Summer Thus Far.

Well as hoped, these summer months have been a hoot and a holler. Summer months are always highlighted with regular Ontario visitors who are wisely selective in their trip dates to rainy Vancouver - so far we're happily hosting from May to September!

Mom and Dad kicked it off parent style in May when they came out for a week and a half! It was the first time they were out the BC together since I moved here permanently and met Andrew. So it was a treat to host them in our new place! We peppered the week with Vancouver gems including boating in the Gulf Islands, Granville Island, Whytcliff Beach and English Bay, and had such good home-time playing games, eating meals and drinking coffee. And Mom was the catalyst in finishing our DIY table.

Happy 30th Anniversary! Our Gulf Island boating adventure.

Granville Island

Goofs.

Part two of Mom and Dad's trip was an Alaskan cruise to celebrate their 30 years together. We spent a couple days in Seattle before seeing them off.

Pike Place's original Starbucks

They loved the gum wall [not].

A visit to the Freemont Troll, holding a real VW Beetle!

June was a really exciting month for the community that I work in! - graduation month! I got to see a number of youth walk the stage that I've seen and journeyed with throughout their high school years. I felt a bit like a proud mamma, knowing what they have overcome and pushed through to get to their high school graduation. These kids continue to blow my mind and inspire my heart with their resilience, determination and hope.

Prom Night: Rebel, Leslie, Erica and Aliza - 4 best friends I've known for 5yrs

Shaniece and I at Native Grad - met this lovely lady in her summer before gr. 9

The Inner Hope cheer squad at Rebel and Erica's high school grad 

In June, my long term room mate, bridesmaid and friend Sarah Martin and her boyfriend Tyler were in town for a week. It was so wonderful to spend time in our city together! Both Sarah and I moved here together in 2009 and spent a year and a half as room mates as we figured out life in this place together. She's a dear sista and it was great to have her and Ty here!

Martin & I in a favourite coffee shop

Hiking the Chief in the rain

July visitors were our Vandenakerboom family! - Aunt Darlene, Uncle Joe and Maverick were here for 4 days to explore this city. They had some high priorities must-sees, which included riding the Sky Train, finding a star fish, visiting Science World and checking out the Vancouver Aquarium. We hit them all up! It was a new adventure seeing Vancouver through the eyes of a 5 year old who has high fascination levels!

Very Excited... but not sure about touching it!

A couple of really mature adults...

Exploring low tide at Spanish Banks

Girls getaway to Granville Island 

"Drove" the Sky Train for two+ hours!

Then the July outdoor adventures began. Let's just say we've slept in tents for a third of July and have hiked approximately 70km this month! First was Oregon and Mt. St. Helens, the Washington volcano that had a major eruption in 1980. We spent a couple nights with friends, camping and surfing on the Oregon Coast, then Andrew and I camped at the base of Mt. St. Helens and made the 16km, 8.5hr hike the next day up a lava flow. We had lunch basically dangling our feet into the volcano's crater! It was incredibly challenging but so amazing! 

Surfing at Short Sands

Deepwells & Hartungs

Kite flying on the beach

The lava flow 'trail' up to the crater

The crater of Mt. St. Helens!

Within 4 days of arriving back to Vancouver, we loaded up our packs and were ready for a 3 days hiking trip to Garibaldi Park with our friends Nancy and Stephen. It was a 9km hike in to where we camped by Garibaldi Lake, and we spent the second day making the climb up The Black Tusk - which, I thought Mt. St. Helen's was scary... climbing the last part of The Tusk was absolutely the most untrusted, fearful athletic feat I have ever done in my life.

We had the most splendid time with our friends, exploring my now new favourite place in BC. Camping and cooking by the glacier fed lake with the glacier looming in the distance, being above the snow topped mountains and resting in the beauty of the mountains - the best! :)

Stephen, Nancy, me and Andrew @ Garibaldi Lake

Glacier Sunset

When the hike became a climb...

Absolutely worth the view at the top of The Tusk!

Three days after getting back to Vancouver, AGAIN, we packed up for another camping trip - this time with my work, Inner Hope. We took half a dozen youth camping in Golden Ears Provincial Park. It it always both a treat and a gift to see these kids out of their urban neighbourhoods, without the burdens of their every day, playing and delighting in nature. I'd pay to see it in these kids I love.

Our hike to the waterfall

Andrew, as per usual...

