This post is for the folks who subscribed to my new blog since October 1, 2014. (All 17 of you.)

My apologies. I had the feed set up wrong on my new blog, so instead of subscribing you to the feed at www.talenawinters.com/wintersdayin, it subscribed you to this feed.

I do not intend to post here again. So, if you notice this post, please delete your previous feed bookmark, head on over to my new blog, and re-subscribe. I have the feed set up correctly now, I promise!

Thanks for reading!

Well, I may not have all the boxes unpacked over on the new website, but I am officially moved in. A few of the "rooms" are empty. But not the blog.

So, this is the last official blog post at this spot. It makes me a little sad--I've been writing here for eight years, after all.

But I'll get over it.

Come over and check out today's post on my new site at www.talenawinters.com. I'll put the kettle on!

Postcard:
Copyright: davidarts / 123RF Stock Photo

Noah has been coming up with some pretty fun stuff over the last few weeks. Just now, as he was coming to give me a goodnight hug and kiss, he started stalling asking me questions:

"Mom, who invented comics?"

"I don't know. Why?"

"Oh. Well, if he is still alive, I would like to say 'thank you' to him."

I smiled. "Well, I guess you'll have to do some research tomorrow and find out. But I don't think he's still alive."

Another thought occurred to him.

"Mom, who invented pianos?"

A short discourse followed about the era they were invented in, but the end result was, "I'm not sure. Look it up."

"Okay, Mom? Who invented bicycles?" He giggled.

"I used to know that one, but I forget. You will have to look it up on Wikipedia. Tomorrow. Now, go to bed!"

"Okay. Goodnight."

A few days ago, the temperatures here plummeted to below freezing, with some nasty wind and a little bit of snow thrown in. I've heard that elsewhere in Alberta had even more snow, which floors me--this is early, even for Alberta.

When he got home from school on Monday, Noah came in the door and announced, "I love winter, and I hate winter!"

"Okay," I said. Then he started on what could have been a prepared presentation.

"Why I Love Winter. One. We don't have to cut grass." He ticked it off on his finger. "Two. we get hot chocolate when we come in from outside. And three--" (Three has been redacted due to my faulty memory!)

I interrupted him there to do an urgent task, and said to come back and finish in a few moments. He picked up right where he left off a few minutes later.

"Why I Hate Winter. One. It's COLD!! Two. We have to go to school. And three..." Honestly, I'm not sure he came up with a three for this one.

Maybe Noah has a future in public speaking after all?

This past weekend, our family went down to Red Deer to support Jason as he ran his first "Super" Spartan Race, which is 8 miles in length (and 20-plus obstacles). He ran this race on a team with our friends Darryl and Amanda Magnusson. This was their first Spartan Race, and they did pretty good, all things considered. Darryl told me afterwards that he did better than he expected, and he looked pretty happy about it.

That race was Saturday morning. On Sunday morning, Jason ran the 3-mile "Sprint" (same course, just altered) with the "Elites"--which can be read "die-hards." He beat his goal time of 45 minutes by almost two minutes.

Way to go, honey! I'm so proud of you!

About a month ago, while doing research for my current writing project (which stars a mermaid), I found out that I AM NOT ALONE... because I found the blog of MaryLu Tyndall, "The Cross and the Cutlass", in which she was discussing HER current project's research. Turns out, we both think that mermaids can find a place in Christian literature. Knowing I wasn't the only one crazy enough to try that was a great encouragement to me.

A week later, I exchanged several emails with MaryLu when I contacted her looking for an editor recommendation, the result of which was that I met the wonderful Lora, who is now MY editor, too! I could say lots of nice things about Lora, but this post is to review MaryLu's book, so I'll talk about Lora later :-)

The reason I mention all that is that I found out that MaryLu had begun her writing career when God gave her an idea for a story about Christian pirates. I can see that look on your face--it is the same one I had when I read that, myself.  

Interesting combination, I thought, as I read the Amazon book reviews on her first book in "The Legacy of the King's Pirates" series, and added it to my wishlist. With the normal "free time" I allow myself for reading fiction, I had no idea how soon it would be before I actually got to dive into those alluring stories, but was intrigued enough to put them pretty high on my "want to read" list.

