A work in progress...

Sure, it may not look like much now, but this mound of dirt (stone, rock, rubble...) will only continue to take shape over the weeks and months to come with a projected move-in date of November 30.

They officially broke ground and should be pouring the foundation sometime early next week. Which, if you ask me, is not nearly early enough...but I hear that patience is a virtue...

Over the next 5-6 months we'll find ourselves sporadically making our way up the mountain to see how things are coming along. And I'm sure I'll find a way to document our findings.

In other exciting news, I believe my wife has finally caught the "blogger-bug" as she has now officially asked me to set up a blog for her. I think the hardest part is going to be naming it. I'll make sure to post a link when we finally get it up and running.

Don't wait...

I can remember being introduced to Dashboard Confessional back in the summer of 2003 by one of my students on our Missions Trip to Tijuana, Mexico. I was hooked. I know, I know... I don't exactly fit the Emo mold. Ok, I don't fit it at all...but I like the tunes. I like the passion. And I'll be buying the new CD on June 27th.

I also found out last week about the Canadian tour this summer, but unfortunatley the schedule just isn't going to work out for me and my wife to ake it to a show. I'm in here when he's in Winnipeg, and I'm in Winnipeg when he's in Edmonton and Vancouver. Would have been fun though.

But you can hear a new song here. (ht brew)

Do parents care....

Ok, so the title is a bit misleading. I know they care. I'm just wrestling this morning with a parent meeting we held last night that had only 5 parents show up. A grand total of 4 families were represented. In total, their connection is to 6 of our 50+ youth.

A bit discouraging? Yup. But it was still worth it. One of the other reasons we held this meeting was not just to talk about the youth ministry, but so that parents could connect with one another. And the 5 that were there last night were able ot do that. In fact, if it was a bigger group it may have been more difficult for this group to connect and for me to learn what I did about their teens.

You can probably see why I'm wrestling with this.

In other news, I'm going to miss the Oilers game tonight because of the senior high group. I wonder if we can incoporate hockey-watching into our agenda for the evening?

Old stompin' grounds...

On Thursday at noon my wife and I board a plane to head back to the Edmonton area. We've been asked to attend a High School graduation ceremony and banquet. We're only around until Saturday morning which means that the time we are there will be packed with seeing other people, many of which we haven't seen for quite a while.

The group of High School students that walk across the stage on Thursday is the groups of students who were in grade 7 when we began our first ministry. So this is a really meaningful event for us and we count it a privilege that we were invited to attend. It's so cool to watch these "kids" take this next step of their lives into the "adult world".

Did I actually just use the word "cool"? I'm an idiot...

24 days later...

Thanks to Marko for the heads up about this site. Found this mock up and got a kick out of it.

Don't "kneed" it...

Sorry for the terrible play on words, but let me remind you that it is Monday morning. But this afternoon I have an appointment with a doctor about my knee. Let me recap the knee history.

February 2004 - tore left ACL in an indoor soccer game
June 2004 - had surgery to reconstruct ACL
September 2004 - allowed to resume running on a controlled surface
December 2004 - allowed to resume light training
February 2005 - begin training with indoor team & playing a few minutes each game
April 2005 - back to normal soccer...
May 2005 - tore same ACL 30 minutes into my first outdoor game of the season
June 2005 - had surgery to clean up the knee
May 2006 - meet new doctor in a new province and see what happens

Well that's the really short version, but it's enough to give a picture of what's been going on. It still amazes me that I've been "crippled" for that long. It hasn't been fun either. I can't run or even jog. I have to be careful when I mountain bike...or more accurately, I have to be careful how fall off my mountain bike. Simple things like playing games with my middle school students has become a potential painful experience. Even stairs have become hazardous to my daily life.

I'll be honest...I don't want to do another surgery. It's painful, uncomfortable and just a huge inconvenience. The recovery and rehabilitation is a long process. I'm just not looking forward to that part of it. But unless I want to live like this forever, I kind of need to get in done.

On Friday I saw some guys kicking a ball around on a field and it just reminded me of how much I miss the game I love. What I wouldn't give to be able to kick a ball around again. To be able to put the ball in the back of the net...

I guess it will be worth it in the long run. I just wish there was an easier, less painful way. I know...I'm such a coward sometimes.

Home at last...

