Missions Fest

This weekend was basically one of the best that I have had in awhile! No joke! First of all, I started off with Friday, which normally is my day off, but I started working that day. Good times! I am now an official Flagger. It is pretty much one of the best jobs I have had, minus the fact that it is freakin cold outside and you get a little bored sometimes. But that will be looking better as soon as it gets nicer outside, and the job sites become busier. Some of you may have heard me talking a little about how I want to be getting up earlier in the day instead of wasting my life sleeping. Well my 'early mornings' on tues and thurs are now my sleep in days (Sleep till 7am) and my old 'sleep in days' are now wake up at 5am for work days! I am not complaing... I asked for it. It feels nice to watch the sun come up in the mornings, and I have acutally been tired in the evening, so I go to bed on time too! What a life.

Saturday I started my new Payroll class in Chilliwack. That was a hoot and a half. Its not a full class, and we get to work at computers too. This means I can chat during the lectures and nobody cares. Plus the course material is not too heavy, and I only have 5 more saturdays of it left. YES!. After my class, Andrea picked me up and we headed down to Missions Fest in Vancouver. The evening started off with dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, which left me running for the bathrooms on the way to Canada Place. That was a close one! Then we checked out some booths and spent the night at Raelene's basement suite.

I was excited to sleep in on Sunday morning, 9:30am! yes! We took our time and had yummy warm cinnimon buns for breakfast. Then went to Missions Fest for some more fun. We met up with Heather and Kenny and then the rest of the Pines Crew. The day was filled with good times and lots of pictures. I am pretty sure that I have not talked THAT much in one day before. People at every booth had something to talk about, and it took me hours to get through them. We left around 5ish, after running from parkade to parkade getting our stuff together to leave. We did get lost on the way out, and so it took a few hours to get home. But once we got to heathers, we had some dinner, a hottub and half a movie and then I was home in bed for the night!

It was truly a good weekend, And as much as I am tired of talking to people, I look forward to doing it again next year. I was a little tired at work yesterday because of it, but I didnt have to talk much because I was standing out in the street by myself flagging for most of the day. Good times. This week looks busy and I may not have a chance to blog again for a week, or maybe I will. I have tons of clases and work to fill up my hours.

Thats all for today folks!

So Fresh So Clean

I would be a liar if I told you that I did mcuh today. Acutally yesterday was much more eventful. Woke up super early (YUCK) and went to my lovely 8am class of Old Testament survey where I was sure that I did not learn a thing! (of course that is because I dont pay much attention at 8am). After that episode, I proceeded to the Collegium where I spend most of my Tuesday/Thursday mornings and I played on the computer for awhile.

When the clock struck 9:45, I got up and went to my car to drive to my family doctor's office. After waiting there for a good 45 minutes, I was ushered to the clean room where I sat and waited another 15 minutes for the doctor to show up. Now, I have been forced to have patience in this office, because of the wonderful episode of last week where i spent 3 hours in the office when it could have been 20 minutes. But a few questions later I was out the door cheerful as can be! Actually, it turned out that after further testing in my throat, I did not have Strep Throat... so for the past 2 months I have been treated for strep.. oh man. But nice to know that Im a few days away from being pretty dang healthy.

After that, I escaped to my house to do some reading and some other stuff that I cant quite remember. I wasted a lot of time when I am at home - something about distractions. But I left around 2:00 for my afternoon youth work class, which turned out to be full of laughs and jokes towards Ron Friesen's new gym membership! It was good times. Headed home afterwards for a few hours rest before my next big event.

Now last night was the first night of my Bookkeeping II night class. I was so nervous that I would not remember the stuff from Bookkeeping I, but it slowly came back to me as the evening progressed. It was such a rush to be sitting there writing little tiny numbers in boxes and financial statements! Its weird but I actually felt like I was doing something I loved. It pretty much has made my week... But that class ended a little early, so I was able to make it for Vespers at CBC. That was really nice too - I just love singing at Vespers! Good God-refueling time.

