My Plastic Family

This entry is a tribute to the 2+ wonderful years that I had the prevelage of working with the 3D3 Plastic Surgery team at the U of A hospital in Edmonton :D I am seriously going to miss these guys SO much when I am back home...

From some of our very memorable foul-mouthed drunk/high patients, escaping convicts in orange jump suits, sad trauma stories, and gool 'ol run of the mill wired jaw boys, I have LOVED this place :)

My last night shift a few weeks ago, Liz and Margaret threw me a going away tea party! Awe, they were so sweet! Liz even carefully wraped her good china tea cups in her bag so that it was official ;) We poured ourselves tea and ate cupcakes full of icing sitting the middle of the hallway giggling and hoping none of the patients would right their call bells :P

Every night that I am on night shift I am faithful to this little green chair by the waterfall... I always come with my tea and bagel and my Beth Moore Bible study to sit and enjoy the sound of water for an hour and 1/2. Some nights I struggle to stay awake and keep my eyes open, other nights I'm totally allert and enjoy praying for people while I sit and stare off into space, other nights I sit and think about all the kids up on the 4th floor that have thrown pennies and dimes into the fountain making a wish... probably to get out of the hospital and home with their toys :) Some times, especially in the summer I watch the sky through the glass roof as it gets lighter and lighter at 4:30 in the morning (one of the things I love about living in Edmonton-daylight from 4:30am-11:30pm). Ahhhh, I love my little spot by the fountain... I'll miss my little spot by the fountain.

Before I left Edmonton I wanted to take a few of the ladies out and have them try... yep, you guessed it, Ethiopian food! :) I was really impressed with them! I was scared that a few might really dislike it, but I was as pleasantly surprised as they were about how much they enjoyed the food! Yay!

Thanks for everything you guys, all the laughs, the wisdom and encouragement. You are the best team I could have ever hoped to work with. I'll miss you lots, and I'll forsure keep in touch -I'll need to make sure you "make good" on your ideas to fund raise for me... hahaha, just kidding :) Love ya's, Keep on keepin' on.

The Last Road Trip

A few weekends ago I rented my last "rent-a-prize" car in Edmonton (a sexy silver mint green Hyundai number which stunk of smoke) and headed South with my Amy... We were off for one last road trip (after a quick stop at a gas station for a Vanilla air-freshener on the way out of the city!), some quality time, and some goodbyes in Calgary. We were going to stop into Drumheler to see the 'Bad Lands' where all the dinosaurs where found, since I'd never been there, even though I've been meaning to go for 5 years!... But, that didn't happen, cause we spontaneously changed our course through Red Deer to visit some of Amy's friends at a camp in the back woods then arrive into Calgary through the mountain scenic route, yes, ...one last time. It's my favorite stretch of Mountains, around the Colombia Ice Fields, and I was really happy I got to see it again! The most beautiful part is (see picture) mountains with a lake at the bottom... water makes everything-even mountains more beautiful :)

Further down the highway we saw a bear off on the side of the road! It was so exciting. And he was just so cute wandering around munchin' on food. We watched him for about a 1/2 hour... a great touch to our time in the Rockies :D

The rest of our weekend was spend visiting people! It was so great to to see so many and have good conversations, but it was tiring :) We spent the morning with Brian and Kath Blacklock (a special Navs couple originally from England), then the afternoon with Phil and Marcia Leskawich -an SIM couple that have been really special to me the past 5 years. In the evening we went out for dinner with Renee and Rachel -2 Calgary Navers :) It was great! The next morning, I had breakfast with Renee, then was off to church for one last service listening to my favorite prof from BBC :) I also ran into Matt & Leila, and Owen & Lauren! After goodbyes and thank yous at "the Swamp" (U of C Nav girls house) and the girls who let us crash on the couches we headed north on the highway! Only one last stop... in Red Deer to see Jenn & Rick Cochrane one last time :) It was a fun and exhausting road trip! Thanks for commin' Aim :) And thanks for risking your life to lean over backwards if our hot little car to take this picture of the clouds :D
Love you all...

