Steve's Blogfest Extraordinaire

Emotional Real Estate Roller Coaster!

2007-04-30T23:14:00.000-07:00

It's been way too long since I've posted on here, and a lot has happened since the last one. I had mentioned that we may start looking at real estate, and did we ever! We listed our house, a week later it sold, then we found a house, put on an offer, they accepted, and we would be moving into our new house on May 12! Then the day the subjects were to be removed, the lady buying our house had her financing fall through, and so both deals were off. We relisted our house, then on Friday we had an accepted offer (of course with subjects), and tomorrow morning we are going to be looking at houses again. It's amazing how many people I've talked to who have a similar story, where they had a house deal and then it fell through at the eleventh hour.
Other than that, life goes on, the girls are growing up fast and Verity crawled today for the first time at seven months old. Rachel and I are celebrating our third anniversary tomorrow, and Zion is still jabbering away in her own language, but Rachel and I understand her most of the time. She and Verity play together and there isn't any jealousy as far as we can tell. I think they'll grow up to be great friends.

Looking for a house

2007-03-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

The housing market in Vernon is going up, and I don't think that will change in the future. As more baby boomers retire, the demand for homes in Vernon will grow, especially since this community was named one of the top 6 places in North America to retire to by Consumer Reports (see the details of the report here). I do have to say that Vernon is beautiful, and it's nice to live in a smaller place than Kelowna, where the traffic isn't too crazy. We live a ten-minute walk from the beach, and that's great, but it would be nice to have a place with a backyard for girls as they get older, and owning some land instead of just a townhouse would be good. No rush, but we're keeping our eyes open and checking mls.com periodically.

Verity might cry if we don't get a yard for Zion and her to play in.

Zion ist zwei!

2007-02-06T11:38:00.000-08:00

Zion had her second birthday on Saturday, and we went bowling with some friends and their little ones. There were six pre-school kids bowling, and enough adults to help the kids try to knock some pins down (unfortunately, there were no bumpers in the gutters). Zion got some great gifts from her friends, and the one that she's become really attached to is her mini-stroller, complete with the little doll that she pushes around in it. Unfortunately, we opened the presents before the cake, so Zion wanted to push her stroller around instead of having some cake.
And apparently my mom hasn't bowled in ten years, because she found it interesting that the computer kept track of our scores instead of having to do it manually with a pencil and paper.
Also, Zion's new favourite word is ME!, which is used when she wants to do something herself with no help, or when she's saying that something is hers. Learning her independence at an early age. She's still great with Verity though, who slept right through the birthday party with the other infants.

Waikiki Beach

2007-01-12T21:39:00.000-08:00

Well, we're halfway through our holiday, and each day has been better than the last. Yesterday we went to the Honolulu Zoo, where Zion saw some tigers and elephants and giraffes, and then today we spent five hours at Waikiki Beach. Sitting under the umbrella tent, we got a little burnt and watched people surf and may even give it a shot ourselves in the next few days. Rachel's brother Andrew and his wife Christine have been the best hosts, and this holiday has so far surpassed all our expectations. We'll be back in Vernon soon, and we can't wait to see everyone that we haven't seen since before Christmas. We miss you!

Bowling with Kids

2007-01-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

I have to say that other than my cold, which has lasted over two weeks so far, I had a great time over the holidays. We spent time with Rachel's brothers and their wives and kids, and my sister and her husband from Victoria with their 3 kids. It was a good balance, and despite sickness, we still managed to do some fun stuff like going to the pool and bowling. You're never really too young to bowl, especially now that they have bumpers in the gutters of bowling lanes, and aluminum ramps for kids to roll the balls down.
Zion and her cousins Gabe and Heidi had a great time bowling, and it was even more fun to watch them them than it was to bowl. They had these really cute bowling shoes on, and we took a few photos to mark the occasion. Check out those smiles!

Life is a Potty!

2006-12-12T10:51:00.000-08:00

At least it is right now at our place, where there is some intensive potty training going on with Zion. We started on the weekend, and Rachel has committed to spending a lot of time this week continuing to train Zion to use the potty. There have been some successes, and some failures (accidents), but hopefully by the end of this week Zion will be diaper-free. Meanwhile, Verity is continuing to be trained to be diaper-free at the same time, thanks to the strategy outlined in the book Rachel read, Diaper Free! The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene.

There has been some great mother-daughter bonding going on throughout this process.

A Blustery Snowday

2006-11-27T15:36:00.000-08:00

Growing up in Kelowna, in the sunny Okanagan, I don't remember there being too many snowdays, where school was closed. If I were a betting man, however, I would say that there would be a good chance of that happening tomorrow, since the snow is falling like crazy here in Vernon and it's -15 at 3 in the afternoon (unlike in India where Beth is, where it's a comfortable 23 degrees).
Rachel took the girls out this morning grocery shopping and bundled them up well, the brave woman that she is. She is pretty much a supermom, and I'm lucky to have her as my wife. In addition to her braveness, she is also an amazing cook, and I'm looking forward to trying out the vegetarian quiche that she's making tonight for our friends Rennae and Tasha who are coming over for dinner before Club.
Anyway, if you're a teenager who doesn't have school tomorrow, give me a call and perhaps we can hang out. Happy (possible) snow day!

Verity's all bundled up to go outside in the cold.

Family

2006-11-22T09:44:00.000-08:00

With the new recent addition to our immediate family, I feel that I've ignored some of the other exciting stuff that is happening in our extended family. Rachel and I both come from families of 5 kids, so we have a lot of family. There seems to be a new birth every few months, with my cousin Sarah being the next one in line (see her blog here).
In other family news, my sister Beth is in India now, not going to be home for Christmas, and we're going to miss her tremendously. Luckily, she has access to the internet, and we're able to keep up with her adventures on her personal blog.
Finally, in family extended even further (bear with me here), my sister Anna's husband James has a brother, Michael Funk, who played his first NHL game with the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. The next game, Michael recorded his first NHL point on an assist in the second period. Way to go Michael!

Bathing...

2006-10-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

One of the hazards of baths is a lack of control of bodily functions. As I gave Verity a bath for the first time this week (she has had other baths from Rachel, but this is the first one I've given her), she decided that it would be a good time to pee when I took her diaper off. She was sitting on my lap and I felt a warm spot. It's funny how the bodily fluids of your kids, whether it be pee, spit up, saliva, or whatever, doesn't really phase you, when those things coming from other sources would be really gross. I just hope that Verity grows up to love water and baths as much as her big sister, who can play in the tub for hours.

Zion is a bath lover, and they always put a smile on her face..

2006-10-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

We are adjusting to life as a family of four, and realizing that even in these last eighteen days, Verity seems to be growing up really fast. Zion loves to give her kisses and "hold" her on her lap, and give her five, but we have to make sure that she doesn't do that too hard.
Rachel is an awesome mom, and takes the girls to the library for storytime and shopped yesterday at Quality Greens with both of them. We're really enjoying this new life, and can't wait for our friends Bruce & Gin, Amber & Jason, and Brooke & Casey to have their kids, with all of them expecting between January 17 and 19. Then Rachel will have even more moms to go to storytime with.

A New Baby...

2006-10-11T10:27:00.001-07:00

...and this one's ours!
Hopefully most of you have heard by now, since I'm so slow on posting to this blog. On September 28 at 2:19AM, we had a beautiful baby girl. Click on the image to see the birth announcement that I mailed out that very day.
Verity is doing very well, and her mother and sister and father are too. Being a family of four is pretty cool, and when we told my mom the other day that "the girls" fell asleep on the way home, it sounded pretty strange coming out of our mouths.

A New Baby...

2006-09-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

...but not ours. We got a sneak peak at a new baby when our friends Matt and Jill came over with precious week-old Seth (who Rachel thought was called "Steph"). We thought that Zion was still just a baby, until we held Seth in our hands, weighing in at 6 pounds and change. Zion was delighted to see such a little one, and she was laughing and pointing and petting Seth softly. I just hope that she doesn't mind having a little brother or sister around permanently.
With our official due date of September 25 coming up on Monday, I have our cell phone on at all times now, in case I'm called home to make a trip to the hospital. Supposedly the Vernon hospital is great, which is good news considering that our last delivery in Kelowna was pretty disappointing in terms of the care we received.
Here are the meanings of the names that we are pretty set on for our baby:

Boy's name - means "fire of the Lord"
Girl's name - means "truth"

So there you are, we're just in limbo waiting right now, and we're hoping that that baby comes out this weekend! Stay posted for the announcement.

