Christ is alive!

So here I am sitting in a nice warm house after a fun day of shopping and a nice jog. Man I’m blessed, God has been so good to me especially during the Christmas season. It’s the big Guy’s birthday and He is busy blessing me that is how cool He really is.

I stayed at the Langdale’s for a couple days, what a blast! We went and got a real tree from a farm and decorated it, went to Krissa’s to build gingerbread houses (one of the best ways to start Christmas) studied at Tim Hortons dressed as superheroes, had many good meals, and just had a fun time hanging out.



After I stayed at Lindsay’s for a few days I went to Krissa’s were other TREAD students came to do some fun baking. After all the fun I had with friends I headed to my Aunt and Uncles in Parksville. It’s been fun staying with them. My cousins came over and we had a lot of fun shopping and watching movies. I have also gone for many jogs. I have been jogging down to the beach and admiring the view. The first jog I took down to the beach was funny I thought I saw “sharks” which ended up being waves over a sandbar. I had been watching for at least ten minutes before I realized this, ooops, o well. There was also the most amazing rainbow the other day. It lighted up the sky and the mountains on the other side; once it disappeared the mountains were dark again, so neat.

I am looking forward to the next few days of the break.

Matthew 28: 5The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.

Guess what...

Guess what!? Christmas is tomorrow! I thought I would fill all of you in on that, just in case you didn't know. After all things like that slip my mind all, all, all the time!

What was I saying? Ummm....

Just kidding, I remember. So yeah, I hope that you all are enjoying Christmas break and time at home with your families. I know that I'm loving being at home with mine. They are so great. Mom even made a special dinner for me last night, Crab Fettuccini Alfredo! Mmmmm, good. So Merry Christmas, and if I'm not on here before I head off to Prairie for Intersession in January, Happy New Year!

"I'll be home for Christmas..."

Yay! I'm at home now; Christmas break has officially begun. I slept in until 11, which was a drastic change compared to my usual 7:30 mornings. My day is feeling super short compared to most. I can hardly believe that it's dark already. Although it is Christmas break, I have basically only done homework today. Lindsay and I are working together on an OT assignment of creating a song, and my part of the deal is to write the music. Ahhh! Let's just say that it isn't going as well as I had hoped.
Anywho, its so good to be home and to sleep in my own bed. I'll write more later. :)

This Week

Maybe some lines from some songs will help to explain this week:
"...through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace..."Steven C. Chapman
"let this moment be, You instead of me...I've counted the cost, and I know, that everything tat really matters, is everything worth fighting for..."Jonah 33
Each day this week was interesting and I kind of felt like I was doing phycoanalysis on myself, thinking about why I do what I do, etc. God's been teaching me a ton about love, and what that loks like lived out. I've been encourage by those who have shown real love for me this week, and am learning to trust that.
Like when I was trying to do front flips at the pool, I've been frusterated this week when my will/emotions/facts/desires don't all line up. I really wanted try and do a flip, even if it hurt, but many times I'd end up just jumping off. This week in life God's helped me flip. When it come to love, often I could end up just jumping off, like doing the bear minimum, which wouldn't realy be love. I'm amazed that God loves me, soooo much more than I deserve, and that he gave up his life for me. "Great love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." John 15:13
I did succesfully do some front flips!! :) Jeff and Jade's words "all or nothing" as I was standing on the edge, are still ringing in my ears.
Monday was great homework day, lots of fun (yes english can be fun) writting essay stuff with Jade, and playing foot ball/snow. Jade and I concocted a delicious dinner at Jeff's which made me smile. I don't know how many succesful dishes it will take before I stop being afraid of makeing a terrible tasting meal.
Tuesday was a good school day, and a good time at my mom's for dinner with the regular crew and some family friends. I was encourged a D-team yet again to see the girls in my group really connecting and talking with each other.
Wednesday I got to hang out with Taylor, a grade seven girl quite a bit. It was neat to just hang out and go shopping with her. I was impressed with how well Richard did with the YU lesson, giving real personal examples of what he has been ambitious about in the past and how it hasn't satisfied.
We went to Victoria as a Tread crew this weekend, which was good "out of the ordinary". I got to visit with my dad (he gave us a tour/explaantion of his work, which was neat for the tread crew to see, and he really enjoyed explainning things.) I actually kind of felt comfortable and relaly glad to be visiting with him, drinking "beacoup de pulpe" oragne juice and sitting on his lap.
Sunday I enjoyed "running away" after Bowser church, and just having an AWAL afternoon by myself.
I'm almost scared/ excited for what this week will bring, as it realy does seem that life is an on going adventure. Thankfully, God's with me.

