Back by popular demand! Well, not really. My mom never read it, so she asked me to post it. Yes, my mom regularly reads my blog - how many moms have to read a blog to find out what's going on in their son's life... There goes my shot at "Son of the year award". That's too bad, I almost had it...

I wrote this last spring. It's pretty self-explanatory, so without further ado:

-   -   -

I went to Bath & Body Works today. More on this in a moment.

As most of you know from the bulletin I posted, I was a bit bummed by the weather, though I didn't let it keep me indoors all day. After moping around the house for a few hours in the morning, I grabbed Andre (my Norwegian roommate) and we headed for the hills. Our plan was to go hiking in the rain - and we were prepared for it, GORE-TEX and all.

We were following some sketchy directions up into the woods somewhere along a logging trail. We stopped to ask some workers what time the gate would close - they told us they were closing it in about 15 minutes. We spent 12 of those minutes driving further up the mountain, and the following 4 minutes racing back down. We made it back before the gate closed. But we hadn't had enough, so we started off on another adventure.

This time we drove up to an overlook somewhere outside of Mission, BC. I was looking forward to this hike because it would be nearly 2,000 feet vertical, which is much more of a hike than anything I've seen in a while. However, my anticipation was to be short-lived. As we were nearing our destination I remembered that I was supposed to go to Bath & Body Works...

Okay, so I'm a pushover. The girls found out on Saturday that I was planning on going into the States on Monday and they started talking about Bath & Body Works. To be honest (and yes, I'm being perfectly honest) this was the first time I'd heard of Bath & Body Works. I don't feel bad about this because I am sure that about 70% of the guys I know have never heard of it either.

Well, it turns out that this Monday wasn't the same as any other Monday. No, this Monday was special - it was a huge Bath & Body Works sale, and some holiday for a president or something... And since I was going to the States, they asked me if I'd be willing to pick up some things from Bath & Body Works for them. I resisted for a while, but to no avail, so I finally gave in and agreed.

"Okay, just let me know what you want, and I'll pick it up," I said.

The list was six pages long...

I was supposed to purchase items like Anti-Bacterial Deep Cleansing Hand Soap, "And get the Warm Vanilla Sugar if they don't have Cotton Blossom."

"Be sure you get the Moisturizing Hand Soap, not the Gentle Foaming Hand Soap," Alicia said.

"Right - of course."

"Also get the Aromatherapy Body Wash, Relax - Eucalyptus Spearmint if it's $5. It should be $5, but if it's not, don't get it."

"Okay."

"These items here are for me. I just want one of each, and they're all the Moisturizing Hand Soap. Season and I each want one of these, so that's two. And Season wanted four of the Gentle Foaming Hand Soap, but I don't want any of those. Oh, and Season wanted an Odwalla Vanilla Almondo juice. Got that?"

"Yeah."

Okay, so I lied, but I figured that between the list and my cell phone I should be able to get this figured out. I went and grabbed my passport. On my way out the door, I remembered something fairly important.

"Season..." I hollered down the hall toward their room. "Where is Bath & Body Works?"...

So, off I went to the States. I was thinking to myself, "What if the customs officer asks my reason for going to Bellingham? He'll never believe me - I'm gonna get locked up." Fortunately, the only question he asked was what year my truck was, and if I liked it.

Upon entering the store I was greeted by a variety of expressions ranging from shock to sympathy. Some of the customers looked at me as if to ask if I were lost, or if I knew which store I was in. The clerks looked very sympathetic. I decided to see how many items I could find without drawing too much attention to myself by asking for help.

The walls were all covered with hundreds upon hundreds of pastel-colored bottles. I looked at the pictures on the list and began searching for what I needed by shape - "square bottle with a pump on top...square bottle, square bottle..." I found the square bottles - they were about 1/2 way into the store. I wasn't comfortable going that far into this store yet, so I decided to find the round bottle first - they were closer to the entrance.

According to my list, whatever was in the round bottle was called Aromatherapy-something, so I started searching for round bottles that said Aromatherapy. After some time of searching, I came to the conclusion that all round bottles in the store said Aromatherapy. I then began searching for which round Aromatherapy bottle contained Body Wash. It didn't take me as long this time to realize that all round Aromatherapy bottles in Bath & Body Works were Body Wash. I decided to try and find which Aromatherapy Body Wash bottle was Relax - Eucalyptus Spearmint. This time I found what I was looking for. Though I re-checked the name, and it matched perfectly, there was a little voice in my head that was telling me that it wasn't what Alicia had asked for.

