February in the Friesen Community

Hello All!

Yes I am

writing this the day after

the Winter Olympics has finally wrapped up in our city of Vancouver for 2010 and

even the cherry blossoms flower early in celebration. Canada amazingly has raked in

the highest bounty of gold medals ever recorded. And what a fantastic game to end the grand Olympic event – the Men’s Gold Medal Hockey game, won in an over time of sudden death, with Crosby whizzing the puck stealthily past the USA into the net and well, the rest is history! There were flags waving, horns honking, people cheering on the streets as we left our friends home yesterday afternoon and drove home surrounded by an air thick with Cana

dian spirit. Oh, Canada.

February is our shortest month, yet never the slowest. It seems Kevin and I have managed to make the most of the last 28 days and not slowing down for March.

Our biggest excitement has been the new arrival of nephew number four – Marc Paradis, born Feb 24^th 2010. Camille triumphed, delivering Marc into the world, a whopping 9 lbs 4 oz! Yes I am impressed and cringing at the same time. I am praying God will have mercy on me and let my first child enter in at around 7 lbs – here’s hoping!

Febraury also brought in a great victory for the New Orleans S

aints NFL team this year at the Superbowl. Cyndi our Texan friend, Jess, Kevin, Ernie (also originally from Texas) and Merrilyn all piled into their living room to watch the game over red beans and rice and beinets (french donuts). It was quite the game and of course we were all were super happy Greg Brees the Christian quarterback of the Saints got to give thanks to God and bring the glory back to our incredible author and finisher of our fate. Does God like NFL? I think so!

As part of wanting to be a little spo

ntaneous and adventurous this month, Kev and I decided to go horse riding in Abbotsford one weekend. It was the perfect country getaway for the city-slickers, and of course I ended up with Phoniex, a cantankerous old horse who lik

es to be in front and take his own path or else the butt of the horse in front will get bitten! Kev’s horse Monty, was the victim of some bum-biting at various times throughout our ride. We even got to canter on the horses at the end, which was quite exciting for me, who has ridden only once and been terrified by horses. I overcame – yippee! Kev was an old pro, a cowboy on the ranch from way back – what a stud!

And on the home front, we had to say goodbye to our dear friend Jojo this month, as he was deported back to Germany after a fiasco of trying to line up work in Canada, to no avail and of course no mercy was given at the border and lets just s

ay in seven days, Jojo had cleaned out his room, handed over his keys and gifted me his car. It was a sad and sudden departure but as we all feel, not the last time we’ll see our crazy German friend.

If anyone’s on Facebook, Jojo apparently is an excellent farmer!

Disclaimer: I personally do not endorse Farmville, or encourage consecutive hours at ones computer harvesting tomatoes or finding ugly ducks.

And as one dear friend leaves, another arrives. Yes, Rob ‘Shanks’ Luke is in town and he brought the vegemite from Australia! G’Day Robbo! Yes infact I have just come back from greeting him as he is now living upstairs in Jojo’s room. Rob Ting, Eleni, Elias, Pete, Kev and myself were all treated to a little Aussie Kangeroo Jerky. Yes, it exists, some company had thought upon this as a good thing. Let us tell you – it’s not. Not after Tikka Masala and Beef Rendang, anyways. But the fantails, minties and timtams were fine. All Aussie treats for the sweet tooth, which unfortunately and possibly for the long-term fortunately, Kevin and I do not gorge on since switching to a lifestyle of no sugar. Well, no artificial sugars – honey counts!

Well, that’s February and it’s full steam ahea

d in March as we kick off this weekend with the Restoring the Foundations course that Kev and I went down to the States to do last January. Wayne and Marilyn are coming up to Vancouver to host a weekend conference at our church and what we thought was going to be a more intimate weekend is no

w at nearly 100 people. We definitely will have our hands full as we help on the team of ministering to the crowd. Keep us in your prayers!

The Friesen New Year Update

Howdy All!

Of course new years greetings are in order, and we both

hope you are kicking off 2010 with positive reformation.

Christmas was spent at home this year, in our cosy Vancouver ground floor suite, decorated with tree and stockings

above the rarely used fireplace. Incase your wondering there two reasons why

the fireplace hasn't been used. Firstly, the ventilation is poor

and the smoke doesn't get sucked up the chimney properly. Secondly, the temperatures here in Vancouver this winter have been unusually warm, with most days above 5 degrees, so we haven't needed the extra firery warmth.

Just before New Year, Kevin and decided to getaway to the Sunshine Coast for wee time-out and soak up the splendour of God's marvellous nature. Our accommodation was nestled into Pender Harbour a quaint little community amidst the foggy hills and marina of still wate

rs and sailboats. It was a breath of fresh air and a moment of connecting to the rawness of the natural surrounds.