Fortunately for me, when I asked Lora for several books to read that exemplified the suggested changes in my writing style she was telling me about, MaryLu's first "Pirate" book, The Redemption, was on the list. I lost no time hustling my cyber-butt over to Amazon to get it. (Yay! Assigned reading!)

Before I proceed, I want to mention that I do not normally read romances.Most romances are too smutty for my taste, or too formulaic. The last one I read was about five years ago, a Nicholas Sparks novel called A Bend in the Road, and afterward, I only regretted the several hours of my life that were now irretrievably lost with so little return value. In general when it comes to fiction, I favour fantasy (mostly classic stuff that has stood the test of time--I am currently reading Robert Jordan), classic novels (think Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Danial Dafoe, and other long-dead literary greats), and if it is a modern novel then I prefer stories where there is a little mystery and a lot of personal growth on the part of the main character.

Ironically, I also tend to stay away from Christian romance novels, because although the ones I have experienced have all been clean, they have also been a little too... tame? Bland? I don't know... Unless we are talking about a romance that takes place in the context of biblical history. I have read several novels based on Esther, as well as Leah, and other women of the Bible where romance was a key part of the plotline. Don't ask me why... this post is to analyze someone's book, not the strange workings of my own brain.

From the first pixelated page, The Redemption had me hooked. There was danger, suspense, personal growth, and yes, a little mystery.

Charlisse is a realistic, struggling heroine, who didn't magically figure out how to survive on her own (which is a positive for me) when the ship she had bought passage on was destroyed in a storm and she was left alone on a tropical island. Her past, which has scarred her both emotionally and physically, presents real personal struggle that she must overcome in order to heal, and learn to love. If it weren't for the fortunate (?) appearance of a lusty bunch of pirates, she would have died on that island. At some points in the story, Charlisse wonders if that might not have been a better outcome.

Captain Merrick deals with the daily conflict of living out his Christian beliefs while captaining a much less-religious pirate crew as a privateer for the King of England. Like many men who are trying to become better than they once were, he teeters between moments of heroic bravery and tenderness, and struggling against the desires his old self would have given into without a thought. The reader is always wondering whether he will protect Charlisse, or whether he may be her biggest threat... Merrick himself is not even sure of the answer.

These two collide when Charlisse's quest to find her father conflicts with Merrick's commission from the British governor of Port Royal.

Unlike the feeling I had when closed the last page of Mr.Sparks' novel, I reached the end of Ms. Tyndall's with a feeling of regret to see it end so soon. Fortunately for me, there are three more novels in the series. :-)

Yesterday, I received notice that MaryLu has the Kindle versions of these books on sale until September 10 on Amazon. For $2 to $3 each (and the first one was free when I just checked), you could have more entertained hours than a Pirates of the Carribean movie marathon, with less cost per minute, and just as much fun. Once again, I hustled my cyber-butt to pick up the rest of the series immediately. Now that I've finished typing this review (while sitting in the passenger seat on a 7-hour drive), I intend to start reading them!

The First Day of School in our house came with high emotions for every member of our family this year.

Jude, just beginning Junior High, was both excited and nervous to be in a new school with unfamiliar classrooms, teachers, and routines, but also glad to be able to see his friends on a daily basis again.

Noah, despite acting quite hyper last night and this morning, kept insisting that he was NOT excited "because of all the WORK!"

Jabin was just plain ol' excited to see his friends again. He loves school.


Mom was excited, too. The last couple of weeks, listening to the boys quarrel, has been an endurance test for my sanity.

Jason, being part of the overworked tech department for a school division, looks forward to the First Day of School with the opposite of excitement. The day is likely to be a long string of calls and putting out fires, just like it always is. It's the day itself that is the endurance test for him.

Fortunately, it will all be over by tonight, honey. :-)

Levi was just excited to go to town this morning. (We took Noah and Jabin to school to help them get their supplies to their classrooms.) Then, he was excited to play outside. Now, he's excited to go on a walk with Mommy.

All his eggs in one basket. :-)

Yay! for fall routine.

What is special about your day today, friends?

Many people consider the New Year to be the time to reassess their lives, goals, and priorities. I used to think the same, until the time my oldest child began kindergarten. Then, the yearly rhythm somehow shifted, and August and September seemed to be the more natural time to "reset" and rebalance everything.