The next item on the list was a square bottle with a pump on top... I walked back to the square bottles. Anti-Bacterial Moisturizing Hand Soap, Pink Grapefruit was first on the list. I figured it was safe to assume that all square bottles with a pump on top were Anti-Bacterial. Once I confirmed that these were Moisturizing Hand Soap, I began searching for Pink Grapefruit. After searching by color for several minutes, I determined that either Pink Grapefruit wasn't pink, or they didn't have it. I decided to try reading them. Sure enough, the third one I read said it was Pink Grapefruit. For those of you looking for Anti-Bacterial Moisturizing Hand Soap, Pink Grapefruit, it's orange - small detail.

Out of the corner of my eye I recognized a shape I'd seen on the list. It was an up-side-down squeeze-bottle. "That might be one of the items," I thought to myself. I quickly flipped through the list to locate the item, then I compared them. Anti-Bacterial, "yup." Moisturizing Lotion, "ya." Coconut Lime Verbena. "What on earth is Verbena?"

"Wait a minute - this is Moisturizing Hand Lotion. The list said Moisturizing Lotion. I'm sure they're the same...but what if they're not? I'd better check, I'll get that later."

Anti-Bacterial Moisturizing Hand Soap, Warm Vanilla Sugar (ONLY IF COTTON BLOSSOM IS UNAVAILABLE) was the next item. Thus far, I had only two items in my hand. Fortunately one of the clerks took notice of this pitiful sight.

"Can I help you?"

I was so relieved - I almost asked her to marry me, but instead I just said "yes."

I showed her the list, and she quickly gathered together the items. I was quite impressed at how well she knew the products. I think I better understand how girls feel when I'm talking about computer components and technology. Though, if I had to choose, I'd rather understand technology than lotion - even if it is Exotic Coconut.

"I suppose this happens quite often - you get guys in here that are totally out of their league."

"Oh, yes, guys come in here all the time with lists."

So, I want to make this point known to all the girls out there. You are loved! I know you don't understand how it could be so difficult for a guy to do something like this. I'm not sure I understand, but for some reason it is. I don't know any guy that would do this for me. I don't want any guy to do this for me...

They didn't have a couple of the "flavors," so I called back to the house and worked out some acceptable replacements. I purchased the items and walked out to my truck. The bag loudly proclaimed Bath & Body Works across the side. I was not embarrassed - I was proud that I had been victorious... I mean, successful.

Season and Alicia called me back shortly thereafter. "Thank you so much! We just wanted to let you know that we appreciated this so much that we wanted you to take the leftover money and buy yourself a Soy Steamer."

Who could have ever convinced me that one day I would be living such an unordinary life? Does everyone think life is so unordinary? Will life ever lose it's mystery and surprise? How much longer will I be doing Bible work? Should I go back to college? Should I plan my future? Would that make my life ordinary? And what is Verbena?

For right now, I'm not sure. For right now, I'll just have to wonder.

So I'm not big into kids right now. They're mostly a huge nuisance - especially the younger ones. They haven't figured out their mouths yet (things go in that should stay out, and things come out that should stay in...), they make lots of noise - indiscriminate noise, they ruin diapers, they sleep during the day and make indiscriminate noise at night, and if they're not making indiscriminate noise, they're probably doing something they shouldn't, which demands your immediate attention (a worse distraction than the noise)... But, when I ran across this I became MUCH more forgiving.

I'm a Star Wars fan. I've always loved the movies, especially the first 3. The story line was great - "A long time ago..." The idea of lightsabers and the mind-boggling scale of the starships was well-captured and very epic. I remember the wonder and excitement of seeing the movies for the first time. Until today, it's been very much the same. Then I visited youtube.com and saw this video - I don't think I'll ever look at those movies the same again!

Every time I watch this I forget what a nuisance kids are. I even start to think it would be cool to have one. Sure, I had to listen to it three times to figure out what 'the siney guy' meant, and 'the light-up' swords have names; but in the end, I couldn't have said it better myself - 'It's an exciting movie.'

"NOOOOOOO" Jeffrey exclaimed.

He was sitting in the passenger's seat next to me, and we were on Hwy. 1 headed home from outreach. He was staring at me like only Jeffrey does - about 16" away from my face, his eyes fixed on me, his face downward just enough to look mischievous (those of you who know him know what I'm talking about). I didn't have to turn my head to know what was happening. His melodramatic gestures were clear out of the corner of my eye.

"Crusty Beans!" were the next words out of his mouth. He used that whiny tone of voice that probably hasn't changed since he was 6 - except it's probably gotten louder. "This is disgusting," he said, "look at this."

"Ohhh, that's nasty," I said, looking at the burrito he was holding for me to see. "At least mine isn't that dry," I thought to myself. Then I took another bite.

"EEEEEWWW." Jeffrey declared, looking at my burrito. "Yours is just as nasty." And that time it was...

I'd stopped by the KFC/Taco Bell right off of Pinetree Way in Coquitlam on my way to pick up Jeffrey from a Bible study. I ordered four 7-layer burritos. Apparently, they misunderstood the order, because they gave us four crusty-bean burritos.

I've had a pretty good experience eating out - or at least not any really bad ones. The worst experience I can remember was two 7-layer burritos I got at a Taco Bell in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was eating as I was driving home when I noticed the burrito was leaking a bit. I adjusted the wrapping so it would catch the drips and kept eating. About two bites later I got a mouthful of bean soup. It seems they scraped the lettuce from the bottom of the pan. When they did, they got some of that green water that's lingered there since Taco Bell opened. I tried to finish the burritos - I really did, but the bean soup was rebelling. Every bite I took added to the number of insurgents inside my stomach. "Freedom!!" Was their cry. It was clearly audible most of the night. I expected, at any moment, that one of their suicide bombers would detonate himself, causing wide-spread chaos. It was all I could do to maintain control and suppress them. We were eventually able to work out a peace agreement, and they quieted down and left the next day.... I didn't eat at Taco Bell for almost a year after that.

That was three years ago. Tonight I was wishing they'd dug a little deeper in the lettuce pan. I found that if I let each bite linger long enough in my mouth, the beans would re-hydrate enough to swallow. But I feared if I didn't swallow them soon enough, their predecessors might try and join them. I was finally able to finish off one of the two 7-layers. The 2nd one is sitting in the fridge.

In the States, Taco Bell is imitation Mexican food. Here in Canada, Taco Bell is imitation Taco Bell - it's like a copy of a copy. We've ordered bean burritos, only to be informed that they were temporarily out of beans... Every time I eat there I'm appalled at the price - $17 for four crusty-bean burritos. More than once we've driven all the way down to the United States and crossed the border to get real Taco Bell.

So I've decided to take drastic measures. I'm boycotting Imitation Taco bell now. I'm not spending $4 on an empty tortilla (or one filled with crusty beans) in Canada anymore - and CERTAINLY not at the KFC/Taco Bell on Pinetree Way in Coquitlam! Though I might forget... Maybe I'll frame the crusty-bean burrito and hang it on my wall as a reminder - it's already been dried, so it should keep just fine.

I finally found the tool I need to work on this blog. It's called a tuit, and I swear, I never get anything done without it. I'm still planning on writing the blog on the topic of Valentines day, but I just haven't gotten a round tuit yet. I hope this is not a grim foreboding of what valentines will be like for that special girl someday...

Anyway, here's one of my most recent projects:

The Family Enrichment Seminar this past weekend with Nathan Renner was great. I really enjoyed having Nathan here. I had the opportunity to get to know him and pick his brain. I look forward to more opportunities to work with him.

Food for thought:
...know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. [ eph. 3:19 ]

I'm working on a valentines blog, but I got distracted redoing my website... I thought I'd dig this out of the archives to hold you guys over until I have time to finish the next post. Happy Valentine's day everyone.

-   -   -

Did you know that God thinks YOU are beautiful? I know, I know. That's really cliche. 'God made us, He thinks we're all beautiful,' or if we don't think we're beautiful, 'God sees our inner beauty.' So what? What's the big deal? We've heard it a million times - what's it mean to me?

Now, I'll be the first to admit: I have no great wisdom when it comes to this subject. As a man I recognize and appreciate beauty, but my concern for my personal 'beauty' is minimal. One has to look no further than my shaggy mop on top to realize this. My opinion of beauty is subjective. It is nothing more than a personal opinion - it is 'in the eye of the beholder.' While I do not know, from experience, how important beauty is to a woman, I can see it written all over the faces of the women I meet. It's written in lipstick and mascara. It's impression is left by jewelry. And it's importance can be measured in time spent in front of a mirror.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not condemning anyone. I think it's wonderful that women want to look beautiful. I hope my wife will want to look beautiful for me. But I want to challenge each of you to take a look at outward beauty from another perspective - God's.

