Back with a vengeance

The cast is off and although my thumb is still sore and not fully functional I can type relatively well. I've been looking over my last few blogs and realize I'm in a bit of a creative lull. That ends now. This will be a long one so I've added headings..feel free to read about whatever interests you. Let's begin...

Pregnancy
4.5 months until the baby gets here and some of the realities are starting to sink in. Nevada had a baby shower the other day and she received a lot of neat presents. She had them on display for me when I got home and it was impressive....but it intimidated me a lot. I started to ask questions like "why do we need this?", "how many of these do we need?", "are those really necessary?" etc. I think that the baby stuff business is crazy...I realize that we "need" a lot of things but I also feel like the materialism machine tells us we need so much more. I always say to Nevada, "fifty years ago they didn't have this and that and they still succeeded at bringing up babies so why do we need all this crap." I just think it's an evolution that has gone overboard.

Nevada went to the doctor and they made her take a pregnancy test. She's 4.5 months pregnant and has a little paunch...she was surprised that she still had to prove it. It was mainly because they didn't have her on record and it was standard procedure. The appointment also offered a bit of a revelation....perhaps Canadian doctors are not much different than Taiwan doctors. In Taiwan the doctors are very efficient and speedy...they want to get you in and out quickly which means not a lot of time for chatting. (not to mention their limited command of English) Nevada had that idea that the doctors here would spend time in conversation with her answering questions and being sensitive to her needs...but much like Taiwan here appointment was in and out and quite impersonal.

I'm getting increasingly nervous about the no sleep thing. I've never been a big sleeper but in the last couple years I've become fond of the unconscious hours of my life. I'm trying to wrap my head around what it will be like to be up every 3 or 4 hours. I think what really suffocates me is that it's not optional. It's seems that in most things schedule related there is almost always an option to say yes or no...or change the date or appointment. But with a baby you're at the mercy of their schedule. That being said I also know that I'll be motivated by an amazing love that with compel me to do it and even relish the time spent with my child. For now though I'll be sleeping as much as I can in the next few months.

Faith stuff
I had the great privilege of going for coffee with Shane Sowden a friend of mine who is in a similar faith place as I am. We both grew up Christians and went through life thinking that Christianity was a given. In the past couple of years we've felt the sting of bad church experiences and are both trying to sort out a new faith that isn't reliant on the church but on a true relationship with Jesus. Although our talk was briefer than I would've liked I think I learned a lot. Shane said that his quest these days is just "to fall in love with Jesus and to know him more through the word." Block everything else out and get re-acquainted with the reason for faith. We spend so much time reading books, checking websites, going to church and listening to others opinions but forget that the Christian faith is basic, we need to get to know God and love him....that's it. And everything we neeed to know is in the Bible, if I would just commit to reading and exploring the word, God is ready to teach and transform me. That resonated with me. I'm well on the road to being excited about God and living with the joy he can give. I've always connected my faith with the church...but I think I'm starting to understand that the church is not Jesus. Church is run by people and people screw up. I'm going to work at solidifying my one-on-one relationship with God so that future church experiences good or bad will not shake my faith.

Being at Lakeview is still hard for me. When I walk in there I feel the hurt again and have troubles making happy chit chat with some people who don't realize there is damage. They are still my family but we need to fix some things. That is another faith project of mine this summer.

Saskatoon
Saskatoon is a wonderful place that will always hold a special place in my heart but for me it doesn't feel like home anymore. Maybe that's because when we move overseas part of the mental preperation is to let it go. Another big thing is that a lot of people have moved away. Of the four groomsmen at my wedding who I still consider my 4 best friends only 1 still lives in Saskatoon. I guess it's true that it's about the people not the place itself. I don't want this to sound like I don't appreciate the people that are here it's just that my friend base is shrinking in Saskatoon.

I have been enjoying the weather. It rained for the first 10 days or so...and I'm one of those weird people who love dreary weather. The past week has heated up and I've enjoyed that as well...it's good for walking and rollerblading. I'm looking forward to a nice hot weekend at the lake...that's the only place where dreary weather can be a drain. I guess I should mention that I am also a big sissy when night time rolls around. It gets quite chilly here...the temperature probably drops about 10 degrees and when it starts to get in the teens I get cold. I'm can honestly say that my body is becoming Taiwanese. The mid to low teens is our winter weather.

I enjoy the parks and nature in this city. It's nice to walk around and have grass everywhere and fresh air to breathe. I don't personally notice the pollution in Taiwan but that smell of "green" is definitely missing. Nevada and I both had a sensory moment the other night when we went outside after it had just rained...and the air had that wonderful crisp and clean rain smell....I'm having a moment now just thinking about it.

Broadway Ave. has always been a favorite of mine, my mom built that into me. It has not dissapointed me during this visit. I've already had a couple of great times hanging out on Broadway. One day I met with some friends and had a Honey Brown and some wings on the roof of the Yard and Flagon. It was wodnerful and encapsulated all that is good about being at "home". Another day I shopped for some Caramel Crunch coffee at McQuarrie's and bought some samosas at The Bulk Cheese Warehouse. It was nice to have decent conversations with the workers at both shops. With the language barrier and big city mentality I don't get to experience that much in Taipei. I've also spent a few hours at the newest bestest Starbucks in Saskatoon. It was only a matter of time before SB set up shop in the quaint Broadway neighborhood and I, for one, am glad they did. The first time I went I sat indoors and read the paper...that was given to me by an older man who was done reading it, I love the friendliness of people here. The second time I sat outside and people watched on a beautiful day. I chatted with the manager a bit about Philip Yancey and C.S Lewis and then my second favorite prof walked by and we chatted for a bit. He's this wacky old man who watches movies like crazy...he had just come from Broadway Theatre and told me he had plans to go to another movie that evening. Another funny thing is that he doesn't drive and never has...he walked to his bike and pedaled off into the horizon. Good times on Broadway...

Random tidbits
-The FIFA World Cup is captivating as usual...I guess I'm cheering for Ukraine and England but it's awesome to watch the magical play of Brazil
-NBA Finals...Miami won...Shaq won another ring, boooo!...Riley is as slick as ever...D-Wade is awesome...Dirk crumbled...what was Stackhouse thinking? no game 5....not happy that G.Payton and J.Williams got rings but I'm elated for Michael Doleac...Miami will not repeat...
-Colangelo is definitely making a difference in Raptorland...bye bye Hoffa...hello #1...Rasho= Will Perdue/Bill Wennington/Luc Longley, centers on Championship teams, hmmm...we still need a new coach, bye bye Sam, hello Larry Brown
-Things I still want to do while at home: play some basketball, read a couple books, work on my China video, get a tattoo, play poker with the boys, see my grandparents again, take some prairie scenery photos and go fishing.
-people I still want to hang out with: The Worship Freehouse folks (Coop, grrlmeetsworld), Jared Loaf, Gloria Reimer, Brad Hamm, Mat and Shelen, Ted and a few more that I can't think of
-everything is better when barbequed...it's a fact!
-I bought a pair of size 38 shorts yesterday...a year ago I had a few 44s in the closet...I'm on my way!