we've done a lot in a week...

well, it's now been pretty much a week since lyd, noah, and i arrived here in vancouver. we pulled up to our new place with anxiety and anticipation, feeling ambivalent toward this new adventure that lies ahead of us. as i'm typing i just thought, "wow, has it only been a week? we've done so much!" i guess time flies when you pack so much into your day/week/life...

so what has happened since we've been here? let me highlight a few things...

lydia's best friend, jen, met us here on Friday when we came to our new place and we did a lot of sightseeing with her, which was a great time. she was visiting friends elsewhere in BC and decided to come help us unpack for a few days. thanks, jen, for the offer-- but we quickly learned that it would be nothing more than an empty offer as it's been a week and the movers still haven't arrived with our stuff. our belongings are supposed to be arriving on saturday. i've never wanted to see my bedsheets more than i do now. we have been fortunate, however, to be in a place that is partly furnished (we have appliances, couches, beds... enough to get by) and are constantly asking ourselves, "what can we cook for dinner that would not involve any appliance other than a microwave or oven, doesn't use pots/pans or baking dishes, and can be eaten with plastic utensils?" if you figure out an answer to that riddle that doesn't begin with "P" and end in "izza", let us know.

orientation has been amazing at Regent. from tuesday through thursday we sat in the chapel with probably about 100-150 other newbies at Regent (i say "we" because one thing we llove about Regent is that it is a family-oriented community and they provided childcare for families so spouses could attend the orientation as well) and listened to all of Regent's profs share their personal stories, what classes they were teaching, and felt the passion with which they spoke. i feel both blessed and intimidated to be studying under such scholarly and spiritual followers of Christ. the orientation also consisted of worship times that were fantastic, and a lot more "get to know the school" type of things. we also learned how to use the library for research and i quickly learned that i had completely faked my way through undergrad, never having used the library in any way it was intended to be used. i'm not sure i can do the same here...

we're living at St. Andrew's Hall and have been able to connect with some other families here. one particular family is from Ireland with a son a little older than noah, and another family we met is from England with an older daughter and a son around noah's age. Our neighbours moved here from Taiwan a few weeks ago with their 14 year old son. The dad, JZ (yes, we live next door to JZ!) will be studying at Regent. This place is great for families, because the entire courtyard at this townhouse is completely overrun by toys. it's toddler heaven... slides, a play stove, tricycles, balls, you name it. we have taken advantage of that a few times...

we signed up for a community group today, which will meet on tuesdays after chapel. we're both really looking forward to tuesdays, as we have weekly chapel, community groups, and then those who are interested stay around and eat soup and bread together... it's great to be in a place that is intentional about developing a relational environment.

i bought my books for all my classes yesterday and came home a little overwhelmed. 16 books for this semester... and the semester is 13 weeks long. i'm no mathematician, but between reading, tests, learning greek, and writing papers-- i think i may be kinda busy this semester. i'm definitely excited to be reading these books though. they look like fantastic reads, though some of them may be a slower read than others.

i think that's it for us now... sorry about all the details... i know there are a few out there who are interested in all the ins and outs... for the rest of you, just skim or skip this post and no offence will be taken!