Did you know God doesn't only look on the heart? While it is true that He does see the thoughts and intents of our heart and He is concerned with our inner beauty, it seems that we rarely, if ever, hear that He also looks on the outward appearance. That's kind of intimidating - to think that God looks on my outward appearance. What does He see?

Jeffrey and I were recently studying Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon is not the easiest book to understand and many see no personal relevance, so it gets skimmed over on the way to Isaiah from Ecclesiastes, or neglected altogether. I was one of those people. I never saw how the Song of Solomon applied to me - or anyone. In my mind, it had no great significance to us today, and was simply a series of love-letters written 'back in the day.'

More than once Jeffrey and I commented on how difficult it was to see how what we were reading revealed to us what God was like. Passages like this didn't help:

Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them. [ Song 4:2 ]

What on earth does this mean? Is God speaking personally to us today in these passages or is this simply an historical account? As we were studying, we had an epiphany: All throughout Song of Solomon God is telling us we're beautiful.

Have you ever thought about that? God is looking down from heaven and watching you. He's hoping you'll smile, because He thinks you have a beautiful smile - as beautiful as the whitest sheep. (Song 4:2) He thinks your eyes are stunning and your hair is gorgeous. (Song 6:5) Here He's telling you - He thinks you're beautiful.

Granted, the language can range from humorous (would you be flattered if I told you your neck looked like a tower?) to shocking, and is, most often, quite confusing. But the message is clear: God thinks you're beautiful.

You may think 'I've heard this before - God made me, of course He thinks I'm beautiful.' But have you heard it from God Himself? This is not some logical cause-to-effect argument conjured up by a man. It's written by God Himself in His word. It's not spoken in some generic or abstract sense, but specifically. God's telling you that you're beautiful and He's being specific. And what does He use to portray this? He uses a love story.

Have you ever observed a couple in love? They see no faults or flaws in the other. No blemishes are visible. Every feature and characteristic is perfect - and nobody can convince them otherwise. This is how God sees your beauty - it's perfect, and nobody can convince Him otherwise.

Humanity's opinion of beauty is subjective - only God's opinion is objective. And if the objective viewer says you're beautiful, then the truth is that you are. It is humanity's skewed opinion of beauty that must change. No matter what you think of your nose, your ears, your lips, your eyes, your complexion, your body - God, the objective standard, says you're beautiful, and it's true. Nothing needs to be added. Nothing needs to change. You're beautiful just the way you are. God just wanted to let you know.

I should be updating my website and putting some of these images in my portfolio. But it's so much easier to just post them on my blog... Maybe I'll fix that this week...

It's really beautiful here in the spring. It's not too hot or cold. Everything is really green. And the sun comes out - which is a nice contrast to the rest of the year... These guys are popping up all over and the sun was shining today - a sure sign that spring is coming!

What I am about to tell you should be published in the Journal of Modern Science.

As I write this, my feet are resting on another chair, elevated to the same level as the other part of my body on which I am sitting... My scientific observation is that this posture is conducive to creative writing. If I may direct your attention to the following three subjects for evidence:

1) Fredericksburg, TX
This was the birthplace of my writing career. I had just had one of the most remarkable cooking experiences of my batchelorhood when I sat down to record the even in my journal. What started off as "Cooked dinner..." turned into a thrilling, emotional, three-page chronicle of one mustard bottle's desire for freedom. This extremely factual tale was written on a full stomach, right after a rain storm, from the comfort of the musty recliner at the front of the trailer I was living in for the summer. It was that masterpiece that inspired me to delve into creative writing (it also caused me to be late for a board meeting).

2) Aldergrove, BC
Sometime around the spring of 2007, my writing career took a nearly fatal blow when writer's block set in. Try as I may, I couldn't seem to write anything that really gripped the reader. Tales of installing computer RAM didn't provoke the same attitude of courage in readers as the mustard bottle's quest for freedom. And the account of spending an hour on the phone with Apple Care didn't invoke the sympathy that the muddy couch did, (for those of you who remember). But it was there in Aldergrove, BC that that spell was broken.

