Moving to Westsyde

We found a place to live. It's a basement suite in Westsyde, and it's very nice. We're so excited. We'd been looking for quite a while and, since we have to move at the end of this month, we were getting a little worried as it loomed closer and closer. But we looked at this place last night, and it's perfect. It was a God appointment, as it is everything we were looking for, and more. We love it.

We Do

Well, it's been awhile since we've posted anything to our blog. In the meantime, we've gotten married, moved, and no longer have internet access at home. We are now dependent upon the library's one hour a day free internet or our friends' generosity with their computers.

We thought that for our first blog post in all this time, we would simply post our personal vows that we had written for each other.

~

Mark:

I looked at a pile of clothes on my bed:

The armour that a bachelor wears.

My vagabond shoes, my troubadour's coat,

My gypsy hat, my crazy guy shirt,

My lonewolf vest, my Travolta-Jackson disco (dancing) pants,

My trailblazer backpack, and my girlwatcher shades.

Like my soul in the mirror

They are stained, thin, and full of holes.

I'm ready to pack them in

And give it all up to goodwill.

I can't wait for my new clothes;

I don't know what holy robes

A married man will need to wear,

But I'm willing to learn.

I can't wait to come to this gate,

And wear this easy equal yoke.

I cannot guarantee financial security,

That we'll have everything that we want,

Or that the market won't crash.

But I promise you, love...

That I'll work hard, do my very best,

And trust the Father for the rest.

He will not see us beg for bread.

I cannot guarantee that we'll ever own a house

With a yard and a fence

Or acres for a horse and kids to run free,

But I promise you, love...

I'll be your covering and wherever we roam

Together we'll build a home

With Christ as the Cornerstone.

I cannot guarantee that we will have a bunch of children

Or if we do that they'll be good and quiet

And follow the Lord always.

But I promise you, love...

That our home will be open, warm, and fun--

A shelter from the storm;

That shoulder-to-shoulder

I'll back your play

And support what you say.

I cannot guarantee that there won't be anger or tears,

Fights or fears, pain or loss,

Or that I can scare off the Angel of Death.

But I promise you, love...

That I'll be your shoulder, your tissue, your pillow;

That I'll be your soldier to keep clumsy wellwishers away;

That I mean the words of the jazz song:

"Cry if you want to, I won't tell you not to, I won't try to cheer you up;

I'll just be here if you want me."

I cannot guarantee that we'll both make it

To that golden age of silver hair,

Or that we'll both be aware of who we are or where.

But I promise you, love...

If we both make it and we're both aware,

We will still walk in the park,

And kiss in the dark, do crosswords,

Drink coffee and iced tea,

And we'll still be each other's best friend.

I promise you laughter,

I promise you tears,

I promise you faithfulness

Through all the years;

I promise I'll be there

To calm all your fears;

I promise my body

To bring comfort to yours;

I promise you kindness

And opening doors;

I promise you romance

And the occasional dance;

I promise provision

From the Father above;

But most of all,

I promise you love.

Esther:

When I'm with you, problems seem smaller, and blessings are greater.

When you smile at me, I cannot help but smile in return.

You have become my nearest, dearest friend, and I cannot imagine life without you.

I look forward eagerly to spending the rest of my life with you, anticipating years of joy and laughter.

I promise that I will never walk away from you. No matter what, I commit myself to you. From this day forth, you are a part of me; we are one and nothing can ever change that.

Wedding Showers Bring More Presents

Janice and Marion threw me a surprise wedding shower on Monday, August 10. I didn't get any pictures of that - others did but haven't emailed them to me. It was sooooo nice to know how many people love us. I was rather overwhelmed.

~

Yesterday, Jackie threw us a Pampered Chef Bridal Party. I knew that one was coming, but it was still really nice that people wanted to buy us more stuff.

Mark really liked the dessert Sharleen made:

And he got to cuddle Gila's little Adrienne. She's a cutie!

Cell Phone Fun and Fury

We were at the mall yesterday and passed the Rogers Store. Mark hasn't gotten a new cellphone in about 4 or 5 years, so we went in to see what they could do for us. He picked out this cool Motorola, the Motorokr E8:

I noticed that cellphones seem to be getting bigger again. Now that they play videos and tv, the phone has to be larger to have a big enough screen to see anything.

~

While we were there, the guy looked at my phone, a Samsung with a memory card. He wanted to know how many gigs my memory card was and I couldn't remember. So he popped it out - with the phone on. I was shocked. "Is that safe?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, it's fine," he said.

