Oh, how I enjoy time to get away from the regular routine, to relax, reflect, and hang out with people! Shannon and I needed some time like that, so we planned a trip over to Vancouver Island from Feb 29 to March 3rd. We stayed with Chris and Judy Gytenbeek and their 4 kids, who now live in Comox. They used to live in Langley and go to Home Church, and we got to know them pretty well – especially when we babysat their kids for a weekend!

Anyway, they are a great family. They love the outdoors, are adventurous, and keep family as a top priority – things Shannon and I connect with really well! They are also quite laid back and relaxed, something Shannon and I aren’t so good at. But, being on the island for a weekend certainly helped.

One of the highlights of our visit was going skiing / snowboarding at Mount Washington. We rose to a beautiful, sunny day on Saturday morning, with 5cm of fresh snow on the hills. It was fantastic being outside all day, taking in the incredible vistas from the top of the chairlifts. (I managed to pull off a few fun jumps too, without hurting myself!)

God definitely used this trip to re-energize us, but also to slow us down enough to reflect. We spent quite a bit of time hanging out and talking, especially about missions. Chris pulled out his old slide projector and dusty slides and gave us a great tour of his time in Africa before he and Judy were married. We also got to hear from a missionary from India at their Sunday morning service. We talked about our thoughts, plans, and dreams for what we’d love to do. But, we were also reminded that this life is more about our relationship with God then about what we do. How hard it is for us to get that through our heads! I’m always so concerned about what I’m doing, and about how productive I am. It’s so hard to let go of that, and to realize that all my running around might not be what God really desires most.

If you want to see more pics from our trip, check out the online album.