Off to Switzerland

Alas, this will be my last post for a little while. I haven't had time to write more or upload pictures. Today we leave for a week in Switzerland. We are going for a wedding and vacation. We will be driving through France and Germany. Should be lots of fun. Unfortunately we won't have internet but that will be nice.

Off to Belgium...

Those of you who know me know I've been meaning to make it over to Belgium to visit a very special friend! Well, I finally booked my ticket and am here! I'm loving it here. Beautiful architecture, although the outside of their houses leave a little to be desired in the way of creativity, good food, warm weather (so far), adorable baby, and amazing friend! What more could one ask for?

I got here Tuesday afternoon with little trouble other than some very annoying children who kicked the back of my seat nearly the entire 9 hour flight. I figured out the train with little trouble, although I did get on the wrong train. However, due to some "traffic" I arrived the same time as the original train so all was well. Some lovely Belgians were extremely kind and helped me with my excessively heavy luggage. I was happy to see L and M at Wetteren!


The first night I slept for 12 hours! It was lovely! I was low on sleep from all the wedding prep from last week and from the time change. We went to Holland for their lovely beach because it was 29 celcius! We all had a lovely time. (The adorable monkey shirt is from Cabo.)

Last Thursday (July 26) after cleaning at the church, we traveled to the lovely town of Gent. It's the capital city of East Flanders province. They were cleaning up from their famous 10 day festival and we got free parking! Mateo, my friend's adorable baby, was the perfect little shopper despite the heat and lack of desirable food. We walked all around enjoying beautiful sights and taking advantage of their great summer sales.

L was determined to find this "nunnery" but we were unsuccessful, despite walking down some sketchy streets. L was able to find some good deals and I found these yummy looking treats for my beloved family. The weather was amazingly warm and apparently the UV rays were extremely high. Thankfully, I got some sun! I tried a delicious Belgian waffle with yummy ice cream and berry sauce. It was very yummy! We also saw some free washrooms... Visited this old church, St. Michael's church. It was Catholic, but surprisingly not so creepy. I love stained glass windows! They are super cool! Oh, and did I say how much I love Mateo? He's simply adorable! Hardly cried the entire day! He's a born shopper. :)

Funny story behind this :P

:)

Happy little shopper

Meat shop...ick!

I have lots more pictures and more updates but this will have to suffice for now.

Skirt Giveaway!

My favorite skirt site is having a giveaway hosted by Life in a Shoe.

New Creation Apparel is the best site for long and modest skirts. I own many skirts from this wonderful company and am more than happy with all of them.

If I win this giveaway, I would love to pick out this skirt:

7 Month Hiatus

Well folks, it has been 7 months since I've last posted. Yes, I know that's an awfully long time. What can I say? Life has been BUSY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I know most people are busy. Despite only holding 2 jobs for most of the 7 months, and not going to school anymore, I still have managed to be extremely busy. At a different point I'll have to expound, possibly share some pictures, possibly do neither.

Biggest, most important news is probably that I have a career change. At least for the moment. As my faithful readers know, I've been uncertain as to what exactly the Lord has for me to do in my future. Since you all know me quite well, marriage isn't in my near future, so what's a single lady to do? Obviously I have to pay the bills somehow, and I'd rather do it with a job I enjoy. So, since 8th grade I've been going towards the path of Occupational Therapist. I've prayed and prayed and sought advice, and nothing stopped me, so I kept at it. I graduated almost exactly a year ago in August 2010 with my Bachelor's degree with all my medical prerequisites done for Occupational Therapy. I had already applied to Grad school to start my Master of OT and found out I was on the waiting list. Well, the 2010/2011 school year came and went and no spot was made for me. In November 2010, I had to reapply for this coming Fall entry into the same school. I did everything and waited and waited to hear back. I prayed that God would give me a clear answer as to what to do next. Well, sometime in the spring I found out I did not get into Grad school. I was pretty sad, but somewhat relieved as it would have meant me moving to Tacoma for 2.5 years, which I knew would have a big impact on me spiritually.

I started volunteering at BCA in September 2010 on my one free day because one of the teachers is a friend and always asked me to come and help. I loved it! The kids were a lot of fun and it was nice to do volunteering for believers. I have volunteered a lot at the hospital and other local places, but volunteering for the Lord is always more rewarding. Then I started helping with the building of the new school building for BCA. That took up most of my free time, which is mostly why I've been so busy. It's super rewarding though. I have loved it all.

