The Super Smile and Joy

Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 to "be joyful always." It's easy when Nils throws us his smile. It's the best; we're hoping it doesn't change once the teeth start coming in. It's actually somewhat frustrating in the middle of the night when he's been awake when he should be sleeping and he gives us that smile. We want to be frustrated with him--but that's quite hard when he smiles; the frustration kind of melts away. It sure makes obeying the joyful verse easier. If I could just carry that picture with me at all times, maybe I wouldn't get in those down moments. Hopefully it can bring a little joy to your day, too. I mean, we need to get some joy in our lives, people. God has given us great reason to be joyful (I mean with the whole total forgiveness of our sins, the abundant outpouring of grace, and the promise of life everlasting and all). It's sad though how often I'm in front of worship times and see unjoyful faces a(especially while singing joy-filled songs or reading joy-filled Scripture). I don't think God means that we can't live through moments of mourning, sadness, etc. But through it all we do need to be mindful of the joy (which is not the same as happiness, by the way--it's something deeper) that God has given us. I think Nils has a sense of that joy (we have this theory that the wee ones can see more into the spiritual realm than those of us who have lost our innocence can)--and he really lets it shine through at times.

The Birthday Party Aftermath

Today was Anders' birthday party with his friends. As you'll see, it was a Star Wars theme (Beth had actually picked out stuff over a year ago for it). We ended up with six additional kids (and 4 moms). For their privacy (since several of the kids' dads are RCMP), I'm keeping the pictures mainly to ones of Anders. As the kids arrived, they colored some lightsabers on paper. Then we went outside for a game of "Pin the Lightsaber on the Jedi" (1st picture). Next up was "Destroy the Death Star" (picture 2)--Anders is going over the top, but the goal was to get the bean bags through the holes on the front of the box. The kids ate outside with some TIE Fighter ties (made with hot dogs and breadsticks) and lightsabers and dip (pretzel & veggie sticks) with blue milk. Beth made a Millennium Falcon cake (picture 3), which was devoured fairly quickly (picture 4). Anders got more wonderful presents (picture 5); most of which were played with before bedtime. And so a good time was had by all.

More Garden Blooms

The following are more flowers that have recently blossomed in the back garden (let me know if you know what any of these are). None of these were planted by us. in fact, I almost dug up the garden, thinking that most of the things that were coming up were weeds. Sometimes you can't judge a book by its cover (or some other trite cliche´). I guess there's beauty there if you let it develop.

The 3-year Old

Yesterday was Anders' birthday. He thought that a whole lot of "bigness" happened when he turned 3. We hoped a lot of the "littleness" (the tantrums and such) would magically end. They didn't. But he had a good day. We opened some presents in the morning, and some more when I got home from lunch (before leaving for Beth's softball game). We happened to be opening presents from Far Mor & Far Far when they called on the phone (it was actually the first phone call we've had from them since we've moved here). Grandma Trumper was at their house, so we opened her present when she got on the phone. I guess it's the next best thing to being here. Anders got to play in the water park that was by the softball field. And after the game we stopped at MacDonald's for a birthday Happy Meal. Tomorrow is the big party (so expect more pictures).

He's really proud of this birthday. He hasn't stopped telling people (anyone--doesn't matter if he knows them or not), that he's three now. And we could end up with a few extra people at the party tomorrow--I hear he's been extending invitations. The funniest part is when people told him, "Happy birthday." He would reply back with the same. I guess everyone should have a happy day on Anders' birthday.

Breakfast with Anders

This morning, when Anders came down for breakfast, he sat down to the ham and eggs I made. And a few seconds later from the kitchen I heard, "Oops, I forgot to pray." He then proceeded on to do a short prayer for his food. We don't usually pray at breakfast, unless we're all sitting down together, which doesn't happen that often right now (as we're trying to get everyone ready in the morning). It was a good way to start the day.

Independence Day

Yesterday, I had to run some errands at the end of the day, so I stopped at home, got the family and we ran to the shopping center. After that we drove over to Delta and went to a beach that's across the bay from us (well, our part of the world is bordered by 3 bays--this one was on Boundary Bay. First we had a pizza picnic and then Anders played on the play center. Then we made it down to the beach. The tide was out so we went wading in a tidal pool. The water was quite warm--almost bathtub temperature. The boys had fun wading, and Anders had his bucket full of shells.

The pictures don't do justice. You may noticed the snow-capped peak of Mt. Baker behind Anders' head in the first picture. Nils really enjoyed the water--he wasn't content if his feet weren't wet.

