Mark doesn't see it

Is it just me or does Tim, from the Office, remind you of my dashing husband ...

We were watching the two part Christmas special and finale of The Office (British one of course) and it hit me. Hm.

The Font Conference

Fonts are a very personal thing. I've always been interested in them, but recently have found myself becoming almost militant about which ones should and shouldn't be used. They have so much personality, you see. The font you use gives character to the text, as much as the colours and media used give character to a piece of artwork. Check this video out:



The only things that I don't understand about this video are:
1)Why is Rage Italic German?
2)Why is Comic Sans the hero? I mean, I get the comic bit, but Comic Sans is clearly the worst font of all time. Ask anyone.

the best man

What do you do when some of your best friends get married and throw a fabulous party? Eat, drink, and dance dance dance, baby!







What do you do when your husband gets punched in the crotch? hmmmmmmmmmmmm......

an open house, and shouting clouds ...

"You're a mystery like poetry like a parable a rhyme or a riddle
You're a mystery wrapped in clouds shouting so loud
just waiting to be discovered
You're a mystery intriguing You're a mystery so inviting"
- Misty Edwards, Mystery

"Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly.
'The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.'"
Matthew 11:27 MSG

This made me cry.

I do need it, Love, broken down line by line ... all the time.

Jesus, crucified, buried, raised...the ultimate invitation.
Could the Father say any more clearly that He wants to be known?

He asks us to His house, and gives us a key to His door.

splish splash

It's getting hot outside. Now, we don't have air conditioning in our 19th floor apartment (which isn't torture), but we do like to take a dip in the outdoor pool during the particularly scorching hours of the day. While the pool is delightfully refreshing, the beach is all the more...summer-ish.
Lying on the beach reminds me of being on holiday, and is almost more relaxing because of it - yes, purely psychological.
Funny...it also reminds me of Baywatch. Oh, that rugged David Hasslehoff...


Anyway, many people joke about Lake Ontario being so badly polluted that you come out of it with a third eye, an extra arm, a number of skin diseases, multiple personalities, etc.
The truth is that a lot of beaches in Toronto on the shores of good ol' Lake Ontario are indeed Blue Flag Certified. They are more than fine to swim in.
You'll read on the website about the high international standards that beaches must meet to receive blue flag status.
Toronto is a whole lot cleaner and eco-friendly than a lot of people think or have 'heard'.
Visit www.BlueFlag.ca and have a peek. Happy swimming!

Oh, and wear your sunscreen!!!!!!!! Especially if you have tattoos or scars...ta ta!

Niagra

Happy Canada Day, everyone!
Hope you get a chance to sing the anthem and take in some fireworks somewhere tonight.
We thought it was appropriate to take Adelaide to one of the wonders of the world that just so happens to be pretty much in our backyard...Niagra Falls! She seemed to like the gift shop the best and looked at us funny as we ooed and awed over the loud, lively, rushing water. One day she might think it is majestic and beautiful, but for now her toys are much more interesting.

Video Catch Up..

I've been a little slack in uploading these things, but The last few weeks have had some good moments. The most recent video is at the top. Apologies to the BBC. And thanks, as usual to Ben Jackson for his incredible graphics. I don't know how he does it...


Keep an eye out for a special Scottish guest appearance in this one...


Ha ha ha. Silly jokes in this one.


I kind of like uploading a few of these at once... We're filming this week's today. I won't let too much on, but I sent out a 'telegram' to a few people asking them to be in it with this graphic attached:




Right. Let me know what you think.

Field trips...

We've been going on field trips recently. Three of them in a week, to be precise. The summer is such a fun time to be a parent. There's so much going on for kids to do and see (even if we're really going for our own benefit).
Last Saturday, Addie took me to the 10th annual NIX tattoo expo in Toronto for my first fathers' day. It was fantastic. There were 150 artists at work, inking some incredible things. We met the coolest couple, who make punk clothes for kids. We're hanging out with them tomorrow too. You can check out their website here.

We also met Lyle Tuttle, 'the forefather of modern tattooing'. I got a bit starstruck... Addie, of course, was indifferent, as you can see from the picture. She did enjoy getting her first bit of ink though (courtesy again of Sticks n Stones).


Going to the expo really got me even more fired up for tattooing. There's so much dark stuff out there, and I can't wait to bring some light in. Seeing so much amazing work inspired me too. So much so, in fact, that I started on my left leg again this week. On Wednesday night I set to work outlining the koi that you can see here.

Beth had been wanting to take me to the Royal Ontario Museum for some time. It turns out that entrance is half price on a Friday night, so we headed over there after I finished work. It was fantastic. They had a great special exhibition on early typewriters, and we saw loads of dinosaur skeletons.
They were my favourite bit. To be honest, I don't think I ever grew out of that boyhood phase of dinosaur fascination... Addie again seemed rather indifferent to the whole experience, although she did like the bit when she had some milk in the European armour section while listening to an audio presentation about how smelly people used to be.

