Scott has his Master of Divinity!

Scott snd Matt graduated at 3:00 Sunday, May 14th. Scott's Mom and Dad and I went to the grad, and it was especially memorable for Scott's mom who was also, of course!, celebrating mother's day! So here they are---> the new grads! Scott graduated with his Master of Divinity and Matt graduated with a Master of Arts in Theology! It was so nice to share this day with Matt and Christine, especially knowing how much went into earning these degrees. It was also super nice that our new church in McAdam sent us a graduation card and everyone signed it!!






Proffs in their robes- they look very proffesional don't they?!

Graduation Weekend!

Tonight (Friday), Scott and the rest of his graduating class of 25 MDiv Students were commissioned- that means that they were formally dedicated to God's Work. It was a very exciting event! First we had a dinner to which Scott and I, Mom and Dad Kohler, and Scott's bro Graeme and wife Jen (who's expecting their 3rd!) came. We had a nice meal, a yummy dessert, a short program, and then each graduand received an Acadia alumni pin.



Proud Family and Scottie















The Gaduating Group- see Scott in the centre and Jarvis on his right












Scott Receiving his Alumni Pin















After that we went to Wolfville Baptist Chruch down the hill and there was a formal comissioning service at which our fave proff Jonathan Wilson spoke (and it was awesome!!!) about delighting in God, and going out to preach God's good news of hope in Jesus Christ, and making disciples of Jesus- knowing God is with you all the time. Then one of the other proffs- Loinel Moriah prayed for the grads while staff/supervisors/mentors of them gathered around and laid hands on them while they were commisioned to the work of the Kingdom of God. Our pastor John was there, and it was awesome that some Kentville Baptist people came, too!

Scottie, we are VERY proud of you, and I know how hard you've worked to get to this point (and so do your parents!). We love you very much- congratulations!!

Commissioning

Today is the day. Tonight I'll be commissioned (for the second time, but don't tell - it's a secret) by the Div College at their annual Commissioning Service. There's also a commissioning dinner tonight, which is always nice. Mom and Dad and Graeme and Jenn will all be coming for that. Then Sunday, it's graduation day! I can't believe it's finally here, after five years off and on at Acadia (I missed a year to meet Dee - worth it).

Our Poland trip is coming upon us quickly - we leave in two and a half weeks. Time certainly seems to fly as years go by. It's scary sometimes.

Scott and Shawn Say Goodbye to Adventure Club

Adventure Club is the midweek ministry our church puts on for kids in grades 4-6. There is a LOT of kids there (maybe 60-70), and each grade has leaders, 2 of whom are Scott and Shawn. Since they're both done their studies at Acadia and are moving on (Shawn to do a PhD in Scotland with Bev and their 4 kids, and Scott and I to McAdam) Adventure Club had a farewell night for the boys! They each had a farewell song written for and sung to them, as well as a group photo given to them. Tonight was my first time at Adventure Club and here are some photos from tonight:

Scott surrounded by the kidlets!

Scott and Shawn were the main players (targets??) in this game where they had to get up from their chairs and run around all the kids on their side and back to their chair again about 10 times...what a workout- but they were both great sports!

Shawn's Farewell Song by Janet, Juanita and Devin

Scott getting a second workout leading action songs-
mostly Duggie Dug Dug music!

Scott's Farewell Song- it had great words!

Houseguests- (Is that all one word???)

Lately we've had many visitors at our little house in Wolfville! It's been very fun- and our guests don't seem to mind the couch too much! Here's Jarvis, who stayed for a few nights while his girlfriend Janet was visiting from Ontario. Late one night I was trying to work in the kitchen on an essay, while hearing muffled laughter coming from the couch. For some reason, it's east for Malagashians (Those who worked at/went to Malagash Bible Camp) to get each other laughing. It could be that they share so many funny stories...or it could be, like with Jarv, that one has learned what makes their fellow campmate bust a gut:)



Here is Christina (AKA-Chris), our friend from the Div College. We shared a Theology class, and she and Scott had a class together too. Chris came to school in January and we've made a new friend in this New Brunswickan! Chris and Scott and I are going to Poland on the mission trip together and the 3 of us will be travelling together afterwards, too! She is staying at our house last night and tonight for a Poland meeting here in the Valley, since she's back in NB until we leave.
Chris is also a fellow scrapbooker, and we got her hooked on the best show in the history of time (no arguments)--ALIAS!!!! :)
BTW we are all constantly receiving support for the Poland Mission Trip, and are very encouraged and amazed at God's provision!

