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18th September 2018
EDITOR
Hello All,


This is a story about life and death which I hope will keep a forest whole...

My name is Melissa McConville and I live with my two kids, Jade age 10 and Cayle age 8 at 3425 Whiting Way. We bought the land on Whiting Way 9 years ago because of the incredible forest and the large area of protected land that we back up against.

We lived in a RV and a large tent for two years while building our home with the forest/wood which was here. We birthed our son in our tent at the end of the three week snowstorm 8 years ago while building our home.

Gavin, my husband, named our home 'Froggy Acres' due to the spring symphony with the three ponds that surround us and we go for daily walks on what we call the '100 Acre Woods', which is the ecological reserve that we back up against.

We have brought our children up without computer games, we don't have a TV, and I do not have a cell phone. We sit down together for meals and read together and spend tons of time being outside in nature in the forest.

My husband, Gavin, died in a tragic car accident almost two years ago, just a few kilometres before home. The children were in the car when their father died.

We have been managing and healing since then and have been blessed with lots of support from family and friends and from Spirit. Much of our healing though has been and continues to evolve around being outside in Nature. My husband's spirit continues to bring us reassurance and message from Nature that help ease the pain.

When we were first looked to buy 'Froggy Acres', we were with our two year old and hoping for a second child soon but not pregnant yet. We were living in Yellowknife,NWT at the time and knew we wanted to move back to BC and homestead as my husband had a dream to build our home and I had a dream to design one. When the realtor in 2008 showed us our lot which we now live on, we also decided to look at the ones across the road as well on the north side of Whiting Way. While there I silently asked Creator for a sign which lot would be best for us. A few minutes later as Gavin and Jade and I walked along the path holding hands, I looked back south towards the spot we now have and saw three eagles circling around the area which our house now resides at. Moments later a forth eagle joined the circle and there they flew for a few moments all together over our future home. I knew then not only would we buy that acreage and build our home there but also that we would also be blessed with a second baby. And that we did.... we moved here eight months later, then 5 months pregnant and began our dream.

Yet as we both knew in our minds, yet maybe didn't appreciate in our hearts (as we had been taught in Buddhist meditation) 'everything changes'... our dream changed and Gavin died suddenly. In the 25 days before his funeral service, the children and I just stayed on the land here at 'Froggy Acres'. There was always a loving person with us as I couldn't drive or care for myself or my children at that time.

One of these afternoons the children and I were lying on the grass outside the house together and as I looked up I saw four eagles circling right above us and our home. We watched this for a few moments and then I cried as one of them flew away and the other three kept circling together over us.

We found out about the proposed logging last week. We all cried... but my son (the one born in the tent here on the land with the middle name Arden meaning 'great forest') cried so hard at the time and well into the night. We still have a hard time bringing it up without him shedding tears. At night we say what we are grateful for and the children keep reminding me to pray for the trees and the land of that 60 acre parcel so that it will remain as a forest. They ask their father's spirit to help us do whatever we can to be a part of saving this forest.

This forest has been and will continue to be a huge part of our healing. This forest is not only for our future generations but for our children today and for ourselves right now so that we can stay connected to Spirit, to healing, to Nature. This forest has to stay a forest for itself, for the plants and for the animals that are there. I would like to tell our story to help save the forest. Please let us know when we can share in a way that will have the most impact for changing the mind of the owner so that this land can be bought by responsible, compassionate people in order to protect this land and continue to bring healing to the people now and in the future.

Kind regards and many thanks for all the work you have each done,

Melissa McConville