Spring purchase

Ruth and I have been in this house now for a year. As all home owners know, there are a list of projects to undertake once you move into an old house. Sometimes even a new house. There are just always things you want to change. Well one of the things we wanted to change the most - we finally changed this week. It's the second largest amount of money we've spent on the place so far.

Can anyone guess what I'm standing on in this picture?



Our trip to Europe. That's what I'm standing on.



This is a picture from our inspection before we actually owned the house. As you can see, the driveway was the buck toothed grin of this beautiful bride. We loved her, but she sure needed some dental work.

Paving is pricey! And if you want it done right, you need to come up with a good game plan...



We actually agreed on what we wanted, but were just unsure of how it would look. Plus we were putting our flower beds into the hands of two guys with steel toe boots and a dump truck and a back hoe. It was scary.




I wish I could have sat around at home and watched them tear my front yard up into little chunks, but I was busy at work trying to pay for it all. Praise God for the jobs and money that gave us the ability to do this. It sure is nice to make big improvements like this. I left for work on Thursday and the driveway was just gravel. I came home and it looked like this...



Nice! That house has a beautiful black smile. It's an odd thought to think that paving our driveway adds value to our neighbors houses too. They totally owe us!

It was hard to spend all that money thinking of all the other things we could have done with it, like fly to Europe. D'oh! Oh well. But then as I was observing the pile of old asphalt that was ripped up, I had a Solomon moment; There's nothing really new under the sun. The sun rises and sets, and hurries back to where it rises.

And maybe this pile of black junk was once someone else's trip to Europe. Now it's headed to the dump.

The A-Team!

There's a number of weddings we need to hit this summer/spring. The first one of the year is the A-teams wedding. That's Aaron and Annie Patterson. They met at our community group, and dated for roughly a year or so before they decided to take the plunge.




I'm a little late on this post. They've been married for two weeks already. I also took very few pictures. I felt the need to take this wedding "off" and just enjoy being there. But it was hard to resist the dance shots. Especially our good friend Richard getting down.




Classical YMCA shot. We had a good time.





Congratulations Aaron and Annie! Ah...as if they're reading. They're on the beach in Hawaii.

The Triple Door

Ruths parents are in town for the week. Ruth and I decided to take them to one of our favorite music venues; The Triple Door, to see one of our favorite artists; Rosie Thomas. We didn't realize that Denison Witmer would be singing with her too. Denison is an excellent song writer that I've followed for a couple years.




The set up for the Triple Door is basically dinner tables facing a stage. So you eat and drink while you watch the show. It's a great atmosphere, great food, and usually good music.



To hear the song that got me hooked on Denison Witmer, go here: http://www.myspace.com/denisonwitmer and listen to the song Los Angeles



There are several songs Ruth and I love by Rosie. To hear some, go here http://www.myspace.com/rosiethomasmusic

Take a shot...

Sometimes you just gotta take a shot.

There are a few huge decisions in life that you could wrestle over for years. Choosing your career is one. You want to keep doors open but you don't want to pass up good opportunities. Getting married is another biggy. You're choosing the person you're going to spend your whole life with. There are endless reasons to spend the rest of your days trying to make the best possible decision. I suppose that's why some people get caught in perpetual states of education, looking for the best career, or endless cycles of relationships, looking for the perfect spouse.

There's something to be said for just taking a shot. Just saying, " I'm going to make my decision now." I'm not talking about making rushed or ill-informed decisions. I'm just talking about putting your foot down. Drawing the line. Stepping into the unkown.

Aaron and Annie are doing that next week. They're getting married. So last weekend, we men celebrated Aaron's decision by taking a few shots with him. So we piled into a 15 person van and started early...



We shot guns...






We shot hoops...



We shot pucks...



We shot virtual enemies...



We shot pool...




And then we just shot the breeze...




Later on in the evening we shot shots, but I don't have any pictures of that. It was a really good time with brothers and friends. I thank God for these guys. I can't wait until more of them get married so we can do it again. Congratulations to Aaron and Annie! I'm sure I'll have pictures of that in a couple weeks.

