Monday, July 20, 2009

Summer 2009

It's been a while since we've posted anything new on here, so here goes.

It's now July 2009, and in some ways there has been much that has happened, and in other ways little has changed.

I am now done my first semester back at school, and loved it. I enjoyed all my classes, learned a lot, read a lot of books, wrote lots of papers, and finished with a 4.0 GPA. Three semesters left to go...

I've been working kind of part time since school finished. My first job has been at a little outdoor equipment store in Cochrane. I've enjoyed being back in retail, talking with customers, playing with the new camping gear, sometimes selling stuff. I've been working on average one shift a week there, enough for a bit of income and the staff discount on some cool gear (the real reason to work in that kind of store!). It's been fun so far.

My other job has been working with a friend in construction. Again, it's been kind of part time, whenever I've been available and they have had work for me. I've been doing all sorts of things with the company, including building some shelves, putting up a chain-link fence, building stairs for a dog to get on and off a deck, and coring big holes through 9" concrete floors on the 20th storey of a highrise building (at the edge of the floor, where there is only a flimsy fence separating me from a drop to the busy street some 200 feet below. It's not as bad as it sounds though.)

It's been really great to be able to just work casually this summer. I've enjoyed having lots of time to be home with Kerri and the kids. There have been times where I've started to go a bit nuts with nothing to do, but not too much.

We were able to take two weeks and travel down to Newport, Oregon as a family. It was a great time and we all have some great memories from the trip. If you've never been there you should go. It's beautiful. (Check out the Elizabeth Street Inn - great hotel, and the Cafe Stephanie - the best beef dip in the world.)

As for what's happening with us and our plans for going overseas, we are still plugging along with school. We went through a phase where we were questioning where God was leading us to go, but have come to realize that Niger is it. We are heading in that direction, so unless God flat-out tells us no, that is to be our final destination.

It is a relief and a stress to come to this conclusion. A relief because now we can stop stressing about figuring out where we are going and can focus on that one place. A stress because now that we've decided this, it is suddenly that much more real. We are actually going to do this.

But, that's still a few years away, so in the meantime we are going to get done school, and see what else is to come...

-Steve