back in "Raincouver..."

i arrived back from our promotional tour to Oregon on Thursday night, and this fair city of mine welcomed me with rain. a day and a half of it. thanks, Vancouver.
but, alas, there is sun on the horizon. yes, today was very nice, but also, yesterday was a delightful one, amidst the precipitation. i was very blessed to spend the afternoon/evening with some of my very lovely family members, Benjamin and Karmyn Bokma.

please enjoy the story of

"Ben and Karmyn's Day out (in Vancouver with Rebecca)"

with the following pictures:

First up was spicy Ethiopian food @ Adis Cafe for lunch.

Then, we headed to Contintental for a rousing game of Phase 10 (Karmyn won), as we enjoyed our caramel lattes and a mocha (made by friend Ryan) and let our copious amount of food digest.

After a little break at my house/the office, we headed out to the Skytrain station, but made a quick stop at Belgian Fries for a little snack. I'm pretty sure that this made brother Ben's night.

Brother Ben and Sister (in law) Karmyn were very excited about the Skytrain trip to the waterfront and surrounding areas.

After wandering around on and near Granville St. and spending ALOT of time at SportsCheck (they took advantage of the amazing BOGO sale on running shoes...), we headed to Trees cafe to enjoy some live music and another favorite card game, Euchre.

We soon headed home, Ben and i had a bit of a TimTam slam, i opened some very appreciated gifts from loved ones far away, and then we said our "good-byes" for the evening.

It was a very fun day. Thanks, Ben and Karmyn, for making it so special!

[keep in mind, that if any of you farawayfriends ever want to come for a visit, you too will probably receive a full-paged blog post such as this. yeah, pretty exciting, i know.]

ok, i'm off for now. PS: the tour was pretty amazing. i hope to post a bit about it and some pictures in the near future, but it just may not happen as soon as i'd like, what with the busyness of my life right now, as i just got back, i'm moving to my new home on Tuesday, etc...

but we'll see.

"love letter"

ok, i admit that i did not write this following piece, no matter how much i wish my words were this eloquent. however, i really wanted to post something concerning this glorious celebration of Easter. i found this "love letter" in Our Journey this AM, and it just struck me how beautiful God's sacrafice was for ME! we have so much to celebrate, today and forever. cheesy, i know, yet so true...

He told them again and again.
shouting it
...in the breathtaking splendor of creation.
whispering it
...on the pages of ancient parchments.
echoing it
...through the voices of His chosen prophets.
but few listened.
even fewer believed.
finally
with a heart weeping at the deafness of His people
He took His pen - Jesus Christ,
and dipping it in Calvary's scarlet ink,
He wrote His message on a rough wooden banner
and pinned it against an empty sky for all the world to read.
bold, crimson words:
I LOVE YOU

yeah, this Easter was an amazing one. i got to be a part of the service at my church this morning among other things, but it's more than that. this Easter has actually kind of meant something to me. more than it ever has before.
i guess that i have realized that in order to have life, there needs to be death, as blatantly obvious as that sounds. life in Jesus means an intentional death of my sinful self. even with something as simple as moving to a new house in a couple of weeks, there needs to be death and mourning of this place that i have grown to love, accept, and become comfortable in, in order to receive what's next, something that i have faith to be an even bigger blessing. but i need to let go of what i have right now in order to get what He has for me later...
hmm...interesting. and all apart of what seems to be one of the main themes running through my brain these days...