It was a very dark night, and it was raining outside. I'd just finished eating when I went and sat in bed, with my feet elevated in front of me, and began to write. As I wrote about love and pursuit, the story rolled off my fingers like a bowling ball rolling down a hill...

3) Tonight
I don't know how scientific it is to use your conclusion as evidence to support said conclusion, but I'm going to try anyway. Tonight, I've written this from the discomfort of my desk chair. It's stopped raining now, and I just finished supper. My feet have been elevated in front of me to the same level as that part of my body now suffering from Writer's Butt (I plan on studying the causes of Writer's Butt and how to treat and prevent it).

The common denominator in all three subjects was that my feet were elevated. (Sure, it had rained earlier in the day, and I'd just eaten too, but I don't like those common denominators as much). It's undeniable - from the evidence presented, it's possible to conclude that if one want's one could possibly be led to believe that elevating one's feet may potentially improve one's ability to write. And if that's not Journal of Modern Science material, then we didn't evolve from apes.

...Chinese New Year that is. Last night the team went over to the McCann's (members of the church at which we're working) for a Chinese New Year's celebration (I don't think anyone really knew how to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but it was still a lot of fun). According to the Chinese Zodiac, does anyone know what year I was boarn in?

...okay, moving on...

Since I got my new lens, I decided to take the camera along and practice. I got some pretty nice shots, but they were all with my 50mm lens...

Can anyone tell me what this is a picture of?

And just for kicks, here's one of the wedding pictures. I'm still working on which one's I'm going to put up, but hopefully I'll have them all up by the end of this week.

I'll spare you the details. The pictures say more than I can.

Over the past few weeks, Jason Williams and Evan Owen made significant announcements about someone special (not each other) and love and dating and that kind of stuff. (blogs listed on left) I haven't wanted to make another announcement too close for fear of it losing it's significance, but I just can't hold it in any longer!

You always hear about love at first sight, but you're always skeptical - even when it happens to you. You call it infatuation, and dismiss it as "illogical" or "immature". I don't know. I've spent a lot of time thinking about that. I've seen girls before and experienced infatuation, but this time it was different. Sure, at first there was that nagging feeling that it was infatuation (because she's really beautiful). But as time went on I realized I was really getting serious and this was beyond looks. Sure, she was way out of my league, and some people thought I was crazy, but hard work and persistence is insignificant when you're in love (think of Jacob).

The crazy thing is that, though I've met her in person a couple of times, most of the time we've spent together has been online. She's from Japan, so that made it kind of hard. I know a lot of people are strongly opposed to internet dating, but I don't really consider this internet dating.

About a week ago I found out she was in New York. I was pretty serious by now, but I really wanted to make the right decision, so I talked to Yamil. After filling him in on all the details and telling him I'd like to bring her out here, I asked him what he thought. He said, "Do it!" (Those of you that know Yamil know that that is SO him.) So that same night I made arrangements for her to come out to Vancouver. They say girls are expensive, and it's true - I'm already broke (fortunately, she's not...lol). So, she just got to Canada yesterday (hence that stuff about anticipation). I meant to post sooner, but obviously, we've been hanging out a lot. The more we're together, the more I'm confident I made the right decision.

After all, 24-105mm is a great focal range, very flexible, and great for weddings. The only other option was the 24-70 f/2.8 - sure, it's f/2.8 vs. f/4, but the 24-105 has IS, and it's a bit sharper. So I'm really happy with it, and don't regret spending the money on this lens one bit - it's definitely love!

After all, it's 2:30 in the afternoon, I should be able to stay awake. But it's that anticipation that I'm talking about. That feeling that you had when you were 8-years-old, and the calendar said "December 21st". How you would check about every hour to see if it was December 22nd yet. There were red "X"s on every day since November 1, and you hadn't been able to sleep since December 18th.

I've often looked back on those days with a certain fondness. Christmas isn't the same anymore. There's not red "X"s on the calendar, and I don't get any less sleep on the night of December 24th than June 3rd. Is it part of growing up? Does anticipation not effect me the same? Have I become more stoic about it, or has Christmas changed? For a long time I thought it was me, but today I'm thinking otherwise.

Today, those little red "X"s are appearing again. Every 10-15 minutes I'm checking, just wondering if anything has changed. The anticipation is killing me. I guess this is what it's like to be a father (did I just say that? That could start rumors).

Well, you can anticipate with me. You can check back every 10-15 minutes to see if anything has changed. Right now, I gotta get ready to go. I'll post more later!