Words

I couldn't think of a creative title for a post that has taken me almost a year to write, so I thought I'd tell you my favourite colour! Super interesting right? I know. I'm not sure why I haven't written on my blog since last april, probably because I think my life is not interesting enough to read about, BUT a couple of people actually told me I should blog again, and I've been meaning to do it for a while so here I am!

In short: We're moving!

In long: About a month ago Nathan and I decided we would start looking up apartments in Abbotsford in anticipation of Mr. B getting accepted to Columbia Bible College in their Worship Arts Program. He found an ad on craigslist for an apartment that was 8 minutes (driving) away from the school and made an appointment to go look at it. I was very reluctant because i DID NOT want to live in that particular city. I thought Abbotsford started at castle fun park, because I'd never actually been IN the city, but when Nathan told me that castle fun park was actually almost Chilliwack I felt a little better and was more open to the idea. SOOOO, we went to check this place out. It was old and ugly, but the apartment we saw had potential. My mom randomly phoned Richard and Heather Clark and they met us out there and told us a little about that area. We went to their house for hot chocolate (we don't drink coffee haha) and Richard pulled out a map and told us areas where we should look at. It was so incredibly helpful and encouraging. He told us that we probably didn't want to live in the area we had visited and that there were TONS of apartments around the school. He took us out to the college to show us exactly where it was and he was right, there WERE tons of apartments around. So thanks to him we began to look in that area and that is how we came across Dahlstrom Manor. It's an older building but it is clean, there's a security guard which makes me feel better, the manager was super nice, and best of all it is literally right across from the school. We went with my family to look at the apartment that was available and we really liked it. It's smaller than what we have now, but there's plenty of storage and I could really see us making a home there. That particular apartment became available April 1st and we weren't ready to move then so she said we could move into a third floor one in May that looked just like it so we signed some stuff and waited to see if we'd be approved. The next day we found out we were and we went again to sign some more papers to make it official!! BUT when we got there she said she made a mistake and the third floor apartment was already rented, buuuuut there was another 2nd floor apartment that was way nicer (her words) that is available. So we looked at that and sure enough it was WAY nicer, and it faces the mountains and I will be able to see Nathan walking across the street to school from my living room window haha. So we move in on May 2nd and we are so so so so excited!! Nathan will be commuting to Annacis Island for a couple months which he is okay with, and I work in langley so I only have to drive for like 20 minutes. We are going to continue to go to gracepoint (in the whiterock area) because we love our church so much and we aren't willing to give it up. We think it's worth the drive. Our worship pastor dude has been super encouraging to both of us. He went to Columbia as well and has been mentoring Nathan and kind of helping to prepare him for this journey. He actually wants Nathan to be a kind of assistant to him at the church, he has to pass that through the board first though. We're just really encouraged and feel like we are definitely on the right path. It feels good.

The living room and dining area. These pictures are from a different apartment building but is still part of the Mainstreet Group, so the apartments look similar. 

                            The Bathroom (obviously haha) Ours looks a little newer though. 

                                                           Our apartment building

25 Things...couples

This is kind of like the 25 things - except there are pre-decided questions and it's about you and your spouse or significant other, not just you. Come on, play along - inquiring minds want to know! ;-) Just copy this post into your own notes & change the answers!

♥ What are your middle names?
Richard and Heather

♥ How long have you been together?
It will be 4 years on March 21st! We like to celebrate every anniversary we can!

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
About 7 or so years

♥ Who asked who out?
I wanted Nathan to be my boyfriend for like three years before he finally came to his senses and asked me out :)

♥ Whose siblings do/ did you see the most?
We see one of mine the most, because we live next door to my parents.

♥ Do you have any children together?
Oh dear me, nope, not yet.

♥ What about pets?
Toby and Aysha are our two cute little felines

♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
money, money, money.

♥ Did you go to the same school?
Yup, for ONE whole semester haha

♥ Are you from the same home town?
No, we're from the same city though.

♥ Who is the smartest?
We're both smart in our own ways. I guess I'm more "book" smart, but he is an absolute genius when it comes to other things.

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
I take the prize again! Sometimes I wonder if Nathan feels anything... jk.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Whitespot mmmm

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple
Victoria? haha. We're sad.

♥ Who has the worst temper?
Nathan barely ever gets mad. I'm mad all the time. Not really, but compared to him it seems like it!

♥ Who does the cooking?
We both do our fair share, somewhat.

♥ Who is more social?
Probably me.

♥Who is the neat Freak?
If it weren't for me, I don't think Nathan would ever clean the house haha

♥ Who is more stubborn?
Nathan by far! Sometimes I ask him to try new foods, like a sweet potato dish at Thanksgiving, but he won't!! It's so good but he's so stubborn and won't eat it. It drives me a little bit loopy!

♥ Who hogs the bed?
I hog it but it's only because his side is always warmer, so I naturally gravitate across the border. He steals the blankets though!

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
I usually do, but Nathan gets up with me to make me breakfast. I know, so sweet right? haha

♥ Where was your first date?
Our first date was in my parents' living room. I had just had knee surgery and could only hobble, so we watched a movie.

♥ Who has the bigger family?
I win with a technicality because I have a half sister. So I have 2.5 siblings, and he only has 2.

♥ Do you get flowers often?
Often enough. I know I'm special when I get them.

♥ How do you spend the holidays?
So far we do half a day with his family and half a day with mine.

♥ Who is more jealous?
Me. I find my husband to be pretty darn hot so I assume any female who talks to him is trying to flirt. (I'm kidding, just so you know.... about the flirting part, not the hot husband part)

♥ How long did it take to get serious?
I was 18, he was 17 and although we didn't say anything, I think we both knew within a week of dating that we were going to be together for the rest of our lives.

♥ Who eats more?
Not me! I would be constantly puking if I ate as much as Nathan does haha. Not that he eats an abnormally large amount, he's just a dude.

♥ Who does/ did the laundry?
If I give Nathan VERY specific directions on what does and what does not go in the dryer then he can do it, but I usually do it.

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
Nathan. He clicks on stuff and moves stuff and tries to teach me but it makes no sense. haha

Who drives whenyou are together?
I think I've driven with Nathan in the passenger seat three times. It's his job to drive, and my job to tell him when there's someone crossing the street who he should avoid hitting.

Growth   [grohth]
–noun

1. the act or process, or a manner of growing; development; gradual increase.

2. development from a simpler to a more complex stage

Sometimes painful, always good!

I've been experiencing a lot of growth lately, too much for words. It has been complicated, and there have been lots of tears, but God has revealed SO much to me and that is super encouraging. I will always be thankful for growth in my life.

I want to encourage everyone to sit in a quiet place with a pen and journal and ask God what your deepest desires are! Hokie Dinah it reveals so much! You may be surprised!

Once I can collect my thoughts maybe I will tell you all what I have been learning! It's so hard to explain, but it'd probably be good for others to hear. Thanks for reading!

My Dad...

This is Me and my beautifully gorgeous sister.

Reasons why I love Lindsay:

1. She has a superb sense of humour
2. She does this thing called the "homie dance" which confirms that she is the whitest girl to ever walk this earth
3. She shortens words to be more efficient? Or just to be funny? I don't always know which one
4. She makes a really disgusted face if anyone tries to touch her
5. She doesn't have any extra limbs growing out of her abdomen like the "octopus man"
6. She has a beautiful soprano voice, which she is humble about
7. She is smart, mature, and immature all at the same time

I forgot to add this to my last post...

It is so windy out today and I love it, minus the fact that some branches were squeaking against my window and I was petrified that there was a mouse in the house that was going to come under my blankets and nibble on my toes. 

Okay, so I just finished watching Oprah and I guess my friend Vanessa did too because she just posted something on her blog that I am going to share because I feel exactly the same way. She can just write way better than I can... so here it is! ...

                                                

                                                      The Death of Books?

