You Know You're in Canada When...

So, as many of you know, Aaron and I went to Canada for four days with our good friends Ryan and Terilee Ouimette. We went to Calgary, Alberta where Terilee is originally from and stayed with her parents while exploring the city as well as Banff and Lake Louise. The last 3 pictures are from Banff and Lake Louise (which are in the Canadian Rockies). While we were traveling around with Terilee and family, we started a running joke about certain things that let you know that you are for sure in Canada. This became known as the "You know you're in Canada when..." series. Although we have several photos on Facebook, I thought this series would be more fun for the blogging world. So, here it goes.....

You know you're in Canada when....

You see an "I Love Alberta Beef" bumper sticker or magnet.

You see this cute license plate in the mall.


There is a Saskatoon berry bush for Terilee to eat from.
(They're kind of like blueberries, but smaller and a bit more tart.)

You're at Peter's Drive In enjoying a hamburger and one of their hundreds of flavors of milk shake.

You're having a beer at Terilee's old hang out- the Ship and Anchor Pub in downtown Calgary.


The weather turns on you in an instant as a storm races across the landscape.
(Notice the dark sky on the left contrasted by the blue on the right.)


You see Canadian Geese.


The water is an unbelievable crystal-clear blue-green.


You're hanging out with Terilee and her wonderful parents, Peter and Susan Thiessen.


You're at Lake Louise with Terilee and Ryan.

So, for those of you that don't Facebook (as well as those of you who do both) that concludes our "You Know You're in Canada When..." series.

Many questions, few answers

So I've been thinking lately- as I'm sure most of you have- about money and possessions. I know it's not a popular topic and actually quite taboo in most cases, however, with all this economy talk it's caused me to really start thinking. Why are there so many people- Christians included- who still have cars, houses, and jobs that are freaking out about tomorrow? I mean, Matthew 6:33-34 says "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Why do we find so much comfort in the things that we have, rather than finding comfort in the one who gave these things to us? I think part of the problem is that we often have a miss-guided perception of what we need. I am guilty of this for sure. I think we take God's promise to give us what we need and define what we need according to the lifestyle that we want to live. And when we can't maintain a certain lifestyle, then we get mad at God for not giving us what we think we need. I've been thinking about this a lot lately because I know that Aaron and I are in a stage of life where we are very blessed and I feel a great responsibility and burden to use that blessing to glorify God. See, I don't want to be that person that says "as long as I have x, y, and z, and can afford to do x, y, and z, then I'll be generous and give back to God." I want to be the person that says " Ok God, this is all from you and belongs to you, now show me how to be a good steward of the money, time, and talents that you have given me." In 2 Corinthians 8:2-3,7 Paul writes "2Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. 7But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving." Maybe this time of economic uncertainty is a chance for Christians to live these verses out. Or maybe America is simply being stripped of some of it's idols and false gods. Things that have replaced the true, living God as the object of worship. Or maybe God wants to remind us that we need him more than anything else. Maybe it's al of the above. I leave you with a question from Mark Driscoll: why do we spend money we don't have, on things we don't need, to impress people we don't even like?

Long Overdue

Well, I don't know if anyone still reads this blog because it has been ages since it was updated, but I decided to post anyway. Ever since the creation of the Sara Aaron Nesper Facebook account, this blog has become even more neglected than it was before. So what have we been up to the past few months anyway you ask? Well, we went back east to Washington, D.C. and New Jersey for a week in November. We spent 3 days bundled up exploring the city of D.C. in 35-45 degree weather and got a special tour of the Capitol Building from a guy who has been an aide in the Senate for 20 plus years. That was defnitely the highlight of our trip as he was so knowledgeable about everything and was able to take us to so many different parts of the building. We spent Thanksgiving in New Jersey with my many aunts, uncles, cousins, and cousin's kids. It was great to see everyone!
One of the highlights for December was the completion of the 4 Habitat for Humanity homes that our church sponsored and helped build up in Atascadero. Aaron and I attended the dedication ceremony and it was really amazing to see how excited the four families were about getting their very own home. They were each presented with the keys, garage door opener, and Bible for their new home.
January 1st marked the beginning of 2009 as well as four wonderful years of marriage for Aaron and I. Well, I can at least speak for myself, wink wink. New Year's eve was spent karaokeing at Bill's Place in AG with great friends and then our anniversary was spent hiking, lunching at our favorite Thai place in Baywood park, and hanging out. I believe the chant, "four more years, four more years!" comes to mind thanks to some of our most silly friends.


