Merry Christmas!

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this."

Isaiah 9:6-7 (NIV)

Quote of the Day

(At the end of the first year of this blog, this is the first Quote of the Day, so you'd be foolish to expect one on a regular basis, but feel free to check back here every day.)

This is me quoting John Eldredge (Wild at Heart), who is quoting Gil Bailie:

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

Mission Accomplished

I just returned from Mission, British Columbia a couple days ago. I was visiting good friends, Grant and Jill. Grant has recently been ordained as a pastor in the Christian Reformed denomination. Jill is expecting a baby in a couple months. Needless to say, they both have plenty to do, but they made time to hang out, play Scattergories, and enjoy the outdoors while I was visiting.

Grant and I are both pretty big hockey fans. We were able to scrape up tickets to see the Canucks take on the Panthers. Vancouver have been struggling lately, but they took it to the Panthers, scoring three pretty goals en route to a 5-3 win. We also played hockey on the Xbox and enjoyed a pickup game with people from his church and another.

Oh, and I took some pictures too. Here are some of the beautiful B.C. landscape and some of Jill and Grant's dog, Molly. It was unusually cold and windy for south western B.C. Four days straight it was between 15-25 degrees (after converting to fahrenheit) with gusts of wind that nearly blew me over. Last time I visited the area it was blizzard conditions-- my return flight was pushed back a day. Thankfully, it was only delayed a couple hours this time.

Nicole and Josh

I realize that at this rate I'll be blogging 300 images per wedding by 2010, but there was so much to photograph at Nicole and Josh's wedding that I had a hard time narrowing it down under 50. It also didn't help that my assistant, Melissa Vandermause, left me with another dozen or so pictures that simply couldn't be omitted. There were four locations, but everything was very close-by. The ceremony took place at Calvary EF Church in Trumbull and the reception was held at Oronoque Country Club in Stratford. Josh and Nicole's faith-based love for each other was evident throughout the day; it was underscored by the pastor's message during the ceremony as well as close friends' toasts during the reception. Congratulations, Josh and Nicole. God bless your new beginning.