First Snowfall

Date: December 11, 2009

Place: Vancouver, BC

Forecast: 0 degrees and SNOWING!!
Vancouver has finally gotten snow this winter! It was an awesome way to finish off my French final last friday. I walked out of the lecture hall and was greeted with beautiful white flakes and I just had to savour the moment because I know the snowfalls here will be few and far between. It's been beautiful since and yesterday after church I had a wicked snowball fight with the Sunday School kids and in the evening went on a gorgeous snowy night walk with the girls at the house to the delicious Sweet Temptations for dessert. Life without school is beautiful! I have only one final left and as it's my easiest one, I have the week to thoroughly enjoy the city and visit friends and relax. 

Forever+more

Whisper something pretty.

Whisper something sweet.  

But don’t say forever,

just stay with me in today.

I’ll take the days one by one.

and when forever finally comes,

I hope and pray to God 

we’ll have journeyed there together.

But for now 

smile for me,

hold me,

dance with me,

laugh with me,

love me,

and just be with me, as I

smile for you,

hold you,

dance with you,

laugh with you,

love you,

and just be

with you.

In this moment.
Now.

And maybe forever will join us along the way. 

Live a little, laugh a lot, and love always...

Though the rain never stops and the skies remain cloudy, 

though the papers pile up and I can't manage my time, 

though I gain my freshman 15 and get the piggy flu... 

I will still rejoice in the Lord and be joyful in God my Saviour. 

Thank goodness for Habakkuk's perseverance and faith! 

I have been feeling slightly overwhelmed by my 3 big papers that are due in the next couple of weeks, not to mention the French play that I need to have read by Friday that I cannot understand a word of! I am feeling incredibly unconfident in my academics, but I've been trying to not let that consume me. Throughout my Quest year, I was challenged with the idea of not only "doing" but also "being". Right now, I'm trying to simply take every day as it is and to incorporate some worship into my day so that I can continually rejoice in the Lord and be joyful in God my Saviour. 

the beautiful view from one street down from the house...
I LOVE walking by this view!

I've been stopping myself from hiding out in the library or my room and trying to balance my time so that I am still incorporating community into my crazy life. I KNOW that I would go insane if I didn't make time to simply be with friends, go for a run, knit, or play some piano... and so even with all my important papers, research, and studying that needs to be done, I think I'll just take a moment to simply breathe and enjoy my night. Chances are when I'm done this year, I won't remember all the "important" arguments I wrote about in my essays or the specific dates in which historical events occurred...I probably won't even remember the incredible amounts of stress I feel every night before a paper is due, when I think that my life is over and that my academic career is shot because I feel positive that I absolutely bombed whatever it was that I was writing about. In the moment, it seems to be so incredibly important and pressing, as if my future career depended on my success in this one piece of writing. But lets be real, that's not how it works. By the end of the year, the only things that I will really take away with me are the relationships I build, the laughs I had, the passions that were ignited in my favourite classes, and the adventures I went on while skipping my sociology classes (don't tell my mum!). 

Life is just so much better when stress is eliminated. And I know that God will always provide a way if I surrender my excessive need to feel like I'm in control. Keep me in check and remind me that life is beautiful and that I am in a gorgeous city that has so much possibility for exploration (even in the rain)! And even though it's hard being so far from my family and my best friend, I have soo much to be thankful for. God is good and faithful! 

Live a little, laugh a lot, and love always...

With Kelsey, one of my wonderful housemates, leaving behind a night of studying to go support another friend performing in the UBC student opera production! What a fun night. Definitely worth the oodles of homework I had piled up for the next day!!

Why Coffee?

I will admit that I am not actually an avid coffee drinker... I have not yet reached the point where I need caffeine to start my every day, nor do I have the memory to order drinks from Starbucks that take longer than 2 seconds to say. A veinte non-fat, no whip, extra-hot, soy milk vanilla latte with two extra pumps of what? I don't know. 

.....So why coffee?

Because I'm a Questie. And Questies do coffees. While I was in Columbia Bible College for my Quest year (a one-year outdoor leadership program which I would reccommend to anyone and everyone!), our leaders gave us a means of having one-on-one, intimate heart-to-hearts. The main purpose was so that there would be no confusion for persons of the opposite sex when being asked out for coffee. Going on a "coffee date" had no underlying meanings apart from the fact that you wanted to get to know the other person better and/or connect with them. If you were interested in someone, we were told quite bluntly to be more creative. And so in a very different and special way, I have come to love my coffee... To me coffee is so much more than a steaming hot mug of caffeine. Coffee is a long walk, a late-night conversation, a whispered prayer, a good laugh, a hard cry, a hidden story, a bear hug, a vulnerable moment, a shared passion, a truth rediscovered, and a love rekindled.

I guess I am addicted to my coffee. 

//to be fully known is to be fully loved.... 

Crispy Beginnings

Soo, I've finally decided to make/keep/write a blog for my friends and family who are not a part of my every day life...Not that I will be posting every day, my life can be too mundane for that. 

But here it is. Crisp, and new. With so much promise. 

Like most things in life, until they're touched by human hands.