I like to call this picture: "Chris-in-a-Blanket"

Scott meets Duggie Dug Dug!

Doug Horley (Duggie Dug Dug), children's musician extraordinaire, came to Rock Church this weekend to do a couple of praise parties and a leaders workshop. I went Friday night and Saturday morning, and got to enjoy the music and learn some new action songs. After Friday night Laurie Ewer from HCA introduced me to him and I got my picture taken. Here we are!

Devin and Lenore

Devin and Lenore are two of our best friends here in the Valley. Scott knows Devin from back in their first year of Div College, but then when they connected again last summer, they realized they both got married on the same day- June 18! After asking each other why they didn't invite the other, they laughed and picked up where they left off a few years ago.

Automatically we had a significant connection with these two- the same anniversary! Not to mention that we're all involved in Ministry and Devin was in my theology class all year...By the way, he was always late, except on the last day:) It has been so nice to have Lenore to talk and hang out with this year, (and to start me scrapping!) even tho we're both busy, especially Lenore since she's substituting pretty much every day!

Devin is the associate pastor at Kentville Baptist (our church), and Lenore and Devin both do youth group and music- LOTS of music:) They are a very gifted couple, but most of all they are great friends. Scott and I will miss them terribly:( Lenore and I will especially miss winning against the boys playing very heated games of Dutch Blitz:) Where Lenore can occasionally be heard asking us,
"So like, how long do you guys think you'll do the points for?" and "Oh no!":)

The Boyz-- Scottie K and Devin J

The Girls, often heard shouting, "Blitz!" (haha...:)

Lenore recalling her University Spanish

Devin getting a short (yet high quality) guitar lesson from Dee

Snapshots of Wolfville

As we only have a month left here before our trip to Poland on May 30 and them move to McAdam, NB for July 1st, I thought it'd be nice to post some pics dePICting our life in Wolfville!:

This is Scrapbook Night which happens almost every Monday night, usually at Christine's house. This is a small night, but we sometimes have 5 or 6! I always look forward to going...I think we all sort of feel like it's a girls night/support group! Most of us have some connection
to Acadia Divinity College and that's how it all got started. Also, you can often hear Christine saying, "So where did you get that idea?" :)



















Here is Scott with friends Matt and Shawn in an in-TENTS situation (I'm so punny:)! These 3 guys spent a lot of time together studying at ADC, finishing their MA's (and Scott's MDiv). As you can see, these study bugs have their crazy sides, too. . .:)





Congrat's to Matt who just finished his Thesis! Yay! We know how hard you (and fam!) worked to achieve this goal and we're proud of you!







These are some of the girls I work with at Swiss Chalet- and their babies! We got together to say good-bye to Jen (turquoise shirt) as she moved to TO. In front is me and Phyllis (we're both seater/greeters) and Tracy, Jen and Tracy are all (or were) servers. I'm holding Tracy's baby boy elliot- same name as Danielle's new baby girl!
















Congratulations to Danielle and Rick on their new baby girl, Elliot Jane! (I had previously put Ellioy and didn't notice the typo! Sorry guys!) Does this make me Auntie Dee? Yay! We're so happy for you guys!!

School's Out... for ever?

I just got back from Jonathan Wilson's house, where I dropped off Dee's Statement of Faith, her final paper for Systematic Theology. For me, the magic moment was 10:57 am, Friday, April 21, 2006. That was the moment I finished my last assignment for my M.Div. Life is awesome. Life is free. We're so thankful to God for getting us through this school year, and for where He's taking us next. First, though, we get to ressssssssssssssssssssssst. Oops, sorry, I almost fell asleep, life is so stress-free!

