kaine ktise

Coming to you from Grand Rapids, Michigan...

2011-08-21T08:50:00.000-07:00

Hi again!

Kris and I arrived in G.R. two weeks ago, and have been slowly settling in to our new lives here. After a long, relaxing, and enjoyable summer, our lives are about to get a lot busier - I started orientation at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine here in Grand Rapids yesterday, and Kris has an exam coming up on Tuesday and will start classes on Sept. 6. Here are a few pictures from our new home in Calvin's seminary housing - we'll be living here for 6 months, and then we'll need to find a new place to live (Kris will only be in classes at Calvin Seminary for one semester).

The tour starts at our front door. Walk straight forward into the living room...

or turn left to the bedroom (straight ahead), bathroom (door on the left) or coat closet (doors on the right). The bedroom is pretty messy, so no cameras allowed in there!

Here's a picture of the living room again. I didn't get it in the picture, but the stairway is just to the left of where I was standing to take the picture. Also not in the picture but taking up a bit of the living room are several boxes that belong to some friends of ours from Vancouver who should be arriving at Calvin Sem in the next two weeks.
The living room again. I should also thank Tom and Melissa (my cousins) for letting us borrow their furniture while they're in Nigeria, and John and Ev for driving the furniture down from Ontario.
The dining "room"
Kris preparing lunch. He's taking over as "head chef," at least until he starts school in September.
Now we'll head downstairs to the basement. Take a left at the bottom of the stairs, and you'll find yourself in our office. I'll let you guess who sits on which side:
There's also a big storage room in the basement.

And finally, a view of our back deck:

Thanks to everyone who housed us on our way out here, and thanks also for all your support and prayers! Med school so far is not what I expected (all fun and games the first day of orientation) but I think it will be picking up in intensity pretty soon!

Kim (and Kris)

Spring in Vancouver

2011-05-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

Although the weather still feels too cold for the end of May, we have had some nice sunny days (including this morning) in Vancouver.

On Good Friday, April 22, we visited Queen Elizabeth Park for a view of the city and to see the new spring flowers.

We'll miss the view of the mountains when we move to Michigan:

For those of you who haven't seen Kris in a while, he's decided to grow his hair out (those are lacrosse sticks poking out of his backpack behind his head, by the way).
This week we celebrated our 3rd anniversary! We also want to say happy anniversary to John and Evelyn, and (today, I think) to Mindy and Scott. (And to everyone else who got married around this time of year, as there are many!) I would just like to point out that the writing on this cake is even and straight - it's the cake that's crooked :)

Our anniversary dinner - I think that's the first time I've capture steam in a picture!
This week will be an exciting and sad one as it's my last week of work. Then I'm off for the summer to do some traveling and then moving, before the real work begins! Kris is auditing a class until June 10, and then he'll be done until September when he starts his semester at Calvin Seminary.

I hope you all enjoy a sunny, restful Sunday!

~Kim

Go Spartans!

2011-04-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

After a 10-month application process, I am very happy to report that I have been accepted to Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine! This means that Kris and I will most likely be moving to Michigan sometime this summer, and I'll be starting med school at either the main MSU campus in East Lansing, or the new MSU med school campus in Grand Rapids. I'll add another update when we have a plan in place.

Kris is finishing up his last two papers of this semester (his last paper is due April 21). This spring/summer, he has to take 2-3 classes for an additional 6 credits, which is what he needs to complete his M.Div. The end, and the beginning, are in sight!

Thanks to everyone who has supported us and encouraged us through this whole process!

Love,

Kim (and Kris)

Earth Hour 2011

2011-03-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

Kris and I celebrated Earth Hour on Saturday at 8:30. We thought it would be cool to take a picture of Vancouver before 8:30 and after, from the park by our house. Here's the before picture:
And here's the after:To be honest, the difference was pretty underwhelming, and can probably be attributed to the fact that the camera was in a different place and different orientation. We did see one big building downtown turn out their lights, but that was about it. Come on, Vancouver!

We had a nice hour anyway, first taking some pictures (Kris took these), and then playing Risk (the board game) by candlelight. (Kris beat me badly in about 3 turns.)

Pretty poor turnout for Earth Hour, but at least we got some fun pictures!

~Kim

Happy New Year (and welcome back)!

