Life Across the Pond

Hope for the Helpless, Rest for the Weary, and Love for the Broken heart

2008-04-28T04:49:00.000-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOb8ihacSM4

A post about food

2008-04-27T07:47:00.003-06:00

M and I have been trying to eat at home more this year. Since eating out is so incredibly cheap here, and usually pretty tasty, it's easy to eat out a lot. Not that healthy though. Lots of oil and salt.
I've experimented with a lot of new recipes. That has been fun. Some things M and I have both liked, and some we've disagreed on the taste quotient.

So far this year I've made all kinds of things, like Lemony Lentil Soup, Lemon Chicken soup, borsht, Homemade pizza dough (without yeast), Rice pudding, pound cake, chocolate macaroons, Cream of mushroom soup, baking soda bisquits....among some other things... (ok some of those aren't that healthy but they are all homemade...)

Many recipes I've tried, are courtesy of allrecipes.com and some are courtesy of my Mom, and some are picked from here or there...

I've learned to make an easy local cucumber dish, but I'm still perfecting it. The person that taught me didn't use a recipe and could tell me the ingredients but couldn't tell me how much of each. She just said "I think you have to make it many times before you can get it right." So, I made it and put in too much vinegar, it made M's teeth hurt. So, it's work in progess.

The baking powder bisquit recipe I have is fantastic. I say that as one who loves carbohydrates. And it just popped into my recipe book after a friend stayed in our apartment last summer. Thank you very much Terrie!

Tonight, I tried a new recipe- Cabbage Roll casserole.... I have been wanting to try my hand at making cabbage rolls for a long time, but when push came to shove, this casserole seemed easier with my time limit, and I have all the ingredients. M and I both agree- it's really good!!

I think the recipe that I've made that got the best reviews was a Jean Pare recipe that my Mom and Dad sent me for Cream of Mushroom soup.(Thanks Mom and Dad!) It was liked by local friends and Canadian friends. We even made it again tonight. It's good. And low fat if you substitute skim milk for the cream. I won't post it here as it's probably copyright or something... but oh Jean Pare, thank you for the yummy goodness. And note that you can get some free recipes on her site...

Some Christmas baking ....

The macaroons that were delicious even if they didn't set right and I had to eat most of them myself.

Wonder what recipe he's going to make with that side of pork on the back of his bike?

A Little of this, and a little of that

2008-04-22T08:06:00.001-06:00

I find myself mentally updating my blog a lot, thinking things in point form bullets. Something like this....

- This is a very sneezy place. Lotsa sneezing, everywhere.
- Lots of spring tree blossoms out everywhere, it's just so beautiful.
- I make things with lentils now. Does that make me crunchy granola?
- I've tried making lots of new things this year:rice pudding, lemon chicken soup, borsht... and pig's in blankets.... which is little weiners wrapped in dough.... one of the dough pieces came open while cooking, we renamed it "pig on a couch." He seemed to be reclining comfortably.
- For a conversational english class that I teach, I made my students (all professionals) pick english names to use. I mostly just wanted them to pick them so that they become more familiar with the sound of english names. It's also really fun giving people names. Lotsa fun. Fun fun fun. I made up a list of appropriate names for their age and status etc.. and then let them pick.
One man came a couple days late so I made a special list just for him with names like William, Timothy, Peter, etc etc .... and at the last minute just for fun I threw in "Lanny" in reference to Lanny Mcdonald. Do you know out of all those names, which he picked? Lanny. Lanny it is. Which for some reason makes me ridiculously happy.
- The neighbour dog is cute but barky.
- Who are the neighbourhood ladies always yelling at to "come here!"?
- The dog can't compete with the neighbour ladies for volume, or ability to vocally pierce through a wall or window.
- For the most part it doesn't bother us.

2008-03-21T03:08:00.003-06:00

Spring has sprung around here. A few days ago I saw some gigantic blossoms on some trees. I think they were magnolia trees. That was so exciting!! Since then I've seen some cherry blossoms. Ahhh spring. While it is beautiful outside, it's turned a bit chilly inside. Our heat went off a few days ago, as it usually does in mid march. All the heat turns off in the city at that time. At first it was still warm inside, but now, since it's been a bit cool outside, I've had to also don a few more layers inside.

It is a quiet day here today. Good Friday- I will post something later about that. It's a special day to remember. But I'll post about that later. It has been quiet, and it's been nice. I'm going to make some vegetable soup for supper, and relax this evening. Maybe watch a movie, or maybe an episode of "Monk." I love that show.

I was going back through some pictures from last summer earlier today. We had a good time. It was nice to look back, would you like to see some of the pictures?

We ate hot dogs at this place, and looked out at the ocean. Looking at the umbrellas you'd swear you were someplace tropical. It was very serene. And the hot dogs were good.

Lilacs, can anything beat the smell?

And wildlife, we saw some wildllife...

We did a little bit of boating with friends and family....

And the flowers....

And there were sunsets. Beautiful sunsets. Some were in the sky and one was the kind of sunset that come at the end of a life time. M's Step-Dad Don passed away while we were home last summer. Though he was sick, it still felt sudden. It was sad, but we felt blessed that we were in the country at the time.

Last summer would also be the last time we would see this little cutie. She has since gone on to that great doggie heaven in the sky.

We also saw many people last summer, family, and friends. I don't have pictures of all of them, nor do I know how people would feel about seeing their mug on my blog....so no pics of the people...but it was definately a hilight.

Just one more flower picture.......

I have the most fun when exhaustion erodes my judgement

2008-01-14T20:53:00.000-06:00

I think I'm a bit over baked. Tired. We stayed up to 2am working on stuff. (It wouldn't have been that late except that somewhere between 10 and 11 we started a deep discussion about life) Hence 2AM bedtime.

I think I'm a little over tired though. I'm in the process of writing a few informational emails. I keep erasing things I think are really funny as better judgement prevails. I realize the people getting the emails won't think it as funny because they may not be over tired.

well deserved

2008-01-13T09:40:00.000-06:00

Electric bikes and the people who ride them like they have no brakes, and like there are no other people, cars, bikes or traffic rules on the road... this is for you. BOOOOOOO !!

Shepherd's pie and a crazy babboon

2008-01-10T09:21:00.000-06:00

We had some local friends over tonight. It was a nice evening. We had supper together- I made shepherd's pie, broccoli and baking powder bisquits. The guys who came over to visit don't eat much western food so it's always fun to serve them stuff.
The shepherd's pie- I gave them forks and knives to eat it with, then noticed out of the corner of my eye that the one guy had put the fork down and was getting down and slurping it off his knife. (these guys don't use knife and fork much) It wasn't that he can't use a fork, it was that slurping it off the knife was more comfortable... so I went and got him some local utensils.

The broccoli- they found it strange that we didn't put any sauce on it, so I found them some sauce for it.

The bisquits, M and I had some butter for the bisquits, and the guys wanted to try it. So, upon eating the butter, one of them made the pronouncement: " Nothing!" he kept saying that over and over "Nothing!" He was so surprised that it didn't have much taste. Then M brought out some cheese and let them try it, and then the guy said "Something!" (Generally here, people aren't that crazy about the taste of cheese.)

He said "First I say 'Nothing!' then I say 'something!' then I say 'Never!"(meaning 'never again) He was just referring to the cheese thankfully!

That was the meal.

After the meal we played cards. The one guy was goofing around and started beating his chest when he would win a round. So I called him a babboon in the local language. He thought that was quite funny so he kept doing it. So, I called him a "crazy babboon." He gave that the thumbs up. If one of his friend's called him that he would think it a little funny, but because I'm just learning the language- it's more funny coming from me.

What I find funny is that I can not say useful stuff like "remember" and "No MSG please" and "paper towel" but I can call a guy a crazy babboon.

Note: You might think that "remember" is pretty basic, and I did look it up once, but then I promptly forgot it. ANd you'd be surprised how far you can go without having to use the word "remember" Besides, I do know how to say "Don't forget" so I make as much milage from that as I can.

2007 Special Moments and People Awards

2008-01-06T02:56:00.000-06:00

And the award goes to:

The Who sent you? Award:
To the two minority ladies with their beautiful hair, and lovely dresses, who gave me a seat when I had none.
To the two gentlemen who popped up out of the blue to help me and Little E with our great big bags, down the stairs and up again, on the train and off the train.
To the man who went to get the store security when my locker was jammed and couldn't get it open.
To various strangers who offered language help in a moment of confusion.
To the gracious taxi drivers, store vendors, and people in general who have offered their help, pleasant curiousity, and smiles.....
This award's for you.

The Luckiest person to walk away without being punched in the nose Award:

Picture me, on a train, no seat, just standing there leaning against one of the seats, swaying with the train. A man starts up a conversation with me- it goes like this:
Initial chit chat, where are you from... etc... (in english)

Man: Foreigners are often fat and don't look beautiful.
Me: (No response)
Man: Yes Foreign women are often fat and don't look beautiful. I sell underwear that makes women look beautiful.
Me: Oh.
Man:(showing me pictures of a local lady who is not particularly fat, just normal) See? Pictures. Before, see? This lady not beautiful.
Me: Ok.
Man:(showing me a second set of pictures.) See, after...beautiful!
Man:Foreign women are often fat and not beautiful.
Man: (showing me pictures of the woman in her amazing beautifying underwear) See, after, beautiful!
Me: (Waving my hand in the air and laughing) Ok, ok ok.
Man:Ok. (and he left me alone. except to ask if I could sing, and to tell that he could sing well.)

Cutest Student Award:
This is a hard one, as I have a lot of really neat people in my classes. Really. Cool people. But in the end, the award goes to the girl who out of the blue gave me this Little Bubu stuffed bear.... because, I'm not even her teacher anymore. She was sooooo sweet about it. And she got my white elephant gift during a gift exchange- this green candle that wasn't particularly pretty, but she was absolutely thrilled and made it known that no one should try to steal it from her. I was particularly surprised because I was strict with that class. I even confiscated her ipod during one class. Go figure. She gets the cutest student award, for her sweet spirit.

Most Awkward Moment with a Stranger Award

In May, M and I went back to Canada for some rest. On the plane ride back we were really tired. Over tired I'd say. We had seats in the middle section. There were a number of empty seats throughout the plane- one of them next to us. Yahoo! This seemed like such a nice perk, because I could lie down if I wanted to... AHHHHH. We could spread out just a bit.
The couple in front of us had the same luxury. The man in front of us was watching the movie and his wife had curled up on the seats next to him.
The guy sitting to our right in the section by the window saw something askew however.
I was still sitting up, just thinking of lying down.....
Helpful man from the window section approaches us in the dim cabin...

Man:"The man in front of you is a little bit squished by the man who is in front of him who is reclining. I'd like to move him into this seat next to you."
(I surveyed the situation and didn't feel he needed to move back, all he had to do was switch seats with his wife who was lying down...and I didn't want to give up that seat!!!)
Me:"I prefer no."
Man:"Oh, do you speak english? Is this your seat? This man is looking uncomfortable, and I would like to move him back here."
Me:"Yes I speak english. He has an extra seat too, he only needs to move over.So I prefer no."
Man:" Oh, maybe you don't understand me..." and he repeats the situation and he sees it."
Me:" No I prefer no."

That was the end of discussion, this man was really sincerely trying to be helpful- he wasn't in any way rude through our conversation... but his solution wasn't necessary. After a few minutes the other man moved over on his own volition. Problem solved. But I hate confrontation, and saying no, and so I couldn't sleep for a long time after that. I was a bit disgruntled with that guy for awhile. And why did he think I don't speak english? I realize my grammar wasn't exactly correct,"I prefer not" is better than "I prefer no" but good grief. Awkward.

The Happy Back Award

For my back because for about 80% of the year it has really been pleasant to be with.

Inspiration Award
Goes to Louisa Vaughan, who though not a woman of fame, and having been dead many years, inspired me this year through her book full of stories of God's amazing answers to her prayers. Wow. Blew my socks off.

Husband of Character Award
Goes to M. You really rose to the occasion this year. What would I do without you?

People of resilience award

Over the last few years I've been hearing stories of friends, and strangers in this country who go through such heart rending stuff. It makes you wonder why people here aren't basket cases.

A few examples (which didn't all happen this year but things with this level of drama are happening here still):

One young woman we know- her mother passed away- she was washing a comforter in the river and the current took the big blanket away and the mother with it, she didn't know how to swim so she began drowning. She was pulled out, still alive. There was a doctor there, he refused to help her until someone could guarentee payment. There was no one from her family there so no one would guarentee payment. She died.

Another guy we know: He is now an adult,and should have a younger brother but his mother was forced to have an abortion in her 8th month by local officials.

Another friend of ours: his Dad spent time in jail this year...

The stories go on and on. These kinds of things happen every year. The things you hear curl your toes. Injustice, corruption, health issues, bad health system, cheating..... but through all of it, the people keep on going. Their stories seem so dramatic, and yet they keep on going. So, because of that they get the 2007 People of Resilience Award.

Had a bad day?

2007-12-10T09:02:00.000-06:00

2007-12-10T03:11:00.000-06:00

Every week I teach various english classes.

My favourite class to teach is the one for professionals who are going overseas. They need to work on their english so that their time overseas will be of the most benefit. Some of them have a very low level of english, but they are interesting to teach because they are highly motivated to improve. They have chosen to be in the class and see it as an opportunity.

Another class that I enjoy teaching is a class for third year university students. They are also highly motivated. Their english is already pretty good. They do pretty much whatever I ask them to do- get into groups, discuss A,B or C, make sentances using the verb "to putter." They are pretty fun. They often try to use long words, or phrases without the correct grammar- that can get a little messy.

And occasionally I get something like last week I asked them what they thought "A penny saved is a penny earned" meant. One guy stood up and said, "To earn is the best way of saving, of course we all know that the best offense is to attack, that's all." and then he sat down. He also tagged something else on the end there which I can't remember right now because it was so random, but what do you do with that? What does that mean?

Anyway, they try hard. They've worked hard to be in University, and they want to use the opportunity to actually learn. It makes them fun to teach.

My least favourite class is the one that I taught this morning. And I'm usually not a play favourites kinda person, but these guys.... not so enjoyable to teach. Why you ask? Well, because they aren't motivated in class.

They are all planning to go overseas to study, so they need to get a diploma that says that they finished this english course. You'd think going overseas to study would be a motivator to actually learn the language there, but no.

It's a conversation class, so my job is to get them talking, and as a foreign teacher to listen to their pronunication, grammar etc, and help them with all of that. But the most important thing is to get them talking.

Half the class are ok. A few of them are so- so in the motivation department, then there are a few that just don't do much of anything. I assign them something to talk about but they don't have the personal maturity to actually put much effort into it. So they do it for 30 seconds (if that) then chat with their neighbour or whatever.

I can usually enjoy going and teaching the class, as like I say, most of them are ok. But this morning, I got 3 extra hours of teaching tacked onto my schedule with them, during a time that is usually time off for me. I found it more difficult to be patient with them.

I read them the riot act when I came in at first... here are my expectations.. blah blah blah.... this is conversation class... blah blah blah... if I ask you to talk about something, I expect you to do it. If you don't like it you can leave.... etc. I said all of it very matter of fact and quite nicely.

But then later, after I was getting irritated with some of the little things done in class that short circuit the learning process (ie- people always whispering the answers to each other so there's no thinking going on ) I read the riot act #2.

Which was basically: Your english stinks. You are smart enough to do this, but you aren't working hard enough. And if you don't put more effort in this you are going to be in big trouble when you go overseas.-- I said it in a nice but matter of fact way. And then I gave them homework. I don't usually give homework. All I usually ask is that they work hard IN class. And dude I didn't give them any second break because some of them were gone so long for the first one. I wanted to introduce them to the term "Royal Butt Kicking" because I felt like they needed one, but I decided to save that for next week.

