Because I'm a Snowman...

A few years ago at Christmas time, my cousin Desiree and I went to Save-On and found a dancing snowman. He sang the song "Cuz I'm a snowman.. Ya, do do do do do do" We were amazed at his slick dance moves and his smooth sultry voice and stood there in the store dancing and singing along with him for about five minutes (no, we really dont' care what others think.. haha)

That Christmas, we sang it at our family gathering, and everyone thought we were funny (or strange..), but my Auntie Esther especially loved it. So the other night when we were baking/making movies, we decided to dedicate this song to her. I had to cut out the beginning dedication part so it would fit, but once again I hope you enjoy!! Let me know your thoughts!

Baking Fun

This if the debut of me having a video on my blog. Wow. I'm turning over a new leaf. Will write more, but my cousin and I are kind of crazy and like to have a lot of fun with no inhibitions. Here's a sneak-peak into what happens when we bake together or hang out together.. (and yes, we do this normally without a camera too..) Everything you see here is improv. Let me know what you think! We're thinking of making a comedy video that people can insert when in a sad mood.. :)

Trust and Anger

I have this picture on my desktop, and on rainy days I love looking at it, because it reminds me of warmth and incredible beauty!! All is beautiful around me as well, but I do enjoy this pic, so thought I'd start the post off with it (the island in the background is Bora Bora).

So I just realized that if I posted more often, I would not have fifty million pictures per post. So my apologies for the delay in posting and for the long winded posts!

This was my youth photo taken by Jason Brown (Revival Arts Studios). Fantastic shot! I'm leading a grade nine girls small group at church this year! And it was fun to have our pics taken professionally for the website!

Jocelyn and I went to the Canucks game last Friday night against LA kings. Canucks lost 4-2. I really do not pick the good games to go to. Or maybe it's them? Hopefully next time we'll fare better!

Me and my curly hair!

My buddy Freud and I... At school there was a career fair and the undergrad psych club had a booth.. We had some fun snapping some shots! :)

Chad and Bobbi were gone this weekend, so I got to take care of their dog and cat!! Every morning I had to laugh, because Tiga would be on top of his dog house waiting for me. haha.. Have never seen that before!! But he was always excited to see me, would jump off the roof and starting jumping around everywhere. Crazy, hyper dog!

We went for a "walk". HA! Yah, I went for a jog was more like it and I was really sore the next day!! haha.. Was kind of fun at the same time, besides the fact that I was soaking wet by the end!

I tried getting a group shot, but evidently I was zoomed in and Tiga would not sit still!! haha.. I think he's about to jump on me...

Amy and I went on a mini roadtrip to Vancouver the other day because I had to pick some stuff up. I was supposed to document the roadtrip, but alas, this was the only picture I got!! haha..

Amy squared

Kristen

Okay, so this picture is a work in progress, but I figured I would post it, because I took SO long trying to get it!! haha.. I was trying to take a picture of the stars and it semi turned out. I think the combo of my lens getting dew all over it in the middle of the picture and the moving clouds kind of ruined it. But I will keep trying, so stay tuned!! One of the things on my list of 100 things to do before I die is to take a good picture of stars!! :)

It was beautiful tonight, so I figured I would snap a few shots of the huge oak trees in the yard. I figured I should check out the giant flowers again too.. Always good for a picture!

I love the light in this picture!

This last weekend was great in that I got a fair amount done!! A lot of it consisted of marking, but after that I was able to get a headstart on homework for the week!

Lately two things have been heavy on my mind: trust and anger. I recently came to the shocking realization that I don't trust God. Sure, I trust Him and know He's trustworthy, but I look at my life and see that I don't fully believe that. I started wondering where that shift happened. When my brother died, i really wanted to trust God, trust He had a plan and would take care of me. However, a year and a half later when my dad died, I think I shut down. I already hadn't been dealing well with emotions that were coming up, and I felt really hurt and abandoned by God. The funny thing is that I have only realized it now. I kept logically telling myself all the things I knew, meanwhile ignoring what my heart was saying. So now I feel as though I only want to trust God when I am 100% that the outcome will be the way I want it to be. Which isn't really trust... Along with this, I have realized that I had a lot of unexperessed anger towards God. Once again, in my logic I told myself that I couldn't be angry at God. So I wasn't. And I stuffed everything down and it was all good. But it's not and it has been bubbling inside me for quite some time.

Upon realizing these feelings, it was incredible just to pour out my heart and to be honest about it. What an amazing relief. Yet now it is difficult to know where to go from here. I desire to know God and I want to follow Him and have a relationship with Him and so I am continually striving towards that while trying to be honest with myself and God about where I am at and how I am feeling. So far it has been hard, but good. I am learning a lot. :)

Catching Up

Kristen, Amy and I decided we were going to "study" together for our Theories of Counselling midterm the other day. I think they studied and I sat attempting to distract as well as take pictures! Only one more midterm to go!! (Okay, I only had two, so it wasn't that big of a deal...)