2011-01-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

Dear friends and family,

Hello! I had some pictures from the holidays to share, and rather than sending out a mass email, I thought I'd come back to this (rather dusty) blog! No, I will probably not be posting things on a regular basis, but maybe more regularly than the past year :)

First, a quick update - Kris and I are still living in Vancouver, Kris is wrapping up his last full semester at Regent (he'll also take a couple classes in the spring), I am still working at the same office...starting to understand why I haven't been updating the blog?!?

So, for something more exciting, here are some pictures of the past few months:

For Canadian Thanksgiving, we went to visit Kris' friend Trevor in Vernon, BC. These are some pictures from the beautiful Mission Hill Winery in Kelowna:

Trevor, looking over Vernon (I think):

We had snow in November this year!! This is a picture of our front yard:

Our first Christmas celebration (of three) with our housemates, David and Anna:

And the second celebration, in Montana. Bryce received a book about a turtle. He had mixed feelings about the book:

"Wow, thanks for the toy, guys. I'll play with it all the time" says Jeanette.

Bryce is taking his fashion cues from the Christmas tree:

Kendal, Devan, and Natalie took us cross-country skiing:

(I like this a lot better than downhill skiing!)

Abby joined us:
And finally, Christmas in Seattle. John, Ev, and Andrew were also there.

A creative wrapping job by John:
Kris drew Andrew's name for our gift exchange:

John and Ev at Briana and Chris's wedding. John was one of the groomsmen:

The best picture of the evening (we were setting up to take a family picture, which turned out well, but not as well as this one):

Dr. A, and a future doc?! (I didn't mention it early, but I have been accepted to one medical school, and am still waiting to hear back from 4-5 others):

This picture is from last fall, and I include it because...I lost my sunglasses. Has anyone seen them?

And finally, Evelyn got me these great au gratin dishes for Christmas. I used them to make pecan french toast. Thanks, Ev!
That's all for now. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

~Kim (and Kris)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

2009-12-14T19:25:00.001-08:00

Snow is falling, Christmas concerts are already over, and exams are yet to come...

While Kris stayed in Vancouver and worked hard on a paper, Kim drove down to Seattle to watch Andrew's basketball game and Madrigal dinner.

Andrew getting ready to rebound

Where are you going? The ball is behind you!

Grandpa didn't like that :(
Shooting freethrows
During some down time, it's always good to clear out your nostrils.
Here's Kris, studying in Vancouver
Our Christmas decorations. Thanks Mom W. for the decorations, and Grandma R. for the stocking!
Choir practice before the Candlelight Service Sunday night
Not very Christmas-y - flowers for Kim's birthday

Stay warm and drive carefully!

Congratulations, Kristopher!

2009-12-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

Just a really quick update, especially for all of you in Montana who know how much time Kris spent studying for his recent Hebrew test...It paid off! Kris got his test back today, and he did really well!!!

Only one test to go...

American Thanksgiving

2009-12-06T15:18:00.000-08:00

Kris and I had a wonderful week in Montana over American Thanksgiving. Here are some pictures of our trip:

Why are you so worried, Kendal? Devon's in charge!

Natalie had lots of fun sledding:

Dad W. and Jeanette's dad, Albert, on the farm:

The mountains:

Montana sky:

Fun with guns - this is Kris shooting at clay pigeons:

More fun with guns:

They didn't just shoot clay. This is me not looking at the deer carcass lying on the ground about 5 feet from me:

In contrast, here's Uncle Kris with Baby Bryce, who had more than doubled in weight since he was born 2 1/2 months ago - he's about the size of an average newborn now:

And while we don't have a picture of it, we also lined up outside Office Depot at 5:30 on Black Friday. That's right, we were "those people." And we're not proud of it. But, as a result, I'm typing this blog post on our brand new desktop computer, while Kris does homework on his laptop in the office. What freedom!

Thanks to all our Montana relatives and friends for a fun holiday! We hope that it's not too long before we see you again!

With love,

Kim and Kris

Our New Home

2009-11-11T14:51:00.000-08:00

My apologies for not posting these pictures earlier - our new internet at our new home is a bit tedious to work with. But today, I'm off for Remembrance Day, so I have lots of time to s l o w l y load these pictures (in random order, as it is too difficult to move them into a more sensible arrangement)

Our bedroom - yes, it is hot pink. It is also MUCH bigger than our old bedroom (the "bed closet")

The front yard.

The "Study"

The living room/kitchen table, which looks east over the front yard (we have a fireplace!)

The kitchen (the hallway to the right of the fridge leads to the bedrooms and study)

The front of the house (we're in the "basement" - you can see our front window in this picture. The door to our apartment is on the left side of the building, near the back.)

Our bathroom (en suite)

So, that's our new place. Hope you can stop by and see it in person some time :)

Wiped Out...but happy

2009-10-04T19:50:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty busy week, so tonight I'm writing in bullet points:

-Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, Kurt and Jen, Ben and Carolyn, and David and Anna for making our move to our new apartment a success!

-(For those not aware, we've moved to a 3br,2ba basement suite a bit further southeast than our old apartment. We're sharing the suite with David and Anna, a couple who moved here from Europe so they can both attend Regent.)

-Kris has pink eye. Gross. But the Canadian healthcare system is awesome. I met Kris at church (I had small group and left this morning when Kris was barely awake). He said "I think there's something wrong with my eye." I said "I think you have pink eye. You should go to the doctor." So we stopped at a walk-in clinic on our way to the bus, handed over his BC "Care Card" and 30 minutes later, he'd had a consultation with the doc and got instructions for caring for his eye and a prescription in case it doesn't clear up in a few days. And do you know what we paid for this visit? Absolutely nothing. Amazing.

-Baby Brice went home today! Congratulations!

-Ride for Refugees Vancouver raised (www.rideforrefugees.com) raised $61,000! (without our help, unfortunately)

-Check out pics of Allison's beautiful wedding (or should that be beautiful Allison's wedding? I think both apply): http://www.crozierphotography.com/blog/?p=809

-Going to watch The Office now. Good night.

Kim

Bounty

2009-09-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

We're back!!

It's difficult to summarize a whole summer of activities - camping, hiking, visiting and celebrating with friends and family - into a single blog post, but if I had to choose one theme that defined our summer, it would be celebrating the bounty and beauty of God's abundant creation. I'll fill in some details later, but for this week, pictures of the food we have harvested, from our garden and beyond:

Carrots from our garden plot at church:

The ingredients:

The final product:
(Applesauce made with Grandma and Mom from apples picked at a friend's neighbor's house)

Blueberries that Kris and I picked at a farm in Port Langley:
(7 lbs of sweet little blueberries, plus a bucket full of blackberries, for $6)

My first pie! Crusts are more difficult than I expected...
(I also made several jars of blackberry freezer jam, unfortunately not pictured)

And finally, tri-colored beans, also from our garden:

Next week, pictures of our excursions throughout the Pacific Northwest - and I'll be writing from our new home!

Vacation! Part 2

2009-06-07T19:09:00.000-07:00

Before I continue with our oh-so-exciting Vacation series, I just have to say congratulations to John and Evelyn, who got engaged on Thursday!!! We are so happy for both of you, and so excited to be able to say "welcome to the family"! John, I noticed that you didn't make it into the weekly family letter, so I thought I'd put you first here :)

Back to California...

I left off on our first morning in LA, which we spent at some random beach almost directly west of where we were staying in Encino. I say directly, but the truth is that the road was so twisted that I just about lost my breakfast. But, we made it, and enjoyed some reading and strolling along the water.

After lunch, we drove into the heart of LA (don't actually know if that's true, but it felt that way) to meet up with Nathan S, a friend of ours from Dordt. He took us to the Natural History Museum at USC (a short walk from his home). There were many fascinating exhibits, although we were only able to stay for an hour or two.

Kris liked this little South American statue.

Kudu (I saw one of these guys in Africa)

We left the museum and met up with Nathan's girlfriend, Corissa, and some of her co-workers, for a hike up to the Griffith Observatory. Unfortunately, we weren't really appropriately dressed for a hike, but it was a nice walk and we took a brief look around the museum at the top.

Overlooking LA (we look sweaty because we are. Like I said, we were not appropriately dressed.)

I wished then that we had a museum like that at Dordt. There were a lot of exhibits that would have really helped me during my three semesters of physics!

The Griffith Observatory (apparently in Rebel Without a Cause?) and, very tiny at the upper left, the Hollywood sign.