Return to the Real World

2006-08-31T13:53:00.000-07:00

Summer is over, and we have only a few days to squeeze out the last remaining drops of summer fun before school starts again. What to do? You could check out the Armstrong Fair (has a much better ring to it than the "IPE"), or the Starfield concert in Kelowna on Friday night, or even the races at Sun Valley Speedway.
As for our family, we're looking forward to spending some time with family and friends as we head into the fall, and we are more excited than ever about the fast-approaching arrival of Zion's little brother or sister (3 weeks). Also this fall, I am going to be coaching the Kal Senior Boys' Volleyball team, we will be having our West Edmonton Mall trip in October, and Walmart and Apple seem poised to battle it out in the home movie market. So much excitement in store (online or real).

RockRidge Rising

2006-08-16T14:03:00.000-07:00

Just back from our family reunion in the Shuswap, there are four days until we take 21 campers from Vernon to RockRidge Canyon. Now in its third summer of operation, the camp is in full swing, and people are talking about what an amazing facility they have there in Princeton.
Even on the web you can find stuff about RockRidge, from a video on youtube that shows how scary the Tower of Terror is, another one of a record-breaker, an article about RockRidge's state-of-the-art sound system, and countless blog entries.
What a great way to end the summer, and I wish everyone could experience it!

New York is big...but this is Biggar

2006-08-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

So we're going to be on holidays starting on Tuesday until August 15, and it's going to be a great vacation in the Shuswap, the location of our honeymoon, and coincidentally where we vacationed last summer (things like that happen when you have generous relatives like Kathy and Bruce). My mom has thirteen brothers and sisters, having grown up in a Catholic family on a farm in Biggar, Saskatchewan (known for its famous sign). We're excited to see immediate family and extended family, but we'll miss some family that isn't able to make (Zion will most notably miss Zoe, my cousin Sarah's daughter who is the same age).
We still haven't decided on a name for the new baby and probably won't until the delivery. Speaking of naming, Hungary's Economy Ministry probably didn't know what it was getting into when it launched an Internet voting campaign to allow Web users to choose a famous person as the namesake for a new bridge to be built over the Danube in Budapest. At one point, Chuck Norris was leading the way, but he has dropped back into third spot. Anyone can vote, but you have only until September 8. It also helps if you can speak Hungarian.

Eighteen Months of Joy

2006-07-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

As Zion is nearing eighteen months old, she has been baby-talking a lot more lately. She seems to have her own language, and strings a bunch of non-sensical (to us) words together into sentences. We never taught her baby signing, but she has figured out other ways of communicating her wants and needs, including shaking her head and saying no, pointing to her diaper, and saying "Ow" if something hurts.
We have under two months until she will be an older sister, and we're been trying to figure out how to prepare her for that. I think that she'll be a great older sister, and it's awesome she has been such an easy child to raise ever since birth.
Rachel is looking forward to being at home with Zion and ther other one again for another 52 weeks (a great deal compared to most countries), and she has only six more shifts until she reaches the magical 600-hour mark. You can do it Rach!

Zion is all smiles, knowing that she'll be back with Mommy every day!

iPod on the Road

2006-07-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

This week Rachel and I have changed the way we travel, buying a used minivan (a '96 Grand Voyager) and an attachment for the iPod so that it connects by an FM transmitter to our car radio. We took a trip to our friends Miranda and Tavis's place in Summerland on Sunday after church, and it was great to have in the car, with a potential 7500 songs at our fingertips.
Speaking of iPods and their dominance, Microsoft is working on an "iPod killer" called Zune (see the Coming Zune website) to challenge the iPod, and we'll have to wait and see how it does (I think iPod has a pretty good headstart).
Last night's Young Life Summer Club was great, with the girls taking the guys in the California Kickball game, by a score of 18-17. A real naibiter, and some of the players may someday be good enough to join the World Adult Kickball Association (WAKA). Next week we'll be having an intense game of Ultimate. Check out the YL North Okanagan site for a list of all summer events.

2006-07-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

Wow, I set a new record for the longest time without updating my blog, and it's been almost a month. I'm sure that by now I've lost all my faithful readers, so I'm writing to myself. It will take some time to regain everyone's trust.
A lot has happened since the last update, including spending two weeks up at RockRidge on assignment, doing the program for Junior High camp. It was a great time, and we had a lot of fun getting to know the leaders and the young campers that were there, 360 in all.
While I was there, pretty much the scariest thing in my life also happened. On July 6 I got an e-mail from Rachel, saying that she and Zion had been in a car accident. She was moving our car to the back of her parents' house, and had to pull out of one entrance to the driveway and into the other entrance. She looked both ways and didn't see anyone coming, but once she pulled out a young lady sped around the corner and slammed into the back of the Volvo, rendering it inoperable. The car is now a write-off, but thank God that Rachel, Zion, and our unborn baby are fin (other than a bit of a sore neck for Rachel). What could have been the worst moment in our lives has, by the grace of God, become a story that we will never forget, and will remind us to be thankful for the life that we have.
Now we are looking for a minivan, since we were going to upgrade anyway.

Thank you Volvo, for making such a safe car to protect my valuables.

A Rock to the Head

2006-06-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

At our volleyball league on Wednesday, we had a great fan turnout, with Dale, Chris, and Jeremy out to cheer us on. It worked too, with us winning three games to one, the final game being 25-23, a nailbiter.
After the game, we were just sitting there talking, our three fans, plus myself, Jeff, and my sister Beth. After a while, there wasn't much to talk about, so Beth amused herself by hitting stones from the beach with a Pepsi bottle. Jeff would toss them up in the air, and she would hit them, pretty exciting stuff. Anyway, about ten seconds after a warning from Jeremy that she would hit someone with a rock, she did. There was a lady around twenty feet away, and Beth smoked this rock that flew through the air and pegged the lady in the head. She turned around and shouted, "What the hell was that?!"
Poor Beth, she felt awful, and apologized profusely to the lady, who calmed down after Beth explained what had happened. I enjoyed the irony of the whole scenario tremendously, that there were five guys and one girl sitting there, and it was Beth, one of the most gentle people I know, who almost got in a fight with a forty-year-old lady.

2006-06-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend we just had, very busy, with the 5km fun run on Saturday, the wind-up pool party at the Wensley's, our grade 12 friends from Kal Secondary graduating, and having to go to Pitt Meadows to play in the Young Life Ironman Gold Tournament all day on Monday. As I type this, I feel sore in the majority of the muscles in my body, since I don't think man was meant to golf that much in a day.
Probably the highlight of my weekend though, was my friend Joseph Ross getting baptized on Sunday. A whole bunch of us got to go see him get dunked on Sunday morning, and I felt honoured to be able to read a scripture at the service. Joseph dyed his hair for his school graduation, and it matched his tie perfectly (and his personality). One of the funnest guys I know, Joseph has a lot of years ahead of him to spread joy around the Okanagan (or wherever he goes).

Zion didn't know what to think of Joseph's hair when we were in the hottub.

2006-05-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Kelowna to spend some QT with our families, and we made a visit to the orchard that we had some wedding photos taken in. I don't know if very much has changed in that orchard in the last couple of years, but there sure have been some big changes in our lives. One of those big changes is around 23 pounds now, and the other will probably come out at between 7 and 9 pounds, and a little earlier than we first thought (now September 18).

2006-05-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

Always a fan of anything to promote the Okanagan (the most beautiful area in the most beautiful province in the most beautiful country in the world), I just found out that there will be a "mockumentary" being filmed in Kelowna starting in the fall. Called "The Beast of Bottomless Lake", the film's website hails it as "The Office" meets "Jacques Cousteau" with a little bit of "Jaws" thrown in for good measure.
Since The Office is my favourite TV show right now, we'll see how this film stacks up, especially against the other movie filmed in the Okanagan last summer, Fido (in which my sister Bethany happens to stand in for Carrie-Anne Moss in a couple of scenes where you see only the back of her head).
If you would like to find out more about The Beast of the Bottomless Lake, check out the ~~official website~~ for a pre-production teaser and more.

2006-05-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

Rachel and I really enjoy having people over for dinner before Club on Mondays, and yesterday we had Brittany and Rennae over. Brittany, who is always a thinker, brought a great tidbit of information over...a new way to fold t-shirts. You may think, who needs another way to fold a t-shirt, it's not that big of a deal. The answer is Brittany, who searched on the internet to find this instructional video on a really cool way to fold a t-shirt. Check it out, and don't worry that it's in Japanese, you can still watch the demo (have a tee ready so that you can follow along). It will blow your mind and change the way you see t-shirt folding forever.

2006-04-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

As Zion's sibling's due date draws nearer, Rachel and I have been discussing possible names for the little one, and we've agreed upon a name if it's a boy. However, we're kind of split if it is going to be a girl. My preference would be Rebekah, which was our second choice for Zion, and Rachel is leaning more towards Zoe. Both really nice names, but here is where we disagree:
Rachel thinks that it would be bad to have one daughter named Zion (an uncommon name) and one named Rebekah (a more common name). She thinks that we should have two names that are closer in their commonness. I think that doesn't really matter, and it might be a trend that would be hard to break if we start naming all our kids with "Z" names. If we have a third, we're going to have to be looking at Zack, Zeke, Zebediah, Zebulun, Zephyr, Zen, etc. Plus, my cousin Sarah has a daughter named Zoe, who is the same age as Zion, and is there room for two Zoe's in the family? Sarah, please weigh in on this one.
Well, we still have some time to decide this, but we'd appreciate some feedback from all you faithful blog readers. Any suggestions?

