Christmastime in the city

Christmas has come and gone once again, though as we plan a trip to Winnipeg this weekend to see Sarah’s family it feels as though we’re heading into an extended edition of the holidays.  Sarah has had to return to work for a couple of days this week, but with Tyler, Nicole and Olivia still down it still feels like we’re on Christmas vacation.

This year was a bit of a return to tradition for the Cain side of the family.  Christmas Eve at Auntie Laurel and Uncle Don’s and Christmas Day at Mom and Dad’s.  Good times and good food!  Nicole, Tyler and Olivia arrived soon after and we had a larger family gathering complete with Uncle Don songs, more gift-giving, more food and even dancing!  Yep, that’s right.

Some Christmas Photos VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Two and a half years since its completion, I was finally able to print off a finished copy of my undergrad thesis for Mom and Dad.  I thought it’d make a good surprise gift at the end of the morning.  Though the manuscript was officially ‘done’, I’d gone through it again last October and then again in January when I experienced I really frustrating set-back.  I’d accidently created two different copies without realizing it, and had on some days been editing one version and on another day editing the second.  Sometimes in March, I think it was, I bit the bullet and read through both copies again to try and decide which sections of which version was the final.  Thankfully, I had noticed my mistake early enough and I ended up merging the two without much difficulty.  Still, you can imagine the headache.

Afterwards I was able to finally pull in my title page and table of contents and save the whole thing as a .pdf.  It’s such a good feeling to get it totally done and have a copy printed off.  I wanted mom and Dad to have the first one (I have an older one that I printed when still at the college), as they played such a huge part in me even being able to go to school.

If you’ve been following my blog you’ve probably heard me mention my favourite authors from time to time.  When it comes to the Christian life, Eugene Peterson is my favourite.  He’s down-to-earth and grandfatherly, and his writing is rich, meaningful, and pastoral and imaginative.  For Eugene, it’s all about how everything is liveable, nothing in our Christian faith is meant to be abstract, general, propositional or removed from day to day life.  It’s all personal.  All relational.  All participatory.  Last Christmas I received Practice Resurrection, which I’ve blogged about before. This year I was blessed with three more books of his five-piece series on spiritual theology. Each book is a “conversation” on a different topic related to living.  So now I’m reading Eat this Book, a conversation about spiritual reading.  I think I’ll be able to use it with my Sunday school lessons in January.

It was great to see Olivia again, and to visit with Tyler and Nicole—who we introduced to the thrilling epic farming board game, Agricola.  As we purchased sheep, built clay huts and harvested our grain, Olivia would lean over to me, her Dad’s iPhone in hand with her favourite kids game, and show me how to colour Christmas trees and listen to Tinkerbell stories.  She was pretty interested in all the little wooden pieces for the game, so we let her set up a farm of her own—though all she really wanted to do was collect more wood and assign everyone coloured bowls: “Blue for Dad and orange for Nikolas and green for Sarah and yellow for Mom!” 

We’ve made New Year’s Eve plans with the three of them once we’re all back in Winnipeg—and hopefully we’ll be able to see Mike and Steph, too!

Until next time, happy reading, and hoping you’ve all had a very Merry Christmas!

vancouver bound!

Well we’re on our way out west to BC for our Regent class.  Hard to believe we’re actually making the trip.  Right now we’re at Sarah’s Aunt and Uncle’s place in Winfield, just north of Kelowna, and it smells like breakfast is just about ready.

We were counting yesterday how many alumni we’ve been able to visit so far: we had a few unexpected surprises and it’s been cool to catch up with people again.

After leaving Winnipeg and visiting Sarah’s parents and Josh, we met up with Sean Jennings and Tim Sample in Brandon.  Unfortunately, Laurie, Sean’s wife, was already on her way to Springside camp for the week (hopefully she’ll be home on our way back through)—but we had a good visit with Sean and Tim.  I hadn’t seen Sean since our wedding.  Crazy!  We went to Montana’s and talked Rob Bell and how Bible schools need to teach pastors more about organizational administration while we munched on burgers, chips and penne pasta (I ordered the latter!)

From Brandon we went to Moose Jaw for the night and stayed at Kathy Retzer’s house.  Sarah met Josh, her fiancée, and we had a few good laughs before Dave and Leanne Falk stopped in.

The next day we left Moose Jaw and headed for Brooks, AB to stay over with Leif and Cara.  On a whim, while we were in Swift Current, Sarah thought of calling up Gordon and Karla Hamilton, and Karla was home with Sophia!  So we went over to see the new little one and then drove out to where Gordon was working as job foreman on a construction project.  In typical FGBC fashion, there were a few more alumni working there as well.  Craig Knudsen and Dean Drinnan were up on the rough, and Dean even recognized us and gave us a wave.

Then it was on the road again to Brooks.  We got in for supper time and enjoyed chicken and veggie kebobs with Leif, Cara, Damien and Nikolai.  So good.  For future reference: always barbeque your chicken next to your pineapple—delish!  We hung out and played with the kids before turning in.  The next day would be our longest yet.

There were storms just past Calgary—you couldn’t even recognize the mountains through the clouds!  Thankfully no hail or strong winds.  The storm diminished once we made it into the mountains.  I just wanted to stop and watch the mountains (“watch”?  Yeah, that works…) but we’d be stopping every minute or so they were so awesome.  I love spotting little waterfalls cascading down from the snows up high.

After a lengthy drive and many adventures we found our way to Winfield! 

