celebrations

i enjoy spending time with the fam jam.
there is always an aboundance of laughter and food.
there is an immediate bond between strangers when they are introduced as a relative. years can pass by and they are still welcomed with open arms.
biology is a funny thing. i think its a lil more complex than we give it credit for.
whether you are a second cousin, or once-removed ;) you are still apart of who we all are.
heck this is how we should view mankind. we need to start looking for a connection with strangers, you never know, they may have played hockey with your childhood husband.
we could all be making new families within our community, one random conversation at a time.

Dodge Ram

when you pray for something with such desperation and urgency when the answer comes back within minutes why are we so shocked?!
this is how it is for me at least. maybe im alone on this matter, but i doubt it.
today i was in desperate need to find the ministry of transportation building in Guelph. needless to say i couldnt, the time was ticking much faster than i was driving. i had eight minutes to find this place. i had already been praying for God to reveal the building with flashing lights, now i was praying that God would simply direct me in the direction of EAST!
i pulled into a Petro and asked the gas attendent, ironically enough she just came to Canada last month. the first thought, OF COURSE! *disclaimer, she truly told me she just got to canada last month!!!im not trying to be funny, and im not being racist! im telling facts! *
SO... i turn around and i see a man in a toque with a large double double (from timmys)! and i thought A CANADIAN:D and hopefully a resident of Guelph!!!!:D and he WASSS!! eek!!
he explain in detail where i needed to go, even gave me extra points of references! thennnn told me to follow him cuz he was going that direction anyways!!
he hoped in his truck, i in the volvo... i walked in 1 minute late and praising Jesus for sending me a Canadian.

Brooks Reynolds

Its awesome when you can look at a person and say "wow God has truly blessed them!" we do have to be careful however to not become envious of the blessings God has given them.
The person that comes to mind when I ponder about blessings is that of Brooks Reynolds.
He is a friend of a friend, and I have had the privilege of getting to know Brooks in the past three years. Enough to know that God has blessed him richly with creativity and talent in the photography world. It always amazes where Brooks captures beauty, it can be in the most simple things of life. I have truly come to respect him as a person aswell as an artist.

He has been working fervently on a personal project that I would like to shamelessly plug. Please visit www.wearesleepinggiants.com and look through his newest project.
If you wish to see more of his work his blog is www.brooksreynolds.com
Grab a beverage, sit and just really enjoy the photos that Brooks Reynolds has taken.

sock

tonight i recieved new news about my vechile... news that means either alot of money or im taking the bus. unfortunatly reality says that there is a very strong chance that i will be taking the grt everywhere. i have to pick up more shifts simply to pay for MCC, let alone a new car!

regardless this blog was not about my major money shortage!

but the fact that everytime, and i mean like EVERYTIME i take my sock off i say (either out loud or in my head) "huh :) i have a tattoo:)" or "huh, my tattoo is just so cute!:D" OR my favourite which happened tonight " HUH!? oh right tattoo..." phew!
no word of a lie. i think i have a mild case of amnesia.

if i die, i die

what would you do if you truly thought that there was a good chance you could die tomorrow... or that Jesus was returning on friday?
would you live your life a little different? would you begin to appreicate your family and friends a little more? perhaps even be bold enough to talk to the cutie that serves you gelato? maybe even telling someone about God so that there is at least one less person getting tortured in hell?

well lately ive been really challenging myself in thinking that tomorrow is not a guarantee. we so often think and plan that our lives will end when we are old and in a wheelchair... but guess what?! you really have no idea if you will croak tomorrow, or in 3 weeks from now, or in 30 years from now.

I guess im just trying not to dwell on the future and what it all holds and means, but im trying to live my life to the fullest, making the most of the short time i might have on this earth.

tires

this month.. no scratch that... the past two weeks... ive have two flat tires.
one on my moms car when i was in TO (then drove home on the spare [not fun]) then when i returned home, i found out that my front two tires on MY car needed to be replaced ASAP, cuz they were on the verge of exploding...
THEN
tonight my back tire got a flat while i was going home from east sides.
luckly jon and darren saw my car on the side of the road and fix my tire, and then drove me home once i dropped it off at the shop.
im very grateful for my friends :)
not so much for my car anymore, its being kinda a jerk lately... sigh. oh well. such is life.

The key is to surprise the world....

one reason

It is the end of October and I wasnt the slightest bit surprised to be scraping the frost off my car on a daily basis. Snow is now covering the ground in the mornings. Its going to be like this until April. Cold. White. Cold. sigh.
It certainly makes me wish I was in Cali, or Brazil... heck anywhere that doesnt get the copius amounts of snow that Waterloo gets.
Someday. One day.

its kinda funny...

New interest and new feelings are just as complicated as old.
I wish that I could just be there with you. Helping you.
Encouraging you.
But Im here, doing as the Lord asks of me.
Till he is done with me, I will be here.
Someday. One day. I will come.
I wish that this could be easy. That the phone was your hand.
That your words could be heard and touched.

H

No words need to be spoken aloud.

I know your voice.

.

You make me feel safe.

Loved.

.

You are my past.

My hurt.

.
Always forgiven.

Never forgotten.

.

Birds of Paradise.

Chapstick and blankets.

It rained today, I thought of you.

.

.kips.jinx.

Strange thoughts

This occured a few weeks ago, it was a saturday and I was on my break at work when I saw the comics... to my surprise the first thought I had was that it has been months if not years since the last time I read the saturday comics. What once was a weekly routine as a child and teen had now become non-existant. I began to read them and just began to turn the first page when someone called for me and I had to put the paper down. It has now been over three weeks later and I still have yet to read the saturday comics. How has my life become so busy?! Im 20, I shouldnt have to be this busy!

Another strange thought that same day... let me explain how it took place...
I was leaning on the 'reach in fridge' preparing my heart for the lunch rush, when I hear a faint "beeeep beeeeep" and a chit pop up reading:

IN:28
Reg. Latte
Cocca

So with that I promptly grab the correct ingredience and within 120seconds a regular latte with cocca is on a plate and heading towards a customer. The strange thought came as Sally delievered the Latte to a lady with rediculous looking glasses, that I take orders from a machine. No matter what that machine say to do, I do it, and I do it fast and effectivly... it says 4 pom-a-berry... I make 4... it says three strawberry caramel slash waffle--sub strawberry with apple and no whipped cream, but only on two... THAT is what I will make. I myself have become a machine, simple doing the tasks my fellow machine orders me to do.

intensity

My life is about to start spinning.
I got a list of days that I have free to work throughout the year. HA.
To say the least I will be a busy girl! Similar to the past year, any day off of MCC I will be working at Williams. Which means that my first real day off will be Christmas!
Im excited to an extent, because then the year will zoom past! Ill be too busy to miss BC and too busy to think about my life.
I will just dig deep into the teachings that God has planned out for me this year, and invest all my strength and focus on becoming a more effective leader. woo!
I guess this summer I really began to understand how fast time goes by. Being back out west really made me think, I dont take advantage of my days nearly as much as I should. We really don't know how long we have here on earth, heck I may not see the sun rise tomorrow! And if that is the case, then I want to LIVE today. I want the people that I care about to know that I love them! I want to see as much of the beauty God has created as I can.

On my way home from work today I saw a couple pulled over to the side of the road, the girl was sitting on the ground crying and the boy was standing over her yelling. Obviously in some sort of argument, but the passion that I witnessed was striking. Even the anger and hurt that was being shared between the two of them, you know that there is something else there. Something deep.
We are interesting beings. Our emotions, expierences, we are such complex beings.

This past weekend my mother and I went to see my twin cousins play soccer, and to my surprise within minutes of sitting down, I started to choke up. All I could think what "what the heck!? why do i want to cry?" for some bizarre reason, perhaps I miss playing soccer? or I was super duper proud? reguardless of the reason, I could barely keep the tears from falling down my cheeks.

Humans are strange.

your name and what do you do?

I enjoy meeting new people.
Heck, I just enjoy people! Talking with them, just hanging out and getting to know another human being. It truly makes my heart happy :)
It is awesome to hear some of the trials and victories that people have gone through that have made them who they are today. And it is awesome to be able to cherish that person today.

Take the time to get to know someone new. You never know who is sitting in the same room.

red nails

Im not much of a girly girl, but there is something about having fresh nail polish that makes me feel cute and flirty ;)

I havent felt like this is a long while. I think im going to pull out out my skinny jeans and put away my boy jeans.

It makes me nervous to have this joy bubbling inside, I'm thinking that life is about to turn a corner and I'm not all that positive what lays ahead on the next street.

For now I'll just keep on keeping on.

Plastic

Holy crap!
I just looked at my bank statements... FRICK!
I knew I havent had the best self control over the summer, but I didnt know it was this bad. I am going to cut up my VISA and leave my debit card at home. Im going to bring a bagged lunch to work every day, and my social life will be me hanging out in my backyard with the frogs.
No spending money (unless its gas)
Obviously I understand how hard this is going to be, but somehow I have to! I dont make enough money to support this kind of spending! Nor am I able to actually SAVE any money!

I know and trust that God is my ultimate provider. I do not need to worry that I will go hungry. BUT I also know that God has given me the strength to work my butt off and the self-disicpline to pinch pennies. I have been taught to fight, and I will not give in to the teasing purple pumps, or the mouth watering Grande no-water no-foam Tazo Chai...

I will be strong. I will SAVE MONEY!!!!!!!!!
WOO! :D

future confusion

Never have I wanted to move my feet and lose my seat so bad.
One day I will understand the reason of this season.
Next time we wont go about things assbackwards.

McMullin's

I got the chance to meet some new people last night. Two of the guys I was sitting near started talking to me about what I do, or rather where I go to school... this started the ball rolling. We ended up talking for about an hour about my beliefs and about the God that I know and love.
At first they would challenge every word that I said, near the end they began to grasp that I had a rather strong relationship with Christ and wasnt just a pew warmer.

At one point someone asked if the church would like the fact that I was at a bar at that moment. For a moment I wasnt sure how to answer him. Because there are alot of people in the church that would indeed say that I shouldnt been seen in a bar, and there are alot of people that either think its perfectly fine or couldnt care less.

At some point in the past few years Ive come to realise and really understand that the bar is a safe place for them, a place they are themseles. Alot of the people I have met at the bar have become really good friends of mine. They are more honest than some of my church friends. I'm just making friends and hopefully loving them like Christ has called me to do.

DISCLAIMER: I am well aware of the effects being in this "scene" can have on myself. I do not join the crowd in their binge drinking, if i consume any alcohol I have a limit of one drink a night. I have a support network of people that hold me accountable.

I am not walking blind, but I am walking.

water.sun.sand

The other day I went to the beach to relax and hopefully soak up the sun. The sun was out and on full blast, but sadly so was the wind.
Reguardless of the cool chill in the air I found myself at such peace. Simply just hearing the waves crashing makes a smile creep on my face.
Looking up and down the beach of Grand Bend makes me appreciate the beauty of Ontario. I have been blessed to have seen so much of my country and of our southern neighbours. God has created some amazing and beautiful places!!
Someday I will all of the "Seven Natural Wonders of the World"

• Mount Everest- Nepal
• Victoria Falls- Zimbabwe/Zambia
• The Grand Caynon- Arizona, USA -----DONE!
• The Great Barrier Reef- Austrailla
• Northern Lights -----DONE!
• The Harbor of Rio de Janeiro- Brazil
• Paricutin Volcano- Mexico

See you soon?

Frick it can be difficult to say goodbye!

I have more than one home. More than one family.

Families that are seperated by 2778km.

More than anything I wish I had a way of living in two places at once. God keeps blessing me with new friends and stronger bonds with old ones. While I am grateful for this, it makes goodbyes harder.
I am excited for the next season of my life, if it is anything like the last 12 months... it will be an interesting one to say the least.