Monday, July 31, 2006
Hannah is (SHOULD BE) in the country!
YAY! If she wasn't late and didn't miss her flight, Hannah should be in Calgary right now. And she should be arriving here at 7.15pm. YAY.... BIG PHAT YAY!
How are we loving others?
OK, so I just wrote a huge blog that for some reason has disappeared.. so I will try to explain myself again, and hope I don't miss anything out.
I have to admit that these are all a mass of jumbled emotions so please bear with me as I try to make myself clear.
Ever since we moved here I have had a burden in my heart. On a whole Canada is a fairly laid back place. People are friendly, and there is a diverse cultural background, which also means a whle new range of menu's for me to explore... yummy!
But, one thing that surprised me was how the First Nations people were viewed. In every culture there is percentage of people who make bad life style choices, and for some reason this taints everyone else. I struggle with this, and feel it is unfair. Every society has beggers, every society has spongers/thieves/drunks... do I need to go on? I know there are some other issues involved, but ultimately God calls us to love others. How are we ever going to have a united community if we harbour these feelings or express those views, how are we loving the individual if we just generalise. How are we seeing God's beauty if we don't even take the time to look.
My good friend Kim lent me a book which I have found helpful in this area, it's called One Church Many Tribes and was written by Richard Twiss, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. Richard Twiss has written this book trying not to condemn but inform and also bring encouragement and promise for us as a whole Church.
As many of you know I am so proud to be English, I love my heritage, the long line of history that my nation has. But I have to admit to feeling grief over how we did things sometimes. We seemed to have turned up and just taken over a LOT. Colonising 2/3 of the world seems a bit steep to me when we're such a small island, I have no clue how we did it. And a lot of our issues seem to come from us thinking we knew better (not that I ever think like that... not much anyways... sorry!). The English Puritans thought converting the Natives meant westernising them, making them do things our way instead of loving them.
Why do we find it so hard to love them? Why does someone have to dress the same way as us, eat the same foods as us, deal with issues how we want them to be dealt with? Why does our love come with conditions? How do we know that God doesn't delight in their culture, in their form of worship.
Leading a life and following the guidlines set out in the Bible does not mean we will all be the same. God is an artist, His tapestry has many different threads. How can we tell Him that this thread is wrong because we don't think it's the right colour.... do you want to tell God He's wrong? I don't!
This is kinda similar to how I have been feeling about our youth. We have so many hurting youth crying out for attention in the wrong way. And instead of trying to get to know them, to find out why they chose that path, we condemn them.... no good louts, druggies, lazy. I do know that some people know what they are doing and delight in it, this is a scarey thing. But I truly believe that a majority of people who have gone down the wrong path have done so because they didn't know any better, what else to do, or circumstances have carried them along. I truly believe that 98% of humanity are good people (not that we should only love good people, God calls us to love ALL people). We all have insecurities, we all feel love and pain. I wish that we could truly learn to love how God wants us to love, but maybe that is something that is constantly evolving, that God likes to continually be teach us about.
I have to admit that these are all a mass of jumbled emotions so please bear with me as I try to make myself clear.
Ever since we moved here I have had a burden in my heart. On a whole Canada is a fairly laid back place. People are friendly, and there is a diverse cultural background, which also means a whle new range of menu's for me to explore... yummy!
But, one thing that surprised me was how the First Nations people were viewed. In every culture there is percentage of people who make bad life style choices, and for some reason this taints everyone else. I struggle with this, and feel it is unfair. Every society has beggers, every society has spongers/thieves/drunks... do I need to go on? I know there are some other issues involved, but ultimately God calls us to love others. How are we ever going to have a united community if we harbour these feelings or express those views, how are we loving the individual if we just generalise. How are we seeing God's beauty if we don't even take the time to look.
My good friend Kim lent me a book which I have found helpful in this area, it's called One Church Many Tribes and was written by Richard Twiss, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. Richard Twiss has written this book trying not to condemn but inform and also bring encouragement and promise for us as a whole Church.
As many of you know I am so proud to be English, I love my heritage, the long line of history that my nation has. But I have to admit to feeling grief over how we did things sometimes. We seemed to have turned up and just taken over a LOT. Colonising 2/3 of the world seems a bit steep to me when we're such a small island, I have no clue how we did it. And a lot of our issues seem to come from us thinking we knew better (not that I ever think like that... not much anyways... sorry!). The English Puritans thought converting the Natives meant westernising them, making them do things our way instead of loving them.
Why do we find it so hard to love them? Why does someone have to dress the same way as us, eat the same foods as us, deal with issues how we want them to be dealt with? Why does our love come with conditions? How do we know that God doesn't delight in their culture, in their form of worship.
Leading a life and following the guidlines set out in the Bible does not mean we will all be the same. God is an artist, His tapestry has many different threads. How can we tell Him that this thread is wrong because we don't think it's the right colour.... do you want to tell God He's wrong? I don't!
This is kinda similar to how I have been feeling about our youth. We have so many hurting youth crying out for attention in the wrong way. And instead of trying to get to know them, to find out why they chose that path, we condemn them.... no good louts, druggies, lazy. I do know that some people know what they are doing and delight in it, this is a scarey thing. But I truly believe that a majority of people who have gone down the wrong path have done so because they didn't know any better, what else to do, or circumstances have carried them along. I truly believe that 98% of humanity are good people (not that we should only love good people, God calls us to love ALL people). We all have insecurities, we all feel love and pain. I wish that we could truly learn to love how God wants us to love, but maybe that is something that is constantly evolving, that God likes to continually be teach us about.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Mail joy!
So I ordered 2 CD 's from a certain internet shopping site, it's a good way to either get the CD I want cheap or to get a CD I want from home... so about a week ago I ordered the Hard-Fi and Gnarls Barkley albums... they told me that I may not get them until the end of August... BUT THEY ARRIVED TODAY! I think they do that, over estimate how long it will take, so that you think they got your merchandise to you super quick!
Anyways, I am very happy, both are extremely good albums. Hard-Fi has surprised me with it's mixture of pop/punk/rock, Better Do Better was the clincher for me. And Gnarls Barkley... well... I love this album... it's that simple.
Anyways, I am very happy, both are extremely good albums. Hard-Fi has surprised me with it's mixture of pop/punk/rock, Better Do Better was the clincher for me. And Gnarls Barkley... well... I love this album... it's that simple.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Heigh Ho, Heigh ho, it's off to work I go...
The last couple of weeks I have been helping with the renovations at our new office building. It's been a great learning experiance and at times a lot of fun, but boy is my body tired and sore right now. I think Lindsay is surprised at how willing I have been to do some of this stuff, and I'm not sure if Gil or James realises how bizarre it is that I am helping them sand/prime/haul/stain/use power tools!?@! Anyways, hopefully we'll be moved in by the end of August.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Cuties
Thanks to Darren's 30th birthday bash, I came across this stunning picture of Lindsay & his best friend Darren at our wedding. Aren't they cute!
Anticipation.. always fun
Do you ever feel like you spend your life waiting... waiting in a queue at the grocery store, waiting for your friend to call, waiting for an album to come out, a movie to come out, for holidays, for christmas.... hhmmmmm.
I remember my Grandma telling me to stop waiting... I believe she said 'that's wishing your life away' but I can't remember her precise words, but you get the gist.
However, anticipation can be a thrilling experiance. Sometimes you need to savour that feeling. I remember the last couple of months before our wedding, it seemed like we were never gonna get to the wedding day, and how I longed for us just to be married BUT, there where moments that I imprinted on my memory, remembered feelings that I locked in a box to make sure I never forgot them; my hen night at Borges, looking at wedding dress's with Hannah, looking at underwear with Deborah and Liz, the night before my wedding eating chinese food with my mum and bridesmaids.. sharing my excitement with Debs.... these are all cherished moments.
OK, back to my original thought... Hannah will be here in less than 3 weeks, OH HOW EXCITED AM I!?! But I need to remember to enjoy the here and now, not wish this beautiful summer away yet. But the weather bettter be good when she's here... seriously... PLEASE BE NICE AND HOT!
Other things I'm excited about... the kiss my husband always gives me when he is done work, swimming with Melissa tonight, my Gnarls Barkley and Hard-Fi albums arriving, seeing Joy on Friday, Colleen and Michael's wedding this Saturday, spending time with Tanya next week, AND the new YFC building BEING FINISHED... EVENTUALLY.... HOPEFULLY SOON!!!!
I remember my Grandma telling me to stop waiting... I believe she said 'that's wishing your life away' but I can't remember her precise words, but you get the gist.
However, anticipation can be a thrilling experiance. Sometimes you need to savour that feeling. I remember the last couple of months before our wedding, it seemed like we were never gonna get to the wedding day, and how I longed for us just to be married BUT, there where moments that I imprinted on my memory, remembered feelings that I locked in a box to make sure I never forgot them; my hen night at Borges, looking at wedding dress's with Hannah, looking at underwear with Deborah and Liz, the night before my wedding eating chinese food with my mum and bridesmaids.. sharing my excitement with Debs.... these are all cherished moments.
