Happy 50th Dad!

Sarah and I were so happy that my dad flew up to Ottawa for the weekend to celebrate his recent birthday. It was the first time someone's come to visit and we were excited to show him our apartment, neighborhood and new city. I especially enjoyed showing him and Sarah around Parliament, including a few places the public normally doesn't see. The picture below is from just outside the House of Commons chambers.
I joked that if we each could design our own personal heaven, then Dad's would look a lot like Canada's Library of Parliament. The above picture doesn't do the amazing detail of the library justice, but Dad said it was the nicest library he's ever seen. The bottom picture is my beautiful wife with the birthday "boy" outside the library.

This is my desk in Rob Merrifield's office in the Justice Building. It's a beautiful office and I feel so lucky to be working there and working with his staff. Michael and Ranelle have been great to me and have taught me so much. I love this internship, it's allowed me to do so much, including be in the presence of national leaders. For example, I was just a few feet away from the leaders of 3 of Canada's parties as they gave press conferences this afternoon. Look for me on the news!

New Opportunities

This has been a week of new responsibilities and new opportunities. On Sunday I was sustained and set apart as the new Ward Mission Leader of the Gatineau ward. Essentially, this means that I'm responsible for coordinating missionary activity for our congregation, working with the Elders and the other members to find interested people and meet the needs of those joining the Church. I'm a bit intimidated, but very excited; we have fantastic Elders in our ward right now. On Monday I started my new internship, working in the office of Rob Merrifield, a member of the Canadian Parliament from Western Alberta, who is Chair of the Health Committee in the House of Commons. I have the opportunity to interact with him many times on a daily basis, work with his staff, draft letters on his behalf, and best of all have a front row seat to watch the government function. Every day at 2pm, all 300+ MPs meet in the House of Commons and have "Question Period," a time where leaders of the opposition party fire away any question they want at the Prime Minister who responds or defers to the relevant cabinet minister. So in attending Monday's question period I got the chance to see the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, as well as all the other major players in Canadian politics. Yesterday's vote on a softwood lumber trade deal with the US was a "confidence vote," meaning that if Harper's party had lost, he would have had to quit or call a new election. There was no surprise however as the Bloc Quebecois backed the deal and it comfortably passed. Immediately after that was the first meeting of the Health Committee, where I will be spending a lot of my time. It's a lot of fun to watch my boss handle the pressure of 11 outspoken MPs negotiate their agenda, and then to hear his and other MPs private comments afterwards. I feel so lucky to work in such a beautiful place. I hope all of you can come visit, because with my new ID badge I can take you anywhere in the building, including lots of places the general public normally can't go.

Montreal Shooting

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in Rob Merrifield's office, a member of Parliament from Alberta, when we saw on the tv that there was a shooting at a Montreal junior college. When I got home I learned that a 25 year old man opened fire at Dawson College, which is just down the street from McGill University where I want to school, and directly across the street from a popular shopping center and a movie theater I've been to many times. I've been relieved to receive confirmation that I everyone I know is ok, including some of my young men who are just starting at Dawson. As a New Yorker in a post 9/11 world, I think I can understand the feelings that will come to these students as they try to get back to school at some point. There's this feeling hanging in the air that anything could happen at any time, that the world doesn't quite make sense in the same way it used to. But I offer my full support to these youth and my testimony that things can get back to normal, and you don't need to feel scared, that everything is ok. My favorite scripture when I feel scared like this is John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you, my PeaceI give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

5 Years

The top picture is me and mom on top of the World Trade Center in 1981 (notice the Statue of Liberty?). The second picture is me in the observatory deck as a little kid with my cousins. The final picture is what it looks like today.

In all honesty, this anniversary is getting harder for me as the years go by. In 2001 I was just a few months into my 2 year mission in Idaho and dealt with the initial shock and fear for my parents (who were both within 1.5 miles when it happened) with the knowledge that I was working 12 hours a day to comfort people and improve their lives. In my mom's words, the forces of good are still much more powerful than the forces of evil in the world, and I was on the frontline of that battle. The same was true in 2002 as I learned that it was somehow therapeutic for Idahoans to talk to me, a New Yorker, as it made what they saw on tv seem real and so I learned to handle talking about it 12 times a day. 2003 was when I came back home to NYC and saw ground zero for the first time. Believe or not, I had only seen the video of what happened one time before 2003, and so I took some time to really digest what my hometown went through. 2004 was when I cried the most over the loss and what could have been lost. I worked just a few blocks away and could have been assigned to work within the WTC had I been home in 2001. Now, in 2005, the predominate feeling I have is deep dissapointment and anger. Is the world safer than it was this day 5 years ago? Absolutely not. In fact, I think it has only gotten worse. I put up these pictures of me as a little kid in the WTC to emphasize the point that when I watched those buildings go down, it was like a part of me, my childhood, home and family had been attacked. I'm so dissapointed that the feeling of unity and comraderie that existed at that time has dissipated, yet I can't help but want to point the finger of blame myself. The editorial in today's NY Times sums up my feelings well, check it out here. As you probably know by now, I am an optimist at heart and though I wish we weren't in the current situation, I think there's a lot of good that can come of it and I really believe and pray that peace, love and civility will develop out of this mess.

