Update.

I am working as receptionist at the church this week, covering for Pastor Peter and Lottie's vacation. No one is in the office except for me and Lynn (though his is down the hall), and, in the context of being very professional, we're having a blast :).

Little Erskine and mommy are growing very well. I am 11 weeks along, and looking forward to fitting into my new clothes. Right now everything is either too small or too big for my little tummy :)

Lynn and I spent Friday and Saturday as guests at Fox Harbour. It was so peaceful and relaxing. Saturday afternoon, several families from the church came over for a worship team party. We BBQ'd and went swimming in the SPA, and then Doris and I walked the beach along the coast of the Northumberland Straight, just across from where my family live on PEI.

We arrived home late and woke up early (though not early enough) for church Sunday morning, during which I was leading worship and Lynn was preaching. After church, we had a BBQ at our house with 4 young couples, 10 people in all! It was a blast, though the heat was scorching.

Around 3:00, my parents and two brothers arrived, one looking very much like a cave man (Joel - he works at Cape n' Rage). Much to my delight, they brought with them my aunt's crib and set it up in the baby's nursery! Yay!

We all watched the old Hugh Grant movie, Nine Months, and laughed hysterically. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend watching it for some light humor regarding pregnancy and delivery.

This last coming month of summer is a busy one and exciting one. We hope to post some updated pictures soon, though I'm waiting as long as possible until our house looks somewhat put together for you to see :)

Lots of love!
Natasha

Showing

We are at Fox Harb'r (www.foxharbr.com) with the Faheys. Ralph showed me around the resort after meeting a few of his friends, and now we're showing Ralph and Doris around the web. So, if you're online tonight, make sure you say hello! (We're hosting, after all. Make our friends feel comfortable!) :)

LE

Our Little Erskine!

We just saw our baby!!!!!!

We had an ultrasound today to confirm that we have a live pregnancy and to discover how far along we are. We don't find out the details until my doctor's apt this Friday, but we still got to see the baby and it was so amazing!!!!! He/she is sooooo cute and was dancing around and has a strong heartbeat!

It was so beautiful!

After the ultrasound, Lynn and I both pretty emotional (though I have been on the verge of tears all day!), we had to get cash out and then go to a change machine in order to pay the $2 parking fee. Of course we had to take out a twenty from the ATM so sure enough, we won the lottery and had twenty loonies flying at us from the change machine. So we decided to get a late lunch together at Tims.

At Tims, we were enjoying each other's company and delighting in our little Erskine when a lady from a nearby table approached us. She said, "You don't know me, but you are the Erskine's right? Well I heard on the radio this morning that you're expecting! Congratulations!"

Can you believe it? A man in our worship department runs the Christian radio station here in Truro called HopeFM. He had teased us that he would announce it, but sure enough he did!

So little Erskine is already famous :) The poor thing... a PK and musicians' child...

Yeah for cute, adorable, precious little Erskine!!!

(Natasha)

Biggest Post Yet

Well, it's time you all knew: I'm going to be a DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!! Natasha is going to be a MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoo-hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Imagine: just a few weeks ago I told Natasha I wasn't ready at all to think about parenting. She went away on a short trip that week. While she was gone, I was overwhelmed with baby fever out of nowhere! I prayed about how to talk to Natasha about my new hopes, but she came home and told me she thought she was expecting. A doctor confirmed it, and now we're excited to report Baby Erskine will be born some time in mid-February!!!!! (We'll keep you posted on more details.) PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LE

Hope for Anyone

It often seems odd how quickly we who claim Christian faith can discredit one another. I live in an area in which many Christians (including many pastors!) give each other very little time becaues of "faith" differences. There are some Christians I've met who are so busy trying to save people from other churches that they've neglected legitimately hurting people who could meet Jesus. A Wesleyan (which I am) might look at a Baptist (which I also am) and wonder about their salvation based on doctrinal issues. A non-denominational (some of my roots) might look at a Presbyterian (also in my roots) and wonder about their salvation based on their lack of outward charismatic expression in worship. We look around and judge one another's faith based on our interpretive doctrine. Is doctrine important? Yes, it is, but doctrinal variance does not necessarily lead a person away from the Lord.