I'm am a little afraid for these guys. I mean they are going to be in regular University level classes when they go overseas. (Not learning english classes) They are going to be studying economics or business or some such thing. You'd think they'd be motivated.

You may ask why are they not more motivated? Well, I'm told that for most of them their families have money, so they think they don't have to study as mom and dad's money will get them through.

I guess in some ways, going over abroad and finding yourself in a class that's way over your head might be a good thing, especially if there's no opportunity to buy better marks or a degree. Welcome to the real world.

On tap for next class? A discussion involving the terms "taking responsibility" and "it's your own fault."

Tis the season

2007-12-02T00:13:00.000-06:00

Christmas hasn't really been a tradition here. Not the way it's a tradition in many other parts of the world. People are aware of it, but most don't "celebrate" it. You will see businesses decorating for it. And schools. Sometimes it gets a little crazy compared to what we do in N.America. (But who ever said that our store bought decorations were the "Correct" way to decorate?)

"Christmas disco"

You will sometimes find materials encorporated into the decoration that we typically don't use - here we see some shells.....

And, decorating time frame is a bit looser here as well.

I think I caught this Santa in May or June.(notice the Snoopy in his bag- Snoop's popular here.)

Ever have a problem deciding where to put the tree?

Why not hang it upside down from the ceiling?

But really, some parts of Christmas- ie) decorating with lights and tinsel, and trees..... it's fun, but it's subjective right? It's just decorating to celebrate the core of Christmas. How you celebrate is up to you- be it hanging the tree from the ceiling, or putting it in a corner, having a two inch tree or a 10 footer... or no tree at all.... doesn't matter. What matters is the core. Are you really celebrating Christmas? Are you really celebrating the coming of Jesus? If by hanging that upside down tree you are doing so to recognize the wonderful gift of Christ, then you are properly celebrating. If you hang no decorations, sing no songs, send no cards, make no cookies, but raise a simple prayer of thanks to God in your heart for His indescibably gift - then you have just celebrated Christmas!

"Yahoo! Christmas blessings coming! Look out below!"

I'm back.

2007-11-07T07:50:00.000-06:00

My last post was in July.
It isn't that I didn't have anything to say.
I just didn't feel like saying anything.
But now I'm back. And there's way to much water under the bridge to tell everything, so why don't we just go on from here?

I'm teaching this year. English as a second language. This is proving to be very interesting.
Today, one of my classes was a group of professionals. I asked them if they'd ever made a resolution.

Some people said that they'd made resolutions to exercise, some to learn english, and things like that.

The most interesting one was the woman who said:
"I made a resolution to make my husband give me a warm kiss everyday."
She got a round of applause from the class.
I then explained that making resolutions involves your own behavior and not someone else's - but the men in the class seemed to be the ones clapping, so I suspect her husband might not mind her making that kind of resolution.

My favourite answer was a humble gentleman in the class who stood up and said that out of concern that his young daughter is working too hard on her school work, he made a resolution to play ping pong with her everyday. I asked him if he'd been able to keep his resolution, and he said that he had.

Under the category of funny things I've seen recently...

The other day I was biking home from the school, and I came through the big main gate. (There are always guards at the gate, usually standing soberly looking on in their uniforms. )On Monday I rode my bike by just in time to see the guard at the table get up and walk over to the other guard who was standing on a little podium and give him a boot to the behind. It knocked him off his podium and caused him to break into laughter. They didn't even notice me go by. It made me laugh though. Goofballs.

2007-07-10T17:29:00.000-06:00

Due to being without internet and with out a computer the last while, I've not been updating. We've been visiting family and friends, going here and there and spending time at the lake.

Our original plan was to be on the prairies a few more days, but sadly M's Step Dad passed away on the weekend, so we are leaving tomorrow to go back out to the coast.

Do say a prayer for the family if you have a moment.

Thanks, K.

2007-06-16T13:35:00.000-06:00

SO, we've been busy. haven't been home much.

As I write this I am out on our friends' farm... getting ready to have a BBQ lunch. I just finished cuddling some tiny little kittens and can smell the Ribs and potatoes cooking so I better run!

Thankful for friends!

Back in Canuck land

2007-05-20T18:17:00.000-06:00

Yes, that is right- I am back. We got back about a week and a half ago. Almost two weeks. We have been having a really nice time at M's parents house. As is usually the case though, my first week back in Canada is usually a tired one - it takes me awhile to get adjusted time wise and to recover from whatever packing frenzy we had when we left, and to recover from the long flight. I am just today starting to feel more normal.

So, sorry for the hiatus- I've been feeling dozey.

Went to church this morning, was glad I went. The pastor talked about the names of God, that was so encouraging.

Of course in scripture there are many many names used for God, so he only focused on a few of them this morning- specifically looking at some of the Jehovah ones.
Jehovah Jireh- God our provider
Jehovah Shalom- God our peace
Jehovah Rohi- The Lord is my Shepherd
Jehovah Rophi- God our healer
and the last one he talked about was not a Jehovah one but was Jesus - our Saviour.

I always enjoy looking at the names of God, because His names remind me of who He is, and it was just what I needed to hear this morning.

Did I do that?

2007-04-15T08:42:00.000-06:00

Tonight, M and I left our apartment and rounded the corner. There was a back hoe driving down the lane. Just behind it some boys, maybe about 10 years old were quite fascinated with it. That's pretty typical no? The problem was that they were getting too close to the moving treds, putting things on the treds even as it was moving. I was afraid they were going to get pinned between it and the curb or somehow get under it. Both M and I were very nervous watching them.

The most aggressive boy started going towards the far side of the back hoe where there was about half a foot between the machine and the curb- a very dangerous place to be, especially because i don't think the driver could see them... and you know what, I just couldn't take it. I couldn't. So I took hold of the kid's arm before he could go behind the back hoe, and re directed him in the opposite direction away from it, and basically said "no" to him.

M and I started walking away, and then we looked back and saw that the back hoe had rounded the corner but the kids weren't going away, they were still trying to mess with it.... and then the cab started rotating and it looked like the one kid might get hit.... it gave my heart a start.

Without thinking I started running toward the 3 boys, and their eyes got a little saucer-like. That's right kid. Foreign woman running staight at you! You know, when your adrenalin is pumping, it's hard to speak in a language that's not your first. But I think the shaking finger at them and the back hoe and emphatically saying "It's not safe!!!" got the message across.

The moral of the story is: It's better to be frightened by a crazy foreign lady than squished by a back hoe.

The best thing I saw Yesterday...

2007-04-15T08:38:00.000-06:00

A man driving a garbage cart- peddling it to be exactly. Dirty face, dirty clothes, a thousand watt smile....why? because of his little daughter who was riding along with him. He might not have been the richest Dad I saw yesterday but he was definately the proudest.

2007-04-08T21:56:00.000-06:00

Easter monday here where I am.

We had a very nice Easter weekend. Since we don't have a Church in our language to go to here, we just met with some english speaking friends on Friday and had our own little worship time together. We read the story of Christ's journey to the cross and His cruxifiction. We took communion together. It was good to remember.

After our worship time together, we went for supper to a nice restaurant that advertises Starbucks... which would be the first in the city but we realized that it wasn't authentic. The signs were real but the products aren't. Either that or they have the right products but don't know how to make anything properly. (they did have some real starbucks coffee in bags but the frappuchinos that they served us were not the same as the "real" thing.) No really big disappointment. We kind of expected it when we first saw the signs anyway.

On Saturday M's school invited us for supper to a nice restaurant as well that was serving turkey alongside a big buffet of mostly seafood. It was delicious.

We met a couple of teachers who were here on exchange from Scottland. We understood most of what they said. They invited us to sit with them, so we did. It was nice to meet someone from "the old country."

The evening was rounded off by a surprise evening Easter chocolate hunt hidden and hosted by a few of our Canadian friends here. That was a surprise! Very fun.

On Sunday we had friends over for Easter brunch- I whipped up the pancake batter and cracked the eggs while M fried and flipped everything. Some friends brought over some fruit and we had a nice time of it.

We ended up biking over to the park afterwards to toss around a frisbee and play badmitton. It was a gorgeous day in the park. I didn't realize we had such a nice park so nearby. I had walked through there in winter once but it didn't seem so big or so nice.

As a note about our time in the park- people here don't play frisbee... so we drew a bit of a crowd just by throwing it around. That kind of makes me smile because to me, watching people throw a frisbee is about the equivalent of watching golf on TV. ZZZzzzzz. But I guess if you've never seen it before it's a little more thrilling.

We finished the afternoon by coming home and finishing reading the end of Matthew- the resurrection, and spending some time thinking about the wonder and power of Jesus who is Lord over everthing including death. It was a good.

He has risen.

He has risen indeed.

books books books

2007-04-07T10:51:00.000-06:00

In a few weeks we'll be heading back to Canada for a visit. While I'm in Canada I will be looking to read some new books. I already have a few ideas in mind of what to read while I'm there.... Anybody else got any books to recommend?

C'mon, don't be shy.

2007-04-06T08:45:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I was reading the book "Six Hours One Friday" by Max Lucado. I was thinking about today- Good Friday. I was very moved by the following story....

It’s difficult to find beauty in death. It’s even more difficult to find beauty in a death camp. Especially Auschwitz. Four million Jews died there in World War II. A half-ton of human hair is still preserved. The showers that sprayed poison gas still stand.

But for all the ugly memories of Auschwitz there is one of beauty. It’s the memory Gajowniczek has of Maximilian Kolbe.

In February, 1941, Kolbe was incarcerated at Auschwitz. He was a Franciscan priest. In the harshness of the slaughterhouse he maintained the gentleness of Christ. He shared his food. He gave up his bunk. He prayed for his captors. He was soon given the nickname “Saint of Auschwitz.”

In July of that same year there was an escape from the prison. It was the custom at Auschwitz to kill ten prisoners for every one who escaped. All the prisoners would be gathered in the courtyard and the commandant would randomly select ten names from the roll book. These victims would be immediately taken to a cell where they would receive no food or water until they died.

The commandant begins calling the names. At each selection another prisoner steps forward to fill the sinister quota. The tenth name he calls is Gajowniczek.

As the SS officers check the numbers of the condemned, one of the condemned begins to sob. “My wife, my children,” he weeps.

The officers turn as they hear movements among the prisoners. The guards raise their rifles. The dogs tense, anticipating a command to attack. A prisoner has left his row and is pushing his way to the front.

It is Kolbe. No fear on his face. No hesitancy in his step. The capo shouts at him to stop or be shot. “I want to talk to the commander,” He says calmly. For some reason the officer doesn’t club or kill him. Kolbe stops a few paces from the commandant, removes his hat and looks the German officer in the eye.

“Herr Kommandant, I wish to make a request, please.”
That no one shot him is a miracle.
“I want to die in the place of this prisoner.” He points at the sobbing Gajowniczek. The audacious request is presented without stammer.
“I have no wife and no children. Besides, I am old and not good for anything. He’s in better condition.” Kolbe knew well the Nazi mentality.
“Who are you?” the officer asks.
“A Catholic priest.”
The block is stunned. The commandant, uncharacteristically speechless. After a moment, he barks, “Request granted”

Prisoners were never allowed to speak.
Gajowniczek says,
“I could only thank him with my eyes. I was stunned and could hardly grasp what was going on. The immensity of it: I, the condemned, am to live and someone else willingly and voluntarily offers his life for me- a stranger. Is this some dream?”

The Saint of Auschwitz outlived the other nine. In fact, he didn’t die of thirst or starvation. He died only after the camp doctor injected phenol into his heart. It was August 14, 1941.

Gajowniczek survived the holocaust. He made his way back to his hometown. Every year however he goes back to Auschwitz. Every August 14 he goes back to say thank you to the man who died in his place.

In his back yard there is a plaque. A plaque he carved with his own hands. A tribute to Maximillian Kolbe- the man who died so he could live.

- Max Lucado- from Six Hours One Friday

There's something about this story that reflects the beauty and depth of character of someone who is willing to give up their life for another. It reminded me of the unselfishness of Christ in His sacrifice of His own life in place of mine.

Good Friday is a special day to think about and remember what Christ did, and although I could never repay Him for what He did for me (and He doesn't expect that anyway) I hope that my life would be one that overflows with testimony of the goodness of God, the kindness of God, and the unselfishness of God.

4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppressiond and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Is 53:4-9). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Thank You Lord Jesus, Thank You.

Note: This story was written by Max Lucado and published 1989. Franciszek Gajowniczek died in 1995 at age 95. 53 years after Maximillian Kolbe saved his life by giving his own.

Victor and Ralph

2007-03-31T19:01:00.000-06:00

2007-03-30T05:03:00.000-06:00

I know men; and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Cesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force! Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.

- Napoleon Bonaparte
(quoted in Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller.)

Mama Mia

2007-03-29T08:52:00.000-06:00

We just got back tonight from a little trip out of town. We had some thing to do in another city.
At one point we felt like going out to see if we could locate a Starbucks in our travels as we were in a large city with a few of them...
Hubs used to live in that city so kind of has a bit of a working knowlege of the layout....
Anyway, we hopped in a cab(cabs are cheap here) and M told the driver a location to go to where he thought there was a Starbucks, so we started heading in that direction. Before we got far, M spotted a street that he remembered and then was torn- thinking there might possibly been one down that very street, he decided not to chance it and to keep going but then at the last second he told the driver to turn down the street. We tried to scan both sides and the side streets to find it...

After a few minutes of seeing nothing that resembled what we were looking for, M spontaneouly broke into song -

M-(to be sung in a folksy way) " I knew I shouldn't have turned down this street! I should have let the taxi keep going to the first spot..."
K- (to be sung in a half hearted Bohemian Rhapsody-esque)"Yes you shoulda, yes you shoulda, yes you shoulda"
Taxi driver: You sing very nicely.
US:(we forgot that although the taxi driver couldn't speak english, he could still hear us SINGING) ha ha ha ha oh, thankyou ha ha ha
Taxi driver: Is that an american song? Or a song from your country?
K- "No that's our own song."

M and K continue laughing and joking about it almost all the way to the starbucks which is just up the street. Way to go M!

(we gave the kind taxi driver special thanks- he was patient with us! He drove away with a smile.)

Not so oft quoted wisdom

2007-03-25T06:04:00.000-06:00

There are some quotes from the Bible that are very famous. People recognize them instantly. 1 Corinthians 13 for example-

"Love is Patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It alwasy protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." Vrs.4-6.

It is easy to see what that passage is a favourite. There are quite a few others that are also popular- Psalm 23, John 3:16... (if you don't know those ones, go look them up, it's worth it)

However, yesterday I was browsing through Proverbs and read a few and thought-"this is dynamite, but not really ever quoted."

So, today I give you a few passages that I thought were noteworthy yet not well noted.

"Like one who seizes a dog by the ears
is a passer-by who meddles in quarrels not his own." Proverbs 26:17

"Better a poor man whose walk is blameless
than a rich man whose ways are perverse." Proverbs 28:6

"Fear of man will prove to be a snare,
but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe." Proverbs 29:25

"Pride only breeds quarrels,
but wisdom is found in those who take advice." Proverbs 13:10

I could go on, but I'll leave it with those four for tonight.

Hope you are well wherever you are tonight.
-K

wasn't expecting that from a Denzel movie

2007-03-22T03:26:00.000-06:00

Hubby and I watched a movie last weekend. It was with Denzel Washington. It was alright, except the entire middle part which was really violent. (I left for that part and returned for the ending. )

I don't really want to give a movie critique here, although there were a couple interesting themes... but what struck me was at one point Denzel's character and this Nun quote a verse from the Bible. Romans 12:21

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

And that one line simply spoken seemed to jump right out of the movie and pierce right to my heart and give specific encouragement to me for some day to day situations that I'd been wrestling with. I'd been feeling a bit discouraged by a few things sort of piling up, and that message of not being overcome by evil but overcoming evil with good was such a word of hope to me. It seemed like God was saying, "yes there is evil, I see it, but good will overcome it." And by His Spirit it will.

"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword.."
Hebrews 4:12a

Yes, yes it is.

The Fashion Report

2007-03-12T07:30:00.000-06:00

Today I went shopping with a local friend.

Well, she shopped, I just looked at stuff and tried not to give too much of my opinion of various fashions.

This is an interesting place fashion wise. A few short years ago people were much too preoccupied with just trying to survive to worry about fashion. Now people in general have more disposable income, so fashion is now in. (Even more amazing is that I just read an article this morning about the new cosmetic surgery craze here.)

So, today was interesting. My friend took me to a place that I've never really investigated before- a big market of fairly cheap but decent quality clothes. Shop after shop, shirts, jackets, sweaters, and pants.

Now, what people like to wear here is often different from North America. And there's nothing wrong with that. (At some point I will give my N. America fashion rant...) ANyway- in my opinion, and I say this by western standards, some things that I see people wearing are really stylish- smart looking! It's fairly common actually to see people wearing a fantastic looking ensemble on their bike on the way to work in the morning.

Some other outfits are almost there, often the crucial thing that sinks a perfectly good outfit here is an addition of some random huge thing stuck audaciously on the front of it- ie) a big lacey flower, a massive bow of contrasting colour, gobs of fur stuck in various arrangements, or a mass of sequins and feathers. It gives me this urge to just take a pair of scissiors and snip! "there, now I feel better"

Another category of things people wear is the way over the top crazy outfits. These can not be described. They usually do involve lots of colour, and are often accompanied by crazy hair and for some reason green eye shadow. I'm still debating posting a fashion file just devoted to these UFOs.. "Unbelievable Fashion Objects."

Then there's all the other stuff that people wear, that's just somewhere in the middle. Just comfortable stuff that is sort of non descript.

The reason I said at the beginning of this post that I tried to hold back my opinion, is that I realize that I have very different taste from my friend. I might not like something simply because it doesn't look western enough for my taste, and so, I don't think that makes me a good fashion adviser for her.

With that being said she did pick out some nice stuff, well all except the purse, but that was one of those really big purses that are the rage all over the world and look like they were rejected from the 80's for being far too ugly. (Don't ever ask me if I like your really really big ugly trendy 80's purse- especially if it cost you a lot of money and Lindsay Lohan or one of the Olson Twins is carrying the exact same one and you had to take out a loan to pay for it....because I'll just tell you right now, I think they are all horrible. ) I didn't mind my friend buying the ugly 80's purse though as I do recognise that others don't share my replusion (and probably a few of you reading this just bought one of your own- and by all means buy, enjoy, think it's cute, but please, don't wreck your back and I repeat - don't ask me what I think of it.)

As we were walking around, it was fun looking at all the clothes. I rarely go shopping for clothes here. And rarely means just about never. But I really do like going shopping. It's fun to buy new clothes, even if they aren't for me. So, it was a nice outing, looking at what's "in" here... and being reminded of how things are changing in this place. I was also reminded as we were walking around that "clothes don't make the person"... and that thought came as a sudden relief, and a little saddness. Relief of pressure to pick the perfect items for my friend. But saddness as I realize that the new financial freedom that people are gaining here is giving them a false sense of what's really important, people are much more concerned with their image, their look... a new superficiality is taking over the land, a superficiality that we are well aquainted with in the west. And I couldn't help but be a little bit sad.

Well, I'll pray about it.

2007-03-03T22:22:00.000-06:00

You Should Rule Mars

Mars is a planet that shines brightly and loops wildly around the solar system.

You are perfect to rule Mars, because you are both energetic and independent.

Like Mars, you seems attractive and bright to others - but you're difficult to pin down.

You are a great thinker, but you only think in the present and ignore the future.

Full of enthusiasm and inspiration, you are into your own thing... and rather insensitive to others.

What Planet Should You Rule?

But I thought men were from Mars.

now it all makes sense to you, doesn't it?

2007-03-03T22:16:00.000-06:00

You Are An ENFP

The Inspirer

You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends.

You are also unconventional, irreverant, and unimpressed by authority and rules.

Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives.

You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're qutie the storyteller!

You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist.

What's Your Personality Type?

i feel hungry

2007-03-03T22:08:00.000-06:00

You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting.

You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

2007-03-03T21:47:00.000-06:00

Your 80s Theme Song Is:

Angel by Aerosmith

What's Your 80s Theme Song?

This test was totally random- I kept typing in the same results and getting a different song each time.... this was the first one that came up. I decided to stick with it. Even though I never liked Aerosmith at all, and never really cared about his particular song whatso ever.

something important you needed to know about me

2007-03-03T21:30:00.000-06:00

Caffe Vanilla Frappuccino

Smooth and sweet, you fit in to almost any crowd. No one would suspect you of being a coffee tweaker!

What Flavor Frappuccino Are You?

That's for sure, I don't even suspect myself of being a coffee tweaker. What on earth does that mean?

And apparently i have a vanilla personality.
Hmph!

Trip to the market

2007-02-27T09:11:00.000-06:00

One fun thing we did while we were down south was go to a big flower market. We took the subway, then hopped on a boat-bus, and then somehow wandered our way over to the market.

Flowers are amazing aren't they? The market itself was a little so-so, but the flowers.... masterpieces.

A few sight and sound bites from down south

2007-02-27T07:54:00.000-06:00

Well, it took a little while but I finally got my butt in gear to post a few things from our time away.
The very last location we were in, we stayed in a nice little guest house- clean and cheap.
We enjoyed it a lot, although we were in a very urban place, the little guest house was down at the end of a lane, so it felt just off the beaten path.
We had the end room which was great because our windows looked out on a waterway where boats zipped by. See here it is....

There were water taxis that would zip by. We took one in another part of town one day- lots of fun.

Here is a dead coconut tree just out side our window.

The downside of our end room was this guy-

Let's call him the early bird. He lived just outside our window. I don't know what it is with us and roosters, but they do seem to show up a lot when we are travelling. And this brings me to my next point- the person who coined the onomatapia - "cock-a-doodle-doo" never had a rooster. They had never come near a rooster. He lived in a city in North America and never came in contact with anything resembling a rooster. I'm sorry. No. "Cock-a-doodle-doo" my foot. That is far too sweet and cutsy. A rooster says "ER er ER er ERRRCH!" or "er ERRCH!" ANd usually it's no where near dawn. It's still dark when they start up this racket.

Thankfully our little friend didn't bother us too badly- just the first night... after that we discovered that closing our bathroom door muffled his ERRCHING. He seemed to sleep in a little more as well after we were there for awhile. Guess he thought he'd broken us in.

Back again

2007-02-23T20:35:00.000-06:00

Well, we finally arrived home after a long time away doing many things. Life is fairly quiet here.
It was an interesting journey home- we had one connecting flight to get back, with what was supposed to be a short stop over inbetween. We made it to the gate and then realized that our flight wa delayed. It was about 3:30 in the afternoon... it was delayed about 12 hours.
The good thing is that the airline gave us a free hotel room and supper. So, we caught a few winks. We had no idea how long the wait would be as it was due to fog, and who knows when that will lift. But at 2:40 am when they called we had to get our sorry butts up out of bed and head back for the 3:40 am flight. We were tired, but arrived safe and sound into a beautiful sunny day.

I will try to post some pics a little later today. We are working at getting caught up with the household, emails and life in general...

about the wind

2007-02-01T20:26:00.000-06:00

Not too much to report from here.
Although I must say there is a fantastic wind here.
It's deliciously warm every day but where we are staying there's this wind- combined with the warmth it's very refreshing.
I don't think other places are quite so windy- there's something about the courtyard where we are staying that seems to whip up the wind. So if there's wind outside our place, there's extra wind inside our courtyard.
The only time it's not so nice is if you want to swim in the pool as the pool is cold and then when there are wind squalls on the surface it can be quite chilly.
See? Look at that - I'm on vacation, I really have nothing important to say.

That'll be $7 for parking please

2007-01-29T08:06:00.000-06:00

So, we came up with a plan to avoid all the indiscreetness at the beach- go early.
We trundled down to the beach at 8:30 this morning. It was great, the sun was up, and warm but not hot. And it was at a perfect angle to make the water colour quite gorgeous. There was a nice breeze off the ocean. There weren't very many people there so that was nice, and since it wasn't that hot out, everyone was properly clothed.

The only one annoying thing was that a guy came and told us it cost money to sit on the beach chairs after we'd been sitting there for two hours and were ready to leave. We didn't see a sign or anything. But that's ok, we had a very nice time sitting on those chairs so we paid the guy the money. But what if we'd come down to the beach without money?

Anyway, same time and same plan for tomorrow. Except maybe we'll sit in the sand.

Oh the smells you can smell

2007-01-28T07:42:00.000-06:00

This morning my husband and I came down for breakfast, and had a nice brunch together.

After breakfast we both decided to check our email at a little internet place in the hotel. Not a bad deal at all. It's kind of under a roof and kind of open to the outside. As we were sitting clicking away reading email and what not we smelled a smell that was not pleasant. It smelled like Poo. And I'm not talking about Winnie the.

It seemed to be coming from an air vent, so before going upstairs to our room we complained to the girl behind the check in desk. Her english was not too good. The conversation went like this:

Us: Hi, we just want to let you know there is a poo smell over by the computers.
Her: (Blank look.)
Me: A bad smell, it smells like poo, over there. (waving of hand in front of face and pointing to computer area)
Her: Poo? (blank look)
Hubby: Poo, refuse, defacation, crap
Me: (continued waving of hand under nose and crinkled face expression.)
Her: Oh you mean the sea food...
Us: No a poo smell by the computers, over there.... check it out.

then we left.

And we decided that we would not be trying the sea food.

the dangers of vacation

2007-01-26T20:47:00.000-06:00

Good morning.
Well, I haven't updated in a looong time.
I'm still alive.
Right now Hubby and I are down south- we have some things to do here but first we are taking a little R &R. It's very pretty where we are right now, and very warm.
We just arrived yesterday - and went trucking down to the beach to check it out.
It's beautiful, but one problem is- some of the Europeans (not all of them, just some of them) think it's a non swimsuit kind of beach. At least on the top part. Hello people- this is a normal public beach. Wear your WHOLE swim suit. Even if there's not much swimsuit to wear... put it all on.
Ugh.

A little Catch up

2007-01-06T07:38:00.000-06:00

Why is my mind blank?

I haven't posted for a long time, and lots has happened but my mind is El Blanco. ....

Life has been full and busy, not a lot of reflection time. I am on cold number 2. The second in a number of weeks. I always thought there was some rule that your body has that you can't catch a second cold right after another one.... it's not so bad though. Just a bit runny and sneezy.

How was your New Years? We had a little road trip... nothing too substantial, travelled about an hour and a half away to hang out with some friends. It was fun. The train was a little crazy. Lots of other people travelling too.

When we got there we went for a nice supper, and then went roller skating- on an outdoor rink. Yes it is winter here. It was fun, definately a first for me- the outdoor roller rink part. I took it easy however... the thought of taking a big fall and further wrenching this precarious back of mine kept me from really tearing it up, and getting sassy on the skates. I'm sure sometimes when other people see the way I move, they think I'm like an old granny. Really I just have a strong aversion to pain, so I become quite cautious.

After the roller skating we went back to the apartment and had this incredible cheesecake. Phew. Good stuff. I ate entirely too much sugar, but I don't reget it, it was the last day of 2006. (But, I know that I need to 86 much of the sweet tooth tendancies in my regular day to day eating habits. )

So, New Years, it was fun. It was good to see friends, pray for the world in 2007, worship together, eat and just gab a bit.

Now, we are going to watch "Happy Feet" and goof off.

Good Night for now,
And all the best for 2007!

PS I started taking Vitamin D.

Household bits of Holiday Cheer

2006-12-18T07:25:00.000-06:00

Here are a few pictures I took from around the house. We haven't decorated very much at this point, but we do have a few festive touches around the house.

A wreath to welcome you when you come in..... we're hospitable around here.

A few cards on the sill. Some people like us. Hooray!

We even have a little Pere Noel in the bathroom. He smells good.

This guy's so cute. Look at the way he is smiling, even though part of his nose is missing and pretty soon we are going to light his head on fire.

This is how our tree was for a few days. We didn't get to decorating.

Notice how I changed the lighting for the effect, so the second one looks all soft and dreamy. Yeah that's what you are supposed to do for make over pictures.... make sure the first one looks as unflattering as possible. And then enhance the second one with what ever artificial methods you can. Actually our tree does look nice, soft lighting or not. I like it.

Merry Christmas All!!

cold night warm glow

2006-12-14T08:13:00.000-06:00

Almost bedtime here, sniffling, sneezy head, I need to rest kind of night.
Today was sunny outside, it's been colder these days, and some days pretty foggy. No snow but definately winter.
It's nice and cozy inside though. We just put up our Christmas tree the other day. No decorations on it yet, only white lights. That's almost enough in itself, it makes a warm glow.
Ah yes, I love Christmas.

Mildred Madalyn Johnson by Fernando Ortega

2006-12-11T07:34:00.000-06:00

Mildred Madalyn Johnson
Born in the autumn of nineteen hundred sixteen

A shy, pretty girl from East Texas
Religious and restless
Humble and kind as a person could be

She loved to sing in the choir
Loud and inspired
Her head tilted down, keeping time.

And tell stories with friends after supper
ignoring the hour
a calico cat fast asleep at her side.

And she loved to drive
her big red car
though she couldn't see over
the hood very far
She'd back out the driveway
And point that thing down the road.
We'd say, Oh there she goes.

Her hair was silver and messy
She walked in a hurry
Worried about wasting the day.

Some nights she sat at her dresser
composing long letters
Falling asleep with a pen in her hand.

And she loved to drive
her big red car
A scarf round her shoulders
Her foot to the floor
Down to the grocery
She'd wave good-bye
And we'd pray
Lord, bring her back safe.

Mildred Madalyn Johnson
Marvelous woman
I was so lucky
To call her my friend.

2004 Cerdo Verde Music

November 30th, 2002

2006-11-29T18:54:00.000-06:00

For those of you who don't know, the couple mentioned in the post below are my older brother and his soon to be wife. We are thrilled for them, and I'm looking forward to hearing all the delicious details of the when, wheres and etc...

Now, it just so happens that today is an anniversary of sorts for us. On November 30th 2002 M and I got engaged. We celebrate this day, when we remember. One year we sorta forgot...

It's 4 years ago now, that M told me, "dress up on Saturday night and I'm going to take you out to a nice place." Immediately my spidey sense was tingling. I was pretty sure he was going to propose that night, and I was really nervous. More nervous than him. For sure. I don't know why. Even now, I don't know why I was so nervous.

Anyway, we got in the car, it was a sunny but cold early evening and we headed over to a restaurant with a bright yellow lit up awning. It didn't look like a fancy restaurant. In fact, it's proximity to the Husky Gas station there at that time sort of made me wonder what kind of restaurant we were going to. But when we got inside, it was indeed one of the nicest in town. It was called "The Victorian." I had never heard of it until that night, it was nice, decorated in victorian style, and serving some very good food.