Usually, I am trying to decide which things I want to commit to for the fall. This year, I am trying to decide what I can cut out.

Since last year was my first year in many not home schooling, I took the fall season to just kind of "learn to breathe" again, and catch up on my life. Much of my day was occupied with occupying the little dynamo who is my youngest son. However, despite the fact that Levi is a full-time job on his own, I am kind of used to maintaining several full-time jobs at once, and often think I can take on more than I really can.

So, I guess it's no surprise that by this spring, my schedule was over-full once more. I looked forward to the less-scheduled days of summer just as much as ever.

Only problem is that this summer maintained a level of "busy-ness" much greater than I normally prefer. As it draws to a close, I don't really feel like I got to draw in that steadying breath in the hectic cycle of my life and just "pause."

I think there is some delusional part of my brain that really does believe I can do it all: be the ideal wife, super-mom, sister, and daughter; cook all our food from scratch that I have first grown on my own farm by the labour of my own hands; maintain an orderly and clean household; volunteer at church; volunteer for the orphanage; be a good friend and maintain meaningful relationships; run several businesses; promote said businesses through marketing and social media; and have energy left for the creative outlets I find so necessary for my mental and emotional well-being.

The logical, thinking part of me reads that paragraph and realizes the sheer impossibility of it all. But that afore-mentioned delusional part of me is NOT okay with that.

So, the question becomes "What can actually be changed? What things can be done by others? What things must I make time for to maintain health?"

Sometimes, the things that stay on the "must-be-done" list are chosen by others--like the migration and rebuilding of my store (www.wintersdistributing.ca) that I now have only four months to complete. Or they stay on the list because of previous commitments or because we need the income.

But still... I am looking for things to change. I pray that I can discern the activities the Lord would have me choose.

What kinds of things does fall make YOU think of, friends?

Thank you, Kristen Lamb. I needed this reminder today.

Hanging out with Great Grandma.

This summer has seen several milestones in little Levi's life, potty training and moving to a big boy bed being the most easily measurable.

Besides this, he has also grown a fair amount, and added too many words into his vocabulary to count. (Early in the summer, I did add up his vocabulary, and got to well over 100 words. He now mimics almost anything, adds new words to regular usage all the time, and has started using two-word sentences semi-regularly. My favourite addition is when he hollers "Whoo-Hoo!" at some fun turn of events.)

The little man is currently, at 9:42 p.m. and nearly two hours past his bedtime, running around as hyper as a puppy just let into the yard. This unusually late bedtime comes hard on the heels of a week-long stint of sleeping long, three-hour naps, and a rather nasty attitude. Apparently, the growth spurt is over and he is all caught up on sleep, now! (Jude got the nastiest souvenir from this trip down The-Joys-of-Toddlerville Lane when Levi threw a rather sizeable rock at the back of his skull a couple of days ago--in retribution for Jude enforcing the household rule "Don't Play In the Van". After being slathered in essential oils and a couple of day's rest, Jude remarked today that the bump is pretty much gone, and it doesn't hurt as much any more, thankfully. Yay! for oils!)

Too much energy to ride anymore. Must. Push.

If only we could bottle that energy, right? Mom and Dad could really use some to take in pill form to correspond to his little energy bursts--"all the better to keep up with you, my dear."

Especially mom.

We left for our holidays right after school ended, pretty much, and Levi had been potty training for about two weeks. Some progress had been made, but not much, and he spent nearly the entire vacation in Pull-ups and diapers.

Jason was still on holidays for two weeks after we returned home, and I didn't bother jumping back on the "strict potty training routine" until he went back to work. Once that happened, though, the little man quickly progressed to staying dry ALL the time--even at night. Thankfully so, as he had decided that taking off his diaper first thing in the morning (before anyone even knew he was awake) was a pretty fun thing to do.

Unfortunately, he still adamantly refuses to do a number 2 in the potty, which has been rather trying for me. I don't know what will throw that magic "switch" in his head, but I'm hoping we figure that out soon!

However, what did NOT wait, once we were home from holidays, was a move to the bunk bed. While on our trip, he had been sleeping in sleeping bags on the floor with his brothers. While he was not used to this, he handled it much better than any previous vacation when we tried using a playpen as a bed, and stayed put surprisingly well.

Within three days of being home, I had the crib moved out to the SeaCan (thanks to Jude and his handy screwdriver skills, and my other willing helpers), Levi was in the bottom bunk, Jabin moved to the top bunk, and Noah moved to the top bunk in Jude's room.

Honestly, the one who had the hardest time with that transition was Jude. After sleeping in a room on his own for five years, he did not cope well with the idea of no longer being the only one in the house to occupy a solo room, and with the brother he gets along with the least. However, the boys all seem to be pretty well-adjusted, now, especially once Jason put a couple of two-by-fours on Levi's bunk to prevent him from falling out of bed. (Last week, while Jude was at camp, Jabin did ask to sleep in Noah's room a couple of nights. "I miss sleeping with Noah," he said. Other than that, he hasn't been too upset.)

Watching the steaming suspended train at Bower Mall with Jude, who LOVES hanging out with his littlest brother--which is a big help to his mom and dad, too!

The biggest change with the move in beds has been Levi's sleeping schedule, aided and abetted by our twenty-plus-hour-long summer days that never even get all the way dark for a couple of weeks in June and July. When he was in the crib and woke up in the night, or quite early, he couldn't just get up and start playing or wander sleepily into walls, whining. He would just calm himself right where he was and go back to sleep again. Now, he sometimes wakes up in the night and wanders down the hallway, hollering in confusion (usually due to a bad dream, I think). Or, he is getting up with the rooster, full of vim and vigour. (Thus the need for longish naps in the afternoon, still.) And mom and dad have found "sleeping in" to be something that we really miss from other summers.

Especially mom.

Thankfully, with the other boys home, mom hasn't been the only one trying to occupy him.

And sometimes, mom even gets to sleep in a little, or have a nap.

I think everyone is happier when I've had enough sleep, and they know it.

Especially mom. :-)

You don't have to put money into those mall car rides to make them fun, especially when your brother's hangin' with ya.

... and trying to fit into an impossibly-small space with ya. :-)

Is summer really almost over? And I haven't put up a single blog post outlining what has been filling up our time? (Okay, I guess a single one--which I copied from my husband's post about the Spartan Race.)

As per usual, there is never a dull moment around here. Thanks to the immensity of the list, I am going to keep it to point form.

• Two days after school was out in June, we went to visit our families in central Alberta for about 8 days, the culmination of which was the Spartan Race in Edmonton on the way home. My brother, Logan, was also there for the week from Seattle area, and my mom also made the trip down for part of the week in order to see him. It was so awesome to see members of our extended  families, plus a few of our friends. I took over 750 photos on this trip! Needless to say, it's taken a while to slug through them all, and I confess that I am not finished yet. Here's one:

  "Uncle" Logan and Jabin at the Go-Karts

• While on holidays, I received notification that the eCommerce platform that I chose to build my store on will be closing down in February. So I have to migrate everything. I am not very happy about that, as you may have guessed. So... guess what I will be doing this fall?
• This summer has been exceptionally hot and dry in the Peace Country. We are usually lucky to have a week where the temperatures hit the high twenties, but this year has seen a good six-week stretch where the average temperature is around 30 degrees C or higher. In that same six weeks, there has only been one rainy day, and I could probably count on one hand the number of times rain fell at all. Thank goodness that I can water my garden--the tomatoes and squash are loving the heat, and in general, the garden is looking really nice. The temperatures inside my thin-walled tin can of a house have been less nice, with average temperatures in the afternoon being well over thirty degrees. I have begun to think that "slicked with sweat" is the new normal.
• Jason's red Ford Ranger has been dead since March or April, and the repairs too costly to be worthwhile for this little truck. It has served us well, but we knew it was time to move on. After several months of sharing a vehicle, a generous gift from a family member enable Jason to buy a new (to us) half-ton last week. I am VERY glad to have my freedom van back, and Jason is loving his new "baby."
• Jude was sponsored to go to Riverside Bible Camp this week, and just got home this afternoon. Tales of exploits with his buddy (and cabin-mate) Ethan have been filling the air ever since. It was the longest he has ever been away from the family, but he doesn't seem any the worse for wear. His most excited exclamations were for the food. "I think I ate 80% of the Jell-O I've ever eaten in my life this week. They even had whipped cream." :-)
• Today, while not a whole lot cooler in general, started off several degrees cooler than has been the norm of late. I took advantage of that fact to make blueberry jam*, cook up some of the copious amounts of zucchini being produced in my garden into a yummy, cheesy, soup, and grate the rest into freezer packets to be made into muffins and loaves at a later date.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I am loving the sunflowers that I planted under my office windows this summer--the first time I have had them so close to the house. They are almost all in bloom, and I had to take advantage of this little buzzy guest on one this morning.
  
