Fini.

Well, it's official... I'M GRADUATED!!!

It has been quite a journey! Thank you to everyone who came to graduation, sent cards, gifts, or supported in prayer and encouragement!

This season of life is officially closed. On to the next! (Which is what?!)

Natasha

Interesting Week

Tasha told me to blog a couple of days ago, which I neglected to do in all the week's activity. I'll get to Saturday and Sunday nights in a moment. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were all days in which I left at 9:00 a.m. and got home long after 9:00 p.m. every day. There were only two days "in the office" this week, so I scrambled. This is also the second Music Festival week, so I'm doing a lot of accompanying. Add Matt's birthday to the mix, and you've got a lot going on. And I'm sleeping well as a result - so good!

Saturday: Tasha's brother Joel was in West Side Story, so we drove up to see the family and the show. What Tasha didn't know is that her sister and family flew up to surprise her for her graduation (this coming weekend). They came a week early so they could also catch the show. I was in the loop so that we could get us in the right place at the right time. After a fairly decent argument over switching the date of our trip from Friday (planned for me before I knew about Melissa) to Saturday (an awful day for me, but now I knew about Melissa), we began to plan. (Fortunately, Tasha's grandmother, who also knew about the surprise, convinced the family to plan our family night for Saturday, regardless of our original Friday plans.) I couldn't convince Tasha to pack anything because she wanted to come back home for church. After exhausting all of my plans, I prayed, "Lord, you know she's going to want to stay. You need to handle this." He did. Less than ten minutes after that prayer, Tasha called me in to the room and said, "You know, I think I should pack for the week in case I choose to stay with the family." Good thing!

Sunday: I got home at 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning after the show (in which Joel was GREAT!). I got up early, went to the church, and had a fairly normal Sunday. I arrived home that night at about 9:30 p.m., put all my things on the table, and received a phone message from Tasha. I thought, "Okay, I'll take out the recycling so I don't forget, come back in, and call Tasha back." Grabbing the recycling that was still in the house, I headed for the garage to retrieve the rest. Out of habit, I reached behind me and locked the door. As soon as the door shut I thought, "I just locked that." I checked, and sure enough I locked myself out of the house. I checked every window and was chagrined to discover my thoroughness in locking the house down for added security (we're sitting). There wasn't ANY way to sneak in. Neither was there any spare tool or implement in the garage small enough to pick a lock. I grabbed a crowbar at one point, ready to break in at any cost. Instead, I walked down to the Mini-Mart to call a locksmith (now about 10:45 p.m.). No one would come. He told me to break a window, and he'd come fix it in the morning. That call ended quickly. I started walking back home to the crowbar when it hit me: Micah and Jody would be awake! I walked up the hill to their house (with the wind in my face!) and crashed on their couch till the morning. Eventually, a man 40 minutes from my home came to let me in. I was in by 9:30 a.m., showered, and rushed out the door to accompany at 10:00 a.m. Guess how high my blood pressure was?

Recipe Inactivty.

I just responded to two comments on our last post referencing the inactivity on our recipe blog as of late. I thought I'd write a short post about it.

Lynn and I have a recipe blog. We have never been very active at posting new recipes on this blog; but our activity has apparently decreased even more as of late. The reason is this:

Lynn and I (moreso the "I") are out of sorts in our current kitchen. We are still house sitting because, as we've already mentioned, we bought a house but don't close until the end of June. The house we are sitting is lovely, but I find it especially difficult adjusting to someone else's kitchen, kitchen tools, and recipe books. I've never actually looked in her recipe books, though we don't have ours either...

Also, Lynn and I are conserving as much of our budget as possible due to house expenses. Therefore, most of our creative meals involve canned tuna in one form or another... We've actually really enjoyed it and are perfectly willing to post about our cheap, creative, canned tuna meals. (Lynn made one out of the very random ingredients in our kitchen one day that tasted delicious but looked like something too gross to write on this blog...)

One of our favorite benefits to house sitting thus far has been the George Foreman Grill! I don't know what we're going to do without it when we move!! We highly recommend it!

Anyway, we'll be sure to post more recipes, though they may be interesting, within the next little while!

(Natasha)

Repetition.

I read the most amazing thing the other day about repetition. It wasn't really about repetition; it was actually about joy. It is found in John Ortberg's book, "The Life You've Always Wanted".

Ortberg quotes G.K. Chesterton in regard to children and there innate ability to do the same thing over and over again with the same amount of enthusiasm:

"Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, 'Do it again'; and the grown up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, 'Do it again' to the sun; and every evening, 'Do it again' to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never gotten tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, but our Father is younger than we."

Isn't it refreshing to remember that God is the most joyful being in all creation!? Can't you just picture Him exulting in the sun's glory every morning? Many of us would sit and describe how the universe moves and how the earth circulates around the sun, thus causing the impression that the sun rises and falls, when in reality, the earth is just spinning on its orbit... God set things in motion and now it moves on its own.