It's remarkable, too, that we can quickly judge and label someone outside the faith as hopless. For the latter, I think of people that we Christians consider "beyond hope." I think of the "good lady" at my sister's junior high school who called her "evil" because of behavioral problems. I think of the homosexual people gathered in the city today, against whom many church-goers around here have railed. I think of the poor treatment a community near my hometown gave to a convicted child molestor who moved into town. I think of the villains of world history and how our perceptions paint that education. There was no talk about whether my sister was beyond hope (which she was not, as we all see today). There was no question about whether the molestor had been rehabilitated. There is rarely effort made to looking at historical villains as whole people. Rather, we write people off, beginning with their minor behavioral infractions, all the way to some people's insatiable thirst for destruction. Is evil hopeless? Yes, but not that hopless.

The two paragraphs above are like me thinking out loud about something intriguing I read today. We read in 2 Kings 21:25: "But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord." Read that again: "...sold himself to do wickedness...." We would have written him off as hopeless, evil. What about the Lord? Read verses 28-29: "And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'See how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbed himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days....'" Interestingly enough, the Lord - against whom all Ahab's sins, all the "hopeless sins" above, all the doctrinal "sins" above, and all our very real sins have been committed - the Lord looked at someone who sold himself to wickedness and gives him life and hope. NO ONE is beyond hope.

Our Neighbors.

Lynn and I had wonderful company last night, who even helped us clean up the kitchen afterward. At some point in the evening, these friends asked, "Have you met any of your neighbors yet?" We responded that no, we have not yet met any of them.

Later last evening, however, we decided to go for a walk. We turned onto several streets in our quaint subdivision, and explored one that we hadn't been on before. It was a dead end street set in behind, that had lovely homes on it and several large duplexes. We were admiring the neighborhood when a man came walking by us. We said, "Hello," of course, and continued walking. After a few steps, though, he turned around and said, "You fella's look new to the neighborhood!" We were surprised that he would know, since we weren't even near our own street! We proceeded to have a very friendly conversation with Ted and admired the size and design of his duplex. He then said, "Well why don't you come in and see it?"

We went in to see the duplex, met Sherri, his wife, and then proceeded to have an hour and a half long visit with these strangers/neighbors! We looked at pictures of their grandson and scrapbooks of their trips to Europe, and family pictures from weddings and such. Finally it was 11:00 pm and they offered to drive us home. I readily accepted because I was exhausted!

We exchanged phone numbers with these beautiful people and expect to connect with them again after their weeks of vacation.

Does that seem crazy to anyone else? Have you ever lived in a neighborhood with people so friendly? I'm simply amazed!

(Natasha)

The Island

There are few places more lovely than Prince Edward Island any time of year, most particularly in the summer. Green is my favorite color, and it's one of the Island's highlights this time of year. As my father-in-law said, it's all the varying hues of green contrasted with the red clay dirt that makes everything so striking. That and Tasha's aunt's gardens. They are beautiful! I couldn't help but think the Lord is a creative genius as we drove back to the mainland today. All those greens, the red clay, and the blue Northumberland Strait that reflected a nearly cloudless sky - they were truly breathtaking! Add a good time with aunts, uncles, cousins, and Grammie Currie, and you've got yourself a fabulous day trip! We even talked to our cousin in Ghana, courtesy of Skype. That's the way to spend a Saturday!