Kris got hungry and ate the Hollywood sign.

Nathan S taking a break.

After receiving some recommendations re: places to see in LA (we had decided that we weren't going to go to Disneyland, tempting as it sounded. Maybe if we have kids someday...maybe), we spent Thursday exploring. We went to the "Farmer's Market" -- don't let the name deceive you as it did us. They apparently have fresh produce available on Saturdays, but the rest of the week it is simply an outdoor shopping mall, except that all the stores were about 5 times bigger than the same store in a normal mall. We walked around for a while, and then headed across the street to the Goodwill to look for shorts. We discovered that Goodwill in downtown LA has a much higher quality than Vancouver or Seattle. Even the poor people in LA seem better dressed than a lot of normal people elsewhere! No luck finding shorts, though.

Giving up on the Farmer's Market, we headed down to the LA County Museum of Art. It was 4:00, and since tickets were discounted after 5, we walked around the neighborhood for a while, and came back in an hour. The museum is way larger than any art museum Kris or I have ever been to, but unfortunately some of their exhibits were closed. We definitely enjoyed what we saw, but after two hours of walking through the museum, we were ready to sit down for some dinner.

We headed back to Encino and walked along a main street there looking for a place to eat. We stumbled upon a great little restaurant that serves only organic vegetarian and vegan dishes. If I could cook like that, I think I could convince everyone I know to become vegetarian!

Friday morning, we headed back to Visalia. After dropping off the rental car, we stopped by Central Valley Christian and dropped in on John V, another friend from Dordt. After a nice visit with John at Starbucks, we got back to Dan and Rachelle's early enough to go with Rachelle and the girls for a swim in their friends' backyard pool.

Rachelle and I went to get our hair cut on Saturday morning. We had so much fun with the hairdresser, who is from Mexico and is learning (very well, I should add) to speak English. I love my new haircut...which is unfortunately most often in a ponytail these days for good reason - no matter how good my hair might look when I leave in the morning, it just doesn't look the same after I bike to work. Anyway, Saturday evening we went out for a very nice dinner with Dan and Rachelle, while a friend watched the girls. Then we headed back to pack up and get a good night of sleep before our early flight out on Sunday morning.

So, that was our trip! We had such a nice time, and are so grateful to Dan and Rachelle for letting us stay with them, driving us around, and entertaining us for so many days, to Chris and Whitney who let us use their apartment while we were in LA, even though we didn't get to see them, to Nathan for showing us around his new neighborhood, and to my parents and brother for bringing us to the airport and picking us up again.

Back at home, celebrating our first year of marriage.

That's all for today. Thanks for tuning in.

VACATION! Part 1

2009-05-31T07:01:00.000-07:00

Since having a real job means no spring break OR summer vacation, Kris and I planned some time off this year, to visit family and friends in California and celebrate our one-year anniversary! Here are some pics from the first part of our trip:

Cinderella (Anika) wanted to watch Snow White, but she settled for putting on a fashion show with all her princess dresses.

Sunday afternoon drive up to Sequoia National Park. Dan stayed home with the girls while Rachelle, Kris and I drove to the park to see some very big trees:

The biggest tree, General Sherman.

We also saw some other interesting sights, like this tree, which gives birth to rocks:

And the origin of the phrase "Stuck between a rock and a hard place":

There was some wildlife, too. We saw a bear('s ears), as well as some deer (not pictured).

View from the top.

Back at home, Kailee's first experience with Pop Rocks.

At the park, blowing bubbles

(blowing bubbles into Aunt Kim's face)

Tuesday, Kris and I rented a car and drove to LA. We were in California, so we had to go to the beach!

It's time to get ready for church, so I'll save Part 2 of our trip for next week.

An Accident...and a month's worth of other events

2009-04-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

I'll start with my apologies for not updating this blog in the past month! I'll blame it mostly on Regent (Kris used the computer a lot during the last few weeks of school) and the Canadian tax system.

Today was more exciting than Kris or I anticipated it would be. On his bike on the way to FedEx (more about the reason for this trip to follow) and a notary (taxes!), Kris was side-swiped by an older gentleman trying to pull into an open parking space. He was thrown from his bike and hit the sidewalk with his head. There was a lot of blood, but fortunately he has no serious injuries (to himself or to the bike) that we know of. He'll have a wicked black eye for a while, and probably has a hairline fracture in his nose, but otherwise he's just sore and scraped up. He talked to a cop at the scene, was taken to the hospital by ambulance, x-rayed and examined, and has already been contacted by the government insurance people. For you twisted people who wanted to see pictures :) here they are.

