Christmas Eve

All we did was sit and eat and watch and laugh. We were still frozen and half asleep from running out of gas the night before and sitting in the car on the side of the road in -25C for about 4 hours.

~

Aunty and Gracie. Both as cute as bugs on a rug (which doesn't really make sense when you think about it - why are bugs cute just 'cause they're on a rug? bugs are gross, but these gals are cute).

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The hat is gone, and so is the smile. Why does no one look happy here? Right, Gracie's coming down from a sugar high.

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Here we see Jeremy "the Blur" Jones. Gracie (and LA) are posers, but this boy won't sit still.

Unless he's playing with a toy - especially one that makes noise.

Only Daddy has the superpower to calm Jeremy. That's why he's got the 'S' on his hat.

~

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?