Then today we went to Riverdale Farm. It's a small farm in the middle of cabbagetown, right round the corner from us. Addie slept through everything except the chickens, and wasn't very interested in them. We had fun though.

Field trips will become more and more a part of our lives over the next few years, I suspect. It's such a blessing to live in a city with so many attractions and distractions. If you have any suggestions for where we can go next, let us know!

Biting off more than you can chew?

Here's this week's announcements.
Do you ever feel like you tried to run before you could walk? We had the idea of doing a series of spoofs of famous movie trailers for the announcements. Good plan. We thought of covering different genres. Fantastic. We decided to spoof a movie that changed cinematography forever, with wild special effects and crazy camera angles.
I think that we did a reasonable job, but I suspect that trying to give the feel of a movie like this, using one camera and a low-quality microphone was a little more than I could reasonably handle.

It was fun though.

Not Quite Grown Up

Independent
on my own
till I'm too small
till I am weakened

Independent
in control
till I'm uncovered
hunger stricken

I cry out
Is someone coming?
I cry out
Is my Father listening?

It's true-
I need a hand to hold
I need to feel the pulse of someone bigger
I can't live on bread alone
I need more than a coat in winter

It's true-
I need skin on skin
I need comfort in the night
I need simple songs
I need the security in Your eyes

Until I fall asleep
stay
Until I fall asleep
Don't ever let me go
stay
Until I'm fast asleep

B.Hardy. April, 2008.

- Inspired by Adelaide. She is so good at reminding me I'm not a grown up, I'm a daughter...

The Tat Shop

I love tattoos. I don't have as many as I want, but I guess it's a process. Quite an expensive process too. For the last two or three years, I have thought about how I might go about training to tattoo myself. Not tattoo myself (although that is a part of the training), but to learn the art of tattooing. Back in November, I was offered an internship at Urban Ink in Toronto. I was very excited about the prospect, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that it was unrealistic. I would have to give two full days a week to being at the shop, and it would still take me over a year to get anywhere close to tattooing people. With a baby on the way, that just wasn't going to happen.

Then Holy Spirit suggested something to me. What if I trained myself? I have spent a good deal of time now researching what I would have to do, and feel ready to start learning. I purchased a machine, pigment, power supply and footswitch, needles and tubes. I started by tattooing fruit, and then moved on to pigskin (quite close to human skin). I'm having a great time!

The next step was to experiment with different needle sizes and combinations. for this, I needed more supplies. Most of the websites that I found were very average - horribly designed, hard to navigate and usually based in the States. Then I found the Tat Shop. They're based in Mississauga, the site is excellent, and the couple that run it are awesome. I realise that most people reading this won't have a need to get tattoo supplies, but you can check the site out anyway. And if you do need anything, that's the place to go. Check them out here.

We're off to Wonderland in a little while, so I have to go get ready. I'll post pictures when I've practised more. Those who want a tattoo, give me a while to practice, then form a line...

Old Time Fun

I know I skipped a week of the announcements, but to be honest, there wasn't much to miss. Here's the announcements for the upcoming week. I learned an awful lot about some of the stuff I can do on Final Cut while I was doing these ones. Because I don't have easy access to cash for effects and stuff to add onto the program, I had to find ways of giving this a real old feel without paying for it. I Googled to my heart's content, and found loads of tutorials online. As well as giving me the finish that I wanted on this (adding the scratches, hairs and jitters), the tutorials showed me how to use similar techniques to get very different results that I'll be able to use in the future.

In other news, it's the long weekend this weekend. I got a bit confused about the date of it originally, because the Victoria Day weekend (as this is) is often known as the May Two Four, because of the date that it falls on. Except that it actually falls closer to the 18th. So this coming Monday is a day off. Nice to be caught off guard like that, and realise that you have a day off when you thought you didn't. I don't really plan to do an awful lot with it, except chill out with my wife and daughter. Hopefully the predicted rain of the weekend will be over by Monday.

Lots of weddings and stuff coming up this summer, so that's exciting too. I have a bachelor party on Saturday, and more to come after that. Lots of parties. Not all good ones though. Last night, we went to Jacob and Carolyn's place for a barbecue. It wasn't that the party itself sucked, but the reason for it. Our amazing friends are moving down to Raleigh, North Carolina. This is something that I've prepared myself for for some time. Ever since I met Jacob, our friendship is something that has been conducted over a distance. When I moved to Toronto, I realised that it was an amazing privilege to be able to live in the same city as my best friend, but that it was a privilege that probably wouldn't last long. I think that we both knew that Toronto was a temporary base for us, and that one of us would leave before too long.
It's been a fantastic year or so, and I'm so glad that we had this time. I know that our friendship lasted with the Atlantic between us, so I'm sure it can handle a move to the States. Hey, we might even visit them...