I got a haircut yesterday! I was washing my hair and thought.. "no more growing the hair, let's cut it!" So I called my hairdresser for a walk-in appointment (okay, so that would be my mom...) and voila! There's a pic of me with it straightened, but based on a logical guess, I think it will look shorter when in its natural curly form. So I will post a pic of me and short curly hair next time I allow it to be curly and down! :)

Sad moment: My last fish died the other day. It was actually really sad to take him out of the tank and now it's been sitting in my room empty. The water will probably go murky and smell up my whole room, but I"m still trying to decide whether to buy more fish or to get rid of the tank. Oh the decisions! Any suggestions?

A random picture of me driving the other day while waiting at a red light!

These pictures are a little late, but my friend Heidi and I went golfing on Thanksgiving weekend and it was GLORIOUS! I hadn't golfed in a while and it felt SO good to be out there again! We went to a course called The Falls in Chilliwack. It's all on a mountain and the views are breathtaking! Plus, it was an absolutely beautiful day. I had never golfed there before and shot 104, which wasn't bad considering... On this course, you need to be able to hit straight, otherwise your ball is off the cliff or in the woods. But I thought I was fairly straight shooting! I'm looking forward to going back! Especially since I get to drive a golf cart!

I decided why not stop during my game for a few shots of myself and the leaves...

The Falls.. I'm assuming these are representative of the course name..

Got a bit hungry while playing...

So, this last weekend, i feel as though I am finally caught up on the school spectrum of things! For the first time this semester I'm actually looking ahead at what is coming up rather than the things that I need to catch up on from the previous week. It feels SO good. I had one midterm and actually only have one more, which is nice! I just have lots of huge projects coming up in November! But for now, I will try to enjoy October..

I have been learning a lot about myself lately, which has been good, but exhausting. Lots of stuff coming out that I didn't know was there, but it is good to wade through it all.

This weekend I am looking forward to getting even more caught up on school and hopefully taking some good pics! I just got a new gadget for my camera that I order a couple of months ago and I'm really excited to try it out! So stay tuned for some new and interesting pictures! (I will tell you about the attachment when I have the photos).

I also am back at the gym again! My pool got winterized for the winter last friday, so on saturday i headed back to use their pool!! So far I am up to swimming 2.1 kms (104 laps) and my goal is to eventually get to 4km! It feels great though!

And that is all for now.

A Very Sad Game...

Warning: the following post contains a lot of pictures, mostly posted for Cheryl, but it is the progression of a sad, sad night.

This was enough reasons to be sad right there...

On the way to the game-pretty excited!

Oh yay, it's going to be such a great game!

Oh! Philadephia scored.. dang.. and there are a lot of Flyers fans..

Philadelphia scores again less than a minute after the first goal

Canucks score and we get food!

Philadelphia scored...

Philadelphia scores...

Philadelphia scores...

Philadelphia scores...

Canucks score! There's hope!

When the game is 6-2, you have to find exciting things to do! hehe..



The amount of points Cheryl thinks we need to score in order to redeem ourselves...

Trying to be happy after the ultimate low point of the game.. Canucks have a two man advantage during a power play and Philly gets a breakway and scores... again

And Philadelphia scores their eighth goal.. and as you can tell, the seats are quite empty at this point.

But at the end, a fight broke out in order to redeem the cross-checks from the other team...

Our sorrow over the game..

But as one fan yelled when he left "We still love you!"
Not sure why we do, but we do.

Soon and Very Soon

soon there will be an exciting post here.. with exciting pictures and stories! Hoorah! maybe tomorrow!

Thanksgiving Weekend Fun!

The Thanksgiving long weekend began with my friend Brooke and I venturing to a roadside diner in mission for poutine we had heard was good. So we thought we'd test it to see if it in fact was the best. It was good, but not the best I dont' think (not compared to some in Quebec!). Regardless, we had some fun times at the diner!

Friday night I attended a Benefit Concert at my church which was raising money for orphans in Thailand. The concert was absolutely fantastic and it was such a blessing to be able to listen to great singing! I got to serve the snack in the middle too which was fun! Afterwards, my friend Cheryl and I began what will hopefully be a weekly tradition of getting up to snuff with the Disney movies we have not watched since we were children. Below is a pic of us with Cinderella playing in the background.. however just our faces showed up and not the movie! Very fun to watch it together and ponder how lovely it would be if birds made my bed in the morning and fluffed my pillows. Perhaps if I took my screen off and let the birds fly into my room, they would in fact do that. I will try it out and let you know!

