Soap and Snow

Here are some pictures of the much loved soap we bought!! yay for getting good deals! Today Lindie and I went for a nice little walk and took some fun pictures as you can see below. Then we shoveled off a balcony (we've been having roof caving in leaking problems of late), but my brother had taken the shovel to the barn, so lindie and i used plates instead. A little more time consuming, but it was enjoyable as we laughed at the fact that we were using plates to "shovel" off the balcony.. A few times I almost threw the plates off the balcony!! haha!! Enjoy the pictures!

The Struggle to buy Soap...

My friend Lindie and I have started a yearly tradition of going down to the States right after Thanksgiving in order to get the amazing sales they have! So she flew out from Calgary to go shopping (maybe she came to see me too!) We like buying soap and lotion at bath and body works. Not that big of a deal.. except yesterday it started snowing lots here and today it continued.

So here we were determined Canadians going into the States surounded by an onslaught of people desperately trying to get home before the weather got worse. We were innocently on a trek to buy some soap! The border guy thought lindie was a bit crazy for coming all the way from calgary to go shopping at bellis fair, but he was right, we are crazy!! haha!!

So we arrived after quite a long trek (mostly because drivers in the snow here go 10km/hr. I guess visibility was horrible and you couldn't see anything either, but that's a side note..

We wandered around the mall after buying our soaps (5 for 10 dollars-steal of a deal!!). And by soap I mean not the bars but rather the nice bottles.. We bought some other stuff from all the 50% off sales and listened to all the people worried about the weather conditions and how long it would take for them to get to their homes which were fairly close.

So after some nice shopping and a good lunch we decided it was time to go. I think it was about five at this point and i had five people call me asking me where i was and telling me not to drive down to the states cuz the roads were bad (too bad i was already there). So we started driving and it was good....

until we turned onto the wrong road (which wasn't properly plowed) and the bottom of my car kept hitting the snow like crazy until finally we got stuck. So here we were in the states in the middle of nowhere in farm country stuck on double ditch road (comforting name for a road to be on when surrounded by over a foot of snow..)

so after a while of me freezing and pushing the car while lindie gunned it, we were no further than before... then two nice young fellas came and were like "where ya going?" anyway, they said "well, go whatever way you want and we'll push you there" so they gave us a little push and on we went back to the main road.

so we made it back after a trip and i had to get out and push the car up a few hills on the way to my house which only added to the excitement (and the wet pants, shoes and socks).

But we are home and have lots and lots of soap!!

And school is cancelled for tomorrow so this story couldn't have ended on a better note!

Hmmm...

1. Throughout my days I have moments of inspiration where I think "Hey! I should blog that!" Then my brain cells mush and I forget.

2. I went to the Canucks game on sunday-we won!! and I got on the big screen!! I have been waiting for years to be on that thing! Our whole section was all into getting on the tv, so we were all screaming and pretty excited when it did happen (I only had to stand up and dance a few times...)

3. Three of my fish got flushed yesterday.. It was a very sad moment and I don't really want to talk about it. it makes me sad to think of them... I came home and two were wrapped around the filter and the other was stuck immobile in the plant.. The poor unfortunate fish were Fergie Jr., Maximillion and Montgomery Millington Kristin III.

4. I have been on a homework rampage this evening. However my hours of work have not amounted to a high number of things being done, but I have completed significant things (or so I keep telling myself)

5. The sky has been beautiful of late.. especially on the horizon mixed in with the dark storm clouds

6. I am going to go back to my bed to read about the Union of Upper and Lower Canada (sorry to make you all jealous!)

when i gaze out the window...

Every time I look outside or am outside I am baffled and blown away at the incredible beauty of God and His greatness. Wow. The fall here has been beautiful. Here are a few of the shots I took from my balcony the other night (before the torrential rains...)
















As I mentioned earlier, we have had a lot of rain lately. There was a fairly big storm here on Wednesday and it was crazy. Being outside with the wind and the rain was intense but reminded me once again of the incredible power of God. The power at our house was out for over 24 hours as well the power at school was out for a couple days so no school for two days. Amazing how much we depend on power. It was good for me, because it made me stop which is always a good place to be.

Work is good. I have been settling into my new position as front desk manager and loving it. I have had to pick up a fair amount of shifts so I have been working a lot plus school, but I do enjoy it. I am suffering from a slight sleep deprivation after a week of four to five hours of sleep every night, but I think I am almost recovered!

