The Easy Way Out

Merry Christmas to all of you from the two of us. . . in a two year old Christmas card picture. I said I was taking the easy way out, didn't I? Things have been delightfully crazy around here the past little while. I've been up to my eyeballs with baking and Christmasing. But no malls this year. No presents. No hustle and bustle and spending and noise. Just joyously fun and reflectful Christmasness. Taking time to wait in expectation for the arrival of a King. It's been wonderful.

We are absolutely loving the faith community we have recently become a part of. It feels like we've been with them for such a long time. It is just such a beautiful thing to find a community of like minded believers who share the same passion. We truly feel that God was leading us in an answer to our prayers when we found Awaken

We are excited to be seeing family and friends again this Christmas. Although we feel a stirring deep within us, we are now at peace with the road God has been leading us on. We are excited to be seeing some of you again and catching up.

And on that note, I'm off to watch more of this

which my momma just sent me in the mail. Thanks Momma (and Dad)

Winnipeg, thou art lovely.

Last weekend we had the chance to go to Winnipeg to for the wedding of Gord's cousin Ashley to Michael. We absolutely love going to Winnipeg to see his side of the family, so we'll take any chance we can get. The wedding was wonderful and adding to the fun was the fact that it's the first wedding I've been to in a while that I wasn't actually involved in. We did get to drive the wedding party around, but that was great because it gave us time with the bridal party that we wouldn't have had otherwise.


Ash walking down the aisle.


The Cake. So cool. It looks just like them and also, the cupcakes tasted amazing.

They also had a photo booth at their wedding like the ones they have at malls. We could all get photos taken and the bridal couple got to keep a copy of all of them. I'd post ours here if we had a scanner, but we don't, so I will attempt to recreate them for you.


The next day we had a golf tournament in memory of Gord's Grandpa and our cousins' beautiful little boy who recently passed away. It was a great idea and we had a blast hanging out together as a family. Afterwards we had a breakfast and awards ceremony.


Uncle Todd won "best golf outfit 30 years and over".


I won "looks most like Auntie Corina without actually being Auntie Corina". Maybe you'd have to be there, but since I started dated Gord I've been told I look like one of his aunts which frankly, I don't mind because she is one good looking lady. Again missing an acutal photo so I will enlighten you.


The resemblance is uncanny. How could I not have won the award?

The next day followed with a giant waffle breakfast for everyone. We got to hang out with our cousins Josh and Leah quite a bit which we just love. It was really great to see them and share with them again. All in all we had an awesome weekend and I can't wait to go back soon.

Fall is now here . . .

and it's beautiful outside. Here is the view from the balcony. It's my favorite time of year for running because I love the crunch of leaves under my feet.

We have been keeping busy with a variety of things. We went on a trip to visit family and friends in Saskatoon. We got to see many good friends and spent a day on the lake with my family. My camera battery was really low, but I managed to snap a pic of Blackstrap mountain before it died.

If you need help, the mountain is right in the middle of the picture. I love Saskatchewan. I really do.

Gord and our friend Lance ran a half marathon in Canmore. They had a great time.

And Shoshanna and I had a great time watching - not running.

We have been trying to settle in with a church and honestly having not a whole lot of luck. This leaves us (especially me) in a place of frustration and impatience. I just want to be serving and ministering in a practical way and it seems I hit a road bump at every turn. This has however, left me with much spare time for sewing, crocheting, baking etc. So if anyone happens to stop by, you will be greeted with a friendly cup of coffee and a fresh baked cookie. . . and maybe even a blanket.

Stampede with a twist

This year's Stampede brought my company's second annual Stampede party. Such a blast. And I ended up scoring a pair of tickets to the rodeo to boot. It was such a fun evening of line dancing, socializing, prize winning and stampeding. Our table was pretty lucky as we won rodeo tickets, a blackberry pearl and a free flight between us.
Me pretending I'm a hat person.

Chandra with her new Blackberry.

Some pipers walking down Stephen Ave.

Me with Ferida and Chandra on their last day at work.

Sunday was the annual Calgary Marathon which I conviced myself to run in for some strange torturous and unknown reason. But anyway, I did. Not the full marathon mind you - I'm not athletic. Just the half. Which makes it sound short. . . "Oh, I just did the half". People - it did not seem short. 21.1 Km is actually far. But I did it. And I have to say I'm proud of myself. Also for the fact that I was the ONLY person I saw wearing Russells, and Huskie ones at that. Eat it Lululemon. (I have a personal vendetta - ask me later).
Me and my Huskie shorts mid race.

The Finish - my favorite part. They even called my name. Official Time - 2:40:18

The post race stretch.

All in all a pretty productive weekend.

The times they are a changin'

Well, June 15th saw our church, Sema come to an end. A very, very sad end. Actually, it's worse now that we've gone to another church already and been moderately dissappointed. The actual weekend Sema ended was wonderful. We had a church camp out at a retreat centre and it was so much fun. We had some worship time and lots of food and games. This is the picture of Gord just after winning the sack race.


The closing of Sema is leaving us more than a little lost right now. The church community was so much a part of our lives.

At the beginning of June we took a little trip to Vancouver Island. We just needed some time to relax. We took the ferry over to Vancouver to meet up with good friends Rosanna, Elissa and Doug. Then we went for a hike at the Lynn Valley Suspension Bridge.



Gord also celebrated his birthday that day.


The Bed and Breakfast we stayed at.


Gord and I did lots of hiking and even went for a canoe. It was just so beautiful.
Cathedral Grove. I must apologize to Gord for putting up this picture, but I love it.




Goats playing at the Little Qualicum Cheesworks.


Hard Ice Cream $1.49. Are you serious!?!?


Our last dinner together.

Has anyone ever noticed that the more you have to say at one time, the harder it is to say anything? Hence, no post in a long time, but lots going on. Especially lots of thinking and feeling. So here's the deal. I update in a brief and factual way and save you the ten hour read of what's "new with us".

1. Jon and Dayna got married and we saw so many old friends. Total happiness.
2. Our church is closing as of June 15th. Love + closing = sadness in a huge way
3. Gord is now a certified journeyman plumber. Finally.
4. We got a visit from Tim, Erica and Nicole last weekend. Yay!
5. We are soon visiting Vancouver Island for a much needed vacation. More on that later.
6. We are waiting, but actively waiting for God's leading in the future as we sense quite a powerful redirection.

That's it in a nutshell. Sometimes less is more.

End of an Era

Well, yesterday I said goodbye with my fellow coworkers to a beautiful thing. Our Bridgeland clinic closed for good, dispersing my good friends and I to a handful of other clinics across the city. I will miss the good times, the jokes, the patients, and definitely the barbecue on the balcony. Most of all I will miss the memories of good friends being just that - good friends. But we move on. I will be working with many of these people at another clinic which I have been working part time at. I look forward to new memories and friendships built. This along with other unknown futures in my life remind me once again that God is sovereign. He is with me whether I feel Him or not. He walks before me into my unknown, seeing all that is to come and preparing me for it.

Sushi Masters

Last night the ladies of Sema had the priviledge of learning how to make Sushi from a true sushi master - the mother of one of the ladies at church. Was it ever fun. I was pretty gung ho about the whole thing and managed to make some pathetic looking sushi, but it all tasted good in the end. What a fun idea!
Sushi Prep

All the ladies

And Gord and I didn't mind one bit that we had our lunches made for today!

I think winter's almost over.

Or at least, I hope. It feels like it's been a long one, but things are starting to swing towards spring and the feeling of new life. Since the last post, we've been pretty busy with a multitude of church events and doing a lot of just hanging out. At the beginning of January we had a Winter Carnival with church. This was my favorite game - Bowling for Penguins.

We just returned from the wedding of our friends Eric and Amber. It was a wonderful time with not that many pictures. (It's amazing how playing the piano for a wedding gets in the way of taking pictures of the ceremony.) Here are some of the keepers. Jon and Dayna

Gord and I

My friend Rachel from Winnipeg! Weddings are so great for reunions!

As I write this, it's a Tuesday afternoon and I am reminded how grateful I am to now be working 4 days a week. I work two days each at two clinics and one of the clinics is closing in a month, which feels like a sad ending to a new phase of work, as I truly loved the clinic that's closing. It seems like sudden changes like this prompt thoughts of new beginnings and Gord and I are in a phase of thinking on what the future might bring and how God can best use us. Gord also started his last period of school for his plumbing apprenticeship this week. I'm hoping to weasel a few extra house chores out of him while he has some extra time! I can't complain, though after last night's fabulous barbequed red pepper and parmesan chicken breasts!

I Never Sleep

This Christmas started off in an unusual way with the death of my dear Grandma Bushman. We started our Christmas holidays off early to head out to the funeral in time. The funeral was amazing. There were so many people there, which was incredible because my Grandma would have been 98 on Boxing Day, so most of her peers are already gone. The funeral highlighted her long life of faithfulness to God. We were reminded of her contentment in any situation and her constant gratitude. It is a huge comfort to know that she is finally home.
While in Watrous for the funeral, we were able to spend some time with our dear friends Jodie and Steve. Gord was happy as a clam to be able to go ski-dooing with Steve after a long day of family and dress clothes. Can you tell how happy he is?



Next we had a wonderful Christmas with Myriam, Samina, Bev and Mary a tradition going for many many years now. Much fun rivalry was had around the game table.

Our Campbell Christmas (Mom's side) was the next day. I always enjoy these gatherings. Here are some pics.

Me and Gord



Mom and Me



Grandpa Campbell and Evelyn



Before we left for Winnipeg, we were able to have breakfast with Sandra and Steve and Alison and Clarke. Boy, do we love getting together with you guys. It's almost more fun then when we were all single dreaming of these times!

Then on to Winnipeg.

We had a wonderful time with the Klassen side (Gord's Mom)! We don't see them often enough.
Some cousins attacking a gingerbread house.



The result of too much sugar.



Our cousin Ashley and her boyfriend Mike.



We went out for Thai and then dragged the boys to Enchanted. I know Gord secretly loves princesses.



We were also able to visit Trev and Rebekah. Guys, it was definitely worth the drive (which really wasn't that long). There little guy gets bigger by the day. We had a blast with them.




And finally, one of our highlights - Rod. Nothing more needs to be said.