We Task, I Win.

A lot has happened in a short amount of time.  So I will start at the end and then explain how it came to be.

We are moving to Wetaskiwin, Alberta next week.  Nathan has accepted the pastor position at the Wetaskiwin Church of God, and for all those out there who wonder how to remember how to spell it, this is my personal mnemonic device: We task, I win.  Wetaskiwin.

Around Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, we received contact from the search committee of the church testing the waters to see if we might be in a place of exploring the position.  In the summertime, they had been in touch but Nathan and I both had agreed we needed to enter into a season of calm.  For so long we had been juggling expectations, difficult and challenging decisions, and uncertainty of what and where to go next.

Last winter we felt the door to Guam closing and several confirming events happened to let us know we needed to step away from that direction we had expected and planned for, to a direction that was unknown.  And for the rest of the winter and spring we chewed on options, talked about how to move forward, and tried to discern where God was calling us.  Much to our frustration, doors remained closed even after our bruised fists continued to knock asking God to show us a way.

In the early summer, discouraged and exhausted we called a time out.  We realized we needed time to calm our minds, to heal our hearts, and to reenergize our spirits.  We found an apartment to call home, and God began to help us rebuild pebble by pebble a sense of expectancy, instead of expectation.

In the first days and weeks after deciding calling our time out for the summer, we seemed to be flooded with job offers and positions to consider.  Anxiously, we wondered if we were doing the wrong thing by not exploring offers.  However, we encouraged one another of the decision we had made and the need for it, and responded with appreciation to those who had been in contact, for thinking of us but explained we were not exploring job offers for at least the next 3 months.  Wetaskiwin had been one of those churches.

In the summer months, Nathan and I both engaged fully for the first time in the community and people around us.  After all, it's a challenge to put some roots down when you constantly expect to move on to other places.  But with the decision to stop looking to the future, we were free to engage in the now.  I began volunteering with the local museum and archives as the volunteer coordinator, Nathan began connecting on deeper levels with co-workers and building friendships over meals and motorcycle rides.
We began connecting with a home church and building new relationships with believers while also continuing deeper relationships with the faith community and friends we had gotten to know well during our time in Dundas.

We benefitted from the renewal of being in relationship with those around us that had been severed by our uncertainty in the earlier months in town.  But by fall, there was a growing sense of discontentment in Nate that he felt he needed to be doing something more with his training, experience, and giftedness.  He had a growing desire to re-enter vocational ministry, but at that time there were no local options presenting themselves, and we had said no to all the offers that had come in the summer.  However, within 24 hours of a pivotal conversation and prayer between the two of us stating  we would again be open to exploring new opportunities for Nathan, and Nathan thinking for the time being it would be asking to train for a higher position at his current job until something else presented itself, the church in Wetaskiwin made contact with us again, asking if we might engage in the conversation to explore the pastoral position there.

Within two weeks we were on a plane, making out first trip out to have a weekend of conversation and interviews with the pastoral search committee.  Two weeks after that we were flying back out for a full candidating weekend with the church.  One week after that, the church congregation was voting and officially giving us the call to come.  4 days after that is today and, I'm writing this entry to let friends and family know how God has worked this out.  And in 7 days we fly out to Wetaskiwin, Alberta to become members of the local community, to join the Wetaskiwin Church of God in their ministry, and begin putting roots down in the town that God has been faithful to call us to.

We thank all of you for your constant thoughts and prayers.  It's been humbling to be constantly reminded of the love and thoughtfulness of friends and family through all of this.  We are truly blessed.

New Traditions

I just celebrated my second ever Canadian Thanksgiving, right here in good old Canada.  It has a way of sneaking up on you when the date and month doesn't ring any bell when I'm thinking "holiday."  When I think October, I still think Halloween.  But I'm still growing accustomed to also thinking of Thanksgiving and October in the same sentence.

In Canada, Thanksgiving has been held on the second Monday of the month of October since 1957.  It was celebrated prior to 1957 as well, but the date varied from year to year.  Like in the USA, Thanksgiving in Canada is a time to celebrate a season of harvest and plentiful food!

This year there was the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, rolls, and pumpkin pie for dessert... along with the traditional belly aches and regret afterwards!

