It’s my birthday today!  And consequently it’s the last year of my 20s… scary thought.

Last year we were in Chicago on my birthday!

This year we’re flying to Nepal.  As you read this I’m likely somewhere between Kuwait and Nepal, possibly in our stop-over in Mumbai.  In any case, I look forward to sharing all of the details when I get back!

**This post was pre-written yesterday, on Easter Sunday**

The call to prayer is sounding, signalling sunrise. At first it feels distant, but then each mosque in our neighbourhood joins in, creating a boisterous and purposefully intrusive call.

It’s around 4:30 in the morning, and I’m curled up in bed, hoping to convince my body to sleep for another hour and a half before I get up for the day.

But today the marking of the sunrise is more than just the usual harkening of the sun; instead, today it’s the harkening of a very real, very alive Son. And on this special day, I’m reminded of just how very different Easter looks this year.

I’m not waking up to go to a sunrise service; I’m waking up to the Muslim call to prayer. I’m not going to be searching for, or enjoying copious amounts of little chocolate eggs; I’m not waking up to enjoy a day of celebration with other believers, friends, family; I’m waking up to go to work where all the children around me will be oblivious to this monumental day.

There are many “sad” points to what I am missing today. But at the same time I’ve been blessed with many things in which to rejoice on this very unique Day of Resurrection.

I’m living just a stone’s throw from where this incredible, life-giving event took place. The sunrise I’m experiencing is much like the one that would have occurred on that day thousands of years ago. I’m challenged to find new ways to celebrate my faith within the new parameters of what Easter looks like over here, and I’m excited for the way it is helping me grow in my faith.

So, no, things aren’t the same this year. But things are still good. Fantastic, even. And I’m thankful for my friends and “family” here, and for the way I can celebrate Easter.

**This is a post written by my husband, Peter to give you a glimpse of life behind the blog from his perspective!  Enjoy!**

My wife Alison has been blogging for some time now.  It’s had different looks (some of which I have helped design or create); it’s gone through different phases and focused on different subjects over the years; but in one way or another she has been blogging since 2006.  In fact she has had a blog longer than we have been married – anyone remember the first few years of Blogspot? I remember the summer before we got married we were both tweaking our blogs over our lunch breaks from the Cable Company in Ontario where we both worked.

Over time she has shared about how she has grown and developed as a person, and occasionally how the process of blogging has been a part of that change.  With that in mind we thought it might be interesting to have me say a few words on how I have been changed or effected by the blogging process.  A peak at what its like being married to a blogger, if you will.  So this is the exclusive, once in a life-time, not-to-be-missed report from behind the scenes.  This is “The Husband Edition” of Alison’s blog.

Food:
I guess right off the bat I should say the biggest change for me has been meal times.  You see I grew up with, let’s say, a more “traditionally North American” menu.  Most meals consisted of the classic trio: meat, potatoes and veggies, with the occasional break where we ate pasta or a stir-fry.  That’s sort of how I imagined life as a married person going as well.  And truthfully, in our first year of marriage that was probably pretty close to how we ate (we even had a solid supply of Hamburger Helper on hand in the cupboard during the first year or so of marriage!).

But change was in the air.  

Over the past 6 years meal times have become even more a time of experimentation and creativity.  For the most part these creations have been amazing and left me thinking, why did it take me so long to taste this!  I have eaten things I never thought I’d ever eat, and occasionally eaten things that I had frankly never even heard of before.  Truthfully this has been a real treat.  Meals that I now see as normal go-to meals, are vastly different than what I would have considered a go-to meal years ago.

I now see eating a primarily vegetarian diet as being pretty normal and find myself being far more aware of what’s going on in the organic section of the grocery store than I ever had been in the past.  But as tasty and as wonderful as my role as primary taste tester has been, there are a few side-effects that we have experienced over the years that I think are worth sharing.

First, would be that in experimenting with food as often as we do, occasionally things… well… let’s just say they don’t turn out as planned.  There is also the amount of dishes that get left after a fancy or creative meal.  The tastier the meal, sometimes the larger the pile of dishes produced (and as the chief dish washer, that’s not always great).  And finally, for a time, there was a long pause between dinner being hot and us being able to eat it.  That was of course in order to get that perfect photograph to use for the blog or some other publication (this one seems to have worked itself out over time.).

But truthfully it’s been worth it.  The food experience and journey has been fantastic (including the occasional flop or cold meal).  And in part I have to see Alison’s blog as contributing to that in some way.  Both because it has connected to her to a community of food bloggers for inspiration and because the need to write that ‘next post’ or get that recipe in for a deadline has often motivated her to push to the next level of creative cuisine.  Alison, my stomach thanks you!

Experiments around the house:
Beyond the amazing food experiments it seems there is always a new idea or experiment for around the house as well.  From homemade cleaning supplies to homemade toiletry items and the occasional homeopathic remedy for sickness.  A couple of week ago, for example, when I was sick, I found myself being treated by Dr. Alison with all sorts of special homemade detox drinks and even found myself with my feet soaking in Apple Cider Vinegar while sitting in the shower… I blame the blog ;)

Although at times these experiments have been odd or peculiar, we have as a result had an increasingly healthy and affordable home.  Like the food experiments, any downsides (like awkwardly sitting my with feet in Vinegar having just chewed raw garlic) have been small in comparison to the relative benefits.  Needless to say, like the food experiments this is not exactly how I envisioned things turning out – but boy am I glad it did!

