Back in Blog Land!

We were having computer issues that, for some reason, made it impossible for me to access either this blog or Darrin's travel blog on our home computer. Very frustrating! Anyway, thanks to my brother in law Wayne - it seems to be resolving! I've been catching up on Darrin's latest posts. If you haven't read his blog at www.nilebeginnings.blogspot.com recently - I encourage you to check it out. He is having some amazing experiences and has posted some great pics.

I also want to Brett a very happy 14th birthday today! Love you Brett!

Nile Beginnings

Darrin is leaving on Friday for a three week trip to Israel and Uganda. He will be attending a global Anglican conference in Israel for one week and will then be spending two weeks in Uganda. He was invited by the archbishop of Uganda and Prison Fellowship Uganda to work with them in prison ministry, as well as teach their volunteers. He is also scheduled for some speaking engagements. It is an amazing opportunity, and we are very excited to see what this brings...

Darrin has put together a travel blog which he is hoping to update regularly while on the trip. Feel free to check out www.nilebeginnings.blogspot.com

Keep him in your prayers for the next three weeks!
Lisa

Tim Hawkins - Corporations Taking Over Churchs

And yet another engagement!!!

Congratulations to Tavis and Chryslyn, who got engaged yesterday! We are very excited for them and wish them every happiness! For the details check out Tavis' blog on our list of blogs to the right. It sounds like they had an amazing day!

Water woes!

We have been informed that there has been a watermain break on the street that our church building is on. As a result, we have no water and will not be having a church service tomorrow, Feb. 10 2008. It should be repaired within a few days and church should be as usual next week. Sorry for any inconvenience and we'll see you next week!

Also - we had a great visit with Bishop Sean this week. Thanks to Sharon, Chad, Tavis and Chryslyn (as well as Saska and Mira) for hosting the Bishop for their Survivor party!

Winter Woes

Here is a photo of the highway by our house, as taken a few minutes ago by the AMA weather cameras. I know those of us living here are all in the same boat, but for those of you living elsewhere, you can feel sorry for us. It is very cold, snowing, and blowing and drifting snow. There is no purpose for this post, other than to complain. :-) There, now I feel better.
Lisa

Lisa Loeb Plays for Mark in IKEA

Too funny - maybe I should try this as a new technique for marriage counselling! Lisa

Rich Mullins Screen Door

I love this! Lisa

Merry Christmas from the Parkin Family!

Make a free ecard - it's easy!

Have coffee with us Dec. 23!

We will be meeting at the church at 10:00 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 23. We are hoping any old "Sacred Hearters" who may be in Lethbridge for the holidays will join us so we can catch up. Hope to see you then - but if not, we wish you many blessings for the Christmas season and throughout the new year!

No church this Sunday

... we'll be back to business as usual the following Sunday...

Another Engagement!

For those of you who know Alisha Glover, you can celebrate with us at the news of her engagement to Tyler. She is such a special person and we have so enjoyed her involvement in our community. We are missing her while she is doing her internship with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in Vancouver. We are wishing Alisha and Tyler all of God's blessings on their life together as they take this next step!

No Church this Sunday

Due to people being away for the long weekend, we will not have a service this Sunday. Services will resume as usual at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 14.
We had a great visit with the Bishop! Darrin and I felt very ministered to, which was great for us. Thanks to all who came out Monday evening for a visit and dessert.
Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Bishop Sean to visit!

Our bishop, Sean Larkin, from England is the fellow to the left. He will be coming for a visit to Sacred Heart from Oct. 1-3. We'll be having a get together at our home on Monday, Oct. 1 at 7:00 p.m. for desserts/snacks and conversation. Bring some food, some questions, and we'll see you then!

Russian Coal Mine

Good News!!

We are thrilled to let you know that Jodi Vander Woude and Kevan Berg are now engaged! Apparently, Kevan popped the question in Taiwan and the response from Jodi was "of course!" They are considering a wedding for next summer. Jodi is so special to our community, and has been a pillar for us for several years. We are missing her terribly while she continues her education in Ontario. We want Jodi and Kevan to know that they have our love and support as a community as they move into this new and exciting time in their lives. Please feel free to pass on your congratulations!

Services Resumed!

A reminder that we are resuming Sunday services starting this Sunday, September 9 at 10:00 a.m. We meet at 323 4th St. South in Lethbridge for Holy Communion and Worship. See you then!

Megan and Aaron's wedding!

We had the honour and priviledge of attending Megan and Aaron's wedding on Saturday, August 11. It was a beautiful ceremony and such a reflection of their personalities. We have so much enjoyed watching their relationship grow and mature over the last few years. It was such a joy to be able to be part of the celebration of their wedding.

These two are an amazing couple and we are sure they have an amazing future ahead of them!

