Life in Beaumont

I thought I'd give you a glimpse of some of the important places in our town that make up the routine of September for us.

This is the center of our life - our house! I planted the lovely flowers in the front myself (quite a feat for me; I'm not a gardener!). Our house is a constant "work in progress". This week Janelle painted the gate to our backyard, and we bought light fixtures for downstairs. Carpet for the basement is next!

This is the reason we moved specifically to the town of Beaumont. This is our church, Eaglemont Christian Church. The building in the picture is phase one. It's our sanctuary/gym for now, and eventually we'll build an actual sanctuary in between the gym and the road at the front of the picture. This is where I work for a few hours a week typing for our pastor. Andy is on a committe planning a men's retreat, and on the rotation for setting up and taking down chairs each week (the pleasures of meeting in a gym!). Janelle has just taken over leadership of a new department created within Children's Ministries, "Tots Town" for children ages 18 months to 3 years. She was able to choose what toys to stock the room with, and each week prepares the story & craft for either her or one of the other teachers to use. She absolutely LOVES what she's doing! Calvin helps out in Janelle's class or mine, which is "Kidz City" for grades 1-6. Both kids attend the youth group, and I've recently joined together with several other ladies to begin "Connections: Coffee & Conversation", a morning coffee time for ladies. We love our church and love being a part of it. Next on our involvement: joining a small group in the next couple of weeks (just trying to decide which one).

This is "the" church in town, the Catholic church around which this town was built in the late 1880's. This is the focal point of Beaumont. It sits on the "beau mont" (beautiful mountain), which is a slight rise in elevation compared to the surrounding wheat fields! When people give directions in Beaumont, they always start by saying, "From the church you go...." and everyone knows which church they mean!

And finally, Janelle's favourite place - the high school. I took a picture of Calvin's school too, but it didn't turn out. Janelle has liked school (for the most part) since we moved here. She made friends quickly, but complains that the kids in Beaumont don't take their studies seriously enough. She came from a school of 1600 in Abbotsford to a school of 800 here, and finds that the casual atmosphere here isn't as conducive to learning. Calvin struggled with school when we moved here; the move has been a huge adjustment for him. After much prayer, I am relieved that he is off to a good start this year. He had one good friend he hung around with all summer, who is also in his class (there's only one Grade 8 French Immersion class at his school, with only 14 kids!). That made the start to the school year much easier. The first day he made friends with the only 3 girls in his class, one of whom is new to the school this year. He's very excited about some of his classes, especially Outdoor Education - biking, building snow forts, rock climbing, curling, archery, skiing, etc. He still has his moments of being sad and wanting to go "home" to Abbotsford, but he seems to be more enthusiastic about life here in Beaumont.

And there you have it - a "small" glimpse of life in Beaumont!