Mourning the dead

I don't know a single one of the 33 people killed today at Virginia Tech. But I mourn their deaths, and cry for their families tonight.

I was feeling sorry for myself today. I had a very unexpected (and expensive) van repair today. That's still painful.

But then I realize just how blessed I am to have my wife and my children safe at home with me at this moment.

What's up with this world that people commit such blatantly horrific acts? Donald Miller describes the problem well in "Blue Like Jazz" - the root of our problem is that we are self-absorbed. This person didn't consider others... he considered his own pain (or whatever the hell his reasons) to be more worthwhile than the 32 (+ families) other lives he destroyed. What a fool! I so want to use other words to describe him, and yet, I am called to love my enemies. I'm having difficulty... and I wasn't even personally affected.

I simply cannot imagine the pain of losing one of my children. I don't know how people live with the grief.

*sigh*

In memory of Craig's guitar

Craig recently bought a beautiful new acoustic - a "Cole Clark" from Australia. Not only does it look beautiful, but it sounds incredible. Such a warm, full tone. Lots of bottom end. You can see it below in several of the Good Friday pictures.

Yesterday morning, before the 3rd service, it fell off the stand and the headstock snapped off.

It was a sad moment for many of us. Craig is heartsick.

May you be resurrected soon, beautiful guitar. The question remains... even if you can be fixed, will you ever be the same?

Things I'm looking forward to this summer

At this moment, it's 5 degrees here. Normal highs for this time of year are low teens. A couple weeks ago, we had low to mid 20s and sunshine. Now I haven't seen much sun or temps above 5 for several weeks. Ugh. Spring came out for a bit, but it must've gotten chilly, so it went back inside by the fire. It's so bleh here I can't stand it.

So in anticipation of warmer weather, I thought I would make a list of things I'm looking forward to:

- Sandals, shorts and t-shirts without the long sleeves underneath
- Hearing the birds every morning
- Actually needing my sunglasses because it's too bright
- Opening the sunroof all the way (and not putting on the heat to compensate)
- Playing at various parks with the girls
- Picnics at those same parks
- Swimming at the pool
- Saturday afternoons at the beach
- Going to Gravenhurst to pick up my new kayak
- Kayaking the Grand River
- Kayaking Cootes Paradise
- Kayaking 16 Mile Creek
- Kayaking the Saugeen River
(noticing a theme here?)
- Kayaking the Hamilton Harbour
- Camping with the girls
- Camping and paddling with just Arja
- BBQing without wearing a jacket
- Mowing the lawn
- Sitting on the porch with Arja after the girls are in bed
- Ancaster Heritage Days Parade
- Canada Day
- Spending a weekend at a cottage
- Slow walks with Arja and the girls
- Working with Kanah on her biking - riding without training wheels
- Helping Taly become more accustomed to her trike
- Cleaning up the car and keeping it clean
- Walking the boardwalk at RBG and watching the birds eat from Arja's hands
- An afternoon pint on the patio at St Louis, Montana's or Jack Astor's
- Setting up the tent in the backyard for the girls
- Fresh strawberries
- Fresh peas
- Fresh corn
- Family Camp @ Kahquah? (the jury is still out on that one)
- Watching Kanah shred it up on a tube behind a boat
- Baptisms in 16 Mile Creek
- The Bruce Peninsula
- Canada's Wonderland
- Taking each of the girls kayaking

Ahhhh - that feels a little bit better.

World Hunger Fund Piece

Here is a presentation I put together this weekend for our denomination's annual conference. There are few mediums that are, for me, as effective at conveying information AND emotion as the combination of text, imagery and music! I've become a bit of a one-trick-pony, though, in that much of my work looks the same. I said that once to a coworker, and he said, "No Jamie - you are a consistant artist." I think one-trick-pony is a funnier way of saying it. :)

Imago Christus - Good Friday 07

Good Friday is one of those highly significant days in the annual life of The Meeting House. It's one of the times that all our sites gather together for services in Oakville. It's also one of the times that we break from our standard mold of service and try to come up with something really special and creative.

After the incredible service we did in 2006, some of us thought we'd never pull off another like it again. But God has gifted us with some incredibly talented and creative people, and once again, we were inspired to pull together something that was very meaningful, artistic, contemplative, and worshipful.

No point in going into alot of detail - it's not possible to explain it with words. If you weren't there, you missed something special.