Last Logbook before Christmas break!

Hey all! This week has been one that I would classify as a Captain Insane-o Week. Cramming before Christmas break, long chats with friends and family, late nights, early mornings, a weekend in Victoria. All of them have been good in their own way, and all of them have been bad in certain ways too. Assignments for school went fairly well this week. Thursday wasn't the most productive day I've ever had, but it was partly due to other unforeseen circumstance. James has been pretty gracious to us in the assignments that we have to give him and that has been a great help as we work to get the Old Testament and English stuff done.
Our weekend in Victoria was a hoot! We had no schedule to keep (with the exception of dinner at 6:30 on Friday night), so we roamed around and did as we pleased. Shopping, sight seeing, visiting, playing games, hanging out, swimming, and having a ton of fun were all part of a great weekend. I managed to get one Christmas present. You would think I would have taken advantage of the fact that I was in Victoria and I had hours of shopping on my hands, but no. Oh well, it isn’t too drastic. J
Here are some more pictures of our fun adventures…

Linds and I with some sweet hats on!

Karen, eating her fantastic meal with two forks (she didn't even realize until she was almost done)!

I am alive in this moment

This week has been quite the week. To say the less, my week started off pretty bad. I was very stressed and tired. I found it hard to concentrate on my homework and all I wanted to do was sleep. I also felt a little lightheaded as well. I thank God that He helped me get through until the weekend.

When the weekend arrived we went down to Victoria. It was great; we all needed a break. Jeff drove us TREAD students up and Brian and Susan went up in a separate vehicle. On the way we stopped at my favorite place to eat, McDonalds.

When we arrived at the Hotel we found out that our rooms weren’t ready so Jeff drove us around and showed us were he used to live. It was quite neat, I personally wouldn’t be able to live there because it was to busy, but a few days there was great.
Later in the afternoon we went shopping, ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory, went swimming and walked on a rocky beach. We slept in, in the morning. I had a great breakfast of fruitloops. We left the hotel at 11:00 and went to a music store. We were all very hungry after we had been at the music shop so we went to a Chinese restaurant. After we had eaten we did some more shopping and then went swimming. On the way home we stopped at Tim Hortons.

Now it is Sunday and I am feeling a lot better. I am not as tired and I am busy working on my homework. Funny how just a few days of relaxation can bring me back to my old self. I thank God for time that we can spend relaxing.

Anyway that is all I have to say. It’s back to another week of homework of whish is calling my name and I must attended to it.

Me and Lindsay trying on sweet costumes at Value Village!

Snow and Storm

I guess this week has beenrather unusal with the snow, slowing things down, but I haven't thought about the un-typicalness of it much, as I hardly know what to define as typical. Tuesday d-team went well, but I missed breaking into our small groups. Wednesday youth group was low-key due to the heavy snow fall (it snowed like crazy while we were inside, and we pulled some great team work pushing to get the cars around). One of the highlights of the week was sledding on wednesday afternoon. Trains of sleds, and bush bumbling, and snow in the face all mixed with lots of smile.

Thrusday, with school canceled us girls enjoyed haning out, and doing a winners run. We've taken time to talk just the three of us "top bunk times" which was good.

Friday we clarified our English assignments and I was surprised at how excited I get about writting. I could hardly contain myself I was so excited about the different ideas I had, and just being able to write stuff.

