Race to 2025

A few weekends ago, Lowell participated in an adventure race with his cousins Stephen & Jordan, and his brother-in-law (once removed) Lance. (The same dudes that did the triathlon with us.)

The two-day race for Extreme Missions and Bible translation was put on by Wycliff Bible translators for the purpose of raising both awareness and finances for Bible translation and mission work in other countries.

The boys were team “Feroge” (each of the teams were named after a Sudanese tribe). I knew their challenges included mountain biking, canoeing, hiking, orienteering, and linguistics, but I (like them) had no idea how grueling it was going to be.

This is what the race included:

Nearly two hours of white water canoeing, ending in a one-kilometre portage.

Immediately after that, a hike up a 1,600 meter mountain, from where they had to find their way back via a different route using compass and map to arrive at the finish line eight to ten hours later.

As the teams raced along they had to meet a number of challenges: Set up a campsite correctly and quickly, following directions given in Swahili or Japanese by native speakers. Find a specific location on a map of Japan with the names printed in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet. Memorize a lengthy Bible passage.

The next day started with a timed hand-and-foot climb up a ten-storey high rock wall, another hike, then a two-hour race on mountain bikes to a narrow lake where they used canoes to ferry the bikes and themselves across to a simulated African village. Four mono-lingual speakers of Dinka, a Sudanese language, awaited them there, and the racers were challenged to translate a list of words from English into Dinka.

From there more biking, more hiking and finally rappelling down the cliff with a sprint to the finish line.

Who were the winners you ask? Why, Team Feroge of course!!

(L to R: Stephen, Jordan, Lowell, Lance)

And who raised the most money? Stephen sure did! And he won a mountain bike for his (and his wife's!) solid effort:

It was the effort of all these intensely athletic individuals that raised more than $25,000 to return exiled Sudanese national Bible translators to their homeland so they can continue Bible translation among their own people:

And this is Lowell when he got home:

He dropped his bags on the floor, shoveled some much needed nutrients down his throat, smiled for this very forced picture, took a warm shower, and crashed in bed.

**The technical, good-sounding text in this blog was provided by Jack Popjes (a Wycliff missionary) and the pictures were taken the Wycliff photographer. Thanks boys.

Feeding the Addiction

As I’ve mentioned before, I (we) loooooooove The Office. Feeding my addiction to The Office, Lowell got me several wonderful collectables for my birthday. Among them was my personal favourite: a Dwight bobble head!!


The characters of The Office are simply fantastic and I love them all. I particularly love this new little development with Jim and Pam. It actually gives me shivers.

I heard a little while ago that Pam (in real life) and her husband (in real life) were splitting up.


This really sucks and is really horrible, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone... but I can’t help but secretly wish that Pam and Jim get together in real life. *sigh*

Beautiful Deformity – Dimples

We learned in embryology that dimples are actually a deformity. Well, I think it’s a beautiful deformity. I looooooove dimples. Especially the super duper deep ones.When I meet someone with dimples, I automatically like them without even knowing them.

Let's just take a look-see at this beautifully dimpled family (that I shamelessly and slightly creepily stole from Christy's blog) :

EVERY ONE of them has dimples. How beautiful. How unfair!

The main reason I wish I had dimples is (besides being cute), they’re the perfect thing to utilize when ‘greeting’ an unknown passerby or an ‘awkard acquaintance’ (you know the type. You’ve MET them and you know who they are but you worry they forgot you etc). Right now I do this:

I’m well aware that it looks more than slightly retarded. It's asymmetrical, it looks... err... awkward... it's uncool.

If I had dimples, I could just flash them my dimples. Press my lips together lightly and VOILA I’d have beautiful dimples that do the greeting for me.

*sigh*. In a perfect world…

Nooooo Doooooo

After 6ish years of having loooooong hair (near or to my elbows), I took the plunge.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

It may not seem superly over-the-top drastic to you....but it's a huge ol' mega change for me! A change for the better, might I add. Now maybe I can DO my hair (nicely & on a regular basis) and wear it down for more than 5 minutes (although a live-in hairdresser may also be vital for such things).

I feel light as air!

Betrothal

DAN AND CARLYNNE ARE ENGAGED!

This is Carlynne hi-jacking her sibling's blog once again to share the exciting news.

While I was still in Kenya, Dan was being very sneaky. He designed the ring himself and here he is doing a final inspection.

The day after I arrived in Edmonton from Kenya was my 25th birthday. I knew Dan had some surprise fun planned. But I didn't know just how fun....

I woke up at 6:00am October 13th to some beautiful tunes, including a song Dan had written and recorded, blasting from under my bed. It was Dan's CD alarm clock with instructions for a treasure hunt taped to it. Having taken a sleeping pill the night before, I was a little slow solving all the riddles...but I eventually accomplished everything:
1) Finding a scrapbook Dan had made of the two of us
2) Calling Julie and Lowell to come over right away for breakfast
3) Packing the scrapbook, something warm to wear, something nice to wear, my teddy bear, and a pair of goggles

After a lovely morning meal, we got in the car (just Dan and I...sorry Julie) and started driving towards the mountains. Dan had chosen a number of special spots to stop. All beautiful viewpoints or short little hikes. Each stop correlated with a section of the scrapbook.

Our special day was made even more special by a few wildlife friends.

Here's the ring "bearer":

You must be thinking that I knew exactly what was going on this entire time. To be honest, I was HIGHLY suspicious. But it was my birthday...and Dan does do wonderful romantic things for me all the time... a girl can never be sure...

Our last stop was Athabasca falls. He proposed a little ways away where there was a lovely mountain view and while the sun was setting. Perfect.

And now...we are engaged.

A little taste of Dan's hidden scrapbooking talents.

Next on the itinerary: dinner reservations at Jasper Park Lodge.

And here's the ring: