Thursday, December 28, 2006

Christmas Loot

I'm back at work today, and it's so quiet here - there's only three lawyers, me, the receptionist and the office manager here, out of 24. I want to go home and play with my new camera!



The camera is courtesy of my bonus and all my Christmas and birthday money combined, and I'm really excited to get out and start playing with it. It's got a lot of neat features and the picture quality is amazing, after Trevor's little 4mp Canon.

And I also got a lot of books, Super Scrabble and the Scrabble Dictionary, among other things, as well as a nice lamb dinner, church three times in two days, and some quality time with Trevor, so it was a good holiday!

And tomorrow I turn 26, and there will be some festivities on Saturday that I'm sure will be blog-worthy. :)

Friday, December 22, 2006

Break Forth

I got an email from the Break Forth volunteer coordinator today, saying that they still need about 90 volunteers, and a lot of those are needed to work shifts in the bookstore. If you're interested, you can get more info at www.new-creation.net.

Hope to see you there!:)

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Baking Queen

It's United Way week here at the law firm, and today we had a silent auction of baked goods.

I made my famous peanut butter squares, and donated two plates of a dozen each, and some free samples. They decided to auction off the samples as well - there were a dozen bite-sized ones. The two plates of a dozen big ones sold for - get this - FIFTEEN DOLLARS each, and the little ones for about $8.00. I'm so proud! :)

Someone even told me that the squares are better then Crave Cupcakes, which is about the highest compliment I can think of...except for the time my chocolate chip cookies elicited a marriage proposal, but I was only 14, so I had to turn it down... ;)

Anyhow, I just had to tell you all how excited I am to have raised so much money for the United Way - it's very exciting! And if being a legal assistant doesn't work out, I could always sell peanut butter squares for a living!

Monday, December 18, 2006

Intramural Quidditch Hits U.S. College Campuses

This is AWESOME!!!


Intramural Quidditch Hits U.S. College Campuses

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/#article:9333

Today's edition of the Wall Street Journal reports that a new fad is sweeping college campuses across the U.S. -- Intramural (earthbound) Quidditch! The article is available online to paid subscribers, and TLC is happy to provide some highlights:

In Quidditch games played at Middlebury College in Vermont, one student IS the Snitch, and attempts to outrun the other players.

"Rainey Johnson, sporting a yellow shirt, yellow socks and yellow paint smeared on his face, darted across the freshman quad. Other students, in capes, ran after him clutching brooms between their legs and grasping in vain for a tennis ball stuffed in a sock hanging out of his yellow shorts."

At Marlboro College, a toy helicopter launched from a slingshot serves as the Snitch, and must be caught before it reaches the ground. Water-soaked foam balls become Bludgers, and a volleyball is used as the Quaffle.

Middlebury's model, though (with a student Snitch, Dodgeball Bludgers and a volleyball Quaffle "aimed at gold-painted Hula Hoops mounted on chairs"), is catching on at other east coast colleges: Bucknell and Vassar students are putting Quiddtich teams together for the spring using "Middlebury rules."

Middlebury student Alexander Benepe and friends started the Quidditch craze at their school last year, and have seen it grow tremendously this fall.

"About 30 Middlebury students played pickup games almost every weekend this fall, usually two or three matches, before heading to a 'Quidditch World Cup' that drew five teams and about 60 players this month.

"'We are the first college students who grew up reading Harry Potter,' says Mr. Benepe, a sophomore from New York City. 'It's very much a book of our generation.'"

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Youth Party

Yesterday we took the youth skating and then back to our place for a Christmas gift exchange - it was fun, but pretty low-key. I don't think I ever remember them being that quiet before. I guess the skating must have tired them out...you can link to my web album below. I forgot to take the camera skating, so I didn't get any pictures of Matt and Anne Marie's attempt at choreograpy, or of the Cadbury's magical elves who were there giving away chocolate.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Awwww...

"I will not die but live, and proclaim what the Lord has done."

I don't even know where to start! Such an amazing weekend - God used our little retreat to do some pretty cool stuff, and I'm so honoured to have been a part of that. I took the title of this post from a Psalm - I can't remember which right now, but it was another verse that meant a lot to me back in the days when I was going through the darkest times in my life. I knew that God would use my struggles for good, eventually, and to see that all come together this weekend just blew me away. It's amazing to see the Spirit working in my life, and bringing all the crap to work out for good. I had some good feedback, and that was really encouraging to hear.

