Community Spirit

We live in a great little part of our city. Until an amalgamation several years ago, Lambeth was a small town outside London. I love that! London isn't a huge city, but it is so much bigger than anywhere that I have ever lived. I feel far more at home in a small town than a big city. The people here have known each other forever. I met a woman last spring whose entire family of five brothers and sisters still live in Lambeth. Natives of this area would tell you they are from Lambeth, NOT from London. It reminds me very much of Marysville, our adopted neighbourhood in Fredericton, and I think that's one of the reasons I was so happy that we found this community. We have our own grocery store, banks, pharmacy, dentists, diner, candy store, soccer fields, ball fields, library, arena and community centre, all a quick walk from our house. Within a five minute drive I can get to all kinds of U-Pick farms and orchards. I really never need to leave my little corner of the city, and I can fool myself into thinking that I don't live in a big city at all.

Until last week, there were two public schools in Lambeth: A.E. Duffield and M.B. McEachern. Now there is one school that all students from JK to Grade 8 attend: Lambeth Public School. On Friday, the "Lambeth Flyers" hockey team provided lunch and school t-shirts to every student in the school. It was quite a celebration, and just in time for the Lambeth Harvest Festival, which was held all weekend. Students were all encouraged to wear their school t-shirts to the Festival Parade on Saturday, and Connor and Janelle did so with pride!

We really didn't participate in the Harvest Festival a whole lot. We went to the parade and the hot dog lunch and the yard sale and the craft sale. I was a bit distracted by the new furniture I wanted to buy (more about that later), and we were happy to have Aunt Lori visiting on Saturday, and yesterday we were busy with church and the church barbecue in the afternoon. We didn't check out the fun fair or the adult dance or the baked bean dinner, or countless other Lambeth Harvest Festival traditions. But we did get a taste of what it means to be a part of this great little community. Last night as we watched the fireworks over the soccer field, with most of our neighbours sitting on lawn chairs in front of us, I was filled with a sense of gratitude and peace. I am so thankful that this is where we have found ourselves, where God has led us, and that our family can be part of this close-knit community, even though we are far from home.