The level of anticipation and planning doesn't match that of the States, but the general idea is the same.  I don't mind the additional breathing room created by the extra month that separates Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it will be easy for me to remember and be thinking of my American friends and family gearing up for their celebrations in another month.

Wishing you all the space and mindset to be thankful, no matter what time of the year.

The Danger of Q-tips

This holiday weekend we came face to face with a holiday nightmare.

It started out as a promising Sunday morning.  I woke up ravenous and ready for breakfast after having some sort of 24 hour flu bug the day before.  Because of this I hadn't eaten the two previous meals with Nate.  Waking up in my hungry state was very promising indeed.  After making sure Nate woke up to hear my plight we quickly decided we would do breakfast out.

With the decision made we put the into motion getting dressed and ready to walk to our morning breakfast spot.

But as we were readying ourselves, Nate rounded the corner from the bathroom and delivered the bone chilling news, "The tip of the Q-tip is stuck in my ear".

As I looked in disbelief from his face to the Q-tip in his hand which was indeed missing the bulbous cotton tip that is so characteristic of that of the Q-tip, I realized the seriousness of the situation.

I walked around to his side and looked at his ear and saw no visible signs of the cotton tip!

We threw around a few initial ideas.  While we discussed Nate began fussing with his ear and I began fussing at him not to fuss with his ear for fear he would make the problem worse.  And while he rested on the couch with his head tilted for gravity to perhaps work it out, I did what any normal person would do.  I typed in "What to do when a Q-tip is stuck in your ear" into my internet search bar and began reading numerous responses which mostly all said to go to an ER/walk-in clinic and have it removed by a doctor with the right tool as to prevent injury to the eardrum.

I reported all this to Nate and in an effort to be unbiased also read the one post that said it was from a doctor who stated if it was them, they would have someone they trust look into their ear with a light and if they could see the cotton tip and their trusted friend had good eyes and a steady hand they would allow them to try to go in with tweezers and pull the cotton ball out.

While I said I thought we should find a walk-in-clinic and have it removed ...afterall his hearing was at stake...much to my horror Nate declared me as his trusted person!  I quickly skimmed the next answer to my internet search and saw the doctor had posted the next one as well as a disclaimer stating that his idea probably wasn't the wisest and you should in all likelihood have it removed by a doctor.   Which I quickly reported as well, but Nate had already grabbed a small light and was headed to the bathroom for the procedure.

Nate gave me his "I believe in you" pep talk and we proceeded.  I could, I discovered, see the cotton tip down his ear canal with the help of the extra light as I pulled and tugged in different angles on his ear to give me the best view.

Next, I began searching for the right pair of tweezers.  The standard issue tweezers were not going to cut it but I knew I had seen somewhere a pair of tweezers that came to such a sharp point I had probably buried them deep as to not injure myself with them.  Digging around a few bags in the bathroom I uncovered these very tweezers.  Sleek, sharp, and dangerous.  Just what I was looking for.

And with a few false starts as I determined the best positioning and angle to get into the ear canal without touching anything, I began my very own real life round of the game "Operation", which for the record I never liked because the anticipation of the heart stopping BUZZZZZ just about did me in whether I hit the metal rim of the game or not.  Although it was a good laugh anytime it was someone else's turn.

But here I was, tweezers in hand and instead of the fear of the startling buzzing sound I was trying to block out the fact that if I lost this game, I might never be able to whisper sweet nothings in Nate's right ear.  Or at least so he can hear them.

My first advance I had to abort as I realized I didn't have the right positioning on the tweezers after all.  I was holding them too far back on the shaft to have the finger strength to squeeze (or tweeze) if I even made it to the cotton tip.  They were one tough pair of tweezers.

My next move I cautiously moved towards my target and made contact, squeezing the tweezers closed and pulling them back, but alas!  While I had scraped the cotton with the tweezers I hadn't caught any or enough cotton strands to gain the advantage.

I went back in for a third and last attempt, deciding that if I couldn't get it on this try I would abandon my role into more capable hands.  I was able to get more cotton between the tips of the tweezers and pulled this small but battle worthy opponent from Nate's ear!  Victory was mine!  Hallelujah!

With a huge sigh of relief I could focus back on the most important thing.  Breakfast.  And while we ordered and ate I was thankful as I looked over at Nate sitting next to me in the booth that he could hear me ask for him to pass the syrup.