To record some of our memories from our honeymoon last week and to let some of our friends and family share in the experience, Holly and I wrote up some of what we did and saw. Here is Part 2. If you missed Part 1, you can read it here. All our photos from the honeymoon that were fit to publish are now posted as well.

Paul: Our first full day in Vancouver, we set out on foot to explore the downtown area. It was interesting to see the diversity of the neighborhoods even within the downtown area. We started in the West End, where our hotel was, and went past all the fascinating ethnic restaurants we had seen the night before. Then we passed into the more trendy, upscale area near the cruise ship terminal. Eventually we ended up in a more run-down neighborhood, and finally we headed back when we got to Chinatown.

Holly: We visited the Christ Church Cathedral, a staple of the Canadian Angelican population. We also walked near the waterfront.

Paul: Then we stopped by the Vancouver Art Gallery where we decided we didn't want to pay $20 each to look at upside-down black-and-white photographs of trees or litte replica trees constructed of twigs tacked together.

Holly: From there, we walked to the Vancouver Lookout, which gives a 360-degree view of Vancouver, serviced by an elevator that lets you look out (and down) as you are lifted 258 feet into the air. Paul was a little squeamish.

Paul: What?!

Holly: You were a little squeamish!

Paul: *sigh*

Holly: When we had taken in all there was to see from the Lookout, we went to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. It was closed. So we walked in the park next door.

Paul: By then we were a bit tired from all the walking, so we thought we would catch a bus back toward our hotel. The first bus stop we went by indicated that the bus I wanted only stopped there during peak hours, which we weren't in. I figured we could just walk another block or two down the route and see if the bus would stop there. As it turned out, the next stop was probably at least a mile or two down the road, and the route to get there took us basically underneath the stadium and a couple of bridges—not exactly the cleanest, most scenic place in Vancouver.

Eventually we did get to another bus stop, and by good fortune another bus was coming that way. This bus took us along a route that followed the coast of the English Bay, hardly a bad way to go. When we got back to the hotel we took a nap before going out for some scrumptious moussaka and souvlaki. On our way back, we swung by Safeway to pick up some food for breakfast. It was kind of fun to get to use my Safeway card in a foreign country!

Holly: On our second full day in Vancouver, we had a nice breakfast in the suite—a nice way to wake up. After breakfast, we walked down to Stanley Park. Unfortunately, it was raining, so we were a little cold. Because of the rain, we made our way to the Vancouver Aquarium first. My favorite, as usual, was the sea otters. But I also like the turtles. And the frogs.

Paul: I was rather partial to the beluga whales.

Holly: Grandma (beluga whale) is pregnant! When we left the aquarium, I was hungry, but the weather was nice, so we walked to the totem poles in the park. On the way back to the city, we walked along the seawall and took some pictures. We had lunch at a YUMMY fish and chips place called Mr. Pickwick's.

Paul: Fish and chips were redeemed for me after several less-than-delicious experiences in the past.

Holly: We had fun making fun of the server's accent. "Sit wherever ye' liyke..."

Paul: Back at the hotel, we played cards for the afternoon before reheating some leftover pizza for dinner and exploring the hotel in search of sugar for Holly's morning coffee fix and a night-time tea.

To be continued....
Part 3

This week at youth, Bob talked about how important it is to have a vision for relationships. In order to navigate those turbulent emotional waters, a young person needs to have his or her compass clearly set on the direction that he or she wants to go. That means, according to Bob, knowing the purpose of dating as well as knowing oneself. One of the ways that I tried to guard my heart from being interested in the wrong sorts of young ladies was in setting in my mind a clear picture of the kind of godly young woman that I hoped to marry someday. I found this entry in one of my old journals:

10 August 2004

One thing I was thinking about tonight was what sort of person I would need to meet to be able to marry her given my current life trajectory. Here's what I think (not serious, just off the top of my head):

• Christian, sold out for God, conservative Baptist
• lover of people (even if introverted like me)
• of a positive attitude, one that assumes the best
• motivated for evangelism and missions
• willing to travel, not bound to people, places, or things
• flexible, able to take things as they come
• not needy for personal comfort, happy poor
• able and accustomed to taking pleasure in work
• quick with a smile and a kind word
• sympathetic and understanding when bad things happen
• realistic about limited resources
• humble and forgiving
• growing in her awareness of God's holiness, her own sinfulness, and her need for Christ

Bonus:

• loves music, listening to it and making it
• good conversationalist, articulate
• beautiful and intelligent
• good with kids
• enjoys walking and being outside, in parks, in creation

Of course, this is a rough sketch of perfection, no one will ever fully meet all these.... ?

Holly scores off the charts in every one of those areas and is an immense blessing to me. However, I know that making a list doesn't magically make a person matching those characteristics waltz into one's life. In fact, it seems to me that it is wholly by the grace of God that I'm marrying Holly this weekend; God condescended to answer my prayers and desires not because I in any way deserved it, but because he is a good and gracious Father to those who trust him. I am honored that the Lord has entrusted Holly to me and that Holly herself has chosen to trust herself to me. Still, I think that some credit for finding a good wife must be given to the clear vision that I had of who I was waiting for and what dating was for.

I hope that the students in the youth group will take Bob's message to heart. I pray that they will get a clear enough vision of what can be and what ought to be in the area of relationships that they will have the discernment to say "no" to the wrong things and "yes" to the things that will please and honor the Lord—and be good for them.

February has been a slow month for posting here at pdb.homelinux.net. I think that with my getting married at the end of the month, I have had such a mish-mash of thoughts and emotions in my head that it has been difficult for me to articulate any thoughts other than simple facts and to-do lists. I have noticed this especially in my teaching responsibilities with the youth and at Regen over the last month. It seems like I can put together a reasonable outline in my mind, but when it comes to delivery, everything seems to come out all jumbled up. This last week has gone better in that regard, I think mostly because I have become aware of the difficulty and gave extra prayer and effort to overcoming it.

And now for something completely different!

Here is some simple information that may be helpful to those of you who live in the Denver metro area: How to know if air quality conditions allow you to have a fire in your fireplace or not.

First, the regulation: If you live in the seven-county Denver metropolitan area (including Denver, Boulder, Broomfield, Douglas, Jefferson, and areas west of Kiowa Creek in Adams and Arapahoe counties), you are subject to mandatory residential burn restrictions during "red advisories". Unfortunately for us, the same cold weather that often makes us want to light up a nice, warm fire also brings with it the atmospheric conditions that tend to make our smog worse and thus bring on a red advisory.

To know if a mandatory residential burn restriction is in place, you can check the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment advisory page or call the Air Quality Advisory hotline at 303-758-4848. What I did, to make it even easier, is I created a Denver Air Quality widget (click to add) that I added to my Google home page. Now all I have to do to see if Holly and I can light a fire is pull up Google in Firefox. Could it be any easier?!