Monday, July 2

Hello again, everyone. Happy Canada Day weekend to you all. And hey, thanks for checking the blog again after so much inactivity. I'm back because, well, I finally have some news: starting Tuesday, I'm back to work!

It feels like it took forever, but it finally happened for me. It's a really long story, but in the end, everything happened really quickly. I got the call last week that they were interested in bringing me on, and by the weekend, I was hired. Snap.

What kind of job is this that I can get hired onto so quickly? Surely it's not a ministry job--those things take forever. Well, yes it is a ministry job; more specifically, it's a summer internship, leading to a full-time position in the fall should things turn out well for all of us. I'm now the young adult ministries intern at Cedar Grove Baptist Church in lovely Surrey, BC. I got connected with them through a friend at school who happens to be the senior pastor's son. Initially, I had talked to them several weeks ago about coming on in a permanent capacity, but they have a paradigm of hiring from the inside, so that was pretty much a no-go. However, they don't seem to have anyone on the inside who can step up in this case, so they asked me to come on as an intern so that I can become better known to them. If things go well, we're good for the fall. If not, well, no hard feelings, I suppose.

I know, it's a pretty startling turn of events. And really, it's nothing but God's guiding and leading that accomplished it. Throughout the process there were times when it seemed like there were more obstacles to overcome than could be overcome, but God cleared the way for all of them to come down, and move me into the position that I really wanted in a really great, healthy church. Folded into my job description is mucho music as well, so basically I'm getting paid to make friends with people and play music. Not bad.

Thank you so much to all of those who have been supporting our family in prayer through this time. It was difficult, that much is for sure. But alas, God has opened up a new and exciting door for us to walk through, and we're so pumped to be moving forward in it.

With this new job comes a renewed sense of blogging, so expect more from this blog over the next couple months than you've gotten over the past two. I'm sure I'll have lots of stories to tell, and if not, I'll just make some up. That's always good for a bestseller or two (just ask James Frey).

Moving on. There are things I've been meaning to do on this blog for some time, like post pictures. So here you are, friends, the family update, including much son and dog photography.

You know, having a dog is a lot of fun. There are people who have called us stupid for getting a puppy when we have a toddler in the house. I'll admit that some days I agree, but most days, I think it's a lot of fun. Our dog is well-behaved, is very well housebroken, doesn't bark too much, and sleeps for a good portion of the day and throughout the night, so really, what's wrong with that? Oh, and he's really cute, too. Look, I have proof...

See? Told you. It gets even better when you add a cute baby to the mix, too. Especially a cute baby sitting at the table reading the paper with his morning sippy-cup...

I had a classic dad moment the other day, when we bought the boy a tricycle and I assembled it. Welcome to fatherhood. Seeing the boy ride the thing, well, it's just priceless...

Hey, he even does tricks...

So cute. So much fun. Next time, I might even get a picture of him on his new favourite toy--daddy's motorcycle. Until then, you're just going to have to wait. Oh, come on, it'll be worth it.

So thanks again for coming by. As I said, keep coming back now that I have something to talk about, and I'll hopefully be able to give you a little bit more than I've been giving. See you then.