Just a couple things I found written down

I was sorting through my infamous "to do" box of papers and found these two little tidbits. I've forgotten where they came from, but I love them to peices. Therefore, I am blogging it.

The first one is a quote:

"I want to place my ordinary life in the hands of an extraordinary God"

The second one is something I heard somewhere:

"Life is never what you expect. It is everything you need"

And the third one (Okay, I lied) is how do I know that my dream is from God:

Is my dream from God?
1. It requires faith
2. It's going to make a difference in others
3. It comes from your heart
     (some reference was made to the greek word: kardiva which means "the real you")
4. There will be some opposition
     (like doubt, fear, impatience)

That's it.

My take on a daily view.

We're all guilty of this at some point, but some people do this every day! I loathe the way the radio announcers will announce almost any day lacking sun as a miserable or gloomy day. Have we become so self-absorbed that when we don't get what we want we label the whole day? Since when does the weather do what we want? I'll bet that there's a good bunch of people who would rather have sun every day of the week and put up with the fires, as long as it doesn't affect their day and plans.

The way I see it, every day has its beauty even if the weather isn't what you would like it to be. Step outside on a rainy day. Ever notice how things suddenly become more green and lush? Listen to the sound of rain falling on the trees, rooftops, and even the streets. Isn't it hypnotic and calming? Now look outside the window on a cloudy day. There's birds flying in formation. There's big tall pines. Sometimes, you can feel the wind as it blows through.

If there's beauty to be found in just about everything, why do we label just about everything as a let down when things don't go our way? We can't change the weather,so rather than discounting the day as gloomy, why not point out the special moments and the things that really are beautiful, and call the day partially cloudy with periods of pretty.

Passion, Purple Shoes, and a Playground

I'm not going to try and recap the last year of my life since my last post. That would be a monumental task and a rather long blog. I will suffice to say that I'm starting to grow up. Not by much, but enough to send me spiraling into an unknown world where life is wrought with confusion, anger, frustration, sadness, and exhillaration, excitement, and perhaps euphoria.

Today was a passionate one for me. While supervising 10 of 18 of my kids at the Elementary School as we awaited the second trip to arrive to take us back to the daycare, I found just how much I hate bullying. A 12-14 year old girl, backed by her 10-12 girl cronies, unleased her cruelty on another boy and his friend. The boys were probably 10 or 11. As juvenile as this sounds (they're in elementary school, of course they're juvenile), the bully was making fun of the one boy's shoes, pants, hoodie, or what ever else she could.

As far as I'm concerned, purple skate shoes are pretty sweet (or sick, which ever fits today's slang) and I see no reason why someone would think they're otherwise. The kid obviously had a style that he liked; an emo-gangster cross. He had the tight jeans, long sleeved t-shirt, large baggy hoodie with the hood up, and a pristine, flat-brimmed, hat. It suited him. It seems, however, that his choice of style were much too stylish for the majority of the kids. He definitely stuck out, as did his friend. Most other kids wore the standard fit jeans, mono-chromed shoes, shirts, sweaters, hoodies (hood down). I digress.

As I observed the jests, laughs, names, and other cruel descriptions thrown at this young man, I could see him put up a strong front to deflect these arrows of poison. An amused smile. Occasional shrugs. However, behind this wall, I could see the poison seeping through the cracks and stinging and staining his body. The arrows never reached, but the meaning did.

I confirmed this later, after the girls all went their separate ways, when I walked by and casually engaged this young man and his friend in conversation.
"I like your shoes"
Purple Shoes looks down, "thanks", he replied.
"Where did you get them?"
A reply was given, but I don't remember where.
"Do you like them?"
"yeah"
Purple Shoes continues, "But they're not a good idea to wear at school."
"Why?"
I already knew the answer, but I wanted him to open the door to further and deeper discussion about the day's events.
"'cause people like to make fun of them", Purple Shoes admitted.
From here, I talked to him about just how not cool that was, why what we wear, or what people say about us or even think about us isn't worth thinking about. I explained what really does make us who we are. After this, it was time to go.