On behalf of the community of Sacred Heart, we want to pass on lots of love and blessings to these two as they begin their married life together. We also want them to know that they have the ongoing support and love from our community.

Sacred Heart BBQ

We enjoyed a (finally!) cooler evening enjoying Darrin's marinated rotisserie roast beef and the many other delicious salads and desserts brought by everyone. It was great to catch up on how everyone's summer has been going. Chad and Sharon are in the process of building a house (and Darrin is enjoying every moment of teasing them about becoming suburban capitalists). We had fun helping them choose siding and trim colours. They, as well as Tavis and Chryslyn are off to the Calgary Folk Fest this weekend. We are all very excited about Aaron and Megan's wedding coming up on August 11. For some reason, those two love birds felt the need for some alone time and went off to feed the horses for us (hmmmm...... can't image two almost newlyweds wanting time alone....) It was great to see Dana again - who has been too much of a stranger as of late - and we have not had nearly enough of a chance to tease him about, well, whatever we can think of at the moment. There was even a little time to play the Wii - and I will never make comments about Megan's golf game again! (no comments from you either Tavis!) All in all, a very good evening. I think I'm still full.

We plan to have another one the end of August, so let us know if you'd like to come and we'll make sure to keep you in the loop.

Change of Date for BBQ

We are still having a Sacred Heart gathering and BBQ, but we've changed the date. It will now be on July 25 at 7:00 p.m. at our house. Please bring a salad or dessert and some beverages to contribute. You will be treated to Darrin's (rapidly becoming famous) rotisserie marinated roast beef. See you then!

Happy Birthday Carlin!

Today is Carlin's 16th birthday!

It is hard to believe time has gone by that quickly, but it is true that we have a 16 year old son.


We are so proud of Carlin - all of his accomplishments, and the person he is. He gets amazing marks in school, has been on Student's Council since elementary school, and is a natural leader. He has a strong sense of who he is, has definite opinions about his beliefs and values, and is able to articulate those opinions very well. He has a good sense of what he wants to accomplish in life, and how he's going to get there.

We are always very proud of choices Carlin makes and how he lives out his faith in his day to day life.

Have a wonderful day Carlin! We love you very much!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRETTIN!

Today is Brett's 13th birthday! We are very proud of the young man he is becoming. He loves sports, especially lacrosse, friends, animals and his family. He is full of energy, fun and new ideas. He's always willing to try new things and he's always willing to stick up for the "underdog".

Brett - we love you, we are proud of you , and we wish you all of God's blessings! Now that you are officially a teenager - go easy on us! :-) Love, Mom and Dad

Darrin officiated another wedding this past weekend. It was a beautiful ceremony held at the Fritz residence. The groom, Shane Trowbridge, is the step son of Darrin's sister Christine (photo to the left). She was so obviously proud of both of them and there were more than a few tissues being passed around.

Darrin really enjoys doing weddings and does such a great job (in my unbiased opinion!) of making the wedding personal and meaningful for the couple. The bride, Abbey, and her sister (the maid of honour, Grace) had been in a car accident a week before the wedding. They both recovered, thankfully, and everything went very well.

They are a wonderful couple and we wish them all the best in their life together!

God bless you Shane and Abbey!

Church Summer Schedule

We will not be holding church services throughout the summer. Most current "Sacred Hearters" will be away most of the summer, so we get the summer off! There will be services resuming in the fall, which we will post closer to that time.

In the meantime, we will be getting together a couple times over the summer to stay connected. We'll be having a potluck and BBQ at our house on July 19. If you'd like to come, drop us an email at dparkin@xplornet.com for details.

Our blog has been neglected the past while for two reasons - our digital camera seems to have died, and we've succumbed to the social pressure to join facebook :-) We will still post important updates.

Still looking for homes for kittens.......

Kittens to Give Away!

We are still hoping to find good homes for our three litters of kittens. They are already doing well with being litter trained. The first litter, which was born just after Easter is now weaned.

The one to the left has the funniest mustache, which is cute since it's female. We are tempted to call her Adolph, but just can't let ourselves do that. Darrin has taken to calling her Gustave. They are very playful and the kids have made sure that they are used to people. (OK so maybe Darrin and I had something to do with that as well.) One of the little black and white ones fell asleep on Darrin's shoulder the other night. Anyway - please ask people you know if they would like a new pet and let us know if there are any takers. Thank you!

Also - Brett and Sierra had their spring concert at their school on Friday. Sierra was in the choir and her class did an excellent job singing part of the "Treasure Island" story. It is hard to find her, but she is in the front row, just to the right of her teacher (in the black suit) and she is wearing a blue and white striped shirt.

This is Brett as Long John Silver. His class acted out the story of Treasure Island and Sierra's class (as well as several other classes) sang. It was a great production and I was so proud of them both! You'll have to ask Brett to do his pirate accent for you sometime.