Survivor has been my baby for the last six years, and I put all I can give into getting the weekend off the ground. This year it was even more personal, because of sharing my story, and by the time the last session and prayer time was over on Saturday night, I felt like that verse in Isaiah that says "I am poured out like a drink offering" - not only did I feel like I had nothing left to give, I couldn't stop crying for more then a few minutes at a time! Then Scott, Sam, Trevor and I ended up doing a worship set for the coffee house, and it was amazing. You know those moments where everything just comes together in perfect alignment, and you can feel the hand of God putting it that way? That was one of those moments - if I could just freeze that time and live in it forever, I totally would!

That's what I hope heaven will be like and is my favourite thing about retreats - the two gatherings I've been to, Crew training, the Crew alumni retreat, Survivor every year, TEC - just worshiping with people I love, who also love to worship Jesus. That, blog-readers, is what it's all about! The new Chris Tomlin CD has this song that goes "you and I were made to worship, you and I are called to love" - for me, that's the purpose of life on this earth right there. I love all those kids who were there this weekend, and a bunch of my dearest friends were there, as well as some of my youth, and it was phenomenal. It's been such a privilege to work with the group of people we have planning Survivor - not only are we coworkers in youth ministry, we're all friends, and we all have different gifts that complement each other - God sure knew what he was doing when he put us together! :)

You can check out some pics of us using our gifts here, and stay tuned for updates as more pics come in over the next couple of weeks. http://picasaweb.google.com/michelleheumann/SurvivorVII

Monday, November 27, 2006

Typo

There was the most awesome typo in the bulletin yesterday - they've made gluten-free wafers available at communion now, but the bulletin said that now glutton-free wafers are available! Haha!

In four and half days, we're heading into Ultimate Survivors VII! I'm excited - it's going to be great! We had our "dress rehearsal" yesterday, and Prince of Peace is really a great facility for this kind of thing. There's a group coming all the way from the Okanagan, so hopefully the roads improve - I would not want to drive through the mountains, with a van load of youth, with the roads the way they are right now!

We took our youth to Operation Christmas Child on Saturday - every year we go to the warehouse and help prepare the shoeboxes for shipping - it's great fun, and this year PAUL BRANDT was there! He's the celebrity spokesperson for OCC, and he was there playing some Christmas music - just him and his guitar. It was very exciting for me... ;)

Life continues to be interesting - a few things have happened in the last week that have really hit close to home, and kind of re-awoken my passion to do something to help victims of abuse. I still don't know what, but I'm keeping an eye out to see what God brings along. It just makes me soooo cross that there's people out there putting up with crap that is totally inhumane because they're ashamed and/or they don't think anyone will believe their story. I guess I've started to do something, with sharing my testimony for Survivor this weekend, but I want to do more! So it will be interesting to see where God is planning to take me on this part of my journey.

Stay tuned for crazy pics from Survivor - coming soon!

Friday, November 17, 2006

Monday, November 06, 2006

In Remembrance

This coming Saturday is Remembrance Day, and it's something I've been thinking a lot about in the last few weeks.

Every year for as long as I can remember, I've gone to a Remembrance Day service. I'm an airforce brat, so it was a really big deal for us. I don't think I've ever actually missed one, except for the year I was 9 or so and sick, and I was really upset that Mom wouldn't let me go. I've read so much about the wars, and how much pain and suffering they caused, and it's really made an impact on me - I can't imagine living through that.

I really feel that taking a couple hours out of a day, once a year, to pay tribute to the sacrifices that so many people made so that we could live in our nice free country, is really a small thing to do. But it seems to me that not a lot of people nowadays feel like that. I could be wrong, so I'd really like to hear some reader input on this one.

I have noticed an increase in the number of people at the service since 9/11, but what really just makes me HOPPING mad is the companies that don't close down on Remembrance Day, and instead give people an extra day off at Christmas. HELLO! That totally defeats the purpose! It's not about having a day off, it's about REMEMBERING. It makes me really cross.

A Remembrance Day service is pretty simple, but so moving, and somehow so Canadian to me. The trumpet playing the Last Post, the flags snapping in the wind, the poppies, the Scouts, cadets and vets on parade, the prayers and the singing, the time of silence, the wreath-laying - it's all so important to me, I can't even explain it. So many people have died in war, and with them the dreams of their families for their lives. So much pain and heartbreak!

Anyway, on Saturday we'll be at the Museum of the Regiments on Crowchild Trail at about 10 or 10:15. The service starts at 10:40, and lasts about an hour. It would be great if you could come! But dress warm - it's Canadian winter, eh!


