I suppose this is a bit dusty ...

A good friend of mine reminded me about my blog, and how I don't really use it much anymore. Thus I am generating another post.

The past few months have been crazy. Working at Kiewit since January has been such a period of growth. I have screwed up many times, learned from my mistakes, and kept on walking. But who really wants to talk about work when they aren't at work. I certainly don't want to today, so that's all I'm going to say about that.

One topic I could go on and on about is Sarah. If you are reading my blog, you most likely know who I am talking about. Sarah is my most wonderful girlfriend whom I do very much love! To say that the past year has been an easy time for us would be a lie, but I am glad that we are able to encounter adversity so early on in our relationship. These trials and tribulations have defiantly taught us much about ourselves and each other.

That being said, not everything has been so doom and gloom with us. We have been grateful to share with 2 couples this summer who have joined themselves in marriage. I has been a unique experience for me. I have never really had an opportunity to go to a wedding where the bride or groom was a friend of mine. This has only made me more excited for more of my friends to get married (of course I am not pressuring any of you, but I do want to be there if, and/or when you get hitched).

Sadly though, Sarah has left Edmonton for the rest of the summer. Her life has been full of a myriad of changes lately, and she needed to go home for the rest of the summer. Being the eternal optimist, I have taken this change with a grain of salt. Although I do not in any way love being away from Sarah, it forces us to communicate much more, and in the end I do believe that we will be stronger when all of this is said and done.

For all of you out there who are wondering if Sarah and I are engaged yet, I will tell you now that we are not. That is that, and we will leave that subject alone.

Lets move on in my life ... we still have a good chunk to cover (although I have already talked about the best part ... and if you can't figure out which one was the best part I think we need to talk more).

I have also taken up reading again. This has been a wonderful experience that I do truly miss. I was reading a lot when I was in school, but then when I started working I got bogged down and didn't seem to make the time (as I believe we all have enough time, we just don't make time for certain activities). To give you an update on the books that I am reading, I currently have bookmarks in 2 books (plus the bible). The first one is a book that I have been trying to start and finish for a few years now, it is "War and Peace". It is such a literary giant that I feel I need to read it if I am going to consider myself educated. The second book that I am reading (and am currently spending the most time in) is "The Saucier's Apprentice". This is a wonderful book about a man in his 50's who is trying to discover food, and his journey doing this.

As for the bible, there has been a few verses that have stuck out to me in the recent months. The first one was 1 Timothy 3:1-5. It has turned into my life verse. This is the man whom I want to become. By no means and I there yet, but I would like to believe that I am well on my way. I don't think I need to say anything more, I hope it speaks to you.

1 This is a trustworthy saying: “If someone aspires to be an elder,^[a] he desires an honorable position.” 2 So an elder must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife.^[b] He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. 3 He must not be a heavy drinker^[c] or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money. 4 He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him. 5 For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church? - 1 Timothy 3:1-5

The second verse is from the book of Daniel. When the days have been hard, or when the nights have been long, I have turned to this verse for encouragement.

19 “Don’t be afraid,” he said, “for you are very precious to God. Peace! Be encouraged! Be strong!” - Daniel 10:19a

Well, I think that is enough for tonight. I hopefully will be posting much more frequently (not that it's hard to post more than once in about 7 months).

As time goes by

I know its been a long time since I've blogged, but I haven't really been in the blogging mood of late. But I have had a lot of things happen in the last while.

First of all, the day before yesterday was my last day of classes! I can't believe they are already done. It is such a great feeling. Now I just have to be able to make it through finals. Also - on the school front- I have been talking to a professor at the University of Alberta, and I pretty much have a job for my last 2 Co-op terms [they are consecutive 4-month terms starting in January and ending in August 2008]. I will be doing some projects in his lab, and get a feel for what I want to do. Yes, for what I want to do. I have pretty much made up my mind that I am going to do graduate work in Mechanical Engineering. I always have loved learning, and engineering is really interesting so I thought why not. But, to do the graduate work you want to do you need tor receive a NSERC scholarship. And here is where the hard part comes in. To be eligible to receive an NSERC scholarship you need to have an A- average, which for all of you who know the 4-point GPA scale that corresponds to a 3.7 GPA. I will admit that I have never gotten that high of a GPA, and as this is my first semester to be working towards that; I have to really do amazing in my finals.

So that's school. That is now just part of my life. At the end of this month I will have been dating Sarah for 6 months. I can't believe how fast these 6 months have went by either! This month is also special for us because it is Sarah's 21st birthday on April 18th [so don't forget to wish her a Happy Birthday!]. We have been busy together, now that we have started to overlap our lives so much.

Yesterday [saturday] my roommate -who is training with Edmonton Fire- invited us to a most amazing event! He called this event a 'burn'. In a 'burn' the instructors set their concrete building on fire. Then the trucks are deployed and it is treated as a real fire and they have to put it out and save the people who are trapped inside. So it was just good to be able to get out there and support my roommate who has to put up with me day in and day out. When we [Sarah and I] were leaving my condo I decided that fire and firefighters make great pictures, so I took a few while I was there. When I was taking them I found this man [who is the firefighter in both of the pictures] who seemed to be the epitome of what I think is a firefighter. He is obviously weathered, as can be seen by his face and by his clothes; but he is also a very kind man. He sat beside those two kids for at least 15 minutes, just talking to them and being around the. I have no idea if he knew them, but as many firefighters are, he was a model citizen. It was sort of like Jesus, who sat with those who were neglected. He [Jesus] was also not afraid to be seen with children; it was quite the contrary! This challenged me by showing me just how much I have to still learn. This man probably had better things to do than to just sit and entertain these children, but instead he took some of his time and invested it with them.

I don't remember if I mentioned in my last blog, but I am now employed! I have a job for the summer working with Kiewit. Kiewit is an engineering company that deals with construction. One of their largest projects is the Sea to Sky Highway that goes from Vancouver to Whistler [it is being built because of the Olympics]. From what I have heard thus far I will be working in their estimating department. This is a Godsend in my books! I was afraid that I was going to sent out of Edmonton for the summer, but their estimating department is based here in Edmonton. So in the next week or two I should be finding out where I will be assigned.

So I hope this gives all of you a glimpse back into my life. I hope that I will be a better blogger in the near future [and take more photo's as well]. I may even try a photo story too!

God Bless.