LE

Long Vaca

This has been the longest vacation of my life. We originally took this vaca so that we could actually go to Beulah, see some people we rarely get to see, and enjoy some necessary time away from "real life." Then came Friday, 29 June. That's the afternoon it became obvious that we would indeed close on our house. That was good news, particularly because we had already requested vaca and could move without interfering with "real life." So, beginning 6 July we moved. We had a FLEET of people who were extremely generous with their time and muscles (especially with the piano and boxsprings). Everything seemed ducky the first day or two. The next several days were spent moving things around, unpacking, cleaning, mowing, etc. I kept thinking, "I've got to get out of Dodge!" By the time we did, I was so exhausted that I hardly enjoyed any of it till last night.

Now we're at the in-laws' house and I'm enjoying the time away. The only trouble is that we have to be back home by Monday. No Beulah, no Wesleyan friends, no planned vaca. This ten-day vaca has turned into what feels like an eternity, except for these few days without responsibility. These are flying by. Sometimes growing up sucks. At least we're going to the Island tomorrow.... :)

Settling In

We're settling into the new place quite nicely. It took no time for this to feel like home. The more boxes we unpack, the more we see "home" coming into place. After living such transient lives in the last year or so, this feels really good. It's encouraging to settle into a place in which we already envision life unfolding. As I write, I'm in our downstairs family/small group room, imagining the people we'll host, the transformation we'll witness, the family development we'll enjoy. When we set up the piano and music bookshelf yesterday, I envisioned the music we could write, the practice hours our future children will hopefully have, the lessons we would strive to teach. At Canadian Tire yesterday, with a set of branch cutters/pruners in my hands, I envisioned removing the vine from our chimney, allowing the chimney to breathe and look beautiful again. (Okay, so that last one wasn't sentimental. It's a personal thing between me and all the plants in our yard.) We even put on the propane woodstove in the basement last night for good measure. (We just couldn't keep it on because it's summer.) :)

Where does all this lead? It leads us to praise the Lord again! Too many people I know would chalk this up to life happening and sentimentality, and perhaps those things are present. One thing I know with certainty is that God is truly here in this home. It is the peace of Christ that pervades my soul as I reflect this morning. It is an overwhelming understanding that this is the Lord's house that gives me such confidence in what we'll see. We're still settling in and likely will be for weeks. However, these are good times. Good, good times. (It helps that we found Laura's Scripture sketches two days ago, too!)

LE

Good News

We're moving in tonight! Brian and Paula have raised an army of movers, and we're on tonight! That means we're about to have our first permanent place to call "ours" (which we all know is the Lord's anyway) since we've been married! It means finding all those things we forgot we have that have been in Ken and Lois's basement since December! It means we'll have our own kitchen again - which means, Kristi, more recipes!!!

Big Day

Two important things happened today:

1) We signed everything and closed on our house. Praise the Lord!! We thought this was a no-go on Friday, and now we're "in." Long story, but let's just praise!!

2) I got my first white hair in my beard. It wasn't even gray - white! One of these days all of my hair will be white like that, and I can't wait! (I'm not kidding; I would love white hair.)

PS - We were given a piano. (There aren't enough exclamation points to put on that, so imagine our excitement. God is GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Mom

Natasha and I were on the phone with my mom yesterday when we found out that she has been on our blog. Nothing beats that! I'm not sure why I think that's so great, but I find it a blast! If Mom keeps checking this blog, you might get to know her a little bit, which would be pretty fun. Here's a good story about her:

Once upon a time Mom was driving my brother and me from Lock Haven to our extremely rural home in Sugar Valley, PA. (We don't live anywhere close to that now.) We had just come from community choir practice, where our entire family older than seven sang weekly. We were having a fairly normal conversation when Ben and I started a SNL routine about Goatboy. Mom claimed not to like Goatboy, always saying he wasn't funny. The more I talked like Goatboy, however, the harder she laughed. We had almost arrived at the interstate when Mom laughed so hard she swerved in the road and had to pull over. She was laughing, crying, and telling us it wasn't funny. While she wouldn't admit it was funny, she was honest enough to stay pulled over for the next five minutes while we calmed down. To this day, I suspect you'll get at least a giggle from her if you bleat within earshot of her.