I really pray that this something that could possibly be the start of a friendship that could change how things operate on the playground.

I am really passionately against bullying and the verbal, physical, and emotional abuse it brings. Bullies. Watch out.

So Excited!

K i dont know if this will work, but if it doesnt dont worry. Its just a countdown to the next release of my favourite operating system.

The Changing of the Seasons

Well, Its that special time of year where the flies begin to diminish to non-existence, where the trees are almost fully shed of their summer and fall fashions. Yes, the cold wind has swept into this beautiful and desolate country, bringing it with it thicker coats, brighter faces, and little clouds in front of our faces. Its almost winter.

Its not quite the full blown snow winter that we normally get here, but its almost there. The weather is definitely cold, but nothing miserable. Most people are getting themselves geared up by warming up their lungs to complain about the less than warm feelings Saskatchewan shares.

I personally love this and thrive on this wonderful season. The cold wind seems to bring out the life in all of us. No other season has our faces as bright. No other season has us running around outside at any given time. I feel like the prairie also comes to life when the wind blows. I love it. I can't wait to see the wind blow the snow into little prairie town.

Letters from "home"

Alright, Its excuse time. I'm sorry guys. I've been on the net less and less now and doing homework and social interaction more and more. However, since I'm not horribly cruel, here's whats going on in my life. Please forgive me the lack of any writing style or special wording like i normally prefer to write with, its late.

Gee. Where do I start?

OK. School work. I'm taking 6 courses, one of which is due at the end of this month. I have endless papers and presentations plus voice lessons and musical.
Yup. I'm taking voice. I've always loved singing, but never had the confidence in my self, so i decided to pay money to push myself out of my comfort zone. I have to say, my voice teacher is amazing. As soon as i feel comfortable with where I am, she pushes the bar out of reach again and says i have more to give her.

I am once again the audio tech for Resonant (formerly Sojourn). We have a new crew of people, and excellent voices to accompany this close knit group. A couple weeks ago, we all went up 1.25 hours past Regina to Circle Square Ranch for our annual retreat. I don't think I've ever pushed myself that far. When we weren't practising (I had to do homework then), I was out on the trampoline.
The second day we were there, we got to do the activities of the camp. My team started out at the climbing wall where I was tempted to climb the rear support trussing rather than the actual wall itself. It was a lot of fun though.
Next was the horses. Now, I've always been scared of these big animals, but I knew my director (who happens to do trick riding and such for the camp) and I knew that with him, I had no choice but to bond with a horse. He gave me the easiest horse, DJ. Aptly named perhaps? anyway, I barely had to do anything with this guy, he stopped and started at all the right times, all i needed to do was steer the horse in such a way that i wouldn't lose my face from branches. I don't mind them now
Lastly, was archery/BMX, which ever we wanted to do. I've never gone BMXing before, so i grabbed a bike and helmet. After a couple rounds around the course and a few jumps later, I was making another run and approached the first jump. Tire hit a loose rock and jolted off to the side throwing me off and sprawling on the ground now beautifully woven into the bike. I was fine. i was actually pretty stoked that i had a battle scar!
At the end of the weekend, I couldn't go much faster than a slow shuffle, i was so incredibly sore. Stairs were basically impossible. It sure felt GOOD.

Life on the high school dorm is definitely an experience. While its loud and mostly immature, I don't think i would trade this dorm to live on another. The kids on this hall are pretty cool. I live across from an American, with whom i am in a never ending debate between Canada and the states. (It was pretty sweet when the Canadian dollar went up).

I've fullfilled every small boy's dream of putting on a firefighter's gear and sitting in the firetruck. One of my friends, who is on the volunteer fire dept. here invited me to come with him to the station. I was sure excited when he offered to let me put on his own "turn out gear". Its one heck of an experience. It was awesome. We later had some pretty sweet man to man talks sitting on the front of a pumper truck watching the traffic on the number 1 whizz by.

I'm sure there's more to tell, but this is all my poor over tired brain will let me tell. God has really blessed me this year so far.