But I do have photos to share. These photos really highlight one thing well - the incredible lighting. Kudos to Dave B. for his beautiful work over the past couple months in designing the light show that we currently have. We rented a fantastic hazer that really made the lights so much more effective.

Enjoy the photos. Thanks to Dave M. for shooting them!

One of the many pieces of artwork in the background.


"Purple Haze"


Jamie Ball worships as he shreds on the electric!
Behind - Josh Harris laying down the funk.


Three lovely ladies lead with passion.
L to R: Amy, Michelle, Sarah


One of the most gifted music pastors in Canada!


Dave's lighting creates incredible depth of stage.
On Craig's left - Juan - our brilliant percussianist.
On Craig's right - Steve - one killer bassist.


My TMH acting debut.


A great shot of the stage and video.

Picnic @ Webster's Falls

Living on the edge of the Niagara Escarpment has its advantages. Besides the famous Niagara Falls, there are numerous other water falls. Hamilton actually has many of them.

One of the neat things about our area is the numerous walking trails, conservation areas, streams, falls, etc. We have started in years past to explore some of these and use them as opportunities to get the girls interested in the beauty of nature.

This past Friday was one of those opportunities. It was a lovely spring day - a little chilly and partly sunny, but still nice. So we decided to do the first picnic of the year. About 15 minutes drive from our house is "Webster's Falls Conservation Area", near the town of Dundas.

We had a nice picnic near the stream (which at this time of year was more of a river!). Then we found the trail (okay - more like TONS of steps) that leads down the escarpment to the bottom of the falls.

What a wonderful experience. Almost as impressive as Niagara Falls and so much more natural and non-commercialized... and all within a short drive. And this is just the beginning. There's many more waterfalls to see... the walking trails/boardwalk along the Grindstone Trail (where the birds eat from your hands)... the creek minutes from our house... the beach at Christie Lake... and of course, many opportunities to paddle once I pick up the boat! We certainly do love being outside in the spring.

Here's a few pictures from the day....

The Falls from below.


Anyone ready to paddle?


Three Wonders of God's Creation!


The Family @ the Falls

Ottawa from the 8th Floor

Here I am, sitting at the computer in the apartment of the Member of Parliment for Kitchener-Conestogo. This is the man that used to be my dentist, then he became my father-in-law and then he became my pastor. But I guess he got bored, so he decided to run for office. What a career path!

The view from up here isn't much worth mentioning. Just another apartment building across from us.

We arrived in Ottawa yesterday for our first family visit. A short 6 hour drive in the Honda and we were here before lunchtime. I'm not sure what was the highlight yesterday - viewing parlimentary "Question Period" (what a bunch of over-grown boys bantering and heckling each other!), or the date night with Arja while Grandma kept the girls. Okay - the date night wins! But Question Period *was* fun.

We were quite impressed with Prime Minister Harper. He handles himself well, speaks clearly, switches back and forth between French and English with great ease, and responds to criticism with passion.

Considering I'm not a Canadian Citizen yet and thus cannot vote, I haven't ever really aligned myself with any party or platform. But I would probably support the Conservative Party based on yesterday's observations.

We also got to hang out at the MP's office for a bit - not a shabby place.

The Centre Block of Parliment is amazing. I didn't do a tour yet, but what I saw of the building is incredible.

Dinner was nice. We went to a casual upscale place called The Blue Cactus. Arja had the most incredible (virgin) Strawberry Daquiri ever! I *settled* for a pale ale. ;)

After dinner was of course the obligatory stop for Starbucks. I know Craig thinks they are evil... but I refuse to believe it. The price I pay makes me believe they MUST be paying fair-trade prices. Okay - I should do my research I guess. I'm afraid to - ignorance allows me to enjoy the coffee experience. I certainly have turned into a coffee snob, though. The Tim Horton's coffee at 5:30am on the drive up was drinkable (Starbucks wasn't open yet), but it certainly wasn't "wonderful" like the Starbucks in the evening was!

Arja gets to go to the Chinese Embassy today with mom - some reception for MP's spouses. I'm taking the girls swimming down in the apartment and then just hanging out. Dinner is at the Parlimentary Restaurant tonight.

What a beautiful city this place is. I could hang out here for longer, especially in the summer. I hear that the paddling in the Ottawa River is incredible. You can also paddle through the locks in the Rideau Canal. That would be fun. But I would have just as much fun hanging out downtown - trying all the pubs and restaurants, seeing all the upscale shops, etc.

So that's the first 24 hours in a nutshell.