Life is well documented:
Far more than in years past I find a camera or camera phone accompanying us on outings so that we can get a nice shot for the blog.  I even find myself saying things like, “Oh you should totally blog about this…!”  The net result has been that we have an amazing amount of pictures and written stories about our life thus far.  While you might not access the archives around here all that often, doing so for us can be an amazing reminder of the things we have done over the years.  In the moment you might think, “Really, do we need to take a picture now, this is just everyday-life stuff?”  In the long run, looking back, it’s so worth it.  Thanks to the blog for keeping track of our life thus far for us!

The Experiment of Life:
In writing this short little post I noticed how often the word ‘experiment’ came up.  And I think that’s probably a great word to describe my experience as a blogger spouse.  By being connected to such a broad and diverse group of people through the blogosphere I find the limits on what we saw as possible when we got married continue to be shifted.  

Far from planning on settling down and paying a mortgage, I now find myself thinking, “Moving to Thailand and working on an online business might be nice for a year!” “Wouldn’t it be nice to open up a nice artsy music cafe some place?” “What if we quit working and backpacked for a year instead, we could blog about it as we go?” “I’d love to move to Europe and do my Phd.”…

True. Much of this is not directly related to being a blogger spouse, but the consistent reminder from blogging to record and remember the past, to experiment with the present and dream of the future has played an important role.

Thanks Alison for putting so much into your blog, as much as it has surely cost you time and energy and certainly at times feels taxing, the benefit to us as a couple in our adventures with life has been worth it!  I am thrilled to be on this adventure with you, and equally thrilled that you have been so willing to record it as we go.  

Remember how back in September I wrote about “surviving my 20s?”  No?  Well, take a look at the original post over on Devotional Diva’s blog.

Renee (Devotional Diva) has written up a great posting linking up to the 78 writers who have guest blogged for her since April 2010 (I’m one of them!).  She’s listed all of the posts as well as a favourite quote from each post (I’m #52!).  Please swing by and read the other guest posts.  There’s some incredible writing in there, and some really valuable lessons.  I’ve truly enjoyed reading the thoughts of others.

It’s the last day of 2012. When I think back on this past year, it feels both like it flew by fast, but also last for years. We’ve packed in SO much in the last twelve months that I should probably feel overwhelmed when I think about it.

Instead of summarizing each month, I’m going to summarize it by 3 words that I feel best describe the last year.

TRAVEL:
In 2012, we have been in 7 countries (Belgium, Germany, Kuwait, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, United States) other than Canada. Within the United States we were in 6 states, and within Canada we were in 3 provinces. That’s a whole lot of travel.

To say we’ve enjoyed all that traveling would be an understatement!! 2013 brings more adventures around the globe, and we’re thrilled to embark upon them.

FOOD:
Umm…this is a no-brainer. Food is ALWAYS important to us. I’ve continued to blog new recipes, get new recipes published, and try new foods around the world.

My 5 favourite foods from 2012 that I created are:

1. Bhurta Paneer
2. Butternut Squash, Sun-dried Tomatoes + Caramelized Onion Pasta
3. Curried Deviled Eggs
4. Fluffy Vegan Pancakes
5. Strawberry + Feta Stuffed Chicken

My 7 (because I can’t narrow it down further!) favourite foods that I’ve tasted are:

1. Turkish Delight
2. Lemon Mint Drink
3. Giant Homemade Pretzel
4. Cannoli
5. Pear & Gorgonzola Pizza
6. Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake
7. Korean Tacos

TRANSITION:
So, we kind of made a giant life decision this past year and switched careers and countries. We left our job as Pastors in beautiful British Columbia and moved to Kuwait in the Middle East. We sold off a ton of our belongings, packed everything up, moved to Ontario for the summer where we traveled around to spend quality time with family and friends, and then moved 4 suitcases of stuff to Kuwait to be primary school teachers. It’s been a total whirlwind, but it’s one that we are so completely satisfied with and absolutely love. Both jobs have their pros and cons and we’ve been blessed to enjoy both this past year.

I’m certain there’s so much more I could say, but I don’t think I need to bore you with endless details of stuff you could easily go back into the archives and read. Needless to say, my life is amazing and every single time I think about it I stop and wonder why I’m so blessed. God is good and 2012 has been fantastic! I say that with total sincerity and I know without a doubt that whatever 2013 holds will be equally wonderful.

This is the first time I’ve ever lived in a different country, and consequently it’s the first time I’ve ever celebrated the Christmas season in another country.  Not just that, but a country that doesn’t celebrate Christmas.  Well, at least not officially.

The breeze blowing is warm, there are no twinkle lights strung on houses, no festive songs blaring from the radio, and no tree to put presents under (mostly ’cause we have no space!!).

While I thought it would seem odd to pass the month of December in this way, it hasn’t been that odd at all.  I mean really, in some major western department stores you can find Christmas trees to purchase, and decorations on display to buy.  But there’s no Santa in the mall, and no hustle and bustle to find “the perfect gift.”

And you know what?  I actually kind of like it.  

I’m not a Grinch, or trying to be all Bah-Humbug, but it means that for me, Christmas has actually been about the one person that it’s supposed to be about.  We focus on Christmas at Church as we celebrate Advent, sing songs of praise, and enjoy the birth story that’s been told for thousands of years.  And this year, living that much closer to where it all took place, makes it that much more special.

Sure, I’m thrilled to celebrate Christmas in Belgium with Peter’s parents, enjoying the festive spirit of the season, but I haven’t longed for all-things-Christmas like I thought I would.  And I’m actually really grateful for that.

Christmas isn’t about the gifts and all the other junk we’ve added in, it’s about Jesus, that’s the way it should be.

Merry Christmas friends!