The never ending game of trying to sit on a floating log

Our camping crew

And then, July 30th, was our 2nd anniversary! We ventured out to suburbian White Rock for dinner and a beach sunset. It was a delight to enjoy such a lovely evening together, reminicing about the last couple years, and dreaming about what's ahead. We're so thankful for our shared life!

The White Rock pier

It's been a fabulous summer so far! We're trying to make the absolute most of life and our shared free time before Andrew starts full time school in September. I'm so proud of him! 

Our First [and only!] DIY Project

Hello! Welcome to our first and only DIY. This blog, nor our life, will never be a place to read and be inspired to transform DIY things for your home. Why? Because it's unpredictable and time consuming, potentially expensive and we plain don't like it. Also, doing it all IN your apartment sucks.

But, we bought a table of Craigslist, it was a killer deal and we really liked it, and once we started to refinish it, you can't stop til it's done. So here is about 3 months worth of sawdust, wet paintbrushes, and a cluttered apartment for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy it... it will only happen this once. 

So we wanted to invest in a table. Both Andrew and my families grew up around dining room tables that continue to stand the test of time and hold hundreds of memories of hours of families meal times. We want to replicate that in our own family, and had never really had a real table yet in our marriage. That said, in true fashion, we didn't want to pay full price for ugly urban furniture. Then this gem popped up on Craigslist: table and 6 chairs from Chile. 

COOL. 

We went to see it; the guy had imported them from Chile when he moved to Canada. They're made out of a wood that's native to South America, so will never be found in Canada. 

DOUBLE COOL. 

We knew we would have to refinish the table top, since it was pretty dinged up and had water damage. No bigs, what's a little sanding? 

Done. Cha ching!  

We started using the chairs right away, and the table top was propped up like so in various parts of our 750 square foot apartment for... oh, 2 months. We were hesitant on starting, let's just say. 

Eventually, Andrew got sick of staring at a table top instead of eating off it, and got the party started. Hmmm. Where to sand a table down when you don't have a yard or garage? Oops, never thought of that one. Onto our tiny balcony it went! And thus began 3 hours of sanding...

The owner said the original finish was clear in colour, that there was no added tint in the stain. So, once sanded, I stained that baby! Yeah! Almost done!

Lack of garage = workshop in the living room for a weekend. 

 ...NOT. Lo and behold, the original stain WAS tinted. So we had 6 dark chairs, 2 dark table legs, and a super light table top. DOOM DAY.
"Is that that noticeable?"
"Do we have to sand and refinish the legs and, good lord... the chairs??"
Yep. It was super obvious. We knew it was now or never. So what was originally a 6hr project, was about to multiply.

Twenty five hours later, [read: dozens of pieces of sandpaper, two palm sanders, a handful of curse words and a litres of dust] Andrew established his superhero status and completed sanding the last chair. Count the spindles on those suckers. One, two, a heck-of-a-LOT.

Four coats of stain on these suckers x 1.5hrs each x 6 chairs = 9hrs of staining time

... + drying time in between coats = apartment turned cluttered workshop for another week+.

GONG SHOW.

Also, I ran out of stain and, being the genious I am, threw the empty can out before purchasing a new one. I got to the paint store and was surprised... "Oh... there's different varieties of this stain brand?"

Go home, raid through the dumpster in our alley for the discarded can (illegal disposal, yes), find the can, take it to the store, purchase the same kind.

Finish staining.

Get these outta my living room!

Okay. They dried. We put 2 in storage, and the seats back on them. Ahhh. Functioning home. Have guests over for supper again. Sweep the floor and dust for the trillionth time. 

Mom and Dad came out and also gained superhero status by spearheading the reupholstering. 

Step 1 - pick a fun fabric.

Step 2 - buy a membership to Fabricland so that you can get 50% off the fabric (as if I'll be using it ever again!)

Step 3 - recruit your super detail-oriented, slight perfectionist mom to figure out a system for fitting the fabric on the trickily shaped chair seats.

Step 4 - staple gun your heart out!
[Step 5 - run out of staples.]
[Step 6 - go to the store, buy the wrong staples, go back to the store, buy the right staples.]

