politics 101

So I am excited for the election coming up. But I am not going to blog about a political party or who you should vote for. I don't know a lot about politics, (I guess that is why I have decided to take a political studies class), but I have been learning that one should make themselves educated, look up on line at the different parties and the platforms, find which ones you agree with, which ones you think are going to run a good government. You can do this by googling the different parties.(ah googling, what would life be without you?) you can also google up cbc news and ctv news and click on saskatchewan. So it is really easy to find out about each party...

video du jour...info

So you guys probably already have found out about google sky, but since I am always running behind the news, I just recently found out about it. It is the coolest thing ever, (okay I sound like a nerd) but really....check it out if you have time....It is neat to see the different solar systems and planets, the universe is so big and beautiful!

Video du jour...#2... funny ones

The Chub Chubs


Brian Regan


and of course..
Jerry Seinfield

Video du jour...

So, due to the high level of information overload in my brain, I started watching more and more you tube videos to counter act it by numbfying it. So thought that I am going to make a series out of the ones that I have watched called video du jour. (creative levels have reached a low...) anywho...these are the first ones that I am going to post.....They are from the Tales of mere existance

This one is my favorite. Somehow it seems to capture my life right now.

This one also cracks me up...and guys think we over analyize...

moving on

I am getting sick of moving. Yet again, I seem to be in the process, and somehow, there always seems to be a twist that makes the moving process more complicated. For instance, we moved in April, and with having to leave our old house a day before we could get into our new place, left us moving our stuff into other peoples houses, then on the day of me leaving to go tree planting, I had to move my stuff into the apartment, where I left it all in a mega mess, poor kjersti and jannaya could not get into the closet. When I came back from tree planting, jannaya, was still subletting my room, so my stuff was still in the closet, untouched since april, and everytime I wanted to get something such as my clothes I had to hobble over things, which usually ended up in me squishing something or getting stuck or making a bigger mess. However, I travelled around the province which mostly consumed the free time I had in august, but still, I didn't really have a place to stay. And when I got back into saskatoon, I didn't even bother unpacking my storage boxes because the retarded increase of rent was forcing us to move, so I deemed unpacking to be unnessesary work. Now everything was fine and dandy until last week we got a phone call, and to make a long story short...we won't be able to get in until the 20th of October.(p.s to people...get things in writing....) anywho, so come sunday, Kjersti and I will be nomads, staying with friends and family until we can get in. Now, I should be packing, but I felt slightly fustrated and needed a break. So I am done now..but I was thinking that it will be a good time being able to stay with friends that you don't normally live with. So thats cool, and once I will be able to set up my own room (after five months of really not having a room) it will make me appreciate it more. And I was also thinking about the homeless people, and I am not really stressed about it because I know that everything will be fine after this little stint I will have a place to stay. But the ones on the street face this reality everyday, never knowing if they will ever have a home. So it kinda puts things into perspective and helps the levels of anxiety to go down.
On an other note, I was also thinking how many times I have done this in my past too, moving... When people say where are you from.. I now can say I am from frontier, which leaves most people wondering where the heck it is. But when I was a kid, I moved from saskatoon (where i was born) to Raymond Ab, to sterling, to new dayton, to warner, to edmonton, to slave lake, to kinuso, to cold lake, and then finally back to saskatchewan...frontier. So in a time span of 13 years, I moved ten times. I don't know all the reasons why we moved, some of them was because of different jobs, being on welfare and finding affordable housing, and I know that we moved to edmonton becuase my mom wanted to upgrade her grade 12. But at each place that I have lived I met all sorts of people and experienced different things. As, I have said before, my parents were not the most wealthiest people, so growing up I lived in bad areas in Edmonton (our next door neighbor was a herion addict, and she had a son, whom, I used to play with, and then one day, police and some other people took him away, and my mom told me that he went to live with his grandmother....)to living in a town that was basically a reserve, (the reserve and the town were one) exposed me to certain "elements". Then the move to Frontier was different, acutually it was a huge ajustment, they were all church goers. So, there I was, a 13 year old girl that dropped the f-bomb every second word (just to say the least), and was a very pivital point in my life, and if it wasn't for me moving to Frontier, I would have gone down a very shaddy and different path.
I find when stressful situations arise, there is always the calm before the storm, the hurricane, and then the aftermath, then life returns to homeostasis. The thing is though, and the reason why, I put that story up there is that, life moves on, and you will be okay. Sometimes I need reminders of that; that is why I think back to how many times I have relocated and how I can see God tangibly moving and directing my life. I know I can put my foot forward,and move on, for my God will never leave me nor forsake me, and He holds to that promise for you as well.

