Another year is behind us: our 6th together as a married couple and our first as parents. It has not been a year like anything we could have planned or even understood as we experienced it, but we survived it as a family, and we’re getting closer to being able to say we’ve learned from it. As is my custom, and with your permission, I’d like to take a few minutes to review where we’ve been…
We started things out in 2007 learning how to be parents. I’m proud to say that we were pretty well prepared, and didn’t hit many things we didn’t know how to deal with. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a challenge — or a joy either.
Like someone used to say about his parents, our little guy “hit the ground running.” As soon as we could, we brought him to youth group, and shortly after his one-month birthday, Benjamin was traveling across the border to visit his other home country. Soon after that he was on his first youth retreat, and learning how to swim.
It was about at that point that things got interesting. A trip through a glass window started a long string of… challenges that would pursue us throughout the year. And despite remaining steadfast in who we are and in what we believe, sometimes those things don’t stand up against life on their own.
Sometimes people don’t really see who you are.
Meanwhile, the more practical challenges of our pursuit of this adventure began to take their toll. Looking for a break, we decided to take our first vacation ever as a couple… and the hits just kept on coming!
So we ended the year with the wounds, both physical and emotional, still healing. Nonetheless, there are plenty of good things that we take away from 2007…
– Our son continues to be a healthy, happy boy, ahead of his developmental curve and a delight to be around. And then we found out that we would become parents again when we were given the gift of a baby girl that we can’t wait to meet.
– We got to help disciple and guide a dozen of the most incredible teens we’ve ever known, and then send most of them on their first missions trip — then stood back and watched as God challenged them and changed them.
– We got to see my parents “retiring” the way I want to retire — on the missions field in Asia.
– We made huge progress toward solidifying our own financial dreams and goals, thanks to the job I stole from some poor American.
– And if nothing else, we learned a thing or two about ministry, technology and life from some truly amazing people here in New York.
This has not been the easiest, or happiest year that this humble blog has recorded, but it hasn’t been unambitious, and we don’t leave it behind with any regrets (except for the part about putting my arm through a window… I’d probably do that one different, given the chance.)
There will be lessons to absorb from the things we went through this year, but those will present themselves in due time. Right now, we have all of 2008 in front of us, a growing family to guide, and a lot of wonderful friends and family to help us through it.
As always, stay tuned right here to discover with us what God has planned next…
New Year, Big Changes
The 2007 re-cap is coming, just as soon as I find some time/clarity to pull it together. Meanwhile, its 2008 and its going to be a big year… as the new banner implies, its likely to have its tough moments for us, but hopefully all of this will be worth it in the long run. But more about that stuff later.
For now, a few minor changes worth noting…
First of all, the site has been updated. If it looks a little weird, clear your cache or force a proper refresh to see the uh-mazing new header image I made. It’s 12 layers of Photoshoppy goodness, using a few new tricks I learned on the Internets. I was really hoping to roll out a new 3-column theme, so I could get more good stuff on the sidebar, but they’re all ugly.
Secondly, and on a geeky note, the Home Theater Mac Mini is being replaced by an XBox 360! I’m stoked to have an actual current gaming machine in there — even though I don’t have any games, and probably won’t buy any either. But I’m a little disappointed in Apple. They made a move toward taking on the living room, but then totally backed down after the AppleTV came out. The Mac Mini will still act as the media server and retriever and the iMac is up on eBay. The XBox just has more features, plus an online Marketplace where you can rent HD movies — which is way better than investing in an HD or Bluray DVD player right now.
As an aside, I’m using Connect360 to share my iTunes/iPhoto and Videos with the XBox and it works like a charm.
In conclusion, I am a Photoshop genius, and my new XBox is awesome.
Using the Mouse Wheel in VB6
I’m embarrassed to say that I’m using VB6 at work right now. I haven’t used VB since college, and it feels pretty old school. One minor annoyance, besides the sheer age of the language/environment is that you can’t use the mouse wheel to scroll through your pages and pages of hard-to-read code. Fortunately, there’s a fix:
Home is where your stuff is
Or, to quote Homer Simpson: “That place where our beds and TV is…”
And its good to be home.
That said, this was definitely our nicest visit back to Ontario yet. Due, in no small part, I’m sure, to the amount of time we had to spend there. We got to see almost everyone we wanted to — and not in the usual whirlwind fashion of 20-30 minutes each. Instead we had some really nice visits with family, and some great friends.
The end of the trip wasn’t as fantastic, however. For New Year’s Eve, all three of us got violently ill at our friend’s Brian and Melissa’s house. Apparently there was a flu going around, and although we had no recollection of exposure to it, the other party goers — most of whom had babies younger than Benjamin — were happy when we quarantined ourselves for the night. We were only a little embarrassed about how many times we each barfed in their house. Benjamin’s retching, of course, being the most pitiful and hard to endure. At one point, around 2:00 in the morning, when Nic’s visits to the porcelain bus were causing false contractions and Benjamin had puked about 9 times, I seriously considered driving us all to the hospital — despite being near-delirious and having to crawl to the bathroom myself.
This is what’s weird, and I think someone with more medical expertise should weigh in with their opinion:
– None of us had been around anyone with the flu
– None of us had any symptoms prior to dinner
– All 3 of us had the chicken at the restaurant we went to
– All 3 of us became rapidly and enthusiastically symptomatic starting 2 hours after dinner, and all within an hour of each other
– All 3 of us recovered nearly completely after no more than 12 hours
I’m thinking food poisoning, but when I called, I couldn’t get the restaurant to agree with me. Any thoughts?
Anyway, whatever the cause, it turned out good, because it delayed our departure from Canada by a day, causing us to miss some rather severe weather on the roads, allowed us an excuse to grab a couple extra hours of sleep, and gave me the opportunity to have a nice long chat with an old friend. Despite a schedule that would put most other “hectic Christmas schedules” to shame, we made it home today in good time, feeling very refreshed and encouraged, and at peace with how 2007 ended up and where things are headed in 2008.
Thank you to Shannon for keeping our cat alive while we were gone!
Pictures to follow when I unpack the camera. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday too!