And with that, I'm off. I have to go plan my long weekend.

English Things

Here's the video announcements for last week. I've been a little delayed in putting them on here, because I've been in England for the last week. You'll notice that the announcements are rather reminiscent of a BBC documentary. This is no mistake. I'd been very excited about coming here.
I really really miss England. My family, my friends, the chocolate, fish and chips, beer, rubbish seaside towns... it's brilliant. We had the privilege of spending a week here, hanging out with all the people that we miss, and enjoying all the things we can't get in Canada. We went to Leeds one night, and hung out at Simon and Esther's place, where we were joined by about 40 friends we have not seen for months. We saw loads of people at my parents' house too. We did lots of shopping for clothes for Addie, and we ate fish and chips 3 times. We went to Whitby, and even enjoyed the first sunny bank holiday Monday in England since time began. Fantastic stuff.

We have loads to report on, but now isn't the time, because we leave for the airport in a few minutes. Once I've finished packing, we'll just have time for one last delicious English breakfast. Then it's back to all the things I miss about Canada. Ho hum. Such is life...

Munchkin goes abroad!

Tomorrow Adelaide will enjoy her very first trip on an airplane. She probably thinks it is just a big white toy from the outside. We are going to the UK for nine glorious days. This time we will not only be spending time with Mark's family, but we're having a party in Leeds and also getting the MASSIVE treat of seeing Maija and Pudd who will fly into Manchester and meet up with us for a few days.

Man, our little one is growing so fast and becoming more interactive everyday. She can suck her thumb, and sit up in a chair all on her own!
She now has some likes:
Shouting, watching bright cartoons, being held in a flying position like she is superman, splashing in the bath, and getting changed. Her favorite toys are these coloured rings and a big cow.
She talks to the cow.

Last weekend she went to a birthday party for the first time- we had the pleasure of celebrating Judah's first birthday with the Smiths, and I think Addie is rather excited for her first birthday now... thankfully we have 9 more months to enjoy her being less-than-one!

New announcements.

As promised, here's the announcements for this week at TACF. Stay tuned for next week's extravaganza. I won't tell you exactly what they'll feature, but there's superheroes and a green screen involved.

We just went to the Smiths' place for their son's first birthday party. It was so good to hang out with people we haven't seen for a while. There was much talk of Wonderland, which is exciting, because we have our season's passes. Oh yeah! I love that water park. I love that we have lots of friends that we can not see for weeks or even months at a time, and then just pick up where we left off. I guess when you live in a place like Toronto, and go to a church like TACF, you have to be able to do that. Everyone is coming and going so much that basing a friendship on always being around each other often results in sadness.
More on that another time though. It's late, and Addie's just dropping off to sleep. She's so cute and cuddly, but it's definitely time for Mommy and Daddy to get some rest. I'll put some pictures of her up on here soon, or Beth will.

Just because I did a little movie review in my last post, I'll do the same again here. The night after we watched Lars and the Real Girl, we watched Juno. Seriously, it was fantastic. I loved the characters, the themes. I loved the way that you felt relationship with them, and really identified with them. The soundtrack was ridiculously good. Watch it, because it's a great movie, and it will break your heart.

One more thing: Beth and I have been talking about recently is starting a bluegrass band. Inspired by David Crowder and Hayseed Dixie, I busted out a little bit of bluegrass in worship at church the other night. Then I found out that a friend of ours plays the banjo. Beth loves the harmonica and wants a washboard. Then, tonight, we were hanging out with a Mr. John Patell. He nearly shrieked when I told him our plans, and said he'd been looking for a band to play the broomstick bass in. Keep your ears open for our first record...

Videos of all kinds...

Let me start by announcing that the TACF Video Announcements are now up on Youtube. As you can see, I've posted this week's edition right here on this post for your viewing pleasure. You can check out the last 4 announcements on there right now too, and I'll upload the new ones every week.
For those of you that don't know, one of my jobs here at Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship is to write, film, direct and produce the video announcements each week. TACF has 7 congregations city-wide, and we use video announcements to let everyone know what's going on in the coming weeks, and also to introduce everyone to pastors and leaders that only one congregation would normally get to see.

Anyway, enjoy this week's edition. I have a slogan for the video announcements:
TACF Video Announcements - completely pointless after the event.

Also on the subject of films, I watched Lars and the Real Girl last night. When I first saw the posters, I thought that it looked kind of quirky and wanted to see it. Beth told me that it was about a man that has a relationship with a 'love doll' though, so my interest waned. I wasn't really up for seeing something like that. Then our neighbour lent us a copy that she got from the video store, and the reviews didn't seem to suggest it was anything like we'd expected.