• Our orange female tabby, Angel, had kittens in June-ish, both of them little copies of their mom and creamy-orange tabby father Tigger. The cuties are almost ready to go out into the world--but they are nigh impossible to catch. Sigh.
  
  
  
  
• My birthday on Sunday was also the date of the Supermoon--when the moon appeared largest of any full moon of the year. I did not take advantage of the photo op due to sheer exhaustion, but I DID take advantage of the one in July to play around with moon photography (though it was not quite as impressive as the sequel.)
  
   
  
  In two weeks, I will have a child in Junior High! Oh me, oh my, where has the time gone? I hope your summer has been going well, friends. What was your favourite summer memory so far?
  
  
  *This recipe turned out good, but too sweet--next time I plan to cut the sugar by almost a third. It might require a longer cook time if you do that, though.

This post was posted on Google+ by my husband, Jason, after he completed the 3-mile Spartan "Sprint" race in Edmonton on July 6. It took me this long to get it up here because I wanted to get the photos ready to post, too!

Mud, lotsa mud.

For those of you unaware, I ran my second Spartan Sprint (3 miles/5 km’s) Obstacle Course Race this last Sunday in Edmonton. If you don’t what that means go here: http://youtu.be/cSTNXTyBNMA and here: http://youtu.be/M4aM0fpS0IU for video explanations. Last year I ran the Spartan Sprint in Edmonton and loved it.  So I set some some goals, trained harder and smarter and went for round two on Sunday. There were over 4000 competitors over 2 days. I had 3 performance goals going into the race: finish in the top 10%, crack the top 100 and be #1 in my age group. I accomplished 2 out of 3 so I am pleased.  Below is a more detailed account of the event. I’m doing this for my own record but feel free to read, ask questions or (by all means) comment.

Wake up call
Wow, what a day.  After going to bed about 2 hours later than I planned, I was about to doze off and our 2 year old woke up because he was teething and not in his own bed. Talena did a great job getting him to calm down eventually but my nerves were on edge and it was after midnight before I fell asleep. First alarm at 04:30 groan!!! 4:55 I dragged my butt out of bed, fed the gang of blurry eyed zombies that dragged themselves up to the kitchen table, packed up from a week's holiday and hit the road by 07:00. After 2 hours of driving and an hour behind schedule we arrived at the designated area. Talena drops me off with a short walk to the shuttle buses. As I pick up my registration at 09:30 I can hear the announcer going through the usual Spartan "pump-you-up speech" for the heat I am supposed to be in. I decide not to stress about it and run at 10:00 instead.

When I got to the starting line I was behind approximately 300 people. I politely wiggle my way to the middle of the pack hoping to get up closer to the people who would keep a good pace. As I look around there are pecs and abs everywhere as younger and better-looking people chat with their friends and stretch before the race. In my mind I’m thinking they’ll keep a good pace and hope I don’t hold them up. Hindsight, I should have moved even farther up front because I spent the first mile trying to pass half of them. The paths through the trees were narrow and hard to get around people and it wasn’t until the first obstacle that things started to thin out.

Here is a list of the main obstacles that I can remember. Keep in mind that between almost every obstacle there is more running and more mud holes than I can count. Apparently God decided to help out with the course construction on Saturday with a massive thunderstorm that flooded everything. Of course, that just made things more interesting for the Saturday runners but by Sunday everything seemed par for the course.

