Tonight I drove back to my apartment, as I have so many times. I opened the door to go inside, and I was half startled... startled by what was missing. I'm used to opening the door and seeing Joseph flapping his arms wildly in excitement, while Becca has a big grin on her face. Not tonight.

Why is this night different from every other night?

Well, in a sense, this is the night before my exodus out on a journey towards the promised land. Ok, Saskatchewan isn't really the promised land, but tonight marks my last night in Ancaster before driving off at 5am. Becca and Joseph are at the Mombourquette's tonight (sorry Joseph, but I need to sleep tonight).

So I'm alone in this place. I have a sleeping bag, a coffee maker (always the last to get packed!), a breviary, and my computer. This is it.

Back in 2008 as I left Ancaster, and Redeemer University College, I literally shook the dust off my shoes as I left. It was a tough year. The worst of my life. I just couldn't adjust to being here, and to studying at Redeemer. Four years later I still can't quite adjust to this place. But I'm not shaking any dust off my feet this time. I'm not angry. I'm not resentful. I'm not even really annoyed.

What has changed?

Let me put it this way... this time I'm leaving with far more than what I came. No, I'm not talking about material stuff (though Becca made sure that I did leave with more than what we came with... "but these baby clothes are so cute!"). I'm leaving, or we're leaving, with a 23 pound bundle of smiles. This time, as we go forward into some unknown life, we're taking a funny, tiresome, quirky, and all too wonderful bundle of joy with us... little Joseph.

Whatever bad memories I have of Redeemer, or Ancaster, or even Ontario in general, they will be forever redeemed. They now will always involve Joseph.

Becca and I are the luckiest people in the world. Good bye Ontario... It's been fun.


p.s. say a prayer for my safe travels, and for Becca and Joseph's safe flight. I know I will have lots of time on my trip to pray for you.

The Good Book

Today I finally finished it. No, I'm not talking about the Ed. program. Or that essay I'm working on (13 pages written today). I'm talking about the Bible.

Awhile ago I decided I wanted to read the Bible from start to finish. So I did. My journey began on June 8th (fittingly the Feast of Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom), and finally ended today, April 25 (fittingly the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist). June 8th to April 25th!

Er... wait... um, that's June 8th, 2010.

Yeah

It took quite a bit of time, didn't it?

By my calculations it took me 677 days to read the Bible. But I was doing it as spiritual reading!

ex. Numbers 26:12-15:      

   

          "The sons of Simeon by their kindreds: Namuel, of him is the family of the Namuelites: Jamin, of him is the family of the Jaminites: Jachim, of him is the family of the Jachimites:  Zare, of him is the family of the Zarites: Saul, of him is the family of the Saulites. These are the families of the stock of Simeon, of which the whole number was twenty-two thousand two hundred. The sons of Gad by their kindreds: Sephon, of him is the family of the Sephonites..."

Ok, some days were better than others for that, I guess.
But as a whole, it was a very beautiful and rewarding experience to say the least. The New Testament makes so much more sense to me now that I've gone through the entire Old Testament. The Bible is this incredible story of a giant rescue operation by God to save mankind. To use my own words: it's the Greatest Story Ever Told.

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On another note. We're ready to move. Joseph has officially ripped up the last of the D&P brochures at the back of the church. Time to head off into the sunset. There are other churches that need our help...

Great Expectations

I have about 50 pages left in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, the story of a poor young orphan (Pip) who dreams big and by chance falls into a considerable fortune from an unknown benefactor towards achieving the education of a gentleman and "great expectations". 

As with all his other books I've read (probably a grand total of 3), in Great Expectations Dickens is no less a master in weaving his tale. Under the guidance of his pen, completely unbelievable circumstances and characters somehow present no problem to the imagination. Characters take on a life and identity all their own, often through a comparison with some inanimate object that later completely encompasses the entire person. You have to read Dickens to understand how he succeeds in calling characters "the post office" or "the umbrella" and thus vividly identifying them. All in all, Great Expectations is a good read that I'd definitely recommend to any inclined to literary pursuits.