Zion, if only you could spend some time thinking of your potential little sister's name instead of climbing in and out of your toy basket...

2006-04-04T10:34:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel that we just don't leave enough time for prayer and God in our lives. Case in point, last night after Club, Rachel and I were up talking for a bit, and then went to bed, and followed our nightly routine, which is to pray before we go to sleep. We asked each other what we would like prayer for, and mine was for all the big stuff coming up in my job, like the dessert fundraiser, camp program in the summer, our golf tournament, etc. I prayed for Rachel first, and then she prayed for me, and after she had prayed for a couple of minutes it went something like this:

R: ...and I pray for camp in the summer, and our butter dish, and all those things...what did I just say!!?

S: I think you just prayed for our butter dish (we had bought a Rubbermaid butter dish at Superstore that same day).

R&S: [laughing uncontrollably]

R: Amen!

Rachel was so tired that she had almost fallen asleep while I was praying, and then started falling asleep during her own prayer! And she must have been dreaming or thinking about our butter dish. We had a good laugh about it, knowing that God has a sense of humour and knows our hearts, but we'll try to give him the best part of our day instead of just a slab at the end.

2006-03-30T09:59:00.000-08:00

I'm reading a book right now that was given to Rachel and me by my parents, and it's called "How to Really Love Your Child."
It's a small paperback that encourages parents to let their children know that they are genuinely, unconditionally loved, and my mom says that it changed her whole perspective on parenting. The book tackles all aspects of child-rearing, from effective discipline and spiritual nurture to positive eye contact and physical touch.
As new parents, Rachel and I want to be the best that we can be, to help Zion grow into the young woman that God intends her to be, and as she gets older, she will want to know from us every day, "Do you love me?" Zion and her little brother or sister will know that no matter what they do, the answer will be an unequivocal, unconditional "Yes, we love you!"

2006-03-23T09:44:00.000-08:00

Matt Vanderhorst and I have been tossing the idea around for a while of starting a guitar club. This guitar club would be geared towards teenagers, and we think that there would be a lot of interest in the idea. there are a lot of people who would like to learn to play guitar, and a lot of people with one at home, just collecting dust. I'm one of those people, and I take out my guitar about once a month, and play the chords that I know (A, C, D, E, G, Emin, Amin) over and over.
Matt, on the other hand, is a self-taught guitar phenom, and he has a passion to play and to teach guitar. I think that he would be a perfect leader for Guitar Club, but we don't know exactly how it could work. Matt says that when you get too many guitars in a room, it sounds "gnarly" (a common Matt-word), so would we have to split up into different rooms, should we learn a song or two together each week, should we just wing it? These are all good questions, but sometime this spring, we should be starting Guitar Club, and I'll tell y'all how it goes. If you have any ideas for Guitar Club, leave a comment. Some people who we think would be interested in guitar club: Danny, Johann, Derek, Ross, Steve, Matt, Brynn, Jeff.

2006-03-17T16:26:00.000-08:00

A big congratulations goes out to my friend Brent Magowan, who this week announced his engagement to his girlfriend (now fianceé) Kathy. I think there are a lot of happy people after this announcement, and they make a great couple. I love it when my friends are going to be married, and Brent and Kathy are joining our other friends Eric and Barb as soon-to-be husbands and wives. Honestly, marriage is a really sweet thing, and I recommend it for anyone who knows that they love and are ready to be committed to their soulmate for the rest of their lives. The wedding bells are ringing this year, music to my ears, and if you can think of anyone who should be getting engaged soon, leave a comment.

Brent now has a reason to smile, as he has asked the life-changing question (and the answer was "yes!").

2006-03-10T11:40:00.000-08:00

I had a really fun time hanging out with Danny, Dustin, and Joakim lsat night. First of all, we were going to go watch the Kal girls play basketball at VSS, but when we got there the guys found out it cost $3 to get in, and that was too steep for them so we went to the mall.
At the mall, we played a little Xbox 360, and I realized that Dustin is the biggest trash talker of all time. While playing Fight Night 3 against Joakim, Dustin smugly said, "Looks like somebody's going to get knocked out," at which point he threw a left uppercut and sent Joakim to the mat. Joakim wouldn't take that from Dustin, so he immediately hit the reset button on the machine.
Dustin got paid back 15 minutes later, as he was running through Zellers and his hoodie got caught on a clothes rack, almost taking his head off and sending him to the floor. Fate? Karma? You tell me.
"
Looks like somebody's going to get knocked out..."

2006-03-08T11:06:00.000-08:00

Today is Brittany Bru's birthday, and if you see her, wish her a happy 18th. Oh, and don't be too hard on her for not having her "L" yet. I mean, there are lots of people who don't have their L by the time they're 18. Well, I'm sure there have to be at least a couple of other people who don't have their L by the time they're 18. It's nothing to be ashamed of, and anyway, driving is overrated. It's expensive, it's tiresome to hold the steering wheel and step on the gas, brakes, and clutch, and sometimes it's just nicer to be a passenger. Anyway, a very happy birthday to our good friend Brittany, who can now vote in a federal election, and don't worry, we love you anyway, even if you're L-less.

2006-03-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

I got word this week that I'm going to be able to play in the Young Life Ironman Golf Tournament in June. It's one hundred holes of golf in a day, and we'll take pledges so that people can donate to Young Life here in Vernon. I usually go out five times or so a year, so this will trump my usual golfing for a whole season, all in a day. Luckily, Rachel and I have a golf course right behind our condo, and we go walking all the time and find golf balls. In the Ironman, if I hit a ball out of bounds, I'm not looking for it, and I'll bring 30 balls on the round with me if I have to. I feel like I'm pretty out of shape these days, but by June, I'll be a well-oiled Ironman-golfing machine. Anyone want to sponsor a buck a hole?

To golf 100 holes in a day, it would help to be limber like PGA golfer Camilo Villegas.

2006-02-28T12:08:00.000-08:00

Since we have high school kids over at our house all the time, they're bound to leave stuff here. And since they are part of the youth culture, they have some of the coolest stuff around. Exhibit A, the toque that Joakim left at our place, and which had been left at his place by Cam, which had been given to him by Dustin, who had found it on the ski hill. This toque has been around, and it ended up being on Zion's head, the coolest little one-year-old around. Anyway, it was cute, and now we call her "our sweet little Billabong".

2006-02-21T11:39:00.000-08:00

Zion is over a year old now, and we are loving being parents more and more every day. Not only is she looking at us intently and recognizing us, but she also has a few "tricks" up her sleeve that she can perform on command. There is the wave goodbye (pumping her hand as if she had a stress ball), fanning her arm when our smoke alarm goes off (quite often, since it is right over our oven, and we have to fan it to turn it off), giving us five, pointing at things and saying "Wazza?" in her cute little voice (which we interpret to mean "What's that?"), rolling over, and playing dead.
Quite a talented young girl, and I made a mosaic of her with photos from her first year (click on the mosaic to see it in a larger size). She is a wonderful one-year-old, and she is going to make a wonderful older sister too.

2006-02-15T09:38:00.000-08:00

Last night, Rachel, Zion, and I went to Earl's for a romantic Valentine's Day dinner. We were blessed to receive a gift certificate from our friends the Hauptman's, and we had a very nice time.
My friend Jeff was calling the day "Black Tuesday" and I remember back in my university days that any of us who were single at the time would call it the same, depending on the day of the week on which it fell - Black Monday, Black Tuesday, etc.
One year we all went for all-you-can-eat sushi, then disco bowling, and nobody who was attached was allowed to come.
In reality, Black Tuesday is the most famous day in stock market history, which took place over 75 years ago, on October 29, 1929. It is often thought of as the day that sent the U.S. into the Great Depression.
Hmmmm, next time I see Jeff I'm going to ask him how he's doing.

2006-02-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

The Olympics in Turin start today with the opening ceremonies, and some of these athletes have worked their whole lives for this moment, able to represent their country at the highest level of competition.
Similarly, many peoples' lives have been leading up to the point of being able to go to Winter Camp in Princeton, representing Vernon and Armstrong at the biggest Club ever. It's a sunny day and I'm totally stoked for this. Check back for photos on Monday.

