fast and furious

It seems that the slower it gets at work, the more time I spend evangelizing. I had a wonderful conversation with a young server that went to a Christian school for all of her education. I can tell you that whether she is saved or not, there are definitely some choices she has made that were not biblical. Either way, we were talking about movies in our culture nowadays, and I mentioned to her a parable that I heard just last weekend from our friends down south. (it seems that they have made an impact on us, no?) I will give you the condensed version here...

The parable has to do with a teenage son wanting to see a movie that is mostly great, but with just one small part in it that is not appropriate. He argues with the dad up and down that he should get to see it because it is so great, and it's only just one small part that's inappropriate, the rest of the movie is great, all my friends are going...you know the teenage peer pressure out there.
Anyhow, the dad doesn't cave in. Instead, the next day, he invites his son's friends all over and when they are all gathered around, the dad says "I have made a special treat for you all. I made some brownies. Now these brownies aren't just regular brownies, they are top of the line premium brownies. I used the best chocolate out there, the finest flour, the sweetest premium sugar. I went all out on the brownies. The only thing is, I went to the back yard and got a small piece of dog poop and tucked it in there. Now it is only one very small piece of dog poop, the rest of the brownies are out of this world good. Who wants one?"

The point is, even if it's only one tiny part of a movie that is dog poop, are you still going to eat it?

I am going to post some more about our trip and the good times that we had on vacation, soon, really.

another late night

I find myself again up at a late hour, trying to decide what to share with you before I head off to bed. Another night of work is finished, and although not much has changed since Wednesday, I had a better night tonight. My Mom and Dad, and Auntie Gloria stopped in for dinner tonight. They don't usually come by my restaurant to see me, but it was my Dad's birthday, and I called him right when they were deciding where to go for dinner so he had no choice.
I was blessed to hear some stories about his trip to Bowren Lakes (sp?) and the canoe trip he took. It was cool to see how excited he was that he was able to make that journey, the 6 day epic canoeing adventure.

Now to make some friends and family's heads explode: We've been checking out RCA's online homeschooling programs the last couple days, and really praying about if this is the right decision. We have been getting advice from both sides on this subject for quite a while now as we have been questioning it for a while. Recently we have had some pretty convincing arguments for why we should homeschool. Wanna know what they are? Here's a couple:

-Deuteronomy 6:5-9
-Voddie Baucham's sermon regarding homeschooling, specifically the comment "if you send your children to be taught by Caesar, do not be surprised when they come home as Romans" (maybe not quoted exactly verbatim, but that's the general idea)
-pretty much the only time people are ever in a group of 25 people exactly the same age is in school. When is the last time you went to work with 25 people the same age as you? What will our children learn from this kind of social interaction? All kinds of negatives, and the only positive-learning how to wait in line.

There are surely more good reasons, but alas I fall victim to drained energy levels and a noisy cat who apparently does not think that it is ok for Eleanor to have a hamster in her bedroom.

late night musings

I have just made it home from work, and I have to say I had a challenge keeping a smile on the whole time that I was there. The whole night I felt off, never really enjoying what I was doing. I kept thinking of options on what I could be doing instead of this job, what I can do for income until paramedic school starts (which is still up in the air, thinking at least 1 year if not longer).

Then, as everyone was almost finished up and the restaurant was close to empty, God has shown me that maybe I am meant to stick around for a little while longer. I found out that a part time bartender is going to have a baby. She has been pregnant before, but lost the baby, so she is quite excited and nervous at the same time. Oh, and she has a full time job in advertising for the local paper. And it turns out, as we started to talk about how Vanessa and I would love to have another baby, that she knows the pastor of our church (hi pastor Philip!)-(who am I kidding, he doesn't read my blog), and we started talking about where our church is, and why she should come by. It was a pretty good chat, and I feel confident that she may come by soon.

Then, as the last server finished up, the bartender leaves and we start talking about which church I go to, and the one she goes to, and get in to all sorts of conversation about the struggles of a husband who will not entertain the notion of going to church and how hard that is. I will skip all the details cause it's 130 and I'm sleepy, but I am going to pray that they are able to work through his issues and get him to check out Alpha sometime.

God is great, and His ways are often hidden from us, yet they are always Good.

home again

We have safely returned from our little vacation to Goldendale, WA. We had a great time visiting with the Messenger Family on their little farm.

There is so much to share, yet so many things to get done (not to mention the pesky challenge of heading back to work soon) so I will give you a highlight or two, and as time goes on I will either give you more, or forget that I am supposed to.

