well, with the weddings of two good friends in the seattle/vancouver area within a month & a work trip to victoria (on vancouver island), our last month has been full of travel.

thankfully, we're completely enamored with our community along the northwest I-5 corridor, so the trips served as a welcomed respite from our current "trying-to-make-new-friends-in-a-new-place" stage of life. its been a month of sleeping on floors & couches & enjoying the hospitality of friends.

trip #1
seattle for james + katherine's wedding

bellingham: highlights with christina & lopez included breakfast in a diamond-shaped diner, record store browsing, great success at the goodwill & the creation of a gift.

seattle:ramsdales: highlights included buying coffee in the most beautiful cup, playing with wren & lucas, a tasty dinner, & a viewing of the inspiring documentary, Heima.

seattle:zack & amber: we spent the rest of our visit hanging out with the rocks. highlights included a feisty discussion on the artistic merits of justin timberlake's album, zack crushing my sigur ros hopes & dreams by showing me this terrible interview, a sleepover with veronica, & the happystance of running into a former roommate in capital hill.

seattle: j & k wedding- a charming wedding/bird themed reception + a reunion of old friends

[last two photos by jonathan]

[daniel's valentine's day art]

can't stop thinking about....community

"God’s love sets me free to enter into community with other people—even when the community is a very limited one and is not the total communion that my heart desires. Only when I live in communion with God can I live in a community that is not perfect. Only then can I love the other person and create a space in which we might be quite distant or very close, but we can still allow something new to be born—a child, friendship, joy, community, a space where strangers and guests can be received."

-Henri Nouwen-Lecture at Scarritt-Bennett Center

northern living

daniel & i are settling into our daily lives in our new home. while drinking wine & listening to the weakerthan's, surrounded by memories of other dwellings -our starlight from seattle, our wall hangings from fort langley, & our papercut prints from new york city -it is hard to imagine what our terrace incarnation will hold for us.

we are slowly developing the rhythms & routines that make this new (for me) & old (for daniel) environment feel familiar & like home.

here are some captured moments from our last few months...

[nathania's punky hair birthday]

[lots of scrabble, our latest board game preoccupation]

[a kindred spirit, our dear friend luke, visited terrace for a month]

[our record player survived a lonely year in storage]

[we got a consul that plays old nintendo games for christmas from amanda's parents. needless to say , we haven't' been sleeping much since this arrived........dr. mario now fills our dreams]


[experimenting with our new camera & andrew]

[family + christmas]

[skiing]

birthday thoughts from snowy dawson creek

blessed is the season that engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love
-hamilton wright mabie


(papercuts by nikki mcclure)

daniel's post

Well, one of the nice things about being back in Terrace is a brother who is always suggesting I accompany him on one form of outdoor event or another. Last week, at his suggestion, we went for a wonderful hike up the yet-to-be-opened ski hill. We caught some great turns in some beautiful backcountry. This weekend Amanda made the elite list as official display artist for the upcoming Ten Thousand Villages sale. Leaving me with the option of making a few brotherly suggestions. Here is a photo-glomerate I made from the afformentioned ski-trip.

communion + community

it is not easy words we say, nor is it the gifts we give that make us friends. friendship invites us to share not only bread broken, but our brokenness. friendship invites us to share not only wine poured into glasses, but our lives poured out.... we remember Jesus best when we are faithful to our lives and when we share in faithful friendship. this is our memorial to him, the memorial to which He calls us in each eucharist.

- paula ripple