Your Blog has been hakked....by THIS guy....

Unbeknownst to some, Corinna and I have been married for eight years already. I have heard it said that as we get older time picks up speed, and I may be willing to admit there is some truth to the rumor. When I think about how many things we have done together, yet how quickly time has gone I am amazed.

I want to take you back a few years....

Summer 1995. I was a staff member at Camp Qwanoes, having what was, at that point, the summer of my life. I remember very vividly how much I loved being there and meeting all these amazing people, some of whom have without doubt defined who I am today. One person in

particular would fall into that category. This was the summer I first met Corinna. I really didn't know her at all that summer, beyond a few brief chats. She was simply the girl with the bright eyes and the great smile. And she liked to laugh....a lot. The joy that exuded from her was

undeniable, and won her over many friends at that place. I am sorry that I never threw you down Big Blue...your time is still coming ; )

Fast forward a few months and we would become "Buds". For the next few years we would hang out from time to time (mostly summer to summer in that place where we first met) and as time would go on other places too. At the time I could not have ever imagined the amazing journey that God had planned out for us....that I still have the joy of embarking on even this day.

Corinna is an adventurer at heart. Though there are adventures she would rather not be a part of (like bungee jumping or riding Big Thunder Mountain), she has managed to go on some spectacular journeys in her young life. Journeys that have taken her and her backpack across Europe and into Russia, all the while surviving on gelato, bread, cabbage and boiled meat. She has watched the sun set on the African plain and awoken with clouds in her bedroom high in the Alps. She has navigated routes through Joshua Tree and survived the freezing winds of Mt.

Rainier. Through it all she has grown, been stretched and gained an amazing view of this world,

one which she has shared with me. Though I am not an experienced traveler by her standards, I have been able to live vicariously through her stories and pictures, just as you have by reading

her many blog entries throughout the years. I look very much forward to the adventures I will get to share with her in the years to come...I just hope I can keep up with her!

The second time Corinna went to Russia was the first time I noticed her in a different light. I actually have a photo of the moment something snapped in my soul regarding this girl who would become my lover and best friend.

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We were at the airport. A number of us had decided to see Corinna off on another adventure, and as we hugged and she walked down the ramp towards the gates, something inside this blonde-haired young guy seemed to say "That is a sweet girl". We had been friends for three years, but suddenly I wanted to be something more. We chatted here and there while she was gone, and upon her return we began hanging out again, but this time it was different for me.

We started dating in 1999. It was a rainy day at Camp Qwanoes. Cor was in her gumboots (little did I know how much she loved those things), and as the rain fell and the leaf boats floated down their little rivers, a relationship began that would change our lives forever. We had our ups and downs throughout the next 4 years, but would ultimately ride that relationship to the height of the the human experience in our marriage in 2003.

We have had many adventures since that day...surfing the coast, moving to the prairies, having children, changing jobs, and trying to make the most of every day. The one constant in my life has been her. Her passion that is contagious. Her courage to move forward. Her desire to make the most of the journey that our Father has laid before her. Her love for the needy, most of whom she has never met. Her deep desire to build meaningful relationships. Her steadfastness in raising up our daughters in the ways they should go. The sacrifices she has made to be a wonderful mother. The ways she cares for me despite the challenge that I pose. I love her for all these reasons and thank her for how good she has made the journey.

I see us growing old together, laughing at our gnarly grey hair and forming the story's that will create the wrinkled old faces that even now she loves. I will always be your stoic Asian man, and I hope you will be my cute little Asian wife, flower in hand and twinkle in your eye.

I love you Cor...as big as a million.

time on the island part one

every year we spend a few...maybe a few more than a few...days with my mom on the island. i'm pretty sure she waits with anticipation for us to come...and then for us to go home. we make her do the impossible, but she is joins us for every adventure, in fact she plans them herself.

day by day this is what it looks like to spend ten days with my mom.

saturday

we arrived in the early afternoon with enough time to have lunch with my grandparents and great uncle frank. lunch is always my favorite at this house, cheese biscuits, pickles, and tuna buns. we sat outside and played police man, dragging my 6"4 grandfather off to jail for being bad and then ran around the backyard trying to escape said man by crawling under the fence by the potted plants around the patio...my heart soon settled and we continued playing police man.

sunday

the beach called us by name. we walked the long trail by sitting lady falls to wittys beach. that's home for me, a place with many memories and stories. we packed a lunch and after playing, some of us ate like queens while others swatted bees, made sure plates were full and everyone was happy. we built sand castles, hunted for crabs, found a massive crab, played kitty in the sand, found out that my oldest would rather live with her nana, made (a bit of) fun of my mom, laughed pretty hard about it, continued building the sand castle, later jumped on the castle and then eventually, much later, we began our journey home.

monday

my mom took the girls "back to school" shopping. i thought about it later, really it is such a blessing to have someone in your life who cares enough to offer help in a small way (huge really), like offering to help you buy your kids some new fall clothes. a blessing. we couldn't do that on our own, at least not the way my mom provides. for that i want to say thank you. thank you for taking care of my kids in a manner that seems to excite you, for providing something simple yet so necessary. i think it is a quality that i saw come out in you more than ever before. you care for others, you protect them, you offer others care in a way that is far more than deserved.

tuesday

the museum. i had this idea in my head ever since we took the preschool group to the fort langley historical museum, and i was so excited about the potential to take the girls to the royal british columbia museum. so we went. with mouths opened wide and an exclamation of "wow" at the entrance to every exhibit we explored the museum. we took the girls to the imax show of "born to be wild" and sat with eyes glued to every moment...and hands full of crackers. it was amazing and beautiful. we explored the rest of the museum and sailed with captain george vancouver, panned for gold during the gold rush, visited the old town and sat to wait for the train. we discovered sea life from a submarine and experienced the ice age with a rather scary mammoth. kinda looking forward to the next time we can go.

wednesday

fort rod hill. one of those places that the girls can run, that they can learn (i think, i hope), that we can explore. we traveled here with our steady and true fort rod hill gang. this year we were able to watch a navel ship come into port from the light house, and it seemed to make the experience even more real. we explored the underground tunnels and maybe even preformed an act or two, maybe this was my highlight. we picked up beach rocks and shells and the girls were taught to collect things from their auntie shan.

the next few days and adventures are yet to come...

going back

i need to go back in time. there are some events that have yet to be recorded and i have a moment, right now, in the computer/pantry/storage room to take a minute and remember. lets start back in august. august long weekend actually.

what started out as a potential preschool campout at miss diane's lake turned into something else completely. and however painful some of the experiences were that others walked through around this time, i am thankful for the opportunities it gave us as friends and community to draw closer together, to support and encourage one another, to love and be loved by others. this for me was a turning point in our friendships. to see how greatly they cared for one another, to see the thanks that could find no words yet was written across faces, these were the moments that solidified my love. i don't easily say that i love someone, i find it a word that is passed so often it lacks any meaning. i am not one to go there, unless i mean it. if i tell you i love, know that it is true. know that it is a process, grown and tried, it is not just a word to me, it is not something you say to one you merely like, it has power and substance. and so, i began to love these women, their hearts, characters, joys and hurts. it is something that i hope our girls will find in friends one day, friends who stand by, pick up the slack and encourage one another to live better than they are.

all in all, the weekend was not something that needed to happen the way we thought it would. it couldn't. in the meantime, those lovely neighbors of ours, the kellers, invited us to return to the cabin at shuswap with them. and so we did. there was every family member there, aunts, uncles, grandparents, siblings, other friends...and we just slid in as if we were supposed to be there. we were even close to winning the beanbag competition...well sort of. the captain took the girls on tube rides, we slept in the tent, we swam in the lake, ate like kings and queens, played cribbage (i did fairly well if i do say so myself...matt rode my coat tails), and laughed pretty hard alongside some really wonderful people. it was a blessing to be apart of their family (again) for the weekend.

chelly, penelope and i behind the boat scott, sophie and matt our dear friends, crazy but dear before the weekend was over, we headed back to langley, packed up the van for one last camp out and made our way to miss diane's lake with the daveys. we had a fire, sat together telling stories until too late and then woke to beautiful sunshine. we spent the day at the lake, swimming, running, having slurpees (a first for the girls) and just enjoying each other. we read in the shade of the trees on a blanket, it couldn't get much more perfect. the boys headed back to work on a deck and we joined them shortly after to have dinner together. this people mean the world to me, their kindness is one to strive after.

back home, we tucked the girls into bed and gave much thanks for the blessings we have received in life. really, we couldn't ask for much more.