As we were eating, we were both startled by the waiter who said "K, these are for you!" He handed me a bouquet of a dozen red roses wrapped in plain brown paper and twine. Beautiful. We were both startled because the waiter said my name, me because what waiter calls you by name? And M because he had forgotten about dropping off the flowers earlier that day and asking them to give them to me!

So, then I thought, here it comes.... but instead M just said he wanted to take me out to let me know how special I am. So we proceeded to have a great discussion over shrimp and lobster tails.

As supper was nearing a close M asked what I wanted to do, I didn't know.... so he suggested going to a wrestling tournament that was on at the University. Ok, sure I thought. Why not? It was kind of fun to be spontaneous, so off we went... and at that point I thought we were just hanging out, and maybe it wasn't the night for a proposal.

When we got to the University, there was no wrestling, only a volleyball tournament.... his information was wrong. So, he asked if I wanted to go to the games room on the other side of the University. That sounded like fun, so we headed over there. On the way there, M said, "Hey let's check out the observatory", so we went in. Now, M had been carrying around this mysterious piece of cardboard under his arm all night. There was a link between the trip into the observatory and the mystery cardboard but I wouldn't find that out till later.

Inside the observatory we were surpised to find about 20 people all waiting in line to see the stars and planets. At the point we got there, I think they were looking at Jupiter. We got a glimpse and then left pretty quick. It was a bit cold. We headed over to the games room, us and our piece of cardboard.

Our relationship is pretty playful, we like to do things like challenge each other to a few rounds of air hockey or other games like that. So, we had a good time. We ended with a game of pool, and as we were close to finishing, m asked if I wanted to go for dessert with him, and I really couldn't bear the thought of eating a bite more, I was still so full from supper. So, he then asked if I wanted to go for a drive.... ok let's go.

M had this favourite route that he liked to drive on his way to my house, so that's where we drove, it was along by the river. As we came to one particular spot over looking the river with the old Besbourough Hotel on the other side, he stopped the car. It was a beautiful view. And that's where M proposed and I said yes. I don't remember exactly how everything went but as we were sitting there looking out, he pulled out the cardboard. It was actually a folder. Inside there was a star chart, and he told me that he had had a star named after me. When we were at the observatory he had wanted to show me the star but we didn't realize that the observatory actually had programmed viewing, so his plan was thwarted a bit.

Then as I was ewwing and awing about how incredibly sweet and stunning it was to have someone name a star after you, he said, "But that star is too far away, you need one for your finger" and he pulled out the ring box holding a gorgeous diamond ring. Then he proceeded to tell me some things he appreciated about me and asked me to marry him. And I proceeded to say yes.

And so, we'll celebrate today. Just a little. If you get a chance to gaze at the stars, mine is just to the side of the constellation "Lacerta".... it shines it's brightest every year right around November 30th.

Happy News

2006-11-22T08:41:00.000-06:00

Congratulations Lorne and Kerrie!

We are thrilled for you two, and wish you many years of wedded adventure and bliss!

Can you believe this little peanut is getting married?

Congrats to you both!

Things you can't do when you're not in the pool

2006-11-22T08:35:00.000-06:00

Pass me my minies, sonny!

2006-11-17T01:14:00.000-06:00

I have a bottle of multi vitamins from Canada that I want to start taking. First, I've been trying to finish up a bottle that I bought here. It's taking me forever to finish it. When I bought it I thought, "well, it looks like a bottle of Centrum or something and it has a whole list of the vitamins and minerals on the back- must be fine." So, I picked them up.
Today I offered some to a friend, (who speaks and reads the language) and she informed me that it is actually a bottle of vitamins for seniors. I'll still finish it off, I'm sure i need a lot of the same kinds of nutrients. I do find it funny though. I wonder what else we've been eating that isn't what we think it is.

The View from My Porch Window

2006-11-13T08:47:00.000-06:00

I've said before that one of the things that I love about living here is the social aspect. People gather in little groups all over the place. There are two groupings in particular right outside our house.

Everyday there are people who gather around the entrance to the store, and also at the ice cream stand. They play games, cards is a favourite. They shoot pool. (although that is less now as it is getting colder so the outdoor tables are covered.) They gab. They laugh. They share life together.

We aren't really a part of any of it, we just kind of come and go and say hi when we can. Of course there was the night we went out and hung with the one group until the early hours of the day... see below. But really the time I feel most connected to them is when I am making supper.

That might sound strange, but we live on the first floor, and our stove is in a porch. So, when I am making supper then whole neighbourhood can see me in there stirring the soup, or the veggies, or flipping the pancakes. And, I can see them.

My favourite people to watch (well, not in a bad way, but they are RIGHT there! I can't help it!! Besides, it's culturally acceptable here to stare at people, so there) are the people from just upstairs. I'm most familiar with the Grandpa and Grandma- they log hours and hours hanging out at the store, and walking to and fro in front of our apartment. Usually they have their little 2 year old grandson with them. He will almost always smile for me.

For awhile when it was warmer outside, when I was making supper, they were almost always just outside the window. They would give him a little snack at the cement bench or lift a pavement brick back for him to play in the sand underneath it or let him ride on his little plastic thing -a -ma -bob with wheels.

Then others would come home from work greeting each other outside, stopping to chat. And the funny thing- as soon as it got warm here last spring, all these babies popped up everywhere with their grannies. So, the little two year old from upstairs has little friends to play with now.

Anyway, all this to say, yeah, I enjoy the part of life here where people are out, living life in the presence of each other, in the presence of their neighbours... and I love my little view of it through my porch window!

My 100 things

2006-11-02T09:08:00.000-06:00

When many people hit their 100th post, they celebrate. I hit 100 a little while ago. I didn't notice. I guess that is in keeping with my style. Belated but well intentioned.
In honour of surpassing the magic 100 posts, here's my list of

100 things about me:
(if you don't care, then scroll)

1. I'm the 4th of 4 children born in 4 years.
2. I'm the only girl born to my parents.
3. Currenly I live overseas in a developing nation.
4. I'm functional in the local language, but nowhere near fluent.
5. I love dancing, especially ballroom.
6. The viennese waltz and the samba are my favourites.
7. Followed closely by polka, foxtrot, rhumba, cha cha, jive and a good ol two step.
8. I sometimes find ballroom dancing pretty cheesy.
9. One of the things that attracted me to my husband was that he was willing to learn to dance.
10. I once won an essay contest, I won a $100.
11. I like baking but hate the clean up.
12. I love to have a good time.
13. I enjoy people who can laugh at themselves.
14. I once represented my school at the city track meet in throwing shotput. (there were other events too but that one is the funniest if you know me)
15. I like people who are comfortable to be with.
16. My husband is very comfortable to be with.
17. I once used the men's room by accident because the picture of a man's head on the door looked like a woman to me. (I discovered I was in the men's room when I was sitting down in my cubicle and heard men's voices outside my cubicle in the washroom)
18. I like a wide range of music. I especially like to listen to worship music. I also like Steve Bell, Fernando Ortega, Casting Crowns, Norah Jones, Natalie Cole, Great Big C, and lots of other stuff.
19. When I especially like a certain dish at a restaurant, I will reorder that same dish time and again with out trying anything else each time we go there.
20. I hate raw onions.
21. I love to eat wraps, vietnamese food, and shrimp.
22. My husband and i both have a weakness for chocolate.
23. I once spent 10 days on a tributary of the Amazon river.
24. I'm thankful to have travelled a lot.
25. By nature I am a homebody, but you would never know that from looking at my life.
26. The first car that I owned was a very ugly, very old, Datsun 510 that I bought from a friend for $1. It was shaped and coloured like a lime.
27. Although it generally had a good engine, my Dad spent a lot of time fixing it for me. (Thanks Dad!)
28. I like people stories.
29. For some reason I get irritated by chewing and drinking noises. And also strangely by the sound of someone typing loudly on a computer keyboard. (only in certain situations...I can't explain why certain situations grate and others don't)
30. I love my brown corduroy jacket. My husband used to refer to it as my Bob Dylan jacket.
31. I grew up living down the street from an out door skating rink, I went skating almost everyday in the winter when I was a kid.
32. I sometimes miss that, and other simple pleasures that I don't get to do very often anymore.
33. I find it difficult to be patient when I talk with people who are more concerned about the correctness of my wording than they are with trying to really understand what I mean.
34. I'm repelled by arrogant personalities.
35. While I think cats are ok, I am really more of a dog person.
36. My husband is a cat person.
37. I love a good joke.
38. My favourite colour is blue.
39. I wonder why there's such a thing as coffee flavoured gum when people often chew gum to get rid of things like coffee breath.
40. I love going to IKEA.
41. I had to have stiches when I was five, it was for a wound on my head. The neighbour boy hit me there, with his teeth. (crazy accident)
42. I like going out to eat.
43. I also like a good home cooked meal.
44. I've had glasses since I was in grade 4.
45. I love wearing contacts, but I seldom wear them when I am overseas.
46. I studied sociology in university.
47. I'm quite outgoing, and really enjoy being with people.
48. There are some days however when I think I could make a pretty successful run at being a hermit.
49. These two parts of me- my people side and my hermit side sometimes confuse people.
50. I was once kicked out of an emergency room for being disruptive.
51. I used to play the saxaphone.
52. I enjoy playing the piano, but don't get to play much around here.
53. What I miss the most from home while I am overseas-- people- family and friends.
54. What I enjoy the most about being overseas- the people.
55. I haven't yet learned how to make any of the local food- I intend to change that.
56. I'm not great with details.
57. A big part of my life is figuring out how to remember details.
58. I have chronic back problems.
59. Because of my back i try to: wear good shoes, sleep on a good firm but not too hard mattress, not carry much in my purse, and try not to lift many heavy things... these things all make a huge difference in having, no pain, some pain, or I can't walk upright pain.
60. When I'm in North America I love going for a drive and cranking up the tunes.
61. The best Northern lights I ever saw was one night in the fall of 1993 (or 94?) in PA. I've never seen ANYTHING like that again.
62. Homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are my favs.
63. I love peanut butter.
64. and cinnamon buns.
65. I took clogging classes.
66. If they were offered here I'd take it again.
67. I went to Bible College for a year after high school.
68. Summer is my favourite season.
69. I love keeping in touch with people but I stink at it.
70. I often find myself laughing when no one else is.
71. When I was a child I was afraid of the grater. (street grater not cheese grater)
72. I once had a gecko land on my head.
73. I like to read various kinds of books- biographies are a special favourite.
74. People often think I look like somebody they know.
75. I love the feeling of clean sheets.
76. I've been married for just over 3 years.
77. My husband is one of the good guys.
78. We have a very "real" relationship, and it keeps getting better and sweeter.
79. Being overseas has brought us closer together.
80. We don't have any kids or pets yet.
81. We do have lots of dust bunnies.
82. I chose to become a Christian when I was a kid.
83. That was a very good decision.
84. When I was in University I went through an intense time of searching out if what I was believing was true or not.
85. I decided it's true.
86. To me Christianity is a relationship with God, not a religion of doing things to earn points.
87. That makes a big difference.
88. Romans 8:38-39 is a very favourite passage of mine.
89. I like a good soft fuzzy blanket.
90. I love Christmastime.
91. I love getting personal emails.
92. I drive the front desk girl at school a little crazy because i ask if i have mail a lot.
93. I love the morning sun.
94. I love the flowers in my parents and parents-in-law's yard.
95. I love a well told story.
96. I like a good game.
97. I like a good beverage. (hot chocolate, tim horton's ice cap, smoothies, etcetc)
98. There are a lot of things I would love to learn to do.
99. I remember when #99 was traded to the LA Kings. I was in Colorado at the time.
100. For awhile there I didn't think I'd make it to 100.

Bad backs and travelling husbands

2006-10-31T06:34:00.000-06:00

Well, M is outta town still. He'll be home tomorrow. It'll be so good to see him again. I miss him when he's not around.

My back went out a few days ago, so I spent most of saturday and sunday and Monday taking advil and trying not to move too much. I mostly just layed in bed. In some ways the solitude was nice. Just had some time to think and what not. Be still. I got to spend some good time reading and praying. That was good.

I'm feeling quite a bit better today. Not 100% but much better that before. Sitting is still a bit of an undesirable thing, but I can sit for a few minutes anyway.

Well that's about it for now. Quiet night around here.

2006-10-24T07:47:00.000-06:00

The plan for supper tonight was to make some delicious lemon lentil soup from a recipe I found on the "Companies Coming" website. We were so hungry I could hardly wait to get that thing made- umm, lemon lentil! And it would be oh so healthy!

But then, hey, we don't have any lentils! I mean I never cook with lentils, but I was SURE that I had some. Oh well, so much for that idea.

Next big idea- look in the old cookbook I brought from home. There I found a nice pancake recipe with a "v.good" next to it in my mom's handwritting! I was in the mood for nothing less than a "v.good" recipe! So, tonight we had pancakes! They were fast, easy, and we were so hungry we wolfed those things down in 10 minutes flat! We even had some maple syrop to goop on top.

Man those pancakes were good.

The Ice Cream of Champions

2006-10-22T07:55:00.000-06:00

This last week we were lying in bed trying to go to sleep. It was difficult because there was loud noise coming from outside. We mulled over what it could possibly be. It sounded like a show or something.... was it coming from the stadium? nooo, was it coming from the bath house? noooo... finally my hubs decided to get up and go for a little walk outside to see what it was. I decided to go with him. So we got dressed and went out.

It didn't take long to find where the sound was coming from. A bunch of our neighbours were gathered around a big TV (outside) and it was cranked up. This was right across the lane from our apartment. So, we walked over to see what on EARTH they were watching together outside at midnight.

As it turns out, they were watching our neighbours' daughter compete in a world championship sporting event. Little did we know that they have a daughter who is a world class athlete. We knew the neighbors just from casual interaction, they run an ice cream and water stand on the corner by our house! About 16 or 17 people from the neighbourhood had gathered to see her compete on TV. No wonder it was so loud! It was very exciting.

We decided to stick around too. So there we sat until close to 4 in the morning til we saw it all unfold. She didn't get into the top three that night, but almost.

Earlier that day there had also been a parade in our community! The young girl had won a gold medal in the first part of her competition the day before.

So, after staying up til the wee hours of the night, we were really tired the next day, but it was worth it. It was fun to be apart of something going on in the neighbourhood for once. We are now bonded. And we know the parents of a world champion.

cute - i think it's a sneeze

2006-10-14T22:05:00.000-06:00

what do you think of this?

2006-10-14T21:27:00.000-06:00

M meets Mr. Drummond

2006-10-11T07:07:00.000-06:00

Today a few friends were over, we were talking. M told a story that I think he has told me before but I forgot about.
The whole story summarized into one line is basically... when M was about 18 he met Mr. Drummond. You know, Mr. Drummond from Different Strokes. Arnold and Willis's Dad.

Back then, M was working in his hometown. Gorgeous place. If you haven't travelled around there, you really should. (Just don't take FiFi your pet chihuahua for a walk in the woods....cougars) ANYway... one summer, M was working as a bus boy at a nice local restaurant, it was in fact one of the nicest restaurants in town. French. And, as it would happen, one night, who should come for dinner but Mr. Drummond- or Conrad Baines. (this a long time after his run of fame on the TV show.)

Now, what would you do if a celebrity walked into your place of work? Or school, or hangout spot? Acknowlege or not acknowlege?

