Changes

Lately I have had such a feeling of lightheartedness and it has been wonderful. And I definitely know that it's due to the changes happening in my life! I went away after New Year's for a few days and it was a wonderful time of reflection and evaluating what's going on in my life. I came to realize that I need to make some new priorities!



So to put all of it into action, my first step was stepping down from my management position at work. I was going to be working 32 hours a week and I could have done it with my seven classes at school, but those two things would have taken up all my life and I would have had to sacrifice so many other things just to do those two things. The moment I quit, I felt a huge burden lift and I felt like jumping around. Now I am workingn two days a week, about 15 hours and I am so excited for the change of pace. For the first time in my life, I actually have a fair amount of free time that I am planning on not filling up! Most of my evenings are free and some of my mornings as well!

The next thing on my list has been to get more sleep! I have been running on a state of exhaustion for far too long and it's nice to bring myself to a place of making sleep a priority and seeing how it is important to make my days more full of energy and not so much grumpiness! Along with sleep has been the plan to work out more frequently! I always make lofty goals for myself saying that I will go to the gym 5 days a week, etc and it lasts for about half a week. So this time around, I decided I would make it my goal to go once a week and that has been a wonderful starting place! Plus, then when I go more than once, it's even better!

Another thing that had taken the backburner was my relationship with God which was cause for my focus being completely off and me getting sucked into myself and into a bit of a depression back in December. How easy it is for me to take my eyes off of God and onto my own life, looking at everything through the narrow lens of how it affects me. But there's so much more! I have been thinking about a lot of my habits of late as well. Usually when I come home, I bring all my stuff upstairs and check my email right away, no matter what. Not for any particular reason, but simply because it is what I have done for so long. So I have been thinking that I need to change that habit, to perhaps spending time with God the moment I get home. As I have been changing this slowly and surely, it is amazing how much of a difference it will make in my day!

I have also been shifting my mindset in school. I put far too much emphasis on my marks,w hen thirty years down the road, it won't matter all that much (unless I fail I guess!). So, I have been trying to shift my focus to learning and getting as much out of my classes as I can, because that needs to be my ultimate goal.

So that's a bit of what I have been thinking of lately and working through. More thoughts and pictures to come!

impulsive

My mom was doing my hair this morning and we were talking about all the places we'd like to go. So afterwards we decided to check it out online. After looking, getting excited, we were incredibly impulsive and booked a 10 day cruise to the Cook Islands in the South Pacific!! So in August I will be in Bora Bora and Tahiti!! Yippee!!

In other contrasting news, still lots of snow here and school is going well! I am really looking forward to all my classes this semester-looks like a good mix that I have! Speaking of school I should head out. More later!

Fun Pictures

My Oma and Opa ont he 50th wedding anniversary.

I was looking through some older family pics and ran across these ones! Yesterday would have been my Opa's birthday and on the 10th my Oma's birthday. They were full of life and I laugh at the memory of the times we had with them! (and i laugh at the pants i was wearing with the vest!)

Opa would always load all his grandkids into his tractor shovel! Lots of fun!!

For My Dad

It's crazy to think that tomorrow it will have been four years since my dad died. I have been thinking about him a lot lately with Christmas, the anniversarry of his death and his upcoming birthday and just thought I'd write a few thoughts and memories down.

At my grad in 2002


Whenever it snows, I think of when we were little. My dad would always tie a rope to the back of his truck and pull us on the tobaggan. Probably wasn't the safest thing downhill, but it was always our favorite thing to do when it snowed!

Bedtime Stories

Two or three times a year we used to drive down to Palm Springs. In the pool there and at home, we would always see how many of us could pile on top of my dad to make a tower. I think one time there were three of us total! We would always beg him to throw us in the air off of his shoulders as well.

My dad left a legacy in many different ways. In starting numerous building projects all around Abbotsford and Vancouver, in his generous lifestyle as he freely gave to those. I am thankful for the times that he and I had together, especially in the year and a half before he died. There were long and meaningful talks as well as sharing and I am so thankful I got that before he died. Some days I miss him like crazy and there are still times when I want to call him and tell him some exciting news. I am excited for the day I get to see him and Leon again and until then, they will live on in my heart!

Thank you Lord for my dad and that I was blessed to have him as a father for the time that I did. Although life was not always perfect, I am thankful for the good and bad times, because they brought me closer to you and helped me to understand life more.

Barbados!!

I didn't take these pictures but I will be taking some just as nice when I go to Barbados at the end of February!!! I am so excited! My friend Lindie is down there for three months and I decided I would go and visit her during my reading break! So end of February off to Barbados I go for a week!! EEEEEE!!! so excited!

In other just as exciting news, school starts tomorrow!! Yippee! Actually I'm kind of excited to get back into the swing of things and be able to organize my time and such. Work's a bit crazy of late, but I'm hoping to hire someone else to take some of the stress off! Happy back to school!!

Home Again

Well, I arrived home today after my four day getaway which was fantastic! We went to a little town called Union to a place called Alderbrook Inn Resort. I went with my cousin/friend/"sister" Desiree and from the moment we arrived, we were blown away at how incredible nice and beautiful everything was! Our first night we drove to town, bought some pizza, some groceries and then returned to our hotel room to watch a movie and then we went swimming and for a walk outside around the dock! The whole resort was still decked out with all their Christmas decorations and it was beautiful!

During the days, we relaxed, read, watched movies, ate (spooning the cheese and drinking wine was quite fun!) All in all it was a great time of relaxation, fellowship and fun. Last night we went to a fancy little restaurant down the road called Robin Hood Restaurant and Pub. It was really cute and we ended up staying there for three hours! We made friends with the people sitting at two different tables around us! haha! Great to be able to just join into other people's conversations! :)

Now I am back home and exhausted which is weird because I have had more sleep in the last few days than before! if you want to see more pictures, you will have to go look at my photo blog (link on the right hand side) and i will perhaps write more in depth when i'm not wanting to go to bed!

Family Gatherings and Christmas Parties

It's been a long time coming but here are some pictures from some of my family gatherings at Christmas as well as the Christmas party with some friends who were all in the same small group. Oh and Happy New Year by the way! had a games night/party at my house last night and it was a lot of fun. Now I have to go pack as I am going away for four days to Washington. I'm staying at a place on the ocean and am looking forward to it! So enjoy these pics and I will have more when I return!!

surprise!

My brother Lucas told us that we would get our Christmas presents on the 27th! So this morning a helicopter landed in the backyard and we got to go for a ride! So we went for an hour helicopter ride! Went out to Harrison, around the area and back and it was amazing! Really great to get that perspective! And the mountains were stunning! I took tons of pictures but just posted a few, including a great aerial pic of my house! Enjoy!

the perfect birthday!

So today (or technically yesterday now) was my birthday and I have to say that I think it is one of the best ones I have ever had! It started with my friend Carrie waking me up at 6:30am and taking me to mill lake with some coffee and timbits so that we could watch the sunrise! What a wonderful idea! Something I totally love and I felt so special that my friends would think of doing that for me (sandy would have come to, but she worked instead of me having to work!) Even though it rained afterwards, the sunrise was amazing. We never actually saw the sun, but we saw the intensity of bright orange and pink in the clouds surrounding the crisp mountains that were laden with fresh snow. so beautiful! God's creation is amazing! This morning I was so thankful that I could spend the morning surrounded by God's beautiful creation.

Then we came home and Lucas, Chad and Bobbi and my mom had waffles for breakfast! Then I headed to church where I sang in all three Christmas Eve services. It was fun to sing in all them (although my voice is totally shot) and just great to be reminded once again of the wonder of Christmas and the intensity of God's love for me. After church we were off to the Keg where my friends, family and I enjoyed a fantastic steak dinner! Then we went home for birthday cake and played the new game 'Apples to Apples' that brooke got me! And then Jocelyn, Dave and I watched Serendipity.

So all in all it was a fantastic day! Really special, because normally my birthday is just meshed together with Christmas and it's not that big of a deal, but this year it was really special and I am so thankful to my family and friends whom I love dearly! So thank you all for making the day so special from phone calls to cards or gifts or even just a hug!!

grace

"Because you say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.' and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see." -Revelation 3:17-18

I have been struck anew with the wonder of His grace. How little I understand it. So often I deceive myself, thinking that indeed I do have all the resources that it takes while in reality I am completely wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked! I keep trying to bank in on what I can do and what I have done, when I simply need to come to Christ who has already done it. I just need to receive that gift of grace and love. I need to cast aside my efforts and all that I think I need to strive for and receive. Good reminders!

In other news, I bought a heater for my fish tank to warm up the water for them (I think that's why they were dying) and it's my birthday tomorrow! woohoo!! Merry Christmas everybody!

update

I should be in bed since it's 11:30 pm and i have to get up for work in about five hours! But I just finished cleaning my fish tank and realized that all of you might want to know how my fish are doing. Hmm... well, most are dead. very sad. actually it was pretty tragic watching it all. The only ones still alive are Ndizi (but i think she will die this week, because she just sits at the bottom of the tank in agony), Ferguson and Santorini. I think I will buy some more fish this week (I know you're all thinking i should not, because i will kill them, but i'll be better this time!) So be sure to be thinking of some good fish names and i will have another competition and be faster on posting the results! Oh, and Kristal, can you email me your address so that I can mail you your prize? (sorry it's taken so long!)

In other news, I went to a murder mystery tonight and it was fantastic. Lots of fun. I think our group was the best! haha.. I am however quite biased. It was fun trying to figure out how to trick everyone, etc.

This week is a bit crazy because I work for like eight days straight. But at least I get Christmas day off! (cuz we're closed...) more updates later plus pictures...

Stormy

Presently I feel a bit scatterbrained. I have written five finals now and only have one more left! (which I should be studying for perhaps, but I have decided to do every other possible alternative). I can not believe that it is already mid December! I am excited for tomorrow around 10am when I shall be free from school obligations! (at least for a couple of weeks..)

I still feel restless and it's driving me crazy! Tonight I think I shall delay studying further and go look at Christmas lights! I have enjoyed this semester but am SO excited for it to be over!!

The Holiday

I went to see the new movie 'The Holiday' tonight with Sandy and really enjoyed it! It was a good Christmas movie and made you feel warm and fuzzy (not that you want your insides to be fuzzy...) And since I like to apply movies to my life and overanalyze them I did so on this one and it got me thinking. Obviously I wont' say too much because I don't want to ruin the movie! But it just made me think about emotion and having blocked it and then coming to a point where it can be released and there can be freedom to express it. That's all for now!

YAY!

Yesterday was the last day of classes!! This is a good and bad thing. Good because classes are over and bad because that means I have exams! In the next eight days I have six finals! Tomorrow and Saturday are my hardest with the least time to study but at least they will be done with! Then next week I have four in a row! I'm feeling fairly good about three of them for next week!

So one more week until I can fully enjoy Christmas holidays! Then I will probably have absolutely nothing to do and wish I had school work! haha... Tonight is my brother's company Christmas party so I'm lookin gforward to that and lots of other fun stuff happening in the future! After saturday i'm sure will post more and have pictures too!

something missing

Recently I have taken note of how I seem to have lost my passion and zeal for the things I believed strong about. It seems that ever since Leon and my dad died, I have simply let things trample me over and I throw out my opinion every once in a while, but I have let myself come to a place of simply floating through life. I am still attempting before God to live my life to the fullest, but I have lost my times of deep ponderings and mulling before the Lord. There's much more to be said here, but I shall leave it at that just to put the surface of my thoughts out there. I need to return to that place once again.

On a completely different note, was back at school on Wednesday. We are still surrounded by snow-an odd occurance here in the Fraser Valley to be sure. And now the weekend begins!! I get to light the advent candle in church on saturday night. I am excited but in the back of my mind I have an image of me falling and burning the church down... Not really a fear I have, just a side thought in my mind for some reason.. haha..

And now the topics of this post could perhaps be covered in an upcoming post when it is not 2am and i have more clarity of thought!