"I was just watching the first few minutes of Oprah and she's raving and drooling over her new "faaavorite gadget". It's called the Kindle, and it's an electronic, wireless book reader. It's basically like an ipod for reading. You can wirelessly download books from Amazon and they go straight to your Kindle. Sounds cool right? But honestly... as cheesy as this sounds... my heart just broke a little bit. They were raving about how it's the future of reading and soon everyone is going to own one. It saves paper and space and blah blah blah. But what about BOOKS? What about the excitment of coming home from Chapters or the library with a stack of new books? The crisp, clean smell of the un-touched pages of your new hard cover? Or the musty smell of the pages of an old classic? What about bookshelves? Lined and stacked with books read and re-read and shared. The bittersweetness of turning the last page of a much loved novel, and the excitment of standing in front of a shelf thinking "Hmm... what should I read next?" The joy of holding it your hands, getting so lost in the story you don't even realize you're turning pages. Bent corners to hold your place or draped over the arm of your favorite chair, waiting patiently for you to pick up where you left off.
What about libraries? The quiet hush, the stack ready to check out. Second hand book stores! The thrill of finding an old copy of a childhood favorite.
I know I sound overly dramatic. I realize that books are probably going to be around until I die. But I can't stand the thought of them slowly dying out. The way records and cds have almost died out with the rise of itunes. There just seems to be something so cold and impersonal about clutching a flat, electronic piece of equipment rather than a real, honest-to-goodness book.
If my grandchildren ever ask me what it was like when real books were still around, I swear I will die of a broken heart! :)"


The Suspect in Question...

So what do YOU think?

Wow, my sister Kate sure does trust me. She handed me $350 of her hard earned money and allowed me to walk around Ikea and buy anything that tickled my fancy... but for her room. I was so excited when she told me I could do this, it didn't even require begging!! Unfortunately I didn't take any before pictures, that would have been a good idea. My "after" pictures aren't even that good, but they will give you an idea of how we turned her child like room into a contemporary adult oasis. (Can you tell I've been watching a lot of home and garden television haha.) AND we came in under budget! haha





Sweet lights hey? I love these!









Fake flowers to match the ones on the pictures on the wall!



So when Nathan and I picked her up from work I made her close her eyes and then I walked her into her new room. She said holy crap a lot, ate some candy, and had a huge smile on her face. I think that means she likes it?

First off I have to give a big congratulations to Amy and Shawn for getting engaged! That's so exciting and I'm invited to the wedding so that's even better! haha. And also, Congratulations to my friend Cheri and her husband for tying the knot last week! Oh i just love it!!

So Nathan and I both got iphones a couple weeks ago. Oh my goodness gracious they are so much fun! I have no idea how i functioned before without one. Jk, but seriously they are so fun! Yesterday I bought this application for my phone where it puts a bunch of bubble wrap on the screen and you can pop it. Sounds like a waste of money but it was only .99 cents and it's actually pretty satisfying haha. And that is also why I will have pictures on here today because it's so much easier just to take pictures on my phone (not to mention that I have no idea how to get pictures off of my actual camera haha)

We got bored a couple weeks ago and decided to change around our bedroom. I like it way better this way. These pictures are for Lindsay and Vanessa, the ones who actually would care haha....






For the past three weeks, Nathan has been on the worship team at Gracepoint. He's been singing and leading some songs. He's really been enjoying it and I have to say that he is absolutely amazing! I know it's not a performance or anything, but I'm allowed to be proud of him and his gifts because I'm his wife. Seriously though, he is so gifted! He's had so many people tell him that he has a beautiful voice, including a music producer lady from calgary who just happened to be at church this past sunday. I thought that was pretty cool. Okay, I just re-read what I wrote there and it sounds bad, like we're treating this as a performance and a way to impress people. We're not, I swear, I'm just proud of Nathan and I'm excited that he has this outlet to use his gifts. I can't wait until we get him through school and he can lead people in worship on a regular basis... that's what he loves. He also really enjoys the Worship Pastor there and he's getting together with him on a regular basis just to connect and do a discipleship type of thing. This is way more than we could have hoped for! We've also been meeting more people at church and it's very exciting for us. We had coffee with one of the pastors and his wife and it ends up that he and I actually went to the same highschool at the same time... he graduated with my sister. Weird eh? We're really enjoying Gracepoint and we feel that this is definitely where God wants us to be.

I start my course tomorrow night and it's scary! It's only an eight week thing, but hopefully it will give me the skills I need to get a higher paying secretary job. It makes me nervous starting new things, but I know it will be good. Ooooh, and Danica is going to teach me how to knit! Hopefully it won't be as frustrating as crocheting! I'm watching Restaurant Makeover and they're making nachos... can you guess what I want now. Bye.