untitled

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do you light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to the whole house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

There is a lot of darkness in this world. This summer I was asked, why does God allow or let bad things happen. Honestly, I have been wrestling ever since. It seems like a simple question, I could give a simple fake, make you feel good answer, but it is a lot more complicated than that. And people who have been vicitmized and/or don't have a christian background, my answer would be substanceless...

In a village of 1000 people: (roughly one tenth of the world's population)
-584 people are asian, 124 are africans, 95 are east+west europeans, and 52 are north american
-329 are christians, 178 are muslims, 178 are Hindu, 60 are buddists, 45 are atheists.
-165 can speak manderin, 86 can speak English, and 83 speak Hindi/Urdu
-1/3 of the population are child, half are which are immunized
-60 people ar over the age of 65, 28 babies wil be born, 10 people will die.
-out of the 10 deaths, 3 wil have had starved and 1 would have cancer.
-1 person will have HIV
-200 people will have received 75% of all income.
-800 people will share the remaining 26% of the income.
-70 people will have a vehicle
-1/3 will have access to safe drinking water
-1/2 of the adults are illiterate
-there would be 7 teachers and 5 soilders
-the village would have enough nuclear weapons to destroy itsef and are controlled by 100 people
-500 people would not have ever had a phone conversation
-10 people would have post secondary education
-10 people would have a computer
-500 people cannot attend a religious meeting of there choice due to fear of harassment, torture, arrest, or death.
-250 people have food, shelter, clothes, shelter while the others remain in absolute poverty.
(stats are from my sociology class, I thought that they were interesting)

When people say they cannot see God in the midst of pain, I dont really blame them. Can you see God in the midst of reading these statistics or newspaper headlines of "Police believe a missing Quebec teen may have been sold from one gang to another for less than $3,000 worth of cash and drugs", a mother who has cancer? Broken families where people commit adultry or when the wife is beaten? In allies where people shoot up or sleep, or how about when you read about natural disasters, sucide bombers, school shootings or how about reading about the sex slave industry or how people starving to death?

Pain is kinda a universal language and yes we live in a fucked up world.

But it shouldn't just stop there, I firmly believe that there is a lot of light in the world too. "For God so loved the world he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him......This is the verdict: LIGHT has come into the world.." I don't know why bad things happen, but when they do happen, I know a God that loves you so much that he would give his son, his only son, so that we may have and experience the Light free of cost. I personally have experienced the light and I was thinking that I personally cannot stop anything bad from happening. I don't think God wants anything bad to happen to us, (man I could go into it here, but) and I as a Christian, need to show my light, to put it on the stand and let it shine to those who are still tangled the darkness. God gave us commands for us: to love our neighbor and love Him above all else. To love our neigbor is to help, display your light. I am guilty of hiding my light, I say I want to do things but never get around to doing it, more than ever I am learning that it is nice to say nice things, nice words, but in truth, my actions towards people will speak the most. I feel like nice words only hold up with the actions of love that you do behind it.

let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good deeds...

The process...

