Day 1: 2007

You know what makes me feel old? The fact that I clearly remember when the year 1997 was "new". I still catch myself thinking that music from '97 isn't THAT old. Who am I kidding? None of our youth have ever listened to Jars of Clay or Newsboys or Audio Adrenaline or DC Talk. Ah, well, at least I don't feel that way about 1987! Yeek!

So, alot has happened this year! Here's a quick run-down:

January - I was working nearly 40 hours a week (when 20-30 hrs was supposed to be the norm). It felt like too much so at the end of the month I talked to my boss and had my hours cut in half. I'll never regret that choice!!!

February - Continued on with life...

March - Invested in a new leather couch and 2 chairs for our living room. One chair came damaged so we called the store to get it replaced.

April - Bought our first house and moved in at the end of the month. Enjoyed the free cable for 10 days before it was cut off. :( Still waiting for our chair to get replaced...

May - Our first anniversary. Nathan took me away to Jessica Lake Resort (in the whiteshell) as a surprise. This year is my turn to surprise him... Still waiting for our new chair...

June - My last month of work. We planted our garden full of grass and did a bit of other yard work. We bought a lawn mower (the joys of owning a house begin with the snow all gone and the grass growing). Also waiting for the joys of a new living room chair to begin...

July - Holidays! We were in Leamington, ON for a week at our EMMC convention and then at a pastor's retreat. After that, we went to Niagara falls for a night and then to Nathan's grandma's cottage where I met ALL of Nathan's extended family (on his mom's side). We came home to freshly mowed grass (thanks to ???) and a pile of dirt on our front lawn. We made the pile of dirt into a garden in the back and leveled off the yard a bit with it. I believe we started picking apples this month too... And we're still waiting for our chair...

August - We helped Trev and Rebekah strip wall paper in their new house (congratulations, guys!). I picked up buckets and buckets of apples each day or two. I'm sure there were many more than 1000! We took off to St. Laurent (MB) for a week with a group of youth who led VBS. This was a tough week for me as I struggled to figure out where my place was in everything...not sure I ever figured that one out! We got back from that and less than a week later, we took off with pretty much the same youth to Saskatoon for Chalo. Here I felt like I knew my place a bit better because it was in my lovely homeland (one of them), Saskatchewan! We got back from that and slept. (And dreamed of having a new, undamaged, living room chair...)

September - Lennox came and the fun of training a dog began. I'm still not working at this point, but I am checking the newspaper for any openings in town that sounded interesting. OUR CHAIR GOT REPLACED!!!!! I got called into work for a couple days while the office got caught up. Our water heater busted. I was asked to work a couple more days... Youth leaders' retreat at Camp Arnes. A couple more days of work...

October - I was asked to work a couple more days...and a couple more...and a couple more...how 'bout another week?

November - Nathan and I celebrated being married a year and a half with fireworks out in a farmer's field. (Thanks to the unceasing Manitoba wind, we had to light them with the car cigarette lighter!) Nathan taught a post-secondary class at Crosscurrent. At the end of the month, Nathan left me to travel to South Carolina with some other youth pastors for a youth workers convention. Marsha didn't get to come down to keep me company. (It's been a year and a half since I've seen her!) Oh, and I'm still working, but just for another week...and another week...and another...

December - Nathan gets back from South Carolina. We had a week of Christmas parties each night. We went to a friends' wedding in Regina, caught up with some Bible school friends and my brother. Had a whirlwind tour of both our families and were home by Christmas day to be part of the service at our church. Boxing day we took in a day of shopping in Winnipeg (but weren't convinced that we need to go again next year). The day after that, we painted Nate's office (and only lost 1/4 of a can of paint to the carpet - it would have been more, but Nate acted quick and saved the other 3/4 of the can). Pictures are coming...

And that brings us to January! Wow, what a year! I'm still working (but only a week at a time) and that's good. Nathan is still loving his job, although with one of the pastor's having resigned, it'll be a bit of an adjustment over the next few months. Lennox is doing good...he's reached the 50 lb mark and is still growing! And our house? It's still standing and we haven't started any fires at all yet! (We had a number of small fires in our old apartment, so I'm glad things are finally turning around!)

So, have a great year everyone! All the best in 2007!