July 26, 2005
Great is Thy Faithfulness
So we were house sitting last month for our friends in East, and they returned last Tuesday the 19th and we had to vacate. By the 15th when we still didn’t know where we’d be headed, we let some people know. Funny how he works sometimes, God waited until we swallowed our pride and asked for help before he revealed that next step to us. The next morning, my (Carrie’s) childhood pastor got ahold of my parents trying to track us down because their house was about to be vacant and they wanted somebody living in it! Jim and Sharon, before living in Ellsworth and shepherding the Belltower flock, used to live in Mexico. They were in Ellsworth my whole life, until about the same time that I graduated from HS, when they went back to Mexico. That was 10 years ago (oh my gosh, are we getting old or what… I’ve been out of high school TEN years??). As of two years ago, 3 of their four children had moved to Zeeland, MI, and as interest rates were SO SO low, they decided to buy a house in that area for when they would one day retire. Since they bought their home they’ve never really unpacked there, only staying there while home on short visits, and the house has only been lived in by people who needed it for the short-term. I think one woman was there for a month, and a single youth pastor for 6 months. Anyway, as of the 16th (the day AFTER we asked for help), they were getting frantic to find someone to occupy their house beginning the 19th, when they were to fly to Mexico. This was the very same day that we needed to vacate our previous place! Just in case it wasn’t obvious enough, God made it the same date. So we are sub-urbanites now, and looking for work in the area of Zeeland. My “kids” leave tomorrow. I’ll drive them to Chicago and say goodbye as they are whisked away back to Spain. It has been a whirlwind of a month and, though I will be happy to have some rest, I will miss them dearly. I’ve had a really great group of kids!
See our resumes: Dan’s and Carrie’s, and spread the word if you know anybody that could use our talents.
your host for this episode : carrie; 02:42 PM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2005
The Maine Attraction
So here it is two weeks later, and we are just getting around to putting up photos of our trip to Maine and Canada. By the way, in case you were wondering, Canada is REALLY BIG! It’s not just the distortion of a Lambert Conformal Map that makes it look so big, the way it Greenland looks bigger than Australia. Nope, Canada really is REALLY BIG! That being said, without further ado, here are some photos and brief commentary from our trip:
Hands down my favorite sign on the way there. This was in Vermont. They also had another great sign, but I was not able to get a photo of it. That one said “Forbidden To Pass” but it was unclear to me if it was referring to traffic or to the sign itself.
We went through one of the other towns called Ellsworth, which is much larger than the one here in Michigan, as evidenced by the main street and their very own newspaper.
When we arrived on Mount Desert Island, the weather was not very cooperative, but we did our best to enjoy our time in spite of it. We visited the Henkley Yacht Company’s Shipyard, and drove around the Island.
On Friday, Carrie and I took a two hour tour of the harbor in a tandem kayak, better known as a divorce boat.It was OK for two hours, but I would not want to own one! We saw a bald eagle and a gray seal, but we only caught a photo of the Eagle.
22 August, 2005
Finally getting around to adding more commentary to this little Blog…
On Saturday we drove up Cadillac Mountain where we had an a nice view of the Bar Harbor area, despite the clouds and some scattered rain. We then continued on through Acadia National Park where we saw a seal, and found that yes, it is possible to use your binoculars as an extra zoom for your digital camera. That’s why those two pictures are blue-ish in color.
Saturday evening was the rehersal and an opportunity for Kristen’s Grandpa to take her to dance school! He knew what he was doing out there, let me tell you! If I am half as alert and quick-witted as he is at 94, I will be overjoyed.
Sunday, the reason we all made the journey. The wedding. I think these pictures speak for themselves.
On Monday, most of the wedding party and the remaining close friends and family took a tour of the Northeast Harbor area, and some of the Cranberry Islands on the “Sea Princess”.
After the Sea Princess tour, we again drove through Acadia, this time visiting a few places where we did not have time to stop the first time through, including the very picturesque Jordan Pond, which I would have called a lake, but who am I to say?
By the time we got out of the park it was getting dark, but it made for a beautiful moonlit view of Northeast Harbor.
On Monday morning, Carrie finally saw her first Moose! She had been bugging all of us from the time we entered Vermont and saw the “Moose Crossing” signs that she wanted to see a moose. Of course, the one we saw was moving quite fast, and it was a cow, not a bull, so then she started in that she wanted to see a BOY moose… It was not to be however, as we would see no more moose on this trip.
Tuesday bright and early, we took the “CAT” to Nova ScotIa, where we started the long way home. By Wednesday morning we had made it to Peggy’s Cove near Halifax. At Peggy’s cove we saw a site which I have never seen before: a boat towing a boat towing a boat which was towing a boat. Canadians, go figure.
We made it to the Citadel in Halifax just in time for the Noon Parade, complete with bagpipes and a cannon. We missed seeing the firing of the cannon though, as it went off just as we were walking into the fort from the parking lot. Too many one way streets in that town!
A few of the highlights of the long road home were: the world’s longest covered bridge, in Hartland, New Brunswick.
the “Grand Falls” in the town of the same name,
muddy trucks,
the world famous upsidedown trees,
(Ok so they arn’t world famous, and they didn’t claim to be, but I thought they were cool anyway….)
the waterfalls at St. Anne near Quebec City,
and last but not least, if only for a few brief minutes, the walled city of Quebec.
Thus concludes our whirl-wind tour of the eastern Canadian provences.
your host for this episode : dan; 11:21 AM | Comments (2)
July 02, 2005
Long Term Goals
I was asked this past week what my “long-term goals” were. This got me thinking, and here is what I have come up with: My long-term goal is to stay in one place for 3 weeks. I know this does not sound long-term at all, in fact, it probably sounds extremely short-term. However, to us at this point, three weeks is long term. For the past two months, the longest we have stayed in one place is two weeks, and that was only Carrie who was there for the full two weeks, as I was in da’ UP with Matt and Vicky for part of that time. We have given ourselves the title of “Urban Nomads” because we have been moving around so much. I will tell you what, we are getting awefully good at packing up and living out of a suitcase. Presently we are house/dog sitting at the home of the VanderKolk’s while they are away. They have wiFi… yippie!!!
As Carrie has already relayed, she is working with a group of High School students from Spain for the month of July, taking them to various activities and sights in the area. I am still in search of a job, preferably in Surveying. Potential Employers, check out myresume.
So far I have had only one offer, and it was in the far reaches of da’ U.P., and was not enough to ensure that we would not starve (or freeze) to death. We still have little-to-no idea of what is going on in our lives, and living this way is not getting any easier. We have started a club/support group, which we are calling “inFlux”, for people who are in transition and don’t know what’s next. We were thinking to have T-shirts printed up, but then we realised that T-shirts cost money, and we don’t have any… so I think we will just borrow a magic marker and write it on. Our friend Chad, or maybe his wife Kris, offered a motto of “I don’t hear voices, but I’m listening” which we adopted even before we had a name for our group. All this being said, we are very busy moving and shaking, or at least moving. We greatly appreciate your thoughts and prayers during our time inFlux. If you wish to join inFlux, please send us an email (or post a reply here) stating your intentions, and find a magic marker and an old T-shirt!
Waiting and Wondering,
DAN
your host for this episode : dan; 12:13 PM | Comments (1)