So for the longest time, I have been wanting to get a tattoo. I really like tattoos and is always fascinated by those who have them, usually because it shows a bit of their life story or has personal meaning. My ideas of what I wanted to get were always changing,(sometimes I am indecisive..) so I thought that it was best not to put anything permanent on my body incase of future dislike. However, lately I have been thinking about the word beloved. I know lots of people probably get hebrew words tattooed on them, and the idea is not really orginal, but I really like the meaning of it, and if it has personal meaning and is not just some random piece of art work, then why not get it?? Now I have to find a person who knows hebrew, although it is handy that my sister goes to a bible school were she has a teacher who knows hebrew, then I have to design it, and then find a good tattoo place to get it done. So eventually I will get a tattoo, but I am kind of scared that once I get one, I want would want more.

Man's Best Friend

here is a picture of my dog. His name is Timber. He likes to eat,sleep, and go for walks. He is a rather big dog, and some people are scared of him. But he has intense blue eyes. I am not too sure why I am writing this. But when I was looking through my sister's pictures, I saw this one. I thought that I would post it so everybody can see Timber.

Don't worry he is just yawning...

happy, happy, oh happiness!. I am out of the bush. Good bye hairy legs, swamp smelly boots, shovel, planting bags, and bugs!. It feels like freedom. Funny how a person gets so into routine you forget how life outside of it is. But yeah, so I am home now, home being saskatoon, (although I think I might head out to frontier tonight...) I have been hanging out with friends, going to the Fringe festival, saw a horse race, fell asleep watching movies....its great. I think that insomnia phase that I had is finally gone, and my abilities to stay up late have diminished...oh well, it is probably mentally healthier to have more than three hours a sleep a night:P But I guess life has been busy for me in the last two months. I have done a lot of traveling. I am thinking how to condense the last three months of funny stories, random events, and good memories, and it is a tad bit overwhelming...so here is somewhat of a try at it. Our break between spring and summer plant was cut short. It was short to begin with but after having a day shaved off, which made it three days, it was hard to fit everything in that you wanted to do. The thing was, we did not know that it got cut short until we were just about to leave camp. It kinda put me in a pickle, my ride after finding out that the holiday got cut short, he decided not to go....Then I was super stressed out, because the people who were going to saskatoon on the bus had already left to the bus depot in prince george....suck man...but I got a ride in to prince george, and made it for the last boarding call..hooray...but yeah, in those three days, I visited people in saskatoon, then I went home to Frontier...got to hang out at the jamboree (which was awesome), stayed over night at a friends house in shaunavon, headed back to saskatoon, then headed lloydminister, stayed the night, and then headed out to whitecourt, where our camp was meeting up. So, it was a busy three days, but an awesome three days. After the break the next biggest thing that happend was kjersti and aubree coming to visit. Again, it was nice to see friends. kjersti got to see how life in the bush was...he he... The other big thing that happened was krystal's wedding!!! at first I was not going to go. I wasn't sure where I was going to be at the time...(b.c or alberta) but when we were in alberta, and lori...(krystal's cousin who I worked with) was going...so it made it an attainable visit. So I got another three days off...which was sweet, I got to see some friends in regina that I hadn't seen in a very long time.
But then I went back to the bush, were the life of planting trees went on and on. Mostly because our end date kept on getting pushed further and further away. I think we did the 10 day count down several times. Then, the optional (planting after we were done...)became a mandatory optional. So we headed back out to prince george one last time. Because I had my car this time, it made life better. But funny story...i pulled up to this gas station ( I parked beside the gas station...I wasn't getting gas) just outside of jasper...and i pulled my e-brake when I parked. Thinking that everything was all good with my car, I headed towards lori...where she pointed back towards the direction of my car.....when I looked around, my car was rolling backwards. I ran over there, and was trying to get my key into the door as it was rolling towards another vehicle....ahh...but I got in and slammed on the break....while onlookers were all laughing at me....I felt like a real winner....but nonetheless, it was kinda funny. But I should get my e-brake fixed. I think that it is it for events that are going on in my life.
August is going to fly bye, and I am excited to go back to school in the fall. I am excited about my classes....( I am taking a political studies, sociology and the social welfare system, criminal psychology, child developmental psychology, and a native studies class) But yeah, that's life for me at the moment.