Three trips later (which amounts to 80 minutes per trip of driving and then the loading/unloading time) we are officially residents of Abby (that's the official lingo that the locals use!). Whew...and now I'm tired but trying to prepare for our high school group tonight. We're talking about the Fruit of the Spirit and this week we're focusing in on peace. It seems to have come at a good time.

And let me say that I loved the 10 minute drive to work this morning! Anything beats the 35-40 minutes I've bee driving since February. And for the first time I can actually go home for lunch and supper. It's a good life...

Now if only my Habs could have won. Sometimes the bounces (or defelctions) just don't go your way. I really believed that we had a chance to make an honest run for it..and then Koivu went out. One player shouldn't make or break a team, but Saku was the glue that made that top line produce. Without him we were in trouble.

But let's not fault Huet. He's got what it takes for next year. We just need to add a few more quality players (who can produce) in the off season. We'll see in the fall.

I guess I'll be jumping on the Oilers bandwagon.

Moving again...

Well, it's time to move again. Today we officially got the keys and did the final inspection and tomorrow. My wife is currently hard at work scrubbing the place down before moving day tomorrow. We pick up the truck at 8 am and then it's time to work.

This isn't as difficult as last time because most of our stuff is still in boxes. And while I'll be moving most of the little stuff by myself during the day, we've got a group of guys from the church that offered to come help out once they were finished work/school. And we had another woman come help with the cleaning today.

Today will officially be my last day of commuting to work! Woohoo!

Yay for playoffs...

Always a good thing when playoffs begin. And it's that much better when your #7 seeded team cleans up in game #1 in the #2 seeded teams rink! And in case you didn't watch, it was 6-1 for my Habs!

Introvert panic...

I'm an introvert. While I love people, I need my time and space to recharge my batteries. This also means that I don't really look forward to events that push me out of my shell. But on Monday I head off for a district Youth Pastor's Retreat at a camp located almost 5 hours from here.

This is my first district event since making the job change, and while I'm looking forward to seeing some people I haven't seen in 5 or 6 years, I'm also a bundle of nerves. Sometimes I wish stuff like this was easier for me.

But things get interesting when I return. My wife and I (and the kids, of course) are finally moving...again. As of right now we're staying with her folks and we are 40 minutes from the church. The rental will be a 7 minute drive. That will make life so much better!

Then her folks move back in with us (in the rental) where we'll be in tight, cozy quarters together until tea end of November when our actual house has been built. We thought it was cramped in this house...you should see the rental!

Saaawwwwweeeeeeetttt....

So excited to see this was coming out. Apparently it contains acoustic versions of the "parent album".

I love it when bands do the acoustic thing and I'm greatly anticipating the arrival of this CD. But June 6 is such a long way away!

Just creepy...

This bunny should stay away from the chocolate this Easter!

Feeling postless...

I could post about my adventures of trying to mail a package of seminary assignments on Monday.

I could post about my sheer disbelief that President Logan is the criminal mastermind on 24.

I could post about the fact that my wife and I have actually joined a small group for the first time in almost 7 years.

I could post about the place we're building. (Correction: I could post about the basement we're building.)

I could post about finding a rental place that will house 6 of us until our new place is done in the fall.

I could post about my Habs making the playoffs...or at least being close to it.

I could post about my new office computer.

I could post about being busy.

But I won't. I'm postless.

You don't know jack...

Found this site of randowm Jack Bauer facts. Here are a few:

• Jack Bauer wasn't born, he was unleashed.
• If everyone on "24" followed Jack Bauer's instructions, it would be called "12".
• Lets get one thing straight, the only reason you are conscious right now is because Jack Bauer does not feel like carrying you.
• Jack Bauer once won a game of Connect 4 in 3 moves.
• Killing Jack Bauer doesn't make him dead. It just makes him angry.
• Jack Bauer could strangle you with a cordless phone
• Superman's only weakness is Kryptonite. Jack Bauer laughs at Superman for having a weakness.
• Jack Bauer got Hellen Keller to talk.
• Jehovah's Witnesses once tried to convert Jack Bauer. After four minutes of interrogation, they admitted Jack Bauer was God.
• Jack Bauer once forgot where he put his keys. He then spent the next half-hour torturing himself until he gave up the location of the keys
• There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who fear Jack Bauer, and those who are Jack Bauer

My sincere apologies...

