October 6th, 2006

The Pass Lake community is wonderful, the people are kind, the landscape is gorgeous. We're living in a house that has kind of a cottage feel. It's a wonderful place for the three of us at this stage.

Brenna is squirming all over the place now, on one side,then on the other, facing one way, then another. She's got a great range of noises now too. Most noticeable is the one that causes spit bubbles to roll down her chin.

There are some beautiful fall colors happening, the pictures are meant to give you a taste of their vibrance. Enjoy!

We're all doing well. And we hope you're doing well too.

September 10th, 2006

You can now receive notification when this page is updated.

Yes, it's true: Nothing changed on this page for a couple of months. To save you from more fruitless visits, I'm willing to send you an e-mail when updates happen. Just fill out this form.

Surely you added something worth looking at!

I think so. Check out the photo albums by clicking the thumbnails at the top of the page. There's a bunch of good pictures of Brenna. I also added a thumbnail archive page. It's on the left.

So what's your status as of September 06?

Well, we're settling into our new home in Pass Lake right now. It's a great place, but I can't tell you about it yet. First, there's left over photos which I know you will enjoy. Click the thumbnail pictures above to see them (if you haven't already).

Tell me about Brenna Dawne

Brenna loves her baths. It's her favorite part of the day. She gets to play in the nice warm water, splashing about, while she looks up at the noah's ark mobile that she seems to find a great deal of comfort in. She's turning into a really smiley baby. Thumbs crossed that isn't a temporary situation. We're getting pretty familiar with this parenthood thing. Though I did just put her sleeper on inside out. Oh well.

June 24th, 2006

Give me the details of the labor!

Contractions started at 7:00 a.m. They became consistent at 9:00 a.m. We went to the hospital at 1:00 p.m. with contractions approx. 3 minutes apart. Angie was 4 cm dilated. By 5:00 p.m. she was fully dilated and started pushing. At 5:57 p.m., a healthy Brenna was born weighing 8 pounds, 9 and 3/4 ounces, with dark hair and brown eyes.

How did Angie get through the labor?

Hard work, a warm shower, 2 or 3 mouthfuls of laughing gas, a husband in the room, good help from doctors and nurses, and hard work.

Great. What about the juicy emotional details?

You'll have to catch up with us over the phone for that. 780-826-4948.

Where are you living?

5111 - 53rd Avenue, Bonnyville, Alberta, T9N 2B2
Until August 18th.

I didn't even know Angie was pregnant. You're impossible to keep track of. What's on your agenda?

We'll stay where we're at until Aug 18th. Then we'll head to Saskatoon, SK for a couple of days. Then we'll head to Steinbach, MB for about a week. Then we'll head to Pass Lake, ON for a year. Then we'll go back to Saskatoon for an academic year. Then we don't know.

Tell us more about the baby!!!

Another time. She's a miracle, a beautiful gift from God, and she's lots of work.

Have I let enough people know/can I share the news?

Yes/Absolutely.

You said the head was unsquished at birth - did you have a c-section?

No. Rather, a great birth with a great doctor.

June 19th, 2006

Brenna Dawne was born at 5:57 pm, June 18th. She weighed 8 pounds, 9 and 3/4 ounces. We're all at home now. Angie took care of the baby all night, I did from early morning until now (at least the parts I can), and now grandma Linda is holding her. Angie is getting some much needed rest. One can't expose too much emotion on the internet - but it sure is wonderful!!!

June 5th, 2006

Bonnyville has been treating us well. Angie is really coming to the end of the pregnancy now. She's been having plenty of contractions over this past week and a half, strengthening up that uterus. I wouldn't be surprised if it showed up in the next week. The due date is June 14th... we're waiting. In the mean time, Angie is having a chance to catch up with all sorts of friends and family. I'm getting the break I needed from school. I'm enjoying work on the oil patch. I get to see some beautiful animals (see the link at the right).

May 6th, 2006

• We're now living in Bonnyville.
• I've got a job on the oil fields.
• We're expecting the baby anytime in the next 6 or 8 weeks.
• We went for a walk and took some beautiful photos (see pictures links).

April 24th, 2006

Angie and I will be moving to Bonnyville for the summer! I'm applying for work there right now - but we'll already be there in a week! It makes sense financially, and especially for Angie to have her family around when the baby is born. She is getting really big now. We're trying to get all packed up while Angie does her last couple of days at work and while I finish up the term at the seminary. Today, tomorrow, and Wednesday are the days I meet and start to work with my internship supervisor, so hopefully that works out well. As I mentioned earlier, we'll be in the largely Danish community of Pass Lake, at Salem Lutheran Church.