The movie was incredible. I loved the cinematography - it was so well shot. The story was fantastic, and the characters were superb. Ryan Gosling blew us all away with his portrayal of a dillusional man with a troubled past.
The message behind the movie was very moving, and I think we all felt affected by it.
It was also, surprisingly, very clean. There was no bad language at all, and there were only two or three references to sex - all of them mild and in context. Great stuff. I totally recommend it.

Right then. Let me know what you think of the video announcements. If you have any good ideas for themes for future announcements, just post a comment on this blog. Till next time...

Moving Pictures...

A touch of Europe.

I know it's been a long time since I posted on here. I've been a bit distracted by my knitting blog of late. There's another little distraction in our life since I last blogged here too. Having Adelaide round is such a joy. She keeps surprising us, when she does something new, or when she loves being held by us. Sometimes, it's just amazing to wake up, and remember that we have a beautiful little daughter.
It's tiring too, though. Sleepless nights take their toll, and she needs so much attention at the moment. So we decided to take a little break.
We left Freshwind early this Easter, setting off at Lunchtime on Saturday, and heading to Montreal. We have a history with that wonderful city. We got engaged there, and also took our honeymoon there. It's such a fantastic place. It's very strange how much more European it feels than Toronto. It's not just the fact that they speak French, either. There's all the greeting with kisses, French food, and European architecture. You can even buy wine and beer in the grocery store (boy, do I miss that one).
What was surprising, was the part of Europe that I discovered while we were there. On Monday, just before we came home, we checked out of our hotel, and headed into Old Montreal. Needing some refreshment, we found a little cafe. When I took a look at the menu, I discovered that they would serve me Turkish coffee. Not only this, but they would prepare it at my table! I've been trying to do this myself for years now, and I think that I've learned fairly well. My only teacher was Google. But now, I had the chance to learn from a master.
Sure enough, when I ordered it, the owner of the cafe emerged with a burner on a trolley, and set about making the drink. I asked questions, he answered them, we laughed, and I enjoyed the pleasure of being served my favourite coffee in what seemed like the most unlikely place.
I ordered baklava with the coffee, and spent a good while enjoying the feeling of being on vacation in Europe. I love North America, but I do miss Europe sometimes. I miss the variety of places you can visit, the traditions, the culture. I miss the fact that you can visit the other side of the continent for very tiny amounts of money. I miss being able to visit a coffee shop and order a coffee that tastes different from the last 50 coffees I ordered.

If you fancy trying the delights of the coffee at A Propos the next time you're in the Montreal area, you can find it here. It was delicious, by the way.

Can you still feel the butterflies?

See the pyramids around the Nile
Watch the sun rise from the tropic isle
Just remember darling all the while
You belong to me"
- Jason Wade, You Belong to Me

Yesterday we celebrated our first wedding anniversary and it was absolutely delightful.
It is amazing to think that I've lived and done 'life' with my best friend for one whole year. Not only that, but there are so many more years to come. Through the good times, the bad times, the waiting times, the rushed times, the tearful times...wherever we live, whoever we have around us...there are more wonderful wonderful wonderful years to come.
And there will no doubt be more lessons on teamwork, friendship, patience, honour, oneness, and love to be embraced. Make no mistake- marriage isn't boring or dull, it is exhilerating.
But at the same time, our God's timing is perfect and He isn't in a hurry...so don't rush anything :)


Forgive me if I have quoted these Ben Folds lyrics before, but it is one of our songs, and always seems to help me put into words how ridiculously blessed I feel to have Mark as my husband.


I don't get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here

And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

What if I'd been born fifty years before you
In a house on a street where you lived?
Maybe I'd be outside as you passed on your bike
Would I know?

And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

Would I know?

And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

quote of the week

"Grandchildren - God's reward to you for not killing your kids."

so it was YOU all along...

Adelaide Selah Hardy

Born Wednesday February 6th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

Weighing in at 6 pounds 12 ounces


We have a little daughter! WooOOooHooOOOoooooo! What a princess.
She was born in a snow storm as we predicted, and her arrival took a total of fifteen hours at North York General Hospital.

Adelaide means 'of nobility, or of noble kind'
This name was imported to England by Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, the wife of William IV of Great Britain. She gave her name to the South Australian city of Adelaide. In contemporary literature of the time, Adelaide was frequently used as a name for upper-class, elegant women.
St Adelaide of Italy lived in the tenth century. She was heir to the throne of Italy and married Otto the Great, Holy Roman Emperor. She was made a saint on account of her good deeds towards the poor.
Adelaide of Aquitaine was the wife of French king Hugh Capet, the founder of the Capetian dynasty.

Selah means 'a pause for rest and reflection'
This word occurs seventy-one times in thirty-nine of the Psalms and is thought to indicate a pause for reflection similar to the word Amen.