Aaron helping put in the driveway at the Habitat 4 Humanity site.

There was a huge turn out at the dedication ceremony, which was awesome. There were about 2 times as many people as originally expected.

Presentation of the Bibles.

List of sponsor churches.

Ribbon cutting for the Fergoso family.

The ladies on New Year's eve.

Group shot on New Year's eve.

Classic Nesper craziness. What can I say?

Running in the Rain....and biking, and swimming

So, Saturday morning I completed my 3rd triathlon. I NEVER thought I would be able to say that, but it's true, 2 SLO Triathlon's and one Scott Tinley's Adventure @ Lake Lopez down and hopefully several more to come. However, Saturday's race was a whole different kettle of fish than the SLO Tri. To name a few:
The swim took place in a lake, not a pool.
Swim in a lake=LOTS of people run into the water at once.
Because of the above, you feel almost completely blind in the water, have people swimming over you, kicking you, and there's no wall to kick off of.
I wore a wetsuit and had to change clothes after the swim rather than wear the same thing for the entire race. Not to mention putting wet shoes and socks on in the rain.
Yes, I said RAINING. It was raining the whole time.

All in all, it was loads of fun and I would totally do it again.

I'm seriously considering asking for my very own road bike for a combined Christmas/birthday present. I'll have to give my bike-on-loan back next spring (thanks again to Jaime Lewis), so I'm thinking the timing would be perfect. We'll see though.

Most importantly, my beloved husband deserves an award because he was there standing in the rain, cheering for me the entire time and giving me high fives in between each event. He's the best!

Our New Ride

So this is our new set of wheels. The Nesper family finally decided to take the plunge and buy a new car. So far, after less than 24 hours of ownership- we love it! This is our first major purchase together after 3 years, 8 months of marriage. I'll post a picture of our actual car soon.

Continued...

The weekend after Omaha, our really good family friend, Frank, got married after having been widowed 5 years ago. It was pretty cool to see how happy he is again. That's Frank in the middle, my dad is on the left, and their friend of 26 years, Jim, on the right.Me and Dad

Frank's son Keith, my bro Anthony, Jim's daughter Jaime, and me. I've known them all my entire life.

Two weeks after the wedding I did the SLO Triathlon for a second time. I had been training since May and really wanted to improve my time from last year significantly. My goal was to get under 2 hours, but I was 5 minutes short. I was excited anyway because I improved my time from last year by 16 minutes, so that was cool.

Me in anticipation of that dude saying "3...2...1...go!"

Unlike most other triathlons, the swimming is in Sinsheimer Pool, so it's much better than the usual ocean or lake. That's one of the great things about this triathlon- no dirty water or wetsuits!

Just finishing the bike and on to the final leg of the race- the dreaded run up the hill on Johnson. Thank you Jaime Lewis for letting me borrow your bike!

Coming into the final homestretch. Only a few yards to go.

My mom came up to watch me race. The best part was, she bought me a 10-minute massage from the massage booth that was set up just next to the finish line. It was the best massage EVER and the lady gave me more than my 10 minutes worth.

The next question is: do I want to train for another triathlon at Lake Lopez on October 5th? Tempting. Although, I would have to swim in the lake. Which means murky water and possibly borrowing a wet suit. We'll see.

The Past Few Months

I obviously have not been keeping up with the blog world, so I'm settling for one big overview post. We've been quite busy at the Nesper casa the past few months: including a trip to Omaha, a triathlon, and a class at Cal Poly.
Fourth of July weekend Aaron and I went with the Taylor's (Mark and Laura) to visit our friends, the Nelson's (Ben, Ariana, and their dog Delilah), in Omaha. They moved there in November and have a BEAUTIFUL house on the west side of Omaha. We spent the 4th of July tailgating and then watching a minor league baseball game followed by some incredible fireworks....
The next day we ventured to the botanical gardens, which had unfortunately just been devastated by a tonado with 100 mph winds. But we still had fun...

Aaron and I strolling the gardens


The Girls at the Gardens


Enjoying the kids section. Mark and Laura's camera had this cool color filter setting so you could tell the camera to filter out all colors except for yellow.

We had dinner in downtown Omaha one night and then made a wonderful at the Nelson's on the last night. Aaron and I expected Omaha to be flat and brown with flowing golden wheat fields like Kansas, but we were pleasantly surprised. Omaha turned out to be very green with rolling hills and was quite fun.

Ok, time to get back to work. The rest will come later.