Now the rest of the month's news, in bullet-point form, because it's been a long day:

-My workplace is going through some changes, and my job is being slowly re-defined, which means that I'll get some new responsibilities. This started with a business trip to Miami Beach last week! I enjoyed an ocean view from my swanky hotel room, but enjoyed even more getting to visit with Uncle Brent, Aunt Tania, and my three lovely cousins.
-Kris received an email last week notifying him that he received a scholarship/grant from the "Fund for Theological Education." This will involve setting up a program (right now, we don't really know what type of program) through a local church. He'll do some training and planning this summer, and implement the program next summer.
-My parents and Andrew came up to visit last weekend. We explored Granville Island for the first time. We are also looking forward to Kris' parents coming this weekend! (I've got a lot of cleaning to do, though!)
-Kris finished school on April 17, and is now studying hard for his spring and summer class. While I was in Miami, he learned the Hebrew alphabet song, and sung it to me on the phone. I'm sure if you call, he'd love to sing it for you as well :)

Love you all! Bike CAREFULLY!

Kim (and Kris)

Remembering

2009-03-22T14:47:00.000-07:00

This week seemed very full of reflection and remembering. It started on Tuesday, with an incident at work that forced me into a few days of intense self-reflection about my relationships with my co-workers (sorry that is vague; I can't go into detail, but be assured that nothing bad happened to me). Then on Wednesday, Kris and I had a good time reminiscing and catching up with friends from Dordt whom we have not seen in almost a year! Thursday, I forgot my keys and sat outside our apartment (on a chair which my neighbor kindly provided) and talked on the phone with my mom and Allison V. for about an hour.

Thursday night, Kris and I received news from Kris' mom that his grandpa, Jake, was in the hospital in California, and was not expected to live much longer. He passed away Friday morning. Although I didn't know Grandpa Jake well, I do know that he was loved and respected by his family, and that he will be missed very much. We are thankful for God's faithfulness throughout his long life; please keep his family in your prayers during this difficult time. Kris will fly to Montana on Wednesday to attend the funeral.

Saturday, we were reminded that it is indeed spring. We went for a nice bike ride around Stanley Park. Here are a few pictures:

Now I have to hand over the computer to Kris, who has a lot of work to do before he leaves.

(Studying Hard!)

With love,

Kris and Kim

Spring ?!?

2009-03-15T16:35:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this post from a "new" computer! Actually, it's my dad's laptop, as Kris and I had an accident with ours, and it's been taken away for repairs. Fortunately, we have the "clumsy people insurance" from Circuit City (which, incidentally, no longer exists, but their still honoring their warranties), so we just had the minor inconvenience of driving down to Seattle to trade computers with my parents, who kindly packaged up and sent in the computer when the box came.

We've had an eventful two weeks since my last post. Two weeks ago, Kris had a severe cold and didn't sleep well. I woke up at 1:00am on Wednesday morning mid-migraine, and couldn't really sleep after that due to pain (I even threw up for the first time since I was about 6 years old!). I missed half a day of work, which wasn't too bad, but I was quite tired the rest of the week. Kris is over his cold, and managed to catch up with his school work by Friday, and now he has a week "off."

Two Fridays ago, we had pizza with Phil and Andrea in Lynden, and spent Friday night and Saturday in Seattle. Sunday I had to be back to sing with the choir, so we drove through yet another wind/snow storm on our way back to Vancouver.

Last Sunday night we went to First Baptist of Vancouver and listened to a lecture by Stanley Hauerwas. Kris went to another lecture on Monday. We enjoyed it...but prefer reading his books/essays. He was speaking way over my head!

This past week was less eventful. I finished knitting a hat for Kris, just before the weather turned cold again (it snowed this afternoon--Kris calls it "fluffy rain" because he hates to admit that it's still winter, but the snow didn't accumulate at all). We also booked our flights for California this spring. We'll visit Dan and Rachelle and family, and possibly some friends in LA. We'll also celebrate our one-year anniversary! It's amazing how fast the year has gone!

