Home Again

We arrived home late on Saturday night from our nearly 3 week vacation. It was a bit strange veering west at Olympia towards Port Angeles rather than heading north towards Kamloops, but I guess that's a bit understandable after 13 years. After taking a few days to clear out the cobwebs from the long drive home, I'm looking forward to tomorrow as the ministry will become a "full time" focus at that point. In reality it's been a full time focus for a long time, it's just that I'll begin to draw a modest salary starting on the 1st that will allow me to focus exclusively on the ministry rather than on 2 or 3 other things to keep body and soul together. We've got a long way to go until it's a liveable salary, but it's a start and gives us the opportunity to work exclusively on growing the ministry.

I've learned a lot about "faith declarations" over the past year. It's interesting how our words determine our future. I distinctly remember saying I wanted "x" dollars in the ministry account before I would begin to draw a salary. It's extremely interesting that we have exactly "X" amount of dollars in our account. I wish I had chosen a higher number, but our next goal is to be fully funded by October 1st. That leaves a significant amount of ground to cover, but we will get there by God's help and strength.

Our friends Sandro and Cindy (and their "brady bunch") are visiting us for a few days. We are so glad to have them here. We've known Sandro for a long time but only met Cindy a year ago. She's fantastic and we feel like we've known her forever. The kids are watching vacation video which is sort of like vacation slides only faster.

Finally, I should say that I've joined facebook which explains my lack of posting. I'll try and do better on here because it's important to keep this fresh and relevant. However, if you are on facebook, feel free to contact me there too.

Have a good one!!

Let's go surfin' now...

Sorry for the long gap, but we are on vacation and so it's been more challenging to write. We left a day early (yay!!) on our surprise laden vacation. We are in Southern California, although the boys only thought we were going to Seattle. We were able to get as far as central Oregon before we told them that we were really going to Disneyland. The response was better than we anticipated. Tyler was screaming because he was so excited. It's probably a good thing that we told them in the van, rather than inside a building...

We are having a great time staying with family in a fantastic location. We spent Saturday night in Anaheim and went to see the Angels and Rangers. On Sunday we visited Angeles Temple and saw Delerious in concert. Delerious was a bonus, as we were planning to be there anyway. Angeles Temple is having a tremendous impact on Los Angeles and God is doing incredible things there.

We came to San Diego on Sunday afternoon and will be here through Friday when we will return to Anaheim and meet some friends from Kamloops. This is the next big surprise for the boys as they don't know that some of the friends will be meeting them at Disneyland.

We're not sure about our plans for today. We may hang around the pool here or we may go to the beach or we may take Britt to a mall or we .... (you get the idea...)

We'll keep you posted.

Tim

It's a Beautiful Day ... the sequel

I've added a new post under "Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" but it shows for July 1 instead of July 8. Click back to see the latest post.

Oops..

Tim

Happy Dominion Day!

What we now call Canada Day, used to be called Dominion Day. Dominion Day had it's roots in the naming of the Canadian Confederation when Premier Tilley suggested to the 1866 Conference of Confederation that Canada be called the "Dominion of Canada" based on Ps. 72:8 "And he shall have dominion also from sea to sea". The conference endorsed his recommendation and sent it to Queen Victoria for her approval. On July 1st, 1867, she proclaimed the Dominion of Canada into existence. It's really incredible to think that her royal proclamation endorsed what God had spoken before the foundations of the earth were laid.

Ps. 72:8 is actually Canada's official motto. I can't help but smile when I think that our forefathers embraced a prophetic declaration of the coming kingdom of Jesus as the phrase that would identify our nation. Admittedly, not a lot of people see the verse for what it is, but the reality of God's word is that He watches over it to perform it whether people believe it or not. He is God and His word does not return empty. It always produces the harvest that He intended. His purpose and plan for Canada will be accomplished. He will have dominion from sea to sea and our nation will be an source and symbol of hope, restoration and blessing for the nations of the earth.

If you've been following the blog, you'll know that we've just moved from Kamloops to Victoria in order to more fully and effectively fulfill God's call on our lives. We literally live 3 blocks from the sea in 3 directions. Now that we are settling in and the bulk of the unpacking has been completed, part of my daily routine will be to prayer walk around the Legislature on a daily basis and pray that His will would be done on here on earth as it is in heaven. Because government is bigger than just the Legislative precinct, I may expand my walk to cover a different ministry headquarters each day as well. What do you think??

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

So here it is the "new 'hood" post. We are living in a very interesting and unique part of Victoria. There are so many things to see and do and .... all of it is within walking distance. After 13 years in the near desert climate of Kamloops we now live 3 or less blocks from the ocean in 3 directions.

Three blocks to the south takes us to Ogden Point and the Dallas Rd. waterfront.

Three blocks to the west is Fisherman's Wharf which continues to be where the fishing boats come and go and then sell their catches to commerical suppliers and the public as well. Our kids don't eat seafood yet (born and raised in Cattle country) will do that to you, but Barb and I like it, even though we haven't had the opportunity to buy something fresh yet.

Three blocks to the North takes us to the heart of the tourist district. There are lots of hotels and the Inner Harbour that has buskers, performers and artisans sharing their skills and work. Everyone loves to go down and see what's happening in the Inner Harbour. Tyler has even participated in a busker show as a helper. He even made $5 so I guess that makes him a professional.

If you travel due East from our house, you'll go right past the Legislature and eventually find Beacon Hill Park.

For an urban area, there are some things that I find very interesting. There's plenty of green space near us (several parks within a 3 block radius) and more dogs than I ever encountered in Kamloops. It seems 1 out of 3 people has a dog here. Given that lots are small, that means a lot of walking on leash because you can't let your dog roam in Victoria.

Anyway... that's all for now. I'll post some of Britt's pictures later this week.

Tim