From MorMor's Journal - December 1986

Kirsten reading her composition in the mall.

Someone must have prayed for an exciting year for us (was it me?)  If it was nothing else, it was exciting!
First it was the 'excitement' of having a teenager around the ouse.  She left mid-February.  Then Einar's broken arm.  Then of course we had Expo and company.  We had a wonderful tinme with Onkel Knut & Tante Tordis and it made us all long to go to Norway for a long visit.  It was so good to have Mom & Dad and Tim & Mabel here together.  Their kids are a joy!  Then Roy & Diane came with their three kids - or was it four?  The fourth looked like Einar but acted an awful lot like Curtis!  They had fun together!
Then our little foster daughter came.  We all fell in love with her but she left after three months.  The girls still miss her.
Einar kept himself busy with the fire department, at church (chairman of offering stewards and usher) and at work (Forestry mostly - now also Woodfibre.)
I keep busy too.  Besides the usual housework I get a lot of company.  I've sold both Avon and Regal this year as well as my own crafts (barrettes, Christmas corsages, etc.)  My friend Shelly & I talked about going into business doing crafts!
Then Shelly got sick.  I took her kids while she was in the hospital.  That was some weekend.  She had offered to babysit the girls while Einar & I went to the Fireman's Ball.  It's probably good that the girls were there.  Shelly got sick very suddenly and when Kirsten saw how sick she was, she said to her, "Don't worry about the kids, Mrs C, I'll look after them."  (She's 7, Rachel's 5, and Shelly's kids are 4 & 2)  She read them several books until Mrs Purdie came and put them all to bed.  Shirley got ahold of us and we came back.  I stayed there while Einar & Shirley took Shelly to the hospital.  Einar got back around 12:30, and at about 1:00 they had a call to an accident. 
Einar got back around 3:00 a.m. and managed to sleep for a couple of hours.  We took the kids home to our place and Einar went back to bed.  He was sick. I took all the kids to church Sunday morning and Sue & I arranged to run into town after lunch because I needed some groceries and she was going to pay me for babysitting.  Kirsten had been such a help to Shelly and to me that I told her she could come along.  We got our groceries and on the way home we were broadsided by a car heading south on the highway.  Sue's Pony flipped and rolled a few times before it settled in the ditch - right-side up and facing up towards the road.  Sue crawled out of her windows and Kirsten & I crawled out of the windshield (which wasn't there) and we got up onto the road.  Sue's hands were lacerated and bleeding (no big cuts - just lots of little ones) and she had glass all over - including in her eyes.  Kirsten was crying - she had really been scared but she and I were both fine.  The police were concerned that she'd go into shock - she was so gray - so they called an ambulence.  They took their time cleaning Sue up before they took us to the hospital.  Sue only had one scratch in her eye from all that glass.  Evie sings a song: "I have an angel that watches me."  I guess our angels were working overtime!
Kirsten never even had a nightmare because of it.  Though she is an awful passenger right now - always asks us to slow down.
We had Shelly's kids all that week and they were just excellent.  So were Kirsten and Rachel.  Rachel usually tires very quickly of company but I guess she realized she couldn't this time, and so she and Catherine were just buddies.  She wouldn't even go to her friend Tiffany's unless Tiffany invited Catherine.
Rachel just loves Kindergarten.  She had Mrs Bowcock for quite awhile and wasn't sure she liked Mrs Cheal when she wame on the scene.  The teachers say she is self-motivated and independant and quiet.  She's a quick learner, too.
Kirsten is at the top of her class.  Some in her class read at a 1-6 level, but she's at a grade 3-8 level.  She loves French and Mrs Magnolo said to get her into French Immersion as soon as possible.
Just in case I couldn't keep busy doing what I was doing, when the Pastor asked for an Administrative Assistant, I volunteered.  I could work from 5 hours/week to full-time.  I try to get to the church every day (Monday to Friday) to at least see what needs to be done.  My job is to keep Pastor Purdie from doing everyone else's jobs.  I really enjoy that.