2006-02-08T11:14:00.001-08:00

I'm really excited about Winter Camp at RockRidge this weekend, when there will be 30 of us from Vernon joining many others at Western Canada's nicest camping facility. Ther forecast for Princeton is about the same as it's been here in Vernon, just below freezing at night and above freezing during the day, with variable cloudiness and some sun.
Regardless, we will have a great time, as there are fun activities planned for the weekend, and Club with 200 people is always exciting. This is going to be just a little taste of what a full week up at camp can be like, and we had better have a lot of people signing up for that too (forms coming soon).

The road to Princeton should be clear and dry!

2006-02-01T21:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was listening to the radio and the lady was talking about someone who was mischievous, and she pronounced it “miss-chee-vee-ous.” It’s not the first time I’ve heard it pronounced that way, but the last time I checked there wasn’t an “i” after the “v”. Is it me, or do a lot of people pronounce that word incorrectly?
It’s not only that word. Some of the others that are often pronounced incorrectly are Interac (adding a “t” to the end) and espresso (pronounced “expresso”). Oh, and one that I’ve even heard my university physics professor mistake (and which is very subtle) is the word nuclear, which is often pronounced “nucular.” Keep your ears open for that one. No wonder my parents used to call me Stephen White-out when I was young. Sheesh!

2006-01-31T14:41:00.000-08:00

We had such a great Club last night, 43 teenagers singing along to some classic Young Life tunes and chugging energy drinks through their dirty socks before listening to a Club talk about Adam and Eve (who by the way were naked).
My good friend Matt was back from a three-week trip to Costa Rica, which many of the kids were surprised to find out is in Central America. We also had our good friend Cori come over and babysit during Club, and bless her for that because Zion wasn't the easiest to take care of, crying like crazy as soon as Rachel and I were gone. We are sure privileged to have friends like Cori.

Okay, she's smiling now, but when her Mommy's gone...

2006-01-26T16:15:00.000-08:00

With Rachel gone for a few days each week now, I'm definitely not eating as well. Rachel is such a good cook, and my idea of a home-cooked meal in university was a package of Sidekicks and one of those frozen meat entrees (like Chicken Cordon Bleu) that you just stick in the oven.
I do have to say that one thing I really enjoy making is Pachos (Pachos are "potato nachos"). If you've ever been to Kelly O'Bryans you've probably had them, cross-cut potato fries with melted cheese and green onions on top. Alas, I can't find those cross-cut fries anywhere, so I substitute McCain's Krinkle Cut fries, and the taste is pretty much the same. Stick in the oven for 15 minutes, with the cheese and onions on for the last three minutes, and dip in half mustard/half mayo. We have some extra ground beef that I might add in tonight. Delicious! Now I wonder if Rachel would object to us buying a deep-fryer for an extra greasy taste.

2006-01-24T13:34:00.000-08:00

I got home from Club last night and turned on the TV to watch the election results, which are so important for our country. I was pretty impressed with the teenagers I talked to, with many of them having an interest in the election. It's good to see that they aren't out of touch with what's going on in their country.
I also read this morning an interesting story about a man in Nova Scotia who was charged with theft on Monday after stealing a ballot box in his home riding of New Glasgow. Apparently it was the same man who stole another ballot box during thte federal election six years and threw it into a harbour. This time he took it and ran over it with his truck in the parking lot, but luckily all the ballots were recovered. Seems like this is a guy that the authorities should keep their eye on when the next election rolls around. I've heard of politicians or parties stealing votes, but this brings whole new meaning to the term.

2006-01-17T11:01:00.000-08:00

When I was at skate camp at RockRidge Canyon in the summer, there was a guy there from Washington with a Rubik's Cube. Everyone has seen Rubik's Cubes, played with them a little bit, but I don't think that most people have put in a serious effort to solve one (other than taking off the stickers and putting them on the right sides). This guy from Washington, however, could actually solve the Rubik's Cube, and he partially explained his strategy, which intrigued me. "Wouldn't it be so cool," I thought, "to have a Rubik's Cube laying around our living room, and then when someone comes over and comments on it, I could just pick it up and solve it, in like a minute or two?"
Well, I did some research and on the internt you can find detailed instructions to solving a Rubik's Cube. I printed them off and tried for days to follow them, but I could only get it two thirds solved and gave up.
Now I read that they had the World Rubik's Cube Championships in San Francisco last week, and a guy set a new record for solving a Rubik's Cube, in 11.13 seconds. That's pretty close to as fast as the world record in the 100 metre sprint! Watch the video profiling the event, which also included a blind-folded Rubik's Cube solving competition. Impossible you say? Check it out, you'll be amazed!

2006-01-13T11:06:00.000-08:00

I miss Zion and Rachel so much. They're coming back from Kelowna today, and we're going to spend a lot of family time together tonight and this weekend. I was looking through our Christmas pictures, and Zion was so cute when she was opening her presents on Christmas Eve. She definitely won't remember her first Christmas, but these pictures will live forever. It's funny too, how it always seems like she's at the pinnacle of cuteness but she only gets cuter and more loveable every day. That's what being a parent is all about.
I saw a great movie this week, called Syriana, and there is a scene where a guy's young son jumps into a pool that is electrified and dies (sorry if you haven't seen it). This kind of thing is seen in a whole new light when you're a parent, and tears flowed pretty easily when I was watching it. Parenthood, it's a whole new sense of love and protection that can't be replicated.

Zion and Rachel, the two people that I would die for without a moment's hesitation.

2006-01-10T15:25:00.000-08:00

Today Rachel is going to Kelowna for her first set of shifts in over a year, now that maternity leave is over. As you can imagine, the hardest thing for us is that we're going to have to spend more time apart from Zion. As an answer to prayer though, things worked out for us to have the two best childcare experts possible. Each of them have raised five wonderful kids, and they have a combined 11 grandchildren.
Our childcare experts are Rachel's mom Carla and my mom Theresa, and it gives us tremendous peace of mind to know that Zion will be in their care.

Zion is going to have the highest level of childcare available!

2006-01-08T20:25:00.000-08:00

Well, the memories of the Christmas holidays are fading as we head further into 2006, and so it is time to present the results of the Christmas Movie Poll that I had on the blog. Here they are, peoples' favourite holiday movies:

It's a Wonderful Life - 2
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - 1
Elf - 1
Home Alone - 3
A Christmas Story - 1
The Nightmare Before Christmas - 2
A Christmas Carol - 5
Scrooged - 0
Miracle on 34th St. - 1

So there you have it, A Christmas Carol is the favourite Christmas movie of the readers of my blog. Maybe it's time to try to get some younger readers, although the second-place movie was Home Alone...hmmmmm.

2006-01-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

After spending pretty much every day over the holidays with a lot of people, Rachel and I decided to have a date on New Year's Eve. My parents came over from Kelowna and babysat Zion while Rachel and I headed up to Silver Star to do some ice skating. When we got there we found out that there were fireworks and a light parade down the hill, and it turned out to be great. We got ourselves some hot chocolate and watched while a long line of skiers came down the mountain with lights (the kids had glo-sticks and the adults had torches). It created a "flaming line of insanity", and it was followed by a spectacular fireworks show.
After the fireworks we went to the skating rink for an hour, and I stumbled along the ice, trying to learn how to skate, while Rachel went whizzing by. I want to learn to skate by next year so that I don't have to sit out during the annual Boxing Day hockey game in Kelowna. We got home by around 10:30, and Zion was still happy and thankfully so were my parents. What a blessing they are to us, and one of the reasons that we had such a great 2005!

Some sights from New Year's Eve at Silver Star...highly recommended!

2005-12-30T18:39:00.000-08:00

Since I got my first e-mail address back in 1996 or so, I probably haven't gone seven days without checking my e-mail. But during this holidays, staying at Rachel's parents' place in Kelowna, I have felt tremendously disconnected from technology. Not only that, but we haven't been home and feel disconnected from out friends in Vernon too. Tomorrow, Saturday, we are coming back to Vernon, and will be looking for something to do for New Year's Eve. If it comes down to us inviting a few friends over to ring in the New Year, that sounds like a lot of fun to me.
It has been a crazy week at the Neuman household, with ten adults and four toddlers in the house, a full-on ping pong tournament, hockey at the Capital News Centre, a "family" volleyball tournament in Winfield, curling in Kelowna, cribbage and rook back at the house, and a lot of sitting in the rented hot tub in the back yard, chatting with family.
Zion loved being with her little cousins, and it's awesome that she's so close in age to them all. Next year there will probably at least a couple more, and the year after that, and the year after that...

2005-12-20T10:57:00.000-08:00

I feel like it is my duty to tell everyone about my favourite game. It is called Apples to Apples, and if anyone is looking for a great family game to buy someone for Christmas, this would be the one.
The way it works is that every player begins by taking seven red cards, which are all nouns (for those who didn't take English, that would be a person, place, or thing). For example, you might have:

-A High School Bathroom
-William Shakespeare
-Hangnails
-New Orleans
-The JFK Assassination
-Tornadoes
-Fourth of July

Then people take turns flipping over a green card, which would be an adjective, such as "Dramatic". Everyone has to look through their cards to find which one is best described by that adjective, and hand it in to the middle. Then the person who flipped over the adjective decides whose card is the most Dramatic, with people trying to convince him/her that their card is the best. The person who gave that card gets the point.
We love this game and it's great for a group of four to twenty people. No writing anything down, no time limits, no board, it's the best!!! Buy it!!! Now!!!

2005-12-19T10:09:00.000-08:00

It seems that Zion has forgotten how to crawl. Now that she is so adept at walking, she doesn't crawl anymore. I don't blame her, I mean, I like walking more than crawling too. I can think of several reasons why walking is better than crawling:

1. You don't wear out your knees on your pants.
2. You have a higher vantage point to see things.
3. It's faster once you have it mastered.
4. Everybody else is doing it.
5. You can reach stuff that we've tried to put out of reach.

Yes dad, but when I walk I have so much further to fall.

2005-12-14T10:24:00.000-08:00

When you're twenty-six years old, almost twenty-seven, a wife and a mother, people expect you to act as an adult. Sometimes though, a person will regress to childhood and will do things that are unexpected. Exhibit A, Rachel White, who decided at our Young Life Club on Monday to challenge our friend Brittany to a race down the stairs headfirst. Brittany, who is in grade 12, won both times, and Rachel, perhaps slowed by her age, came out with a few scrapes. Sometimes we need to accept the fact that we're over the hill (click on the photo below to watch the video).

2005-12-08T10:56:00.000-08:00

Well, the Christmas tree is up in our house, and it is Zion's first Christmas that she won't remember. My sister Lara wrote us a card yesterday, and her son Noah is celebrating his 3rd Christmas this year, and he's starting to get it. Zion likes the lights and points to the tree, but she doesn't really get it. Hopefully she understood the message behind the movie Elf that we watched last night, explaining that the true meaning of Christmas is believing in Santa Claus. Ho ho ho. Ha ha ha.
At the climax of the movie, when there had to be true Christmas spirit to make Santa's sleigh fly, everyone burst out into a chorus of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." Now there must be dozens of songs that better represent the true meaning of Christmas than "You'd better watch out, you'd better not cry...yada yada yada." What about "Joy to the World" or "Silent Night" or even for non-religious songs "Holly Jolly Christmas" or "Winter Wonderland" or "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year"?
Anyway, a cute story with some funny parts, but it didn't leave me emotionally touched, that's for sure. I'm putting a poll up, where you can say what your favourite Christmas movie is and why. And don't worry, I won't blame you if you put Elf.

2005-12-02T11:25:00.000-08:00

My nose is frozen!! This morning I had to go to the dentist to get a tooth fixed, and when they froze my mouth, the freezing has seeped up to my nose. I've had to get this tooth fixed around five times by now, as it keeps on rechipping. This time I think it's really well done, since we have a new great dentist, Dr. Wessels. It's the same tooth that I broke in grade 9 trying to pull a staple out of something. Teeth are not meant to pull staples out of stuff. That's what staple removers are for. I should have used a staple remover to pull out the staple.
Sometimes I think that's the way we go about our lives, living in a way that isn't our intended purpose. I believe that our purpose is to be in a relationship with God, and that when we live as if He doesn't exist, we're living our lives in the wrong way, like trying to pull a staple out with our teeth. I could pretend that teeth are the best way to pull out a staple, and go through life chipping all my teeth up and pretending everything is okay, but that doesn't mean that it's the best way to live. Staple removers exist, and my life is a lot better knowing about them. My teeth should thank me for it too.

2005-12-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

I was really proud of my baby sister (she hates it when I call her that) Bethany this week when the updated statistics came out for the volleyball league she plays in. She's playing for Columbia Bible College in the BCCAA (British Columbia Colleges' Athletic Association), and she is leading the league in total digs and digs per game. Bethany has always been the best athlete out of the kids in our family, and she's an amazing soccer player too. I don't think there are many liberos around who are 5'10", but maybe her long arms help her to reach some of those hard ones.

Make a platform, drop your shoulder, eyes on the ball...that's the way to lead the league in digs.

2005-11-24T16:09:00.000-08:00

Since Rachel and I moved to Vernon just over a year ago, we decided to go without television. I don't really miss it that much, since I can check the news at work and most of what is on there is garbage anyway (albeit garbage that sucks you in).
There wasn't even a hockey season last year, so there was nothing that I was missing. However, now that hockey is back on, and it's an exciting year with all the rule changes, I really felt like I was missing out. Rachel sure didn't care, since she likes hockey live, can bear it on TV, and can't stand it on the radio.
Last week I finally discovered how to get a clear picture of CBC, so now I can get Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights. Rachel was having some girls over to play Cranium, and asked if I would stay home to keep Zion occupied while they hung out. So I moved the TV into the bedroom, and connected the coaxial cable to a wire (which happened to be our cell phone charger), and we were all set. Saturday nights are the perfect amount of hockey to give me a fix to last the week.

Brittany is all smiles and Zion is in the festive mood now that they can watch a post-game interview with Ron Maclean and Eric Lindros.

2005-11-23T11:45:00.000-08:00

This morning I was talking to my friend Matt, who happens to work at Tirecraft here in Vernon. He has his own personal Blog, but he was thinking that it would be a good idea to start another Blog with "tire tips". Most people don't have the wealth of tire knowledge he has, so it would be good for them to be able to visit the tire site to answer questions like, "What exactly is an all-season tire good for?" or "Where is the best place to buy tires?", from which there could be a link to the Tirecraft website. I think it's a pretty good idea. The problem is, how do you get people to go there, how do you advertise it? Well, the advertising has now begun. Keep checking back here for the soon-to-be up site "Matt's Tire Tips" or whatever he calls it.

2005-11-21T11:27:00.000-08:00

There was a story in the paper today about a woman from France who tried to open the door of her airplane while it was in the air. I guess she had been drinking some wine on the flight, and was a little intoxicated, and she just had a yearning for a smoke. The story says:

"She walked toward one of the aircraft's emergency exits with an unlit cigarette and a lighter in her hand and began tampering with the door, prosecutors said. But a flight attendant intervened and took Sellies back to her seat."

Now I don't know about you, but I've seen enough movies to know that if she had opened the door, she would have been sucked out along with everyone else, unless she were as strong as Arnie or Sly. In fact, the G-forces on the plane would probably be enough to crush the plane altogether. Maybe those movies haven't been dubbed into French yet.

2005-11-15T13:20:00.000-08:00

The West Edmonton Mall trip was awesome this year, in my opinion better than the last two years, and I came back with a good story that I may be able to fit into a Club talk, I just don't know how yet.
About a half an hour after we got into the water park, we had already gone down some slides, and we decided to wade into the wave pool, where all the crazy Vernon grade 9 guys were jumping around in the waves.
As I got to waist deep water, a huge wave came up and flipped over a bunch of kids on inner tubes, about ten feet in front of me. All I remember is a girl getting thrown through the air at me, and then something really solid connecting bang on with my eye. It must have been a knee, too big to be an elbow and too small to be a head.
Surprised that I wasn't knocked unconscious, I found my way to the medical room where the attendant checked my vitals to make sure I was okay. He was concerned that the pupil of my right eye was really small compared to the pupil of my left eye, so he told me I should go to the hospital to make sure that I didn't have post-concussion syndrome.
So I walked over there and waited for three hours in emergency, when the resident doctor took me into the ophthamoligist room and checked my eye out. My vision was fine, but she also put a yellow dye into my eye to see if she could see any abrasions. There were none, but my eye was a bright yellow for three hours afterward (no Kari, I did not Photoshop the picture).
The next day is when a purple mark showed up underneath my eye, and that is what I'm still carrying around today, which I think makes me look pretty tough. Pretty tough except for the fact that everyone on the trip is telling everyone else that a ten-year-old girl gave me a black eye. I guess it's true.

2005-11-10T21:41:00.000-08:00

Well, tomorrow morning is the start of our West Edmonton Mall adventure. It's going to be great, but I sure am going to miss Rachel and Zion. Zion's walking now, about 4 steps at a time before she falls, but a little better every day. Rachel won't be lonely though, as she's going to be hanging out with a lot of people this weekend and keeping herself busy. Still, it will be nice when the bus pulls back into Vernon on Sunday and we have a great weekend's worth of memories to talk about and photos to share.

By the time I get back, Zion will probably be running, and maybe Rachel will have trained her to do the laundry.