Reading Pip's dreams and their realization or utter failure, has had the bonus advantage of recalling me to the reality of my own "great expectations" and their stupidity or impossibility. Living in Ancaster, Canada's wealthiest city per capita, exposes us to the effects that dual 6 digit incomes have on families. Multiple highly expensive vehicles line the driveways, mansions are considered town houses, and moms have ridiculously pricey, but highly enviable baby strollers.

I have to get it out of my head that this $534,900 home is not normal, although it's a common sight down any side street within a 15 min walking distance. No, really, I wouldn't want this house, ever.

But it takes a little more effort to convince myself that I don't need one of these gorgeous $699 strollers that every other mom walks around pushing.

Let's just say, it's a very good thing we'll be leaving this town of millionaires shortly. We're even looking forward to hitting up lots of garage sales this summer to find furniture that we can repaint or fix up and all the other items we'll need to start a house. Hopefully, I won't be plagued by as much jealousy for expensive things when we aren't surrounded by BMWs and fancy strollers.

Afterall, isn't this bundle of engery my greatest expectation?

Marriage Works

Dear Readers:

You may have noticed that I blog somewhat more regularly than Becca. In fact, when she does blog it is usually because of my gentle persuading her. Now I know what you're thinking: "wow, if he does way more blogging than her then he probably does the majority of the work in their marriage... Becca must have the easiest life in the world!"

This is not entirely true. As I said, I do coerce her into writing from time to time, ergo she is made to do some small tasks occasionally.

One such small task would be grocery shopping. But really, how hard can it be to grocery shop with Joseph? All you have to do is walk around and put food in the cart while kind of holding him so he doesn't jump out and making sure he doesn't yell and cry too much and then paying for and stacking the dozen or so bags and carrying them out to the van while holding Joseph and promising to nurse him and then driving home and carrying him and the groceries upstairs and trying to quickly nurse him before the ice cream melts because Joseph couldn't wait for it to be put into the freezer? And really, she probably just eats the ice cream anyway while nursing him!

As to her having an easy ride in this marriage, it's hard to hide from that fact.
For starters, Becca must love the night life. Why, not a night goes by where she's not up six, or seven, or ten times! What is she doing anyway? Probably living it up. To make it worse, she has Joseph up with her this many times every night! I'll bet she's teaching him these night-owl merry ways.

 Further, Becca is always doing fun things with Joseph during the day too! She takes him for baths and walks, they eat meals together, and she's always dancing and laughing with him. She even holds him in her arms while making supper! My goodness! To have so much fun certainly means that life is too easy. And yet, when evening comes she dares to say that she's tired! I know this is not true, because... you guessed it... she's up again with Joseph for the entire night (partying, or whatever). Nice try.

I am, on the other hand, living the hard life. Why, as we speak I'm at the schoole working on an essay! I don't have time for things like blogging, and yet I do them anyway! I make room for these things, because I'm not lazy. I also somehow squeeze the time out of my schedule to read other people's blogs, or read the news, or follow facebook to see how others are doing (because I care). All of this, despite my many duties! Really, I'm the one who should be tired at night! And yet I'm so polite and thoughtful that I leave Becca and Joseph to their fun ways at night while I go sleep on the couch. But, sometimes they still wake me up with their noise in the middle of the night! However, I charitably don't say anything and just roll over and sleep some more... while they continue to hang out.

So yes, my more frequent blogging is a sign of my hard work and dedication. Did I mention that I'm busy writing an essay at the moment? Exactly. Meanwhile, I think we should all pray for Becca... or for me really.

Little Friends

Joseph is enamoured with little people. Not the plastic toy "little people" (for all you Millettes), but real live little people. Being an only (and lonely?) child (so far) and not having a mom who takes him to play groups, he doesn't interact with other little kids on a regular basis. Hopefully that will all change when we move back to Saskatchewan and he can hang out with all his cool cousins.

But until then, he has to be satisfied with the occasional meeting of some little tyke at the grocery store or in Mass or seeing them through our big bay window as they play outside next door at the Redeemer daycare. We like to joke that he wants to go to daycare, because then he can play with all those kids who yell and scream outside all day. But, when we told him they don't get to nurse at daycare, he decided he didn't want to go afterall.

He has had a few up and close encounters with a little boy we met at Mass. James Joseph goes to church during the week sometimes with his grandma. So after Mass on one of these mornings he came over to meet Joseph. It had been a rough Mass for me, alone with Joseph who decided he wanted to give the homily and lead all the hymns, not exactly in a prayerful manner either (yep, he was mad!).

But when James, who's "two and half", came over, Joseph was all smiles. The two boys just looked right at each other, grinning from ear to ear. Then Joseph reached out with both hands to touch James' face. It took everything I could muster not to grab his hands, afraid he was going to scratch this poor little fellow to pieces, like he usually does to us. But he didn't. He just ever so gently stroked James' face and smiled, completely quiet. Soft-spoken, well-behaved James enjoyed every minute of it. About a week later, the same thing happened again. This time James came over and raised his face a little so Joseph could stroke it. They smiled and shared a special little moment. James loves going to Mass and wants to be a "peest" when he grows up. Maybe it will rub off on Joseph!

But, I guess this little guy needs some buddies to play with, instead of some boring parents. Nope, no little siblings for him yet (for those curious minds - I know who you are!), but we're sure looking forward to hanging out with some Millette cousins soon.

School's out for ever!

This was the sign on the door that awaited my today as I got home from school. That's right, I finished my last placement!!!! I'm done!! It's almost surreal. I said my goodbyes to my grade 5 class ("please come back and teach grade 6 next year..."), and thus ended my (hopefully) last day where I teach without getting paid.

Actually, I still have a seminar day to attend on Monday at Redeemer. I was also asked to share a reflection with my fellow classmates, mainly I think because I keep things short. Afterwards, I have a 15-20 page paper to write on learning disabilities (for Athabasca University). Then, finally, I pack to leave on Monday, April 30th, at 5am. Well, I'm sure Becca will be doing most of the packing.

The next step is to get a job. All I hear in Ontario is how there are no jobs available. Apparently the unemployment rate for teachers is the highest of all occupations here. Only 20% of new teachers get jobs (that includes substitute teaching). So yes, what I'm saying is I have a built in excuse to leave for Saskatchewan (where there are more jobs available). I always think though, poor Becca. It's tough to have to drag her away from where she grew up. On the other hand, the possibility of having our own home and starting a life together is too exciting to pass up (even for her). So hopefully with God's blessing, away we go!

Divine Mercy Sunday

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. It is also the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic shipwreck. But alas, Divine Mercy Sunday is far more important. Unfortunately though, I have Celine Dion's "My Heart will go on" in my head. And now I'll bet you do too.

My grade 5 students were saying how the Titanic movie is apparently long. I said "yeah, I think it uses 2 VHS's," to which a couple of the kids asked what a VHS is... !!! ...So I explained that before DVDs there was these things called videos. Sheesh. They probably don't know what K-cars are either.
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A man one day stated that his wife treats him like a god.
"Is that so?" replied his friend.
"Yes, she always give me burnt offerings..."
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Finally, I just have to say this, in a weird way I miss lent. I miss the very structured and focused atmosphere of fasting and offering prayers and sacrifices. I suppose I could have that mindset all year long. Yeah, right. Oh well, at least I realize that there's something good in that way of life, even if I'm way too pathetic to actually live it everyday.

Anyway, enjoy your Divine Mercy Sunday. If you're working on your taxes, have fun. Remember the immortal words of one Wanda Dollard from Corner Gas: "tax time kicks the crap out of Christmas!"

What's a blog post without a picture of Joseph, hey?

He shoots he scores!

Well today I had about the most fun I've ever had during the Redeemer University teaching program. Today, at my school placement, was the finals of the floor hockey league. Now as soon as I came to the placement school I volunteered to help out with the recess floor hockey program. The teachers, it turns out, had a team that played once a week against the best of the grade 7-8 players.

Fast-forward to today. The gym bleachers were packed with every student and teacher in the school. The final championship game started, and as soon as I would score a goal (and then substitute off) the other team would score right back!. For my last shift I was told I wasn't allowed to score, so I nervously played defence, trying to uphold a 6-5 lead. Then, with the clock ticking down and the students shouting "4...3...2..." the top player of the opposing team wound up for one final, point blank, shot. I dove across and blocked the shot in dramatic fashion as the buzzer soon went off. It was over! The teachers won the championship!

