Jumping on the ban wagon...

Well, might as well jump on the Ban wagon!
 GO CANADA GO! GET THAT GOLD!!!!

Wondering how those players are feeling...poor guys...got the whole country behind them...I hope they win...but in the end...there are moreimportant things in life then a hockey game...wonder if the people in haiti or now chile...are watching the game...oh wait..they are focused on surviving each and every moment...hmm...what have we become!?

GO CANADA GO!

Just wanted to throw that OUT there!
GO CANADA GO!! Beat Russia and go and GET THAT GOLD MEDAL!! WOOT WOOT!

Vent...

So this isnt as much a vent as it is a statement and just letting off steam..well I guess in that sense...it is a vent perhaps? hmm ah well...
Ever get the feeling you are back in high school????  or even like Elementary school drama?  Did you miss that feeling?  Cause I know I sure don't!  It feels like that a little here, for different reasons.  Reasons which I really dont care to go into right about now but its frusturating and I wonder if people ever acutally grow up and mature in general!?  Or is it just something we were like cursed with with the fall of man?!? 

Ok that aside, ok so it wasnt so much of a rant...or perhaps I maybe just constrained myself...
last night, had a really good talk with a few people...once again late at night...usually the best times for it...
Needless to say, life is interesting, friend dynamics are interesting.  sometimes I am kind of sick of different situations...while other times I feel like I wanna rip my hair out of my head in frustuartion and all....Will I miss dorm? yeah, I will...aspects of it.  Yet at the same time, i will not miss other aspects of it.  its like a catch 22....

Ok I started this point like 2 hours a go and then got sidetracked into a conversation with my roomie....so I reall y have no idea where I was taking this post...hmm
I guess prayer would be that God just give me continualled wisdom and understand for stuff going on.  Pray that he will provide the words for me to speak.
thanks
God Bless

Hanging out with the Ladies!

So here I am, sitting in Grand Forks with three pals from school!  For our birthdays this year, we decided to take a weekend off and head here to grand forks for a night and just hang out.  It is pretty sweet and I honestly didnt think it would happen cause we would get to busy and what not, but Here I sit!  Its sweet.  The four of us started SBC together and now 2.5 years later, still going at it strong!  There have been many ups and downs along the way that is for sure.  but going to through a movie in here!
take care

Changes

So this thought/topic has been on my mind lots lately...it might have somethign to do with the fact that I am graduating in April and thus have to deciede what to do next, and I am sure I have written about it before, so if some of it is repititve, I apologize but yah just a few things that has been on my mind lately.
To sort of follow from last post, and once again, I do not have a lot of time, change...but what is change, when does it happen and why does it happen?!
Just with having a few conversations with some people, I know change is VERY real (like duh Nikki, no kidding, go figure!) but its been interesting to read past journal entries that I have written for various reasons for mission trips, assignments this and that type stuff.  It is through these writings and other stuff that I raelizehow much I have changed and how I have realized how much other people change as well.  I had a meeting a few weeks back with one of my profs, just talking abotu Ukraine and now Philippines more recently and I remember my first class with him back in my first year (wow that makes me sound old!) but yah its true and now realizing where I am at.  It was great.  We chatted abit about my practicum and different qualities that I have and could work on etc.  Now for those that know me growing up, I NEVER would ahve said I was outgoing, a public speaker or someone who likes to teach, but that is what I have been hearing lately from people.  he mentioned that I have the ability...and this comes through in photography as well, to be observent and laid back.  this helps me take in what is around me and be able to process things as they happen/say the right thing and all of that.  he also mentioned perhaps teh gift of teaching.  Its wierd though how my dad has always said I should be a teacher, but I have always very quickly, shut that down...then after the first year of camp that I did, the supervisor there told me that perhaps I should look at teaching down the line, then recently, my Ukraine review, and a friend who I started school with here at college randomly mentioned that!  God, what are you trying to teach me, tell me?  I never would have thought of myself as a teacher or leader.  But SBC has showen that to me as well....they have developed the leadership ability in me.  Growing up, I never was the leader of the group..its not to say I am a follower of the crowd (I mean really, have you seen.heard the traveling I have done!) but those qualities were never really developed within me.  Its been fun to realize and see as well
God is good.  He did/has and will continue to, put amazing people in my life.  People who are stretched me, challenged me, informed me of the world around and have helped me grown in SO many ways!  Thanks guys, you know who are you!
Keep on living for GOD!

Life

So I am sitting here, procrastinating doing homework, what else is new... and just thinking, I know me thinking is a scary thing.  With Grad right around the corner, just thinking as to what is next in my life and how far I have gotten, or become now.  Like had someone said to me three years ago I would be where i am now, and having experienced the things I have and all, i would have just have laughed in your face.  To be point blank honest, yeah I would have laughed in your face.  But I guess God thought differently.  it is amazing the lessons he has taught me, and is continuing to teach me, each and every day.  For some of the lessons, I am learning that it is over 2 years that I am learning the same thing...if that made sense and if you were able to follow that, good on ya!  This post could go on and on, but there is a dorm meeting shortly..which I must go to...ah well so it goes I guess.. But yah, remember to look for the moments where God is teaching you, remember that he is not always in the Loudness of everthing, but sometimes in the quietness and all of that!!! Remember that ok!?
peace out!
God Bless

Flashback...

THought I would post this post from last year around this time! It is interestign to note how some of it still relates to here and now...hmmm...oh and this friday is missions day here at school and i am once again having lunch with the reps from SEND...now that the trip is over..just to chat about it and hang out!  Funny how that works eh?
Enjoy...