Today I woke up and was unhappy again. I cant stand waking up, and on days that are Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I wake up twice! The first time I wake up is to drive my little sister to school, then when I get home, my bed always calls me back! And I cant resist because nothing is better than getting BACK into a warm bed. So I slept until 9:00am and then proceeded to the shower to make myself look decent. An hour and a half later, I was ready to go and I headed over to the 7 Oak's Mall to meet up with a friend of mine from highschool. We did some shopping and I pretty much got the bargin of a life time! Two belts for $1.50!!! TWO!! and they were regular $15 something each.. hehe and they have big buckles too. When I got home, I was so stoked that I put one of them on and I am still wearing it!

I decided to be productive at least a little today, so I cleaned out my car. [hence the Lysol pictur]. My car has been pretty much disgusting for awhile and I hated bing in it cuz it smelt bad. But now it smells clean! OH I LOVE THE SMELL OF CLEAN! The floors are sparkling and the dashboard is now dust-free. And the sun made me excited too, so I rolled up my geans and put on some sandals in celebration of the new-found sunlight. I read for the rest of the afternoon and then ate soup with my family.

Tonight was the first night of Youth Alpha and we pretty much had a blast. Played dangerous games that involved toberlerones, puppets, hats, dice and scissors! I feel sick from the chocolate right now - usually I dont eat after dinner... but it was part of the game so I had no choice... *Blagk* I had fun tho - I was told that laughter makes you healthier, so Im taking all I can get! Oh and I also am waiting on a few phone calls this week for work! Whoohoo! Im stoked to be a Flagger! its cool how things are all working out for me now that I am just takin er' one at a time.

Hey did I mention that I like clean things? I also cleaned a bit of my house today!... I hope that I never become a house cleaner because I want to love cleaning forever!!!! Muahahaha! (that is the chocolate speaking btw).

Signing Out.

Countrified Soul

Im not even kidding when I tell you that I dream about being one of them hick folk when I grow up. I think I may already be half way there already, but Im never sure. I find that half my days are spent daydreaming about what it would be like to truely live the country life. (hint.. i could be daydreaming in that pic.. but im not sure).

Ive definately lived "country style" but its always been broken up. Like I lived in a fifth wheel on my grandparents property once, but I was very young. And Ive also lived in half of a modular home planted in the middle of a farm that had animals. But I didnt acutally have to do anything with the animals cuz they were our landlords. I grew up with a father who owned an old beat up ford that always had dead animals in it from hunting trips... and fising. It seems like we just had little parts of country at a time!

I have a dream. I want to live on some acreage, maybe raise a few cattle and some random animals. Have a cute farm house with a huge front porch that I could drink my tea on. Then of course, with the land, there must be a John Deere Tractor and at least TEN vehicles that dont work. Gotta have an old beater ford truck, then a really nice Dodge to take off the property! Then i'll need a camper for the truck so that I could take my family camping out in the boonies. I want to be able to have parking lot parties (please refer to the "Out in the Parking Lot" Blog) and big backyard bonfires. Oh the life!... I apologize to all of you who cant really relate to what I am describing, but If you have a countrified soul, you know how good it feels to just be ... Country (f0r last of a better word).

But I do have to say that I am torn. I cannot decide whether I want to do fulltime ministry (which would lead to me most likely not having the lifestyle above), or I could continue in the direction I am heading right now. I dont feel like I could have both - but then I cant really figure out what God is calling me to do. I am reading this devotional for the Amish folk and I really love how simple their lives are. Like, I would love to have the "ministry" of raisin my children in a Christian home, and having an open home where poeple could feel free to stop by for homeade iced tea, pie and conversation. It sounds amazing to me, but I think God has something bigger in mind, and I dont know what it is! I always thought that I would be a pastor, or missionary or something along those lines. Then I went into Youth Ministry and I have no real desire to be a pastor or missionary, unless it was to just to be a servent God. I dont know the answers to these things, still taking it one job/opportunity at a time. It recently dawned on me that the best ministry has to do with building relationships ie. being a friend, mentor, parent.. and so on. I like that minisry, and it would definately fit into my dream country world!

So the latest and greatest on the news front... I passed my TCP (Traffic Control Person) training this weekend. I now have a bright Orage certificate that says I and certified. And soo I will be receiving a liscence sized one for my wallet with my beautiful picture on it! I am stoked about this, and hopefully will have a job within the next few weeks!!! (let me know if you know any companies hiring TCPs). So everything is going great here. I start my UCFV classes Tuesday night which means I have to buy my text book tomorrow *chi-ching*. Im excited tho!

Time to get some rest for my big day tomorrow. I do believe that I am reading most of the day!!! Adios

Ps. Josh Turner (sings that song "Would you go with me") pretty much has the sexiest voice I have ever heard! Girls: you should hear his stuff.

St. Joe's..

Id like to start off today by giving a special thanks to everyone who sent me encouragement this week. I really appreciated the fact that you guys took the time out of your busy schedules to make my week better. Now, you may be wondering why I have pictures of a Roman Catholic church on here!?! The answer is this: I was surfing the web on my ultra-cool surf board and I came across my old school! St. Joseph's Elementary school. It was this private catholic school that my mom worked really hard to put my sister and I into when I was in grades 2 and 3. I pretty much hated the school, but I got real smart! And its cool to look back on where I came from. The pictures are of the chapel that we used to have to go to all the time. The benches were hard, yet I always managed to sleep through the services (For all those who dont know me, I have a history of sleeping during church). I especially liked the fact tho that I could recall looking at all the little details that are still the same in the church. I always would stare at the statue of Jesus hanging on the wall, but could never really figure out why he was so important! I remember this one time, my teacher gave me a book on the Easter story, and I went to read it.. but I figured that I knew enough about the easter bunny, and the gorey pictures of Jesus weren't so appealing... so I tossed the book in my closet and never read it.

Kids are funny little creatures. hehe. So not much has really been happening this week. I am taking a course this weeked to become a lisenced flagger! Yep, by the end of the weekend I will be eligable to get a job as a TCP (traffic control person). Im stoked about it. One step closer to doing something with my days! School is going relatively well. I am not too far behind on my reading yet, and my UCFV classes dont start until tuesday evening. I guess the latest news would be that I am STILL sick with strep throat. I defiantely have been fighting it since the last week in december! Im hoping that the third round of antibiotics will do the trick! If not, then its out with the toncils! (i cant spell that). I really wouldnt mind being under the knife for a bit, but I dont think I can afford the time off school; although, it would be a good change to get lots of rest, and I would get a lot of reading done. Perhaps this isnt a bad idea!

But then to take into consideration the scary part about being "under the knife". The boys at bible study tonight scared me a little when they offered to do the surgery... it seemed like they were not sure how to do it cuz i dont think throat surgery should kill someone! So there shouldnt be a need to massage my heart to bring me back to life! geeze. People just dont understand how it is done. Haha. So tell me fellow bloggers and readers... if you had to have a random surgery, what would you most prefer to have done? Feel free to comment your answers! or e-mail them to me at doyoulovethee@hotmail.com . Maybe i'll blog about your answer next!

What's Happening?

Hey again. Its crazy how when I have nothing to do it is so easy to keep up with blogging every other day. Today was one heck of a day. Went to church at Prarie Chapel, then headed over to the Bartch's for some good Sunday fun. Andrea, Kenny and I all went for a 'leisurely walk' up a logging road on Majuba Hill and found this cool pond that had been completely frozen over! So we slid around for awhile (as seen in picture to the left). It was definately cold out! and I froze nearly to death!!! But you didn't hear that from me okay? I really wasnt that cold.

Aside from the fun 'walk'... I really had this emotional day - I cant explain it. I just felt really out of place every where I went. Its not because it wasnt my church, or my house that I hung out at. It was just weird. Nobody knew what to do all day, and I threw out an idea that nobody liked, but we ended up doing anyway, and I felt really bad about it. I just dont have much patience for indecisiveness in people, and I really need to start working on that. I think today my emotions acutally ranged from angry, to sad, to happy, to frustrated/annoyed... and so on.. Like I pretty much had em all right there! IN ONE DAY!