Oh, and here's some cute pictures of Toby and Aysha... just because they're cute!

So, much has happend since I last wrote something on here, I must have been having SO much fun that I forgot to write about it haha. I am about to steal some pictures from Vanessa's facebook to show you some of the fun things we did this summer!



Lindsay and Vanessa at the beach after church, the only picture of me from that day is when we went to get fish and chips and I spilled a bunch of ketchup on my hand. It was gross. I went into the restaurant to ask if I could use the bathroom and they quickly said yes because they thought I had blood gushing out of my hand. Their faces were funny!




Vanessa, Lindsay and I wandered around the "Midnight Masquerade" at Chapters and met up with Kathleen for the midnight release of "Breaking Dawn"... the conclusion to our favourite vampire love saga. Don't make fun of us until you read the books. Thank you very much! As you can see, we were extremely excited.







After Vanessa and I got our hair done we went down to the fireworks! This is one of my favourite parts of summer. My dad and Nathan came too, no pictures of dad... and ONE picture of Nathan from the whole entire summer. Someone's a little camera shy I suppose. Anyhoo, we always stop to load up on candy before we walk down to the beach. We found razzles and had to get some as a tribute to the wonderful move "13 going on 30". It's a good one. Oh, and it ended up being absolutely freezing... who would have thought?




This is the only picture i am going to put up from the longsdale quay/ grouse mountain because it was STUPID hot that day and i thought i was a gonner. Seriously, it was hot. But we saw some cute bears!




Then we went to the pne/playland. The only reason i went on rides this time was because my gramma bought the ride tickets. Gareth met up with us there too and it was fun! I thought I was going to puke... but luckily there was no charfing... not by me at least. Nathan and i were sitting on a bench watching some guy throw up everything he ate that day. Vanoo was standing right by him and gave him a dirty look after she realized what he was doing. It was really funny, I don't think she meant to though, shes a good person. haha.


So yes, those are all of the pictures we have of our outings. This was probably one of the very best summers I have ever had. It was so much fun having both Lindsay AND Vanessa living next door. And we got to spend more time with my family which was nice too! Lindsay and Vanoo have now moved to Grand Prairie, I'm hoping they'll move back here after that!!! I'm sad but very happy for them too!

In other news, Nathan and I have found a new church to attend. We have been going to Gracepoint and we are really enjoying it. Nathan had a little "interview" type thing with the worship pastor there and he pretty much said that he'd like to mentor Nathan. So we are really excited because this is a major answer to prayer!!

Okay, that is all for now. Maybe I will update sooner next time! haha

This is not for people with weak stomachs....


To my husband, the love of my life, my best friend,
I cannot believe how quickly this year has flown by, nor can I even begin to describe what an incredible ride it has been. Nathan, I wish I could find the words to describe how much I love you, even though you already know. I am so incredibly blessed to be able to just have you in my life, let alone have you as my husband. You are a beautiful person with vision and drive and passion and I am so intrigued by you. I don't think you could ever bore me! You are a work of art, a masterpiece. One full of talent and potential. You are also so kind and sweet and loving. I wonder why God looked upon me in favour and entrusted you to me, but I am eternally grateful to Him. All praise be to God. I love you so very much Nathan, here's to 80 more!

p.s. I swear, you make it so easy to love you. I don't know how you do it!





Thank you to anyone else who read this and did not vomit all over their computer. And thank you all who came to our wedding and celebrated with us. It was a really amazing day!

So it's time to update my blog again!

Nathan is at a retirement dinner for one of his co-workes which i was NOT invited to, how rude eh? Jeesh. Anyway, so I'm home alone and I should be folding laundry so now I'm obviously going to update.

So this past week or so has been really busy. Last week, to all of our suprise, Kathleen graduated high school. Well, she had her commencement so she still has time to fail, we'll be praying for you Kate. Jk!! And she also had her grad. I cannot even describe to you how beautiful she looked. My parents and Lindsay drove her to my work so we could all take some pictures together and all of the little girls followed her around and wanted to be in pictures with her. It was really cute. And then one of my favourite (am i allowed to have favourites?) little kinders drew a picture with chalk on the pavement of the "princess" that came to visit haha. Congratulations little sister!