To the three of you who regularly read this, I'm sorry. It's been far too long since an update. I'd blame it on the fact that the server crashed at church a couple of weeks ago, but I never blog from there anyway. But I will say that life has been really busy and this just got pushed to the backburner. But, in an attempt to cover the last few weeks, here it goes:

• I went 2 for 27 in roll Up the Rim...that's pathetic.
• My kids met Bob and Larry at a Veggie tales event...and I met them too.
• We decided to build a basement...yup, a basement!
• Watched "Failure to Launch" with my beautiful wife...actually enjoyed it.
• Watched "Ice Age 2" with my kids...laughed hysterically and almost fell asleep in the same movie
• My middle school group is about to burst at the seems...God help me!
• My senior high group played Four On the Couch for almost an hour this week
• 4 high school guys took me biking again...I fell twice.
• Stinging nettles hurt bad...my arm was burning the entire night after the crash.
• Our church Annual Meeting lasted only 65 minutes...that has to be a record!
• My new computer gets set up tomorrow...woohoo! No more Windows 98!

Ok, so that's most everything I can remember right now. But as crazy as life has been, I must say that I'm feeling such a sense of joy and peace with where life is at. No, it isn't perfect, but I can say I haven't felt this way in a long time. That can't be normal, can it?

Summing it up...

"It's been a crazy week." Yeah, that's what I'll use as my excuse. And due to a lack of creativity, I'll just sum up a little of what has happened in my world.

• spring break decimated our youth events...we should be back to normal next week.
• the server at church crashed which means no email, no internet, no printing, no database...you get the picture.
• I'm getting a new computer at work...which is useless until the server is fixed.
• 3 of my high school guys took me mountain biking...I almost died...and I still feel it.
• participated in a five hour board meeting...but it wasn't as painful as it sounds.
• started watching season 3 of Newsradio...I love that show.
• got approved for a mortgage...for the second time since January.
• kids were sick...but one is mostly better.
• open house tomorrow...which means we have to find some way to keep 2 sick kids occupied for 4 hours.
• I'm all caught up on 24 & Prison Break...but I have a stack of other shows still to watch.
• I'm 2 for 21...I've only won 2 coffees.

That's all for now.

A summary...

I'll be brief and to the point:

• We made an offer on a house and then they countered
• We walked away
• We're on the hunt again...but for a different kind of house
• I'm 3 episodes behind on 24
• Our family is playing lots of Settlers of Catan
• I saw gold painted fire hydrants on Saturday
• Church life is getting busier every day
• I'm currently 2 for 12 in Roll Up the Rim

Made an offer...

We made an offer on a house this afternoon. We actually looked at two different townhouse complexes and decided to pursue the last one we looked at. We had looked at this place previously but weren't considering it because it was almost a 25-30 minute drive away from the church. What we have come to realize is that we can't afford anything else, unless we want to settle for a run down, two-bedroom place in a rough part of the city. If our offer is accepted, we may be farther away, but the place will be brand new.

Now we wait for the phone to ring...

Busy day...

Ok, so now I'm 2 for 9, with both winning rims getting me a free coffee (or hot chocolate in my case)!

In other news, I attended a workshop this morning dealing specifically with the sexual exploitation of youth. One speaker was a former prostitute who now does a great deal of work trying to help other sex workers get out of the industry. The second speaker dealt mainly with the topic of internet safety.

I'll admit that I wasn't sure what to expect and the only reason I really attended this was because I missed another community awareness event last week. But I will say that it was a very informative morning. And I totally appreciate the fact that they didn't come from a Christian perspective.

Then it was off to meet with a couple other youth pastors to watch the movie, Thirteen. Between the morning workshop and that movie, let's just say that it wasn't a light-hearted day. It really is an insightful movie into the lives of teenagers. I'm not completely convinced that the timeline of the movie is accurate as it seems to cram almost every possible major teen issue into a 4-6 month period in one grade seven girl's life.

But what do I know? I'm not 13.

Covered in dust...

So what's a new youth pastor supposed to teach on? What do you do with a group who can't remember the last time they actually finished a teaching series? What do you study when you aren't sure who is going to show up each week? What do you teach when you don't have a clue where the group is at?

My conclusion (and well known Sunday School answer): Jesus!

Tomorrow we're starting a series called "Covered in Dust" and we're kicking it off by watching a Nooma video appropriately entitled "Dust". Then we're just going to look at a different moment from Jesus' life each following week. What he did and said, how it applied then and now, how people responded...you know, stuff like that.

I'm looking forward to it.