1.  Balance Beam - 6-8 eight foot two by four’s on edge in a zigzag pattern. Fell about half way through. I was pissed off because that should have been a gimme but I did my 30 burpees and kept moving.
2.  Tire Flip in a mud pit - The mud was an unexpected twist. It’s like moving a greased walrus in the mud.
3.  8 Foot Flat Vertical Wall - I think I heard one of the volunteers making fun of my technique on this one.  It may be unconventional but it’s quick and effective.
4.  Sand Bag Carry - Here I took a calculated risk that didn’t pay off.  I tried to pass someone by stepping off the narrow path into some mud to go around them. What I thought was 6-12 inches of average mud was actually about two and half feet of mud that was like quicksand. I would still be stuck there if a fellow Spartan hadn’t helped pull me out. Thanks a million!
5.  Monkey Bars - About 20 rungs about 9’ off the ground.  Slippery but doable. Don’t hang there too long.
6.  Drag cinder block with rope through pond. This was fairly easy.
7.  Horizontal Wall/Rock climbing Wall -  The lady manning the station said that only a few of the elite Spartans had made it across without falling so they recommended pairing up and helping each other across. I was about to go alone when the guy behind me asked to be my partner. I reluctantly agreed. I made it across without any problems and even my partner was surprised. He, on the other hand, definitely needed a hand almost falling off several times.
8. Extra thick mud pit - Approximately 20 feet of soul sucking mud. I’m talking about mud that holds onto you like fat kid onto a donut. Crawling seemed to be the only option because it spread your weight out and even then you made it by sheer force of will. You had better not stop moving otherwise you will have an appendage sunk right in. When I finally got out I had a half inch of mud covering my arms and legs. Nastiest mud I have ever seen.
9.  8 foot Inclined Wall - This was easier than I thought it would be.
10.  Pyramid Wall/Rope Climb - As advertised.  Slippery but I didn’t have any problems.
11.  Barbed Wire crawl and mud.  This is where all those bear crawls you do in your workouts pay off.
12.  Military Rope Climb - My nemesis. Some day I will beat this obstacle. 30 Burpees
13.  Spear Throw - Missed the target - 30 Burpees.
14.  Fire Jump - As advertised
15.  Finish Line -  There is a small part of me that missed the Gladiator Gauntlet. It’s too bad they had to take it out.

I’ve taken a couple of days rest since the race. Now it’s time to get back to it and get ready for September. The Red Deer Super is more than 2.5 times longer 8+ miles\14 km’s and I’ll need to have my A+ game to do well.  #Spartanrace #Aroo #NevergiveupNeverSurrender

"Jason Winters finished in 53:37 at Edmonton Spartan Sprint!  Jason Winters finished the Sunday Sprint Opens in 53:37 — placing 10th for Age Group, 83rd for Gender, and 90th Overall or 7%"

Jude didn't get to run in the kid's Spartan this year, due to insurance issues the company had for that age group. However, he got to do a little "Chocolate Milk"-sponsored "Kid's Spartan Workout" thing they had set up there, as did Jabin and Noah.




Then Noah and Jabin ran in the Kid's Spartan race and found a little mud themselves.



I'm proud of all my "boys" for finishing, and with good attitudes!

Levi works on busting a tooth while he waits... :-)

I have been slogging through the hundreds (closer to three-quarters of a thousand, actually!) of photos that I took on our 10-day trip to central Alberta in early July. Having that many photos is a bit daunting, so it's taken me a while to get through all of them (and this is pretty much just the first pass), but I spent a few hours working with them today.

Both my mother-in-law and my Aunty Joy have wonderful, whimsical birdhouse collections that complement truly stunning gardens. Today, I am featuring the photos I took in my Uncle Darrell and Aunty Joy's garden. I will feature Karen's in a later post.

Because of the whimsical nature of the decor, the post-processing I did tended to enhance that. It was really fun working with these photos, actually.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

I have had very little personal experience with Muslims in my life. There is the very nice couple that runs the bottle depot here in town--back in my scrapbooking days, Leila would come to our crafting days and we would talk kids and more, but usually avoided religion. Not on purpose, but hey, I knew she was Muslim, and she knew I was Christian, and what more needed to be said? We are still neighbours and on friendly terms. As Canadians, "religion" is one of those topics we tend to skirt around in the interests of maintaining peace.

Before meeting Leila, the only other Muslim I remembered speaking to was when I was in India. I was in a train station, waiting to depart from Goa to return to Bangalore (near which we were living). The cement floors and stone walls covered in turquoise paint provided a welcome relief of shade and some coolness out of the blistering sun, but the stifling humidity was everywhere.