2005-11-04T11:20:00.000-08:00

Do you want a cow? Me too!! I think it's time for Canada to start allowing bribes from its elected officials to the people who vote for them. In the Sri Lankan presidential election coming up on November 17, a wealthy presidential candidate promises to give a free cow to every Sri Lankan home if he wins.
The candidate, Victor Hettigoda, was quoted as saying, "Every Sri Lankan home will be gifted with a high milk-yielding cow from (the Indian state of) Kerala which could be expected to yield 10 litres to 16 litres of milk every day. Even families who live in flats, who could make suitable arrangements to look after a cow, will receive a gift of cow."
We're talking high milk-yielding cows here, not just any old cow, and they're for everyone, even families in the flats. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Those families in the flats always seem to get shafted. Victor, if I had dual citizenship, you'd have my vote. I've always thought I should be drinking more milk, and 10 to 15 litres a day would be a good place to start.

2005-11-03T10:50:00.000-08:00

The plans are coming together for a big family reunion this summer in Scotch Creek on Shuswap Lake. Most of my mom's family lives in Ontario, and a lot of them are coming down. Although a lot of us live far apart, we're a pretty tight knit group and get-togethers are so much fun. Rachel still hasn't met a bunch of my aunts, uncles, and cousins, and Zion hasn't even met her second cousin Zoe. Zoe and Zion were born at almost the same time, and we're sure they're destined to be good friends. Zoe's parents, Steve and Sarah (my mom's sister Pat's oldest daughter...do you follow?), live in Ottawa and will be making the trip out here in August. It promises to be a fabulous time, with lots of laughter, memories, and family bonding. Scotch Creek 2006, watch for it in August!

Zoe and Zion, born 8 days apart and destined to become friends!

2005-11-02T09:56:00.000-08:00

It was cold this morning at 6:30 when I left the house to pick people up for our Wednesday morning Campaigners Bible study. I still find it amazing that there were eight teenagers that were willing to give up some sleep before school to get together and read the Bible and eat a balanced nutritious breakfast of Froot Loops and Timmy's donuts.
Since it's so cold, snowboarding season is on the way, and the Silver Star snow report is reporting a base of 45 centimetres. Start waxing those boards and if you have a trampoline get out there and start practicing your tricks to impress your friends.

Silver Star this morning, November 2, with snow in the village.

2005-10-31T12:21:00.000-08:00

I remember going to French Immersion elementary school and learning all the songs in French that kids learn. One of them has been running through my head this week, and in fact it's the only Halloween song that I can think of. Are there any more Halloween songs that people know of? Leave a comment, and here's how this one goes (click here for an audio recording of my Grade 1 class):

Les sorcières sortent le soir.
Les fantômes aussi.
Le ciel est tout noir.
Les nuages sont gris.
Est-ce que tu as peur
des méchants esprits?
O Monsieur,
Oui, oui, oui, oui, oui.

C’est l’Halloween(x2)
Hey!
C’est l’Halloween(x2)

Pendant l’Halloween,
tu peux être ce que tu veux.
Un tigre féroce
Ou un serpent bleu.
Il se fait tard,
Tu rentres à la maison.
O Madame,
Non, non, non, non, non.

C’est l’Halloween(x2)
Hey!
C’est l’Halloween(x2)

La lune, elle est pleine.
Le hibou, il crie.
De toutes les branches,
Pendent les chauve-souris.
Est-ce que tu as peur
de cette nuit?

O Madame,
Oui, oui, oui, oui, oui.

2005-10-26T21:23:00.000-07:00

Hello fans, I (Rachel Marie White) am here blogging for Steve up at RRC. We are here on "business" and yet so far it has been a whole lot of fun and games. I mean, we really are doing work related "stuff" but when you are doing your dream job as Steve is, then "business" trips and "stuff" like that are really a whole lot of fun. You get my drift then.
Anyways, Steve has given me strict orders to not put too much thought into what I am writing here because he wants to get back out to having some more fun and games. I wish I could be more sincere and thought provoking but that just takes too much thought and we all know that for me to think, now that, that takes some time. That is really all I have for now... and Steve, good luck finding a picture to match the "stuff" that I just wrote down ok? Ok. bye for now. RMW

2005-10-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

Mozart started playing the piano at the age of three. At the age of seven Beethoven started playing public performances. As you can see here, Zion started playing piano at the age of 8 months. Yes, she is even composing her own pieces, all one-of-a-kind, never been played before pieces that cannot be duplicated.
Rachel and I were blessed to be given a piano recently from the most generous Laurie Vanderhorst, something that Rachel had been praying for since we moved to Vernon. Rachel will sit down and tickle the ivories while I try to follow along on the guitar, and our little virtuoso plays a pounding melody using the palms of both hands. Amazing little girl!

2005-10-21T15:46:00.000-07:00

Last night I got a bit of a hockey fix, going to Boston Pizza to watch the Canucks win 3-2 over the Phoenix Coyote's. I was with Danny, Tyler, and Garreth, and we had a good time drinking pitcherloads of root beer that the waitress just kep coming back to refill. Since I don't have TV, I have to admit that when I get the chance to watch hockey, I have a hard time concentrating on anything else with my eyes and ears fixated to the game.
Tonight should be fun, bringing some guys to play soccer with the group from Cornerstone, and then this weekend will be jam-packed with more hanging out. Hanging out, a good thing to do with friends. Have a great weekend, and if you want to hang out, give me a call.

2005-10-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

It sure isn't fun being sick. Monday after Club I started feeling chills and a headache, and it turned into a fever and a flu by the time I got in bed. It's a good thing my wife is an amazing nurse, and she came in and actually "charted" my progress, taking my temperature at regular intervals.
Now I'm feeling better, but still have a throat that hurts every time I swallow, so I'm going to go in to see the doctor this afternoon. When I'm sick, somehow I feel more comfortable going to a walk-in clinic instead of my family doctor, whom I've never visited before. I think I like the anonymity of it, instead of one person knowing all my health history. Anyway, I think to myself, God knows my whole health history better than anyone, so I have nothing to worry about.

2005-10-17T10:29:00.000-07:00

Monday morning, rain is falling. What a weekend it was...hanging out with my boys Anthony, Danny, Johann, and Cam on Friday night going for a hayride and a bonfire. Then on Saturday spending the day with Rachel and Zion, then Sunday a busy day with some of our good friends, Matt, Miranda, and Brittany. There's nothing better than spending time with friends, friends that you can be completely yourselves and relax around.
Tonight is going to be great, seeing all our friends at Club, providing that people don't forget that Club is still happening, with the teacher's strike being on and all. Don't forget, 7:00 at Danny's house, rain or shine. See you tonight!

2005-10-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went with Anthony, Danny, and Dustin to go see Corpse Bride, a movie that is worth seeing if you liked Nightmare Before Christmas. Although the name sounds like a horror film, it is an animated feature for the whole family, except I think it would be a little scary for very small children.
Speaking of scary movies for children, I remember seeing a Jim Henson (creator of the Muppets) movie when I was a kid that scared me for years. It was called The Dark Crystal, and it was made with puppets, but it freaked me out. Since it was so stuck in my mind, I decided to rent it a little while ago, and watched it with Rachel. It was so disturbing that she couldn't even watch the whole thing, and I could see how it affected me so much. Here is a link to the trailer, but watch with caution, as it can be a little scary, and should never be shown to kids, or it will haunt them throughout their childhood.

2005-10-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty bummed about this teacher's strike, since our volleyball season is now on hold and our team was making such good progress. The only meeting planned between the two sides as of now is an appointment today in B.C. Supreme Court, where a judge is expected to slap a fine on the B.C. Teachers' Federation for refusing to end a strike declared illegal last week by the B.C. Labour Relations Board.
Let's just hope that the two sides can reach a deal so that the 600,000 students in the province who are missing school can get back to hitting the books. I know there are some students who would rather be off the rest of the year, but think of those poor grade twelvers who need to graduate.

2005-10-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

Today I met with Jeremy, the new youth pastor at the Alliance. He's a great guy, and he and his wife are expecting their first child, which is pretty exciting. We had a good talk, and I can tell that he really has a heart for kids.
Speaking of kids, Zion has passed the eight-month mark, and she is crawling all over the place and can stand up if she has something to pull herself up to. I think she'll be walking anytime now.

Does every parent feel their baby is very advanced? I think so.

2005-10-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

My new hero is Nathan Schoepp from Young Life in Kelowna, who showed up to the leader/campaigner retreat on the weekend with his own fan club. Unbeknownst to him (at least I don't think he organized it himself), a bunch of girls from Langley had t-shirts made with "Schoepp-ard" written across the back, and photos of him on the front. You have to be a pretty amazing guy to have that kind of effect on people, and Nathan is. The MC at Rachel's and my wedding, Nathan is the kind of guy that all girls should want to have as the icon for their club. To find out more about the Schoeppard, check out his personal blog.

The Schoeppard takes care of his flock.

2005-09-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

Last night I am happy to say that our Kal Junior Boys' volleyball team won all six of its games, three against PVSS and three against CBSS. The team's looking pretty good and has improved tremendously in just over a week.
So it is on a high note that we leave this afternoon to RockRidge for the leader/campaigner weekend retreat. Just me and a van load of guys, back to that sweet place in Princeton. I love hanging out with these guys, Steve, Danny, Anthony, and Cam Zubot. Even though it's only a small group, we're Vernon, and people will notice that we're there and that we care. We'll see you all on Monday when we return.

2005-09-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

Does anyone ever go to the Vernon Rec Centre pool? It's pretty sweet, with a slide and everything, a rope swing, a diving board, and a whirlpool thingy like the human whirlpool that we make at RockRidge. Last night I took Cam, Joakim, Lucas, Trent, and Holly there, and we had an intense game of keepaway in the kiddie pool. The lifeguard was watching us like a hawk and told us we weren't allowed to throw the ball really fast at each other or he'd take it away. Okay, I'm twenty-six years old and I'm getting in trouble from the lifeguard. What I would like to do is get a t-shirt that says "Life Guard" on the front, and walk around the pool with a stern look on my face. Could they make me take it off? No way, I can wear whatever I want. Then people would really listen to me.

2005-09-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

Rachel is back from her weekend at Women's Camp, and thankfully Zion and I survived, spending some quality father/daughter time together. I realized that parenthood is much easier with two people, and I have more respect for people who raise children on their own. The highlight may have been our road trip to Walmart, where we walked down every aisle, and ended up buying an extension cord and some baby oat cereal. If you ever have a chance to try that stuff, it tastes like the powder at the bottom of a box of Cheerios, pretty good stuff.

2005-09-22T08:03:00.000-07:00

Last year at Club we had a Napoleon Dynamite dance-off, but this year we may go without it, due to some apprehension about possible violence.
According to a recent news release from Wichita, Kansas, one person required stitches and a mother and son were arrested after a brawl between two dance teams that began during an impromptu "dance off."
The Dynamic Steppers were practising routines Saturday night when members of another dance "drill" team, the White Tigers, showed up and challenged them to a "dance-off," police said.
When the White Tigers team appeared to be losing on Saturday, a woman hit a 17-year-old Dynamic Steppers drummer in the face with a drumstick, Easter said.
The teen, a former member of the White Tigers, punched the 28-year-old woman in the face. He then got into his car and tried to run over spectators, witnesses told police.
The boy's mother, a Dynamic Steppers coach, grabbed a box cutter and sliced the other woman's arm. The wound required eight stitches.
The mother was charged Monday with aggravated battery, and the son faced assault charges.
An estimated 50 people were involved in the brawl, and police said more charges are possible.

Dancing is serious bidness in Wichita.

2005-09-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

This morning there were eleven of us (including Zion) up nice and early for our first Campaigners of the year, and next week we're going to get right into studying the book of Romans, what Samuel Coleridge called "the most profound book in existence." How's that for some heavy reading? I know that as we get through it, we're going to learn a lot and have some great discussion, so make sure to come out next Wednesday if you would like to join us. Remember, all roads lead to Romans.

2005-09-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

It was really fun getting back into coaching yesterday, and the Junior Boys' team at Kal is going to be a great group of guys, I can feel it. Unfortunately, the twenty-five or so that are trying out are going to have to be cut down to 12, so that will be hard to do. Some people would never even try out for something like this, where there is a high chance that they could be rejected, so I admire anyone that goes for it. Rejection is something that a lot of us have a hard time with, which is why having a relationship with God is such a comforting thing, the only one who will always accept us unconditionally. With God's acceptance, man's rejection shouldn't matter.

2005-09-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

Well it was a great week of holidays last week at Scotch Creek with Rachel and Zion, and now it's back to getting the year going with Young Life. Seventy-two e-mails waiting for me when I got back, with about half of those being junk, but the other half needing to be dealt with.
Rachel Hamming stopped into the office with Nathan today, who is turning into a great little character. Rachel wanted me to show the world that I'm not the only one with a cute kid, so she sent me this picture of Nathan hamming it up for the camera.

Sunglasses compliments of Anthony Dagostini. Style all his own.

2005-09-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

There may be some relief at the gas pumps this week as fuel production in the US is getting back to normal, but the high prices these days sure has gotten people thinking of how to save in fuel. Rachel and I are thinking of selling one of our cars, but then it's a headache on Club days to drive everyone. If I were a teenager today I wouldn't be too stoked about getting my N and driving my own vehicle, unless I could still get my parents to pay for gas.

2005-09-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

To help us get in the mood for the upcoming hockey season, last night Rachel, Zion, and I went to see some hockey at the Multiplex. It was the Bantam AAA tryouts, where Cam was trying out along with 40-something other players, including Jeremy, Riley, Spencer, Tyrell, and a bunch of other players whose names I don't know. It's going to be tough to make the team, but they were sure working hard.
Speaking of the NHL, the season starts this month, and I was wondering if anyone is interested in starting a hockey pool, where we would all choose 12-15 players and keep track of their points throughout the season. Leave a comment if you're interested, and we can set up a date and time to choose the players. Shotgun Bertuzzi!

2005-09-05T13:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the last night of the Armstrong Fair, and we got to go to the rodeo with some of our favourite Young Life leaders, Miranda and Matt (who is one of the newest residents of Armstrong). We also had the rest of our pseudo family with us, meaning Brittany and Cam, and met up with the Evans's, a wonderful family that just moved to our church from Saskatchewan. They have five kids, and it brought back memories of my childhood, where we had a big brood too.
The rodeo was pretty sweet, and it's amazing how those guys can be bucked off a huge bull, get partly trampled on, and still get up, shake the dirt off themselves, and walk away with dignity. It really contrasted in my mind with when I watch professional soccer on TV, when a soccer player gets kicked a little bit in the shins and needs to be carried off on a stretcher. I guess it's just the nature of the beast. By the way, I have nothing against non-professional soccer players; I think it's a great sport. It's just not rodeo.

2005-09-02T11:29:00.000-07:00

When Rachel decided to have a girls' night last night, I figured that it would be a good opportunity to have a guys' night as well, so we all stayed over at the Pierce's house. By all I mean Mark, Dustin, Joakim, Johann, Chris, Anthony, Jeremy, Cam, and myself. Jeff was here until 1:30AM but he had to go home because he said he likes his own bed. Then the house-sitter came in at 7:15 this morning and she thought that we were a bunch of random people who had taken over the house. It took a little bit of explaining before she believed that we had spoken to the Pierce's and gotten permission to be here. So now it's 11:30, just before noon, and I'm still the only one up in the house, but I'm going to get the others up right now...

2005-09-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

British Columbia's largest agricultural expedition is going on right now in Armstrong - the annual Interior Provincial Exhibition (IPE) or as we old-schoolers like to call it, the "Armstrong Fair."
Some of us are going there tonight at around 6:30, and if you're there too, call me on my cell phone at 308-9588. Some of the fun stuff we're hoping to do and see are the rodeo, the rides, and the cotton candy (sending a shout out to my man Tanner who was hopped up on the double-C). I'll post tomorrow to let you know how things go.

An aerial view of the IPE, the site of tonight's excitement.

2005-08-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

I've been back from camp for a couple of days now, and am just starting to unwind from the excitement I had. Zion has a couple of new teeth and can "crawl" now, meaning she's up on her hands and knees, then moves one of her hands, making sort of a crawling motion.
We're happy to have Cam Pierce as our houseguest for a few days while his parents are gone, and he's been very polite and helpful around the house. What a fine young man to have staying with us.
Oh, and a big congratulations goes out to Megan Wright from Armstrong, who came to Skate Camp at RockRidge in July. She recently went to the DC Skateboarding Nationals in Richmond, and placed second in the Women's Open division. Way to go Megan! You need to teach me how to Smith Grind one day.

Megan at RockRidge Canyon during Young Life Skate camp 2005.

2005-08-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

Well, it's going to be hard to spend six days away from Rachel and Zion, the longest I've been apart from them since Zion was born. She's growing up so fast, able to get herself up on all fours now, and she'll probably be pseudo-crawling when I get back. Having a baby changes your life for sure, and now I can't imagine what life would be like without her in it.
Rachel wishes she could come to camp to, but this is a sacrifice she's making, and one that is well worth it. She'll get to see the photos and the camp DVD after it's all over, but it's still not the same as being there. We'll miss you Rachel!

2005-08-19T10:28:00.000-07:00

Last minute preparations are being made for camp, and I'm more excited than ever, ~~probably~~ definitely more excited for this than for the NHL season starting in September (btw, vote on the new poll). There are going to be so many surprises in store for the campers, and I'm waiting to see if Cam and Joakim and Danny are going to live up to their tough talk about waking up at 6:30 every morning to go wakeboarding. It's easy to say that now, but just wait until you've been there a couple of days and expended all your energy.
For anyone coming to camp, start taking your vitamins and echinacea, as it can be very hard on your body to stay in the same room as so many other living, breathing people, and still stay healthy. Get your body ready for Tuesday, train it to be strong.