Truth be told, we can find just as much joy and creativity in the Lord by studying science. I have great respect for those who worship through such scientific research and study. But I also love being a child! When I wake in the morning, I love it when God says, "Good morning, my child!! It's about time you woke up! See, I have risen the sun again today! Today, all creation sings praise to My Name! Today, the Son is glorified once more because His mercies are new again today!! Today, the wind of My Spirit will blow to and fro and no one will know where it is going or where it will stop. Are you ready to come on another adventure with me today, My child? An adventure into the wonders and mysteries of God?"

There are so many facets to my God; but I think His joy is one of my favorites. Unfortunately, though, it may be the one characteristic that goes most easily unseen...

God show us Your boundless joy and the truth of Your Word that says, "the joy of the Lord is my strength"!!

(Natasha)

PMS

Okay, we're in a fun coffee shop in town right now having a spontaneous date. We're sitting on the couch by a real fireplace made faux for safety codes. A pew is across the coffee table from us. That's right, a pew. Who said pews are irrelevant? They're totally here in one of the coolest spots in the province. (Seriously - the place has a reputation.) We came here for Maple Tea, which, of course, the "other" cafe has. (There are two of these in town.) Bleh. So, I went with coffee and honey. Tash is having honey and ginger.

Is this the most boring post you've read in awhile? Likely. There's little content. The last time we did a "little content" post, we received more comments than ever. What does that say about us? Or about you? :)

Happy Easter!!!

Good morning and Happy Easter everyone!!!
The most amazing thing happened this morning... Our early church service was canceled on Easter Sunday due to the huge snow snowstorm we received last night!!! Many of you may be in a similar boat; but isn't it just absurd?!

Anyway, snow or no snow, service or no service, hallelujah! Christ is risen, Christ is risen indeed!

With love,
Lynn & Natasha


(Easter morning 2007 out our front window - good thing we don't get mail today!)

(We woke up to the sound of birds who will not be bathing and neighbors who will not be driving.)

Politeness.

There are many unique characteristics of our little town, Truro. Lynn and I are discovering them more and more as we become accustomed to the culture and traditions here. Though I would love to tell you about the many unique tree sculptures, or the interesting history and religious traditions of the town, I will save those for another day. Today, I'm going to talk about "politeness".

What is politeness? It refers to the mannerly behaviors of a community, in healthy relation to one another. Though my perspective is limited, I have observed this to be a very high value in the town of Truro. Being historically part of a "Bible Belt" area, it has strong roots in religious traditions (there I go talking about it...). Over the years, however, as our pagan nation has grown and developed, the town has evolved in its pagan culture. Thus, we live in a pagan community rooted in religious values and traditions. The result is politeness.

Here is an example of the complex pagan/religious culture of Truro:
Driving along, one will undoubtedly come to a four-way stop intersection. These are very common in Truro. Often, when coming upon these intersections, one will encounter some other Truronian in opposing root. Being a very polite community, whoever arrives to a complete stop first, graciously waves the other to go ahead first as if to say, "No, please, go ahead." The other, however, will respond likewise, "No please, you go ahead." After several of these interchanges, eventually one does move forward.

These exchanges are quite common, and frankly, irritating when traveling through town. Lynn and I have often thought, "This is getting dangerous!" The other day, I arrived to a complete stop at one of these four way intersections at (what appeared to me to be) the same time as three other cars, each at another stop. No one moved ahead right away, so I thought, "Okay, I'll go." I moved forward into my left turn (blinker clearly on!), when the car opposite me began moving straight ahead (as in directly i to me). I stopped and nodded apologietically while the other moved on through. I then continued my turn only to find that the car I was coming up alongside at my left was giving me "the finger" and swearing at me! I thought, "This is absurd!"

The poor man in the car is NOT an accurate reflection of our friendly fellow Truronians. However, it seemed so ironic to me. Somehow, the value of politeness in town was not upheld by me moving ahead first. Then, however, it was appropriate to cuss? ...interesting.

So what do you think of politeness?

(Natasha)

I Have It Good

I'm sure you can pardon the slangy title for such a sweet post. It just wouldn't do for me to go to bed tonight without letting you know how good I have it.

We left church today and drove over to our house to see whether the "SOLD" sign went up yet. (As far as we know, we met our end of the conditions on Friday.) As we were leaving for our drive, Natasha let me know she had been scheming and invited me out on a spontaneous date. She had obviously put a lot of thought into it because she had planned a movie (knew where it was playing and the times) and a relaxed afternoon in the city. We saw our house and left immediately on our date. We walked around a little, dreamed about the house a lot, talked about Jesus the whole ride down, had Quiznos and Starbucks, watched "Amazing Grace" (not bad at all), and loved each other.

It's been a hectic several weeks. I know several wives and husbands who would not reward such a busy time with a sweet, lovely, spontaneous date. Among the many reasons I am blessed, one of the most significant is my wife, who selflessly allowed me to run amok for three weeks and still thought to plan a day just for the two of us - exactly what I (or, I suspect, we) needed. She should teach "wife" seminars. :)