apparently i'm the geek of the apartment

because i took this quiz.

To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?

beautiful

winter time is wonderful! these are some of my students at the school where i did my practicum this year. absolutely awesome kids!

small but exciting

the best before date on my milk is the day of my last exam.
that means soon i'll be done! for this semester, at least.
thank you Jesus for getting me through last night and tonight.
thank you for small blessings like showers.
thank you for moms and dads and sisters and brothers. mine, specifically.
thank you for a great place to live.
thank you for your Spirit.

for any question

the answer
shane barnard

i've tried more of me
and i've come up dry
trading You for things
things that go away
my happiness is found in less
of me and more of You

i have found the answer is
to love You and be loved by You alone
....
You crucify me and the world to me
and i will only boast in You

i'm so satisfied
at the thought of You
growing up in me
covering everything
my happiness is found in less
of me and more of You

hmmm

Your Career Type: Enterprising

You are engertic, ambitious, and sociable. Your talents lie in politics, leading people, and selling things or ideas. You would make an excellent: Auctioneer - Bank President - Camp Director City Manager - Judge - Lawyer Recreation Leader - Real Estate Agent - Sales Person School Principal - Travel Agent - TV Newscaster The worst career options for your are investigative careers, like mathematician or architect.

those were my first results...now i'm not so sure i agree! there were too many questions i could have answered more than one way...so i took it again...

and i got this...

Your Career Type: Conventional

You are orderly and good at following a set plan. Your talents lie in working with written records and numbers in a systematic, orderly way. You would make an excellent: Bank Teller - Bookkeeper - Court Clerk Mail Carrier - Post Office Clerk - Secretary Timekeeper - Title Examiner - Typist The worst career options for your are artistic careers, like comedian or dancer.

VERY not me. so i tried again...

Your Career Type: Social

You are helpful, friendly, and trustworthy. Your talents lie in teaching, nursing, giving information, and solving social problems. You would make an excellent: Counselor - Dental Hygienist - Librarian Nurse - Parole Officer - Personal Trainer Physical Therapist - Social Worker - Teacher The worst career options for your are realistic careers, like truck driver or farmer.

What's Your Ideal Career?

i think that's more like it. keep in mind, i answered questions truthfully EVERYTIME and i got very different results. i'm a multi-faceted person...i cannot be defined by a quiz.

p.s. kendra, this is for you ;)

"oh Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself"
~ augustine

i've always struggled with distractions. i suppose that's why i loved my time at the ranch, with YWAM. i was in a place dedicated to Christ, surrounded by like-minded people. Distractions were there too, but of a different nature. I want to lose my will, my individuality. i don't want to lose who i am, but rather i want who i am to be so thoroughly in Christ that his will governs. one of the lies i've been believing is simple. i've been believing, choosing to believe, that if something is off in my relationship with God, i should change my attitude, change my mind. God gives us free will, after all, and desires us to choose. but what i've not been doing is replacing it with his attitudes and mind. i've been trying to alter mine so they are "better." that's still off! i do not need to change my mind or attitudes; i need to lose them completely in exchange for Christ's.

i always try to justify my actions. they're my actions after all, i should be able to change them. when i don't, i justify. i explain away how and why i am the way i am. proudly, in fact. but it is not what Christ meant when he said "you shall be my disciples" and "take up your cross." Christ meant for my individual self to die, with my actions and especially my vindication of those actions. "i have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer i who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life i now live in the flesh i live by faith in the son of God..." (gal. 2:20) how many times have i quoted that? i believe it was even part of my testimony before my baptism. i no longer live. spiritually, i am "made alive" but that being alive refers to the power of Christ's resurrection, not myself. Jesus, thank you for never giving up on me!

can i just say

i am so thankful for my friends. last night was one of the best times i've had in a long time. the chance to rant, discuss, laugh and pray together. i can't really express how needed that was, and how it refreshed me. okay, so maybe staying up till 4 wasn't refreshing physically...

tonight we're headed out to sports/games night at church, then holly's coming in from bc, and staying the night. that will make my third "sleepover" this week, if you count people staying at my house. i may be an adult, but sleepovers still get me excited!!

so this is all for now, but believe me, i have more to say (don't i always??)...

my wonderful donor

these are some pictures from my day of being treated like a princess, by the wonderful donor of my scholarship and answer to prayer - Kay Graham Birchall. The other girl is a scholarship winner from newfoundland. and then there's my smiling parents :)

all of it still feels like a dream.

still human

i've had so many discussions in my head that i've been longing to write out, but everytime i sit down, they're gone. but here's another tiny bit of what's going through my head.