But then my phone was frozen. It wouldn't turn off or on. It was stuck on the loading screen. He had to send it away to be fixed and he gave me this 'classic' Nokia 2660 as a loaner:

New Nokias are 6000 something.

I didn't even get the cool earbuds. I miss my phone!

And he never once thought that he might have caused what happened to my phone. Am I wrong, or shouldn't a phone be turned off before you start messing with memory cards?

KFGT Picnic

Every year, our church, Kamloops Full Gospel Tabernacle(KFGT), holds a picnic in the park. This year, we even had our service there. It was practically perfect weather: mostly sunny and warm, with clouds drifting across the sky and a slight breeze. The clouds and breeze were refreshing after the heat we've been having this summer so far.

Here's Mark hanging out with Rick, Anne, & Dwight.

My dad

They have a petting zoo at the park.
Mark really liked the llama.
We couldn't pet this guy, 'cause the fence wouldn't let us get close enough. Maybe he bites.

This is Teka.

Nerd Alert!

Guess what we did last night? Yeah, we're nerds. Esther has read the books about 4 or 5 times.

Esther's brother Ben came with us to the movie, but he wants everyone to know that he is not a Harry Potter nerd.

The movie was enjoyable, but rather confusing, as they left out a LOT that was in the book.

On the Road Again

Esther was walking home from work yesterday, when she ran into a lady from our church. She offered Esther a ride and they started chatting about how things were going. Esther mentioned that Mark's car had broken down and we were now looking for an inexpensive used car. She said, "Well, I'm looking to sell mine."

For $400 we got this Chrysler 5th Avenue:

It's funny how things cycle. Once again, a Jones is in a Chrysler. We've moved out of the town and country, and are living large on Fifth Ave. Yes, we're moving on up.

Mark even has a deluxe apartment in the sky--or in the trunk.

V8

Power

This God appointment served to remind us that we have the keys to the Kingdom, that all things work together for good for those who love Him.

Prayer is the key to the power of the Holy Spirit, the storehouse of God, and many Victories (V8).

Magic Ride

star wars- imperial march songs
Mp3 download | Music download

I'd spent the morning busking at the Farmer's Market, so I was forced to carry my backpack and guitar as well as a heavy keyboard stand I use as a music stand all around the park. The stand was strapped to my guitar which was strapped to my back in a backpack-style guitar case. This made me another awkward foot taller. My heavy backpack thus needed to be carried in my hand.

Jackie and Esther were nice enough to meet me where I was busking, and we proceeded to Riverside Park. It was crowded and hot and, because of the time limit the buses forced on us, we didn't have time to linger.

Finally, we made it over to the international food booths. Even with the money I'd made busking, I was a couple dollars short but Jackie was nice enough to help out.

Suddenly we realized we had about 10 or 15 minutes to get to the bus exchange and it was about 6 blocks away. Jackie and Esther decided to take a cab, and I ran for the bus.

Well, I didn't exactly run. I speedwalked with the Imperial March in my head.

I made it to the end of the transit exchange and could see my bus about 2 bus lengths away. They were just starting to pull out. I awkwardly jogged toward them while my guitar banged against the back of my head. I was screaming, "Stop! Stop! Wait! Wait! Don't go!" but they went.

Then I heard the Dark Side say, "Use the anger, Mark. We have cookies." Wanting to get the driver's attention, I grabbed an empty plastic apple juice bottle and flung it at the bus. As it left my hand, I realized it wasn't plastic -- it was glass. Like my dreams of catching the bus, it shattered on the ground, missing the bus by a few inches. Still they ignored me.

I chased them for a couple of blocks, and almost had them at a red light, but it turned green. I was already halfway to Columbia Street by now, so I decided as a penance for my act of vandalism, I should walk home.

~

I got as far as the Starbucks across from the hospital and decided to sit in the air conditioning for a minute. When they heard my story, they were nice enough to give me a big glass of ice water, even though I had no money to buy anything.

There was nothing left to do but climb the very steep hill before me. I was about halfway up when someone yelled at me: "Mark!" Unfortunately, he was heading downhill. Moments later, the same car came up behind me, honking and pulling over by me. It was none other than ex-Williams Lake magician Clint W. Gray and his wife.

"Get in before someone hits us," he said. I dived in. He made me disappear from the road. And poof! In a cloud of smoke, I was home. Where my watch and my underwear went, I'll never know.