Lately I feel as though I have simply been stuffing my brain with so much information that it now only functions properly in the academic realm. If it is school related, then I will stuff it more. However, if it is everyday social interactions, my brain will not even form proper sentences for me and will draw a blank the moment anyone asks me any question. I wonder what the result of this is.. Perhaps my brain is on overload (is that possible?) or I am mentally shutting my brain off to function in some of my day to day activities.

There is a buy one fish, get two free sale this weekend and I would like to buy more fish, because.. well why not! Then I realize I have not cleaned my tank for some time and fail to properly care for the ones i have presently, so I feel bad at the prospect of getting more fish... we will see what the result of the weekend will be.

As everything in life seems to fall better into place and retain order, I feel this sadness that I cannot explain. I have been trying to figure some stuff out with God of late and sorting through some nasty ungodly beliefs I have about Him that are infiltrating every area of my life. He is faithful through it all.

This is long. I have a day off tomorrow and am very excited for it! Haven't had a day with no school and no work in a long time! Yippee! I shall be busy the entire day and do no schoolwork and then feel bad at the end of it for not having done anything (but I'm sure the feeling will pass... )

Proud to be Canadian

So tonight I went to the Canucks game which was great fun (even though they lost...) But there's always next game! So anyway, it being rememberance day they had a special little video and then the veterans were on the ice while the anthem was being sung. After the first line, the guy singing took his mike and stretched it out around the arena and what you could hear was the chorus of everyone in the building singing together. While singing together with my fellow Canadians and watching a video on Canada, I had the strongest overwhelming sense of gratitude. What an amazing country I live in. How often I forget it and take it for granted. We've been talking about the Canadian identity as well in history which has encouraged this thinking in my mind about what exactly it means to be Canadian and I am thankful that I am part of that identity. So yay for being Canadian! Thank-you Lord for creating such a beautiful country that reflects your glory in so many ways!

rain!

"So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth." -Hosea 6:3

God is continually going forth (dawn is happening all the time) and lately as it's been pouring rain here, I have been reminded of God's refreshing presence in my life. I just want to be drenched in the rain as I want to be drenched in His presence and rest in Him. What a wonderful place to be! All these different burdens from the day keep coming as I talk with people and just go through life, but I can give them to God and He will carry me. What an amazing promise!

I am tired (but unable to presently go to sleep!) I'm working at 5:30 am tomorrow again (in about six hours...) and then off to school and then back to work again until 5pm! so that will be a good nine hour day with a bit of school in the mix! And then studying for three midterms in the evening! Wow. Lots going on, but once again, God is my sustainer and my rock and I can rest completely in Him and trust Him with everything. I need to remind myself of this ALL the time!

drawing from His strength

This weekend has been busy and full, and for numerous reasons I have become frustrated, overwhelmed and exhausted! As I look ahead this week I'm working a lot and Wednesday I have three midterms and a group project (that i hopes comes together...) and so I am just super excited for Wednesday to be over! And then I will have completed my 11 midterms! Hoorah!

But ya, if you think of me, pray for me, that I would just draw my strength from the Lord and depend on Him in all things for He is my strength and my rock and my refuge in all situations.

And now I am off to church for the Couch (a woman's ministry) and then I get to work at 5:30am tomorrow for two hours before I head to school! Fun! Hope everyone had a good weekend!

My fish have names!!!

Firstly, huge apologies for taking so long on the fish names!! Things have been kind of hectic and I wanted to properly take pictures of my fish and really look at all the names. Thank you everyone for your input! I really enjoyed all the creativity that went into it! And Amy, I really did enjoy yours, but somehow I didn't really want to name my living fish after dead ones I would eat (might become a self-fulfilling prophesy or something!) Sorry the pictures are a little blurry, they wouldn't sit still for the photo! One actually died nameless.. so sad. But there are two in the tank that are previously named: Grover (the deceased Oscar's younger brother) and Ugfi (stands for Ugly Fish, cuz i thought he was kind of ugly..) And here are the rest of the names, the winner will be announced at the bottom!















Since I only got a group shot for this one, it is the little orange and white one just above the archway. And his name is Fergie Jr.















This is Ndizi















Santorini















Ferguson















Maximillion















Rembrandt














Montgomery Millington Kristin III

And the winner is: Kristal!!