OK, back to my original thought... Hannah will be here in less than 3 weeks, OH HOW EXCITED AM I!?! But I need to remember to enjoy the here and now, not wish this beautiful summer away yet. But the weather bettter be good when she's here... seriously... PLEASE BE NICE AND HOT!
Other things I'm excited about... the kiss my husband always gives me when he is done work, swimming with Melissa tonight, my Gnarls Barkley and Hard-Fi albums arriving, seeing Joy on Friday, Colleen and Michael's wedding this Saturday, spending time with Tanya next week, AND the new YFC building BEING FINISHED... EVENTUALLY.... HOPEFULLY SOON!!!!
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Showers ROCK!
So one thing we english don't do, but TOTALLY SHOULD do, is showers.
Not only do you help out people who could do with that little bit extra love, support, encouragement and just plain stuff. But it is also a good time to just be around other people, to connect with people you mght not normally have a chance to spend time with. Two such occasions happened to me this week...
Saturday was Colleen's stagette afternoon/night. We went to the Freehouse for supper, then on to Shantelle's house for a lingerie shower, then on to Beiley's afterwards. It was a great night, there was some of Colleen's friends, her mum, some of her aunts, Diane, Melanie, Carla, Roxy, Julie was home from Ireland, and Joanna was in from Edmonton, so I got to hang out with people that I really like but rarely get to see. And Colleen seemed to be having a great time, so all was hunky dory.
Last night was Cornerstone's baby shower for Dawn & Libby. It was SO good, I love how there is always a good mix of different ages, and how there is always new people to meet. Libby was good as gold and slept most of the evening while she was passed around. And WOW, did Dawn get some neat stuff... someone had crocheted a blanket, there was a baby time capsule kit (nice idea), and a couple really cute memory books/boxes. And there was, of course, the assortment of adorable outfits/clothing. Kristin did this AWESOME little A - Z talk about baby stuff, it really was great, and very cute.... I'll have to see if she will let me copy that off her for future uses....
Not only do you help out people who could do with that little bit extra love, support, encouragement and just plain stuff. But it is also a good time to just be around other people, to connect with people you mght not normally have a chance to spend time with. Two such occasions happened to me this week...
Saturday was Colleen's stagette afternoon/night. We went to the Freehouse for supper, then on to Shantelle's house for a lingerie shower, then on to Beiley's afterwards. It was a great night, there was some of Colleen's friends, her mum, some of her aunts, Diane, Melanie, Carla, Roxy, Julie was home from Ireland, and Joanna was in from Edmonton, so I got to hang out with people that I really like but rarely get to see. And Colleen seemed to be having a great time, so all was hunky dory.
Last night was Cornerstone's baby shower for Dawn & Libby. It was SO good, I love how there is always a good mix of different ages, and how there is always new people to meet. Libby was good as gold and slept most of the evening while she was passed around. And WOW, did Dawn get some neat stuff... someone had crocheted a blanket, there was a baby time capsule kit (nice idea), and a couple really cute memory books/boxes. And there was, of course, the assortment of adorable outfits/clothing. Kristin did this AWESOME little A - Z talk about baby stuff, it really was great, and very cute.... I'll have to see if she will let me copy that off her for future uses....
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Flowers
As you can see I took more pictures of flowers. To all of you who might not be so interested... I'm very sorry, but enjoy it while it lasts, cos soon enough it will be all gone....
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
A love of plants
I have fallen in love with plants, and taking pictures of them. Maybe it's the fact that we have such a short growing period, and a short time of colour outdoors.... But I love capturing the beauty, it's so good to know that I can see pictures of God's stunning creation in the middle of snowy white winter.
Daniel is 6!
So Daniel is 6.
He will be in Grade 1 this September.
We had fun for his birthday. We bought him water pistols, aren't we fun! He also got a giant volley ball with a net, and swimming stuff.
We went outside and tested everything, I almost thought that Lindsay & Wes were about to just duel it out there and then, but they were good boys and let the children play instead. Steven didn't seem to mind getting wet at all, but Daniel wasn't so keen, he could spray you but not the other way around... how long is that gonna last...? He seemed to love all his gifts and he and Steven were pretty hyper all night. We had cake and ice cream, and then it was time to go home.
He will be in Grade 1 this September.
We had fun for his birthday. We bought him water pistols, aren't we fun! He also got a giant volley ball with a net, and swimming stuff.
We went outside and tested everything, I almost thought that Lindsay & Wes were about to just duel it out there and then, but they were good boys and let the children play instead. Steven didn't seem to mind getting wet at all, but Daniel wasn't so keen, he could spray you but not the other way around... how long is that gonna last...? He seemed to love all his gifts and he and Steven were pretty hyper all night. We had cake and ice cream, and then it was time to go home.
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