My Happy Place

I'm sure most of you are aware by now that I am moving home to Nova Scotia in just a few days... This post is a tribute to my favorite place that I've lived in in Edmonton-2 whole years!

Welcome to...
The living room -it's the new thing, a bed in the living room!
SO nice for movie watching!
Our very white kitchen
Many cups of tea and more than a few dozen "Christiane's Chocolate-Peanut butter Cookies" made here!
Our "beach theme" bathroom :)
(When a girl of the ocean moves to the mountains, she does what she can to keep "home" close! -too bad you can't see all our beach pictures! OH, but you CAN see my bright purple bath mat that I dyed in the kitchen sink!)
Pam's bedroom... a typical day... no comment :D
My "Farm Life Green" African room... I LOVE my room

I hope you enjoyed the tour!! I'll post pics of my next African RED room when I am home :D

Long Talks, Whales, & Ice Cream

Right after the conference I went to Victoria and Vancouver with Jeanette. I have to say that after 2 long years of being pretty out of touch, these4 days were a "my cup runneth over" time. I have missed her more than I can express.

We went to Victoria and stayed with her Grandma for 2 days, walked along the beach near the house, explored downtown, celebrated her birthday with family, stayed up late watching Anne of Green Gables, and had long talks :) Back in Vancouver we walked to Grenvel Island (i can't remember for sure the name :S), made supper at her boyfriend's apartment (he was out of town!), walked all the way downtown for ice cream -always a tradition with us, then stayed up really late talking on the porch looking out over all the lights of Vancouver. It was just a fabulous time. I think we both need it more than I had realized.

My favorite thing that we did -a dream of mine for YEARS- was whale watching on her birthday!! We went down town to sign up -and got our tickets 20$ cheaper than we thought (always nice!), but found out that no whales (Orca's -Killer Whales) had been spotted for almost 4 days... We decided to take the chance and go for it anyway :) I had been praying since we decided to look into it, as this would be my only chance- possibly ever- to see orcas in the wild! Now please, I realize how that sounds, quite similar to praying the Lord to provide something frivolous such as a parking space close to the mall entrance -not quite sure the Lord appreciates those sorts of prayers. However, I felt really strongly about this after a very long hard week of Laboring for the Lord, not that I "deserved" this by any means, but just that I would GREATLY be blessed and refreshed by a big display of His Glory, after all, these are HIS animals -He can make them to what ever He'd like :D They are my favorite animals (yes, "Free Willy" got to me as a kid) along with Lions, and as silly as it may sound to some of you, it's been a heart desire of mine to see them live and wild :) Anyway! We headed off in the morning, in the drizzle I might add, hoping and praying... It was SOOO good to be out on the ocean, going fast with salt air making a mess of my hair, ohh, my heart a so happy just doing that... I was singing and just loving the zodiac ride itself! We first came upon some rocks and a lighthouse, where 2 different kinds of seals where chillin' and fighting actually. They where all males (so our guide told us) and they were barking and making quite a racket... it was really cool. There was a bald eagle among them too. (if you click on the pictures it will blow them up so you can get a better look... and the one that looks like just water, if you blow it up, you can see the white spots of a whale under the water!) After that we headed our little zodiac boat (that only had 5 people including our Guide) out into the open ocean to see whales! We weren't out there too long before we found the "scout" for J-Pod heading our way... I'll never forget it. We were just off to the side of this whale's path and he turned toward our orange boat (our guide is says they recognize their boats, and his special signal he gives them), breaching every 10 seconds, then swam directing under the boat turning to the side to get a good look at us as he went by. AMAZING! But, that wasn't the end... the week before the papers had a front page article about the new baby addition to J-Pod, and wonder of wonders, we saw her! (I think it was a girl -they don't know for sure yet though). Honestly I couldn't believe it, but we saw mother and baby (who's white spots are a light orange) heading our way, they passed under our boat twice, it was SO amazing. The water had a wave to it, but was crystal clear on the surface. Unfortunately my camera has a ridiculous 5 second delay and none of my pictures are anything other than dorsal fins, but here is one picture I found online our our special little baby whale! We also saw them "spy hop" a few times which is when they sorta 'nose up' out of the water to look around, and even one jumped clear out of the water, turned mid air and splashed back down! It was just phenomenal... everything I dreamed and prayed to see, we saw. It truly was a Glorious display of God's Creation. I cried at one point -I know, I know, I'm silly :) We also saw this one named "Ruffles" who has a trade mark 'crooked' dorsal fin that really does took like a Ruffles potato chip (he actually appears in one of the scenes in Free Willy, I found him the other day!), anyway, we were watching him circle around and around, chasing something beneath the surface, when suddenly this big salmon (about 30-40 lbs our guide guessed) jumped out of the water and we watched Ruffles catch him in his mouth in the air! WOAH NELLY! Seriously, I couldn't believe my eyes! All too soon it was time to go back to the dock, our 3 hours were up... But what an amazing day. Our guide was totally pumped and was like "Wow, you guys, you saw everything today, it was classic, a perfect weather day... we haven't had a day like this in while!" I giggled to myself cause I know the One who orchestrated it all ;)