We shared New Years with some wonderful adopted family playing Scrabble and writing words like woot snarf in the Cranium Story Book belonging to Jeremy, our quasi-nephew. And although almost every New Years Eve for Kevin and myself has been centered around a rumbunctio

us socializing event, we determined that this year we wanted to keep it intimately low-key, and not even too concerned with counting down the seconds to yet another year. And may I say we both enjoyed our choice immensely, slow dancing in the living room to one of our favourite bands Delerious.

A few changes have crept into the Friesen Empire this last month, with Kevin taking on a new full-time job i

n construction, training to be Foreman on site. The workload has definitely taken some getting used to with 630am alarms and 8-10 hr days engaging in heavy labor. Of course I've found enjoyment in this transition by packing lunches and writing notes on sandwich bags aaand occasionally crawling back into bed for an extra hour of sleep! What?! One day the empire will expand and lets just say I am taking my liberties as they come!

I am still teaching ESL at a private college for Chinese and Taiwanese students and have been enjoying the opportunity to not only improve the students english but refine mine as well! It can never hurt having good diction when you speak, trust me, pronunciation and grammar truly is crucial to one's success in this crazy world.

Recently Kevin and I have engaged in praying more intensely for our church and what we believe is "preparing the field" for great things to come within our community and also within our personal lives. The message of being ready to receive the rain that waters our field has been strongly influencing our attitudes of late and challenging us to step up and out in faith that God is truly bigger and more capable than us; a heavenly Father with a desire to bless his children. The neat part is, is when we chose to start actively applying this to our life, things started to change in positive measure. I was asked to share my testimony at a Women's Brunch for ladies in the community, which may I say was a great and humbling experience, as I shared the heart of who I was with women who connected and supported fully the pains and victories in my life. Simultaneously, our women's ministry at the church is starting to take root and grow, although at grass roots level, it is obvious we've planted an oak tree seed and well, you know how big oak trees are once fully grown! Kevin has also experienced growing opportunities to help and encourage men in the workplace and within our community, with

positive results. Apparently the construction site has never sounded so 'family-friendly'!

The Young Adults Group in our community has been experiencing similar movements, with an urgency on wanting to be in a place to reach out to those in need and share God's love with them, preparing who we are and our church as a place where people can come and receive love, acceptance, not being judged but encountering the blessings of community. It's cool to see how so much of our vision is connected throughout our youth and elders, leaders and congregation and knowing that God really is at work with getting his people ready to be authentic and real so that we may share true relationship with each other. We were born for such a time as this!

A few extra highlights of the last month have been watching Terminator Salvation with Jojo and Rob, while Jojo laughs inappropriately at scenes we all remained sombre throughout.

Drumming and singing with the band at church, I 'm drumming, Kev's singing and well, two trained actors on stage with microphones and sticks is never dull, just ask our Worship Leader Suseh! Ice-skating with the crew. Dancing with Marcus, Kev and all the kids at church one Sunday, while Suseh rocked out a double encore for us! Welcoming back Eleni from her long and splendid global adventures with the African Children's Choir. Taking my other quasi-nephew Josiah who is just shy of two year old to starbucks and letting him ask for a steamed soymilk. Way too cute! Catching up with our dear friends Mark and Heather and their growing clan of Maillets, the new born Connor, is just precious and a spitting image of his Dad. Going to see Avatar with Jojo, who yet again laughed inappropriately throughout the 3-D movie experience. But the Flying Wedge pizza we smuggled in made up for it, even though I couldn't see the dipping sauce. Oh, and our cat Rax has not failed to amp up the cuteness for January, yes even when licking his butt, Rax is cute. End of story.

We are hoping to be a little more diligent with our updates, but just know if ou don't hear from either of us in a while, it's not because we don't love you...it's more likely because we have gotten sidetracked with life, as we all know, 'Life Happens!'

Be blessed and laugh more if you haven't already in the last 24 hrs,

Kev and Ames

Christmas Cheer from the Friesens

Make a Smilebox greeting

Greece: The Island Edition

Good Afternoon Wonders of

Creation!

The Island Edition a la Greece has arrived for your viewing and I am just thankful I got it done before 2010!

Here are some of the photographic delights from the Islands.

The top three are from the Isalnd of Aegina, just off the mainland near Athens. Quaint yet gorgeously coloured and oozing with g

reek island charm, we loved our short time of solitude in Aegina. As you can see it is very much a fishing village, with many boats being the 'office/store' for locals businesses.

The next three are all from the Island of Corfu nestled to the North near the coast of Albania and surrounded by the Ionian sea, which you see Kev immersed in. We shared a week in a gorgeous little apartment with Ernie and Merrilyn and enjoyed some of the windiest and dangerous roadtrips I have ever been on, through narrow

greek streets and olive groves. But praise God, we survived to tell the tales!

There were moments where building a primitive beach hut from scratch was necessary to hold back the scorching sun and swarm of greek wasps that apparently were very attracted to Canadians.

We even got to hire a scooter for a day and take a tour of the gorgeous little villages and beaches, settling in Sidari a tourist town, for a quick bite of souvlaki's the size of footballs.

Speaking of food. Kev and I had some of the best Mousakka and Carbonara ever tasted here on Corfu. Ernie and Merrilyn can testify to that!

Our last week in Greece was spent on the geographically rare island of Santorini. An island formed by the crater of a volcano, which I was hoping would at least puff, a little whilst we were there, but no. The last three pics are of us and some of the uniquely Santorini moments we experienced. The donkeys, lined up and waiting in droves on the steep and winding cobbled roads for tourists to pay ten euro for a ride. The black sanded beaches from the ancient volcanic lava flow down the mountain side and the deep blue scenery and white stucco buildings, all etched in our minds as one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Greece: The Ruins Edition

Yiassu Everyone!
That's a Greek greeting right there, and this is a Greek blog of all our tasty little adventures we had while galavanting the Greek mainland.

In fact I am actually just going to post a bunch of pics for now, to get you all visually acquainted with Greece.

So the above is the Parthenon at the Acropolis, Athens.
Left is one of many dogs who look dead, yet are just sleeping in their ancient habitat of Athens on the steps leading up to The Acropolis.

Left is a broad view of the Propylaia, Acropolis.

Below right is the Goddesses of the Temple of Dionysus.

Below left is the Temple of Olypmia Zeus. Only some of many pillars left standing.

We absolutely loved checking out the ruins, more than we expected! There is something to be said about experiencing buildings and monuments that are 5000 years old and still here, almost better than some of the houses the locals are living in. You gotta know God's a big God if these monolithic structures are still standing!

And left, is again the Temple of Olympia Zeus with the Acropolis perched high off in the distance.

We gad such a blast this day, studying the Book of Acts from the Bible and collecting old fossil rocks.

Well, to all a goodnight or goodmorning! And we shall keep you up to date with the next Greece blog of our island tour.

Be blessed,

K and A

The Last Four Months

Hey Guys!

It's been a scrumptious, fun-filled and stretching last few months here at our new habitat the Friesen home. We have indeed calmed down from all the post-wedding buzz and adjustments of living together 24/7. Now we feel it's time to finally share a few key things that have been happening in our world.

I will have to use point form, for an easy reader's digest:

• May was the month for a quick honeymoon getaway to the Sunshine Coast, BC. It was an incredibly scenic and much-needed wind-down time for us. We even scored a free night at the luxurious RockWater Resort for having a less than pleasant one-night stay in our tent-house suite. Kevin has more opinions on this, which I am censoring for the purpose of this blog!


• June was the induction for us as newly weds to embrace the summer. Quite a few roadtrips and moments relishing each other in the sun. Of settling in and finishing some painting in our apartment was in order, as Dad and Jules had already set us up for the job, with a half-finished room!


• July brought warmer weather and a few roadtrips were underway for the Friesens. The nice part was that when we went to stay overnight with our friends, we got to sleep in the same bed finally! Yes we kept it fairly pure leading up to the nuptials.


• August was at its best this year kicking us off with a stellar roadtrip through BC all the way to Montana, USA. We felt on our hearts to meet up with friends of ours that we met in Mozambique in 2007, for the August long weekend and evidently they were in Montana Aug 1st and 2nd. So off to Montana we drove and twelve hours later were extremely thrilled to find that the Amish community we were destined to stay with were still awake to receive us at 1230am! A fantastic crew from Nashville was also passing through on their 'Rolling Thunder' tour of fresh worship and creativity for Jesus. We felt like we had met our extended family! Our friends Jeffrey and Caryn-Beth were on a creative pilgrimage painting a series of 12 - martyrs for Jesus. We had the honor of seeing painting number 4 unfold before our eyes, as Jeffrey painted day and night while the Nashville crew jammed out in the open blue sky country of Montana. We felt so blessed and honored to had been invited to stay with this beautiful Amish community, who truly were family, as Kevin later discovered his roots had ties to the Amish. It was divinely appointed!


• Still in August, Kevin and I were able to put 'Team Frisesn' to the test and work on our first film project together for a friends wedding. A very delightful event and extremely successful day for the Friesens! We both felt very edified and are excited to work together on more projects in the future. One namely: Paths of Dust and Hope, which is being resurrected as I type!


• And yes! Amy got her Canadian drivers licence!


• September was the lead up month to our Greece Honeymoon/pilgrimage we so eagerly were awaiting. In the throngs of daily life, God brought our dear friends from Montana to stay with us for a week and do painting #6 of the Martyr series at our church the Life Center. It was a great and blessed time as we also got to meet another couple from the States who were video documenting what Jeffrey and Caryn-Beth were doing. Kevin and I even gave up our humble home for three days to allow our guests a place to stay. No complaints of course, only because we got to go back to my old 'home' with pastors Ernie and Merrilyn (for those of you that don't know these wonderful people have adopted me in as a daughter and let me live with them for a year and half before getting married).

• And so ends our time before Greece....and a brand new adventure to write. Keep posted for the next chapter and just know that being married is incredible!
  

We're Back

Hey y'all we are back at the blogging. So sit back, relax and get ready for the ride of your day!