Italia

VideoBlog update from Italy!

Barcelona!

So the travels have been going very well so far. I cannot believe how blessed I am to be in so many incredible places and I often catch myself asking "is this even real?". Alas, it is!

Currently we are in Barcelona and I absolutely love it here. After bouncing around Italy it has been nice to just relax and soak up the sun without worrying if we will make it to our train on time, if the airline we are flying really exsists or how to make arrangements to get out of hostels that are not really hostels at all...

Barcelona, you have been good to us and it has been wonderful to be here.

Croatia

Here is the blog update from our travel weekend to Croatia!

I have been trying recently to keep updating videos on the video blog but Tasha and I have really realized that we are worse at video-blogging that we thought. So hopefully you can still enjoy the updates via video despite our lack of talent.

Video Blog 1 -

Video Blog 2 -

Hello folks!

Here is the first post from Europe. Soon Tasha and I will post an update from Austria. The video is not anything too thrilling but I just thought that it would be more interesting than a Facebook album so enjoy!

More to come soon!

To watch a bigger version of the video click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpNQyO5SQL4

Gone Going

Lately I have been reading Donald Miller’s blog. This is mostly because I read two of his books while away at school and I completely fell in love with his writing. Something about his simplicity and quirky writing style helped me to feel he was humble. Obviously I do not know him personally so I cannot really say for certain, but as I turned page after page I experienced a type of “coffee-date-comfort” as if we were just sitting around Tim Horton’s discussing God. The ease in his writing melted away my desire to “study” and rather encouraged me to just “soak up” his thoughts and opinions.

In January he wrote a post describing how to live a meaningful life. Lately, with working full time, living in Tsawwassen and floating around while most are away at University, life feels anything but meaningful. It has been diced with routine and things that used to give me such joy have been set to the wayside because of awkward work scheduling, especially, attending church.

It is interesting however, because this lifestyle has left me examining things in more fine detail. When one spends every day doing practically the same thing over and over it becomes much more memorable when something unusual occurs. I savour time with friends and family and anything else that occurs because it isn’t the “same old same old”. It has provoked a desire to savour everyday moments into making them memorable. I make an effort to engage because I have noticed that all to easily life can just cruise on by while I am on auto-pilot. As put by Margaret Bonnano, “It is only possible to live happily-ever-after on a day-to-day basis”. Taking three minutes to talk to co-workers, old friends or my little sister have become somewhat important to me. I want to dig deeper, cherish those people and make sure that they know, in that very moment and every moment to come, how much I love them and being around them. This means, sometimes working past tough issues, taking risks that would be easy not to take and making the extra effort to show you care.

I know I am about to leave again and set off to an adventure where things will always be exciting and changing so I hope I can carry these same desires with me still. I am so excited at the prospect of meeting new people and also of seeing old friends which I love so dearly and could not picture my life without. So, not letting yesterday take up too much of today, I am relishing in each moment to make it memorable and meaningful.

Sometimes the most beautiful moments in life are drawn from periods of great pain. Such as the eight year old daughter who embraces the soldier whom she knows as father after he has been away or the cancer patient whom with their final stretch of strength hears they are free. Our hearts are only as strong as our Maker allows them to be and sometimes all though it feels like the clouds cover the path of our prayers to our Father, He listens and in His wisdom sometimes He remains silent. These times are the most difficult because as tears stream down our face and frustration consumes us it is hard to not have immediate answers. However, I believe that when God is silent and our troubles rise against our patience, the joy of the outcome is that much greater. So as we push through one impossible day after the other, it is not that our prayers are in vain but rather our Father is working towards something far greater, something perfect for us. “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (Romans 5:1-5). So despite our own lack of understanding, God creates splendour from suffering. In the face of our trials, although the temptation to lose hope is great, it is far better to press on because I know with full faith that His conclusion is perfect