Yesterday, some people from the church built boxes for our community garden. The beds don't have dirt in them yet, but we'll take pictures when they do!

Here's a picture of James and Carol from lunch today. We went out for Thai food in Burnaby - delicious!

Have a great week!

Life and Taxes

2009-03-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry I didn't post last week. To be honest, there just was not much to write about!

We have an addition to our apartment--a jasmine plant that Kris named "Eva" (after the robot in Wall-E). Here's a picture of our first flower:

Since this picture, there have probably been 10 or more new blooms! I love watching our plant grow, and this is definitely getting me excited about having our first garden this year (we are going to rent a plot at 1st CRC).

In the past two weeks, we have enjoyed some very interesting and authentic dining experiences. Last Sunday, we went out for Dim Sum with James and Carol, friends from church. James and Carol are from Shanghai, so they were able to guide us through our first dim sum experience (if you haven't done this before, the idea is that you order several small dishes off the menu and everyone at the table shares; basically like ordering a bunch of appetizers & deserts for a meal). The food was very good (according to Kris; all they had for vegetarian options were one type of veggie and sweets, which was fine with me!), although he probably won't order the chicken feet again!

We also went to an Ethiopian restaurant for a friend's birthday celebration. Again, the food is generally shared on a large platter, and you eat without utensils; instead, you scoop up the food (which is generally chunky with plenty of sauce) with small piece of a flat bread called "injera." If you have the opportunity, we definitely recommend it!

I've also been busy doing taxes, since we attended an informational seminar on Monday evening. Even though they aren't due for another 1.5-2 months, this year is very complicated for us as we have income in both Canada and the states. It's not all bad, though--I discovered that Kris is very willing to do the cooking and cleaning, as long as he doesn't have to look at the tax forms :)

Other than that, life has been pretty boring. I've been feeling a bit sick for the past week, and Kris started feeling sick last night/this morning. He stayed home from church to rest, and is feeling a bit better. It seems that with so many people around being sick, our bodies are tired just from trying to keep themselves healthy!

But, enough complaining. Kris is waiting for me to finish this post so that we can eat some freshly baked bars and watch Battlestar Galactica (his new TV show; I hate to admit it, but I guess I'm kind of into it as well).

Oh, and to answer some questions from your comments: Mom, the pineapple was completely scraped out, and the sun was shining thru it (I served Thai pineapple rice in it the night before, and when we finished the leftovers we thought it would make a good picture); John, "kaine ktise" means "a new creation" - or so I'm told by my resident Greek expert :)

Reading Week

2009-02-15T20:20:00.000-08:00

Kris enjoyed his week home from school, but definitely did not slack off. He guesses that he read three full books plus other assorted articles and sections...maybe 600 pages in total, plus of course writing the corresponding responses/papers.

He did, however, take advantage of the beautiful weather we had this week to go on a bike trip to Capilano Park in North Vancouver.

We enjoyed our first Valentine's Day as a married couple yesterday! First we went to the Outdoor Adventures Show at BC Place in Vancouver (basically, a bunch of booths set up to advertise different tourist destinations, hiking/biking/canoeing/kayaking equipment, nutrition, biking clubs, etc.). We were very pleasantly surprised to run into someone we know from Dordt, Vanessa B., who is living in the area! It is always nice to see a familiar face in an unexpected place!

We then did a little shopping, and made a delicious dinner--Thai Pineapple Fried Rice, Scheczuan Green Beans, and wontons (I cheated and bought frozen ones). I've been experimenting with Thai food lately, as I found this site with a bunch of vegetarian Thai recipes (http://thaifood.about.com/od/vegetarianthairecipes/Vegetarian_Thai_Food.htm).

Today we went to church in the morning, and then made bread for our community meal tonight. We ate together and then had a special service centered around Micah 6:8, highlighting the centrality of justice in the structure and laws of ancient Israel, and encouraging us to make justice and mercy an equally essential part of our church community life as well.

After making bread for the meal, we drove downtown to look at (and buy) a jasmine plant that was for sale on Craigslist. Instead of buying dying flowers for Valentines Day, we decided to spend a little extra money and buy a living plant that we can enjoy year round. Maybe next week we'll have some pictures.