Then one more glimpse of God's Greatness as I flew home over the Canadian Rockies, praising the Lord for the time spent with Jeanette.

I love you, Shreddie :D (although I can't remember why I call you that...?)

Somewhere Else West 2007

Every year we have a big Navs conference in May, after all University exams are completed! Last year, as you may recall, it was in Southern Alberta in the foothills... this year we traveled 16 hours west into the interior of British Colombia, to Rock Ridge Canyon in Princeton BC.

On the way we stayed the night at Amy's house in Clearwater after a very long drive through the Rockies at night, eating Jelly Bellies and talking :D We made one pit stop the next day at a Waterfall (sorry, can't remember the name of it) before heading out on the last leg of the journey.

Before the conference started we had a weekend of preparation for the Student Leaders. It was nice to see people from years past, catch up, and get to know people better, or for the first time.

During the week we had worship times, main session speakers, workshops, really yummy meals, hours of fabulous free time every afternoon, and lots of activities that could be done around the property. Our location was this big Young Life camp in the middle of the mountains... the grounds were beautiful, although under construction in areas. The buildings were amazing... they made my much loved camp at home look like a bunch of shacks! (but, just for the record, I'd choose Malagash over this place any day!)

Our 2 main speakers were Mike Mutungi, from the Kenya Navs (Left in the picture), and Manfred Molomo, from the South Africa Navigators (Right in the picture). It was great to talk to them and have them with us for the week, making us laugh and challenging all of us to walk closer to Jesus. The dude in the middle is my friend, and the U of A Navs staff guy, Paul Tan.

This camp had the 2nd longest zip line in all of North America, so everyone who wanted to got a chance to go down it on Tuesday during the week. Did I go? Are you kidding me? I get my kicks watching other people having fun and screaming their way to the bottom... the zip line, or roller coasters, or anything of the sort is just not my style ;) (I almost cried doing one of the "kiddie" roller coasters at West Ed Mall !!)
The week was really significant is so many ways. But, I gotta tell ya... it's really difficult to explain on here... it more of an in-person sort of thing :) Let me just say that it was a very had week for me personally. Difficult in waiting on the Lord and learning yet again how to trust Him, especially with people that I love. I had the opportunity to lead one of the workshops during the week, which was an experience that I loved. The workshop was on Freedom, a theme for the year for our Edmonton Girls, and one that I have been very passionate about since last years SEW program. The Lord has done so much in my this past year and it was so nice to go through it and try to explain/present it to others. It was really challenging, but SO worth it. If anyone wants to me to email the worksheet to them just let me know -especially if this topic of freedom strikes a chord in your heart...

At the end of the week Jeanette was able to come for the last 24 hours, which was really great -so nice to be able to introduce her to some of the people in my life these past 5 years in Edmonton :) Over all the week was really hard, but really good. We serve a God bigger than we know.