The BLOG is BACK!

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." 

-Philippians 1:3-6

Welcome!

In the spirit of the verses listed above, this blog is simply about thanking God for the people he has placed into my life - mostly my beautiful wife and kids, but also the people whom we are blessed to call friends, and our extended family as well.

It is the messy, messy story of God bringing his good work to completion. 

We're thankful to be a part of it, and I hope that it will also make for some fun reading!

The Players

If you tuned into this particular blog last summer, you might think you already know the players of the "Great Vance Drama." However, we have a great little addition to our family. I'll introduce everyone, from eldest to youngest:

Here's me, in all of my glory. That piece of pineapple never had a chance. I will be your reliable narrator on this journey.

Meet Mama Bear, or "Chrissy" as we call her. She is the one who keeps us all together, organizing us, motivating us, wiping away our tears, etc. Sometimes I think Proverbs 31 was written with her in mind.

Cooper is actually our oldest child. (He was born a day after our wedding). Here is his trademark "I am so very weary" pose. His mastering of this particular pose is a testament to the energy of the next three players...

This is Jesse, and he is incredibly chipper at unreasonably early hours of the day. Four years old, now! I love this kid.

Janna is, at two-and-a-half years of age, defined by powerful and rapid movements from indignant frustration to contagious joy. If passion was electricity, Janna could probably power Ottawa. Despite the unpredictability, however, she brings us incredible joy every day (which we will document very carefully).

Meet Robyn, the youngest of the Vances. Robyn is teething right now, which brings some discomfort, but overall she is a sweet, inquisitive child. I know we're supposed to cherish every moment, but I can't wait to see what kinds of things she's going to say, and I'm pumped to watch her interact more and more with Jesse and Janna (and Cooper - poor Cooper).

The Plan

My goal is to blog a few times each week - not every day, but often enough, sometimes capturing several days in one post. I planned to write more tonight, but Chrissy and I are having a movie-and-brie date - we are watching Australia. Anyone seen it?

Before signing off, I'd like to leave everyone with a video of Vance sprinkler madness. We bought a sprinkler today, which seems to have affected us all in strange and wonderful ways. Enjoy!

Until next time....