Anyways, the Learning Assistant for BCA was not going to be coming back this Fall, and the principal asked me if I would consider working at the school. I have never wanted to be a teacher, despite many people telling me it would be perfect for me. I prayed about it and still didn't see myself as a teacher, however, the Learning Assistant position is different. It is one-on-one rather than teaching a whole class. I prayed about it and talked with Brother Byskal. I accepted the position and am starting on September 6!

I'm very excited for the job. I took some training this summer for it, and did quite well. :) I've had confirmation after confirmation about the job, and for the first time in my life, I actually feel like I'm exactly where God wants me at this point in my life. Yes, it's going to be a time-consuming job and will be a bit of a challenge, but I love challenges, and I'm exited to be working with kids I have a personal connection with.

If you had asked me a year ago if I saw myself here, I would have laughed. God really started a work in November and has continued it. I have been learning to trust Him, and His people. It's a big step for me. I have been finding out how little I trusted before. God sure knows what He's doing, which I'm glad about because I'm clueless most of the time.

Despite disappointments and confusion sometimes, I keep telling myself this, "One day, I'm going to look back on this all and laugh."

Winter Camp Already?

Yes, I'm still alive. :) No, this isn't the promised continued update. Yes, I'll try to do that sometime, however it's been a crazy January! How on earth does life get so busy? I don't understand it...

Well, it's that time again, yes, Winter camp!!!!! Bro. Kidri Diggs is going to be our minister again this year, and we are all in great anticipation of the amazing things God is going to do for us this weekend. We'd appreciate your prayers! God bless you! Hope your weekend is as good as mine is going to be! :)

Out With the Old Year, In With the New

Every year I say this, and every year it's true, this past year, 2010, has flown by! It's funny too, because I can distinctly remember things from a year ago, and it feels like they happened just a few moments ago. It's totally crazy. Before I get into a little recap of last year though, I'd like to share this Scripture:

II Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (KJV)

Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! (Amplified)

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (NLT)

This Scripture means a lot to me this year. I already posted about some life-changing services in November, and I'm still holding on, or rather, God's still holding onto me. It's amazing. All things really have become new for me. I really liked those 3 translations and wanted to share them. The Bible really is powerful, especially when you look a little deeper at the words.

Looking back at 2010, I see how much I've changed, and all for the better. Actually, a little of 2009 too has shown some drastic changes in my life. The end of 2009 held some horrific, life-changing events for me that really shook me. It was traumatic, but it made me take a deeper look at my spiritual walk and realize how much I was depending on man instead of on God. It's not right to lean too much on man, even if they are spiritually stable, man will fail you, but God never will. I'm so thankful for all God did through that tough time, and how He used the ministry at my church to keep pressing on. They never gave in or took defeat, they have been amazingly encouraging and strong. I know it's God in them, and for that I'm so thankful.

Here's my post from last year on New Year's Eve. Onto my recap of 2010:

• In January 2010, I had a breakthrough in some of my ways of thinking, and that's when a lot of other things started falling into place. I still struggled spiritually, but God was so faithful. I had to apply to grad schools and that was crazy! I was volunteering at the hospital, working at the SO, working at the library, volunteering at the Camp, and going to school full time. I'm not really sure how I survived it all. I know I was crazy. :) A friend got married, and that is about all I can remember from then. Nothing much to speak of in the way of pictures.

• February 2010 was also busy. I wrote a little bit about it here. My cousin's 16th birthday happened, and that was a lot of fun. That's all I can remember from then also.

• March 2010 was Winter camp! Also, the end of Winter Quarter. It was also the month I finally got rid of my Facebook! I decided in December to do it, but was too busy to actually do so. The first day before going up to camp, I deleted it and haven't looked back. :) I do miss seeing pics and keeping up with people, but overall, it's been a blessing. Less to worry about and less to take up my time. I don't know how I had the time to even check it.I was averaging about 3.5 hours of sleep a night for a while. I honestly don't know how I survived Winter Quarter. Spring Break was much needed for me! Also, Winter camp is when God really started to move on me. I gave up some things and was filled with the Holy Ghost. I had such a peace about it, and God was continuing the work.
  

• April was beautiful, awesome weather! Actually, we had a very mild winter last year, and a very early spring. I got beautiful pics of the Tulip Festival and fun with friends. Spring quarter was much better than Winter quarter. I was almost also done with school! I had heard back from the grad schools I applied to, and was on the waiting list for one of them. I remember praying a lot and fully expecting to be going to school in the fall for OT. Funny, I'm in the same place this year. Some things haven't quite changed, although I'm ready for them to!