A highlight of the weekend was getting to hang out with Katie and Erica after focus, and then playing catch phrase with the tread crew at Jeff's. We also (finally) watched the "classic" Matirx which was laden with interesting ideas and analogies.

Sunday, I was encouraged to speak with people at Wildwood church in Bowser and have hem genuinely interested in how I'm doing. one lady specifically said she's been praying for me, which I am greatly encouraged by.

This week I've greatly benefited from some long and honest talke with Sonya and Jen. I appreciate thier listening, love and advice. Where would I be without you?

Today Jade and I worked on English essay which was alot of fun (yes..english can be fun!) We melded ideas and made sentences and got wet (me really wet) tossing the football,a dn then had fun making dinner with Jeff.

One thought that's be reoccuring this week is "God, what are you doing?" He hasn't answered with a three step plan, but remeinded me to trust in Him. I've been afraid this week, but comfroted by His love, and that He is a good Heavenly Father.

"Here on the storm, I am learning to let go

of the will that I so long to control.

There may I be in your arms eternally,

I thank you Lord, you are the calmer of the storm."

-Downhere

;)

So this week was a good week, but all the snow and bad whether has been so GREAT! You thought I was going to complain, but I am not. Snow ball fights, sledding down ice roads and sand pills, tackling, snow angles, running, jumping, and yes even cartwheels are all fun when it comes to lots of snow. God blessed us with snow and I am glad that I could take advantage of it while it is hear. The snow is slowly melting and so is our snow man.

The snow also contributed to the fun time we had at Focus this week. After Bob Verret (the quest speaker) had finished his first talk; we went outside and had a good snowball fight and tackling time. There was also hot chocolate, but I was having too much fun to go and have some

Tonight I will be heading to College and Careers. We are having roast beef. I have realized how blessed I was with meat growing up. Everyone is so excited about the roast beef dinner. Since my dad owns a butcher shop I used to get roast beef all the time. I am starting to realize how blessed I was to always have meat and that my dad worked and still works so hard to keep the butcher shop running. Last week the back of the butcher shop caught on fire, luckily my sister was heading off to school when she saw an irregular amount of smoke coming out of the butcher shop. She was about to just leave, but she thought she would go check it out, I thank God she did. If she would have left there would have been no doubt that the shop would’ve burnt down because my mom was in the house and my brother was asleep. God works in the most amazing ways. I am thankful that the fire was discovered when it was. To bless our family even more; the Mennonites also came over to help my family clean up the mess. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness and good neighbors.

I have to go now because I have homework that needs to get done. The next two weeks are going to be very busy especially with homework.
"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” –Isaiah 1: 18

Logbook-12

Throughout this week a lot has happened and most of it I am still trying to work out in my head.
School is going well, but things are hard as we are starting to come down to the final days of the first semester and it's crunch time. It seems that there is always something else that needs to be done, one more assignment to hand in and another essay to write. Fortunately, God has blessed me with a really great team of people who want to help me succeed; without them I would never be able to survive.

(Just a small portion of my 'support' group)

Even though there has been a lot going on this week, I have been encouraged by a lot of different people. When I look at my small group girls I see them working hard at their schooling and their diligence helps me to press on. When I see Brian and Susan and how much they love God and love people, I am reminded that I need to love others too. When I listen to a lecture by Dr. Bowler I see God using this man to share His wisdom with us. Everything I do and see is part of God’s plan, part of His creation, and part of His love. It’s a beautiful thing to know a little of how much God loves us and how He is working everything out for our good.

Down Days an Fridges

...not to give the impression that I've had a lot of rough days, there have actualy been some great ones..but regardless..here are some thoughts....

Sometime I just feel blue
Like when I open up the fridge
And see nothing appetizing
Though it’s laden good stuff
I’m hungry

When was the last time I slurped soup
Or let yogurt melt in my mouth
Is there ever any thing delicious?

Remember there are people who eat rice
Each time the sun awakes
And either make a feast of what I have
Or declare and impromptu fast

Regardless, may I praise Him
Each time the fridge depresses me

It won’t always look this bleak
The fridge
And life