TCS: It Feels Like Home by Lorraine Deemter

As we look back on the last 16 years we have so many sweet memories of TCS.  We can truly say throughout all are our personal ups and downs our TCS community has been a vital part of our life and played a huge role supporting us as a family and in raising our children to be the best they can be for God’s glory. 

You may be surprised though, Trinity was not our first pick.  Our hope was to send our children to a Christian school near Ponoka to be close to friends. Klaas and I quickly realized that it was not the right school for us and that we needed to be in the south part of the city. I remember feeling very disappointed about this decision. However, this is what brought us to the doors of Trinity Christian School.  When we toured Trinity, it felt like home.  It was so similar to what we both grew up with and valued; a Christ-centred, authentic community with the knowledge that each child learns differently. We chose TCS and in 2005 our oldest started kindergarten. Little did we know then, how much our decision to send our kids to Trinity would mean to us now. 

We quickly got involved at TCS. Klaas joined the Finance committee (and never left) and served on the board (twice).  I chose to get involved in the Education and Kindergarten Action Committees as well as serve on the board.  And more on the fun side, we got more directly involved with our children at school; Kindergarten carnival evenings, last day of school lake time, educational and fun filled field trips, grade 6 experience trip, SALTS, overnight sports trips.  We remember the fun of cheering on our children at sports events with great enthusiasm and sharing the highs and low of this with friends.  We may seem to be over involved parents but through all this involvement our lives were enriched and blessed with purpose and lifelong friendships. It was our way of serving and supporting the school that was supporting us, and boy, did TCS support us.

Throughout our time at TCS we have had some deep hardships; one of our children struggled with health issues and ended up in the hospital for a few weeks, Klaas was diagnosed with cancer and, most recently, our house destroyed by a fire.  Looking back at these difficult times, we have been overwhelmed from our community (our home) with love, child care, rides to school, encouragement, meals, a freezer full of meat, loving cards from students and staff, and many prayers!  We remember many parent teacher interviews where we would chat about my children and instead of only focussing on the academics, teachers spoke about my children’s heart and even took time to pray with me over the life of my children.  This support throughout the years made it possible for us to care for our each of our family members without all the other stresses of life and provided our children with some stability.

And now here we are, our youngest is just days away from his graduation.  I am sitting in a house we have recently rented after the fire.  16 years and 4 children at TCS, we feel humbled and grateful. It has been a life journey – ups and downs and all arounds.  Having TCS come alongside us as we raised our family has been more of a blessing to us than we could have imagined. It provided a solid education for my children, a loving community, a great upbringing for our children and so many fun and great memories!  God placed us right where we needed to be. Not a surprise!

May God continue to bless TCS and our families as TCS continues to fulfill its vision:

Our vision is
to fulfill the unique potential of each child
through tenacious curiosity
within a Christ-centered, authentic community.