The Very End of March, 2006

Since Angie just sent out that mass email, I thought it would be a good idea to put something on here that you hadn't already heard. So I've put a quick little video of Angie's belly on the site. It's about 1MB and probably requires quicktime. Posted here for your viewing pleasure.

Towards the End of March, 2006

Things are still going wonderfully. The belly seems too big to wait for the baby to pop out in June, but I guess that's probably what will happen. Our internship site has been set. We're going to Pass Lake, Ontario on September 1st. Pass Lake is about 45 minutes northeast of Thunderbay. We're both excited about the churches and communities there. Since Angie's belly is growing so much, we figured we should put another photo up. It's in the links at the right.

Beginning of March, 2006

Everything from the 2005 report holds true. But we have news. Angie is pregnant. In fact, she is 6 Months pregnant, expecting in the middle of June. It's a busy year ahead for us, as 2 months after the baby is born, we expect to move somewhere in Western Canada or the U.S. so that I can do my internship year. I continue to enjoy seminary and the odd bit of website work (like this one), and Angie continues to work at the day program (for now!).

A Month in 2005

Angie and I are now in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She is working at a group home more or less full time, I am studying at the Lutheran Theological Seminary, and also working at a L'Arche home. We're living in an apartment just a 15 minute walk from the Seminary (a wonderful part of the walk being across the river), which we have come to love. I still feel very close to the farm, and maintain and update this website as often as possible. The Seminary community is quite a wonderful thing, and has helped us to feel at home here. There are a number of other couples and individuals who have become good friends. Angie and I are both pretty busy, but we definitely take time for friends - whether for plain and simple fun or to relieve stress. I've heard it said God created work to sustain communities... if i understand it correctly, that means the people you're with and that you work together is more important than the work itself (of course, this is a dairy farm website, and so, you can safely assume that I still count work as important...!)

History: Quite A While Ago

About us... we have been together less than three years, were married in August of 2003. We live in Camrose. Angie is going to Augustana University College to finish her psychology degree. I am working as a youth director at Messiah Lutheran Church. We met at a camp where residence life and student chaplain students were preparing for the upcoming academic year, and didn't look back.

About me (Jim)... I was born on the farm two years after Anne & Sam purchased it. Although home is now more with Angie, the farm remained my home while I studied in Camrose, AB, and while I was in Mexico and Norway.

Anne & Sam taught me to farm - though they never taught me to call them mom and dad - and I learned to love it. Watching the farm being built up and growing over the years was the realization of um... mom and dad's dream, and I felt very much a part of that. Seeing a dream come to be in their life is certainly inspiration for my own, and as I know much prayer and hope was involved, so begins the journey me.

Upon graduation high school, I was faced with a choice. I loved the farm, and felt called to the church. Resolving myself to the truth of the fact that when animals misbehave you can give them a swat in rump but you can't with people, I left to do a religious studies degree at Augustana. Once my feet were on that path, I decided, that is the path they would take. Should I have had any doubt, severe allergies to the barn took over the year after I went to university.

I've been blessed with what I call extra lives. Not that I lived when I shouldn't have, but that I had a life on the farm, a life at university, and a life in Mexico. All three are of course tied together by faith, friends, and of course, family, but all three come with different cultures, expectations, foods, and perspectives. I won't explain them here, but if you ever meet me, feel free to ask. I'm on my fourth life now, with Angie in the church in Camrose. It is a good life.

Now that Jim has had his turn to describe our life I shall pick up where he left off. I, Angie, am finishing off my last semester at Augustana and then it will be time for me to finally go out into the world and find a "real" job. I am sincerely hoping that after five years in University, an exchange to Mexico, and a nice chunk of student loans that my job won't include a paper hat and the phrase, "Would you like fries with that." Shortly, Jim and I will switch roles and I will follow him to where he needs to go to school while he moves on to do his seminary. Where we will go from there only time will tell, but I have a feeling that we will learn a few more languages living in different countries before our time here is through.

A little bit about myself. I grew up in the country but not on a real farm so although coming to stay with my in-laws isn't a completely new experience, I still have a lot to learn. It has been a great experience for me learning to milk the cows and drive the tractors (my parents can hardly believe that they would let me drive a car let alone a tractor). I've always known that the farm is one of the best places to learn and gain experience, but now that I've spent some time on the farm, I'm just beginning to see what that means.