We can't wait for you to meet her, guys. Thanks from the bottom of our hearts for all your excitement and encouragement... she must feel so welcome!!!

from the east end to the west end

By this time next week we will definitely have met our little son or daughter, as the Doc will induce labour on Friday if there is no action before then. Hmmm...not too keen on the inducing idea, but whatever. Although I am feeling very heavy (heavy isn't even the word...it is so hard to describe) at the moment, when we peered out from our balcony the city looked too deliciously beautiful to stay in. Mark and I decided to venture out early and once again spend a Saturday down Queen West area.
We enjoyed it so much last time and hadn't explored nearly enough. So many artsy shops... so little time!

On the way to the subway we admired our funny neighbourhood. You'll see the pictures above. There were parents all over the place, out making snowmen with their kids. They were full-on rolling around, getting wet, messy and cold. One mom was getting attacked by her children who were mercilessly throwing snowballs at her head and face. Well, I hope they were her children. She laughed it off. It was so cute to watch and got us both very excited to have the perfect excuse to play in the snow now- our kid! Yipeeeeee! Oh, let the baby come soOOOon!

Two Christmases ago, Mark gave me this gorgeous coffee table- type book about snow.
I love it. Here are some random facts from that book, Let It Snow!, that might help you sound clever when sharing them with friends as you are strolling along in the snow next time:
- No two snowflakes are alike, but they do fall in seven basic types: star, needle, hexagonal, dendrite, irregular, column and capped column
-A snowflake falls at a rate of about 3 miles an hr, about 6x slower than a raindrop.
- Little was known about these exquisite crystals until late 19th century when a farmer from Vermont named Bentley began investigating them. He was the first person to photograph snowflakes, and dedicated 50yrs to their study.
- The heaviest fall of snow was in Silver Lake, Colorado on 14th-15th Apr. 1921. 74 inches fell!
Now I must go keep myself busy so as to keep my racing mind off of waiting for the baby. Last night I watched Braveheart for the first time (I know, I know...what took me so long?!?!?!) and now look forward to being back in Stirling, Scotland where an enormous statue of William Wallace stands tall. I didn't fully appreciate it last time.
I don't really feel like another movie tonight. Maybe tonight we'll have an extra romantic dinner since it is still just the two of us...

Until next time, the soooo close almost-parents

Christmas time...

Christmas is a funny time for me.
When you marry someone from another country, like I did when I married Beth, you put yourself in a difficult position at this time of the year. Traditionally, of course, Christmas is a time for family. For gathering together and celebrating the birth of Christ with those closest to you. When you marry, you form a new family, but you also keep the one that you had, and gain another one too.
Because my family is in England, and Beth's family is here in Toronto, we're left with the choice of who we spend Christmas with. If both our families were in England, even some distance apart, we could come up with a reasonable solution - my parents, my sister and I always visited my mum's side of the family just before Christmas, with our immediate family on Christmas day, and with my dad's side on Boxing day. That's not really possible with a 3500 mile plane ride separating our families now.
We've been doing this for some time now. Last year, we spent Christmas in England - our last Christmas before we were married. Beth came to visit mid-December, and we stayed at my parents' place for the holiday. The year before, when I proposed to Beth, I had come to visit her in Toronto, and we celebrated with her family.
This year, we were in Toronto too - the decision of where we would be was largly made for us by the advanced stage of Beth's pregnancy.

All this to say, we had an amazing time this year. We spent time with friends, we spent time with Beth's family. We went out for a meal on Christmas day, and we had a nice quiet Boxing Day at home, just the two of us (well, three, I guess).
Certainly we missed my family, although the blow of this was softened by the fact that my parents surprised us with a visit three weeks ago.

Christmas can be a tricky time for families, but in many cases, it is what you make it. Just because I didn't get to see my family over Christmas, it didn't stop me remembering what a great time we'd had the previous year, or thinking about visiting them next year, or even from celebrating with them in some small way; as we opened presents from them, they opened presents from us and we spoke on the phone.
In the future, we may find that we live in a completely different country from all of our family - that's something that is yet to be revealed to us - but Beth and I will be together. I guess that's why it's so important to start our own family traditions at Christmas. Especially with a new member of the family about to join us...

Happy New Year everyone, hope you all had, are having, and will continue to have an incredible holiday, whoever you're with.
Love.

(Apologies to someecards.com for stealing their lovely image used in this blog.)

I look psycho when I laugh

So, whilst procrastinating today (there are two essays I should be churning out) I found these two ridiculous pictures that made me jump. Hahahaha....how scary.
Ooooooooh I should be researching right now. One paper has to do with the Cuban Revolution and one is on Aboriginal rights and quality of life within Canada...yeahhhhhhhhhhh.

