A week gone by...

I have been being haunted by a stinking cold all week and am trying so hard to get rid of it, but it just seems to be sneaking up to kill me. So I’ve officially decided that I will have to take a one week vacation in which whatever homework I should have gotten done is now cancelled. However, I’m not sure how I’m going to convince James and Dr. E. of this one. Maybe they will have pity upon my poor soul.

The major event of this week was definitely the 30 Hour Famine at Courtenay Middle School. As Karen said, we did the Gym Blast, which she did a super job of getting everything all set up (Nice job Karen, it rocked!) and making sure it all ran smoothly. Because of this cranky cold that I have, I was super tired by about 10:00 and thankfully, was able to go take a sleep in the van for a while. Without those random resting periods throughout the night I would have been dead by about 11:00 for sure! There sure were a lot of things to do and I think that the kids really had a good time. One thing I was disappointed in was the fact that nothing was really stressed about what the Famine is all about. It sort of seemed like the actual Famine time was just a great big party, with no thought going to why these kids were doing what they were doing. That was sad to see, but I hope that next year they will do more things to recognize what the Famine really is about.

This week was also our last week of classes. It was really strange sitting in class and knowing that it would be the last time that I would be sitting in a Tread class. Because I have decided to move on to Prairie next year, I wont be back in Tread next year. It’s been hard knowing that these are the last few days here with my roomies and hanging out with these people that I’ve been sharing the last year of my life with. Fortunately I’ll be around all summer and can keep growing those friendships with these people, but it will still be hard. I must say that this last year has been amazing, even with all its difficult times. There has been so much cool stuff that I have learned!
See ya again next week! :D

From craziness to peacefullness

Last night, I got to hang out with my friend Elsah and we had a sweet time just laughing and chatting. I was super tired and my brain was almost dead from all the homework I had been doing, but we still had a great time! Sometimes exhaustion really adds a great twist to humour. We laughed so hard and for such a long time too. I think my stomach is going to die if I laugh that hard again today!

Homework seriously seems to dominate my life right now. 24/7 it seems to be eating up all my time. But hey, what do you do when you’ve only got one month of school left and are trying to finish (or maybe even start and finish) up your projects for the end of the year, study for exams and write papers? I started studying for my final exams now because I know that if I don’t put time into that now, I’ll freak myself out cramming later. And I’ve discovered freaking out never really helps me ;).

For our Intercultural Studies class James had us write a Surviving Your First Year of Tread Guide. I really enjoyed putting it together and even found it hard to stay close to the 1800 word margin. I was sure to put plenty of pictures in, as I’m a big time visual person and if there aren’t pictures in things, I have the hardest time reading it.

The beginning of this week was slightly stressful for me (as a few of you who will read this can attest to) and I was certain that I wouldn’t survive the week. I was totally exhausted, overcome by homework, thinking about school next year and a summer job, on top of a few other things as well. Fortunately my parents were able to give me some good advice and really encouraged me. What would I do without them? I certainly would have given up long ago if it wasn’t for them. I love you Mom and Dad! :D

So as this week draws to a close I am reminded again of the beauty of God’s Word and how wonderful it is to spend time with Him. Prioritize Him as number one in your life; there’s nothing better you can do!

The Interesting week of Tread (as compared to the Wonderful World of Disney)

Well actually, I'm not going to compare Tread to Disney, they are completely different, with the exception of course of us girls randomly dressing up in Princess dresses and all of us doing things that greatly resemble Goofy (okay, maybe it's only me who does that, but hey!).


So like Lindsay said, it's been an interesting week. There has been a lot that has gone on; some of it good and some of it bad.
Our trip to Victoria was really neat, I enjoyed checking out the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Cathedral too. Also like Lindsay said, the father/priest was very nice and answered all the questions we had, going even into the history of some of it. There was also a group of ladies down stairs making Paska (an Easter bread) and they let us watch and smell the deliciousness of it all (later they blessed us with a loaf of bread, which we later enjoyed as a group). Our time downtown, in the hotel, bowling, shopping etc. was great fun too! There is so much to see and do.
After returning on Wednesday, it was really strange to try and get back into my week. Everything seemed sort of turned upside down and I wondered if I would live through it. There were some frustrations and complications that arose this week, causing another spin to be put on my already racing top. By the grace of God I have survived and am excited to see what He has in store for me next week.