"it takes God's Spirit in us to make us so absolutely humanly His that we are utterly unnoticeable... Our human relationships are the actual conditions in which the ideal life of God is to be exhibited."
~ oswald chambers

it's something that is a continual challenge to me. it's pretty much impossible to separate sin from relationships. even if i think i've been really "good" or "nice" or "encouraging" or whatever in the past while, my relationships reflect my actions. i'm a spiritual being and what i'm doing in the physical (words, etc.) affects my relationships, which are spiritual not physical. take a look at the type of relationships you have, what's going on in them, in you, and you'll begin to understand where God is perfecting holiness in you. i begin to see where it is necessary for Him to become greater, and me to become less.

just a smidge of my brain

i think we underestimate the Holy Spirit a lot. some of the things i've been reading lately (oswald chambers) and our speaker in church on sunday have made me think a lot about this...

he's not just some random experience, or general guidance. the Holy Spirit is a person, a personality. and as such, is dynamic and has to be reality and part of my life, not just an idea.

that's all for now.

everything is "lovely"

you won't believe how many times i heard that word yesterday. it was like being in a completely different culture. the woman who gave me my scholarship, Kay Birchall, graduated in 1941 from United College. she is so polished and crazy at the same time! to make a long story short, i had lunch at the Velvet Glove at the Fairmont, ate fancy food, then counted 205 fruit flies, then attended a ceremony for all scholarship recipients and shook Lloyd Axeworthy's hand!! finally, i went with my parents to a banquet put on by Kay, at the Canadian Air Forces base. during which i proceeded to smile and shake lots of hands, eat more fancy food and meet more lovely people. what a lovely busy day. thanks for the prayers too :)

i'm nervous

hey! if anyone reads this today sometime, feel free to pray for me. i have to attend a luncheon, ceremony and banquet for my scholarship today, and i'm nervous. i'm not aware of anything i have to do other than walk across a stage, but i'm still nervous. oh and in between i have to get back to the uni and do my lab. and i have a paper due tomorrow. woooh. deep breaths marcia. thanks :)

the most wonderful time of the year

yesterday our "younger adults" group (ie. 3 of us!) went shopping for operation christmas child - it was so fun! i love buying presents for people. we filled 2 boxes, one for a 10-14 year old boy, and one for a 10-14 year old girl. the girl's box is pretty full, we added a care bear. later on we hung out at our apartment and ate cookies and rockets. chris and jeanine joined me, jen and graeme. good times. we had to rotate who sat on the couch and our wooden chairs - numb bum! oh well. we may need to get some cushions for having company over! all this to say, i love giving gifts, and i can't wait for christmas!! annie brought some decorations from home. they made our little apartment happy.

when i fall in love

At last, my love has come along
My lonely days are over
And life is like a song
at last
The skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped up in clovers
The night I looked at you
I found a dream that I could speak to
A dream that I can call my own
I found a thrill to rest my cheek to
A thrill that I have never known
when you smile, you smile
Oh, and then the spell was cast
And here we are in heaven
For you are mine
At last
~ etta james

i look forward to heaven - do i ever...

need i say it again?

God is speaks to us, everytime.
a favorite quote of mine that i forget so easily. my weeekend's processing has started a whole bunch of other thoughts, and for now, they are still percolating. last night was wonderful, though. our home group took a potluck of food to the "fire escape", a youth drop-in center downtown. we prayed before and i felt that we should pray against a spirit of fear. well, i didn't really want to assume that anyone was fearful, so i said nothing. prayed it in my head. afterwards, their staff sat down with us and had their little end-of-the-night debrief. rob, the leader, asked if anyone was hearing anything specific on what to pray for. well, i sat there for a good minute or two thinking i shouldn't mention the spirit of fear. after all, i didn't know the kids or place as well as the staff. what could i really have to offer that they hadn't already prayed for? that was the spirit of fear in me!! so i said it. his response? "that was definitely you hearing from Jesus, we've been praying against that a lot this year"

so there you go. God is speaks to us. i thought my trust in Him was growing, but there is MUCH MUCH more for me. for everyone. Christ came to give us abundant life - not paralyzed by fear!