First up on the highlight reel (although they are in no particular order of importance) is Eleanor's utter joy at spending time at the Messengers. I think that Eleanor is a natural born farm girl, and we may have to go and buy one for her now. You wouldn't know it from the last hour that we spent there, but she really did have a great time. From being able to feed the goats, checking the chicken coop for eggs a few times per day, playing with the dog, playing with the baby, to finding the closest friend she has ever had in Heaven. They were instant friends when we met back in April, and after 5 days together are even more so. It is great to see Eleanor be able to connect with a friend like she never has before.

That is all I can get into right now, as God has blessed me with a job that provides for my family. I will do my best to smile and enjoy because of this reason alone.

bbq'in

Yesterday was a busy day of bbq's and sun for us. We spent the lunch time and afternoon at the beach with most of the members of our church, hanging out and catching some sun. There was a bbq there, along with the most important business of the day, the baptisms.


Everyone had a good time, playing in the sand, eating some food, splashing in the water. Not necessarily in that order mind you, but fun all the same.
After we managed to drag the kids out of the ocean, we headed of to the Benitez-Gomez family get together.


We saw some of Vanessa's family that we haven't had a chance to see in a while, and remark on how big her younger cousins are getting. It's kind of dating me, but I have to say I remember when they were just young pups, as old as my kids are now, when I met them. Now, they are all graduated, going to college/university, getting married, travelling the world. *sigh* as I get sentimental and comment on how quickly time seems to pass.

If you are tired of the "old age lamenting" I have to say be patient, it will pass. See, today is the day after my birthday, which traditionally has been equally if not more important than my actual birthday. So, given the fact that I have marked another year passing, so comes my momentary lamentations.


Awaiting the passport today, hoping it shows up so we can head down the visit the Messenger family tomorrow. Not sure why when Vanessa and I applied at the exact same time hers showed up last week and mine is MIA. There must be a reason for it, even if I am unaware. Until then, we're going to try to pack in secret and keep it quiet from the kids that we are going away.

trippin?

It turns out that Cultas Lake Waterpark cares much more about keeping it's grounds and water clean. Thank you to them that we did not pick up any new diseases while enjoying the waterslides.
It started off a bit cool, but the sun came out in the late afternoon to warm everyone up for the ride home.

After that, the holidays have consisted of sitting around the house, taking it easy. Eleanor was sick for most of Monday/Tuesday, but has rebounded well today. On Monday I did make a quick trip to work to compete in the drink competition that was being held, in which a partner and I made 3 drinks that may actually make it to the drink menu in the fall. The next stage of the competition takes place next Wednesday at a club called "the republic" in Vancouver. It's at 11am, so I don't know how hip and happening a place it will be, but nonetheless if we win, it's a decent prize. ($2000 travel voucher-giddy up!)

Possibly making a trip next week, looking forward to it if we can. I'll let you know dear internet, as soon as I find out (or weeks later, really, you know how consistent I am with the updates).

kick off to holidays

Today is the official start to the 2 week holiday session I am going to begin. A few things to get done over the break, like getting a visit in to Uncle Mark.
To start it off though, a day at the Cultas Lake Waterslides. Should be fun, except for the rain and the cold*. I'm looking forward to seeing how much cleaner the Cultas Lake park is going to be from the Tswassen slides that we were at last year. It was not pretty to go in the water, very yucky.


*most people wouldn't consider 23C cold, but I'm not most people.

ball time again

It's been another year, and with that year comes the annual work slo pitch tournament. This year saw cooler weather than last, which turned out to be ok as everyone was still overheated from the last week or so.
Our team did pretty well, although we lost in the quarter finals. Quarter finals? you say. How did you do well if you lost in the quarter finals?
The team we played in the quarter finals was the reigning champ from last year, and it was (and always is) our two stores that are heavily favored to win. (not both, just one of them).
This year our match up came early in the playoffs, and with much fought effort we fell by one run in the final inning.

The most interesting story of this day for me, is that in all three games that I played, I was the pitcher. And, considering I have only ever pitched one inning in an actual game before, I have to say I rocked it out. You could even say I followed in my Dad's footsteps. I was throwing spin, I was throwing inside and outside to control where the batter hit the ball, and I even knew how and when to throw the "dark one" to get a strike out or two.

I had a blast. And now, I am going to crash for the evening and sleep like a log.