The ironic part of this all is that I am more frustrated with myself than anyone. I am so indecisive when it comes to my own life. I dont know what I want to do with my life, I have no career goals and I feel like I am wasting money that I dont have on education that I wont ever use. I dont have much direction to my life and I am going nuts! I dont even know where I want to work for a part time job... But I want to change that. Tomorrow I am going to start applying for jobs and looking into getting training as a flagger. Ya, Ive heard it from lots of people... "thats a horrible job!", but I think I would maybe enjoy it and I cant complain about the pay.

But in all seriousness, I feel like I have been caught up by this huge wave and im drowning, but I dont know which way is up. I am swimming, trying to get out, but the current is too strong and I think I am going down instead of up. Then there are these brief moments where I can see the light and I start swimming towards it, but I get distracted by the water surrounding me and i start sinking again. Those brief moments describe the time that I spend in prayer where I feel like I am acutally getting through; like God is listening and responding in my life. But there is so much sin around me that when I am praying, I get distracted, or there is a barrier that separates me from the oxygen that I need. I know what I need to do to get some air, but I can't do it on my own strength.

Ive decided that I have had enough of my foolish life - enough of my own unhappiness, enough of my lifestyle, enough of everything! I want to devote myself completely to God; follow the path that He has set out for me. I know that whatever I 'choose' to do with my life is going to be what God tells me He wants me to do. It just takes time. And Im tired of people asking me what I want to be, cuz I dont know yet! I dont want to be driven by money, or 'freedom' [will explain], or guys... it HAS TO BE GOD!

Back to the freedom thing. Part of the reason I feel so 'trapped' here is that I really desire to be out on my own. I want to have my own house that I can clean and take care of. I want to move out of this crummy city and finally be somewhere that is fresh and exciting! (well acutally old and dull is okay as long as it is out of here!). But I cant do anything until September, so for now I am a sitting duck. People say that patience is a virtue.. but I say that it is a fruit of the spirit - and I am praying for it. I would appreciate some prayer from some of you guys if you feel led to do so. You can e-mail me at doyoulovethee@hotmail.com. Thanks.

Northern North America Here I Come!

Well guys, its been a fun week.

What? You want me to say more? Fine.

I like stuff.

Even more you say? Geeze you are demanding!

I will fill you in on this fun week that I had. Lets see, Friday evening.. [trying hard to remember that far back]. I met up with Kenneth and Heather for some good movie fun. We watched Quigly Down Under Apparently a good movie; I quite enjoyed it. Then I waited up really late... I mean well ya really late to pick up Dalton from the Bus depot. Unfortuantely, the bus that was supposed to arrive at 0325, was 2.5 hours late, so I acutally stayed up until just after 0600. Good thing I slept in on Saturday. oh shoot, I just lied to you. Im a bad liar. I acutally slept until 0930 because I had to meet up with my friends Mom for some tea. I was very tired to say the least. That evening I went to Northview with Dalton and Leanne and then hit the ole City Blendz for an Italian Soda! Mmmm...

Sunday was a gong show in itself. Went to Prarie Chapel (Heather and Andrea's Church) and then over to the Bartsch's house for lunch afterwards. We all didnt stay long, because my dear sister called and needed help moving. Yes, she moved back home! It was a quick move tho, I mean how much stuff can a 19 year old have?!? Actually, its a lot of stuff - but its okay, cuz we needed fire wood anyways. Later that day, we all headed back to the Bartsch's house and had dinner and watched Napoleon Dynamite a classic I must say. Had some good laughs afterwards. For all of you people who have taken Marriage and Family at Columbia Bible College... and remember the story of the couple who liked to hike... Well lets say that I accidently said "Summit" and that led to being called a Mountaineer all evening! The funniest part is that only me and one other person knew the story! Im sorry to all of you who are confused right now as to what I am talking about :P

Monday held some good times too: Shopping, Pastorate.. and other stuff. But Tuesday was the real Gem of the week! I went to CBC and registered for my classes, then headed home to put together some garlic bread. Went over to Kenny's house for dinner! That was fun, Dalton and Andrea came too and it was a party. After dinner we all went to see The Persuit of Happiness. I cried, and it was a great movie. I reccomend it to you all. We went back to Kenny's after so that I could take down the Christmas decorations and what not. Kenny's roommates were playing N64 for like three days straight, and were still going strong the whole time! I was impressed. I dont have more than the attention span of like 15 minutes when it comes to video games!

On wednesday it snowed! I was not too excited about that. So I went out and drove in it!!!! I got some pieces together for my scrap book. Then baked a million peanut butter cookies! They were yummy. I lie a lot - I acutally only baked like 5 dozen. Carly and David came over for dinner that evening and then later on I got to perm Carly's hair! That was fun. I think it worked out too, but I am not sure because I havent seen her since. She also dyed my hair a light strawberry brownish colour.. looks nice. Thursday I woke up early to drive Dalton to the bus depot. Then I had my first OT Class! That was fun. I memorized a verse, AND I still remember it today! I also had my first Youth worker class that afternoon. It was nice to be back into the swing of things. Went to Chapel and hung out in the Collegium... all that fun stuff. I also managed to get an hour in at UCFV and take a walk around the campus. Brought back some good memories.

We had bible study at my house last night. But we didnt really study the bible, we acutally just sat around and ate peanut Butter cookies! haha gong show again! It was amazing tho, there were the same number of guys as girls there! I mean that never happens! It usually is like Kenny and all the girls! Its nice to see that the guys are trying tho :P

Today was one of those days that I wanted to kick myself it the bottom! I slept in until 1430!!! Just in time to pick my little sister up from school. I couldnt believe I did that! Who does that?!?! geeze. And it wasnt one of those sleeps that I chose to remain in Bed.. I acutally SLEPT the whole time and just woke up when I was done! Gerr. I didnt really do much with my day either. Had a bath, drove around, did some dishes.. haha it was sad. And the fact that I have only been awake for 9 hours makes me want to kick myself again! Maybe I'll just go to bed early so that I wake up early tomorrow and have a real day! Perhaps i'll set an alarm tomorrow, just in case.

Well I hope you are satisfied... I at least explained the major details of my week to you. If you really want to know more, then you'll have to ask me specifically! Cuz I could write a novel. Oh, by the way.. I finally figured out this picture thing. so that B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L picture at the top of the page is me on my ski trip last week! I think its safe to say that I could be a model for the northern North American clothing!

Speaking of the North acutally, Ive been considering moving up to Alberta. Not sure what it is about that place... maybe its just that Paul Brandt song "Alberta Bound". Haha I want to go to a place where I can see the sky! Im tired of the smog and the disgusting air that I breathe in ever day. And the traffic lights, and the cars and the angry people! Its all too much. Now I know what you are thinking.. "Just move to Grand Forks" .. but you see, Alberta has better paying jobs! haha Sorry. So perhaps come September, I will acutally be Alberta Bound. And become a fur hat model or something!

Under and In (I just said that cuz I always hear radio talkers saying "Over and Out")

It was kind of like hiking...

I was sitting here trying to figure out how to explain my day, and it dawned on me... It was kind of like hiking. You see... today was family cross country skiing day. This is how it went. So I was basically woken up really early this morning and told to throw on a bunch of clothes and hop into the vehicle to head to Manning Park for the day with the family. It had been about two years since the last and first time I had gone and I was half excited, and half anticipating the coldness that would accompany the million feet of snow that I could fall through if I were to fall off the trails. I did not know whether to wear lots of heavy clothes to keep warm, or light layers because of the exercise... or just wear rain pants because they would keep me dry! So really, I just packed them all and decided to decide when I got there.

After an hour and a half of driving, we arrived at our desitantion. The Nordic ski lodge that was located at the back of the ski resort - you see, cross country folk arent much for crowds, so they tend to be off in the boonies away from people. We rented our equipment, loaded up the vehicle and headed up the mountain to "Strawberry Flatts" to go on the Green (easy) route. Unfortunately, the male on our team (my step dad) didnt read the map right, and we ended up on the Blue Route that was a little harder than we bargained for! The first part was pretty much all down hills... which, if you have ever cross country skiied... doesnt work well because the skies arent made for downhill! I enjoyed the speed; however, my poor family was falling left right and centre down these hills. When my step dad finally decided to look at the map, we realized that we were headed back down to the lodge instead of being on an acutal 'flat' loop.

Much to my dismay, we turned around and headed back UP the hills in order to make it to Strawberry Flatts. Now, im not gonna lie, the down hill was a heck of a lot easier than the up! Oh man, I worked out muscles that I didnt know existed. We made it back just in time for lunch and hung out in the warm cabin. After lunch, we all decided that we were VERY sore from our first trek, but would try the flatts just because that was what we had our hearts set on. 25 minutes later we were done. My sister and ma were pretty much done for the day, but I really wanted to see what was at the bottom of the first route we took... but my step dad was also a little tired and sore. I dragged him along anyway, when I used the guilt face mixed with the "I dont want to do it alone" speech... hehe He did complain the whole way tho... apparently being old and out of shape really doesnt help when you are skiing.

You know that feeling that you get when you are hiking, where you are aching all over, and tired and know that you are out of shape but want to keep going, even though you know the pain you will feel the next day? Yes, thats the one! I definately was feeling that... I wanted so badly to keep going, but I knew that time and my joints were not in agreement with that. I settled for getting off the trail about an hour and a half in, and we headed back to the ski lodge to return our equipment. I could barely walk, but really the only thing that hurt was my right ring finger... haha I dont know why! The trip home was very snowy, and took much longer than I had anticipated.... Yep, long trip...

This evening, I am still feeling the burn! Just like last weekend when I went hiking and my legs were sore for days afterwards. I am sure this week will be the same - especially tomorrow! And despite my groanings about cross country skiing... I loved it! It is definately one of those things that I like to do, and would probably one way own the equpiment for.

Ponderment

I just realized that I have been blogging for a few months now... do I really have that much to say?!? Its amazing how many words I can come up with; different words too! Oh by the way, Happy New Years! Did you know that is it 2007?!? My goodness... I am so stoked because now I get to write '07 on things instead of '06... i hate writing sixes!! They are so boring.. at least with sevens, I can make them look are funky and french like! T'will be a great year I think.

So looking back on this past year, I think it is safe to predict that 07 will be better than 06 was. I mean for goodness sakes, I had no clue what was gonna happen each day last year and I hated that. I like to be in charge of stuff. At least this year there may be a bit more structure. So far I have made plans to go to UCFV and get my bookkeeping for small businesses certificate, finish off my year at CBC AND then hit up Pines Bible Camp for a summer of great times and lots of Jesus. Then, if all goes well.. I'll be packing up and heading East/North to Alberta! Woohoo. Its like that Alberta Bound song that Paul Brandt sings... thats a good song. I like Alberta, lots of work there.

New Years Eve was a little different than I expected this year. I was planning on heading to Grand Forks for some good ole fashion fun... but that trip didnt happen, so I had to think fast. I basically watched movies at my friend Carly's house.. and that was cool, cuz she wasnt enthusiastic like me!.. we played scrabble too... I lost. Word to the wise... dont play scrabble unless you have a dictionary handy! My goodness Carly sure came up with some iffy words. I dont think that 'nob' is a word!.. but then she didnt think that 'que' was a word either... dang, we pretty much suck at scrabble. Need some practice!

Now I dont do those New Years Resolution thingys.. cuz they are stupid! And its rare that ANYONE ever keeps them... But there are lots of things that I would like to see happen this year. For instance, maybe getting a new car or TRUCK! (ya'll know i love trucks), and I am definately moving out on my own finally... then I am going to leave the rest up to God, and that will be exciting!

Please feel free to comment and let me know your 'resolution' for the new year...

Kara