Truly Canadian

Although lately life for Carl has consisted of studying and life for myself has consisted of working at the bank, working at Starbucks and then studying for the bank at Starbucks, we have managed to fit in some fun activities over the last two weeks. Last Saturday we went out with a few young adults from the church and went rock climbing! It was quite the work out - especially for those of us that are used to sitting all day! I was slightly terrified at first, putting my life in the hands of my husband while he held the rope that kept me from falling to the ground if I let go - it was a good trust exercise!

Carolyn and Carl adding an acrobatic spin to their rock climbing experience!

And then there was me, just holding on for dear life!

Carolyn, putting her trust in me as I held the rope for her

Then, just this past Sunday, we drove about 1.5 hours to experience our first Sugarbush! A Sugarbush is where they harvest Maple Trees for maple syrup! Apparently right now is the the prime time for harvesting maple syrup as the temperatures start to rise, the sap begins to flow! A small hole is drilled into each tree where the sap drains from. On maple tree farms, like the one we were at, they have elaborate piping systems where the the sap drains from the trees, the pipes join up into larger pipes which then gets directed right to the spot where the boiling begins! We learned all about the makings of maple syrup and got to try our first Maple Taffy-on-Snow!

If you look closely, you can see all the pipes in between all the trees!

This much sap, makes that small amount of syrup!

Mmmmm, maple taffy-on-snow!!!

Sooo yummy!

Then we got to sample the syrup firsthand, on some fresh pancakes with some maple sausage!

Above: Carolyn Below: The Prost Family, our bible study hosts and their adorable 3 children!

Feeling like true Canadians!

Oh yeah, and there was a big chainsaw collection!

So, although things are busy, we try and get out to do some fun stuff but even if thats not possible, we enjoy the little things like the sunset from our window!

Can't forget to make my shout outs to Lorrie for taking the pictures and to my mom for sending them :) And to Grandma Funk for sending us more lovely family pictures, our wall is getting full but there is still more room so keep sending us your pictures, we are still missing some important friends and family on there!!!

Thinking of Japan

It's starts with a small tremor, then the items on the bookcase start to shake, a picture falls off the wall and the building begins to sway. My heart starts to beat faster and I hear panic in the air. People start running as furniture migrates across the floor and other pieces topple over. I panic and automatically do what I was taught to do in elementary school, duck under a table and start to count. The rumbling stops and someone grabs my hand and pulls me outside where the streets are filled with people, buildings destroyed and faint cries breaking the sudden stillness. All I can think of is where is my husband, where are my children, where are my parents, where is my family, where are my friends? Is everyone ok? I see people bleeding, people covered in debris and all I want is to know that my loved ones are ok. The earth starts to move again, little do I know that at this time, a small distance away, the ocean is sucking in its belly and about to release it's breath, spilling a massive wave over a small town. A town where a mother holds her baby and cries, an elderly lady holds the hand of her husband of who she has loved for most of her years. Not expecting it, they are suddenly ripped apart from one another by the massive force of the sea, tossed in the tide, never to be seen by each other again and never to be seen again.

Maybe it's because the first I heard of the news was that there was a tsunami alert for BC and all I could think about was what would I do if it affected my loved ones? Maybe it's because I am feeling a little more emotional this week, or maybe it's because I've been praying for God to soften my heart for those in need. Or maybe it's because the West Coast could be the victim's of the next massive natural disaster and I am scared. Whatever the reason, the earthquake, tsunami and now nuclear threat that Japan is facing has not left my mind since I first heard of it. Although I've written a brief and lame description of what could happen if I were faced with a natural disaster, I know that words cannot describe what people faced with the destruction of 9/11, the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, the effects of hurricane Katrina on New Orleans in 2005, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the 2010 earthquake in Chile, the recent earthquake in New Zealand and now the devastation in Japan, not to mention the continuous stories of flooding and other chaos in the world. How could I go on to face another day, knowing I may never find my family, knowing that my house was destroyed, knowing that I didn't even get the worst of it...

Pondering all this, praying for those affected and mourning for those that are hurting has put life into perspective for me these past couple of days. Why I am I here? What is my purpose? As a Christian, my mission is to love people and through that, introduce them to the love of Jesus. How many of those people washed away, crushed under buildings, mourning the loss of everything they knew and loved, feeling the deepest and darkest pangs of loneliness, dead, dead in spirit, didn't get to know the unsurpassable love of Jesus? And was it because they chose not to, or was it because the christian in their life was to afraid, to ashamed, not bold enough, to tell them that THERE IS ONE TRUE AND LOVING GOD that wants nothing more, than to spend eternity with them, His children?

I have hope. Although it would wreck me, it would devastate me, it would tear my heart in pieces to experience what anyone goes through when they experience loss to this extreme, and although it's not always easy, deep down, I have hope. Hope that comes from the faith in knowing that Jesus Christ has a plan, and that this pain, this life, is short and temporary compared to the joy that I will live in for eternity.

These disasters that seem to be occurring more frequently have really got me thinking about the end times - what if the world was to end tomorrow, I mean really end tomorrow? Am I living my life to the fullest? Am I living my life? And if I'm not, what should I be doing differently? This is where I am at in my thoughts. And I feel like I will think about this for another few days and it will start to fade. Japan will get relief, they will start to rebuild, I will go on with life the way I was and this will be just "an emotional week" where I pondered life...

Spring!!!...Or Not...

Greetings fellow friends and family! I come with minimal exciting news but for you, I will try and make it sound exciting! These past few weeks have been filled with many fond and memorable moments of work and school! During the time in between all that fun, Carl likes to take small breaks to catch up on the happenings on NHL.com and if he's lucky, sometimes he even gets to stream Canucks games on our big screen TV as seen below!

During my breaks, I like to check our mail box and find treasures of letters and pictures from our loved ones! Just this week we received a care package and pictures from my friends Mel and Tiffany! Look how our picture wall is growing!!!

Last night I left Carl to his hockey watching and went over to a gals house from bible study where we practiced our musical skills on Guitar Hero...

Unfortunately every time I tried to play, we couldn't get through a song without failing! So I resorted to entertaining myself with the crazy (and massive) dog!

Let's see, what else has been happenin...Oh yes, Carl went for his first dentist appointment after about 10 years since his last one! We were prepared for the worst predicting maybe even one cavity for each year missed...To our surprise and amazement, he came home with none! Carl also heard this week that he has been selected for an interview with the city of Kingston for a summer internship! We are very excited at the prospect of Carl being able to work in the city and prayers are appreciated!

Yesterday we had the comforts of home come visit - it poured rain all day! We did actually find it a bit comforting and a bit exciting because we were actually able to see the ground again! The rain was finally melting the snow and we thought that maybe, just maybe spring was on its way! Then we awoke this morning to 4 inches of new snow! The rain had turned to ice rain and then eventually to snow overnight! Our car doors were frozen shut when we went to go to church so Carl had to crawl in from the trunk!

And this concludes are stories for this post! Hope your lives have been as eventful and exciting as ours lately :)