There were narrow, hard, backless benches bolted to the floor in rows throughout the waiting area, and I was seated on one in about the middle of the room. Jason was nearby, but I don't remember what he was doing. He certainly did nothing to "rescue" me when a young Muslim man in a white skullcap and layers of light-coloured clothing engaged me in conversation. I was more than willing to talk, but very much unprepared for the answers.

I remember being taken aback that he knew anything about Jesus at all. However, it did not take many minutes into the conversation to realize that we had very different ideas about who Jesus was. I knew less than nothing about Islam, so was not able to give very intelligent answers to his claims about Mohammed and the Quran, so I asked a lot of questions to find out more, which only encouraged him. However, any corrections I tried to make in his understanding about who Jesus was had about as much impact as a butterfly landing on an elephant. In the end, we agreed to disagree and he went on to proselytize other train station patrons, neither of us having moved one iota from our original position.

I remember being frustrated that I had been unable to communicate with him about the Person who meant the most to me, because we were using the same names and words, but they meant completely different things to both of us.

This week, I read the illuminating and inspiring account of Nabeel Qureshi, a devout Ahmadi Muslim who, because of his love for Islam, and his hunger and search for truth, eventually gave his heart to Jesus. The price he had to pay for this decision was terrible. This story reflects the why of Islam, why its followers are so devout and love it so much, following the tenets of their faith--as a Westerner might say--"blindly." It also humbly presents the journey he went through, the apologetics of both Christianity and Islam that contradict each other, and how he was eventually led to see the truth of Jesus' message.

Muslims reading this book will likely be led to do their own research into the basis of their faith (possibly looking at some aspects of it for the first time from its sources), and Christians will finish with a broader, deeper understanding of Islam, its adherents, and how to lovingly reach out to this people group that so desperately need to hear about the unconditional love and grace of God. They will also gain a deeper understanding of the historicity of Jesus, and difficult doctrinal concepts such as the Trinity.

Far from being a boring book of apologetics, though, Nabeel weaves in the arguments for and against Islam and Christianity through the engaging narrative of his own spiritual journey. I highly recommend this book.



Excerpt from: Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity

I lay prostrate in a large Muslim prayer hall, broken before God. The edifice of my worldview, all I had ever known, had slowly been dismantled over the past few years. I lay in ruin, petitioning Allah. Tears blurred my sight. The ritual prayers had ended, and now it was time for my heart's prayer.

 "Please, God Almighty, tell me who You are! I beseech You and only You. Only You can rescue me. At Your feet, I lay down everything I have learned, and I give my entire life to You. Take away what You will, be it my joy, my friends, my family, or even my life. But let me have You, O God."...

The cost for a Muslim to accept the gospel can be tremendous.

Of course, following Jesus meant that I would immediately be ostracized from my community. For all devout Muslims, it means sacrificing the friendships and social connections that they have built from childhood. It could mean being rejected by one's parents, siblings, spouse, and children.

This becomes exponentially more difficult if the Muslim has no person to turn to after following Jesus, no Christian who has reached out. I know of many Muslim women who recognize their need for Jesus but have nowhere to turn if their husbands abandon them, or worse. They often do not have the financial means to survive the next day, let alone fight for their children in court. They would have to do all this while reeling from an emotionally violent expulsion from their extended families.

What many do not realize--what I did not realize when I was making these decisions--is that these costs are not considered consciously. They form part of the knee-jerk reaction against the gospel. I never said, "I choose to remain Muslim because it would cost my family if I were to follow Jesus." Far from it, I subconsciously found ways and means to go on rejecting the gospel so I would not be faced with what I would have to pay.

But I was not the only one who would have to pay for my decision. If there were traits my family was known for in the Muslim community, they were my parents' joyfulness, our close-knit relationships, and the honour we had garnered by faithfully following Islam. My choice to follow Jesus meant razing all three.

My decision would shame my family with incredible dishonour. Even if I were right about Jesus, could I do such a terrible thing to my family? After everything they had done for me?

Lately, I have finally been getting to know the more advanced aspects of the fancy-pantsy camera I bought last year, so I have been experimenting with taking pictures. A LOT of pictures.

Here are a few photos I took of the boys in June--Jabin and Noah were home sick from school one day, but were still game for letting me play with my camera.

Here are some of my favourites from June: