Thursday, July 30, 2009

The NEW Job!

I have never known what I wanted to do when I grow up.
I have always had faith that God would show me what role he has for me at the right time.
This is one more example of that.

I have been the pastor to young adults at my church for the last 4 years. For the last year or so I've been ready for a change; I knew a change was coming, but I didn't know what that was going to look like. In the fall one of our staff team left, and through the process of looking at a change in our staff team, I was pretty optimistic that a change would be happening for me, too.

So after many conversations with the boss, who I'm thankful was willing to explore possibilities with me, and many drafts of a job proposal later, here we are. It was announced this past Sunday that our new staff member is confirmed and that has freed me up to make my shift public. Today I sent the word out to my young adults and the prayer team I had set up, and the next step is to do a bit of a write up in the fall newsletter I am working on.

I will be working in two main areas: one is Sunday morning services, and the other is communications. For Sunday mornings I will serve as the creative arts or worship arts director, involved in the planning and design of the services as well as each of the sermon series. The communication part has two parts to it - for the external I'll be mostly focused on the website, and for the internal there will be lots of pieces that I will have input into.

I am pretty excited to be moving in this direction. There are still some things to be nailed down, but we'll work them out. One of those things is that we still have to nail down a job title. Any suggestions? I will have a prize for the person who suggests a winner!! To have continuity with the other church staff it would have the word 'Director' in there somewhere.

The Layouts I Promised


The journaling under the picture says:
they help each other out
try to beat each other
and repeat!


These 2 are from our camping trip again. The circle one is just a circle (that background is a chair from our patio set - I took these pics outside this morning.) And the writing on it says "She's such a water bug! She spent all our beach time swimming."


I love this one. So simple and pretty. Great fun photos - her expressions were so great. The dragonfly on it? I printed out a random color image from online this morning and cut it out. And the word 'Dragonfly' is Basic Grey undressed chipboard (and adhesive backed, which is awesome!) that I sprayed with glimmer mist. Possibly my best use of it so far. This is one you'll need to come see in person.

Thanks for looking! Hope you enjoy.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

My 3 favorite foods. And an update on life.

Pringles.
Sunflower Seeds.
Honey Nut Cheerios.

That order changes, and as far as real food goes, Pizza and Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins are tops. :)

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I got a message on the phone today from the camp. Yeah, the one that is looking after my kid this week. They said she's fine, but they wanted us to know what was going on... Hello? Yeah, fill me in! They took her into the hospital yesterday because she hurt her wrist. Doing handstands in the field. She went over the wrong way and hyper extended it. Just a sprain. What a dork. (I say that lovingly!) Handstands are her new thing. And now, as if camp wasn't memorable enough, she's got a hospital trip and x-rays to remember this year by. They said she's got a tensor bandage and is icing it, but that her counselor said she was scrambling up the gravel pit with the rest of them no problem, so she's good.

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We have confirmed that Darren Andres is coming to join our pastoral staff this fall doing Adult Ministries; now that it's confirmed, I can tell you about MY change! The boss is going over my draft of what I'm going to send out to the young adults tomorrow, so as soon as I do that I will let you in on the news. How's that for leaving you hanging?? I could spill the beans here first, but we haven't nailed down the title, and that might be a good place to start. So I'll leave you hanging and you can check back tomorrow!

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I finished 3 layouts yesterday - one just needs a dragonfly embellishment, so as soon as I find that I will take pictures and post them for you. Two from camping, one from racing. I'm excited to share!

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Since M's away, it's date week. Monday we went out to a new restaurant for dinner, and then to a friend's for a bonfire with a bunch of people. Yesterday we went to Starbucks in Chapters for a drink and some browsing. Tonight we're out to a dessert place with a bunch of friends, and then tomorrow night we'll be packing to go to family camp. Maybe we'll get done in time to take a walk to Tim Hortons... And with M going to Winnipeg after family camp, we'll have date week part 2 next week! We are still newlyweds, you know - it's only been 2 1/2 years! (Although we'll still be dating when we're old and grey...)

Leave a comment:
What is your favorite date night date?
or
Did you ever have to go to the hospital from camp?
or
What are your favorite 3 foods?
or
Are you excited to hear what my new job is?

Friday, July 24, 2009

Milestone Day

Today is Madeline's 10th birthday. A big milestone - double digits! We had a great day together, and I should have spent this last hour blogging and sharing pictures, but I was catching up on other blogs I read and getting inspired... So sometime soon I will be back with something for you. Fair warning though, it might make you cry. I'm almost, just thinking about it all.

God is good and life is beautiful; He redeems all the junk.

We're off to Saskatoon to the races tomorrow, then Sunday after church M is off to camp for a week. I'll be packing in many hours at work while she's gone; I don't take my full quota of holidays off, but rather spread them out over the summer and work less hours each week. The weeks and days she is elsewhere is when I try to get as much done at the office as I can. (And I'm loving that she likes Play Escapes - a free drop-em-off-to-play city program - that helps me get the hours in, too.)

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

She Names Things

On our camping trip, Madeline named the dead fish floating in the lake near where she was swimming Bob. (Bob got removed by some park rangers, and I think she was a little sad about that.)

She named the dragonfly that she saved from drowning Moses because she rescued him out of the water. She then proceeded to build her sandcastle one handed for the next 10 minutes while he recovered enough to fly off.

The leech that attached itself to her heel was Fred. (M: "Get it off!" Sean: "Do it yourself!" Me: the hero that grabbed it off with a towel.) I think he was named AFTER the fuss.

The dragonfly that landed on her shoulder and stuck around to visit became Billy.


And the chia pet that the kids got to make as a craft was Leah.


Until the grass grew. Then it also became Bob. Cause, you know, girls don't have facial hair.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Download some Classics




Check out the Kiddie Records Weekly website to hear lots of great classic kids records.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

The Visit





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So my parents came out for a quick visit (and brought along my nephew who's the same age as M). We had a rainy cool couple of days, so spent it indoors mostly; we went to the RCMP Heritage Center yesterday and to the Science Center today.

The photos above were from the RCMP place; I didn't take my camera today but got some shots on my phone (I tried to upload them but they are not cooperating) of Levi, Madeline and my dad on the gyroscope. Fun times, oh my goodness.

I asked everyone their favorite part of the visit:
Mom - playing with the puzzle on the floor with the kids. (We picked up a new 500 piece today).
Dad - the steak dinner last night (but the spaghetti tonight came close!)
Levi - the Science Centre (and the gyroscope thing)
Madeline - "Spending time with family." Awwww... sappy kid.
Sean - the fact that they came (we don't get very many visits from family).
Me - getting my dad on the gyroscope. hee hee - he wanted to. I just asked the girl if there was time for one more since lots of the kids in line had bailed out before their 2 minutes. Madeline was last in line, so there wasn't a crowd or anything. She said sure, and Dad said (to me) you better hope I don't hate you for this! Ha ha - he was glad he did it.

And one more story. The first thing I noticed when they got here was that MY DAD GOT HIS EAR PIERCED. How crazy is that? When my brother got his done my dad didn't speak to him for two weeks! He wants to get a cross earring to wear, because he didn't want to get a tattoo. That's funny. That's awesome.

Thanks for coming, you guys!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

A Kenya Flashback

We just got home from a race day in Saskatoon and I was helping Sean unload the trailer; I wheeled the spare tire into the garage for him so he could fill it, since it was a bit flat, and the fun of rolling it brought back a vivid memory of one day in Kenya...

These kids were playing with tires. As toys. At their school. Part of me is sad that their toys are old castoffs, but part of me knows that they are unaware (and therefore not jealous!) of the colorful play structures at the parks here. And playing with tires is fun!

Just thought I'd share that memory and those photos!

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Pictures and Layouts

Here's my girl making herself eggs for breakfast. She's good at eggs. Sean had her cooking on the camp stove last week, too.

Here's the new flowers out front. Nice and colorful!

Here's two drowned rats after our walk this morning. It started raining when we were at our farthest point, let up enough for us to play at a playground for 10 minutes, then came down pretty good, with lightening and thunder! Fun. Carla knew we were headed out for a walk because we had talked just before we left, and she called my cell while we were walking to see if we needed rescuing from the rain. Nice, hey?

And now some layouts. I did this first one two weeks ago, but hadn't opened my bag since we scrapped last, so got a nice surprise yesterday - a finished one!


The journalling is about the all-nighter they did as Girl Guides and how she crashed in the morning.


This one says "one nice spring day, two friends, one mom with a camera. May 10, 2009"


And this just says "Canada Day 2009 - camping at Madge Lake in Duck Mountain Prov. Park" She made the one on the left and mine is the one on the right.

$3 Worth of God

I read this in my textbook last night - it was about 2 pages before I started nodding off. I flipped down the corner of the page so I'd remember to share it with you.

"I would like to buy $3 worth of God - not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup or warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of God to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want about a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please." (Wilbur Reece)

Wow. How many of us think that way without realizing how wrong it is?

Monday, July 06, 2009

Befores and Afters


I picked up 3 more baskets of flowers today that are now along the left side of the house. Fills it in nicely. I used them as decorations for a bridal shower we threw tonight on the way home!




Nice, hey? Not bad for a little face lift! We need to redo the grass and the fence, but it was nice to get this little bit of a cosmetic fix before we are able to take on the big jobs. In this last picture notice how nice and flush to the grass the fireplace patio stones are... And we came home tonight to find the lights shining!

Now some close-ups:


I like the pattern on those stones. Now I just have to get some black BBQ paint and repaint the fire pit and get rid of that rust!

Finished the big one!

There is some leeway in the end date of the course I'm working on, but the official date is today. I just finished the 14 page paper that I've been working on forever (except for polishing the footnotes, but that will come) and it will get sent in today. I am thankful for that!! Then one more 6 pager and a bunch of text reading... Soon it will be done. Soon.

This also means that I can play with my pictures later and show you some!

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Today we

LANDSCAPED!

It started out with me saying yesterday that maybe on Monday I was going to get some pots and flowers to put out front. Sean suggested we go look around at some stuff this afternoon, so we did... nice to have him around to help decide stuff like that. My 'pots of flowers' plan turned into 9 packages of wood chips, 80 landscaping bricks, four paving stones for under the fire pit, 6 solar lights and 2 decorator thingies for in front of the deck. Oh, yeah, and 4 pots of flowers - already done and colorful!

You will see pictures soon, but not yet, because I am working on school work. Soon. I promise. Now you have to come back! ha ha ha........

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Home Again

and SO looking forward to sleeping in a real bed. Camping was good. It always it, to get away from all the routine of home, to relax, eat differently, see new things, exist in nature, soak in the sun, see animals...

We are home, unburned (low 20's all week, it rained only on Friday), unbitten (though there were lots of big stingers that threatened) and unstressed. We saw deer, but no bears. I know, that's a good thing, but we were hoping! Duck Mountain is a great place - I'd recommend it! But maybe don't go over a holiday. It was blissfully quiet for the first half of our stay, then on Canada Day the partiers and the families moved in. The partiers were loud at night and then the families were up and loud bright and early. Ah, yes. Great combo.

We have a new Canada Day tradition. Last year we were camping over Canada Day at Spruce Woods in Manitoba, and we headed in to Brandon to see the fireworks, since you can't do fireworks in a provincial park. This year we headed off down the road and ended up in Roblin, MB, where we took in part of their festivities, including a concert by a crazy good 12 year old (or so) fiddler and M got to bounce and slide on the inflatables. We didn't stay for fireworks, but it's a fun habit that we might continue, to find some random little town to join for Canada Day fun.

I'll upload our pictures tomorrow and share some. Love you all!