Traditions

Those of you who know me, know that I am a person on tradition... I need it in my life :) After 6 years of living out west I have started a few of myown traditions (it's probably a coping mechanism). Every year I have gone to the Butterdome Christmas Craft Fair. It's really big, really Christmasy, and puts me in a good mood every time :D My first year there I even got to see Tracy and Debbie Hoffos! Anyway, I just thought I'd show you a picutre of my favorite Edmonton Christmas Tradition :)

I have been eyeing one booth inparticular for the past 5 years...it's called "Pressed Wishes" and they make artwork out of pressed leaves and flowers. It seriously is just so beautiful... I especially love their pressed leaves... the maple leaves make me so patriotic inside that I want to sing "Oh, Canada" on the spot :) Anyway, this year I used some Graduation money that I was given to buy a really beautiful picutre for myself... when I'm in Africa one day it will remind me of home and make my heart all the more happy :D This photo doesn't quite do my picture justice, but maybe you'll enjoy it anyway.

So This is Christmas...

Mmmm... I love Christmas :)

Everything is so beautiful ...even cookies!! I love the first snow fall and when all the malls put up their Christmas decorations and when one by one houses in the city put their lights on :D It's such a happy time of year.

These pictures are from our Navs Christmas Party at the beginning of December. We had a really great night all hanging out, singing carols, reading the story of Jesus Birth-what Christmas is truely about, eating lots of good food, and exchanging gifts!

I am a fan of these people :P

We did a Yanke Swap (for those of you who don't know what that is... all the wraped presents are placed in the middle of the group and one by one people pick gifts- either a wraped one from the center, or one that has been unwraped that you can "steal" from a friend) which can get really fun to watch :) Jerad I would have to say had the funniest gift... he picked the heaviest present from the middle and opened up a package of six sented bubble baths! Haha... then he spend the rest of the night trying to convince people to steal it from him :D This is a picture of him trying to pon it off to Grace... It was a really fun night :)

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night :)

He's Gone Country!!

Just in case you were worried, no I haven't cut my hair and grown a gotee...this is one of my best friends Criag! :) He came out west in Novemeber to visit me...lucky me, I'm had so much fun with visitors this semester!!

So! What to tell you about his visit...I have to be honnest and say that Craig has a way of effecting me like no one else has ever been able too... I can go from being totally frustrated with him to laughing histerically with him in milliseconds :D It truely is amazing!

I seriously hadn't laughed so hard in a long time before he came out...I enjoy his company muchly. He is both friend and brother rolled into one and I am blessed :)

I did however learn more about him in this trip then I ever wished to know... and now that I have your curiosity up... I really shouldn't share if I want to keep this friend :D (nice hair in that picture huh? Cyclone? :P)

After a while I started to compile a running list of similairities between him and my father which was really frightening... how many can I remember?

Similar humor (hard to give examples though), very similar things that frustrate them when driving or waiting in lines, coconut cream pie, Gaither Vocal Band, supposed "hate" for Country music (will expalin later), nose bleeds (had to buy Craig Rhinaris-which my dad uses... this similarity was a bit too much for me, I was wierded out slightly)... oh I know there were more but they aren't coming to me :D

While he was here I got to rent a car and take him for his first view of the Rockey Mountains... It was a perfet day-cold and windy but very clear and beautiful :) I think he really enjoyed it, seemed pretty excited at the time and that made for an enjoyable day for me too... I liked watching him see it brand new :)

This ranks as one of my top 3 road trips (where only 2 people are tripping). I'm still amazed that we were in the car for 12 hours together and we were still friends by the end!! We had good talks but mostly sang ALOT. We were pumpin' the Chris Tomlin through the Colombia Pass, and then the Shania Twain through Banff. I found it curious how Craig claimed to be so adimantly against country music with phrases like "who told these people they could sing!?" (exactly what my father says about country music) and yet knew all the words...humm!? He blames it on being raised in "hickville" Nova Scotia (his words, not mine), but I'm not convinced... these were very recent songs. I would call him a "closet country boy"... what about you :D?? At any rate it was a fun trip, even if our rental tires were bald (so he tells me) and we drove on sheer ice from Nordeg to Banff and he made me drive 60 miles/hour. Never a dull moment with Pastor Criag Silver!

Thanks for coming out to Alberta Craig. Please know that I am praying for you in this crucial time in your life. I pray that as the Lord guides you, you will have ears to hear and eyes to see what His good and perfect will is. Love ya Buddy :)

My Friend Maike

This is my friend Maike (pronounced Maika) from Germany... she's been on my blog before
... Anyway, she came up to Edmonton to hang out with me before she went back to Germany. She is seriously one of the sweetest people I've ever met, she is so lovely. We met at the Navs conference last May, and at the end of the week I honestly asked her "do you want to be my friend?" :D I know this sounds hokey, but I feel like we could be "kindred spirits" or something...I know, I know, half of you are laughing at me cause I am so obviously an Anne of Green Gables fan, but that is ok :D

(That picture up there is from the night that we walked to Langano Skies for Ethiopian food, 45 minutes both ways, in major wind, it felt like -25 or something terrible. Anyway, this poor thing got frost bite to her cheeks! Ahh! I felt terrible...way to torture the forigners..."welcome to Edmonton" :S)

While she was here the heat in my appartment turned off for like 2 days and it was FREEZING COLD!!
I had to put on so many clothes inorder to even fall asleep!! I was wearing: pj bottoms with fleece pants over top, cotton sox with wool ones on top that my pants were tucked into, a tanktop, my pj top, a sweatshirt with the hood up, a wool sweater from Ecuador, a toque, and mittens!! I was definately a Michilin Man :D Then, I had like 4 blankets on my bed... I don't even know how much Maike had on, but it was the such a hilarious and unpleasant expereince :) One night we decided to go for a drive, it was snowing and I'm pretty sure it was still wamer outside than in our appartment --well, maybe that is a bit of an exageration. Anyway, while we were out we both got a craving for Dairy Queen! It was so funny cause we were all bundled up in our toques and hoods and mits and stuff, walking through the snow and wind with Blizzards in our hands, and Maike says to me "Look at how Canadian I am!!!" Awe :D

Keep in touch Maike, Love you...thanks for your friendship and wisdom and understanding heart. May the Lord continue to make you such a blessing to others as you've been to me :)

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