Here's one last image, some scraps left-over from Valentine's dinner:

Around the City

2009-02-09T18:16:00.000-08:00

Kris and I got back from a last-minute trip to Seattle around 11pm last night, so I didn't get a chance to post yesterday...

Nothing much exciting to report from the past week. I was sick most of the week, so I stayed home most evenings. Kris is looking forward to his reading break, which officially started today.

We did get out Saturday to go for a walk and see the city. Here are some pics from the day:

A totem pole along the "Sea Wall" (a walking/biking path the follows the water front)

Layers of the city - the mountains looked beautiful that day!

Boat parking lot. You can hardly see the water, the boats are so packed!

A monument to George Vancouver, who apparently discovered this inlet while in search of the Northwest Passage.

That's all for now. Time for dinner!

Kim (& Kris)

Football, football, football...

2009-02-01T17:17:00.000-08:00

Our weekend has been filled with football. Yesterday, Kris played flag football all afternoon with five other Regent students (see pics below). Now he's at our friends' house, watching the Superbowl. I'm very content to have some time at home to clean up and get ready for the coming week.

We had a pretty ordinary week, otherwise. Things are definitely picking up for me at work as our new "research study" begins, which is exciting. At home, our laptop barely survived a spider attack; our first spider-sighting in our apartment, which caused me to accidentally but "gently" toss the laptop from my lap and onto the floor. Spiders have a way of showing up in my life in unexpected and traumatizing ways. I'm quite sure they are picking on me :)

Fortunately, there were no spiders at the football games yesterday. In fact, it was a beautifully sunny afternoon; I even got a little sun-burnt! And it made the pictures a lot prettier!

The Regent team on offense. Kris is on the far left, in a blue stocking cap (or "toque" as we call them in Canada) and red shirt.

Team huddle

Kris playing QB

One of Kris' teammates

Taking a break

Here's a nice little sequence of Kris, making a run for it:

The Champions! Congratulations!!

Pictures

2009-01-25T20:06:00.000-08:00

We had a very busy week and weekend--classes and work, Kris' birthday and a poetry reading on Tuesday, church events, and driving down at 9:30pm Friday (to avoid border lines) to Seattle for Grandpa R's birthday, haircuts, laundry, and shopping, Andrew's confession of faith and another celebration meal. What I mean to say is--I'm tired! So instead of thinking too hard, here are some pictures from New Year's and this weekend, taken with our new camera (thanks everyone who gave us Target gift cards for our wedding!).

This is the view from the "ranch" where we celebrated Christmas (a week late) with some of Kim's family.

Kris taking it all in at the R. family Christmas celebration.

One of the worst/best parts of the ranch was the singing & dancing Santa. Worst, because it was incredibly annoying; best, because you could remove its head to shut it off, and then hide the head in all kinds of creepy places. (If you didn't see Santa right away, it's in the top left of the picture.)

I named this picture "Kis" after Jeanette & Natalie W's name for us.

Proof that there was sun in Vancouver once this past week. This is our colorful kitchen (you can just see the corner of the mural on the top right of the pic).

I (Kim) am pretty proud of this picture. It might be hard to tell, but Andrew's head is intentionally the only thing in focus.

Kim, Dad and Mom D. at Andrew's game.

Welcome to our blog...

2009-01-18T19:50:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

As some of you know, I (Kim) am a "Facebook-hater" (Kris' words, not mine), but I do want to keep in touch with friends and family who I don't get to see or talk to very often, seeing as Kris and I live in a distant, foreign country (Canada :) So, in an effort to keep connected with all of you, I've decided to try blogging. My (somewhat late) new year's resolution is to update this once a week, with news, pics, and events from our lives in Vancouver. Here goes...

Kris enjoyed his first week of classes of the "winter" semester. He is taking Systematics B, Christian Thought and Culture II (somewhat of an introductory class for all first-year students), Soul of Ministry (pastoral), and a study on the book of Revelation taught by a renowned bible scholar, Gordon Fee. He is excited about classes, although I think that after a month of holidays, getting back into the school schedule was a little rough this week :)

Although we enjoyed our Christmas travels, we were very happy to be back to our new church community. This week (as most weeks) we went to the community meal on Wednesday, and I went to choir on Thursday (while Kris went to some friends' house to watch The Office). We also had a game night on Friday with some friends from church. Kris and I left early because I had to get up early on Saturday morning to drive down to the states, where I went to a bridal shower for my mom's cousin, Monica R. It was great to see many relatives who I hadn't visited with in years!

