Dreams

This weekend something my friend said jumped out at me: "It was one of those dreams that will never come true."

Do you think you have a dream that will never come true? It's kind of a depressing thought. I guess the appealing mystique of a dream is you *hope* it will come true... you dream it... but there's always that tiny part of you that knows it may not happen. That's the intrigue.

Dreams are hard to voice because once you do, you have a responsibility - to yourself and the world - to make good on your dream. Dreams are kind of like goals in your career. You wanna have good ones to impress your boss at your evaluation... but then you have to accomplish them so that at next year's evaluation you are still impressive! And once you reach those goals you have to dream bigger to impress.

The weird thing about my dreams is that my routines and habits don't lead to where I want to be. Instead of writing my own blog (except occasionally) I read someone else's. Instead of creating my own songs I listen to popular songs over and over. Instead of better emulating Christ I listen to a lot of sermons and speakers.

But life is long and there's nothing stopping me from starting on the trajectory.

There it is. The subtle, sinister, savoury nature of the dream. It persists...

A Mountain Stream!

Okay, I promise this is not supposed to be a cheesy play on words of the title of this blog, but today Kent and I happened to go biking along a 'mountain stream.' We got this new bike rack from Kent's generous parents and we got a hitch on our car so now we can bike farther than Fishtrap Creek and Downes' Bowl near our house!

Kent got directions to the Vedder River Trail and we had no idea it would be so fun! We started out biking on the dykes beside the river and at one point even took off our shoes and socks and waded across! The water was freeeezing and the current was strong but we made it.

We biked for about 2 1/2 hours in total... in the sun! The views of the snow-capped mountains were tremendous.

















We saw SO many fly fishermen... who knew it was such a popular fad? I guess if you think about it, hip waders could be fun?





Anyway, I am so thankful we could get outside in the sun and have such a fun afternoon. Much needed.

Intro to Me

So, let's be realistic here. The names on this blog say "Kara and Kent" but I am going into this fully aware that entries from Kent will be few and far between. It's hard enough for him to keep up on email and phone calls! And photos will also be scarce for a little while - the awesome camera Kent bought me for our first Christmas is now broken.

But I think blogging will be fun! I know most people have been doing this for years already, but I have been more of a private journaller in the past. Lately though, I find I am not even doing that. Other things always seem to take precedence. So, here I go...

I guess other than being married to a pretty wicked guy (wicked means 'good,' grandma!) I guess most of my time is taken up working at Trinity Western University.

I'm the Director of Global Projects... which means I actually got a job related to my Master of Arts in Cross-Cultural Studies degree! Pretty cool. I work with students to train them as leaders, and they lead short service teams to locations around the world. This year 150 people built homes, libraries, tutored kids, did hurricane and fire relief, worked in homeless shelters, helped with agriculture, kids' programs, and worked in hospitals. Probably the most exotic locations are United Arab Emirates, Tanzania and Dominican Republic. Although, even those who volunteered right here in Vancouver's Downtown East Side found they were in a land far away from what they were used to.

So, as you can tell from the way I write, I really like this job. It's the perfect combination of travel, adventure, relationships (and there are a few admin tasks in there as well but I can handle those). Through work I've already gotten to check out:

Chicago


View from the top of the Sear's Tower - Ladies' Room!








San Francisco

With half the team... looking at a gorgeous view of the Golden Gate Bridge.








Dominican Republic


ALWAYS tons of kids around in Latin America!








and Costa Rica


Zip-line in Monteverde. Even more incredible than everyone says it is!







So I'm pretty happy about the traveling... plus conferences in LA and Atlanta. Not a bad job.

Anyway, enough about work. It's a Saturday and even though it's raining (boo) I am headed out for coffee with a friend, then a work out. Have a great weekend!