Slap those bad boys back on the chairs and finally, finally, FINALLY! Three months later, have a completely restored, totally solid and beautiful, colourful dining set! Praise the Lord, we never have to do this again! (knock on Chilean wood chair leg)

Table set: $200

Palm Sander: $30

Sandpaper: $30

Stain: $50

Staple gun & staples: $20

Fabric: $70

TOTAL: $400

Sanding: 28 hours

Staining: 15 hours

Reupholstering: 3 hours

Random running around the city for supplies: 3 hours

TOTAL LABOUR: 49 hours

Total time to complete project once started: 1 month

Hopeful number of years our family will eat around this table: FOREVER. 

True confession.

"The first rule of writing is, never write what you know!"
- Jo March, of Little Women

I have been absent from writing as of late. I have this tendency... it's called, well, pride. And it translates often to me not journaling or writing because I feel like I've got to have things figured out before I put it on paper, because who know who will read it. There is this other tendency... people pleasing. Gotta make everyone think I have it all together. I remember wrestling with this since I was a teenager, playing the role of Sarah-super-Christian, especially as a summer Bible camp staff member.

Sarah: who has it all together, who has to be a super example.
Sarah: who seems to regularly end up in a leadership/pastoring position of young people. And needs to set a good example and be without reproach.
Sarah: needs to DAILY let go of these expectations! GAH!

I so enjoy writing - be it in a journal, or on a blog. I've learned that I process best introvert style - writing it out, in addition to Andrew being my verbal journal. But maybe I've not let myself share the process of figuring things out lately. This is something I want to overcome and be okay with communicating, humbly, evidently, that not everything has to be figured out all the time before I communicate it. Also, this gives other people permission to not have it together.

So here's to keeping it real. Again.

Cultivating a garden.

I planted these little guys in seed form about a month ago - in faith.
Faith and hope that they would sprout through the soil.
And now again, faith and hope that they will grow enough to support fruit.
And hopefully... soon I can have faith and hope that they will grow fruit! (well, vegetables).

But man, gardening is slow! And dirty. And so totally out of my control. But I so delight in the fruits of labour.

I'm learning lots of life from the first pages of the Bible - you know, the first Bible story you ever learn as a child, Adam & Eve, creation, animals, etc. How God put Adam in the garden to work it and keep it. And for him and Eve to 'be fruitful and multipy' so they too can go into the world to work it and keep it.
To cultivate.
To cultivate families.
                    the earth.
                    culture.
To shape, craft and beautify what God has made.

To work hard, and to rest well, since God is in control. He doesn't need my work, but he's invited me into it.
Into my marriage.
Into lives of East Vancouver youth.
Into my immediate [and future] family.

To cultivate the soil of hard hearts with gentleness and love.
To pull weeds in the hearts of those who haven't tended to their garden.
To water dry, weary hearts with rich, life giving truth, and set them in the warm sun.
To fertilize soil and water the gardens of flourishing fruits.
To delight in the sweetness of God's good work in those whose hearts are sitting in communion with him.

I'm learning that, because of sin, the world is so broken. Cultures are broken. Hearts are broken. We are broken on a molecular and a global level.
This makes work hard. Soil can be hard. Rocks and weeds run deep. Whether it's working in retail sports, or in a nonprofit environment, Andrew and I know every day that work is hard. Brokeness and sin pushes back. We work with broken people, and we ourselves are so broken; reliant on grace. Disorder is always increasing because we ruined the perfect order of the garden. But this: it's not supposed to be easy. Again, God promises that we will have huge challenges in this life. But that he is always with us, and will always win. Jesus already won. There WILL be rocky, tough soil, but he promises to grow his kingdom. And he does! Restoration of hearts and families among the garden. In this, we realize that any good that does happen, is a direct result of God's goodness.

A piece of my heart that came out in journal form at church this morning:
"I need to set my eyes on Jesus. To work hard and have peace about resting deeply (and allowing myself to cultivate other non-paid areas of my life) because God is above any work that I do - all fruit is from him. I need to set my eyes on Jesus, not on people and surroundings. 
Jesus, I set my eyes on you. 
On your work in my family.
                       in my marriage.
                       in East Vancouver.
                       in youth. 
                       in my coworkers."

Gardening is slow. God does slow work. But it's intricate and beautiful and the fruit is such a delight. 

Life as of late.

As people have genuinely been asking how the last week (or 3) have been, my mind feels stunted, I cannot remember, and I blurt out "good!" So bare with me as I recount the last bit of life; join along if you would like to know.

1. Easter. 
...was good. Being away from family, holidays continue to take on a new flavour, in this new-again city. We spent two of the days of the long weekend with friends. We conquered Lynn Peak, which involved lots of uphill hiking, deep snow at the top and a veeery slippery decent. Good friends of ours also hosted a Sunday night dinner/potluck, complete with roast lamb (Kiwi/Aus tradition), communion and games.

Easter was good. I'm learning how to really recognize the freedom and grace of Jesus dying and rising again. I'm learning how to renounce other kings in my life, and exalt Christ as my King. I am his child. He loves me and I love him. From that identity, I get to serve and live my life in many different areas: marriage, family, friends, work... keeping Christ as my King, who I worship.

2. Starting a little balcony garden.
Even if we can't spend much time on our balcony (it being on a busy, loud, often abrasive transport truck-lovin' street), I still want it to look pretty, which means growing things! I don't even know if I like growing things. But I figured I should try. So I bought seeds and a bag of dirt (yeah... this originally farm girl BOUGHT dirt... er... soil. Ridiculous). I scrounged alleys for discarded planters and pots, found plenty on Craigslist, and even bought one new. I learned what germinate means. Mom taught me to soak sweet pea seeds first. Some plants need to be started indoors (who knew?!). And off we go. Already I have lettuce, daisy and forget-me-nots sprouted! I can not WAIT for sweet peas to start. I planted a LOT. I want an out-of-control, billowing CRAZE of sweat pea pinks, purples, whites and reds growing up the wall!

3. Refinishing our new table.
We got a sweet dining set from Chile... ahem... Craigslist (but originally from Chile) for $200 - 6 chairs and a sturdy table. The table top had water stains and plenty of wear, so we decided to strip and restain it. It now looks AWESOME! Andrew probably invested 10hrs of sanding, and I put in 2 days worth of staining. It took time! But... we thought the stain was going to be the same colour as the chairs... it's not. They are still dauntingly looming on the next-to-refinish list. Andrew already sanded one; it took 3hrs. Only 5 more to go...

...complete with dead tulips & crooked frames. You're welcome! 

4. Work.
April's been busy. I had 4 days off this weekend; I haven't had 2 consecutive days off in a row in 17 days. I KNOW this is too much for me... and so I crashed this weekend. There has been a FUNshop on cooking, a games night, introducing new volunteers to the community, planning volunteer training, farewelling to a team member, coffee with volunteers, babysitting little ones, cooking with the bigger ones, an improntu baseball practice at the park, meeting for lunch over school lunch break and of course dreaming about prom and upcoming high school graduation with some of the girls. I love my job!

Our Inner Hope team (missing Jenny) on Bethany's last staff meeting day at our new local JJ Bean

5. Andrew's Selection Weekend @ Douglas College
Andrew has applied to Douglas College in Coquitlam (about 40min drive from us) for full time school in the fall! - for Child and Youth Care Counselling. It's a 2 year diploma, and Andrew hopes to go on and get his degree in 2 more years at the same campus. He so enjoyed his position at the youth custody in Kitchener, and feels like he's found his niche, both career and life-calling. He made the first cut, and was invited to a selection weekend in April, where they consider 120 people for the 30 spot program. Ask him - it was intense. He hasn't written an essay in almost a decade. So much group work, writing and sharing opinions and ideas - trying to impress the instructors, but not be over dominant. He has a strong advantage in being an older, mature male with life experience, but man, "We had to talk about feelings the whole weekend." The instructors commented on his maturity and sensitively (to women) (thank you, marriage), and strong leadership skills. It will still be another month before they announce their decisions - so we're really hoping and praying! This will dramatically change life for the next 4 years if he gets accepted!

6. My parents are coming in 17 days!

It will have been 8 months without seeing any of our family face to face. Mom & Dad celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary tomorrow and we're thrilled that they're pairing a week in Vancouver alongside with their celebratory Alaskan cruise. This will be the first time my parents have been out to visit together (they've always come separately) and this is obviously the first time we've been married and living in Vancouver. We can't wait to re-show them all our favourite parts of the city, hike the northshore, drive to Whistler, eat out at yummy restaurants, shop (with mamma), Granville Island, take them to our church, have them to Inner Hope for dinner, spend a night in Seattle with them... but mostly, I can't wait to have them in our home, cook dinner for/with them and of course... finish every day with a game, in true Hill fashion. The best part of living in Ontario last year was being geographically close to family to simply "share life". And we get to do this for 9 days here. We deeply miss our families; May 9th can't come soon enough!!