Saturday morning I picked a couple friends up from the ferry terminal and then dropped them off in mission. Then it was off to church for six hours!! We had choir practice and worship team practice! It was really tiring, but so great to be able to fellowship and sing and just have a great time! After church Carmen and I went out to Milestone's for a bite to eat which was likewise great fun (and i know you are reading this Carmen, so you should leave a comment!! haha)

Sunday morning was back to church for the two morning services, then lunch with my cousin and then to MEI where I was for five hours for choir practice and then my church's final 75th anniversary celebration. It was a fantastic evening of singing and sharing together! Afterwards I went out with a few friends which was also a lot of fun!

This weekend in celebrating our church's 75th anniversary, I have been reminded of the incredible blessing it is to be part of this church. I am so incredibly thankful for it and the good work that God has done and will continue to do! I am seeing more and more what an incredibly rich heritage our church has and how there has been sch a rich tradition of commitment to God along with a great caring community. The core of the church is commited to that body of Christ and it is exciting to be a part of it. So, this weekend, the biggest thing I am thankful for is my church!! It is wonderful to connect with people, to encourage and uplift one another, to pray together and have a lot of fun together! I am continually blessed by being part of it!!

Tomorrow I am leaving at 6am (in 6 hours) to drop people off at the ferry terminal. Then I'm going golfing which I'm super excited for and hoping it doesnt rain! Then Thanksgiving dinner with family and some friends!! Should be fun!! Hope you all have a very happy thanksgiving!

Fall Fotos

So the other day I went outside to take some pictures of the fall and here are a few! I got rained on partway through it, so my time was cut short, but I still managed to snag a few shots! Enjoy!

We have all these amazing flowers outside.. I always see them from my window and want to take pictures of them! They are absolutely amazing to have as fresh flowers daily! And they're huge!

I really like the contrast in this shot of the red leaves against the green.. It's like Christmas!!

My feet hanging out in the garden.. slowly I am starting to wear shoes, but it is a difficult transition to make...

And of course I had to pose with the flowers.. haha.. Be glad I spared you the twenty other shots I took with the flowers!! hahaha.. Some are pretty funny thought and make me laugh!

Fall is always such a beautiful time, watching the leaves change color and all. As the trees shed their old leaves and get ready for the winter before spring, I feel like I'm shedding some "old leaves" as well and it feels great!! :)

Rainyness

For a while now, one of my goals in photography is to take pictures of things through windows that have rain on them, because it gives a really cool effect. The other day the rain was storming against my window, so I figured I would put aside the schoolwork for a few moments in order to capture some shots.

So, these are the first few of my fall pics for the year, I'm going to go take some more right now actually while the leaves are still on the trees and it's still light out! But wanted to have another picture post for your viewing enjoyment!

Title

I think this is a really cool picture of my eye, but everyone thinks it's creepy!! haha.. this is what i do on my computer to distract myself from homework!! It's nice to have a built-in camera!! :)

My friend Chrystal was over last night and we decided to do some fun photo taking. The picture of her and I kind of look like people with giant heads if you look closely enough.. hehe.. I think the one of me makes it look like an excited old man.. hahaha

And Chrystal looks like an alien in this one.. hehehe

Here I was trying to be serious for a nice contemplative shot and Chrystal kept laughing!

Tonight I had my connect group over for a pizza party and swimming (which is one one of the people in the pic is in a bathing suit). Randi and I are leading a grade nine girls group this year with senior high and i'm pretty excited about it!! Great group of girls and I'm excited to get to know them!

This was after the swim and I look a little like a drowned rat.. haha

And last but not least, my painting arrived int he mail!! I bought it on the cruise I was on in August, because apparently artwork is a lot cheaper on cruise auctions than in the store, because you get it at cost! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this painting. It is called "Bora Bora".. the background is Bora Bora and it is shrouded in clouds (like it often is) and the boat just juts out at you. Very cool. I hung it on my wall where a different painting used to be and it fits perfectly. However, last night I had trouble going to sleep, because it's hung right above my head, is a lot heavier than the old painting (not a very big hook holding it) and so I had visions of it falling on my head during the night or something.. that would not be cool. But it looks like it'll be pretty stable!!

School is going all right. The weekend flew by and I feel like every day flies by! Every day is filled with school, friends, homework, and driving. But I am enjoying it and still working on having less stress and having more balance in my life! I am excited for Thanksgiving long weekend, but it will be full of insanity, but that always makes things more exciting I find!!

I just recently started reading the book of Matthew. I was about to use the Bible I use all the time but decided to use a version I dont' often read, but love, which is the Amplified version. One verse that stuck out and has been with me all week was Matthew 1:21

"She will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus (the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua, which means Savior), for He will save His people from their sins (that is, prevent them from failing and missing the true end and scope of life, which is God)."

Wow.. I love that. That sin is defined not as a set of rules, but rather me missing out on the true meaning of life, which in fullness is God. It has been a challenge for me to remind myself of that and think about how I can live that out... That God would be my true end and the scope through which I view life daily. Refreshing perspective on it and a good challenge as well!