Once again, thanks Jon (and his mom Su) for sending these pictures of the other two wonderful wedding events we had. The first one is of the friday night dinner that my dad hosted for us and Sarah's family. It was at Le Muscadin, a fantastic Italian restaurant in Old Montreal. I really can't say enough positive things about how wonderful that night was, and what a classy, dignified but relaxed and fun tone it set for the whole weekend. The next three were at our family luncheon after the ceremony. The first of those being the moment we arrived at the restaurant. We had been stuck in traffic so everyone was already there waiting for us, and it was a really fun moment to walk into the room filled with 60 of our closest loved ones and having them clap. I really enjoyed having people clap everytime we kissed, and I joked to my dad that Sarah had said I was a good kisser, but I've never been applauded for it before! We took more pictures after the lunch, though we had to take a quick break while a man swam naked in the fountain behind us! I'll never forget the moment when my cousin Jon called me over, "Dave, this is probably the worst time to tell you this, but there's a naked black man swimming in the background of your shot!"

Reception pics

I love these pictures that my cousin Jonathan took. It captures a lot of other "special" moments from the wedding weekend. Setting up the decorations was a little trickier than we thought, and after a couple hours we brought out the huge bucket crane. Thanks again for going up Sergio! I like the third picture, as it was the only bite I had to eat during my entire reception!! I didn't even see the food table until I was on my way out. The fourth pic is fun because it captures an integral part of my experience, that everything I did was being watched and photographed. That's our friend Brian taking our picture, he was our official wedding photographer and was great to work with. Thanks Brian!!

Great wedding pictures

Here are some more pictures I just got from the wedding. There are courtesy of Tara and are really a tease to get you to check out her blog (the link is on the side), where you can see tons of pictures from her trip to NYC and Montreal, including lots of wedding photos.

Elder Bingham

We had a great surprise the other night when my cousin Elder Mike Bingham stopped by to say hi and invite us to a baptism. He is serving across the river and was on splits with our Elders. What a treat to live in your cousin's zone! I also got to teach with elders in french and even bore my testimony in french at sacrament meeting last Sunday! I'm a bit nervous about all this french, mais avec foi et avec SA force, je peux tout faire.

2nd base

Sarah and I went to a minor league baseball game in Ottawa and even got to run the bases afterwards! We had our picture taken but it turned out to be on video mode.

Moving

After getting back from our honeymoon last week, Sarah and I rented a uhaul, spent hundreds of dollars at ikea and moved to Gatineau, Quebec! We have spent almost every waking moment of the last week putting furuniture together and enjoying our new home. I hadn't seen the place before moving in, but am glad I trusted Sarah's judgement. The apartment is wonderful, with plenty of space, clean and in a great area. We're close to banks, supermarkets, restaurants, and only 5km from the city of Ottawa. In fact, I could clearly see Parliament Hill across the river during my afternoon jog today. As you can see from the 3rd picture, we've also enjoyed christening our wedding gifts. Thank you to everyone for the many gifts, including plenty of money and everything from the practical (towels and bathmats), to the quirky (such as my pig ice cream scooper). I've also found that milk tastes better out of my UNC Public Health mug than anything else!

Tremblant day 2

Our 2nd day was even better than the first. We did an 8km canoe trip, followed by an 18 km bike trip. We traveled by land and sea through beautiful area, though I must admit my shoulders and butt are still sore!

Mt. Tremblant day 1

What a great day our first day exploring Mt. Tremblant was. We did lots of walking, which gave us up close experiences with wildlife, panoramic views of gorgeous scenery and the chance to sit in a big chair. After riding the ski lift to the top of a mountain, we rode down in a little luge car. We then took a three hour hike up another mountain and had a great time.

Honeymoon lodging

We stayed at some great places during our honeymoon. The top photo is the room at the marriot where we stayed in downtown Montreal. It was perfect, as you can tell by the amazing view in the second picture. After staying downtown we stayed three nights in a cozy bed and breakfast in St. Jovite, 90 minutes north of Montreal, near the ski resort town of Mt. Tremblant. The breakfasts were outstanding, the room wonderful and we loved the jacuzzi!

Wedding Photos

Here's a slideshow of pictures from the wedding weekend. The only pictures I have so far are from my mom's camera, so it's far from comprehensive. For example, it doesn't include pictures from the Friday night family dinner that my father hosted, or the Saturday afternoon family luncheon. Nonetheless, it's a good taste of what was without exageration the most important and greatest day of my life. I love you Sarah!