Valentine's Day

Back on Valentine's Day we headed into Halifax to go to Boston Pizza, our favorite restaurant. Here's a picture of us there!

Here we go

While we were in Nicaragua we saw lots of great places, people, and things. Here are some of them.


From left to right are Chico (the driver), Carlos (the gardener/boat driver/our friend), Dee, Scott, and Nanny.


Here Dee touches the back of a turtle that we watched while it was laying eggs! Dee likes to call the turtle Marissa!


This is the cathedral in the center of the city of Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. The cathedral has been closed since it was damaged in Managua's great earthquake of 1972, an event that destroyed much of the city.

Spring Break in Nicaragua

We went to Nicaragua on vacation in February with Dee's Nanny, and had a fantastic time. We stayed with Nanny's stepson Tom and his wife Lois, at their house on the beach... Very rough life, indeed. Here's a picture from a market in Masaya.

This is the view from a restaurant in the nearby town of San Juan. It's a funky little town where Scott and I went to church one Sunday am. I tried to translate for a while but then my brain was like overloaded and it all started sounding like gibpermsh. But at the end of the service everyone wanted to hug and kiss us and were really super nice. Actions definitely speak louder (and clearer) than words:).

Exams, exams

I actually only have two exams this term, one of which I wrote yesterday and shouldn't have been concerned about. This morning I have Evangelism. That shouldn't be very bad either, except I've barely studied. I''ve got an hour and a half now to try to prepare myself.

It's hard to believe that after this exam I'll just have to finish up my last two classes' work on my own time (I hope to be done Friday) and then my years at seminary are over. I can still work on my thesis (and plan to do so), but my formal classes will be all behind me. It's a strange feeling sometimes, but it's a good one too. Maybe I'll feel like an adult soon.

Dee uploaded some pictures to blogger last night I think, so I expect she'll be posting them to our blog soon. My posts are non-graphic it seems. It's just easier to not procrastinate that way. :)

Guilty of procrastination

I have a tendency to procrastinate. I know this, I admit it, and sadly most times I accept it. Well, we've been guilty of procrastinating with our blog these days too. But now the semester is coming to an end and it's time to start updating.

I just finished writing an article on the Dead Sea Scroll 1QSa (The Rule of the Congregation) for a book called The Encyclopedia of the Historical Jesus (published by Routledge and forthcoming in 2008). It's great to be done it, since it was two weeks overdue on Saturday. Now it's 10:30 and I'm just getting started studying for my Greek exam tomorrow morning. Life is good.

Dee and I are trying to get out all of our support letters for Poland, and it's going fairly well. We're excited about everything that's going on in our lives these days; it's hard to even imagine that this is real life sometimes. Once I've graduated I'm hoping it will feel a little bit slower and more manageable for the two of us. McAdam is waiting.

Well, I suppose I should get to that Greek. We'll try to keep updating.

Friends in the Valley!

Our year in Wolfville has been full of new and old friends. Four of our closest friends are Devin and Lenore Johnstone and Matt and Christine Walsh. Here we are at the Valley Drive-In last summer with Devin and Lenore.





Here is Dee with Christine at one of our 24 nights. I think it was this same night at their house that we managed to break our popcorn maker upon first use. Matt and I are around, but since we're not in the picture let's pretend we were both diligently studying in room 206 (AKA -"Matt's office") at ADC.

Wedding Day Where's Waldo?

Dee in the midst of the crowd (Tara and Nanny and Aaron are easy to find, but how many other family members can you spot? Hint: Frank, Ian, Jackie, Dave, Aunt Marilyn, Uncles Peter and Merrill, Aunt Bonnie and Jenn are all here. It's like Where's Waldo!)

Our Wedding

Welcome to our world! We're glad you came to visit! Here are some pics from our wedding day, June 18th, 2005. We were married at Malagash Bible Camp, NS, and had a small (40 ppl) wedding. I was so glad most of my friends could make it (Mitton from Ottawa, Danielle from BC, Mere from Stellarton and Hannah from Dart. of course!)

Scott's dad married us, on the grassy area right above the beach.

Newly married! (By the way, these wedding day pics were taken by our good friend Larry Pardy. Thanks Larry!)