Thanks everyone for all your contributions! I will hopefully be busying some more fish soon so there can be a party in the tank, so stay tuned for another competition (and i will name them sooner this time!)

Bye! Hope you enjoy all the new posts below this as well!

Pictures of Fall

Halloween Fun!

I dont' really care too much to do much for Halloween, but was super excited to be able to spend the day with cousin Desiree! We baked jam filled cookies, which turned out amazingly!! Even though we always put more than average jam amounts inside (tastes better that way...) We didn't have any eggs for the icing, so we walked to the barn, waited for the chickens to lay one and then came back (okay so there was a flat of eggs waiting for us, but my first story is better). Then we went to Red Robin's for dinner and came back to the house for a bit. All in all a wonderful day!!

Birthday Party Fun!

So, on Saturday my friend Sandy was hired to plan a birthday party for a 12 year old girl (she's an event planner). So, I got hired to help drive! We rented four vehicles, piled 35 kids in and drove to Vancouver where we all went for dinner to the macaroni grill and then we went to granville island theatre sports afterwards. it was tons of fun and great to hang out with friends while "working". Interesting as well to see 12 year olds and to hear a lot of their thoughts and the things they talk about. mostly shocking actually. I had a van with six boys!! It was fun times and I was close to being deaf near the end after all the yelling! But as i hope you can see with the pics, it was fun times all around!!

promotion

Sorry for my lack of posting. I have lots of pictures I'm eager to post! I'm just waiting for some free time to be able to do it actually! This past weekend was great! I will tell you more about it when I have the pictures to go along with it.

I just got promoted at work! I am now the new front desk manager-hooray for me! this means that i won't have much more free time, but i'm so excited for this job!

The moon is amazing tonight in the sky as dusk takes over the sky turning into a plethera of different blues. As I'm driving I continually see the amazing fall colors as well as the mountains taht are newly laden with snow and I am in awe. What a wonderful God we have!! Praise Him!

fall

Our fall has been absolutely beautiful here this year! For the most part, the weather has been amazing! Thank you Lord! I would like to say that midterm time is done, but alas, I have about ten midterms that extend throughout the whole semester, averaging one or two a week!

Fall is about death... All the leaves falling off the trees is a cycle of the leaves dying and falling to the ground. I've been thinking a lot lately of my own life and where there exists some leaves that I need to let die and fall to the ground. What are my priorities? What are the things in my life right now that are making me stale as a Christian? Where am I spending my time? What am I investing in? So just a thought of thinking through the things in my life that I need to let go of and let die in order for there to be room for new life to come. And I'm looking forward to it!

right on

the weekend has come and gone and another week of school is here. only one midterm this week, so not so bad, but i really hope i get a chance to study beforehand (rather than simply the night before...)

last night i was feeling really discouraged and lots of other stuff was going on, but i was reminded again that in everything, it doesn't really matter what mark i got on something, or if i didn't have everything absolutely perfect. I need to keep my focus on Christ and have an eternal perspective. Yes, it means I still should try and put my best effort into it, but that's my part, and I give it over to God for His glory. And He's going to use it and I can trust that. I often put my standards incredibly high and so it's hard for me to attain them and i feel like a failure if I don't. But I am learning over and over and over again that I need to do all unto the glory of God and from there on in, the results don't matter, it's my heart attitude in the whole process that matters. good reminders.

I went golfing again on friday and beat my previous score by two (yay!). I have taken up swimming in our beautiful fall weather. Our pool is still open for some strange reason and it's about 90 degrees F and fabulous! I could spend hours in there. You just have to make sure you fish out all the caterpillars first!

Tonight I said I was going to go to bed by ten. It is almost midnight. Perhaps i'm living in a different time zone that's two hours behind us?

yay for midterms!

The midterm insanity has begun! I counted today and I have eleven midterms total. This means fun times for me! I have two tomorrow morning, both back on back, same classroom, same subject, just different information. Perhaps I should have studied earlier? Now it is almost midnight and I think I should go to bed. Besides, the memory chapter tells me studying and then sleeping is the best way to retain information! haha.. helps if you studied more i guess. i went swimming today instead of studying and it was nice and well worth it. then i drove my mom to the airport to pick up her vehicle and when I arrived back home I was locked out of the house. That was my time of productivity! YAY! Well i'll keep you all updated on how the midterms go. :) Fun fun fun til her daddy takes her t-bird away awoooo!