We're Moving Folks!

These last few days have been pretty interesting. Our landlords recently sold their house, and last week our new landlords moved in... However they did not think we were going to be there! Long story short, there was some miscommunication that took place-- the realtor and our original landlords thought the people buying the house wanted tenants, they thought they were going to be moving into an empty house! They demanded that we move out immediately. Legally, we have two months before we have to leave, but Doug and I decided that if we could find a place for August we would move and make it easier on everyone. (It certainly helped that the realtor is giving us some incentive-- spa gift certificates and a $600 travel voucher!!!) After calling about 30 different places and looking all over town, we finally found a place to move. This weekend we move on up to East Abbotsford! It's a ground level basement suite-- a one bedroom-- that's a bit small, but definitely a step up from our old digs! The dishwasher is a favorite feature of mine. Anyways, once we have everything moved in I'll post an update-- complete with pictures of our new home!

Friday Night at the Park

It sure is different spending the week at work! It's been a while since I've had a nine to five job! For the most part, I am loving it! The people I work with are great, I actually like the work, and it's nice to have a more regular routine each day. However, it's been hard to get comfortable with my job since everything is changing each week! The first week, the girl who was supposed to train me was sick, so I pretty much just followed my supervisor around and learned bits and pieces of my job. The second week, I started my training, but it was all in vain. This week the entire computer system that my department uses was completely replaced by a new one. Not only do I have to learn an entire new system, but about half of my job description has changed as well. So now I am trying to forget what I learned in the first two weeks, and figure it all out again! Needless to say, by the time Friday evening rolled around, I was up for some relaxation, so Doug and I headed over to the park to hang out with Erik, Jamie, and Micah. Here are some pictures from our evening.



















Micah had a great time at the park. Every time I asked him to say "slide" he would say "Weeeee!!!". The two of us had a great time playing on the slides and the swings. Here Micah is trying to play baseball with the big boys. Unfortunately, the bat is just as big as Micah! Not only does Micah like the park, but chocolate as well! Micah and his mommy are taking a break and enjoying a treat! Well Jamie and Rosanna, I'm trying to keep up with you girls!! Aren't you proud of me for blogging two weeks in a row?

Happy Canada Day!!!

Since Doug and I are now working full time, we have learned to enjoy our weekends a whole lot more. Canada Day ended up being one of the funnest, most relaxing days we have had in a while. First of all, after sleeping in (After getting up at 6:30 in the morning during the week--I think we deserve it!), we invited Chris, Micah, and Jamie over to eat pizza and watch the France/Brazil world cup soccer game. Then, Rosanna and I went shopping at the mall while the boys played a little beach volleyball. After that we all met up at the Apollo and spent some time cooling off in the pool. For dinner that night, we all felt like doing something a little bit different, so we all went out for sushi at a Japanese restaurant. Doug and I had never been there before, but we had a great time and really enjoyed the food-- however, we did stay away from the raw fish. After dinner we came back to our place and watched a movie, then walked over to Rotary stadium to catch a bit of the live music and the fireworks. While watching the fireworks I thought about past Canada Day fireworks. Last year, Doug and I took the subway to downtown Montreal where we watched the fireworks with our good friend Steve. I also though about all the good times heading out to Diefenbaker park in Saskatoon catching the show on the hill. While I did miss the Saskatoon celebration a bit-- I have to say that Abbotsford has one great thing going for them-- no mosquitoes. I was so nice to lay on the grass and enjoy the show without being bothered by all the bugs!















As you can see, the boys sure had a great time doing other things as well. Isn't my husband a talented photographer? He manages to take all the best shots.
After the fireworks, it was decided that we definitely needed some McDonalds. However, when we got there, we realized that only the drive-thru was open. No worrries-- we decided to have a little tailgate party in the parking lot. It sure felt like we were in high school again-- sitting on the pavement eating our McDonalds. It was the perfect end to a great day.

Football, Camping, and More,,,

Alot has been happening in our lives lately! Here's a little update. Just a few days ago Doug and I had our new sofas delivered to our house. It is nice to finally have furniture of our own, rather than hand-me-downs from everyone else. Unfortunately, we just found out a couple of weeks ago that our landlords are selling their house. Because of this, Doug and I will soon be looking for another place to live. This just means we will have more furniture to move this time around.
















Last weekend, we went camping with Erik, Jamie, Micah, Nathan, Rosanna, and Mom & Dad Toews. We had a great site up at Hick's Lake, near Harrison Hot Springs. Rosanna, Jamie, Micah and I ended up heading up there early on Friday to set up the campsite before everyone else arrived. I think the boys thought we wouldn't know what to do without them, but when they arrived that evening we had all the tents set up, a roaring fire, and supper ready. The weather was a bit strange that weekend, it would be raining one minute and sunny the next, but we still ended up having a great time hanging out with family, eating great camping food, and sitting aroung the campfire. Here's a few pictures from our weekend.
















Here's me and Micah, my cutest and most favorite nephew (yet!).




















Doug and I enjoyed some time by the lake.
















The Newlyweds on their first camping trip with the family.




















Micah loves playing with his Uncle Doug, and I think Doug has a soft spot for his little nephew.
















Here I am with my sisters-in-law. I couldn't ask for better! Over the past few weeks that I have been job hunting, the girls and I have been spending an awful lot of time together-- shopping, walking in the park, going for picnics-- it's going to be bittersweet when I do begin work!
The weekend before we went camping, Doug and I went to a BC Lions game with our friends Stuart and Elisa. The happened to have some tickets to an exhibition game, so we headed out to Vancouver for the evening. I can't say that I watched a whole lot of the game, Elisa and I probably talked through most of it, but I do know that Calgary won.
