The realization of how quickly the end of Tread is coming scares me. To think that in a month I will be finished my first year of college! I bet you thought I couldn’t do it either (haha, jokes on you :P). Its exciting to see all that God has done, all that He has taught me. I'm so happy to have been part of all this, even if I did have to put up with sharing a room with Lindsay and Karen for almost a year ;) (don't worry I still love you guys).


Anywho, I’m off to do more homework and maybe get to bed before midnight tonight (I need that beauty sleep that the Disney princesses get ;) ).

An AWESOME week!

This week was amazing. God opened my eyes anew, showing me wonders I never expected. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and came and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity.” Jeremiah 29:11-14
I have been going through a lot of different struggles, trials and journeys in the past few months and they were really starting to depress me. I was tired of being sad, upset, and confused all the time. This week God did something wonderfully unexplainable inside of my heart. “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD; Oh Lord, hear my voice. Let you ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.” (Psalm 130 1-2) I had been crying out to the Lord, but never really looking for an answer. Like the last part of the passage in Jeremiah says “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” I wasn’t seeking with my whole heart, and I knew it. So I surrendered and allowed Him to be found, or you could say that I simply opened my eyes to find myself in the arms of my Father.

Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate. Psalm 111:2-4

At youth group this week Karen and Jeff started off a new session on the scroll that the Tread crew had created while at Prairie for Intersession. It was really neat to show the kids the scroll for the first time and to begin to open their eyes to God’s plan for missions throughout all of scripture. Karen and Jeff did a great job and I had fun listening to them talk about the thing that we had worked so hard on all together.

Also at youth group Lindsay and I did a make-up skit. It was great. Lindsay was my voice and my arms, putting my make-up on as I prepared for Underground Idol. Gosh, these pictures are funny and I really would have loved to be in the crowed watching the whole procedure, but experiencing it first hand was pretty fun too!

Another week...

This last week has been pretty wonderful. There were two great surprises this that I was able to enjoy: my sister and brother in-law coming for the weekend and Jade surprised the TREAD crew by coming for the weekend as well. It was a wonderful time catching up, playing games, visiting, watching movies, and driving into and back from town (not really sure why, but that seemed to be happening a lot, oh well :D).

Classes went really well this week, with us plenty of studying and such included. I’ve been getting into my classes a bit more lately and taking more out of them which has been really great!

On another topic (“Oh dear, how do I talk about anything other than school?”) I’ve have been thinking a ton about a thousand different things during the last week (my spaghetti brain is going crazy); anything from school next year, to work this summer, to “what in the world am I doing biting my nail! Ewww!” You can tell that things are a little random in my life (actually I think it might just be my thought life that is random, not my life in general). So working through (or ‘processing’) those thing has been difficult, but a good thing.

Karen has been “dragging” me to College & Careers with her on Sunday nights. I must admit that it’s a good thing that she takes me, even when I say that I don’t want to go. Not only has it been great for me, but I’m also starting to meet some more people who are out side of the TREAD circle (no offence you guys, but I do need to know other people my age).

And so here I am at the beginning of another week, looking forward to whatever God might have in store for me and contemplating dying my hair red… ; )

This week...

What a good, long week. It’s one of those weeks that seemed like it began a month ago and at the end of it all you are wondering how you lived through it. Haha!
For D-team on Tuesday, after our History class in the morning, we had great fun making avocado, coconut and chocolate chip masks on people. None of the D-teamers in my group wanted avocado smothered all over their faces so I volunteered. Somehow I got it up my nose and in my ears too, along with the avocado peal in my mouth and coconut in everything! It was great fun! (I'll put some pictures up later when I get them.)
On Wednesday Underground was a blast, as some of us were dressed up in clash. The thing was to wear cloths that you normally wear, but just stuff that doesn’t work well together. It was great fun indeed. Several people forgot all about it, but they really enjoyed laughing at the rest of us who were dressed up. Richard talked about building our “house” on the “rock” of Jesus and used wonderful visual examples of brick houses (made out of a single brick) on rocks and then on sand. Seeing the stable foundation of the rock compared to the shiftiness of the sand gave me a mental picture of where I want to “build” my “house.”

