also, there was a problem with the top of my right foot - to remedy this I began wearing my orthotics (should have been doing this all along) and changed sides of road that I walk on - now facing traffic so I can walk on the pavement until I see a car/truck coming and move off onto the gravel. Changing the sides of the road has also helped with the slant on the shoulder - my right foot was carrying the majority of the weight on the right side of the road.
We have also changed our schedule for the day. We get up at 5 (unless we sleep in :) and I walk for about 2 hours. Then we stop for a long bfast. I am back out on the road for another 2 hours and then we have lunch. One more hour of walking gets me to 25 km but some times we go on for another hour. This seems to work best - stopping every hour just seemed like more of an irritation than a help.
Well, I hate to leave you but I am on my way to Blind River today and Paul is coming back from Josh & Becky's today. He is also visiting his parents in Huntsville.
Some exciting news is that yesterday we found out that Diane & Carmen's daughter Charmane is in labour. She will be delivering early but not to early to worry the Dr.s. In all the excitment Diane went to start the truck and it was dead in the water! I was quite a ways ahead and she sent me a text message to say she thought the battery was dead. Talking to Carmen he thought the solenoid was gone and Paul suggested the same diagnosis. Diane had the forsight before we left to purchase RV CAA coverage. So she called for assistance. Within an hour (to my surprise) a young fellow named Eric showed up in a small tow truck. He tried to boost it but no response. He had another idea and came towards our truck with a hammer when I suddenly thought, "I wonder if its in PARK." I asked Diane and to our relief that was the only problem. In the excitement and confusion of becoming a grandparent Diane had forgotten to put it in park when she turned off the ignition. We thank God again for all His care and provision. We all had a good laugh and were none the worse for the incident.
We do laugh alot throughout the day. What a blessing to be here. Keep writing your comments - our love to all.
Denise