What's in Your Wallet?

Last week while I was sitting at my favorite coffee shoppe I decided it was high time to clean out my wallet. You could guess that I was bored. Or you could just know the truth. I like to clean things. Since I wasn't at home the only thing readily available to clean was my wallet.

While cleaning my wallet I had a deep thought. What if someone had handed that wallet to me ten years ago and let me go through it, allowing me to get a sneak peak at my future. What would I have thought?

The first card I pulled out was my health care card. Lifewise. What?! No more Care Card? Has all the talk predicting the fate of the Canadian medical system come true? No more universal healthcare? Perish the thought! Hmmm...the upper right corner has a business name. That must be where I work. Or maybe where my spouse works. I hope it's not where my parents work. I'd hate to be a dependent at twenty....something. The card does have my maiden name on it. That's strange, I guess I'm not married yet. That's not part of the ever agonized over 'plan'. Back to the business name...I've never heard of it. I've actually never even heard of the WORD that names the business. If you haven't figured it out I'm refusing to name where I work online. I've always been paranoid. That hasn't changed.

The next card I found was my car insurance card. Geico. Hmmm...not ICBC. This is getting fishy. Has Canada privatized everything? This card has Royden's name on it too. Awesome. Things must have worked out between us. But there's that pesky maiden name again. Are we living together?! Have we given up the faith?! This CAN'T be right.

AAA Card. I must still own a crappy car. Not BCAA, just plain AAA. I must live in Alberta. That makes sense since they'd be the first to privatize everything. Hey...I think that Geico card said I drive a Jetta. That makes me laugh since I drive one now. I hope it's not the same one!

Funny money. Well, at least I don't live in Alberta.

Washington State Driver's Licence. I look pretty. No, really...I do. I know that sounds like I'm conceited. I guess sometimes I am. I have pretty days, and ugly days. I have an exceptionally good picture of myself on my licence. In fact it may be the best picture ever taken of me. I would gladly show it to you if asked. I'd have another moment of pride upon noting that my weight has hardly changed since high school. That'll come in handy for that 10 year reunion;). Washington eh? Well, last year mom and dad took Royden and I there and we had fun. I don't know how we'll ever drive there but at least we'll be close to Tooth and Nail!

There are a handful of other cards in my wallet, some of which would have likely provoked false pride...my professional licence. Others would have provoked laughter...a Montana Ranch business card with the name 'Nate' on it. (sorry Nathan, I'm used to it but still can't call you that:). Of course my greencard would have cleared up the whole 'losing my religion and living in sin' thing.

So here's my question to you: What's in your wallet?

Final Tone

This last weekend was set aside to paint the office. My lovely painting wife tackled the project while I gave moral support. Before you look down on me for sitting on the painting sidelines, remember I only did it to spare my life. You see; Ruth is somewhat of a perfectionist. And when you add perfectionism to something she's skilled at like painting, then it's best to stay out of the way. The woman knows how she wants it done, and it doesn't include me with a brush in my hand.



...Or a roller. I did make use of myself while I was banned from the office I made potato soup. And I mowed the lawn. But none of it really added up to the effort Ruth put in to make our office look really cool and masculine. It helps me draw cool pictures.

Ruth even let me pick out the color. She even tried to go along with it when I originally wanted mustard.

Instafil to fill the holes in the wall. Instafil to fill the latte shaped hole in my wife's stomach.

There's a reason that Ruth had this rare window to disassemble my drawing den. I've been working for the last year on a 4 book graphic novel series for Zondervan. This month marked the completion of the first book. 150 pages, early mornings at the drawing table before work every day, it's been a long year.

But now it's done and I have time to shut down the computer, sleep in, go in to work at usual times, watch tv in the evenings...but not for long. I have to start book 2 next week.

Thanks to Ruth who not only paints our office brown, but graciously let's me chase this crazy comic dream.