The day after her grad was may camp, which was totally awesome! I'm not going to say that I was in love with how some things were run this year but I enjoyed all of the youth so much. It was interesting being the only leader in a cabin with 16 teenage girls, but it was pretty much just really good. Nathan also had a chance to lead the 450 or so people attending maycamp in a few songs of worship. TJ, Gareth, and I were up there with him and it was cool. I was able to worship and Nathan got a lot of encouragement and affirmation afterwards. One man seeked him out to tell him that the two songs that Nathan led were the higlight of his weekend musically and that there are only a handful of people in the world who can balance incredible musicality with genuine worship and Nathan was one of those people. I definitely think that Nathan is something special too! It was just really neat to hear that, and it's also neat to see how humble Nathan is even after receiving a compliment like that. Okay, I think I'm done now. Maybe I'll add some photos later. Goodbye!

I won "Canada's Photo Contest" with 77 votes. I think I beat the other competetors (Did i spell that wrong?) by 8 or so votes. I'm very excited, it's just nice to know that out of the 350 photos that were posted, people thought my picture was the best. And Vanessa, since I won, you have to pee your pants now like you said haha. If you are curious what my picture was, look at my previous blog post. It's there.

And also, I wanted to congratulate my wonderful friend Karina on getting engaged. That's fun!! Have a good day everyone! And watch LOST, it's a good show.

So lots of things have happened since the last time I posted, but I was too busy to sit down and update so I forgot most of them, but here's what I do know.


Vanessa was here for a week just over a month ago. She is such a fun fun girl and now I'm super excited because she is moving down here for the summer and she's going to be living next door to me at my parents house. That will be interesting in many ways! While she was here we decided to go for a little photo shoot and that was a lot of fun...







Speaking of photos, I just entered this photo in the group called "Canada's Photo Contest" on facebook and I'm so nervous because I really want to win haha. The theme is green and out of the hundred or so photos entered so far I have the most votes! That makes me happy haha.




So something pretty cool happened a few sundays ago... Nathan was leading worship and a few weeks prior to that he felt that God was telling him that something big was going to happen this week during worship. He listened, followed God's direction on what songs to pick, and prayed A LOT about it. We have really been feeling lately that God wants Nathan to be a worship pastor, and I keep telling him that he's going to do something GREAT. I just feel it. Anyhoo, that sunday there was a few guys who were doing a presentation from this ministry called "team challenge" who help people with drug problems and after worship one of them got up on stage and spoke directly to Nathan and pretty much affirmed everything we have been feeling. He said that Nathan is a genuine worshipper, he is blessed with a gift and he is going to do great things for God. He talked directly to Nate for like a minute and it was just really cool because it wasn't really him talking, it was God talking through him. There was no way that this human being could speak to us and affirm everything we were feeling without ever having talked to us or even met us before. So as it turns out, God was doing something big in OUR lives that sunday. I wish I could explain what that moment really meant for us, but I just did my best right there.

Toby and Aysha got fixed a few weeks ago and are no longer trying to make babies... not that Toby really understood how to do it anyway. He's kind of dumb, I thought it was instinctual but apparently this cat has to be taught a few things. I just thought I'd share that.



Vanessa took this picture, isn't Aysha cute?

Have a good day!

I'm not going to tell you about the highlights of my week or anything, I wanted to show you the highlights I just got in my hair! I've never had hair this light before and I'm excited about it haha. You can't see them super well but I thought I'd give it a try anyway.






We went to my gramma's for dinner tonight. She's so cute, she made us stew because she knows it's one of my favourites. I think that's all she ever makes when I go over there but I don't mind because i do love stew! mmmm good! I'm getting my dad to make it for me on thursday haha. And speaking of thursday... Vanessa will be here on thursday for a week long visit and I am superly super excited for that! Our week will be full of photo shoots, junk food, chick flicks, and goofing around. I'm looking forward to it!

So, in february Dawn came down for a little visit and we had family photos done. I have come to realize that out of everyone in my family I am most definitely the least photogenic and that makes me sad, but I will share these anyway.