flight or fight

Bears are wild and unpredictable creatures....as I found out...
Okay so you know how in the past, I have blogged about being eaten by a large animal, well it sorta almost happened. I was planting up a hill, I was almost at the top... Ole, my planting partner was finished his bag and was starting a new one, which means that he was a fair distance away from me. As I was looking down planting trees, being in my own world and all, I hear something large coming out of the bush making its way to me. Holy crap (although that was not the original word I used...) A bear came running towards me and stopped about 8 feet away from me. Immediately I tried to remember the advice of the bear aware videos that we were shown at the beginning of the year said. So this is what happened..it stared me down...I stared it down....using my trusty shovel and my planting bags for armor, I charged the beast. With one blow to the nose, and a wild shriek, I drove it back into the bushes, were it cowered with fear of the mighty tree planter...
okay so that is not really what when on...
okay..so it did charge me and stopped about 8 feet away from me...I remembered from the bear aware videos that the average bear could run 6 times faster then the fastest human being...i am not the fastest human being. So I started to wave my arms...Shouting "whoa bear..whoa bear". I slowly backed away...trying not to look it in the eyes, because with black bears, if you look them in the eyes, it means that you want to fight I do not want to fight a bear. So, I started my descent down the hill hoping others would see something following me. At first, I could see the other planters stop, then look at me, I think they were figuring out what I was doing, (ole thought I was being attacked by wasps..) but then when they saw the bear following me, the others came to my rescue....although it was a pretty persistent bear, since it did not really back off until the others were almost at me. Then it walked along a ridge near the bottom, (i was convinced that it still wanted to have marian chops) and then went into the bushes....I don;t really know what happened to the bear after it went into the bushes, stefan sent the helicopter to look for it...scare it away, but the pilot couldn't see it...so.. yeah..it is still lurking around....making me paranoid....actually not really...but it did give me a good scare...dumb bear..

Ha Ha..the blood sucking creatures can't get me in here

I have not blogged in awhile, mostly because it takes to much effort, by the time you check facebook, and..well, facebook....i don't have any ambition afterwards. But I thought I would tonight, even with the sketchy satellite. Speaking of sketchy...this week has been full of sketchiness....being flown into a block, having it rain and hail (the hail actually was a bit painful), starting to make shelters because it got so cold...yes, I never thought that a person could actually get hypothermia in june, but after this week, i realized that it is possible. It is also sketchy standing in a swamp, in a logged area ( not so many other tall objects around) and seeing bright flashes of light around you, and holding a metal shovel in your hand... repeating: this is sketchy, this is sketchy....sketchy seems to be my word lately.

But yeah, actually even though there is a lot of sketchy things going on, I think I am going to stop.

Do you guys have days were you wake up and feel like the worst person in the world. I have been feeling this way for awhile now. I don't even know how to describe it. I don't know why I have the friends that I do, because I feel like a crappy friend, I don't love others like how Christ loved them. I don't honor my mother or father like I should. I am easily angered, and I fail at so many things. I feel like if i touch something it might just fall all apart. I hold bitterness in my heart, and sometimes I find it hard to forgive. I feel small and insignificant.

you see, everything in my life right now, i feel is chaos, mostly because i feel that the peace that I once had is gone. Maybe because I have not been plugged in to the source. Maybe I have not let go of things that need to be let go of.

I was thinking today, as I was planting, I think it is okay to feel like the worst person in the world. maybe we need those times of humbling thoughts. What if it helps you to realize the grace of God. I am the worst person in the world, but it is comforting knowing that God will take me just how I am. My imperfections, failures, and shortcomings. Funny even now as I right this, I feel stupid for sharing it, to tell you the truth, I hate admitting weaknesses.

I don't know how to end this, but I got to go...

I hope that this does not sound like a depressing blog...because I also thought that if God could use this messed up person to His glory, then it is okay being the worst person in the world.

It's a buggy bug world out there

week five: the bugs attack. I have never, ever been around so many bugs in my life. They swarm, fly in to your mouth, try to crawl up the nose, bite behind you ears, dive bomb your face, and get into your food. You hope that your bug sray works, but it only seems to attract them, while you expose yourself to the deet, it feels like a lose-lose situation.

I have been thinking about chasing after the wind.

Everything is meaningless under the sun?

What motivates you?

Wealth? Power? Prestige? Responsiblities? Obligations?

What makes a person get up everyday, put on clothes, go to work or school, visit friends...

If I didn't have God, everything would be meaningless.

I slave away all day under the hot sun, all for the almighty dollar, so that I can pay for school....it is meaningless...

But there are things that in the end, through doing things that are meaningless, that I have learned.....Perserverance seems to be one of them...

I have been reading Ecclesiastes. I really do not grasp the wisdom that it presents. But God reveals...

I make no sense right now...this is the latest I have stayed up in awhile.

I am going to go to bed, a nice warm bed, in a motel room, where it is bug free...yay

hey guys...my camera was just to run out of batteries, so I think that is why the picture is kinda crappy.

So what is new with everybody?? I am the same old. I am on a day off today, it feels nice to rest the body. I have decided if this is what it feels like to be old, I am not to sure if I really want to get old. But the day off is going good. I slept in to 7:30, which is two hours longer.

We are going into our fifth week of planting, and I can't believe that I have been here that long, but also realized that I have been away for that long as well. I may be a little homesick, but it helps to have friends here.

One month down, two left to go.

I am enjoying being out here though. I saw a bear and a cub, they were so cute ( i might have a different opinion on the cuteness if it was not for the fact I was safely in a vehicle). I am making friends, laughing, and learning about all the various things you can use duct tape for. I am also looking forward to when we go to alberta. I will probably get to experience a couple of helicopter rides to, which really excites me.

Well, I should jet.

Blessings

big bird...

More pictures....the first one was taken one day on the way to work...the next one is an area where I planted some trees...and that's me...how attractive do I look??

So the update...the first two pictures were taken in dawson creek...and the next two are of my home out in the bush for the next couple of weeks. We were in dawson creek because our bus, well firstly our bus from saskatoon broke down, so we waited for two hours there, then because we were late, our bus from edmonton to Prince George was really full, so bryan, ole, nicola, and I were forced to take a scenic route...it was all good though, I got to go to dawson creek for the first time.
Well, I am here in Prince George on my first day off, and I made it through my first week of tree planting. It's exciting being here. I would take more pictures of the scenary, but it probably would not compare. Life here is simple. I get up around six, eat, head off to the bush, plant trees, come back, eat, and head off to bed. I have time to read, which I finsihed one book already, it is called untwisted, by serge leclerc, you can pick it up at parables, I recomend it. Secondly, I have been reading my bible more. Which is nice. I have lots of time to think about things through out the day. Lately I have been thinking about happiness or joy... Well this is sprung from the fact that you have to choose to be happy out in the bush, you see, I been thinking about it when it was raining/snowing and my body hurts and aches, I could choose to be grumpy or see the postive side of things. There is more...but I want to tell what I have been up to.
So the tree planting life. I am a rookie. I am out of shape. So in order to make money, you have to plant at least 1500 trees a day...I just broke 900 trees...translation around 90 bucks..it is a lot of work for that money, I have been starting to compare the price of something to how many trees i have to plant. For instance...$5.00 spent at starbucks=fifty trees. But I will get conditioned to it, then I will make the big bucks...lol..but I am going to be in awsome shape when I am done...
I am on my first day off, tomorrow I head back out to the bush. It has been nice to get clean, I had my first shower (I last showered over a week ago :P), got to sleep in a warm bed...yay and tonight I am going with a bunch of people to see the long anticipated spiderman three..oh the sweetness!!

I will put more pictures on later and stuff...I should go...
Many blessings!!

Busy, Busy, Busy...nah

So here is the low down on my life as of right now. I will be moving five times in the next three days. As of tomorrow at noon, I will be homeless unless our landlord gives us the keys, so far it has been unsuccessful, and it will probably be tuesday before I can move in. My stuff is spread out, I've got some stuff, on Albert street at one friends house, then I have other stuff at another friends house....Plus my tree planting gear is still at my old house. I feel a little disorganized. Tomorrow I get to clean house and move..hopefully...pray for this...because if it is (not being able to get into our appartment) tuesday, i might pull out my hair. I also am leaving to go to prince george on tuesday at 4:30 and I have banking things to do...since I lost my only means to my account. This month has been to say the least, very intense, running on three to five hours of sleep a night. I am looking forward to leaving, even though it is work, I think that it will be a time of rest for me. So here is my good bye to you all!! This will probably be the last time I get to blog for awhile so. I will try to up date it when I can, and put pictures on... feel free to write to me...I might get a little lonely in the bush.
I do have an address and I will write back...
Me
FolkLore Contracting
1077 Eastern St.
Prince George, BC
V2N 5R8
Well, to all have a good summer if I don't hear from you!!
God Bless!

And there was a hearse...

Sometimes I like to be spontaneous. I have (well used to) have this computer that was ummm...littered with viruses. I had this one virus once..well, I thought my friend had sent me something once over msn. So I opened it, thinking it was safe...then my computer disk drive started to randomly open and close meanwhile the computer was making farting noises each time it opened and a jack in the box appeared on the screen laughing at me. Since then I have also incurred more viruses...I used to have Norton...then I tried AVG...then I just gave up...it had a mind of it's own at this point. So, instead of hauling it around, i thought that it would be best to get rid of it. So here is where the journey begins ( you can't really see what is going on...but Kjersti's got a pretty sweet story)...

So, the first minute and forty seconds...is stupid...I wanted to edit it with all my heart...but I had to buy the quick time editing thing...and thought that it was not worth it. And then I couldn't figure out how to put it from quick time on to my blog, so then I had to make a you tube account... Secondly, I am sorry Kjersti, but this might be vindication for the picture on facebook...muh ha ha ha ha...but
Basically, I decided that it would be more fun to drop the tower off of the train bridge then just putting it into the dumpster that way I would feel relieved about all the stress it gave me. (I also wanted to hear the splash it would make...and maybe feel a little destructive...)

Thoughts on Augustine...

I was at the University the other day, studying for my English final, when I ran into my philosopher friend, Ole. Ole was studying for his philosophy final, go figure, but we ended up talking about Augustine. I have always been interested in Augustine, and have been wanting sometime or another to read Confessions. But anyways, the conversation went around this notes. I think they are rather interesting and very thought provoking. It almost makes me want to take a philosophy class. Anywho, Ole was very gracious in e-mailing me some notes of his. And maybe this will connect with others, maybe not, but nonetheless, its very intense.

Great art Thou, O lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Thy power, of
Thy wisdom there is no number. And man desires to praise Thee. He is but a
tiny part of all that Thou hast created. He bears about him his mortality ,
the evidence of his sinfulness, and the evidence that Thou dost resist the
proud: yet this tiny part of all that Thou hast created desires to praise
thee.

Thous doest so excite him that to praise Thee is his joy. [or her joy]. For
Thou has made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in
Thee.

(from Bk 1)

So I set about finding a way to gain the strength that was necessary for
enjoying You. And I could not find it until I embraced the Mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who is over all things, God blessed
forever, and who was calling unto me and saying: I am the Way, the Truth,
and the Life; and who brought into union with our nature that Food which I
lacked the strength to take: for the Word was made flesh that Your Wisdom,
by which You created all things, might give suck to our souls' infancy. For
I was not yet lowly enough to hold the lowly Jesus as my God, nor did I know
what lesson His embracing of our weakness was to teach. For Your Word, the
eternal Truth, towering up above the highest parts of Your creation, lifts up
to Himself those that were cast down. He built for Himself here below a
lowly house of our clay, that by it He might bring down from themselves and
bring up to Himself those who were to be made subject, healing the
swolleness of their pride and fostering their love: so that their
self-confidence might grow no further but rather diminish, seeing the deity
at their feet, humbled by the assumption of our coat of human nature: to the
end that weary at last they might cast themselves down upon His humanity and
rise again in His rising.

(from Bk VII)

And then these were some of my notes:

"When I was young, I thought I had to wrestle with the Devil, but now I know
that I wrestle with God, and that I always wrestled with God: and I know now
that God always wins."
-attributed to Francis of Assisi


"Augustine's sense of the human self, the "I," is a question. We are a
living question, not only the one from which the question proceeds and who
moves through the question to some place, not only are we the one in whom
the question takes place, but we are the very enactment of the question: who
am I?
Augustine struggles throughout the Confessions to enact this question,
seeking desperately for an answer, saying "I became a great enigma to
myself."
Asking the question raises the recognition that the human self is suspended
between the finite and the infinite. We are fallen and have forgotten the
infinite image of God within us, desperately seeking its infinite Source.
To enact the question "who am I?" is to re-orientate toward your life toward
the infinite Source: God, the Giver of life.
Augustine, however, finds that he cannot on his own strength ever answer the
question on his own. Rather, the embrace of the Crucified Christ reveals to
him his true self: broken, sinful, naked, desperate, alone-- yet not alone!
Embraced in the unconditional love of the One who was crucified with Him!
Augustine finds the answer to the question, "who am I?" spoken from the
cross and becomes a living response and reply, surrendering himself into the
embrace of Christ."

-Ole Schenk, paraphrasing the notes of Michael Poellet, 2007.

Finished!!

I am done! I am done! I am done! I am done! I am done! I am done! I am done!!!!!!
No more school for four months!!!! Yay!!
And I survived my first year!!!
Cheers!

Oh the ker-fluff-fill-ness of it all

Everything in life is a learning process. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Although, this attitude does not come naturally, let me tell you, but comes after learning that with a mature(ing) relationship with God you realize that there is good and bad, and a purpose for everything, even if it is crappy. I have been praying for a teachable heart and for wisdom, and I think that the only way to get these gifts is through life experience. Now, not all of life is experiences are bad, but you seem to learn the most from your own mistakes. And God may never intended to have bad things happen to you, but we do live in a world runned by sin. I have learned that you can either sit and dwell on the crappiness of it all and your own self-pity, or you can learn from things, and move on and help others. Moving on does not mean about forgetting things, but embracing it and learning from it only then God allows you to move away. To live in denial of the past only corrupts the future. I was reading through job. Job seems to be the book that people read when they feel crappy, but it struck me yet again. No matter what God allowed Satan to take away from Job, Job always claimed sovereignty. That the Lord is God. So God is good, all the time, God is good!!
Secondly thing is wow, I cannot believe how fast time has flown by. I am almost done my first year of university, well I have one more final on Wednesday...then I am FREE!! Although I am thinking of all the things that I have to do between now and this weekend, and I think I probably procrastinated a bit more than what I should of. On top of it, it is sad to say, I lost my debit card again. Yes this is in totally the third card that I have lost this year...well earlier being my first debit card, the my global payment card, and now my new debit card**try not to laugh...feel the pain***. I think that they should develop microchips and put them into the card so you can trace where the card is and then you can find it. I do not know how I lost this one...all I know is that I used it last either last thursday after my test or on Wednesday night to get cash. I can't remember. I know, I am pathetic. Now with loosing my stupid card, I have absolutely NO access to my account. But I did manage today to go to the affinity credit union, made a check out to myself, then they had to call my home bank, then clear it, then charge me for their credit union services....unfair?? Boo Urns yes...I don't understand all these different divisions of the credit union...they seem silly. But I did get some money out of my account so I could go shopping for tree planting stuff. It seems weird or not really real that I am leaving. But today buying the stuff, helped and tomorrow I am going to get my bus ticket...hopefully. With all this stuff going on, plus trying to study for my final, and moving, AHAHAAHa...I really should of started packing earlier. Oh well, it will get done and life will go on.