(Sonya, Richard, and Karen all love the clash!)

Friday morning brought clean-up/set-up for Focus and then a little bit of relaxing time in the afternoon before starting up the whole Focus weekend. Phil Cann (the Quest series guy) was here speaking to the group of us and he did a wonderful job. His sessions were on how we need to “sharpen our sword” which is the Word of God. And how if we don’t read God’s word, than we have nothing to “fight” Satan with. The Word is so important that if we neglect it, than we have neglected our life line. Of course we need to talk to God though prayer, but meditation on His word is so important too! Phil’s words were really impacting to me and it deeply encouraged me to spend more time in the Word.

(Randy, Jas, and Rebeka "playing" dodge-ball)

Some very excited news is that my friend Jill was here on Saturday. She is now a hard working Homewood Camp girl, who will be cooking up a storm in the kitchen there. I’m so happy that she’s only an hour away now instead of eight! Hopefully we’ll see a little more of each other now eh Jill?

(Jill would kill me if she knew that I had put this beautiful picture of her up here, but now she doesn't have high-speed, so I don't think I have to worry about her seeing it! :D)

Feeling mighty fine...

This week was crazy, good, sad, weird, upsetting, funky, and hilarious all at the same time.
At the beginning of the week I was stressed to the nines (not really sure where the nines is, but I was stressed to it). I had a presentation due the next day on St. Francis of Assisi (really cool guy) and was worried that I would be a complete failure in my presentation. As it turned out the whole thing went really well the next day and I was pleased that it turned out so well. Now to see how my Professor felt about it. ;)
Karen, Lindsay and I all had a wonderful V-day. After Underground we went to Dairy Queen for a "date" and enjoyed ice cream and taking pictures together! It was good for us to get out as the three of us and just have some good, old fun together. :)
I ended up being able to go home three times this week for visits. On Friday I got to go and have pizza (a Friday night Epp tradition) and watch a movie (while building a puzzle) with my brother. We had a great time together.
On Saturday I was able to go home (no one else was there) and play my piano for a few hours. It is amazing how much I actually miss that thing. I do have a key board here, but it's just not the same.
Throughout this whole week Lindsay, Karen and I have been taking advantage of the warm hot tub and enjoying a lot of great chats out there. My mom also bought us a book called Authentic Beauty, by Leslie Ludy, that we read one night while we were in there. So far the book has been great!
God has been so great to me lately. He has continued to show His love to me though other, through His Word, and through prayer. My conversation with my Father has been more constant lately and I can see the good affect that it has had upon me.

Blog-O-Rama

Here we go, I’m blogging! This has definitely been one of the most interesting weeks in a while. There have been some really high highs, and some really low lows. It’s funny how things work, eh?
Like the other girls have said we went to the Regional from Monday to Thursday. It was a great time away. I must admit to having a lot on my mind during the entire time, in fact I still do. That would be why this whole blog might be slightly incoherent.
Upon our return it was nice to have a weekend to rest up before getting back into the swing of things here. There is so much going on, that those three days of somewhat rest were wonderful. I have a big project coming up (I’m supposed to present it to the class tomorrow, ugg) that I’ve been working on and will be so thankful when it is finally finished. I hate public speaking when I don’t have something written out to say, so tonight I have to come up with a speech that will blow everyone’s socks off. Actually, I just need to find about five minuets worth of information to discuss and then I should be good. :D

One really cool, amazing, thing that has been happening lately is prayer. Karen, Lindsay and I have been praying together a lot more often and I have been talking with God more regularly throughout my day. It has been wonderful to be so much more connected to God and to have His reassuring grace.