Of Fish, Faith Family and Fatigue!

This past weekend was the Victoria Day unofficial start to the summer!  

YeeHaw!

On Friday, we were blessed to be able to help our friend, Heidi, celebrate her birthday in a big way!  (it's a big number, but you did not hear that from me!)  The bash was held at Mrs. Mitchells between Shelburne and Alliston.  The wild mushroom soup was heavenly!  It was a nice evening and we got to meet new folks. Our son Alex and his girlfriend, Jess, was with us, and so was JimSatguy and his wife!  (Lou and Emelda!)

Mrs. Mitchel's Restaurant

Cory and the birthday girl, Heidi!

Alex and Jess having a laugh!

We headed off with the whole gang on Saturday morning to the big city!  The Ripley's Aquarium was our destination!  I have raved about the aquarium since Rose and I went in January!  It did not disappoint.  It was a holiday so there were a lot of kids around, but there was so much to see, it made it worthwhile!  The highlight of the place for me is the Danger Reef and all the sharks!

Ya, it was crowded...go on a weekday!

Sharks!

More sharks!

A happy shark!

Help!

The place is very educational, for young and old alike!  You should go.

I had an "Ah Ha!" God moment at one of the exhibits.  There was a tank full of halibut and cod, you know, everyday eating type fish.  The kind you would get with fish and chips.  It made me thing of a scripture I had read the day before in Luke 5.  Jesus paid Peter back for the use of his boat by somehow causing a HUGE catch of fish that almost broke the guys nets!  It was a set up of course, because then Jesus said "Follow Me"!  Peter followed Him after that!  He did not have have to worry about the future of his family after seeing this miracle!  God provided!

After the aquarium we made our way to Vaughn Mills where my brother Martin and his family were hanging out after a day at the SuperFan comic con in Toronto!

Me and My Bro

After a really QUICK visit we embarked to Keswick to visit Roses cousin JP and her brother, Rob and the gang!  It was night of BBQ and laughs!

 On Sunday it was off to Simcoeside Lifepoint Church in Orillia with the LIFE Street Team!

We played our LIFE 100.3 video and took a few minutes to share with the congregation!

Sunday afternoon it was off to the 400 Market with the Alex and Jess as well as the Torchias, to explore the antiques!  Did not buy anything but had a sweet time looking around!

Sunday night it was over to Scott Jackson's place for a CD and video release party and BBQ for Luke Langman!

Luke performed with Lake Simcoe as the backdrop!  LIFE'S, Evan Duran shot a very entertaining video for one of his new songs and we got to be the first to see it!  Well done, Evan!

Well, you think we would slow down for holiday, Monday but...NO!  I covered news for the morning and then did some drywall work for a friend!  (I think I may be too busy!)

Now that I can breathe a little, I realize that it's fun to be active and get out to meet new people and have new experiences...but don't forget to rest in the middle of it!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

Opportunities and Late Nights

I am still sort of catching my breath from a pretty busy few days last week.

The whole thing started with a phone call on Thursday afternoon....

*click*  "Hey, wanna go to the Jays game tonight?  TD Comfort Zone seats!"

"Uhhh...OK!"

*click*

...that's what it seemed like anyway...

I went straight home for a nap after work and then, through a strange twist of circumstances, I found myself sitting behind home plate, enjoying a gourmet buffet and watching the Jays thump the Phillies.  (Yes, I did eat way too much food.)  I had a blast....but it was a late one!

I got home around midnight and hit the hay to be ready for the early Friday on the All New Breakfast Club! The nap the day before helped and all was good, but I knew an even busier Saturday was ahead!

Saturday morning it was off to Etobicoke for a LIFE Street Team Event.  We were playing the tunes and meeting people at Richfield Baptist Church during their annual community Garage Sale.  They really bring the community together for this and it was HUGE!  They raise money for missions work in Nicaragua through all the sales but it's also an outreach to the neighborhood. There was even a prayer room set up and members of the church were on hand to pray with anyone who needed it!

Thousands came through Richfield Baptist, hunting for treasure!

LIFE 100.3 cranking the tunes!

From there it was off to Brampton for the big concert with Steven Curtis Chapman at Bramalea Baptist!
The LIFE 100.3 Street Team set up in the lobby to greet people and offer LIFE gear and tickets to the big 15th Anniversary party with Peter Furler this August!

The LIFE 100.3 booth at Bramalea Baptist!

Steven Curtis Chapman hits the stage!

Rocking out with SCC!

Geoff Moore shared the stage as well.

The Street Team with Steven Curtis Chapman!

The concert did not disappoint!  There was laughter, tears and great memories!  Canadian boy, Dan Bremnes got things going for the evening and even hit the stage at the end to help close off a great night!

...got home around midnight...again!

Sunday was Mothers Day and I have to give a hats off to my daughter, Jasmine for nailing the day with a morning breakfast for Rose that was accompanied by a video picture montage she made the week before that was designed to be a tear jerker!  Then flowers showed up from Victoria, my oldest daughter!  (By the way I took her out for Mexican food after church!)

We ended the afternoon by cleaning the yard, then an evening of my wife's favorite movie, Anne of Green Gables!

Good times!

Still Got It

Why do we hang on to some things and not others?

As we have settled into our place here in Barrie, we unpacked a lot of boxes and put things where they belong.

Rose, my wife, is amazing at this and I try and stay out of her way. 

In the process, I had to go through a bunch of  stuff that I've had in storage for a while.  My daughter showed me something that I have had for 30 years! 

This is a brass belt buckle with a large drum set.  I bought it at a mall in Chatham in 1980.  I have never worn it!

I bought this penguin in 1984 at a drug store in Wallaceburg.  His name is Opus from the comic strip "Bloom County".  He originally had a bow tie.  I just thought it was cool at the time, but not very "macho"!

My friend, Steve Roseel bought me this engraved brass letter opener at the end of school in 1984.  Steve played guitar in our short-lived Christian rock band!

This was my high school pencil case!  I have had it since 1983!  Lots of writing inside and out!

I can't explain why I still have these items after so many years.  I have had other things that I thought meant more to me and those things just seem to have disappeared!  Why do we cart things along with us through all of life's different changes.  Perhaps it's because we need a touchstone to the past.

My most treasured thing that I have had for a VERY long time is my Gideon Bible!  I got it in grade school in 1976, and I will never forget signing the declaration of faith in the back.  I had no idea what was in the bible but I knew it was an important book.  It was years later that those seeds of God's words would get down into my spirit and become real to me!  I am thankful to the two men who came by D.A. Gordon School in Wallaceburg that day and put a bible in my hands.  I don't know who they were and I wonder if they realize the impact that they had that day!