My Canada Day Adventure

It was a beautiful day and we went to Riverside Park to see Art in the Park, a kind of outdoor marketplace kind of thing they have every Canada Day. This dress made of mirrors was the weirdest thing this year:

Since Mark's car is dead, we had to take the bus. Unfortunately, Kamloops Transit and the City of Kamloops decided Sunday service was enough for a statutory holiday. They were wrong. The buses ran one per hour from about 10am until 6pm. The last bus left the downtown exchange at 5:30pm.

~

My friend Jackie and I met Mark downtown and we spent a little while walking around the park, then had supper at the international food booths. We had barely started eating at 5pm, and we had a little bit of a hike to get to the transit exchange. Jackie decided she didn't want to rush, and she had some money, so she and I would share a cab home. Mark, however, was going in the opposite direction, so he rushed off to catch his bus. He'll tell you his adventure in another post.

~

It was such a nice day that Jackie and I started walking. "We'll see how far we get, and then call a cab when we can't walk anymore." Well, it was beautiful out, and we didn't walk very fast, and it was all level ground, so we decided to cross the bridge at least before we gave in and called.

I took these pictures from the path leading up to the bridge.

We crossed the bridge and still felt like walking, so we did. By this time, we were only about 10 or so blocks from my place. So we just walked all the way there. Of course, Jackie had a little farther to go, like about 10 or so more blocks. But then my dad called from his cell phone on his way to work (he works a night shift), and said he was stopping by to drop something off here. I asked if he would mind taking Jackie home before work, 'cause otherwise she'd have to call a cab, and he said of course he would take her home.
So all in all, quite a fun day. Although, I didn't get to spend as much time with Mark as I would have liked.

The Rest of the Story...

In a previous blog, Esther reported on the car breaking down Sunday night. Here's what happened on Saturday.

~

While we were at McQueen Lake, we decided to visit Isobel Lake, which in retrospective, was not a good idea. We should have known something was up when, halfway there, standing right in the middle of the road in front us, was the Bull of the Bush. Big horns, big hooves, big face, big trouble. I said, "Esther! We're in a red car!"

She calmly replied, "Actually, they're colourblind. It's movement they respond to."

"Then don't move!" I whispered dramatically.

Eventually, he snorted derisively and sauntered off to join his significant udder.

~

Figuring that was our close call of the day, we kept going.

At Isobel, all we found was a boat launch and some rough campsites. So we kept driving around the lake. Then the dirt road we were on split in two. One was wide and flat; the other narrow, rocky, and steep. Guess which one I took?

It was like being a teenager in Williams Lake again.

Esther said, "Are we allowed to be on this road? Is it even a road?"

"Oh, sure," I said. "We've taken this car over worse roads."

But then it got steeper, and rockier, and ruttier. When we started climbing straight up, I said, "I think I'm gonna find a spot to turn around." But it got even narrower, rockier, and ruttier. There was nowhere to turn around, and there was no way I was gonna back down.

As the engine began to steam and smoke, we finally reached a flat spot at the top and, after breathing a sigh of relief, we tried to turn around.

But when I put it in reverse, it stuttered and died. When I put it back in drive, it would go. If only we could get pointed down the hill, we could drive back. Esther bravely volunteered to push while I put it in neutral and steered. For my part, I stood in the door, steered with one hand, and pushed on the frame with the other. We finally maneuvered it around and got it pointing downhill. That's when it decided to go on its own.

When I tried to jump in, the door frame hit me in the rear end and bounced me onto my left knee. I bounced a couple of times, and was dragged down the rocky hill for a few feet.

Esther was on the other side, between the car and a gully full of trees. When she realized the car was angling toward the edge, she tried to push it back onto the trail. This whole time, I never let go of the steering wheel, and was trying to keep the car on the trail. With a herculean effort, I pulled myself to my feet, and karate-kicked towards the brake. I caught it just in time. One wheel was over the edge, and we still could not reverse.

As the thunder rolled, and I bled into my shoe, we made our way back down the hill and back to the boat launch. We needed a guy with a truck to pull us out. One guy with a flashy red truck who was yelling at his kids was a 'no.' The other guy with the big black truck and a couple of dogs looked promising.

"Sir," I said to him, "I'm about to make your day."

He looked at me suspiciously as I continued. "I'm about to make you a hero, and an answer to prayer, and I'm gonna give you the best stinking story to take back to town about the IDIOT you helped."