We headed home quite late, but Anders didn't go to sleep right away, so we ended up going on a pajama adventure. We headed down the road and found a parking spot in a neighborhood that was atop the hill overlooking White Rock. From there we sat and watched the fireworks from across the bay (Semiahmoo Bay, this time--toward Washington). Actually, we could see fireworks from about 20 miles away in several directions. But the big show in Blaine was quite nice. I think it soothed some homesickness for Beth. It was somewhat odd to celebrate America's independence and not be in the country, watching the fireworks from across the border. At some point a group of celebraters in a house close to where we were watching from brought out kazoos and started in with The Star Spangled Banner, followed by other patriotic tunes. They actually did a fairly good job.

Canada Day Observed

Today we made our way a few miles east of our house to Campbell Valley Regional Park--a place we'd wanted to hike for a while, but the weather hadn't cooperated with our opportunities yet. We just did a short 2.5km loop through the park, but enjoyed having our "nature hike" as Anders and I have been calling them. We saw a nice variety of ecosystems on the short walk--towering cedar forests, the wetlands along the river, spots of open grassland spotted with wild daisies. And plenty that we haven't been able to identify in our new location.

Afterward we went to a city park just north of there that we'd seen before. It had a small little play area (Anders had been having a hard time at Campbell Valley understanding that it was a park even though it didn't have a play area, so we made our way to a "real park"). They had a nice water play area that was a nice place to cool off (well it only got to 25C/77F, but it felt fairly warm).

The Boys

Anders found this tree stump that was practically a fort for him. Obviously, he liked it. Nils got his nap on most of the walk, but woke to enjoy the scenery at times.


Anders enjoyed the park we stopped at afterward. He loved just aiming the water and squirting things. He didn't really want to get too wet, though. Nils at first liked getting his feet wet. Obviously, that state of enjoyment didn't last too long.

Scenes Along the Campbell River

Anders helped take a lot of these:

Reflections on our First Canada Day

Today is our first Canada Day. It works well that it's the same week as the 4th of July--we could get a double-dose of fireworks if we so desired. We didn't--well we kind of did, but we heard they were expecting 20,000 on the beach, where the fireworks will be. We didn't feel like fighting with crowds all day--and it'll be too late for the boys. We're on the west edge of the time zone, further north, so darkness doesn't come until a bit later here. We all had a good rest time after church and were invited over to a few different homes of people from church--which was probably a nicer way to celebrate the holiday. We may see if we can observe any fireworks from our balcony, but we'll see how the night progresses.

We sang O Canada at the end of church today, along with a couple stanzas of Lord of the Lands (a hymn that goes to the same tune that I found in the Green Hymnal [we Covenanters refer to the denominational hymnals that have been published through the years be their color]). It was actually the second time I've sung the national anthem since we've been here (the first was at a high school student's award ceremony). It is a wonderful anthem--what a national anthem should be (the odd part is that it begins with us singing about our home and native land--home yes, but not native land. Canada is a place of immigrants even more so than the US is--few people have native). Please don't consider me unpatriotic for saying this, or think I've already switched my allegiances, but I have never liked The Star Spangled Banner. It's a terrible national anthem, if you ask me. I mean, it's a song about a battered flag flying during a war. It's more of an anthem for a flag than for a country. I know people have lobbied for something better over the years--maybe that'll come some time.

Anyway, it seems like there's no unifying force behind Canada Day. While there are plenty of celebrations that are well-attended, we found plenty of people who weren't doing anything today. There's plenty of flags flying and maple leaf clothing out there, but it's not quite to the level that you'd see in the US on Independence Day. Some of the older folks still slip into calling it Dominion Day (what it was called before Quebec had a hissyfit about the name). Some people say that Remembrance Day (Veteran's Day in the US) is more of the independence day for Canada, because it was in WW I that the country really asserted itself as an independent nation. And I think on some level with the Queen as the recognized (albeit just a figurehead) Head of State, know one really knows what Canada's status is. (Take this quiz to see how good you are with Canadian knowledge.)

We talked some in church this morning about the freedom that we are called to in Christ. On political levels, we turn freedom into meaning that we should be able to do whatever we want to do. Freedom in Christ means that we have the freedom not to do the things that we don't want to do or shouldn't do. Freedom in Christ comes through dependence on living through the Holy Spirit (and acknowledging that we can't be independent in any way--in addition to needing community, all that sustains us comes from God: air, sun, food, etc.).

Don't get me wrong--we value our American freedoms (and even what is accessible here in Canada)--but our identity doesn't come with our citizenship. Besides, as the Bible makes clear, because we have secured our salvation by putting our faith in Jesus Christ, Heaven is our home, Heaven is where our true citizenship lies. As the old saying goes: this world ain't my home; I'm just passing through. Having God call us out of our homeland to a new country has reinforced that for us.