In the halls for the rest of the day I was a celebrity! All the students were walking up to me and giving me high fives and wanting to talk to me! Boy I feel special! Ok, I wasn't exactly playing my hardest today. I was just trying to put on a show for the kids. And we all had a blast.

I think what today says most to me, though, is the need these students have for good male role models. The school is mainly boys and the first 6 years of school involve only female teachers. Thus, when I walked into my grade 5 classroom I was instantly taken in by the boys ("wow, you're our first male teacher ever!"). I find they really look up to me, which is both positive and scary.

My job, then, is to somehow make the connection for them that you can play sports and have fun, but you can also love your faith. Yes, being a Catholic is a cool thing. And maybe, just maybe, God rewards your faith by helping you make that big play at the end of the sports game!

So Over This

We're getting ready to move. Again. We've been married for 2 years now and this will be our 5th move between Ontario and Saskatchewan. That's 14,500 km driving altogether. Although, this will be the second time that I fly the move. We didn't think Joseph would enjoy the 36 hr trip in a car much after the first couple hours. Needless to say, we are very much looking forward to settling down in our own little place, finding somewhere we can call "home".

I find new reasons daily to look forward to having our own place. We live on campus here at Redeemer, surrounded by student housing. We're so over hearing young, noisy students at all hours of the day and night (we were never like that, right?). We're so over walking across the parking lot to do laundy. And paying $3 a load. And getting there only to find students have left their clean clothes in hours past the time they were finished, leaving no space for others. We're so over having just one sink in the kitchen. And only a 2' by 2' counter space, which the coffee maker and toaster take up most of. We're so over opening our windows on a nice day only to have second hand smoke drift in from the chain smoker who lives below and lights up right under our window (we nicknamed her "the chimney").

But, I get carried away. We have been so very blessed with all of our living arrangements during the past 2 years. Cheap living with the Millettes in Nipawin (and by cheap I mean some labour on our part in the garden or at the kitchen sink). "Our" beautiful Ancaster home we house sat for and "shared" with a family last year during their short repose at home. And now Redeemer which has been ideally convenient for Dan even during his two placements: one a short bus ride and the other just a 5 min. walk away. 

We've also been immensely blessed to have daily Mass at a great parish and Saturday morning Mass at a retirement villa with 2-4 lovely, old priests (well into or beyond their 80s). Being 25 min. or so from my folks has meant they generously donated all our furnishings, feed us every Sunday, and regularly let us do big loads of laundry at their place (or, after Joseph was born, pick up our dirty stuff and drop it off later clean). Various friends have also lent all the necessary (but expensive) baby items that we just don't have room to move around.

Nonetheless, as we try to figure out how the heck we're going to fit all our belongings in a large-for-us but still small mini-van, we are excited with the possibility of finding somewhere homey this summer.

Doesn't this boy look like he needs some outdoor space to play and maybe a dog someday?

On Marriage

Two years? Already? Yep, two years ago today we promised to be true to one another, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love and honour one another all the days of our lives.

Shortly after returning from our honeymoon (perhaps even the same day), we had our first married argument. We were making salad together in our tiny 2ft by 2ft counter space of Dan's apartment I had just moved into. I was cutting cucumber and I was doing it all wrong. And so ensued a heated discussion on how cucumber should to be cut (big chunks, by the way, not small quarter circles). I think in the end we both made our own salads. And probably ate them in silence.

Within a short time we discovered many other meaningless differences: we put toilet paper on different ways, I'm very particular about how a bed is made/Dan prefers not to make it at all, it's easier if we both just use separate toothpaste tubes, etc.

Looking back, we've certainly grown a lot. And had a ton of fun along the way! I'm married to my best friend, what could be better than that?

Dan got some marriage advice recently from an old fellow he chats with at the gym. "Marriage is great. The first 30 years are tough, but after that it's easy." And that coming from a man who's been married 60 some odd years. Everyday when asked how he's doing Carl will reply, "I'm great, just great. If I ever complain, hit me."

I guess we have a heck of a long way to go to reach 60 years (I'll be 84 by then! yikes!), but at least in 28 years or so it's clear sailing! Here's to decades of wonderful years ahead with the love of my life. 

Parking Pride

Before I begin, here's a picture of Joseph pretending to say Mass while sleeping.

I'm not sure if he's in the middle of the Our Father or the Preface.

