The best thing about these pictures is that they may be the last ones before the baby comes! We have been getting prepared and can't wait until she comes! Erin is 35 weeks, so we likely have 3 to 5 weeks left. Erin finishes her last day of work tomorrow and I am now done work until the new year. This Christmas we are planning just to relax, read, watch movies, etc. It has been a crazy fall, so we are tired and looking forward to this week. We hope you all have a great Christmas! I will post pictures of the baby within a couple of days after she is born.

Maria, Erin and I just finished watching the movie Reign Over Me. It is a thought-provoking film about an old friend attempting to help his friend, who lost his whole family in an airplane crash (9/11), process his grief. They both end up helping each other (we are all in need of loving friends). The movie depicts an element that often does not exist in relationships, namely, patience. Often family members and friends of those who have lost loved ones expect them to overcome their sorrow quickly. And in some cases people end up in psychiatric institutions as a result of not being able to do just that. Anyway, Erin and I put together our crib today! Got to get ready they say! Don’t know the time or day, best be getting prepared! Today was a cleaning and organizing day as I arrived home from Montreal late last night. I got to tour around Old Montreal yesterday. I used the subway system, which was fun considering my French is practically non existent (the way to the airport was fun too because my taxi driver couldn’t speak English). I visited the Notre Dame Basilica which was incredibly beautiful, and walked down the cobblestone streets in Old Montreal. This last trip was 13 days long, so I am excited to be home. Now all I have to do is make sure I do my homework instead of reading John Caputo’s new book: What Would Jesus Deconstruct? Erin is feeling pretty uncomfortable these days, but she is hanging in there. The baby is moving around continuously. Looks like she might just break lose any minute now. I can’t wait until she comes! Got to get ready! 8-9 weeks left (the pictures are Erin at 31 weeks).

Here is Erin at 26 weeks. I think her belly resembles a squash. Erin has informed me that there are many different types of squash. So I have decided it looks like a pumpkin. Our little girl is moving around lots and enjoys kicking Erin's bladder. Her eyes are now open and she can recognize and distinguish different sounds. I talk and sing to her all the time. Erin finally received her Bachelor of Arts degree two weeks ago. She is excited about not having to do school ever again. Erin and I saw a huge moose in Three Hills last week! We followed it in our car. Well, this week I start traveling again. I will be joining the Christian College University Fair Tour on Thursday. We are working our way west (Kelowna, Abbotsford, Victoria, etc.). I get to go to Vancouver Island, so that will be nice. Also, I know someone in every city on the tour, so it will be nice to catch up with people like Barry Sommer, Daniel Enns, Jordan Vantol, and Chris Brambleby. Anyway, I have to go and do homework (two essays). Good times.

Here is Erin at 22 weeks. I can't hug Erin without bumping into baby first. I felt the baby move this last weekend. It was amazing. Erin says she does summersaults in there (restless like the rest of us). I think all she does is sleep and plan her escape. I've started telling her stories and last Friday we took here to her first concert (Mutemath and Pilate). I am convinced she is going to be a poet or musician or a philosopher. Erin says she will be girly and play with dolls and that I need to love her selflessly (even if she doesn't become my little poet, etc.).

Here are some more belly pictures! As you can see our little one is growing! Erin is 19 weeks this Tuesday. We went in for an ultra-sound the other day and were told that we were 10 days earlier than we thought. As a result, our due date is January 21st not January 11th. Next Friday we have another ultra-sound and we will find out if our baby is a boy or girl! We will also be given a DVD of our baby in 4D (fancy technology). Other than the baby not much is new. Erin and I, being a part of the Prairie Admissions team, are getting ready for students to arrive. There are about 75 students here already. I love meeting new students and being able to put a face to a name. At night we either read or watch a movie (pretty exciting stuff). The funny thing is that I wouldn't have any other way (which means I am getting old and/or less restless).

Erin is documenting her pregnancy. Here are the latest pcitures (14.5 weeks), and, yes, her belly is getting bigger! I am getting pretty excited as the days go by. I know that there will be some major adjustments to our schedule and life when little junior gets here, but I know (with certainty) that having a child will be such a blessing!

Here are some pictures from Steve and Heather's wedding. They got married in the same place Erin and I did as Heather's grandparents own the vineyard. It was a really fun and beautiful wedding. They had an awesome jazz/fusion band there, great food and wine, and it was good to finally really meet Erin's extended family and friends as I didn't get a proper chance to at our wedding. Steve and Heather are perfect together and Erin and I pray that God blesses them as they get settled in their home and grow together.

Here are some beautiful pictures of Oregon that Erin took exactly two weeks ago. It was a great day. Tony (Erin's Dad), Suzannah (Erin's sister), Erin and I drove through the Redwoods to California and the Oregon coast. I swam in the ocean, which was incredibly cold, we went out for fish and chips, and we watched the sunset. I really think I need to move to Oregon soon...

Well there you have it, Erin's belly at 9 weeks. Not quite a balloon yet, but she is starting to show. We found out two weeks ago that we are going to have a baby and we are excited. We meet with the doctor soon and then we will have an official due date (probably January sometime). Right now I am at home sick getting ready for my trip to California (I leave tomorrow). Erin is at work with a stomach ache and box of crackers.