M chose to not acknowlege the celebrity factor, out of politeness. He decided to treat him like everyone else. Although today he says he thinks he should have acknowleged the fame factor..... the reason being that he found himself in the men's room alone with Mr. Drummond as M was frantically trying to change the paper towels in the paper dispenser, and it was going all wrong, the towels wouldn't come out right, totally jammed, so when he would try to pull a new piece down only a tiny piece would rip off.... all the while Mr. Drummond was waiting with dripping hands. M said that at that point, it would have been good to acknowlege that he knew who Mr. Drummond was because his hands were shaking with nervousness as he was trying to change the towels, and Mr. Drummond looked at him with this, "I know you know who I am." look. M says that he thinks that at that point it probably would have encouraged him rather than annoy him, because he wouldn't have been interrupting his dinner or anything.

So, what about you, if you met a celebrity in your travels today.... would you acknowlege the celebrity factor or not?

There'll be sad songs

2006-10-07T06:56:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. We wouldn't have remembered except for the calendar. It doesn't seem like fall here yet, except that school and everything has started up....but the trees are still green, we were walking around outside in short sleeves today, and this is not a long weekend.
We will celebrate on Monday though. We'll go to a nice restaurant with friends that has a western buffet. It will be a celebration, even if there's no turkey. We'll talk about what we are thankful for. We have a lot.

Tonight, M and I went out for supper, there was live music in the background, piano with violin. They were playing lots of slow ballady songs, which I think put both of us into a sentimental mood. We didn't talk much during supper, which we kind of started laughing about at one point. As we shared what we'd been thinking about we realized that we were thinking similar thoughts about family and friends. I think it was spurred on by the sound of the violin playing some sad love songs.

As much as we were thinking about how much we'd like to connect with family and friends from home, thinking of them makes us realize that we have so much to be thankful for, this will be a good weekend to remember that.

The flowers are back

2006-10-02T01:43:00.000-06:00

There was something that I wanted to post about but now I can't remember what it was. It will come to me sometime.

It's been pretty gorgeous around here lately. Last evening I was strolling back to our apartment after hanging with friends, it was great revelling in the fact that I was comfortable walking around in short sleeves. I love summer, so autumn, while beautiful, is always a bit sad for me. It's kinda nice that the summer stretches out here, and the fall is quite warm. In the early evening you could smell some stinky pollutant odor in the air but by later evening the air seemed quite fresh. The walk back was quite invigorating.

A few days ago I was all set to grab my bike and ride over to meet some friends at a nearby restaurant..... then, my plan I was foiled by this sight.....

Yep, that's like 50 or so potted plants that magically appeared overnight (there are flowers now gracing the street corners all over our neighbourhood) .... and you see that green door in the background? That's our back door. That's where I keep my bike. I called my friends to let them know I'd be walking.

And there it is.

2006-09-27T21:39:00.000-06:00

I have been waiting on pins and needles to hear the good news from Canada.
My dear friend Jackie was scheduled to have her baby by C-section on Monday, so we have been thinking of her and praying for her for a safe delivery. I just spoke with her husband and all is well, and they have a sweet beautiful baby girl. Jackie and baby are healthy and doing fine.

Welcome to the world little Sophia!!

There's no smell if you fry it

2006-09-22T17:52:00.000-06:00

My grammar class is proving to be an interesting time.

So, yesterday, cool guy slipped out of the class a couple times. The second time he left, the teacher asked the girl sitting next to him where he went. So, she told the teacher that he had diarrhea. The teacher began to laugh. And, as soon as cool guy opened the door to come back in the glass, the teacher started laughing loudly with very pronounced "ha ha ha's" and said "So you have diarrhea hey?" I think there may have even been an extended pointing finger. Uh yeah, he was a bit embarrassed.

I find I have to pay close attention in that class. If I let my mind drift off for a moment, I may find myself in an awkward situation. The teacher likes to ask questions. Questions like "What's your eye glass perscription?" and things like that.

Yesterday when we were having said conversation about eye glass perscriptions, cool guy told me that awhile ago, his eyes actually improved, and got better. He suspected it was because he was going through a phase where he was eating lots of fried cow intestines and drinking lots of beer. So that was his advice to me if I want my eyes to improve.

The teacher informed us that she improved her eyes with Laser eye surgery.

I think I'm ok with my glasses for now.

A Tiny but Prestigious University

2006-09-14T07:09:00.000-06:00

Today was a rather damp overcast day. Well part of it. Weather is still pretty nice here, but it has really cooled off a lot from what it was.

Had my first few classes this week.

In my grammar class there's quite a mix of nationalities. I'm the only person who speaks english as a first language. That class seems to be a good level for me. Although I still miss most of the jokes. The teacher laughs pretty hard though so I guess they are pretty funny jokes.

There is a guy who sits at the back of the class, he's the cool guy. He's the kind of cool guy who talks loud and exageratedly trying to be funny and likes the attention when everyone looks at him. When we all read together his reading drowns out the rest of us. Sometimes that kind of cool guy is also the "annoying guy". So far this guy hasn't crossed that line. He's not annoying. (But if he keeps up the reading thing- that'll get old pretty fast.) So far he makes the class a bit more lively. He's probably about 21 or 22. What I found the most entertaining about that guy today was that he was wearing a sweatshirt that said "Teeny Tiny Teddybear University" with with a picture of a teddy bear in a little outfit. So, while I may have been the only one in the class who didn't get the jokes, I was probably the only one in the class who got to enjoy just how funny that sweatshirt was.

update on some of the small things

2006-09-06T05:19:00.000-06:00

I'm back. So you didn't know I was gone? You just thought I was a lame-o poster. Well, let it be known that I am a woman of mystery. You just never know where I am going to turn up. For now, let the mystery be dispersed... I am back in my little apartment, after just over a week away. So, for those of you wondering why I haven't emailed. Sorry about that.

So here it is. I am back. A few small but notable things:

notable things:

Favourite moments of the last few days:
-hiked up a small mountain with some friends, then sat on the grass of a plateau, enjoying the sun and the breeze and the company. Also had a short but enjoyable worship time up there. Whose heart wouldn't swell singing "How Great Thou Art" while perched up on a mountain overlooking the ocean?

-Shared a few jokes with a girl from another country while speaking the local language, well she inserted some key english phrases that made the meaning oh so clear. She is a fun friend and a bonifide crazy woman. I appreciate that.

-Celebrated my hubby's birthday while we were away. Always fun to celebrate him.

Least fav moment of the last few days:

- at a rest stop, my foot got wet when I flushed because the flusher blasted the water out like a fire hose. Who wants gas station toilet water on their sandalled foot?

Interesting notable from the last few days:

I went to the store with the talking birds yesterday. The birds were talking and making other sounds... I was looking at something in my hand when I heard the sound of someone hoarking, and I cast my eyes up to the birds and I thought , "no, it couldn't be!" and then, the bird made a loud hoarking noise again! Ay carumba. Yes people here hoark, a lot.* It's not considered rude. So they hoark. I'm pretty used to it. I don't cringe like I used to..... but it's not my favourite thing that's for sure.

Unexpected notable thing:
While hiking down the little mountain, I fell twice in short order. Both times I put down my hand to stop myself. Kinda hurt my one wrist. What I didn't realize at the time was that this was a good thing. You see, I have a thing on my wrist called a ganglion. It sounds gross, but it's not that bad. It is a bump under the skin, I won't go into what it is... but it's pretty harmless. However... today is the second day after falling and the pain is gone in my wrist, and the bump has become much smaller. (it was filled with fluid..sorry if that's too much detail)... but now, my wrist feels great. In fact it feels better than it has for years. I think that the bump was putting some undue pressure on my wrist that I didn't realize. Now I can lean on my wrist without any discomfort. When I fell I guess I broke the bump open, for the most part it drained and relieved pressure.
Now I'm going to stop talking about drainage... but you get the point.... I'm quite happy about the whole thing.

Most wasteful thing:
Made apple crisp. Might have been the first time I ever made it in my life. Unfortunately I used some of my precious "from Canada" brown sugar, but it didn't turn out very well. The apples were too old and therefore not juicy enough, and I over cooked it. I have realized that the timing of an apple crisp is the key. Then if that weren't enough of a waste- dry apple crisp.... I forgot to bring it with us on our trip so it sat in our fridge for a long time. Bah.

Ok, that's the latest.... how are things with you all?

*just to give some cultural insight, there are some things that we think are culturally ok, but the people here find disgusting...example: picking your teeth ... they think that's pretty gross unless you cover your mouth well. Just like we think hoarking is pretty undesirable, but it's ok to do here, they think picking the teeth is disgusting, but we are much less bothered by it.

"I foreigner, bring water"

2006-08-20T22:06:00.000-06:00

We don't drink the tap water here. At least not unless it's been seriously boiled.

So, in light of that fact, we have to order water. This morning when I got up, I asked my husband: "What are the questions the lady asks you again when you phone for water?"
It's my experience that the people you order the water from talk so fast that some sentances are a complete mystery to me. I can understand "what's your address?" but that's about it.

My husband replied : When they answer you say "I want water." Then they will ask you for your water number. Then you say "I don't have one" then they will say "What? You don't have a water number? Something something something something something something." Then you say "I'm sorry, I am a foreigner. I don't speak the language. My address is .......................please bring 2 jugs." Then they'll bring the water.

You can get away with a lot as a foreigner. As frustrating as it is to not understand a lot of what's going on, in one way it makes life simpler.

A taste of my day

2006-08-17T08:18:00.000-06:00

I made a decision today. I decided it was time to make some chili.

In order to do this I realized that I needed some green peppers and tomatos. So, I rounded up my stuff and set out for the produce market. It's about a 7 or 8 minute walk from our house.

As I walked down the lane outside our house I passed a lady with her little black dog. He's the cutest little pomerainian you ever saw. I tried to take a picture but he ran past me too quickly. He was already some distance away from me when I think the owner told him to come back to me to get his picture taken, he came tearing up to me and ran around me and sat down in front of me for a bit of a petting, then he posed nicely like this:

Then, I tried to take a second "better" picture, but he was already already well on his way to his next destination.

The lady smiled, and we both continued on with our lives.

The market wasn't too busy today when I got there. I like going there. The produce is colourful, and there's lots to choose from. Here's a sampling of what I saw today:

More pics from the market

2006-08-17T08:16:00.000-06:00

I picked up some huge tomatos and a green pepper. The chili turned out well. Have I ever made chili in my life before? I'm not sure. I made it with a mix, so it was a pretty sure thing.

Another thing I did today that I was pleased with was - wash the curtains. Just the bathroom and kitchen ones. Woo! were they dusty. Here's the sparkling clean new look:

My secret to the bright whites.... it's this detergent I buy here. It works. I don't even want to know what's in it....

Woooops!

2006-08-16T10:47:00.000-06:00

Since it is still the International Month of Embarrassment, thought I'd share another little something with you all.

Once upon a time(1996 or so), in a land far away (Saskatoon) I was driving along with my good friend Margie. We were not only friends but roomates(2 among 4 or 5.) It was a Saturday afternoon and we were feeling pretty cheerful returning home after an afternoon of errands at the mall.

As we drove up 8th street, traffic slowed and we found ourselves at a standstill in a traffic jam. So we waited. I was in the drivers seat and as I was talking to Margie I saw in the car next to us someone I recognized. Now I don't know who my brain thought I was seeing but my hand went up faster than my brain could control it and started waving enthusiastically... now this wasn't just a "hey there friend" wave, it was an exuberant, emphatic, eyebrows raised, wide eyed, "it's so good to see you again my very dear old friend, I haven't seen you in ages" flailing arm kind of wave.

Now, that would have been alright had I been waving to an old friend, or a relative, or even a very pleasant aquaintance would have been passable. But the guy I was waving to was our landlord. (cue crack of thunder in background) Now, many people have very very nice landlords. I myself have had some very nice ones, but this guy, yeah, well, not so nice. I'm sure he was nice to his family and friends... but we were.... his renters, and that made us something, well something undesirable, to be avoided like pond scum, or reruns of 3rd Rock from the Sun. He made it pretty clear in his interactions with us that he plain didn't like us. (Hey, we were nice girls! )
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that this guy that I was waving at like a maniac with a big goofy grin on my face was someone that we had this awkwardly cool "relationship" with, even small talk with him was painful.

You might think, "well good for you for being friendly", well sorry, no. A demure smile and a nice little wave of the hand would have been friendly, that would have been a nice gesture.

What my wave communicated was totally disproportionate to what the situation called for. And in the end, he just stared at us, made no response, and then I have no idea what he did after that as I didn't look back. (and we had to sit there next to his car for a bit until the traffic moved again, ugh.) I don't know if he even recognized us (hope not.) I have this little fear that perhaps he thought we were mocking him,(we weren't) because a split second after I started waving, my dear roomate Margie incredulously exclaimed "That's Kevin*!" and then began laughing, no, howling at my stupid gummy grin and frantic waving.

What I want to know is - who did I think that guy was? I still don't know.

*name change

2006-08-14T08:35:00.000-06:00

You Are Big Bird

Talented, smart, and friendly... you're also one of the sanest people around.

You are usually feeling: Happy. From riding a unicycle to writing poetry, you have plenty of hobbies to keep you busy.

You are famous for: Being a friend to everyone. Even the grumpiest person gets along with you.

How you life your life: Joyfully. "Super. Duper. Flooper."

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

TDoTF

2006-08-06T08:36:00.000-06:00

I was thinking about which embarrassing story to share with you, and in the end I decided to go with one of my oldest. It hails back to the time I was around 10. Now, please understand the context. I am a woman with 3 older brothers. If you don't have brothers, then please.......don't judge me. If you are someone with brothers, especially older ones, well, you've probably attempted something similar at some point.

Well, it all started one sunny morning at the lake. I was strolling through the living room of the cabin and I spied that one of the bedroom door curtains was closed. I could hear someone turning pages in the bedroom. I knew one of my brothers was on the bed right behind that curtain reading a comic book. It seemed too good to pass up. The living room was empty so the coast was clear. I very quickly snuck up and stuck my behind through that curtain, then in a clear, bold tone I proceeded to forcefully pass wind. Yep, I cut the cheese, and it was a doozy. I then withdrew my behind from said bedroom snickering to myself.

I thought it was pretty hysterical, until the only response from inside was "oh..." and at that moment the smile disappeared from my face as I realized that I'd made a grave, grave error. It wasn't one of my brothers in there, it was my brother's friend! UGH! Totally different situation! My heart sank in horror.
What was I going to do? I mean, you can fart in front of your brothers, but you can't fart in front of your brothers' friends! How embarrassing! So, I did what any mature 10 year old would do, I took off as fast as I could, and never made mention of it again.

That guy and my brother are still friends, and even to this day I don't know if that guy knows it was me or even remembers "the day of the fart." But I do, boy do I remember it, but I'm not embarrassed anymore, in fact I laugh audibly when I think about it, even if I'm by myself.

International Month of Embarrassment

2006-08-04T07:30:00.000-06:00

I am a person who knows embarrassment. There are different kinds of embarrassment of course. When I say I "know" embarrassment, I am referring to just your everyday "something stupid just happened" embarrassment. For some reason, I am just one of those people who seems to have the faulty zipper, or who mistakes people's identities, or says something a little too loudly, or walks in the wrong door etc etc... you get the picture... I have also been known to let out the occasional snort when I'm laughing.

I sometimes have wondered why these things happen to me. I always end up trying to give it a positive spin by thinking "It's because I enjoy life!" But truthfully, sometimes it has nothing to do with enjoying or not enjoying life. Maybe it has more to do with hastyness, or being unobservant, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time....but sometimes, yep it has to do with enjoying life. That's usually where the snort comes in.

A little while ago I was trying to recall various moments of embarrassment, and I decided that it's worth sharing some of them. Why let them go to waste? So, I hereby dub August- "International Month of Embarrassment." I will share some of my embarrassing moments with you starting tomorrow.... are you excited? Ok, see you tomorrow.

I'm going to go watch a movie just now with my husband...

No no no

2006-08-02T02:43:00.000-06:00

We arrived back in our city last night. It's good to be back. Last night and today we have been unpacking and cleaning up, and getting things organized. I went for groceries today. I went to a big grocery store. That store has the stickiest produce bags around. I find them incredibly difficult to open. My first stop was the produce isle, I could not get a single bag open, at least not before one of the produce attendants would come over and open it for me. It was amazing really, they could open those bags with one swift motion. After the second attendant came over to open a bag for me, I began to try to look casual so as they wouldn't feel the need to come over. Well, 3 or so bags later I had my own personal produce attendant. He just stayed with me. He was actually quite helpful, he began pushing my cart for me, and giving me advice on which potatos to pick. My favourite part was when he said "No no no!" when I picked up a potato he didn't think was up to par. Ah the life of a foreigner.

The Accidental Haircut

2006-07-26T23:24:00.000-06:00

When I say "accidental haircut", I'm not talking about the kind like my oldest brother gave me with his jackknife when he accidentally spit his gum onto the top of my head when I was 10. No, I am referring to the haircut I got the other day, when I wanted one kind of haircut but accidentally got another.

Now, I am no stranger to this kind of thing. It has happened to me on other occasions, and whether it has happened because of my poor description of what I wanted, or because of my not understanding what the haircutter was suggesting...or whether we have a different understanding or what a "layer" is, or even what "shoulder length" means I don't know. My suspicion is that it is all of the above, perhaps with some creative license thrown in by the hairdresser. This is one of the reasons while overseas I rarely get my hair cut. And I almost never get my hair cut in my usual country of residence.....because all of these factors PLUS a language barrier, well it's just too risky. I'd rather just be perpetually "growing my hair out."

Well, I got my second haircut in almost a year the other day. Also a colour and hilight. It was a very interesting time. My head looks nothing like what I asked for. But I like it. The colour isn't too far off what i wanted, I'm a little blonder than I've ever been before but that's ok. It's kinda fun. But the style....how to describe it... my hair before getting it cut was longer, just past my shoulders, pretty close to being all one length. and i said "just cut it above shoulder length...but please don't make it triangle shaped." (Because I hate looking like a character from Dilbert)

I actually think that the triangle comment was what threw it off. He asked if he could "put some soft layers in"...sure, anything that will prevent triangle head. Well, it just took off from there. He just went off on his own creative streak. I can't even describe what my hair is like. But it's definately not triangle shaped, and for that I'm thankful. Perhaps that hair dresser - the whole time was being chased by fear that at the end of all his work I would look into the mirror and declare "How horrible! It's triangle shaped!" Maybe he was doing everything in his power to avoid the horrid triangular label. I don't know. He just kept snipping away, and thinning and snipping... and now I have short hair. But as I said before, I like it, and my hair seems to be taking to it. I think that he did a pretty skillful job. It's a good cut.

You might think it's shallow but I actually prayed for a good haircut before hand. And, I know compared to other problems in the world, it's a small thing, but I am thankful for it just the same. And maybe it wasn't so accidental after all.

Another Day in Paradise

2006-07-26T00:14:00.000-06:00

I was saying to M the other day that coming here to this place is our version of "Going to the Lake." Where I'm from in Canada in the summer many people "go to the lake." It doesn't matter what lake, where, they've just "gone to the lake." Our church tends to empty out and you know it's because most of them have "gone to the lake." Summer is short in Canada, but beautiful, and the lakes are a wonderful refuge. Generally. The place we are staying right now, is by the ocean, very beautiful. But what I like the best about it is that in the evening the little Bay we are near calms down and reminds me of a lake in Canada. The lights come out and twinkle as the restaurants get rolling for their supper business.

I've noticed that it takes me a good 2-3 days to actually become relaxed enough to enjoy a vacation. I'm glad that we are here for a week. I don't know why it takes me time to chill out. Maybe I notice more that I am feeling stress when on vacation because I know I should be relaxed. Maybe it's because we are watching lots of "24". (haha. joke. some of you know that said I would not watch 24 anymore, but this season we are watching is not as violent....)
Well, anyway, I am just entering that part of our vacation where I am destressed, and liking it.

And, I am happy to say that we haven't run into any serious health concerns or biting things during this trip. (Although a baby Praying Mantis did land on M's head on the bus trip here- it didn't hurt him at all. I don't think they bite, just creep you out.)

Now what are we going to do today? Whatever we feel like. Maybe swim later this afternoon. Probably watch some 24. Skip lunch because of the huge breakfast we had.... take some more pictures, exclaim a few more times about how beautiful the butterflies are and what an amazing creator God is, laugh at some stupid jokes, and I just may write a postcard. I have a book with me "Death By Meeting" that I'm tempted to read more of, but I am becoming more convinced that it doesn't belong on this here vacaction. But I do have a pilates DVD that I may break out and do this afternoon. May. We may also go exploring to another area, just to see what's there.

Well, there you have it, with all that said , I'm gonna scoot. Will update again later. If I feel like it. :)

doing nothing in particular

2006-07-25T04:08:00.000-06:00

So, I wrote a post yesterday, I really did, but after it was published it didn't show up on the blog. What's up with that? I felt a little gyped. After actually going to the trouble to actually write something, then it couldn't be seen. I dont' know why. Hopefully this will work.

We are still away from home, currently we are in a very beautiful area, and have a week to relax, so relaxing we are. It's been nice so far. Although it's the rainy season, it's been quite sunny this week. There is also an abundance of butterflies that flutter past the place where we are staying. So beautiful. Today while we were sitting in our lawn chairs, we saw a bird that looked like a toucan but in black and white. That was cool.

I'm writing this from an internet cafe, and finding it hard to write because of the people that keep coming and going and how small it is.. nobody cares about what I'm writing but I do feel a lack of privacy, which leads to a lack of creativity. So, I will stop there, also I'm not sure if this will publish correctly... talk to you later!

Happy anniversary!

2006-07-14T01:28:00.000-06:00

July 12th 2006 has come and gone. It is not forgotten though. It marked 3 years of M and I being married. Happy Anniversary to us! It has been a great first three years. We've learned a lot and laughed a lot, grown a lot.

To celebrate our three years, we went out for a night on the town. First we hit a nice little restaurant with western cuisine. He had the grilled chicken, and I had the Greek salad in a pita, sans onions- accompanied by an A&W rootbeer. ( we are on a bit of a food holiday here as we can get stuff here that' s harder to get in our usual country..) A friend of ours that we bumped into at the restaurant paid for our meals (unbeknowst to us) We were SO surprised!! It was such a nice treat!

We then attempted to go mini golfing, but when we got to the place it was closed down. So, we just went over to the large night market and strolled around there. It was such a nice evening.

Before we went out, M had given me a card and some flowers with chocolate. He got this great bouquet, he tried getting the same colours as our wedding colours but the flower place didn't really have that many in the right shades. It was still very beautiful. He also found some bird of paradise flowers growing along the road which he snipped for me! I thought that was fun too! And he had these other flowers and flower petals that he decorated the room with that had fallen off a tree in the courtyard. I don't know what kind they are but they are beautiful, and smell amazing. Did I ever tell you I married a romantic?

Thanks M for 3 great years!

Pubs, head butting, and night markets

2006-07-10T08:55:00.000-06:00

For the last week we have not been at home. Nor are we at home right now. In fact we are in a different country all together. We have some things to do here, then in a few days we'll have a week of vacation! Yay!
Tonight, I am thankful for old friends. While we are here, there are also some old friends of ours that are in town. It's great. We've had a chance to spend some good time with them. We went out to a restaurant tonight called "The Pub"... I had some pea soup and eggs on toast with fresh squeezed lemon juice. Pretty good.... then we crowded around the tv to see the replay on the guy who head butted the other guy in the World Cup.
Afterwards we just went down to the night market, and strolled around. It was nice, very relaxing.
That's my report for tonight.

2006-06-28T03:20:00.000-06:00

To Purple Girl, Dog Lover, Karaoke Queen, Tickler Extraordinaire, and The Little Curly Haired Girl;

I love you all, and will miss you!

You rock! woo WOO!

And the Winner is.......

2006-06-21T20:50:00.000-06:00

Twinky!

Voted Cutest Dog in the World (by me)

Twinky also earns an honourable mention for being extremely skittish and a gold medal for being flexible. (When she's afraid She can crawl along the ground like a commando.) What a cutie! We all love her!

2006-06-21T18:44:00.000-06:00

Last night, hubs and I were over at a friend's house for supper (homemade pizza with homegrown basil on top.) It as a good time with good people. When we left around ten pm, I was unprepared for the nice surprise awaiting me when I stepped out the door of their apartment building. It was beautiful, it was light, it was oh so refreshing, ..........it was a wiff of nature. I could actually smell something that smelled natural. (natural from the environment, not referring to the natural smell some humans pump out- just to clarify) It smelled like trees or shrubs or some such greenery. And when we looked up the sky was clear, you could see the stars. It was good to be alive.

You might think, yeah, those things are nice, but what're you making the big to do over?

Well, here in this city, until recently there hasn't been a lot of "nature" around, just mostly concrete and pavement. Things are starting to shape up, they are planting lots of trees and bushes, and flowers. All very good ideas in my books, so that is starting to make a difference.

The other thing here that is a BIG problem, is that often when you walk outside, all you can smell is the smell of industry. Stinky industry. Pew. There are some big factories around here and they smell. Then beyond that there is always a plethora of other treats for the olfactory senses when you venture outside- stink from manholes, warm garbage, and assorted things that you can' t quite identify.

There is one whole street that always smells like a sewer mixed with a chemical factory.

So, nights like last night are pleasant, a breeze blowing carrying with it desirable smells, pure smells, things that don't make you want to rush inside. And it's a reminder of how things used to be.

sailing without wind doesn't get you very far

2006-06-20T08:58:00.000-06:00

The school year is almost over and I've noticed that I am ready for it to be finished. I am doing pretty well, don't get me wrong- from day to day things are good. But, how can I tell that it's time for the school year to be finished? Well, I've noticed that right now I have very little patience for the small things. I guess you could say discouragement out of proportion to the circumstance. Now, I'm not walking around all discouraged, but just noticing that little things that normally would be easier to shrug off and keep going, just take the wind right out of my sails (for a little while, anyway.) A feeling of - "ok I give up." That is then followed by a momentary thought of "I would like to go home now."
I don't think it actually has anything to do with being here. It has more to do with me, being tired and ready for a rest. So, I need some perspective I guess.

Like this:(one of my favourite verses on rest)

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Mt 11:28-30). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Here is the same passage from "The Message", (it is a paraphrase....)
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Peterson, E. H. (2003). The Message : The Bible in contemporary language (Mt 11:28-30). Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress

I love that passage, it reminds me where to go when I'm weary, and even reminds me of why I sometimes am weary. At the times when the wind is taken out of my sails, well, maybe there wasn't that much wind in my sails to begin with.

There's only One who can give wind enough to keep me sailing along, and it ain't me.

And as an add on freebie, here's some more perspective that I need...some good old quotes from none other than Corrie ten Boom herself:

"The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy."

"Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear."

"Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible."

"Faith is like radar that sees through the fog -- the reality of things at a distance that the human eye cannot see." Cornelia ten Boom (1892-1983)

Reading Corrie ten Boom is always encouraging too. ( And she looks just a little bit like my grandma. See?---that makes her extra cool)

Ah, I feel better now.

I'm back

2006-06-17T22:22:00.000-06:00

Sorry internet world. I have let you down. I have been AWOL from the blogging world.
Well hopefully posting this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4cQ3BoHFas will make up for it. Funny. Very very funny. So click on it.

Hamburger loving foreigners

2006-06-11T20:32:00.000-06:00

It is so hot here.

Geographically you wouldn't think it. But we are in one of three of the hottest cities in this country.
(in the summer)
Yesterday we arrived back to our city after some travelling and just before getting off the train we were standing in what felt like air coming out of a hot air vent. I thought we must be standing by a machine or something generating heat, and I was anxious to get off the train into the cool air outside. So, it was rather surprising to get off the train and discover that there was no cool air, the stream of hot air was coming from outside. It was an unusual sensation.

Thankfully our apartment isn't too hot. It is pretty comfortable for the most part.

The train ride back was nice. Had a funny little thing happen. A lady came around selling ice cream and hamburgers. The guy next to us bought something from her, then she asked if he wanted a hamburger too. He replied that the foreigners could have the hamburger. My husband started to laugh. The guy didn't realize that we could understand him, till that point , and he was embarrassed and apologized.

THis is a good reminder for me to watch myself, as we say a lot of things that we assume no one around us understands because we are speaking in english. Yeeps. Caution necessary.

I could walk 500 miles

2006-05-30T08:29:00.000-06:00

At least I feel like I walked 500 miles today. It just so happens that I walked everywhere I went today, and that covered a lot of distance all told. I think if you put all the walking between destinations together today...I probably spent close to two hours pounding the pavement. I am trying to be more active, so it works- although my feet are tired.

I actually really enjoy walking around here. There is absolutely no shortage of things to see on any walk, any time around here. Even yesterday, I walked to the grocery store, and along the way I saw a guy playing crouquet, a whole herd of women with matching t-shirts on bikes with waving flags, and the usual assortment of interesting outfits (some stylish some not so), cute babies etc.... it was a feast for the senses.

One other time when I was in a taxi, I saw these two women on a bike, one was doubling the other, but the one on the back of the bike wasn't sitting, she was standing on the back of the bike. Why was she standing? I don't know, maybe she just ironed her pants, or maybe she had hemorrhoids, or maybe she just loved to be a bit of a daredevil. Who's to say? I don't know. But it lead me to thinking. And I realized that almost everytime I go out, I see something that makes me go "huh, will you look at that." There's always something very interesting to look at. Be it the incredible things people move on their bikes- maybe a gigantic palm tree or a massive load of bananas, multiple tv sets, or multiple people....or be it a social interaction- two people arguing with each other, a public break up, a gaggle old ladies or men gathering together for their morning chat session, or be it the fashions people wear...(and that is a whole nother topic for a whole nother day.) It makes for an interesting experience, that's for sure.

Yesterday, while at the supermarket(that I walked to) I had a nice time, I only had a few things to pick up so no mad rush. I happened upon a sale rack with these cute little baby dresses that could be used as fun gifts for friends, and they were about $2 Cdn. Can't beat that. Then I found a tank top on another rack that had my name on it followed by the adjective "Sweet" .... I bought it.
Ok, well, I must be off to bed now. All that walking and looking at everything has me a bit beat!

2006-05-23T02:19:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posty posty lately. ..

You know what? I like lists. and I like stories...I don't really have any stories to tell you right now...so why not a list? Yeah, I feel like a list, so here goes....
A list of some random things:

1. My beautiful yellow bike with the checker seat cover was stolen.
2. Now I walk to school.
3. It's a nice walk.
4. There are many rose like flowers blooming all along the walk.
5. It's getting very hot here.
6. I am realizing more and more as I get older that there are some things that I am good at, and some things that I am not good at. And that's ok.
7. We had to make a sentance using the word "wish" today in class. Our teacher asked us what we wish for, so I said "world peace" which was the first thing that popped into my head......but once it came out of my mouth, for some reason it sounded like a beauty contestant answer like I was competing for Miss Congeniality or something......I was pleased with myself. My friend and i had a good laugh. As did the Korean guy sitting next to us.
8. If you have access to any Corrie ten Boom books, they are worth reading. No matter how old they are.
9. Got a couple letters in the mail last week. That made me very happy.
10. I told you this was a list of random stuff.

And now, for a picture!

Why, you say? Because... besides lists and stories I also like pictures of cute little tiny Koala Bears. Photo courtesy of cuteoverload.com !

Important Detail- Da Vinci Code is Fictional

2006-05-15T08:43:00.000-06:00

So, like, some good advice, umm don't base your life philosophy around a book that you have to go to the "Fiction" section of the library to find.

The Birthday

2006-05-15T08:31:00.000-06:00

So, yeah, my birthday was last week. It was pretty much an ordinary day. Things went on as usual. Did however get various cell messages from people, a few emails, a few cards made their way to me too. A couple people called from home. That was really nice. I appreciated all the thoughtful gestures.
We also out with some friends for supper. Actually there were three of us who had birthdays within a week, so another friend of ours treated us to a nice supper at a great buffet in town. It was relaxing. At the end, I was presented with a basket full of goodies- totally fun! (Some cake followed a few days later too!)

Hubs gave a IOU for some decent art on the walls and 4 plants. These are both things that thrill me to no end. Really.

So, all in all, it was a good day.

I had wanted to take more time to let the coming of another birthday spur me on to be reflective. However, life just seemed to speed up as the day got closer, so, no thinking was done. I had a birthday, and that's about all I know for now.

A few things

2006-05-10T08:32:00.000-06:00

A few things to update everyone on- my husband is doing much better physically. He is down to one and a half pills each day. The doctor told him this week though that he needs to stay on the medication for another 2 months. (Just taking a pill a day.... which is a lot better than 18 a day which is what he started on) Apparently this will help him avoid a relapse. So, ok, medicate away!

Second update: scorpion is missing from his little jar. Although my husband isn't sure if the scorpion got eaten by the other very ugly creature that he put in the jar that was supposed to be food for the scorpion to eat - or if he got out. Apparently the jar was tilted.... but don't worry though, the jar was in the back yard, not in the house. I'm sure he's miles from here by now. I don't think I need to go into my personal feelings about this topic.

Third: We are going away for a few days. Should be back saturday.

Fourth: Sorry to those of you that I need to email!

Fifth: Monday was my birthday, more on that later. ....Nice day on the whole.

Must hit the hay now. It's getting late and I'm tired.

A little trip out to the country

2006-05-02T07:12:00.000-06:00

Today we just came back from a trip to the country side. It was a very interesting time.

We went with a couple who are good friends of ours. The purpose of the trip was to visit his the husband's parents home for a big celebration of their baby's birth.

It was interesting on many levels. It was interesting because of going to our friend's home, and meeting relatives and friends (there were some 200 people that came for lunch.) It was interesting because we got to spend some extra time with our friends. And it was interesting because we were in the countyside. It's different than the city. Simpler. And some of the old traditions are more prevalent there.

For me, one of the hardest things about being in this part of the world is seeing the status of women. And how men are favoured over women. Certainly there are countries and people groups that are far far more extreme, and given to injustice, but still there are some things here that just grieve me.

Let me just say this to start: people here love their babies, they adore them, they heap attention on them and dote on them constantly.

With that said, it is true that there is still a big problem here with many people prefering baby boys over girls, especially in the countryside. As we were driving around our friend's old village and surrounding area, we noticed a slogan written on one brick wall "Baby boys and baby girls are equally good." This was written by the government. Sigh. Propaganda to convince new parents about value of their babies.

Our friends' baby that we were there to celebrate is a boy. But they would've been happy either way. But as we were celebrating with all the neighbours and relatives, I wondered how the comments, and general feel would have been different if the baby was a girl?

There were other things that I saw and heard that also hilighted the inequality between males and females in the family unit here. And, I have to admit, as our time there wore on, I got angry. I was enjoying being there, and I know that what God requires of me is to love people...but this whole issue really gets to me. I can get really riled up about it, (And i mean really Riled up with a capital R) As most women can, I've noticed.

I know that our God is a God who hates injustice. He does. Hates it. and it's good to hate injustice too. One thing that I've realized that I have to be careful of, is to not hate the people who I think represent the injustice. Hating injustice= healthy.... Hating people= cancer...... this is very hard. I know I can only do this by God's power. Because I'm tempted to swing one way or another...either hate both the people and the injustice or just let it all go and be apathetic. Neither is a good option.

Ok, so I'm wrestling with this one. But I have firmly decided I will not be an angry woman. I will not be an angry woman. I will not be an angry woman. Period.

My husband has a new pet

2006-04-27T09:48:00.000-06:00

Remember how I wrote before that one of my most horrific moments while travelling earlier had to do with a gigantic centipede in my bed?

Ugh. I still get sicked out thinking about it.

Well, not to be out done, my husband has managed to top that one. While he was sleeping last week, he was stung by a scorpion. Yeah, a scorpion. No it didn't kill him. Didn't swell, turn red, bleed ...but it really really hurt. And it totally freaked him out because he had no idea what was going on with his leg at the time. But he was all better by morning.

And no, thankfully it wasn't in our bed where he got stung. It was out in a little hotel in the countryside. (There are some scorpions out there, but none in the city here where we live. )

So, now he has a new little pet. Yep he brought it home. Alive. Perhaps that illustrates a difference between men and women....when I found that centipede I smashed him to smitherenes with a shoe in about 5 seconds flat, and he didn't even bite me. My hubby not only brought his scorpion home but is trying to feed it to keep it alive.

Well, time to go to bed. I'm tired. Think I'll give the sheets a shake before I hop in. Brrrrrrrr.

Happy Easter!

2006-04-17T07:37:00.000-06:00

Well, we've come to the end of a nice quiet day. We cleaned up around here, did laundry, and had a "date night" this evening. Yesterday was full but very good. We had our Easter celebration yesterday. A few of our friends came over around 11:30 and we prepared a BBQ lunch together...it wasn't ready until 2pm to actually eat, but it was worth it! Woo! We had some good eats. We had the shishkabobs, ribs, and a platter with veggies and ranch dip among other goodies..... it was a great food experience. People dug out from their special stores of stuff that they had squirrelled away for a rainy day....meaning things that they brought from Canada or somebody brought in for them. I offered up my ranch dressing. I carted it over with us last summer. It was good. I'd forgotten how much I like Ranch dressing. Someone else dug out their smoked salmon that someone sent over for them, and made salmon pinwheels with some cream cheese that I found at one of the stores downtown. (It's very exciting that we can now buy cream cheese here in our city!) It was nice to bring some special items out to celebrate the special day. And it was nice to spend it together.
After eating we had a worship time together, just singing praise to God for His amazing victory on our behalf. Rejoicing that He truly is alive, and a part of our lives. It was good.
So, after all that, we had today to get things back in order. We'll probably go to bed early. We are both tired and the next few days look to be very busy.
Hope you had a very meaningful Easter, and that you got to truly worship Him for His indescribable gift!!

Peace!

80 Facts about Elizabeth

2006-04-10T19:05:00.000-06:00

I am not a royal watcher or fanatic, but I thought this list of 80 facts about the Queen was interesting. In preparation for her 80th birthday Buckingham Palace released this list.
(I got it from this website .)

Buckingham Palace. 80 fascinating facts about the Queen

1 Queen Elizabeth II is the 40th monarch since William the Conqueror obtained the crown of England.
2 In 2002, aged 76, the Queen was the oldest monarch to celebrate a Golden Jubilee. The youngest was James VI and I at 51.
3 Since 1952 the Queen has conferred more than 387,700 honours and awards.
4 The Queen has personally held more than 540 Investitures.
5 The Queen speaks fluent French and regularly uses it.
6 The Queen has received more than 3 million items of correspondence during her reign.
7 Around 1.1 million people have attended her garden parties at Buckingham Palace or the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
8 The Queen has given regular Tuesday-evening audiences to ten British prime ministers. The first was Winston Churchill (1951-55).
9 Tony Blair is the first prime minister to have been born during the Queen's reign. He was born in May 1953 - a month before her coronation.
10 The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh introduced small, informal luncheon parties at Buckingham Palace to meet distinguished people from all professions, trades and vocations. The first was held on 11 May, 1956.
11 The Queen is patron of more than 620 charities and organisations.
12 The Queen has undertaken more than 256 official overseas visits to 129 different countries.
13 The Royal Yacht Britannia was launched by the Queen on 16 April, 1953 and was commissioned for service on 7 January, 1954. It was de-commissioned in December 1997.
14 The Royal Yacht Britannia was first used by the Queen when she embarked with the Duke of Edinburgh in 1954 at Tobruk, for the final stage of their Commonwealth Tour. The last time the Queen was on board Britannia for an official visit was on 9 August, 1997 for a visit to Arran.
15 The Queen has visited Australia 15 times, Canada 23 times, Jamaica six times and New Zealand ten times.
16 Since her accession to the throne in 1952, the Queen has visited Edinburgh nearly every year, staying in the Palace of Holyroodhouse during Holyrood Week.
17 During her reign, the Queen has received many unusual gifts, including live animals; among them jaguars and sloths from Brazil, and two black beavers from Canada.
18 The Queen has sent around 100,000 telegrams to centenarians in the UK and the Commonwealth.
19 The Queen has sent more than 280,000 telegrams to couples celebrating their diamond wedding anniversaries.
20 The Queen's real birthday is on 21 April, but it is celebrated officially in June. This monarch's tradition dates back to the reign of Edward VII, who felt that his November birthday was unsuitable for celebratory parades owing to the cold weather.
21 The Queen has attended 34 Royal Variety Performances.
22 The Queen has opened 15 bridges in the UK.
23 The Queen has given at least 91 state banquets.
24 Since 1952 the Queen has undertaken 78 state visits accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh.
25 The Queen has launched 23 ships in her lifetime. The first was HMS Vanguard which she launched, as Princess Elizabeth, on 30 November 1944 in Clydebank. The first ship which she launched as Queen was the Royal Yacht Britannia, also from Clydebank.
26 The Queen has sent about 37,500 Christmas cards.
27 The Queen has given out around 78,000 Christmas puddings to staff, continuing the custom of King George V.
28 Every year the Queen sends Christmas trees to Westminster Abbey, Wellington Barracks, St Paul's Cathedral, St Giles', Edinburgh, the Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh, Crathie Church and schools and churches near Sandringham.
29 The Queen learned to drive aged 19 in 1945 in the army.
30 As a young woman, the Queen was a Girl Guide and a Sea Ranger.
31 While a princess, the Queen travelled on the London Underground for the first time in May 1939.
32 The Queen is a keen photographer and enjoys taking photographs of her family. Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, is also a keen photographer and has taken a number of photographs of the Queen, including an official photograph for her Golden Jubilee in 2002.
33 The Queen was born at 17 Bruton Street, London W1, on 21 April, 1926, and was christened on 29 May, 1926 in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace.
34 With the birth of Prince Andrew in 1960, the Queen became the first reigning British sovereign since Queen Victoria to have a child.
35 The Queen has 30 godchildren.
36 The first football match the Queen attended was the 1953 Blackpool v Bolton FA Cup Final.
37 The Queen has taken the salute in every Trooping the Colour ceremony since the start of her reign, with the exception of 1955, when a national rail strike forced its cancellation.
38 The Queen has sat for 139 official portraits during her lifetime, two of which were with the Duke of Edinburgh. The most recent sitting was for Rolf Harris (2005).
39 The Queen sat for the first and only hologram portrait in 2003.
40 There have been 11 sculptures of the Queen. The most recent was in 2005 by Miss Angela Conner for St George's Chapel, Windsor.
41 The first "Royal walkabout" took place during the visit by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to Australia and New Zealand in 1970.
42 In 1969 the first television film about the family life of the Royal Family was made, and shown on the eve of the Investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales.
43 An important innovation during the Queen's reign was the opening in 1962 of a new gallery at Buckingham Palace to display items from the Royal Collection. It was the first time that parts of the palace had been opened to the general public.
44 The only time the Queen has had to interrupt an overseas tour was in 1974, during a tour of Australia and Indonesia. She was called home when a general election was called suddenly.
45 The Queen has opened Parliament every year except 1959 and 1963, when she was expecting Prince Andrew and Prince Edward respectively.
46 The Queen went on her first state visit as Princess Elizabeth, to South Africa with her mother and father, in 1947. The tour included Rhodesia and Bechuanaland, Swaziland and Basutoland (now Lesotho).
47 The Queen's first Commonwealth tour in November 1953 included visits to Bermuda, Jamaica, Panama, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, the Cocos Islands, Ceylon, Aden, Uganda, Libya, Malta and Gibraltar.
48 The Queen was the first British monarch to go to China. She made the trip in 1986.
49 The Queen has made a Christmas broadcast to the Commonwealth every year of her reign except 1969.
50 In 1953, the Queen made the first Christmas broadcast from overseas, broadcasting live from New Zealand.
51 The Queen sent a message of congratulations to the Apollo 11 astronauts for the first Moon landing on 21 July, 1969. The message was micro-filmed and deposited on the Moon in a metal container.
52 The Queen has met the following astronauts at Buckingham Palace: Major Yuri Gagarin, Valentina Tereschkova, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.
53 The Queen sent her first e-mail in 1976, from an army base.
54 There have been six different Archbishops of Canterbury during the Queen's reign.
55 In 1982, when Pope John Paul II visited Britain, he was the first pope to do so in 450 years. The Queen, as titular head of the Church of England, received him at
56 The Queen visited a mosque in the UK for the first time in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, in July 2002.
57 The Queen has attended 50 Royal Maundy services during her reign at more than 39 different cathedrals.
58 The Queen has owned more than 30 corgis during her reign, starting with Susan, who was a present for her 18th birthday in 1944. The Queen currently has five corgis, Emma, Linnet, Monty, Holly and Willow.
59 The Queen also introduced a new breed of dog known as the "dorgi" when one of the Queen's corgis was mated with a dachshund which belonged to Princess Margaret. The Queen currently has four dorgis: Cider, Berry, Candy and Vulcan.
60 As well as corgis and dorgis, the Queen also breeds and trains labradors and cocker spaniels at Sandringham. There is a special Sandringham strain of black labrador founded in 1911.
61 The Queen's first pony was a gift from her grandfather, King George V, when she was four. This was a Shetland pony called Peggy. The Queen continues to ride at Sandringham, Balmoral and Windsor.
62 Horses bred at the Royal studs over the last 200 years have won virtually every major race in Britain. The Queen has about 25 horses in training each season.
63 The Queen's racing colours are purple body with gold braid, scarlet sleeves and black velvet cap with gold fringe.
64 The Queen continues the Royal Family's long association with racing pigeons, which began in 1886 when King Leopold II of Belgium made a gift of racing pigeons to the Royal Family. The Queen is patron of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association.
65 The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were married on 20 November 1947 in Westminster Abbey. The Queen's wedding dress, designed by Sir Norman Hartnell, was woven at Winterthur Silks Ltd, Dunfermline.
66 The Queen's dressmakers have included Sir Hardy Amies, Sir Norman Hartnell, Karl-Ludwig Couture and Maureen Rose. The Queen's milliners have been Frederick Fox, Philip Somerville and Marie O'Regan.
67 The Queen's wedding ring was made from a nugget of Welsh gold from the Clogau St David's mine, near Dolgellau.
68 The Queen has an extensive collection of jewellery, most of which are Crown Jewels, including the largest pink diamond in the world.
69 The Queen has laid a wreath at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday every year of her reign, except in 1959, 1961, 1963, 1968, 1983 and 1999, when she was either pregnant or overseas on an official visit.
70 The Queen has visited the sets of Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale.
71 In 1997, the Queen launched Buckingham Palace's first official website.
72 In 1998, the Queen introduced "theme days" to promote and celebrate aspects of British culture. The first theme day was "City Day" focusing on financial institutions.
73 In June 2002, the Queen hosted the first public concerts - the "Party at the Palace" - in the garden of Buckingham Palace to celebrate her Golden Jubilee.
74 The Queen is the first member of the Royal Family to be awarded a gold disc from the recording industry. 100,000 copies of the CD of the "Party at the Palace" were sold within a week of release.
75 The Queen hosted the first women's-only event, "Women of Achievement", at Buckingham Palace in March 2004.
76 In November 2004, the Queen invited the cast of Les Misérables in the West End to perform for the French president, Jacques Chirac, at Windsor Castle.
77 As a young girl, the Queen acted in a number of pantomimes during the Second World War, including playing the part of Prince Florizel in Cinderella in 1941. These took place every year at Windsor Castle.
78 In 2005, the Queen claimed ownership of 88 cygnets on the Thames. They are looked after by the swan marker. The first royal swan keeper was appointed in the 12th century.
79 The Queen still owns the sturgeons, whales and dolphins in the waters around the UK, thanks to a statute from 1324, when King Edward II reigned. Sturgeons, porpoises, whales and dolphins are recognised as "Fishes Royal". When captured or washed ashore within three miles of UK shores, they may be claimed on behalf of the Crown.
80 In 2005, the Queen opened the first "children's trail" in the Buckingham Palace garden for the summer opening.
10 more things you may not know
• 1 In 1964, the postage-stamp designer David Gentleman suggested to Tony Benn, then the postmaster-general, that a new set of stamps be issued without the Queen's head on them. Benn was open to the idea but, after these were mocked up for viewing, word came from the Queen that the status quo was to be observed. She did, however, like Gentleman's idea of substituting her full-face portrait with a profile in silhouette.
• 2 The Queen takes breakfast in the first-floor dining room of Buckingham Palace. Tupperware boxes of cornflakes and porridge are left on the table with a pot of Earl Grey tea. There are silver spoons for the marmalade.
• 3 The Queen carries a comb, a handkerchief, a small gold compact and a tube of lipstick in her handbag.
• 4 Most people think that the Queen never carries money, but she does on Sundays - a folded note, of unknown denomination, which she places in the collection plate at church.
• 5 As a child she was known as "Lilibet" by her close family.
• 6 Touching the Queen is strongly discouraged. Paul Keating, the Australian prime minister, below, broke this rule when he was photographed with his arm around the Queen in 1992 and was afterwards dubbed the "Lizard of Oz" by the British media.
• 7 The Queen, as Princess Elizabeth, spoke on Children's Hour in October 1940. Many British children had been evacuated to the countryside, and Princess Elizabeth wished them luck in their new homes.
• 8 The Queen does not accept honorary degrees from any university.
• 9 As part of the royal prerogative, the Queen does not require a driving licence.
• 10 Orkney is the only part of the UK in which the Queen cannot claim ownership of swans.

I guess the website added on those last 10. My personal favourite it the fact about the "Dorgi's." I wonder why the Queen can't own the swans in Orkney?

Quiet Sunday

2006-04-09T09:10:00.000-06:00

Had a quiet day today. Mostly just relaxed and spent some time with my husband. Wanted to catch up on writing some personal emails, but I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow.
Popped in to see our friends who have the baby. Once again, the baby smiled for me...and he was even having a grumpy day. And once again I was informed that other than the immediate family...I am the only person he will smile for. :)

Testa Della Benna!

2006-04-07T08:36:00.000-06:00

One of my friends told me once that when he would travel or meet people from different countries he would make a point of asking them how to say "Bucket Head" in their language. Why you ask? No real point to it. After playing around with an online translation website I felt inspired. So, here ladies and gentlemen is "Bucket Head" in 10 languages. (Why?........................ no real reason)

1.Het Hoofd van de emmer
2.Tête De Seau
3.Wanne Kopf
4.Κεφάλι κάδων
5.Testa Della Benna
6.バケツの頭部
7.물통 머리
8.Cabeça Da Cubeta
9.Головка Ведра
10.Cabeza Del Cubo

Now, here's your turn to take a guess at what each language is.....if you are so inclined, and a little brave... then leave your best guesses in the comments box. Or are you afraid you might end up looking like a het hoofd van de emmer?

*Note: to all you fluent in other languages smartie pants out there.... yes yes I know- the grammar may not be correct on all of them...blame the machine!!

But....but...I don't speak the language

2006-04-05T19:37:00.000-06:00

I have to write a 500 word essay on any topic. Any suggestions for a topic anyone?
Maybe I'll write it on how to fly to the moon and back.

2006-04-01T09:32:00.000-06:00

It finally happen. I knew it would. Instead of saying his name properly I accidentally called a guy "Little Step Mother."

Then after that I taught a guy to say "You're the man!" Which brought me great satisfaction.

You should be more careful next time

2006-03-29T07:35:00.000-06:00

Living overseas can be a very "romantic" thing. Romantic in the Anne of Green Gables sense. It can be fun, it can be interesting, adventerous, and definately stretching.
But, those of us who live or have lived overseas in a foreign culture know that with all of the "good stuff" also comes the stuff that threatens to drive you absolutely cuckoo.
There are just those moments that leave you feeling like you would like to throw your hat on the ground, jump up and down on it, with steam pouring out your ears, while letting out a blood curdling yell from the bottom of your gut. I won't get into a big discussion about it all here right now...but I will talk about it sometime. All in all- cultural differences are healthy. They make you, nay force you to choose whether you will walk in step with the Spirit or not. And they develop your character. But there are those choice moments when it's just so hard to not be an angry foreigner!

Here is an example. Tonight, I went to work out with a couple friends. We checked out a step aroebics class. Quite good. We were feeling fine. It was a little late, so we just popped into a little restaurant nearby to grab something quick to eat. They had some food that we were looking forward to eating. So, we order, the food comes...we start to eat. My friend finds an egg shell in her food.... we keep eating, I chomp down on a hard piece of bone, I spit it out. We keep eating. Then I bite on something hard and sharp. OUch!! What is it? I take it out...it's a jagged little piece of glass!!! (So, I must say here, I've never had glass in my food here, so it is an out of the ordinary experience) So, immediately I worry that maybe there was other glass in my food that I ate already, or something. I definately felt unsettled! So I go up to the girl behind the counter and I show her the glass. And she replies "You should be more careful next time." That's it. That's all I get. Fortunately I didn't make a scene because at that moment I didn't understand what she said until I went back to my table and repeated it to my tablemates who informed me of the meaning of the response.
So, I saw the manager, brought her to our table and told her what happened. and she basically just offered my money back or another bowlful. I appreciated that she was fair about it. We didn't say too much other than that is not safe. And she really didn't say much other than making that offer. Now I wish we would have given her a long speech about what to tell the guys in the kitchen. About how if they break something and they aren't sure where the glass went, then they should throw it out, and to be careful not to get egg shells in stuff..etc etc... Not angry like, but long and descriptive so as to stress how unsafe the situation was. And I wished we would have coached her on how the staff should respond if someone complains that there is glass in their food. ie you don't say "You should be more careful next time." Anyway, stuff is like that here. You always second guess how you handled something. Oh, maybe I was too hard on them, oh maybe I was too easy on them, maybe I didn't say enough, oh maybe I embarrassed them, oh maybe they cheated me, oh, maybe they didn't understand what we were saying!.... and etc!

ANyway, my point wasn't about the manager, but about the first girl. "You should be more careful next time" girl. She and I should both be very thankful that I couldn't understand her response right away. Sometimes it's grace to not have all the words you need to express what you are feeling!! But in the situation, she said what she could say. In her mind she wasn't being a twit. I don't exactly know what was going on in her mind, but I do know this.... that here, someone with her job has no power. So she only has permission to do her little job and nothing else. She can't step out of her little job "box." She has no power to say- "Oh that's terrible!! I'm so sorry let me see what I can do for you!" Nope, she doesn't have that authority. Only the manager has the authority to do anything or offer any consideration. So, actually even as I walked up to the counter to complain, I knew in my heart, "this is going to go nowhere. "( While I realize that in canada a lot of clerks and restaurant personelle are limited too, that they have to get the manager to ok a lot of stuff... it's just a whole different level here)

SO, anyway, all this to say. While I do really love living here, and there are so many things that are all those great things- fun, interesting, adventurous, new and we love the people here.....Sometimes living here isn't "romantic." Sometimes it's hard, and it tempts you to be grouchy, and irritable, especially when people say things that you think "Dude, why would you even remotely think that is an ok thing to say to me?" "Why would you tell ME to be careful when YOUR restaurant served ME a shard of glass hidden in my food?" Ok, calm down....so, sometimes it's hard. But it's always healthy. The harder cultural things here do serve to refine you. It shows you your own ugly side, and calls you to make sure that you are walking with Christ. And sometimes you bungle it, you scowl when you should smile, you snap when you should be gently firm....and often you feel rotten later -"Oh why did I handle that so badly?" but even in that you grow. You grow because it only reinforces how great the grace is that we stand in.

My "Most" moments for this last little while

2006-03-26T07:20:00.000-06:00

Here are the winning moments in various categories of everyday living over the last couple weeks:

My most Pleased with myself moment: had a few friends over- made a meal of squash soup and a chicken couscous dish. And, hey whatdya know -it all turned out well. My dear Hubby also made strawberry smoothies for everyone! The crowd went away satisfied!

My Most displeased with myself moment: Discovered I've lost my bike key, with the lock locked. Arg!

My Most Fearful moment: In the middle of the night I heard a noise in the corner of the room. While I am not afraid of mice, it's still alarming to have some unidentified -"could be a rodent" noise in the corner. We later identified the noise as our blind sweeping an airfreshner across the window sill- it was soooo windy the air was coming right through the closed windows, and moving the blinds.

Most windy moment: A few nights ago. It was really windy.

Lowest moment: the other morning laying on my bed, sick as a dog.

Most encouraged by others moments: 1. - a friend here told me the story of how her daughter broke her arm a few months ago but God healed it in 7 days. Apparently the doctor said "This is not possible" when she looked at the healed arm. 2. An encouraging email from Amy about what God has done in her life recently. Yeah!

Most inspired moment: Did a word study on the word "guard" from Philippians 4:6.

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
4:7
And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
The Greek word for "guard" here is used in other places in the NT in a military sense....

Moment most lacking in closure: Watched half of "The Sound of Music" then the disc was all wonky and couldn't finish it. (Yes I have seen it before, but i was really into it)

My most pleasant turn of events moment: Got message that one of my teachers from last term is taking over my conversation class- it's the lady who does the splits.... I like her.

My most anti climactic moment: Had this lovely couple over for lunch- they are also foreigners here, but not from North America. I spent a good part of the morning getting ready, served Shepherd's pie and stir fried veggies.....they were very polite, but I could tell they didn't really dig the food. (Not used to it...I've served that same dish to nationals here, and they really liked it, so I thought it would go over for them too....) We still had a good conversation, and we'll hang out again which is great, I really like them.

Alrighty - well that's enough of that!
Hope you are having lots of notable moments too. For all kinds of reasons.

Nick names

2006-03-24T07:29:00.000-06:00

There's a new friend that we recently met, his english is quite good. He has this super sincere personality. Very friendly and loves to speak english with you. I just had to post this little story that I heard about him tonight!!

He also knows two of my North American friends-Brad and Rhonda.
So, one day our friend (Let's call him Earl) walks up to Brad and says "Hey! I have a new name for you! Want to hear what it is?"
Brad:" OK!"
Earl: "It's Chubby Boy!"
Ok, so Brad at this point is none too thrilled with the new nick name.... (he's not chubby at all either..)
so then Earl goes over to Rhonda and says "Oh! Brad doesn't like his new nick name!! Hey I have one for you too! It's "Hot Chick"

(Where he got these names - I have no idea!!)
Seeing as how Brad was thumbs down on Chubby Boy, Earl comes back to him again and says:

Earl: Hey Brad - I have a new name for you!"
Brad: "Ok, what is it?"
Earl: "It's Hank"
Brad:"Hank, oh ok, Hank."
Earl:" Don't you like it!!!! ????It means handsome man!"
Brad realized later that he was trying to say "Hunk"

Ok, I don't know about you ...but i find everything from "Chubby Boy to Hot Chick, to Hank and Hunk" very funny.

Spring sniffles

2006-03-23T01:17:00.000-06:00

Well, it's a sunny gorgeous day here. The sun is streaming in and its very springy all around.
Last week was the first time I noticed that the bushes were starting to bud. Now there are bonafide leaves on some of them, and I noticed green clover that was starting to come up on my walk to school yesterday. The trees still look pretty bare, but it is amazing how far just a little bit of green goes in giving you hope!

But, while it is nice outside, my head feels like it is in a foggy cloud. I have come down with this nasty cold or flu. It's one of those very contradictory kinds- I'm really really cold, so I cover up, then I'm really really hot, so I take off some covers, then I'm really cold etc...and I feel like I need to lie down but when I lie down I get a headache, and earlier I felt hungry and nauseous at the same time. Very Contradictory. Right now, I'm feeling somewhat better, but I'm prepared that I may feel worse again soon.

My husband also has it, but it seems much more low grade for him. He seems hardly effected. So that's good. He has been slowly working at coming off of his medication for his other health problem. He still has a number of weeks left. It seems to be going well so far though.

Well, there's your health and weather update for today!!

UPdate: Apparently my husband feels quite rotten too.(with this cold)

My fav Jack Handy saying- or close to it.

2006-03-19T21:56:00.000-06:00

A quote on Tiffany's blog reminded me of something that I once found very very funny.
It goes something like this....

"The most fearsome animal in the world is not the lion, tiger or bear. It is a shark riding on an elephant, trampling and biting everything in sight."

Note: I wrote this from memory- it's pretty close to the original saying in my Deep Thoughts book.

The difference

2006-03-17T11:24:00.000-06:00

Does anyone know the difference between regular vinegar and distilled vinegar?

Things that speak of the splendor of God

2006-03-16T03:19:00.000-06:00

While we were away I really enjoyed the flowers, and shrubbery- it was a feast for the eyes!

The Make over

2006-03-16T02:43:00.000-06:00

My husband and I have been talking about sprucing up this one little corner of our place, the area that is our guest "room." I'm sort of excited about the result of our make over so far! We spruced it up some things we recently found along the way in our travels!

Before

And after!

Well, you may think- "Umm, actually, I really like the brown plaid couch better." Well, while I realize that brown is really "in" in Canada right now, uh, well, everything here is brown or grey outside right now, so why add to the depressive colour scheme by our own choice? (when we bought it it was supposed to be blue) ....

I intentionally posted these house make over pictures just after the flower pictures. The reason being that both sets express creativity. The first, God's handiwork, the second, a creative project of ours. I love the idea that when we are being creative, we are simply reflecting the fact that we are made in the image of God. He is creative, (flowers, trees, animals, the universe, people) we are made in His image, and therefore we also have that characteristic. (we decorate, write, draw, write music etc) We are simply reflecting Him. Our ability to be creative is a gift from Him, but it's extra special because we not only have this wonderful gift but we are also reflecting the giver when we use the gift.

I got so much satisfaction and joy out of simply creating a new look for that couch. My mind can only conceive of a fraction of the joy and satisfaction that God must derive from all of His creative projects!

Humans can make some really cool stuff. But His work blows our away everytime!!(Of course anything we make, is actually made up of things that He has created first, and He gives us the capacity in the first place to even have a remotely creative thought!) In a nutshell, I think the idea that my creativity is a reflection of the Creator of the universe is incredibly wild, and beyond cool at the same time.