Let's not forget...

Keep praying for this country and for the people of Haiti! It is so easy to forget when 
the shock, horror, and sadness fades from the media, but we are called to defend 
the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. 
Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. psalm 82:3-4

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

I’m waiting for the skies to break,

For the light to fade away the mess I’ve made

And when the heavens stop flooding the earth with tears,

I know the cool waters will wash away my fears

I’ll wait for the great painter to colour the skies,

With the colour of hope and the promise of life.

And somewhere over that rainbow,

I’ll hear the lullaby,

Of blue birds, lemon drops, and starry night skies

I’ll wish upon a million shooting stars,

And always wish for love to not be far.

And when I see the colours painted across the sky

I’ll sing the once forgotten lullaby.

Cause somewhere over the rainbow,

...I know I’ll find a pot of heaven’s gold

My Ten Loves

1. Morning runs along the beach 
2. Fresh strawberries
3. Watercolour and Indian Ink
4. Ingrid Michaelson
5. The smell of cherry blossoms 
6. Late night phone conversations
7. The poetry of the Psalms
8. Snail Mail
9. Sushi 
10. My nalgene & water
11. How often my family moves... oops, that's eleven now. 


Good thing I'm an Arts major and not in Math. 
But yes, we're on the move again! I just found out this past weekend that our family is heading out West again to Enderby, BC. I know, shocking. We broke a record, we lasted almost 4 years in Calgary! It was due time we packed up again... and no, I'm not bitter. Just shocked.
                                                                               
And excited  =)


It was always my parents dream to live in the mountains near the lakes, and I'm so happy for them! Although this seriously botches up my summer plans, it could be worse. Enderby is such a beautiful little town (approx. 3000 people) and it'll suit my family perfectly as it's surrounded by the great outdoors. I'm sure my parents will end up hiking, skiing, and snowshoeing every other day now instead of just Saturdays. I don't know the details of when we're moving, if we have a place, or where I'll be for my summer... but that'll all come with time. 

I like kids and ukuleles.

This little boy makes me love life!

Bwana Asifiwe!

So I've started some early morning yoga again, finally! I haven't been very active the past couple weeks because of my snowshoeing accident and it's been killing me. 

For those who haven't heard, while on a winter retreat with my house in Hemlock Valley, I was in a minor accident. On my way down from one of the peaks, I was sitting off to the side at the bottom of a steep decline waiting for the rest of the girls to come down when one of my friends slipped and sent a small avalanche of snow down toward where I was. It wouldn't have been bad at all if a large rock hadn't been part of it! I was hit in my lower back near my left hip by a rock bigger than my head, that the boys estimated was about 20-30 pounds. The impact just knocked the breath out of me and for a moment I seriously thought I had broken something but after about 20 minutes I was able to get over the initial shock and assess the situation better (thank goodness for First Aid training in Quest and Margaret!). After making sure I could move a bit, we slowly hiked back down to the main trail where ski patrol found us and snowmobiled me out to their ski hut. To wrap things up, I went and got checked up at UBC Urgent Care and was told that it was only severe bone and muscle bruising and that I should stay active but take it easy (riight...seriously, choose one or the other!)

All creation definitely praises His name! The view at the peak was stunning, but the trek up was just as breathtaking and just so beautiful to be a part of =)

This is about where the rock fell from when we were hiking back down. You can kind of see the steepness here and how much momentum and force the rock would have had when it came hurtling down and hit me. I was only a little farther down than where the last person in the picture is. It's crazy to look at this picture because I realize how fortunate I was that my injury was as minimal as it was... Thank-you Father!

I feel very blessed that God was looking out for me and that my spine wasn't impacted, as I know that it could have been much much worse for me. I am also soo so thankful that I had an amazing group of friends with me, one who is a nursing student, two who basically carried me off the mountain, and the rest who paved the way for us in the freezing cold! (It quickly got darker after my accident as we didn't get off the mountain until near suppertime). My injury also resulted in my poor mama booking a flight out here as soon as she could because she was so worried about her baby girl! Not that I was complaining...I felt slightly bad that she thought it was so serious, but I did tell my parents repeatedly that I was FINE. I'm glad she came anyway as we both had such an awesome time hanging out in Vancouver and even managed to get a trip down to Seattle in as well to visit family and do some shopping. So I received a HUGE blessing from what seemed to be a little bit of pain and for that I'm very thankful!!

I'm basically as good as new now, except for the huge hardened knots that have formed since it happened. I've been massaging and stretching so that I can work them out, but as I'm still bruised it's taking a little while. Thankfully, my morning yoga class seems to have loosened it up a little bit, and I'm sure that it will only continue to get better from here! I know it will, because the break is coming up fast and Caleb will be here in just over a week now and we will be PAR-TAYYYIng it up in BC with a huge group of Questies! Soo excited =) 
             Thanks for reading!

With my bruise =(  taken just a couple days ago.
It's definitely not as bad as it looks anymore though!

Prayers for Haiti

        Yesterday Haiti, one of the poorest and politically unstable countries in the world, was hit by a devastating earthquake with a high magnitude of 7.0. The capital city of Port-au-Prince was hit the hardest with the destruction of the presidential palace and hospitals across the city, estimates are that over 100, 000 are dead. Doctors without Borders, a major NGO in Haiti has reported that its 3 hospitals are unusable and the head of the U.N Mission in Haiti is also reported as one of the casualties. 
        My heart breaks for this country and for its people. As many of you know, I was part of a missions team in 2006 that went to Haiti to work for the orphanage God's Littlest Angels. One of the girls on my team is very connected to Haiti as her aunt worked at an NGO in Port-au-Prince (the main area that we were serving in), and her family also adopted a little boy from the orphanage we worked at. I have sent her a message hoping and praying that her extended family is safe and that the orphanage was not hit too hard, but I have yet to receive a message back... Please keep Haiti in your prayers!! God is good and faithful even in our darkest hours, and I am praying that Haitians will turn to Christ in this moment of despair and find hope in His promise. I am so worried and saddened by this disaster, but I know that God has a plan even amongst all the brokenness and devastation in His creation.

        These are some photos of my time in Haiti, I miss this beautiful country and wish that I could be there right now helping them in their time of need. Please, please pray for this broken country, for all those who have lost a loved one, who have lost homes, who are alone, the children and the suffering. They need our voices and our love. 

A Slightly Late, Slightly Different New Years Resolution for 2010...

After reading Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schimch's Sunscreen Speech from 1997, I've decided that my New Years Resolution for 2010 will be based loosely on her advice. I like it. Although I'm not entirely sold on the sunscreen...I like my tans and my sunshine, but I suppose I can settle for SPF4. Cheers to 2010!


Wear Sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine. Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idel Tuesday. Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself. Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how. Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year- olds I know still don't. Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone. Mayber you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody's else's. Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Dont' be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room. Read the directions, even if you don't follow them. Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young. Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel. Accept certain inalienable truths. Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders. 

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out. Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will Look 85. Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen...