Tuesday, March 31, 2009

On Twilight...

No, I haven't read the books.
A month or so ago Sean and I had a date night and took in the movie - I wasn't expecting much, but we both enjoyed it - Sean said, "When does the next one come out??" I think he's just being a boy and waiting for the vampire vs warewolves part...

Anyway, about 3 weeks ago I read a great blog post by Kayla Aimee that addressed the Twilight thing and why people are so addicted. Please check it out here. She has some good stuff to say.

And then let me know what you think!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Post 100!

This is my one hundredth post. How exciting...

Last week I facilitated a scrapbooking night for the big sisters program in town; my friend Rebecca is the director of that. A few nights before, I made up 3 pages for them to copy, or just as examples of what could be done with the supplies available. (And of course they had a free for all and did their own thing completely, but that's okay... Insert rolling eyes here - was I really thinking I'd be teaching them to do it like I did? I HAVE been around children before. I know how they work.) Anyway, the point is that after making three pages, I was actually inspired to keep playing, and this is what I made:



And this one I made this weekend - it's simple, but has so much new stuff and fun stuff that I was trying out and experimenting with that I quite enjoyed myself in the process.



The "beautiful" is a stamp set I've had for a while but not used yet, the M is a Heidi Swapp ghost letter that I covered with white ink, and embossed with clear embossing powder. The plastic got a little melty and warped, but oh well... The glitter is from a kit I picked up at the new shop on Saturday (it came with glitter and flock and double sided glue designs); the ticket was picked up in the same spree (thanks Carla for the gift certificate!), and the bottom stamp was a gift that came with my gift certificate. :) In the bottom left corner you'll notice I used my date stamp, which is exciting because I thought I lost it. Yay, the lost is found!

Have a good night!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Lazy Saturday

Today is the first Saturday after swimming lessons. It's extra quiet because M was out at an "Awakeover" last night - have you ever heard of this? It's self explanatory, really: the opposite of a sleepover, an awakeover is when the girls stay up all night. And at this age, they need adult help to do it. That doesn't quite seem right, but she was looking forward to it for weeks... after she wakes up we'll see if it was worth it!

There were 4 girl guide / pathfinder troups that did this crazy event together. Among other things, they went swimming at 3 am, toured the downtown post office, did a scavenger hunt at Sobeys, painted t-shirts, played laser tag, and ate breakfast at McDonalds. And as if that weren't ridiculous enough, she went to a birthday party for the 2 1/2 hours before it started. Yep. She'll be sleeping all day, I think, if we let her.

And because she was busy, we went out for supper, then picked her up and dropped her off, then out for dessert with friends. Nice night out for mom and dad - we quite enjoy some of the perks of her social life.

In school news, I have 3 papers to write in about 5 weeks, and I just found out that the next class (which starts in 5 weeks) has some pre-course work. {Big sigh.} Sean just smiled - "Don't you love school?" He thinks I bring it on myself. Yes, I do, but does that take away the right to grumble a bit about a heavy workload?? Really. And what's stressing me about it is that so far I don't have the books to get me the 160 extra pages of reading for THIS paper, which is deterring me from finishing it and getting on with the next one.

The other school news is that Carey is now offering a Master of Divinity, which I think will only be 4 classes more than the Master of Pastoral Ministry program I'm enrolled in. I'm in the process of checking out what exactly that means for me and then I'll probably switch to the MDiv for the more recognized degree. I figure I've got about 5 years left, if I do 2 classes a year...

Have a great day!

Friday, March 20, 2009

On prayer being a joyful noise, and a HOPE.

My friend Cherie gave me a Daily Lenten Devotional guide that we are both reading and chatting about every once in a while. Each day has a selection from the writings of Henri Nouwen, a verse and a one liner prayer. Yesterday's selection was quite good, and I wanted to share it with you.

"Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joful noise to him with songs of praise!" Psalm 95:20

"Every prayer of petition becomes a prayer of thanksgiving and praise as well, precisely because it is a prayer of hope... Our numerous requests simply become the concrete way of saying that we trust in the fullness of God's goodness, which he wants to share with us."

"Every prayer we pray, heavenly Father, is a sign of our love, our hope and our trust in you."

So if you feel that your 'shopping lists' of praying for people is not that deeply spiritual, take heart - you are being thankful and hopeful and praising.

I took it a slightly different way, because in the last weeks, we've become aware of 3 marriages - friends we are close to - that are on the rocks. How do you pray for that? Sometimes I tend towards despair - what can I do? Sometimes I get mad, honestly - Why don't they get it? Why don't they just love each other like they were the most amazing gift in the world? Reflecting on this reading gave me a calmness and hope. I can just pray for them, however that looks, and know that just by praying, I am showing hope that God has a better plan for them. I am trusting in him for their situations.

And then a song by Casting Crowns came on - Praise You in this Storm. I've added it to my playlist so you can listen. A couple of lines I really liked:

"you are who you are no matter where I am"

"though my heart is torn, I will praise you in this storm"

So I will keep praying and trusting. And if you would, please pray for these 3 couples. Thanks.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Happy Wednesday!

The sun is shining.
I didn't get stuck in the slush today.
I got some good errands done this morning.
I've just had a nice bowl of homemade beef and barley soup for lunch.
I will have time to get some work done before staff meeting.
My orchids still look fabulous.

Just a few of the things that I'm happy with right now.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

and some layouts




birthday week / food and flowers

Just a few shots from my birthday...

This one is the cake I made (Four Layer Skor Cake) for the combined birthday party:



These are the flowers Sean brought home for me:





And this is my midnight snack at 20 to 1 last night! I was up late because Sean was out with the guys and M was at a sleepover... Home alone and still fixed it up nice with the syrup swirl on the plate and the whip cream. I made this frozen chocolate pudding pie for Thursday's 'we're having company' supper. That's two weeks in a row that we've had people over for dinner, and we have people invited for next week, too!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

read this book.



I have about three chapters left to go in this book. It's beautiful - I highly recommend you read it.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

on the upside...

My family called at lunch to say happy birthday, and my sister asked, "Are you feeling better?" I paused, then laughed - "Did you read my blog?" "Yes, and you made me cry!"

Sorry about that! Talking to her also reminded me that 5 years ago, Jess and Jen (and 4 year old Levi) came out for my birthday, and we had a decadent time going spa-ing in Moose Jaw. It was also a good day. (Not all bad.)

And today has been a good day, too. Sean and all his brothers are out at the farm sledding, so Lynsey (also on her own today because of the afore-mentioned brothers-sledding event) and I got to hang out this morning at church, and she and M's friend T who always comes to church with us came for lunch, and I made my favorite family scone recipe... And my Sunday School class had cupcakes for me, complete with Happy Birthday napkins, a big sparkler and singing! That was a good start.

This morning we were talking about living in the present; the video was about not hanging on to the past, and we talked a lot about the 'new reality' that sometimes we need to learn to live with, like it or not. Let me just say, my new reality is pretty good. Yes, five years ago, I had no idea what the future would bring, but I DID know that God was in control, and that he knew.

A job as a pastor, taking my masters, a new marriage... My reality right now is a good one. (I should clarify that list is chronological - my marriage is not at the bottom of the pile!!)

**We also talked about parenting a bit - instead of trying to keep your kids young, be present every minute. BE there with them. It does make a difference in wondering about their tomorrows. The more we're WITH them now, the better their future and ours will be.**

I was going to leave you with a photo from that decadent spa birthday, but I can't find them. Strange. Maybe they were not from my camera? But this one from my birthday in 2005 has a good story to it.


I got a call about 7:30 in the morning from a friend, saying she was having problems and could she come over and talk. Ok, sure, so I got out of bed, and was SURPRISED by these 4 coming to make me a birthday breakfast before they were off to school and work. What great friends.

***And Mom said today that she is coming for a visit next week! Yay! Happy birthday to me!***

Saturday, March 07, 2009

not living in the past

It's Saturday night, and I just finished preparing my lesson for Sunday School tomorrow. Normally I do that Thursday-ish, but sometimes my weeks get a little hi-jacked.

The video we're going to use as our discussion starter is talking about living in the present; not living in the past. One of the questions is, "Does your life today look anything like you would've imagined it five, ten, or twenty years ago?"

And here's the thing - it's my birthday tomorrow, so I can remember what I was doing five, ten and twenty years ago. Twenty years ago I turned 16. I think I started driver's ed on my birthday. I had just come through a rough couple of months; don't know if it was full blown depression, or just regular teenaged cry all the time garbage, but I remember it was pretty bad. But 16 was ok.

Ten years ago, I was pregnant with my first child. (And we were in Quebec on an epic snowboarding road trip.) Nothing had touched our fairy tale yet; I expected, or hoped for, a second one to come along a couple years later, then another one after that...

Five years ago, I was turning 31. I was grieving that Neil would never have the chance to turn 31 and catch up. I had no idea what life would be like in five years.

I think I am living fully in the present. But maybe I won't wear my non-waterproof mascara to church tomorrow in case I end up crying like I did tonight.