Now it’s time to relax…

 

Trip to BC Part 1 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

bread and breakfast

…is what I accidently find myself calling a B&B if I’m not careful.  I guess I just love bread so much that it wiggles its way in there without me noticing.

It’s alright though, ‘cause this morning there was some fresh bread for breakfast.  Homemade croissants, muffins, and cinnamon buns!  So good.  And fresh fruit and yogurt (which I devour copious amounts of on a daily basis now, seemingly).

Sarah and I got away for one night this week to Spruce Lake B&B, just west of Kenora.  The suites were added on to a beautiful modern lakeside cottage several years ago by the homeowners and hosts, Henk and Linda Sluis.  Not only did we get a queen size bed and an ensuite bathroom, but the rooms open up onto a second story deck which overlooks the lake below.  It was great.

While we were engaged we took pre-marital counselling with our dear friends, Lauren and Ruth Miller.  They recommended that we make an effort to get away as a couple twice a year: once in the spring, once in the fall.  It’s a time away from the busyness to get to know each other again: to sit and talk.  Or, as the sign in our suite said, “sometimes I sit by the lake and sit and think, and sometimes I just sit.”

This weekend was a sitting weekend.

With the fast-pace of my new job at the nursery, I think I was starting to let some things pile up in my mind: worries and concerns which I had taken upon myself without my realizing.  This was a weekend to confront some of those things: some of them were set to the side, not needing to be taken up right now.  Others, I realize again, are not for me to be carrying alone: and so I offer it to Sarah and we choose to pick up and move forward with it together.

It needn’t happen in so many words.  Sometimes it’s just a word spoken and responded to.  Or a look and a nod.  You’ve let the other in, and they’ve understood.  And that is beautiful.

for mothers

 

Pastor Al shared this at church yesterday for Mother’s Day.  Such a true message to Moms whose long hard work is so often overlooked, forgotten or taken for granted.

Yesterday we were able to spend the afternoon and evening with Mom and Dad.  And though we didn’t do anything ‘special’ really for Mother’s Day, I think that as we sat together having lunch and visiting and just spending that time together that each of us knew there wasn’t anywhere else we’d rather be then with each other.

I love you, Mom.  Thank you for all you’ve taught me, and all you continue to teach me about life.  You are so special to me, and I’m so glad that we have this time to spend together. 

See you soon!

 

 

 

Mother’s Day 2009; walking trail along Swanson’s creek.

water boy

So after a pretty busy last few weeks I decided it was high time that I sat down and blogged again!  It’s hard to find the time lately, but I definitely wanted to get another one in before the end of the month.

A few weeks ago, actually just before my birthday, I was asked by my supervisors at the tree nursery if I would be interested in taking on a new job working with growing and irrigation.  I am now part of the team who is responsible for watering the crop, tracking growth and much more.  It was really neat to be asked, and though I hadn’t thought of it at the time, it really is a promotion.  It is a lot of responsibility, but it is also very interesting.  (Plus, it’s fun when part of your work requires you to sit down in the soon-to-be air conditioning and plug in numbers on the computer instead of traipsing about the place!)  The position came up when my previous co-worker, Sharon, decided to move onto other things.  I was able to have two weeks with Sharon where she passed on much wisdom and knowledge: everything from nitrogen levels in black spruce to where to find her secret stash of irrigation tools.  And though it was sad to see her go, it was neat to know that she believed that I could carry on with the task at hand.

We finally finished sowing at the nursery.  All the greenhouses are now full.  Hard to believe not long ago I was sweeping away with Thrice in one ear.

Last week was Easter of course, and we had a great weekend with family down to visit—Sarah’s from Winnipeg and Auntie Laurel and Uncle Don from Thunder Bay!  We had a great time and Uncle Don brought his new album, Shine, down with him.  I want to blog about it once I’ve had a better chance to listen to it, but I can already tell you we love it—especially since he’s included the song he wrote for us and sang at our wedding: “The Story Starts”.

Until then, I’m going to put my feet up and relax!  See you soon.

Nik

24 finds me

This year marks the first birthday I’ve been home for in Dryden since 2004.  Sarah and I went out to the East Indian and Greek restaurant for supper and then headed over to Mom and Dad’s for cake in the evening.  Mom outdid herself with a homemade black forest cake—the best I’ve ever tasted!  It was a great day.

I think I was maybe fifteen or sixteen when I first heard Switchfoot’s The Beautiful Letdown.  My friend Matt shared the rock album with us on our way out to Eston for a Sr. High Encounter Weekend. 

Switchfoot– “24”

At the end of that album is a little song called “24”.  At the time, I didn’t care too much for it.  Yet it has become one of those songs that has slowly grown on me over time.

When Sarah turned 24 in November she made a point of sitting down to listen to it again.  So last week I did the same.  The words now ring with a deeper resonance than that which I knew only as a teenager.  The lyrics kept rolling around in my mind in the days rolling up to the 6th.  So where has 24 found me? 

Strangely contended, perhaps.  Mostly at peace, I think.  And hopeful.  It’s been almost a year since we moved back to Dryden, and that was a pretty tumultuous time for us: really trying to find where God wanted us—what made sense for us after our season in Eston was over.  Even once we made that choice to come back there was still the question of where we would work, and what life would look like now.

The number one thing that I have learned, and am still learning, is that the Lord is faithful.  He is trustworthy.  Even when it feels so difficult.  I’m still learning to listen, to remember actually how he continues to provide.  But he often returning me to the truth that He will provide, that he knows, that things are okay.

I’m glad to find myself here.