Getting up there…

So yesterday Angie & I celebrated my 24th birthday, (It’s today actually) and it was the best birthday of my life! I picked her up in the early afternoon and we just came back here. She gave me a card from her parents and the card from her. They were both very nice. Then she gives me a present from her. It was wrapped in Shrek 2 wrapping paper that was so cool I hated to tear it. I open up the gift and to my absolute delight see “Sting”, Bilbo & Frodo’s sword from “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings” respectively. This is by far the coolest gift I’ve ever gotten. Angie just knows me & what I like to such a huge degree it is amazing. She is amazing!

Then she cooked supper for us and did the dishes! Sausage, perogies, onions and angel food cake iced with Cool Whip and Crispy Crunch bars for desert (Our favorite meal). Let’s not forget the sparkling grape juice! It was perfect! We had a great Bible study meeting with our 5 couples total and it was the best birthday ever.

Don’t you hate it when you think, “Oh I wish I had that CD!” only to realize a few months later that you do have it! Ya, I’m still waking up I think. :P BTW, I was thinking of “Third Day – Offerings”.

Something in the water I guess…

Look out ladies & gentlemen (*cough* Cuzin Joe *cough*)… Heidi & Jeff got engaged yesterday & my friend since I was 3, Leshia & her guy Colin got engaged… I think there is something in Saskatchewan’s water. :P Congratulations to both couples! :)

Retroactive post about Thanksgiving and if I may get a bit deeper... a journal entry I'm choosing to share...

So I'm thinking I have a few deeper thoughts I'm going to share along with telling about the Thanksgiving weekend. I might edit a bit here to there so if continuity seems lost, I'm sorry, but it was not for your eyes. :P Here goes:

I think I will summarize the thanksgiving weekend because many important things happened. I picked up Angie at 12:45 on Friday, October 8 and we headed to Swift Current. After supper we looked at pictures until bedtime. Saturday, we lounged until our shower in which the women there spoiled us with great generosity. Saturday night after a big supper Angie & I went for a drive and had some us time. I found myself thinking, Saturday night, how wonderful it was to have my five favorite people under the same roof. Angie, mom, dad, Uncle Jim & Auntie Doreen all together in the same house. Sunday we went shooting which was a blast. My .303’s bolt did not want to stay closed properly and though I really wanted to fire it, I decided better safe than sorry. I needed a hole in my head like I needed a hole in my head. When we got back to SC we washed the van then stopped in at Grandpa’s. It was good for Angie to meet him & it was good to see him. He has gotten much older and I am glad I got to see him at least once more. Then once home, I was able to visit with Trevor Gates. Hadn’t seen him for years. Same Trev as before and I feel like I should’ve tried harder to stay better friends with him. (I’m holding on to Stacey, Joe & Ken!) Talk about nostalgia & reminiscing of days of old. Then was the most important part of the trip when we went to Aunt Marilyn & Uncle Harvey’s to visit with Grandma. Angie thought she was just cute. I’m so glad I got to hold my grandmother’s hand once more as she is getting worse & desires to be called home. My greatest thought of the trip was simply how she could not hear almost anything but in her discomfort she sat there simply enjoying her family. Anyone can minister and lead a good example at any point in their life! On the way out of the house the guys lifting me down the stairs almost dropped me… my dad took a bit of a fall & bent his glasses but it could’ve been worse.

Angie and I came home on Monday and spent the evening together too. Her dad informed us that Christopher Reeve died on Saturday, October 9, 2004. We hadn’t heard about it at this point. I must admit that my hope did take a little shot there but worse yet was that last I heard he was not a believer and that means he now realizes the lessened importance of his hope for a cure. His life was based on that since his accident and now he is in Hell… Two things came of this for me. The first was that though my hope for a cure took a hit, I had a renewed strength and knowledge that everything will be fine and He will make it anew after this life. The second, in combination with our 40 Days of Purpose Campaign, I felt an urgency to share the Good News. I have broken a skin on my dad & a dialogue has been opened. I hope his questions about my faith and our Bible study group continue. I must ensure I am ready to answer those questions. I know that the Holy Spirit will empower me with the perfect words. I know I need to minister beyond just my dad but this is new to me and I want to start somewhere less intimidating than 20th Street for example. Those are my thoughts for today & I’m considering making this into a blog even if only to share my joy from seeing, and taking the time to see, my grandparents for possibly the last time.

So I did make it into a blog and only one sentence was removed. So that was Thanksgiving. We also had our first premarital session yesterday & it was great. I'm just so glad everything is looking so good for us. There sure is potential for some serious issues that could be powerfully hurtful though. I know we aren't finished going through everything yet but I don't expect any huge surprises. Pastor Leyton called us his communication poster children. I'm not letting it go to my head, but it is encouraging. Ok, I better go do something like clean celery. :P

Nothing’s Shocking…

Just an album that I’ve been thinking about lately but seemed very suited to today. So the Jay from a year and a half ago that you guys didn’t know (With the exception of Joe & Stacey) would have not even considered going out on a day like today. But on this insane MONDAY I got more done than most people do by Wednesday. I’m tired. Angie & I got some great business done. Registering for another 16 items at Sears (Including some pretty nice Craftsman screwdrivers) and other necessary items, had lunch, looked after the sale of my old cell phone, dropped off Angie, ordered her wedding band, tried on mine :D renewed my drivers licence and perhaps most significantly, drove over 75 Kms saying “C’mon let’s go!” only twice. But there’s a whole paragraph about that coming up.

So I realize that I learned to drive on a frozen lake at the age of 12 and many subsequent winters until I was old enough to drive legally (there were other times I drove in from the lake on the back roads under age), so that has been a very good number of experiences in my favor to educate me in winter driving. But wow were there some terrible drivers out there. Here’s my conclusion: If you need to go slow please do for everyone’s safety but stay to the slow lane when possible & honestly… 25 kph is too slow on a clear roadway that is 60 kph. My patience has been tested today but I’m home and all is well. But I think I’ll not drive anywhere for the rest of today cause it’s even blusterier out there now. But I certainly will drive tomorrow cause Angie & I have our first premarital counselling session and I'm so curious & excited it's crazy. :)

I was gonna blog about the weekend and I likely still will. But after getting stuck downstairs this morning because of a stupid elevator, having the use of my legs just appears more and more appealing every second. But I’m back upstairs & I’m thinking that today I will stay put.

Incase you hadn’t heard Chris Reeve passed away on Saturday. Hopefully his wife or someone will continue his drive for a cure. Talk about a trying day. He dies along with a fair bit of momentum for the spinal cord injury community, I'm stuck downstairs and the need for my legs just becomes urgent but the spokesman to help me regain the use of those legs is gone and the hope just slipped a bit further. I need a good laugh I'm thinking.

Time sure flies...

A large number of the people that read my blog regularily haven't known me that long, but believe it or not yesterday was three years since I moved to Saskatoon. I think about how my life has changed since then... almost entirely for the better & it feels great. So I think about if I had remained in Swift Current... Yikes! Except for being closer in location to Ken my life would be very different. I would not have met my great new friends here & most importantly I likely wouldn't have met my Angie. I am happy to be in Saskatoon.