This is the birthday card my parents sent me; I just think it fits me perfectly! Thanks dad, very thoughtful card. I have been making music mixes since I received a stereo with two tape decks back in the 5th grade. Throughout high school and college I always had to have a mix for every trip and occasion or whenever a multitude of new releases came out. Anyway, wicked card. In a lot ways I can't believe I will be 25 tomorrow. That means I have lived a third of my life. There is still so much to do, so many books to read, people to meet, classes to attend, time with family and my kids (future), classes to teach, so many more joys and inevitably more pain. I am thankful for these last 25 years and for God's grace in my life. Right now my beautiful wife is making me cinnamon buns! Tomorrow Erin and I are going to Calgary for her Immigration interview, which means (hopefully) she will be receiving permanent residence here in Canada. At night we are having friends over for a barbecue and cake. Should be good times.

This last picture is of our good friends the Richardsons. They are from Alaska and we hang-out almost everyday now. Joshua is a folk singer and critical thinker and Rosie is a hairstylist and is very similar to Erin so we get along well. Good times. This weekend has been good. It was graduation here in Three Hills. On Friday the some of the class of 1957 were here and I gave a group of them a tour of Prairie campus including our new building, which just opened (we are moving in in June). One couple spent 25 years in Pontinanak, Indonesia where I grew up so that was cool and another lady knew my parents and my grandfather! Ron Richardson was the distinguished alumni, he wrote Peacechild, which is now a movie and on DVD. Yesterday Erin and I and the Richardsons went to the Bad Lands and barbecued...pictures coming soon. It was fun. Josh and I talked about our futures and plans for obtaining MA degrees while the ladies walked around taking pictures. Right now it is raining in Three Hills and I am listening to classical music about to read Zizek, the crazy Slovenian philosopher. The grass is getting greener so I suspect summer is on its way.

Last Saturday Erin was the official photographer at a wedding that took place in Three Hills. This was her first gig so consequently she was nervous that the pictures wouldn't turn out, but they did. It was an interesting wedding in that the couple was already married! They got married in B.C. the week before because the bride's mother was given a week to live so they had a small wedding so she could see them get married. Kat's mother wanted her to still have a wedding, so that's why they had a wedding in Three Hills. Kat's mother did pass away, so there sad moments during the wedding.

Here is a picture of Erin and I on St. Patrick's Day. It was the warmest day in Three Hills since the day we went to Buffalo Jump in early October. We both slept in and then I went for a run with my friend Josh. After Erin and I went for a walk around town. In the afternoon I read and started working on my Nietzsche paper while Erin made two loaves of Irish bread, some cauliflower soup, and apple crisp. At night we hung-out with the Richardsons and played Dutch Blitz and watched a movie. I also called my dad to wish him a happy birthday. In the end, it was an excellent St. Patrick's Day.

On January 20, 2007, my only brother James got married. It was a beautiful winter wedding and it was just amazing to see James and Nikki so happy. Erin and I had a great time in Ontario spending time with James and Nikki and family, preparing for the wedding, and celebrating with them on their special day. A lot of friends, family, and friends from Moody came to see James and Nikki get married, which was nice. They leave tomorrow actually to start ministry at a church in Indianna. Erin and I are praying that God will continue to bless them as they work with students and youth in their new hometown showing them God's deep love for them. I think James and Nikki are very capable and gifted individuals. We are excited for them, we just wish they weren't so far away. Well, bro, when Erin and I move to Waterloo we will be closer and then we can see each other a lot more. I am looking forward to hanging out again. Erin and I love you guys.

Here are some pictures of Jaxen Wierenga. He is so cute, he is practically a model already the way he poses. All I know is that Erin will probably take a thousand pictures a day of our children. Message to Andrea and Greg, if you can produce this cute of a kid you should probably start working on having more!

How was everyone's Christmas? On a scale from 1 to 10 how does it feel to be back in school or back at work? That's what I thought. Well, Erin and I had a great time relaxing in Grants Pass, Oregon with her family and friends. The weather was nice and we did a lot of nothing. We ate healthy and unhealthy food, watched movies, went to cafés, and played lots of games. I received a poker set for Christmas along with lots of books and The Office Season Two and Seinfeld Season Seven. Good times, not that it is about accumulating more stuff or anything. Above are pictures I took of a rusty door I saw with the word "apathy" written on it. The two ladies above are Suzannah, my sister-in-law and her friend Whitney. Good people. Lately I have been thinking about how apathy is something I can relate to. A lot of times I let the listlessness sink in and I act like Meursault in Camus' The Outsider, who is continually unconcerned and uncaring. Nothing is a serious matter to him, he has no ambition, nothing means anything to him. Camus says that Meursault's downfall is that he refuses to lie and to play the social game, this is how he feels (if you can call unfeeling a feeling) and therefore he is truthful. Question: Do you ever feel like you don't care anymore...about your goals, work, the things you shouldn't do, school, the things you should do? That's what I thought. You could always baptize me in a small blue basin of cold water ("I am a little concerned about your salvation and stuff..."). The answer, I have come to realize, is not necessarily movies like Blood Diamond (which is so good by the way) or reading International Development Magazine or talking to you friends about all your goals that you won't follow through on ("This year I won't shop at Wal-Mart" "This year I am going to tithe better" "This year I am going to the gym"). Whatever. The answer is prayer. Meeting with God. The question is: “Are you still sleeping and resting…?” (Mark 14:41).