Here's Elisa and I. We have more in common than just our name!
















Here's Stu and Doug watching the game intently.

Finally, I have some great news to report-- I have a job! Starting this Monday, I will be Trinity Western University's new Admissions Application Assistant. After a couple long weeks of sending out resumes and waiting by the phone, yesterday was great day. I had one job offer (the one from Trinity), an interview for a Teacher's Assistant position in a local elementary school, and a call for an interview at a bank as well. In the end, I decided to take the job being offered to me, and I am excited to start. Once again, God has been faithful to Doug and I, as we have been waiting and praying about a job for me for some time now.
Well, I think that's it! I just want to say thanks to those that have encouraged and prayed for me in the last weeks of job hunting. I'll let you know how the first week goes!

The Month of May

Doug and I have been pretty busy this month. Here's some of the highlights!
After the wedding, I had the chance to head out to Saskatchwan to visit my family for about a week. I caught a ride out with some of Doug's family from Saskatoon who had come out for the wedding, and flew home later. It was great to see my family, but I was kind of strange to be away from Doug for that long. It was the longest we had been apart since getting married.

Here I am with my youngest sister Angie, out for Chinese food with the family to celebrate Mother's Day. It was nice to be with my Mom on Mother's Day for once!















Doug and I also had the chance to get away for the weekend. The week after I got back from Saskachewan we headed out to Granville Island in Vancouver to spend the weekend. It was so much fun to spend some time exploring the island's unique shops, to go out for some nice meals, and to hang out together.















Here we are enjoying some ice cream on a nice, romantic, evening stroll after dinner.















It has become a Toews' family tradition to get together every Sunday for lunch, and then to spend the entire day hanging out. Usually the boys head out to play some kind of sport together, while the sisters eat some treats, go shopping, or just spend the afternoon talking. This past Sunday was like all others. It was really relaxing to just be with family. Here, Micah and I are sharing a piece of licorice. He kept eating more and more of the treat until we were practically smooching!















The last couple of weeks I have been looking for job postings, sending out resumes, and going to interviews. So far, I have not found anything yet, which has been somewhat discouraging. Even though it's nice to spend time hanging out with friends and family and to relax at home, I am really wanting to get out there and start working! Yet, I need to remember that God is faithful, and that He has something in mind for my future, even though I may not know what it is right now.
Well, now you're all up to date on what's new with the two of us!

Six Random Facts About Me...

Well, Jamie wanted to know six random facts about me, so here it goes...
1. I had my belly button pierced the year that I was at Bethany. Erin Sawatsky and I decided one day that we should go and get it done. The funny thing is that we were not even really friends at that point of the year. Needless to say, after that traumatic event, we were tight.
2. I get the newspaper every day, although I never read it. I only look at the flyers to see what kinds of deals are out there for the week.
3. Hands down, my consistently favorite place to eat is McDonalds. (Doug is shouting "Don't say it!!" in the background as I write this.) To me there is nothing more satisfying than a big Mac and fries.
4. I like to work out.
5. In February of this year I saw Malcolm from "Malcolm in the middle" in the Houston, Texas airport. It sure was exciting.
6. I am not very skilled in the art of blogging, yet. In trying to create this post I almost deleted my entire blog.

I guess I need to tag someone else now! Just to make it intresting, I am going to tag Doug, Nate, and Erik. If their names appear in a blog, they're fair game.

Doug and Elissa in 2006... So Far!

Hey Everyone! Doug and I have decided that we would like to share with you some of the things that have been going on in our lives. It is so hard to keep in contact with everyone, so we thought this blog could be used to post some pictures and information about what we have been up to lately, and hopefully it will help us stay in contact with some of you a bit more easily. Here's 2006 (a recap), thus far.

In February, Doug and I had to opportunity to go on a one week Caribbean cruise with some friends of ours from Abbotsford. We had an amazing time dining out, sitting by the pool in the middle of winter, and exploring all kinds of beaches and exotic locations. We stopped at Key West, Florida, the Grand Cayman Islands, and also in Cozumel, Mexico. It was kind of a spontaneous trip, but we were so glad we took the opportunity to relax and have fun together.

Here we are in Mexico posing in front of our cruise ship!















Here we are in Grand Cayman.
The water was as amazing as it looks!















At the end of April I happily finished up my last classes at UCFV, thus ending my career as a university student (for now)! It was a huge relief to finally finish that chapter of my life, but it is a bit intimidating to begin looking for work. So far, I have not found a job yet, but there have been a few good leads. Hopefully something will come soon, but until then, it is kind of nice to have a break from the stresses of life.

The beginning of May marked an exciting time in the Toew's family, a wedding! Doug's youngest brother Nathan married a wonderful woman named Rosanna, giving us another sister-in-law. Doug and I had the opportunity to be a part of the wedding party, a huge honor for us. It ended up being a beautiful wedding and a fun weekend of reaquainting with friends and family from far away.

For the bachelor party Doug and Erik (the oldest
Toews' brother) planned an afternoon of paintball.
Here are all the boys.















Here's a new look at the Toews' siblings (minus Kristi).















Here's Doug and I, dressed up in our finest!



















That's it for the update! We'll keep you posted!