• May was busy! My "little" brother was getting ready to graduate from high school. He had his last concert and some other lasts. I was wrapping up classes and getting ready for sunshine!

• June was busy. Am I repeating myself? Probably. Life is busy! My brother graduated, I finished my last Spring Quarter at WWU, and started my final quarter there. I have pictures from all these events, but we shall see if I post them. I did post a few throughout the year, so you can go back and look if you feel led. I also wrapped up my first year of helping with Sunday school. That was a lot of fun! I love the kids and I had a great time getting to know them and help out in an area that needed it. I had a further spiritual breakthrough that I posted about here. That was kind of a theme last year for me, the year of spiritual breakthroughs. It was definitely the most memorable part. I had one class in June-July and volunteered at the camp and at the hospital. I also had my last day working at the SO. That was a bit sad. I wrote a bit of an update here.
  

• July was my last month of volunteering at the hospital, and most importantly the last day of school!!!! I had a lot of fun last summer. I was busy, but still had time for fun. It was much needed! I posted some good pics here from last summer. July led right into August, which was...

• August 2010!!!! Summer camp!!!! One of the best parts of the whole year, at least for me. :) I thoroughly enjoyed camp! I got to be a camper again and helped out at Junior camp. Great times with friends, family and fellow believers. God moved amazingly during the services, did a lot for our whole congregation. We also had a witnessing booth at the local county fair, which was an amazing thing for me and all who got to participate. I graduated too!!! That was fun. :) My grandma passed away then too. It was tough. :( I really miss her. She used to call every day and I so miss talking to her.

• By September, I had found out I was not going to be starting grad school. I was highly disappointed and not sure what to do. I needed money and a job. I was praying about it, and not really sure what to do. I started helping out at church with the witnessing projects, Message hub projects, and volunteering at the church school. I was so busy I didn't take a single photo! Plus, I had lost my camera in August. :( I still haven't gotten it back, but I did get one for my birthday in November. Anyways, I had been talking to a friend one day about what to do about my life at that moment. As I was walking away from her, I got a phone call with a job offer. I prayed about it and felt it was totally the Lord answering my prayer. It might not be a permanent job, but definitely an answer to prayer! I posted about it here. I started school with my buddy in September and continued through December. Lord willing, I'll be starting again in a few days. I've really enjoyed it, and feel I'm where God wants me at the moment. I've so enjoyed volunteering at the school too. I love the kids and love helping out. One of my friends is a teacher there, and I help mostly in her classroom. It's a highlight of my week each week.

• October 2010 was yet again, extremely busy! I went to baseball game, volunteered, our refrigerator broke and we got a new one, and went on a very fun trip with a bunch of girls in Seattle. We had a fun time on Halloween after service at a lovely couple's house. I didn't get pics or anything, but it was a great time together. :)

• November was eventful. :) Some friends got married, I had my birthday, went witnessing in downtown Vancouver, experienced bitterly cold weather, had a lovely Thanksgiving with friends and family, and enjoyed a rebirth. Oh, we had a concert fundraiser with the LaFontaines too. Super fun month! It's hard to believe it's over. I feel like it's still November! I updated about November in December, so here's that post.

• December was crazy! I didn't have as much work, but every day was nearly jam-packed with fun and craziness. :) Some of it I talked about here too. The rest I supposed I'll post about in a separate post, as this one is way too long already!
  

Looking at 2010, it was an awesome year! The best parts were the amazing spiritual happenings. What was also awesome about last year was that our YP really got close. Starting around March, after Winter camp, we really connected and starting hanging out, and watching out for each other. I have so loved that about this past year. Actually, our whole congregation has grown closer. It's been amazing. Everything has worked out for the good. I've fallen in love with God all over again and have so enjoyed how fresh life is. :)


I don't make resolutions, but I do make goals.

Some goals for 2011:

• Read through the entire Bible this year, following the Daily Devotion book Bro. Tim Dodd put together.
• Find out what to do with my life!
• Keep working on my knitting. :)
• Others I'll remember later. :P

Well, I hope this post was interesting. If not for you, it was for me. I wish you all the best in 2011! May God richly bless you and keep you!

Quick Update

Yet another pictureless update, but this one's not my fault! My camera card somehow got corrupted so I had to recover the photos. They are still enroute to my computer. But, I wanted to give a quick update, mostly a request for prayer for my dad and my family. He's going for his surgery on Wednesday, and we are all going down about 6 hours away, for 2 days, for the surgery. Please pray that all goes well. It's a potentially dangerous surgery, and we are praying for God's will to be done. We all appreciate your prayers! Thank you and God bless!