Surprise...Hot Pot!!

Paul Tan turned 3_...well, perhaps I shouldn't say it on my blog...on November 7th. So, a bunch of us threw him a surprise birthday party that he still clims he had no idea about...which is amazing cause I'm a really terrible lier :S We took him down to China Town to this place that does "Hot Pot"...ever heard of it? No? I hadn't either! It's this sort of "raw buffet" where you go around and get all the bits that you wanna cook up, you take it back to your table and dump it all in this big bowl of soup broth (either the hot stuff, or the not hot stuff), let it cook all up, then spoon it out and eat it! Or, there is also a grill too that you can cook stuff on. It was pretty good! Of course, I was a bigger fan of the grilling as opposed to the soup-ing :D

We had some fun with the food...must say there were a few "interesting" items to choose from, my favorite was the little mini squids...whole squids... :P Scary tid bit of info?? When you put a fresh little squidlet on the grill all the tenticles curl up and it totally looks alive! eeeeewwww! We had a dare going to see who would eat it...Olga won, but then Scott (her husband) had to try and "show her up"...but hey, they both need to get their practice in anyway cause they are leaving to be full-time missionaries in China in like 6 months! :D

It was just a really fun night! Unfortunately I don't have any good pictures of Paul...the only ones are tiped on their sides and I can't turn them! Anyway, Happy Birthday Paul!!! :D

Yieehaww!!

After living out west for 5 years and missing the Calgary Stampeed 2 summers in a row...I finally made it to the Canadian Finals Rodeo in Edmonton!! :D Pam and I went on our "anual date" to the rodeo early in November...but unfortunately last year when we tried to go, there were no seats available so we ended up wandering around outside the Agricom and Rexall place buildings looking at all the animals. We still had fun mind you...it's hard to be anywhere with Pam and not end up laughing and enjoying yourself! But...I must say that it was really nice to be indoors and out of the cold this year, have seats and actaully SEE the Rodeo :)
It felt really neat to be sitting in the Oilers arena (let me tell ya...this ain't no Halifax Metro Center...it's BIG), surrounded by cowboy hats (from purple to white to black and leopard print), with dirt and not ice in the center, and some good ol' Country music ("Alberta Bound" by Paul Brant of course) blaring through the speakers...I have to be honnest and tell you I was feelin' mighty proud to be an adopted Westerner ;)
It was the opening night so we saw a bit of everything...perfect! :D Now, I don't know all the "technical Rodeo terms" for all the events...so I've made up myown :P We saw the calf wrestlers, the single calf lasooers and the pairs calf lasooers (what is your first hind that I'm a retired figure skater...?), we saw the barrell racers, the rodeo clowns, the "child cowboy perotegies" perform their tricks during intermission, and -get this...- the Rodeo Cowgirl Beauty Pagent!! ha! Then we saw the buckin' horse riders and then my personal favorite...the Bull Riders! :D I seriously remember watching Bull Riding competitions on the TV with Dad when I was growing up...I dunno but I really like it...it's totoally exciting!! Pam (who took this fabulous, centered, picture of us...) also reminded me of how they get these horses and Bulls to get so angry and buck like that...poor little fellas ;)
After all that I can assure you that my desire for a horse of myown was re-established...but I can wait until I get to Africa and ride from village to village on mine ;)
So...Final conclusions? "Ya wouldn't see any a' this in Nova Scotia!!" :D

PG 14...contains sensitive material...and some animals were harmed in the making of this blog

So not even days after Kim left I discovered that "the Happy Place" appartment had mice :S !! I also discovered that they were camping out inside the matress of the big green bed in the living room that all our guests sleep on...oops-sorry Kim!!:D

How did I discover them? Well, the mouse terds and dried up yellow blotches in one of the cupboards was the first give away...followed by the unveiling of chewed up items...Jordan they loved that sweet potato...who would have thought! :D So later on that same night, I was sitting at the desk emailing and I saw the little bugger run along the wall from the kitchen to the green bed!

Now, truely, mice don't bother me...If we were infested with spiders on the other hand, I would move out so fast it would make your head spin!!!:D One night at 2 am my friend Amy and I decided that we should catch the little guy and put him in the dumpster! Needless to say the scene that followed was HIGHLY hilarious and involved a broom and a cereal box....we were unsucessful. We resored to the more drastic method seen in the photo above... We killed 3 in total and haven't seen any signs of more little mickey mouses in like 2 weeks!

Devine-ly Blessed...

The last month of my life has been such a blessing from the Lord. I have had 2 of my closest friends out here in Edmonton to visit...My Cup Runneth Over.

One of those people is this hot chick right over there...Kimmy DeVine. For a whole week Kim and I got to spend time together, enouraging one another, laughing, being rediulous, and enjoying the good gifts that the Lord gives His Children...Kim is one of those good gifts to me :)

There is just something about spending time-day in and day out-with someone who knows you so well, who understands what makes you tick, and loves you inspite of all your faults! :D

One of many reasons that I love hanging out with Kim is that I get to do things...random things...that I have only ever off-handedly thought of doing.... Like, going out an buying a whole Baskin Robins Birthday Cake and eating most of it in one night...what were were celebrating?? Well, we weren't exactly sure, but it was a happy night: Watching Run Away Bride ("our" movie) and eating icecream cake :)

I also just loved having someone that I love (from out side the Edmonton context of my life) come with me for some of my day to day stuff, like Navs meetings and going undercover as I met up with a few of the girls for coffee :D It's just nice to have someone understand that aspect from the "inside" and even to get their perspective on what they see....thanks Kim :P It's always both wierd and amazing to have 2 worlds meet...like Nova Scotia and Edmonton, or Edmonton and Ecuador, or Briercrest and Edmonton...or whatever! To have Pam and Kim in the same appartment makes for quite a few laughs, let me tell you! :D

We spent hours looking at picures of Kim's time in Ecuador, talking about the Mystery that IS our God, and hoping/dreaming about our futures... whatever He might have in store...

We carved pumpkins...really late at night, walked to the market, made the traditional trip to "the real Canadian Superstore" for old times-Moose Jaw's sake :) Ate out...like every meal...I dunno it just happened that way...I had to take her to my favorite places!! Like out for Ethiopian is just an absolute must for anyone coming to the city!! We also both went and got our hair cut...safety in numbers (not sure why but I always find going to get my hair cut a totally intimidating experience...??)--Thankfully I had Kim there too...it'sjust more fun that way :D

The first few days of her visit here were beautiful...but, hey, what would a trip to Edmonton be like without some snow....especially for this Californian!?

I just never get tired of seeing the ways the Lord proves His Faithfulness to me over and over again. He truely cares deeply about our hearts...and He knew how much mine needed to spend some time with hers :) Love you Kim. xoxo