We were surprised this week by a visit from Jeff S, Kris' schoolmate and friend from Montana. We invited him to stay at our place for as long as he needed. However, after sleeping on our couch and getting up with as at 6:30am, he found other places to spend the night (for those of you who haven't been here or seen pictures...we have a one "bedroom" apartment--meaning that the bedroom is approximately the size of the bed, and there is no door, although we do hang up a sheet when we have guests. But if you're in town, you are also welcome to stay on our couch!). Anyway, it's always nice to see a familiar face (and we have been blessed with many visitors since we moved here).

We wanted to share some pictures of "our" city with you, but the fog has almost constantly prevented us from taking any pictures. Better luck next week...

Well, I'd better get back to work...it's Kris' birthday on Tuesday!! and I have lots of baking to do :)

~Kim

2008: A Year-End Report

2009-01-11T16:15:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,

What a year it has been for us! We praise God for everything He has brought us through this year, with relatively few bumps along the way! Here are many of the highlights, and a few low-lights, that marked our busy year:

Kris surprised Kim by showing up in Ontario to celebrate Christmas with the her Canadian relatives. We had a fun time introducing Kris to his soon-to-be in-laws. Aunt Sonja took some great engagement pics for us.

Kris took Kim skiing for the first time in Montana. Kris had a good time; Kim had so much fun that she’ll probably never have to go downhill skiing ever again.

Kim had an unscheduled visit to Seattle in early February for an interview at University of Washington School of Medicine. A few weeks later, we found out that she wasn’t accepted, which was disappointing, but we know that this was a confirmation that God is directing our path.

In May, Kim graduated from Dordt College with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Theology. We were so happy that Grandma and Grandpa R. and Mom and Dad D. could come to graduation.

We got married in Seattle on May 24! We were blessed beyond measure by beautiful weather, the help of so many family members and friends in the planning and the ceremony, and the presence of our guests from all over North America! After the wedding, we headed up to British Columbia for a very restful and relaxing honeymoon.

We went back to Iowa for about 6 weeks this summer. Kris finished work at the Niessink Home (part of Hope Haven), and Kim had fun planting flowers for the City of Sioux Center (a real change of pace from the chemistry lab!). We also drove to Denver for Brandon and Dana V’s wedding.

In July, we left Iowa and started our slow trek west. We spent several weeks in Montana, and enjoyed time spent with family at Ennis Lake.

Early in August, we packed up again and headed off to Seattle. We left most of our belongings with Mom and Dad D. while we apartment- and job-hunted in Vancouver, BC. We were very fortunate to find an apartment and a job for Kim in less than a week.

Kim's family's annual camping trip in eastern Washington was a bit rainier than usual, but we were glad to spend more time relaxing and resting up before work and school began. We also got to meet Evelyn (John’s girlfriend) for the first time!

On August 23, we moved to our new home in Vancouver, BC, Canada! Two days later, Kim started work as a research assistant/receptionist at a psychiatrists’ office in downtown Vancouver (a job she enjoys very much). A week after that, Kris packed up his lunch box and headed back to school. He is enrolled in the Masters of Divinity program at Regent College. His first semester was a challenge, but he really loves it!

After “trying out” several churches in our area, we are happy to be “regulars” at First CRC of Vancouver. The church is about a mile from our apartment, and has a small, friendly, diverse community of members. Most Wednesday evenings we gather at the church for a community meal, and Kim loves being a part of the choir.

On our 6-month anniversary, we had our first negative big city experience—someone decided to “borrow” Kris’ bike which was locked up in front of Regent. This was very sad, but we hope that whoever has it now needs the bike and enjoys it as much as Kris did. **January update: Kris' bike was returned to us this week through an organization called the Bike Rescue Program (controversial in Vancouver; check out www.bikerescue.org)

We were happy to spend a lot of time with family over the holidays—Christmas celebrations in Seattle, Churchill, and Lake Easton.

If you made it to the end of this letter, you know that we’ve had a very exciting and eventful year! It’s been great, but we hope that 2009 will be a little slower in pace!

May God bless you and guide you throughout this New Year.

With love, Kristopher and Kimberly