The Copeland Ramblings/

Newsletter Available

Debra and I recently finished a newsletter to send out to friends and family here in Canada and California. It’s purpose is to update friends and family on our life and future plans. Email us or comment if you’d like a copy mailed to you, or you can download it here. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the newsletter. If you don’t have Acrobat Reader, you can get it here. Our newsletter is meant to be a brochure, so you can read it as is or print it out and fold it.
~Norm

Have a Love for Turtles?

This is an excellent picture Norm took of one of our turtles. We have 2 red eared sliders. They are 25 years old and need a home. =( When we go to school we will not be able to take them with us…. =( So if anyone wants our turtles for free please let us know. They need a good home to take care of them. They come with a 100 gallon tank, filter and tank accessories. They are the greatest pets and have so much personality! ~ Debra

Awesome part of God’s Creation

This is a great picture Norm ripped out of a National Geographic magazine at the doctors. Well, I gave him the idea of ripping it out… so I am the guilty party…. Norm really likes this creature… it is a Thorny Devil… I thought it was a horny toad… but these are only found in Austrailia! They are really quite interesting. They have thousands of little valleys in their skin and when it rains all the water is channelled to its mouth! Norm says if we ever go to Austrailia he wants to catch one and keep it as a pet. Although it would be hard to keep as a pet since it only eats ants. It eats a few thousand ants per meal! Any one have an ant problem? ~Debra

Horrible writing now available!

Most of you who know me well, know that I have pretty horrible handwriting. In fact, when I was in highschool one thing that I often was asked by teachers was

Did you do your homework on the bus?

NO! I almost started doing it on the bus so at least I had an excuse for my excruciating printing. I often thought – no, make that hoped – that as I grew older my writing would also improve. As of yet, that hasn’t happened. So I’ve decided to embrace my writing and created a font! Now horrible writing is available to all here! Right click on the link then click ‘save link as…’. Make sure you save it with the .ttf extension. After downloading it, paste it into your font directory, which is probably at c:\windows\font\ – now you you too can do your homework on the bus. Email if you have trouble. Coming soon – Deb’s handwriting. When people talk to us on MSN they have no idea which of us they’re talking to, now they can!
~Norm

We’ve been slacking in the world of blogs, but I s…

We’ve been slacking in the world of blogs, but I suppose that’s because there hasn’t been anything to amazing to write about. It’s been a pretty normal week, about as normal as things go when you work weird hours. We were able to visit Deb’s grandma the weekend before last, she’s getting all settled in to life in Canada. Like Debra, she’s from California. Deb’s side of the family are slowly migrating north! Most people I know think they’re crazy for heading towards the inclimate weather. meh. One thing to pray about is Deb’s visa for living in Canada. Right now, at least until she gets immigration, she’s on a visitors visa that has to be renewed every six months. Her current visa expires in a week or so, and we’re not sure if we can still do it by mail or if we’ll have to make a trip to the states for it. Not sure.
Ken called me the other evening and asked if I’d speak at youth group in May. I’ve been thinking and praying about what to speak on and also thought that I’d throw that question out here. For those of you that go to the BBC youth group, do you have any particular topic you’d like to hear about?? Comment on this post or email me.
I managed to blog here with nothing really going on…. now that takes talent.
~Norm

Anniversary Weekend

Our first anniversary finally arrived! Chris & Dani, great friends of ours gave us their time share at Carriage Hills Resort. It’s an amazing place! Jacuzzi, outdoor hot tub, indoor/outdoor pool, games room. Lots to do.

It was just fun though to get away and relax. Chris & Dani were there till Saturday morning and we had lots of fun spending time with them. They took us out to dinner at Moose WinooskiÂ’s, a great very Canadian restaurant. Thanks Chris & Dani!! When we left on friday it was fairly mild, and very wet. We were very surprised to wake up Saturday and find loads of snow! And it didn’t stop snowing all day and all night.

Our drive home Sunday morning was interesting, we saw ten or more cars off the road on the 400.

But, we made it home just in time to take a nap before I had to head off to work at 10pm. Thanks to everyone for the cards, well wishes and gifts, we had a great anniversary! It’s amazing how fast time flies, we’re now into our second year, now Dad’s really going to bug us about grand children.
~Norm

DOG ATTACK!!!

Yesterday morning around 5:30 am I decided to take a nice morning walk and watch the sunrise! So I walked out and smelled the fresh cow air! AHH! I walked to the end of the driveway and the neighbors dog started to bark! No worries I said to myself… they always keep that horrid, ferocious dog chained up! And man is this dog the meanest dog you have ever seen… But NO! The stupid dog was not tied up! The owner yelled at it and then went in the house! Well the husky came running over to me barking and snarling! OH MY GOSH I AM GOING TO DIE! He was barking and barking and growling… the darn thing would not leave… My heart was racing a mile a minute… I kept taking one step back at time… too scared to scream at it… after about 5 minutes of growling and barking he went back home. Needless to say I took my walk somewhere else! ~Debra

Even though it’s only been a four day work week, i…

Even though it’s only been a four day work week, it’s seemed kind of
long! Our anniversary is coming up on April 3rd! We exchanged gifts
already, a couple weeks ago I think. Chris & Dani Smith, from our
church in Shelburne, are giving us the weekend at their timeshare! It
sounds amazing, spending the weekend at a resort near Barrie. For
some reason I can’t remember the name of it, but thats alright. On a
much more sad note, our good friend Tom Howchin passed away this week.
We are on our way soon to a visitation in Shelburne. Tom was an
amazing man that I have always looked up to during my 10 or so years
at Bethel Bible Chapel. Every time I think of him now I get sad then
immediately a bit jealous because I think of where he is right now and
Who he’s with! Right now he’s enjoying the rewards of a life spent
serving God, just enjoy being in His presence. God says that each of
our lives is like a vapor, even for those of us that sometimes feel
still young. We’ll see you soon Tom, but we’ll miss you til then!
~Norm

Old Pictures

Debra & I have been looking at old pictures of Bible School and our trips to Papua New Guinea. Here’s a classic one – Peco trying to fit in with the locals.

I also found this picture of our old dorm pet, Bean the frog. This is the frog that inspired Dana’s love for ugly aquatic frogs. One Christmas break we all left him to fend for himself but he seemed fine when we got back. I don’t really know what happened to that guy, anyone know??

This is a picture of a bouquet Norm gave me for V…

This is a picture of a bouquet Norm gave me for Valentines… I took and edited this picture with Picasa…. an awesome free program from google!