2005-08-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a great day hanging with the boys in Kelowna, where we got to see some of the best hockey players in the world (Canadians of course) face off against each other at Prospera Place in Kelowna. The scrimmage was an amazing display of skill, and all of us who were hockey fans appreciated it (Joakim was more interested in the mall). Todd Bertuzzi got a lot of cheers when he stepped on the ice (plus a few boos), and there were some Wayne Gretzky sightings after we left. The final team will be picked in January, and there is a plethora of talent to pick from, so the players had better have a good start to their seasons with their NHL teams this fall.

All photos taken by my dad the amazing photographer, Lorne White.

2005-08-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

Today I'm taking Jessie, Braden, Brittany, and Rennae to Kelowna to meet up with the Kelowna Young Life crew, to hop on their bus and go with them to RockRidge. The Weather Network has forecasted a nice week for them, with a lot of sunny days but not sweltering heat. I got the Young Life Vernon t-shirts this week, and they're looking pretty good, so when we all go to Junior High camp in a week, there will be a swarm of us, all matching. So if you are coming to camp and forgot to let me know what size of t-shirt you wear, I ordered a whole bunch of extra XXL's (don't worry, they shrink when washed in hot water).

No, I did not order t-shirts like this...

2005-08-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

My apologies go out to my friend Jeff, who we wrongfully accused of stealing a kid's Bible Buddy Drum with all his toy figurines in it from the Vacation Bible School last week. We saw it on the back seat of his Tracker, and that was the conclusion that we jumped to, but now it turns out that he gave a bunch of people a ride home and someone forgot it there. If I could wash "I stole a kid's drum at VBS" off your back windshield, I would. I just thought that it was for the good of society that I warn kids that there may be a drum-stealer out there named Jeff. Sorry for dragging your name through the mud, buddy.

2005-08-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

Thankfully we had a healthy snack at VBS today, consisting of strawberries, bagels, and cheese, all put together into the shape of a giraffe. The kids loved it and so did the leaders, with a group of noticeably less hyper kids after snack-time. We also had one kid who is pretty much addicted to eggs, who admitted that he eats "six eggs a day, and I beg for more, but my mom won't give me more." Now that's a lot of protein, with three eggs in the morning and three at night. Okay, it blows my mind...that would make 3 1/2 dozen, or 42 eggs in a week. Can it be that a six-year-old eats that many eggs?

2005-08-10T13:37:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, sorry I haven't been updating my blog much this week, but I've been busy every morning helping out with the VBS at my church, where Danny and I have been in charge of the games every day. Plus we've had Brittany, Christa, Jeff, Matt, Jessie, and Steve out to help, so it's been a real team effort. The theme for the week is the Serengeti, so the kids have been learning about God and about the animals that live in Africa.
The kids that come to the VBS are pretty mellow in the morning, but after the snack time they're so wired with sugar that they're as hyper as can be, and one little girl even said, "All of our snacks have sugar...maybe we should have more vegetables." Amen to that.

Rachel and Zion get into the wild atmosphere of the Serengeti theme.

2005-08-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

To those of you high school kids thinking about making a little extra money on the side this summer, you'd better read about this incident in Massachusetts:

"A dispute between two boys hawking lemonade and a rival vendor who forced police to shut down their unlicensed stand was resolved Wednesday after the mayor orchestrated what he called "a corporate merger."

Mayor Stanley Usovicz said sausage stand owner Kevin Kefalas agreed to allow Dominic Serino, 9, and Ryan Decker, 11, to operate as subcontractors under his vending license following an impromptu outdoor meeting initiated by Usovicz.

Kefalas' employee, Jarrod Crowley, reported the boys to police Saturday, saying their stand was affecting his business, which also sells lemonade. He said he didn't want the stand closed, just moved farther away.

But without a $2,200 vendor's license, the police were forced to shut it down.

Crowley said he's endured his share of icy stares since the incident.

Ryan Decker's mother, Angela, said the boys started selling their powder-based brew last summer and made a "killing" - $130.

2005-08-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

It was a great time hanging out with friends yesterday, at Juniper Bay, then Kal Beach, then to our house to watch a movie (albeit a lame one). Hanging out with people is always a good time, and I am convinced that we were created for relationships, to get to know people and interact with them. Nobody likes to sit at home by themselves instead of hanging out with people (well, almost nobody).
Speaking of hanging out with people, tonight we are having Campaigner's at the Vanderhorst's house, where we get together to talk about life issues from a Biblical perspective. It's always fun to meet with this group, and everyone is welcome to come. Hope to see you there!

Hanging out with friends is a great thing to do!

2005-08-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

Well, the weekend was busier than ever, and I had a blast hanging out with Matt W., Mark, Danny, Joakim, and Cam Pierce at Juniper Bay cliff-jumping. I probably never would have jumped off some of those, but there was so much pressure to impress the younger guys, so the highest one we went off was "Skunk", which is 35 to 40 feet high. Some guys were doing gainers off of 911 and LSD, which were probably around 70 feet high, much too high for my liking, but it sure is fun to watch.
My man Danny Hauptman ain't afraid of no Skunk.

2005-07-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

Zion is now eating real person food, well sort of. She eats rice cereal, which is basically like the powder on the bottom of a box of Rice Crispies, but soggy. Poor girl, she doesn't know how good real food can taste, except for the pieces of fruit that we give her to suck on every once in a while. They say that you're supposed to start feeding babies vegetables before fruits, or else they'll get accustomed to the sweetness of fruit and will never want to eat their veggies. I wonder if that's a proven fact or if it just seems logical so people repeat it as fact.

Maybe we should add some honey to make it taste better. Any suggestions?

2005-07-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

Just in case were getting any ideas about getting back at any of your teachers during the school year who you didn't get along with, let the case of a student from Kansas make you reconsider.
A high school student from Kansas who vomited on his Spanish teacher has been convicted of battery and ordered to spend the next four months cleaning up after people who throw up in police cars. Now I don't know how many people throw up in police calls, but even if it were once a week, that would be about sixteen vomit cleanups, probably the grossest job ever. The student's lawyer said that the student threw up because he was nervous about an exam, but unfortunately the student had told some of his classmates that he did it on purpose. Probably not a good move...

2005-07-27T10:03:00.000-07:00

As a record-breaking heat wave is making its way across the US, here in Vernon we have a forecast today of a high of 32 degrees, clear skies, with a zero percent chance of precipitation. Sounds like a perfect day for the beach, as opposed to this day back in 1976, when the temperature dropped down to 6.1 degrees. The year before that, in 1975, Vernon reached a record high of 35.6 degrees.
So what have they done in New York City to help people deal with the deadly heat? They've set up a man-made beach along the East River in Queens, with more than 400 tons of sand trucked in to make a fake beach experience seem real.

They could use a cold snap right about now.

2005-07-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when a guy doesn't seem to get the breaks in the dating game of life, he needs to go to extreme measures. That's what the friends of Lance Archibald have done, setting up the website www.datelance.com. They say that he's too nice of a guy, with too good of credentials, to not have found that someone special, so this is their way of finding that someone. Not only that, but they have also set up a billboard on an interstate near Lindon, 65 kilometres south of Salt Lake City, Utah. I wonder if this will catch on, since it may have more visibility than a personal ad in the newspaper.

Hopefully he'll meet his soulmate this way...

2005-07-21T11:08:00.000-07:00

So we're back from the mud-bogging "fishing" trip yesterday, where we didn't get even a nibble, but had a lot of fun 4x4ing with Matt and Jeff (the Tracker bottomed out a couple of times but kept on going). Check out the photo gallery for pictures of the day, and watch for future fishing trips, when we may end up at the lake that we're trying to get to, and may even catch some fish.

2005-07-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

Now this is Summer! With the weather we've been having, and temperatures supposed to be hitting 33 degrees this afternoon, it's a good day to go fishing. Matt knows of a lake around here, so we're going to go and catch some trout or salmon or whatever swims in there. I'm not much of a fisherman, but some of the young guys are supposed to know what they're doing, so hopefully they'll show me the ropes. Stay tuned for tomorrow, when I'll post some photos from our intrepid fishing expedition.

2005-07-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

It was a lot of fun playing California Kickball yesterday, and we the leaders would have won if you had all kicked the ball instead of bunting. Anyway, we'll have to come up with a better strategy for next year, or a rule that every kick has to go further than the infield. Joseph, that was a great slide headfirst into third base, and I hope that your mother isn't too upset about the grass stains.
Zion was happy that she got to be held by Jessie and Miranda while we were playing, and we figured that Miranda is closer to being ready to be a mother than Jessie, because she will still hold Zion while she's cryin'. Maybe we'll have to get her to start changing diapers too, to prepare her even more...

Doesn't it just seem to come naturally?