"So I am sitting here in dorm...sticking around in dorm this weekend and decided to just journal on the computer... So here are some thoughts, some prayers, straight from the Heart...
God, where are you and I at? Better there where we were awhile a go-that I know. I am really loving my classes here, especially Psalms this semester. I am totally finding you in the Psalms and falling once again in love with You and its awesome! That fire that I lost for a bit, is slowly being inflamed once again and being energized which I am stoked about! Praise God.
Today was also Mission day here at the school and I love where I am now compared to where I was last year. Last year I was so confused after today, not knowing what to do or what life had in store for me. I still don't know, but I am learning to just trust You God. I had a really good talk today with the reps from SEND international who I hope to go with this summer to the Ukraine for 6-8 weeks for ministry as well as camp work there. We didn't really talk much that had to do with SEND itself, but just getting a "feel" for each other and being able to put a face to a name and all. It was good and found some similar connections that we each knew. God is good.
One thing all the mission reps said in the little session is just the whole idea of trusting God. With everything! I am learning to trust God with my finances. Both with school and raising support for the Ukraine and Philippians as well. Father I pray now that you continue to give me this peace about it that I am having. Continue to work in me and through me. The thought of fundraising is a little daunting and intimidating, but its an experience and I know I have to trust you and money will come in that I know. Please Lord-teach me. Provide for me both Financially and prayerfully as well. You are the great giver. Lord help me to continue to trust you. Help me to continue to Fall in love with You more and more. This is my prayer dear God.

Lessons from Filipino's...

So a really good friend of mine, told me, or suggested to me that I should update this thing....and she is so right!  I have been meaning to, but life is life yah know...it gets crazy so I will do a little of it now.
Where to begin...well Christmas came and went...its already Feb...so we will just say its good and move on from there.  Mission X Philippines was AMAZING!! Wow where to begin!?!?!  God showed/taught/reminded me so much on this trip!  Like wow we serve an amazing wonderful God!! He is so so so so SO good!!
He showed me so much while i was there that this post could go on and on but I will highlite a few things that stick out.  first...he showed me what it meant to serve him each and every day, passionatly and continually, no matter HOW busy we think we are, we will gotta serve and not only should we serve, but we should serve with a willing and honest heart.  (see story below about street ministry with Mervi and Krista)

He taught me what it meant to be humble.  In one of the school classes, we were asked to say a few words on God's meakness and humbleness and how we are suppose to respond to that...wow that threw me off gaurd!  THe Filipino culture knows humble and meakness way better then we do as north americans...and so I totally felt like a hypocrite! that right there was  a humbling experience thats for sure!
Going to the local school was awesome, Filipino lessons on food and culture 101! We were given a lot of information...dont ask me to re state it all casue not sure just how much I remember but it was still very neat all around.
Both of the weekends that I was in the Philippines, I spent in different parts of Manila and Metro Manila. The first weekend, was our home stay, and it is here that Tracee and I, ventured into metro Manila to spend the weekend with a Filipino family. It is this weekend, where I God challenged me the most through the two sisters of our host family. Krista and Mervi, once again thank you So much for such an eye opening experience that weekend! It is a weekend I will not soon be forgettign and you two have no idea the impact you have had on my life just by that one weekend. We spent a evening with the street kids that both Krista and Mervi knew and wow, watching those kids warm up to both of the sisters and seeing the sisters respond to them...so passionatly and genuienly..it moved me.  Like it is hard to describe.  God is totally working in all of their lives and I am so excited to meet them again...whether thats here on earth or in Heaven.  Its going to be a party! woot woot woot!
It is this weekend, through Krista and Mervi, that I learned what it meant to serve with your whole heart continually and passionatly without expecting or wanting anything in return. So often here in North America, we expect an outcome or to have someone to recognize us and the work we are doing/did, but North Americans...we have it so wrong. Perhaps it is not us who should go out and witness, but perhaps we are the ones that need to be witnessed TOO. I learned what it meant to serve in the Philippines, to give God your all, even when you can not give any more. I was reminded to praise him through it all, through whatever life brings because our faith in God is all that matters in the end. I was reminded of the importance and value of friends and family alike. The list could go on and on with what I learned that weekend, but if you wanna know more, come chat with me.
The second weekend, we visited two different squatter areas and it is here we saw extreme poverty and loss. However, it is also here that we saw breathtaking beauty and richness. We saw adults, children, teens, and the babies and we realized that the look on their faces wasn’t what we had imagined it would be, sad and depressed. But instead, it was of joy and happiness. It was of warmth and gladness. It was a spiritual richness that we often lose here in North America.

What did God teach me during my time in the Philippines? He reminded me once again at how my camera can be a connecting tool used for Him. As soon as I pulled it out, the kids were around it, making silly faces and just being kids. It was so much fun. It confirmed a calling in my life to serve God and to realize that I my camera can be a tool for that.
As a team, I think we connected very well. we had a lot of fun hanging out and chatting, laughing, and sharing our victories and struggles with the group. God worked through us and he worked IN us during our time there. Like i say, there are MANY more stories to tell and share...but those will have to wait. If you are in the area, lets go for coffee, if you live somwhere else, I have skype, lets skype. If not, just read this and remember that we are human beings, not human doers...go out for coffee with the next person you see...get to know them and see them for how God sees them and YOU!

yah those are just a few stories among that many!
(happy now Nat that I updated it! :D)

How about you?  how is God moving in your life these days?
God Bless