Note the reverence of his expression.


Now Becca and I have many quirks that most people thankfully don't know about. But I feel compelled to share one of these such quirks. It's called Parking Pride.

We live in the independent housing section at Redeemer University. The parking lots are full of people who couldn't park straight to save their lives (did I mention that the majority of drivers are women?). Anyway, Becca and I try to make it a point of parking straight. After a good park job, we have been guilty of sitting back and admiring it. Or we'll go upstairs to our apartment and frequently look outside the window to admire the talent which wrought the vehicle in such majestic order. Hence, Parking Pride.

What makes us most excited, however, is when others park crooked, and our van is straight. We keep an unofficial ranking of the best and worst parkers in our little lot.

"Forgive me Father for I have sinned. I gloried in my parking job again. I also looked down on others and judged them because they parked crooked again."

"My child, have you ever parked crooked?"

"Yes Father, but then I told my wife that I did so only to give the appearance of imperfection, because I'm so humble."

We seem to find a way to sin no matter what. If nothing else, we're creative.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your Easter. I'm back at my grade 5 placement tomorrow (our anniversary!) for my final two weeks of practicum. Tempus fugit.

Birthday and the Triduum.

Today is Becca's 2#th birthday. Joseph and I made her a card, bought some flowers and a couple of little gifts, and will be having cake and ice cream after the Easter Vigil tonight. It just doesn't seem right to have cake before then. However, it does mean we will be staying up way past our bedtime (9pm).

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The Easter Triduum is full of those "Wow, it's so great to be Catholic!" moments. The liturgies are stunning and really set the tone for the entire weekend. Also, the whole fasting before Easter, as much as I hate to admit it, really makes the experience all the more joyful in the end. I've lost nearly 4 pounds this week! Ok... I had the flu earlier in the week, that's why. To aid in the experience this year, Becca and I have been reading excerpts from Pope Benedict's two books on Jesus. We stayed up late last night (10pm!... hey, I've gone to bed at 5pm on Good Friday before... out of hunger!) talking about some of the theology behind the day. Wow, it's so great to be Catholic! And Pope Benedict is such a gift.

What does bother me a bit about the weekend, though, is going to St. Ann's in Ancaster and having a church packed with people who really give the appearance that they're there only by habit; who sit in their pews chewing gum and looking at their watches, or texting, or yawning... and God-forbid they try and sing or look interested. Yes, I'm judging others again. But really, would it kill someone to not wear shorts and sandles to such solemn liturgies?

All of which relates to something Fr. Barron spoke on earlier, that I think perfectly explains it. He said we're now living in the fumes of a Christian society. There's still some fumes, but the main part is gone. We see evidence of this all around. It's sad. If history is any indication, however, things will probably have to get worse before they get better. Thankfully, our little Joseph will be a good and holy priest to help aid in the restoration of a Christian society! After he plays a few years in the NHL of course.

Have a Blessed Easter. Here's hoping your kids don't find Easter candy forgotten from last year's hunt!

Sickening

I had so much to do this weekend, but alas I'm lying on the couch feeling awfully sick. That's the joy of being at an elementary school. There are always sick kids around. Needless to say, the extra long readings at Mass today were a little tough. I ended up sitting for the Gospel. Not to worry though! In the spirit of unity everyone in the church also sat for the Gospel! I'm sure they were going to stand, but saw that I couldn't, so they generously shared in my condition. Gee thanks!..

I guess I never was one for the "Spirit of Unity." I think I was told too many times growing up: "would you jump off a cliff if everyone else did?"

At my current student teaching placement (Catholic school) the teachers had a staff organized chili Friday. Yes, that's meat chili on a Friday in lent. Anyway, I sat there eating my piece of bread and cheese, or whatever, and they kept trying to get me to eat their chili. I would say, "no, it's a Friday in lent, we're not supposed to eat meat." Well you should have heard the snickering behind my back. "Oh I guess I'm going to hell then..." and the like. Finally one teacher came up to me again to get me to eat chili. I'd had enough. I raised my voice and said "there are five precepts of the Church. Only five. And one of them involves not eating meat on Fridays. It's not complicated."

I'm all for the Spirit of Unity, but I think it's more important to be unified to the Universal Church and her teachings.