Well, last Friday Erin and I drove to Edmonton and attended Claire Thompson's wedding. I grew up with Claire in Indonesia. It was a nice wedding at the First Baptist Church downtown Edmonton. A few other missionary kids from Indonesia came so it was great catching up with them. Two of the Clark girls were there, three of the Kirkley girls, and, of course, the Thompsons. The reception was on the 11th floor of the Delta hotel. You could see the city and the city lights at night, it was really nice. Shawn and Claire are perfect together, they are so goofy and carefree, and they smiled the whole time. I almost fell asleep on the way home and Erin got sick from drinking too much coffee, wine, carbonated drink, etc. Good times. The next wedding Erin and I are attending is Daniel Enns' wedding on September 16th.

I know, I know I am ridiculously in love with my books and my new bookshelf. I bought it in the AS/IS room at IKEA and now all I hear are the words of Tyler Durden: "Deliver me from Swedish furniture, deliver me from clever art…the things you own will end up owning you.” For some of my thoughts on books that I have read recently or books that I am currently reading go to my xanga blog (see link). Also, check out all the links I have added. These are some of the bands Erin and I like, organizations we support, and good Websites to get quality books and music at a decent price.

Here are pictures of Erin and I holding Tristan after he had been out of the womb for four hours! Now it has been over a week since he was born in Calgary at the Foothills Hospital. Erin stayed over night last Tuesday when Scott and Sohayla were rushed to Calgary so Sohayla could have her little Tristan. Erin and I have visited the Courtins a few times since Tristan was born. He is a very cute baby. I've told Erin not to get an ideas, although for some reason, it is becoming more tempting...

How was your long weekend? It went by way too fast for me. On Friday night Erin and I, Steve and Stacey watched V for Vendetta. It is a good movie about an utilitarian society that attempts to control its people and condition its social agents. V is this terrorist or anarchist, who seeks revenge against those involved in testing minority groups and a children's hospital with medicine that leads to infection and death. Anyway, I think it was well written at times, it is has lots of action as well, just watch it. On Saturday Erin worked at the Bookroom and I helped Steve Davis move into his new place. We had some good chats, some pizza and brew. After church on Sunday a bunch of us went to Gull Lake and barbecued, swam, etc. I lost my wedding ring playing football in the water. We all looked for an hour for the ring. Finally, I saw this guy with a metal detector and I asked him if he would look for my ring for me. Just before we left for home I went out to him in the water and he showed me my ring! It was amazing, I thought I lost it for sure! Thank God! Yesterday I finished reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and Erin and I played tennis and just relaxed.

Here are two pictures of the main stage at Creation Festival in George, Washington. I just got back Sunday night. It was a great trip, I got to hang-out with my sister-in-law Suzannah, we made friends with the people next to us in the tent, and we had the chance to see Hillsong United and David Crowder Band. I left Three Hills after my exam on Tuesday, which went pretty good. It took 10 hours to get to Spokane, Washington, it was a nice drive. I arrived at the Gorge on Wednesday, it took awhile to figure out where I had to go and it was incredibly hot outside. I finally found Suzannah and we set-up the Prairie booth and our tent, etc. The next three days we told people about Prairie, handed-out Prairie tattoos, camped, smuggled pop into the tent area, watched bands, bought New Fire Paradise and Truth clothing, and drank lots of water. It was a lot of fun, I didn't get too much sleep and on the way home I had to sleep in my car because there was no room at any hotels in Spokane! So, needless to say I am very tired. Erin is planning to come with me next year, should be good.

Okay, so I promised I would write a movie review for Pirates of the Caribbean 2, it is a little rushed, but here it is: Pirates of the Caribbean 2 has all the elements of the first move: homour, pirate legends, adventures at sea, supernaturalism, love, and an evil villain and his crew, but it is, in a sense, over-produced and the plot was a little strange. Basically, Captain Jack Sparrow searches to find the key to unlock a treasure box, so he can possess the heart of Davey Jones, which will then give him control over the sea, and, of course, he is deceptive and lucky as usual and finds it. The only problem is he isn't the only one looking for it. I enjoyed the parts in the film with the great squid because I have always found the myths about a giant octopus destroying ships at sea intriguing. Pirates of the Caribbean 2 is definitely an entertaining adventure ride close to three hours in length and worth your $10. It has cannibals, a giant squid, battles at sea, mystery, a lot of humour, internal conflict, etc. Is the first one better? It could be just the ending of Dead Man's Chest, which was frustrating and exciting at the same time, but I think the first one is better for different reasons, one being that I didn't sense that the characters developed that much.