Without giving us a hard time, he agreed to help. However, when I pointed out which road I had taken, he said, "I don't even take my TRUCK up there!" But he did this time, to help us out.

When we finally got to the top and he saw my car, he said, "Oh. Yeah. THAT'S an offroading vehicle."

While he was getting his tools, his wife told me, "You picked the right guy. He's the 'boy scout' of mechanics and an ex-tow truck driver." Sure enough, he had the big fat rope and all the tools you'd ever need to pull someone out of anywhere. Minutes later, we were heading back to our camp at McQueen Lake.

McQueen Lake - The Cabins

This was Mark's cabin: The Grey Jay Hideaway

And this was mine: The Moose Mansion

These are just some others we thought had cool names:

Deer Domain

Coyote Den

And this is the oldest one. I thought it looked cool.

McQueen Lake - Buildings in Main Area

First sight of camp

Closeup of the gazebo

Inside the gazebo
Dining hall



Where's there's smoke... they're cooking
Next post: the cabins

No More Sonja

Okay, so we had fun camping, and we'll post more on that later, but I have to tell you all about what happened last night (the day we got back from McQueen Lake).

~

We'd been having a little trouble with the car on the trip. It overheated once and stalled, but after it cooled down, it seemed okay. We put some water in the radiator before we left camp on Sunday morning, 'cause there's a leak and radiator fluid keeps draining slowly away.

When we got back to Kamloops, my dad wanted to take us out for supper, so we went to ABC. After dinner, we filled the radiator again, and my dad knows quite a lot about car mechanics, so he looked at the engine and told us it looked like an easy fix. We could get some plumbers putty or something like that and just spread it on.

We had taken our leave and were driving Jackie home when the car stalled. And wouldn't start again. We pushed it off the road, and a police car pulled in behind us with his lights on. Amazing police presence in Kamloops. I mean, he was there in seconds.

Unfortunately, it turns out Mark's insurance had expired a couple of months back, and his driver's license expired almost a year ago (September 3, 2008). Needless to say, we weren't driving away. The officer called a tow truck and I called my roommate, Janice. The tow truck took Mark and his car to my place. Janice drove Jackie and I home. Then she drove Mark home.

~

Mark's car ('Sonja') is now parked in my front yard indefinitely. We have no money for insurance and repairs at the moment. Fortunately, Mark lives close enough to his work that he can walk there and I have a bus pass.

McQueen Lake

We're going camping this weekend - to McQueen Lake. We've never been there, but it looks beautiful. Check out the pic below and the link to their website.

http://www.mcqueenlake.com/

So, we probably won't be online until Sunday - probably evening. But we'll have pictures! :) And maybe bites, burns, and rashes.

~

I booked off time for the wedding today: the last week of August and the first week of September. I'm going to have to change my name at work soon. o_O

Senor Navidad: Mark's New Spanish Coach

Hi, my name is Navidad, Feliz Navidad.

Mark gave me this adorable little guy a few weeks ago. He's a refugee from the Third World country that was Mark's place before he moved. Now Feliz lives in my beautiful room where he has many more opportunities for employment and a better quality of life.

If you notice at the end of his song, he falls down. He may have had too much tequilanog...

Fun Again

Yay! I'm so happy! :) My phone and the computer made up, and they're talking again. So I can upload pictures from my camera phone onto this blog now. That makes everything so much easier. Of course, they'll probably have another falling out sometime, and decide they're not talking again, but for now, they like each other.

:)

We are going on a missions trip to Mexico in January, and need to learn a little Spanish. This is Mark doing his homework:

Really. It's a DS game called My Spanish Coach that teaches you how to speak basic Spanish.

Here's a screenshot:

Since I learned French in high school, a lot of the words are familiar. Mark hasn't let me play the game yet, though. I think he wants to get some high scores before I get on there and beat him. ;)

No Fun At All

Okay, we were wrong. This is not fun. In fact, it's incredibly difficult. Can someone tell me why, when I insert a new picture into a draft, it goes at the beginning of the post, and not where my cursor is? Argh! I guess I have to put all of my pictures in first, then type in my text. That means I have to plan out the whole blog post before I start. That's not how I like to work!

And now my camera phone and computer have decided they don't want to communicate anymore, so I don't know how I'm going to get pictures uploaded. Anybody know where I can get a digital camera cheap? Or maybe someone could buy us one for a wedding present? *hint hint*

This is us. Mark Jones and Esther Spurrill. We're getting married in 85 days. We've never done a blog before, but it looked like fun, so here it is.