I know. Before that, I'll let you know that the countdown to Mark's twenty-sixth birthday has officially begun: t minus *22 days* WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Here are some nifty present ideas... he likes comedy movies, british comedians, classic literature and mystery novels, games, ginger, cakes, rock music, hockey, cryptic crosswords, graphic design, cats and silliness. Alrighty?

not ashamed

I was just on a website called www.prisoneralert.com, a branch of the large Voice of the Martyrs ministry. On it there are pictures and life stories of prisoners from all around the world: Vietnam, Indonesia, Eritrea and many more. All of them have one thing in common- they are in prison for their faith. I can't imagine what their world is like...

You can write letters to them and the UN right on the website. Have a look.

Romans 8:35-39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It's quiet up here...

Well, we've moved into our new place. I've dreamt about living in Downtown Toronto ever since I first came here to visit in Spring 2001.
We were really blessed with the place - we just wanted somewhere close to Beth's school to make it easy for her to get there, and somewhere cheap. We ended up with the most amazing apartment. Just check out the view from our balcony. I eat breakfast while looking at the city skyline every morning.

Things are taking some interesting turns at the moment. Beth is looking more and more pregnant every day. She's 24 weeks pregnant tomorrow, so we're nearly into the 3rd trimester. Not long now until I get to hold my beautiful baby son or daughter. If I put my hand on Bethany's tummy, I can now feel the baby moving around. Man, that thing can kick. It's like Bruce Lee meets Chuck Norris in there.
We launched the North York Church a couple of weeks ago. It's going so well. We had John Arnott speak on Sunday, and he talked about how he sees us being a Church that sees many people saved. That's cool, eh? You can download his message for TACF North York here.
Beth and I are speaking this week, on Hearing God's Voice.
This is seeming to be a really busy Fall, but then again, it was a busy Summer, and a busy Spring. And the Winter was rather hectic too. I'm starting to notice a pattern emerging.

Let's recap:
I moved to Canada in January, we got married in February. Came back off honeymoon, and helped to run a huge youth conference. In April, we got pregnant, and in May we started preparations for TACF North York. In June and July, we did the Leaders' School of Ministry, and shortly after that, August took us to England for my sister's wedding. Returning from there in early September, I drove to Texas for Jacob's wedding, driving back in one go, me the only driver, a week later. Then to Peterborough for Tim & Kathryn's wedding, and finally, last Friday to Laura and John's. With the launch of a church in the middle, and the preparations for a baby. And a move of apartments. Oh, man. I'm tired just writing it.

So, this is a busy time. But I notice that we're slowing down a bit too, in preparation for the baby. Tonight we walked to the Eaton Centre (yep, we're close enough to do that now...) to buy me a new Fall jacket (I left my old one in Texas). Last night we stayed in too. I don't think we have any big plans for tomorrow night either. We're busy alright, but we're just taking some time for ourselves too.
It's a little bit like our apartment here up on the 19th floor. The road and everything is busy down below - it never stops. The elevators are constantly full of people. But the walls here are concrete, and it's all rather quiet and peaceful really.

Right, I'm off to sit on the couch with my lovely wife. I might just see if that baby will give me a roundhouse kick too.

hair therapy

There is nothing like ending an insanely busy week at the salon.
Something about sitting there in the chair being waited on hand and foot while someone else drips with sweat all to make you look and feel fabulous.

And the smell of freshly groomed hair? You know that smell ladies........sigh.

So it was a long week... now back to the books for me. I've got three assignments on the go- tata!

urban bliss

Ooooooooooooh the joys of moving. We are settling into our new corner of the world at Wellesley and Sherbourne. Who knew representin' the East side could be so fun. Here are some perks of our nineteenth floor apartment:

-the view of the CN Tower and lake
-the Food Basics directly underneath the building
-the free ESL classes in the building
-the sauna and workout facilities
-the 15min walk to school and 20min walk to the Eaton Centre
-our French Canadian neighbour

The list goes on...


Come and visit, ok? We have lots of treats!

Four Weddings And...Another Wedding?

Two down and three to go! I've never had an Autumn like this before...

I don't get tired of weddings. Ever. Ok ok, this is partly because I love to dress up and dance like the rest of you party animals (I don't get out much), but the big fat MAIN reason is because nothing feels better than celebrating love. L-O-V-E.
I sit in the pew while the bride clutches her dad's arm down the loooooong aisle and re-feel all of that nervousness, excitement, and emotion of our wedding (give me a break it was only 8 months ago). It makes me want to BURST but I end up just subtly tearing up into a kleenex and leaving it in the slot for the hymn books.

On Laura and Brett's day, Mark's dad spoke about resonating with God. He pointed out that when we find ourselves celebrating love, marriage, committment, security and family... our hearts resonate with the Creator of it all. This was a timely reminder for all of us present.
No matter how near or far we felt from the Lord, we were on the same page as Him when we willfully supported and witnessed the union of two of His favorite people. Pete went on to illustrate this with a tuning fork. We all hushed to hear the note fill the stone church in Carlton.
The foundation of the church is over 1000 years old!

This past weekend on Jacob and Carolyn's day I remembered that clear note coming from the little tuning fork. I was resonating right there with God the Father as he cheered his children on.
The day went really well, and the night was exceptional...yes Mark, even though they played Hip Hop. It was a blast. The baby, who is now GROWING like CRAZY seemed to like it seeing as I didn't ralph after all that spaghetti and meat balls. But wait, he/she doesn't like Yorkshire puddings so does this mean our baby has an Italian palette? Hmmm...

Best. Video. Ever.

There's no such thing as a jaggy snake...

Biffy Clyro. If you haven't heard them, you should do. Watch them live here. Really, do it.

Oh, I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside...

Wow. We're back in the UK. It's my sister's wedding next Saturday, so we're over here getting ready for the big day. It's been quite emotional at times; this is the first time we've seen my family since our wedding, and so it follows the first time we've seen them since we got the news that we're pregnant. There were lots of tears at the airport, and when we got back to my parents' house, there were more.
My parents and my sister had gone a bit crazy with the baby clothes shopping, and presented us with about 6 bags of clothes. Some of them hand knitted by my mum. Incredible. There were also some things from when I was a baby, saved for this sort of thing, no doubt. We're getting quite a collection for the littlest Hardy, what with the stuff that Beth's mum has already gotten us at home.

Well, it's amazing here. The weather wasn't so good at first, but it's all got rather nice the last few days. It was particularly hot the day we went to North Yorkshire's Heritage Coast; visiting Whitby, Robin Hood's Bay (where the pictures were taken) and Scarborough.
Whitby was beautiful as always, but I haven't been there in the height of summer for years, and I'd forgotten how crowded it all gets. You could barely move. We did, however, escape from the hustle and bustle by popping into Sander's Yard for delicious cakes. I also enjoyed a tasty bottle of cider. Oh, the joys of England.
We moved on to Robin Hood's Bay, an old fishing village once very popular with smugglers, now very popular with families. The beach is clean, and full of rock pools, of the sort that you can find small crabs in. There's also a good amount of slate to be found, and within this slate, fossils. We hunted for the preserved remains of ancient creatures for a little while, and came away with a few good examples of shells, and some average ammonites. I haven't been fossil hunting with my dad for a long time, and it was rather fun.

Finally, our journey took us to Scarborough, where we were surrounded by chavs, scallies, pikeys and the likes. Lovely stuff. We took Marine Drive down to the town, and marvelled at the beautiful water, looking more like the Mediteranean than the North Sea. Like I say, I haven't been in the summer for a long time. We parked under the castle at the foot of the cliffs, and wandered past the fairground towards the sea front. Oh, man. It was rough. But it's all good fun, and you have to have the dirt and grime for it to be a real English seaside town, don't you? We ate fish and chips from Winking Willy's, where they still fry everything in beef dripping (it's terribly bad for you, but it tastes so much better that way). We spent ages in an amusement arcade, putting plenty of small change into the 2p pushers in an attempt to win a fortune (it never happens). Our last port of call was to be the Harbour Bar; an ice cream parlour on the seafront, but it was closed by the time we got there, so we returned to the car, tired and happy.

And that was that. We've been having a great time. We went out in Worksop with some old friends last night, and enjoyed the bank holiday weekend. James (my best man) is coming over today, and it's going to be great to see him. We went to Nottingham, and saw Rob Littler at a frisbee tournament, spent some time in the peak district, conquering Mam Tor, and headed to Leeds to see some old friends from my days in that wonderful city. We shopped in York, and enjoyed a cream tea at The Crossing in Worksop. The girls are off to Manchester tomorrow to do some shopping, while me and the boys enjoy a lovely game of football at Hillsborough (very stereotypical, I know).

I'm sure there'll be more to fill you in on by the end of the trip. It's fantastic being on vacation, and really exciting getting ready for Laura and Brett's wedding. No doubt Beth will be itching to fill you in on this stuff in a few days. Until next time, ta ta.

a bun in the oven

Have you heard????

In May we were suprised, pleased, amazed, and overwhelmed to find out that we're going to have a wee little baby! Yep, there is a real person inside my belly and it has a spirit, a brain, a heart beat, a nervous system, arms, wrists, legs, toes and more.

As hard as it is, we're leaving the gender a secret and finding out when we meet the little guy or gal. That should be some time around the 29th of January, 2008. I wonder who he/she will look like...

How do we feel about it? Good question. We're over the moon.
We found out first by three at home pregnancy tests, and then got the news confirmed at North York General Hospital.
While there are many decisions, changes, and plans to make, we are learning as we go. We have so many questions...as you can imagine.

I'm slowly getting over the sicky/exhaustion phase and not showing at all yet. But as time goes on it will all become more real and more close I guess. Mark is being a legend as usual, and reading constantly about what the baby is experiencing and doing. You might have had him enthusiastically educate you already.

What a busy time. We are starting the Leaders School at TACF next week, which will be oh so timely and amazing (I miss school so much I'm el desperado to take notes!). We also just recently found an excellent apartment for the fall which is within walking distance to Ryerson Uni- my new place of study and second home.
The countdown is on until we leave for Miss Laura Hardy's wedding in England this August and maybe after aaaaall that the baby will start kicking.

More updates to come...

Revelations...

As part of my internship, I went to a Prophetic Equipping School this week.

I've always been fascinated by the prophetic, and my dad is clearly a prophet, so it was incredible to have the chance to spend a couple of days dedicated to learning more about this incredible gift.

There's way too much to write here about prophecy and the prophetic, so I'll stick to a few key points that I've picked up, both this week, and in the past few years.
When we accept Christ as our saviour, and receive Him into our hearts, we become able to prophesy. The way that I understand this is that it doesn't mean that we have a particular prophetic anointing, but that if we open ourselves up to it, and God speaks to us, we have the ability to prophesy. I also believe that we can receive a prophetic anointing that marks the anointed as a Prophet, and there are several things that come with that.

God's heart is to reveal his love for his people. If you look at the Old Testament, there is a string of prophets, whose job it was to reveal God's love for the people. Sometimes this wasn't quite what they wanted to hear, because they had strayed so far from His plan for them that they needed disciplining. God never disciplines out of hate, but always out of love, so if a prophet brought a word that appeared discouraging to the Israelites, it was only so that they could be brought back into line with His perfect plan.

We have for several years now seen a revival of the post of prophet in the Church. This excites me, because I want to know God's heart for his people. Prophecy takes various forms. God's word can be revealed through pictures, visions, dreams, interpretation of dreams, the scriptures, impressions, words popping into the head, and sometimes the audible voice of God, to name but a few of the most common ones.

Why is prophecy coming to the forefront of God's people again? I don't know. All I know is that when a prophetic word is brought, it's used for the encouragement of the Church, and for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. It's for God's glory, and it's to reveal his heart for his people.

Hmmm. Some stuff to think about.

On Mrs. Twit and Beauty

An excerpt from one of Roald Dahl's delightful childlike masterpieces, The Twits.


"...Mrs.Twit wasn't born ugly. She'd had quite a nice face when she was young. The ugliness had grown upon her year by year as she got older. Why would that happen? I'll tell you why.

If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it.

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you ahve good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."

Quebec City

The almost four hundred year old city of Quebec was BREATHTAKING to behold.
We spent quite a while exploring this roaring, wet area you see in the pictures, and the rest of the time was spent mainly in the city centre. Oh, and Montreal on the Monday.
None other than the generous Puddles themselves decided they would take us lot on a wee long weekend holiday as a wedding present...how enormous is that?!

Oh how lovely it is to be constantly overwhelmed by the kindness of Jesus through our friends...

an apple a day

Yesterday I finally enjoyed my very first candy apple (well, to memory) at the Falls, and it was delish.



An old- fashioned sweet shop window caught our eye and before you knew it, we were one step closer to getting a cavity. I'd love to have a sweet shop of my own one day.
Is it difficult to make fudge?

So it was another romantic date night mixed in with the celebration of Mark receiving an Ontario Drivers Licence. When they insisted on confiscating his English one, we shamlessly asked for a photocopy...it was COOL, ok?!

We enjoy reading our English dad's new blog, and you might too! He is full of wisdom and creativity. Plus, he IS Mark's dad so he is quite silly as you may have guessed already.

For all you Canadians, have a delightful long weekend and wear your sunscreen!

Taking it back to the Temple...

Ezra 6 v5:

"Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought it to Babylon are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God."

So, King Cyrus of Persia wrote all this down when he came to power, and his decree was carried out by King Darius, who took over the sovereignty.

Here's a few thoughts about this.
In Revelation, Babylon is used as a metaphor for 'the abominations of the earth'; Essentially, the works of Satan. Also in Revelation, Heaven is referred to as The New Jerusalem.

So, looking at this from the point of view that we are; after Christ, in the last days, how does this sound? For Nebuchadnezzar, read 'the Devil'. For Babylon, read 'all the crap that comes with being in a fallen world'. For the temple in Jerusalem, read 'the City of our Holy God in Heaven'.
Having spent some time reading this the other day, Holy Spirit started speaking to me, and revealing the power of this statement.
All the treasures of the Temple, that is, all of the treasures of the Kingdom of God, which we have open access to since Jesus gave us the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, which have been stolen from us by Satan, are to be, and are now being returned to their rightful place in the house of God, and we have full access to them.

How's that for a slice of fried gold?