This is the page from the Book of Remembrance in Ottawa that shows my great-uncle, Thomas Bennetts, who died in 1944.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Wow...talk about the Bible being relevant to my life...

VERSE:
A man finds joy in giving an apt reply -- and how good is a timely word!
Proverbs 15:23

THOUGHT:
Knowing the right word at the right time is a great gift. But even the best of speakers has to admit that the best of his or her words are not nearly as good as those the Spirit gives. Nevertheless, we must not excuse ourselves for our insensitive speech, unkindness, or missed opportunities. Not paying attention to what was said is no excuse. Not being spiritually in tune with the needs of our companions is a cop out. Simply not knowing Scripture well enough to bless others with gracious speech at the appropriate time is self-deception. Listening to others after having listened to God in his Word is what tunes our ears and our hearts to bless others.

PRAYER:
Loving Shepherd, I will spend much of my time today with people. Some of them know you, but most do not. Please give me wisdom to say things that lead people closer to you. Give me words of help and hope for the broken. Give me words of tenderness for the fainting. Give me words of direction for the confused. Father, I pray that whatever words I do say today may reflect your will and may be led by your purposes to bless others. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

www.heartlight.org

Friday, October 27, 2006

Golfing fun

I can't believe it's already been over a week since we left! It was a good weekend, and the golf tournament raised over $8000. Trevor got the worst score, and Scott was only two strokes behind him, and then they took out the score card and argued over who was the worst, which I found highly amusing, or would have, if I wasn't so tired! It was a loooong day, but I got some good pictures, and while I nearly froze, at least the sun was shining!
You can check out my pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/michelleheumann/CrewGolf2006

I had my Real Estate Law midterm this week, but I'm really sick with a cold, and I was not in a good space that night, so I don't think I did very well. We'll see in a couple of weeks when I get my marks back if the cold got to my brain as badly as it felt like. I even stayed home from Bible study last night to get some rest. Stacey and Clinton picking on a fashion victim are just what you need when your nose is running like a faucet and your head is pounding!

In other news, and this made me both excited and sad at the same time... (this article borrowed from scifi.com...)

SG-1 DVD Films Get OK'd
SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate SG-1 will wrap up its 10-year run this spring, but that's not the end of the saga. Executive producer Brad Wright told TV Guide that MGM has granted a green light,and enough money, to produce two movies, most likely for DVD. The first film will tie up most of the finale's loose threads. "It's the climax of the Ori storyline," Wright said, and will be written and directed by executive producer Robert Cooper. The second film, written by Wright, will involve time travel, and both projects should debut in the fall of 2007. Though no deals are signed, SG-1's stars are said to be "very eager"to continue, Wright added. "They're not big-budget [films] by any definition, but for us it's pretty good," he said. "As we've proven over the years, just give us little more money and we can make pretty good television or DVDs."

And Gilmore Girls continues, although at this point I'm starting to feel like the writers should just stop with the drama and let them live happily ever after, already...oy...

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Stop the madness!

I feel like my life is a three-ring circus, and I'm the main act in all three rings! This weekend should be fun and relaxing, but getting ready to relax sure is a lot of work!

But I wanted to my faithful readers know that I'm going out of town tomorrow, so there won't be an update till middle of next week now, but I'm sure I'll have lots of stories when I get back! Won't you miss me? :)

Did you see the headline of the Sun today? Gave me GREAT joy, let me tell you!
Huzzah! I can't wait to go for wings...

Anyhow, off to finish packing and then to bed...so much to do, and not enough time to sleep! I HAD to give up one of my commitments - maybe I'll have to give up another one as well, just to find some sanity!

Monday, October 16, 2006

Fun Pics

You can check out pictures of the last TEC weekend here...there's lots of Foothills people in these pictures!

http://picasaweb.google.com/TeensEncounterChristCalgary

TEC 44 was the one we just had, and Trevor and I worked 41, and Trevor worked 40 (I was in Victoria that weekend).

There aren't any pics up yet of 42, but we both worked that one, and there's pics up of 43, which neither of us worked, cause some crazy people we know decided to get married that weekend... :)

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

CREW Ministries Golf Tournament

The 2006 CREW Ministries Fundraising Golf Tournament, in support of the ongoing music and drama ministry, will be held on October 21 in Kelowna. Scott Refvik and Trevor Heumann will be participating in the tournament, and is currently collecting pledges. All donations in the amount of $10.00 or more made to CREW are tax deductible, and pledges may be made by contacting Trevor, Michelle or Scott before October 20. More info on the ministry is available at http://www.crewministries.com/.

Scott's CREW team...

Trevor's and my CREW team... (Scott's team got a better picture...)

Next Bethel Service

Sunday, October 15, at 11am
Lake Chaparral Rec Centre
http://www.bethelmissionproject.ca/

3/5 of Rice Omlet and the ! Woo (otherwise known as the TEC 44 worship team) will be playing, and there'll be snacks afterwards, so I hope to see you there!

Jordan and Jeremy part 2

So this is what happened. Jordan was given a list of questions to ask, and Jeremy was only told that he could say those certain answers. So it was all rigged to look like Jordan was going to kiss him, but what he was actually supposed to do was put his fingers in front of his lips and blow on them to make that fun "pfffitt" sound. There was some misjudging of distance and timing, and there you have it - a situation that looks worse on camera then it really was, and a classic moment that Jeremy will be teased about for years to come - but only because we love him, of course! :)

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Jordan and Jeremy

Jordan: "Do you know what this is?"
Jeremy: "Yes"
Jordan: "Do you know what it can do?"
Jeremy: "No"
Jordan: "Do you want to find out?"
Jeremy: "Yes"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jordan: "Do you know what these are?"
Jeremy: "Yes"
Jordan: "Do you know what they can do?"
Jeremy: "No"
Jordan: "Do you want to find out?"
Jeremy: "Yes"

Friday, September 29, 2006

Let the Countdown Begin...

Did you know I turn 26 three months from today? Only 4 years and three months to 30...sad day!

This year is going by so fast I can almost feel the wind rushing by - I've had a lot of internal change this summer - it's been very interesting for me to look back at and see the pattern emerging.

I think I have a better idea of what the next few years will look like now, God willing, and it's very encouraging. I've always been a dreamer, but the last few years I've stopped dreaming, partly because of the baggage I've been hauling around, and it's such a great feeling to have rediscovered that part of myself. God is so good, hey. He used someone in my life that I've been friends with for a long time to bring about the changes - I'm sure this person has no idea just what an influence they've been on me over the last few months, but I can see how God has used things they've said and done to get my attention. It's pretty cool, and I'm feeling very blessed to have such a great bunch of friends here.

I have an idea about what my next career choice is going to be, but it's a few years off yet, cause it involves a big time and financial commitment, not to mention a huge lifestyle change. This is something I've never really wanted to do before, but now I'm feeling kind of excited about it, and it's all because I dealt with so much of my crap this summer. Now I just have to wait for God's timing - I'm TERRIBLE about doing that! Well, doing it patiently, anyway. Once I've decided what I want, I like to just go for it, you know? I know God will do a better job of bringing everything together then I ever could, but it would be great if he could hurry up about it! :)

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Change of Number

If you've known Trevor for very long, you know he has a habit of losing things - well, this time he's lost his cell phone, and had to get a new one. He got a better deal from Bell then Telus, so he's got a new number. The 875-4264 one isn't working anymore, so if you want the new number, please email me and I'll give it to you.

He's happy with the new one, cause it's also an MP3 player, which means I'll get his mini disc player, which makes me happy, so it's worked out ok! :)

Friday, September 22, 2006

You know you're busy when...

...you forget it's Friday! Can you believe that I did that? I'm really loosing it this time...sigh...and I'm developing a somewhat co-dependent relationship with my laptop - I hardly go anywhere without it, and the mere idea of something possibly happening to it makes my ulcer act up. Can you say "too much stress"?!!!

The Light the Night walk is coming up soon, and I'm still collecting donations! I have to hand in all cash and cheques to my team captain on Monday, but you can donate online up until Saturday...
http://www.active.com/donate/ltncal/1986_mheumann
It's for a good cause, and it's tax deductible! And you'll be making me walk 5k, which I'm sure will be very good for me...

Monday, September 18, 2006

You want to hear some good music?

One of my best friends, Sarah Wemyss, is playing a couple coffee houses in Calgary this week. On Wednesday she's at the Starfish Cafe, which is at 4510 Macleod Trail SW, in the rear basement-walk out, and that starts at 7 pm.
On Friday night she's playing at the House, at 7 pm. I'm told the House is on 10th Street NW, in Kensington area, but I can't find it on Google or in the phone book, so if you know where it's located, please let me know!
Then on Sunday, Sarah's playing at the 10:30 service at Foothills.
And she has this great CD, so if you can't make it, you can order her CD from www.qsarah.com!

(This post is by special request of Pastor Mike, who said he'd write down the dates if he read it on my blog. Makes me happy, that does! Nice to know that someone's actually reading this thing and I'm not just talking to myself... :)

In case you were just dying to know, the first service for Bethel went pretty well. It was a small crowd, and there were some logistical issues that need to be worked out, but it was a good start. There'll be another service in October sometime, and I'll be sure to let you know when that will be.

Oh, and the National Youth Gathering planning was great, apart from my personal revelations. We have a lot of good ideas that I'm excited to see take shape. We're doing a lot of things that we hope will capture the attention of the youth - today's youth are more and more ADD, and if we want them to hear what we're saying, we need to think more outside the box. It's going to be FANTASTIC, and it's only 290 days away! (That's probably a scary thought for those of you with more work to do then me... :)

The Survivor publicity is going in the mail today - such a huge stress that's been this last week! But it's done now, and if you're a youth leader, look for it in your mailbox by the end of the week. And if you don't get one, and want one, please let me know! It's only 73 days away, so get those registrations in quickly. I sent out 79 publicity packages, and I think we'll only be able to take about 150 youth and leaders, so get your registrations in as fast as you can!

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Silly Me...

You ever have one of those moments when you realize something, and wonder why on earth it took you so long to figure it out? I had one today - actually a couple, one led into the other.

I'm part of the team planning sessions for the National Youth Gathering in Ottawa next summer, and we spent last night and all of today brainstorming for it. One of the other people brought up a speaker he had heard once, named Dan Allendar, who has a book called "To be Told". Basically it sounds like it's about being at peace with the story of your life, and seeing the good that's come from the bad. It really affected me, just the way he said it, and later when we were praying, I was kind of mulling it over, and something hit me.

I know that I feel called to tell my story at Survivor, and I've come to terms with the fact that that's what I'm going to do, but I haven't liked the idea. I guess I've felt somehow like that would be self-promoting somehow. But the fact of it is that it would be God-promoting! My story is basically about how I was sexually and verbally/emotionally abused, and how God is healing me from the burden of that pain. My story is about what He's done for me, and why on earth would I NOT want to share that? And that led in to why am I so worried about what to say? There's a verse where Jesus tells the disciples to not worry about what to say, because He will give them the words. I KNOW that, I just forgot. I just make me shake my head...sigh.

Anyway, I'm going to tell my story, and I'm excited about it, cause God is using me to bring Him glory, so that's darn well what I'm going to do! And I'm not feeling quite so nauseous about it either, which is nice. And praise God for cool Christians who you learn stuff from - He's really blessed me with a great bunch of people to hang around with, work with and learn from. And you know what? I'm happy with my life, and with who I am, and I wouldn't be who I am if I hadn't gone through all that crap - God has brought good from bad and I'm not going to be so shy about sharing that fact from now on.

The song that was running through my head was "My Redeemer Lives", in particular the lines that goes: "My shame He's taken away, my pain is healed in His name, I believe". It's such a joyful song, and a lot of the time I get so busy I forget to be joyful, you know? And considering how much I have to be joyful about, that's kind of sad!

So those are my new goals - to be more open about what God has done for me, and to be more joyful about the life that He's blessed me with. Yay God!

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Woe is me...

...I think I'm getting the flu. I won't get sick - I can't! I SO don't have time. It started today with a really bad headache - the kind where it feels like someone's got your eye sockets in vice grip, so I went home early. As I was leaving, the girl who sits next to me, who had the flu this week, pointed out that her early symptoms were a brutal headache and back pain. Since I always have back pain, I wasn't worried. Till I came home, went to bed, and got the chills. Then I went burning hot, and now I'm a little panicked. So I took two Advil liqui-gells, three Cold Fx, three echenacia capsules with garlic and ginger, and a large glass of orange juice.
I have an exciting but busy weekend coming up, and I won't give in to the germs - never give up, never surrender!!!

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Back to school...

My first class was tonight, and I learned something I've never figured out in the five years I've been hanging around SAIT - the Heart building has a basement! Go figure! I was nearly late for my class it took so long to find the room. Sigh...the instructor seems ok, anyway. He's got an interesting way of looking at things, but I feel that Real Estate law isn't very exciting in general. Oh well, last class, and then I can get my certificate!

I'm now officially a Commissioner for Oaths in and for the Province of Alberta, which is very exciting. I swore my first affidavit yesterday, so now I feel like a real legal assistant. Hooray for swearing! :)

A couple of weeks ago, we had a youth event at which much chaos ensued. Some of it was captured on a camera phone, and I share the pictures with you for your amusement.

This is Chris and Matt - wonderful youth leaders, eh?


This is Chris and Jordan...really, what else can I say about that?

I'm mostly doing this to bug Chris... :) Hehe!

I just downloaded MSN - sigh. Years of holding out, and I finally broke down. I can now message you with MSN, Google chat or Skype! I have a lot of crap on my computer...

Ah well, past my bed time! Big weekend coming up, and I've got a lot of projects to get through so I can focus on it!

Oh hey, one last thing...nice, hey? I really like...

Monday, September 11, 2006

Bethel Update

Worship with us on Sunday, September 17th, at 2:30pm-3:30pm

Sleep in, have lunch and then come and join us at Mackenzie Lake Community Association Centre

Followed by a Desert Extravaganza!!!

Everyone welcome, Nursery care provided, Children's church

Directions: from 22x Marquis of Lorne, Turn up McKenzie Lake Blvd, north from the Cranston gate,up to McKenzie Lake Way SE, turn right, and you'll see the hall on your right.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Road Trip

So much to say - where to start? I spent the long weekend in the Okanagan - Scott, Chris and I went to Penticton to visit another Crew alum, and it was a blast. (Trevor couldn't come cause he's on the worship team for the fall TEC, and he had to play at the meeting Friday night, and he was taking the youth to the Labour Day Classic.)

We left Friday after work, and didn't get in till almost midnight. We listened to a lot of music, and this comedian, Bill Engvall, best known for his "here's your sign" jokes. Here's a link to a video of his - he's probably the cleanest comedian I've ever heard, and I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. We had such a good time, I was almost sorry to get to Sam's!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jovsckwNF6U

I got up fairly early on Saturday morning, and spent some time on the deck, overlooking the lake, with my Bible. It was fantastic - I wish I could start every day like that! We went to the beach in the afternoon, and I had some time to just sit and work some stuff out with God - I don't know when I spent some quality time with Him like that last. It was probably a good thing I'd forgotten the power cord for my laptop, otherwise I would have spent the afternoon working.

We went mini golfing in the evening, and I swear, Chris is the most dangerous mini golf player ever. He swings like he's playing real golf - the ball ricocheted off a rock, nearly hit him in the head, and went in to the bushes. He had to go ask for a new ball at that point... The very next hole, he does the same thing, except this time it rebounds off the rock...and right at my ankle. I was not amused... Then we get to the last hole, and you'd think he'd have learned his lesson by this point, right? Wrong! It comes flying back, nearly hits me in the head, and lands in the stream. (Picture me shaking my head and rolling my eyes here...)

On Sunday, Scott and I went in to Kelowna for church at First Lutheran, and I got to see Sarah for a bit. I really like First - they've got a beautiful building, and a great congregation. The Okanagan circuit churches all seem to have really great staff, too. I haven't been to Concordia in Penticton, but that's where Chris went on Sunday, and he really liked it. I noticed today that they're hiring a secretary, and I realized that I would maybe like to do that again some time. I really surprise myself sometimes...

Anyway, we also went to Summerhill Winery, which makes my favourite kind of wine, and had some free samples, which is always good. On the drive back to Penticton, we cranked the worship tunes, and I got to spend some more quality time with God - who'd have imagined that the best worship time I've had in ages would be in the back of a car? Kind of ironic! In the evening, we had this fantastic jam session out on the deck - Scott on guitar and Sam's dad, Chester, on congas. It was pretty cool, and I ended up staying up until 2 am working on my testimony for Survivor. I've given up asking God "are you sure I have to do this?" and started asking "what the heck do I say?". I'm pretty nervous about it - there's a lot of people that I know that have no idea about my past crap, and the Lutheran grapevine moves pretty quick, and I don't know how the kids are going to respond to it. I'm trying not to think about it too much, cause it makes me nauseous. Such a pain...

On Monday morning, I spent more time on the deck with my Bible, and we just spend the morning chilling with Sam. We had some great burns at Chris, and he even burnt himself really well at some very opportune times - 'twas awesome. We left around noon, and didn't get back to Calgary until about 10. I got some time to work out my testimony a bit more, and then from Golden on, we had some great conversations. Chris used about half a dozen big words, and it was just some really great hang-out time - it was cool, because while we hang out a lot, but we don't really talk about important stuff.

We came up with a grand plan that involves me and Trevor, Scott, and Chris moving to the Okanagan and buying houses all next to each other. I think that sounds like great fun - it would be such a blast. I really want to move away from Calgary at some point, I'm really not a city girl, but I really don't want to leave my friends, either, so taking them with me sounds like a good idea, hey? And while Lake Okanagan isn't an ocean, at least it's more water then Calgary has, and it's not too far from the Pacific. Who knows if it would ever work out, but it's fun to think about, anyway.

So, it was an extraordinary weekend. I made some new friends, got to know some old ones a little better, had some awesome times with God, bought some wine, and came home to Trevor. It was such a relief to not have any work or responsibilities, and Sam's family was so hospitable, it was totally relaxing to just hang out there. So much fun - I'm so blessed!

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Bethel Calgary's First Service!

After much searching for a location, a date and place have been set! It's going to be on September 17, at 2:30, at the Midlake Community Center. There's going to be dessert after, awesome music, and from what I've heard, Pastor Jay is a good preacher. It's going to be very cool - hope to see you there!
www.bethelmissionproject.ca

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Ho, hum

Only three days of work left! I'm excited for the weekend - not only is it a long weekend, but I'm going on a road trip with a couple of friends. We're heading to the Okanagan - I'm a big fan of warmth and sunshine, and while there isn't an ocean, a large lake is the next best thing. And did I mention the wineries? Not that I can handle much wine, it puts me right to sleep, but I do enjoy it. ;)

I'm so busy these days - let me give you a brief overview of what I'm up to -

There's TEC - I'm the secretary/registrar of the steering committee, and a small group leader for the TEC weekend in October. So I take minutes at meetings and send out email reminders about stuff, register and confirm and get information to the youth going on the weekends, and their sponsors and families, and being a small group leader for a weekend involves 6 meetings between September 1 and the weekend, which starts on the Friday night and goes to the Monday night. And twice a month there's a Saturday evening worship service, which Trevor plays at sometimes. He's also on the worship team for the upcoming TEC, so there's extra practices for that.

I'm a youth leader at Foothills, my church, and we're having a leader's meeting tonight, plus a youth event tomorrow night. During the school year, there's usually at least a couple of events per month. Last weekend I slept over at the church and helped a bit with a confirmation retreat - if confirmation had been like that when I was a kid, I probably would have gotten a lot more out of it!

Then there's the Survivor planning stuff - we're heading in to our seventh year of running this fabulous youth retreat, and it's my sixth year being involved. The first year there was about 50 kids and leaders, and last year there was about 120. This year we should have room for about 150 - it's so cool to see how much God has blessed this ministry. I LOVE Survivor - if I had to give up any of my activities, it would not be Survivor! I handle registration, take care of encouragement, organize meetings, I'm on the session planning committee, and this year I'm also going to share some of my testimony, which is going to be interesting. I really feel God nudging me to do it, but I'm struggling with what to say. I could probably talk for hours about everything that's gone on in my life, and how God's brought me through it. Hopefully I can hear Him telling me what to say. The nice thing is we'll be taping it before the actual weekend, and I can get it done and then not worry about it. And if I ramble or say something stupid, it can get edited out! :)

My next big project is the National youth gathering in Ottawa next summer. I'm part of the session planning team for that, and I'M SO EXCITED!!! I love gatherings - I've only been to two, but I've been amazed by how impactful they are, and it's such an honour to be part of planning one. There'll probably be about 500 kids there - it's so cool to have this opportunity to influence their lives for God.

I'm heading into my last semester of my Legal Assistant program - I'm studying residential real estate law. Should be useful at some point, anyway, if we can ever afford to buy a house, that is. It's insane out there...

I'm so busy, but I'm so happy with the things I'm doing - they give me much joy. Well, except for school, but that's survivable - only three months to go, and then I'll have a nice certificate to hang on my cubicle wall!

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Blackberry Pie and Not Very Nice Men

There's been so much going on in the last little while, I had to check my daytimer to see what I've been up to! Crazy - this is going to be a long one - sorry to those people who I know that don't like to read long blog updates! :)

I tried to make blackberry pies last night - the church I used to go to in Victoria has a blackberry festival every fall, and the pies they make are beyond words. When I was out there a few weeks ago, the blackberries were just coming ripe, and eating them made me crave blackberry pie like you wouldn't believe. So I picked up some blackberries at the farmer's market, and last night tried to turn them in to pie. I realized I didn't have enough to make more then one, so I ran out to Co-op for more. All they had were little container of like, 2 dozen berries for THREE NINETY-NINE! I don't think so... They didn't have any frozen one either, so I went to Safeway, and they didn't have any blackberries at all. So I ended up getting blueberries and making blueberry pies for the other things I need to take food to, and making one blackberry pie for Trevor and me, but it wasn't the same as St. Mary's blackberry pies. 'Twas very sad...

Yesterday I had a really bad day at work. I was really struggling with why I'm at that job when it just really feels like a waste of time, and there're so many other things I could be doing. I've been pretty bored, so I've made a few just really stupid mistakes. Nothing that's brought all kinds of trouble down on us or anything, just stuff I should do better. I felt/feel like my job is just sucking up all my energy and I don't really have anything to show for it. It's darn stressful! I find I'm missing the church more and more as time goes by, and questioning whether I made the right decision. I mean, I know I did, but I still doubt sometimes. (I just have to remember the politics that drove me crazy, and I feel a little better, anyway!)

Then this was in my email this morning...
VERSE
When I said, "My foot is slipping," your love, O Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.
-- Psalm 94:18-19
THOUGHT:
We are amazed at the vastness of God's reach, the awesome breadth of his power, and the glorious sweep of his majesty. An additional truth, incredible as it may seem, is God's personal nearness to us. He chooses to know us and be actively involved in the trials and triumphs we face each day. How will today, or tomorrow, be different because you are aware of his presence and companionship? What difference does it make to know he supports you when your foot slips or that his consolation is nearby when anxiety rises?
PRAYER:
Loving God, who is everywhere yet always near, please hear my heart. I am overwhelmed at your presence near me and within me. The comfort you bring when I am under siege, the strength you offer when I am weak, the courage you give when I am under attack, and the hope you instill when all seems hopeless -- these gifts of your where to go or why I am here. Thlook forward knowing me. I lookforward to knowing you one day as you know me today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

I don't know when I've every prayed a more heartfelt pre-written prayer, and then only a few hours later, I had the most affirming experience. It was terrible, but affirming. A client came in to sign some papers, and I talked to her a bit. I don't know much of her story, but she's separated from her husband, and she said that when she went home last night, he was there. And then she started to cry. That's all she said, but the tone of voice, the look on her face and her body language were so familiar to me that I started to cry too. And I remembered the bone-deep, soul-crushing terror of slipping in to the house as quietly as possible, wondering if the silence means that he's gone off in a snit for a while, or if he's lying in wait at the top of the stairs, waiting to pounce on some imagined offence. The sense of measured relief as everything really is calm for the moment, but at the same time a sense of impending doom as you wait for the bottom to drop out again.

That's why I wanted to be a Legal Assistant - to help women who find themselves in situations like that. I was quite happy today to go to the court house to file her Statement of Claim for Divorce. And I had many very unprofessional thoughts about men like that, which aren't fit to type on my blog when I give my friends a hard time about their language! :) It was encouraging to remember why I wanted to do this, and while I feel like most of the time all I do is shuffle paper, being able to help in this situation makes it worth it. For such a time as this, hey? Eventually, I'd love to have a shelter kind of place for women who find themselves in that situation. That's something I really have a passion for - I went through so much crap, and came out miraculusly intact, and I want to use those terrible experiences for good, you know? God promises to work all thing to the good of them that love him and are called according to his purpose - that's very encouraging to me!

Friday, August 18, 2006

Tongue-tied

So my boss asked me to call down to the court house and find out who the duty justice is this afternoon. So I call, and the clerk answers the phone, and I come out with "can you tell me who the juty dustice is?"
Brilliant...

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Me!!!

So I was walking down the sidewalk this morning, and my phone rings. It's Trevor in the glass elevator, watching me walk down the sidewalk, calling to complement me. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how to treat your wife! Major brownie points for Trevor...
Then two guys stepped back to let me in the c-train a head of them, which was also very nice. It's good to know I don't LOOK like an old married woman, anyway! :)

I ended up getting to go out last night - the place they were going to go was too crowded, so they went to Brewsters instead, and I could go there. It was fun, and I got some interesting career suggestions, but I'm having an issue with something.

See, in church on Sunday, the reading reminded me of this verse from Philippians that I've been trying very hard to adhere to, but I just keep forgetting!

Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.


I've been trying really hard to be more encouraging and I'm having such a hard time with it!

Romans 7:18b-23a (NIV)
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin.


Driving me crazy, this is. I mean, I'm sure my friends know I love them, but I can talk pretty mean when I get going, and I don't much like myself afterwards. A little friendly heckling is ok, but I keep forgetting where to draw the line. I don't think I've hurt anyone's feelings, but I worry that I might say the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time. Sigh...

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Smoking Rant

I just feel the need to rant about smoking in Calgary. I know there's a new bylaw in force as of January 1, 2007, but that's a long way away! So I'm stuck at home while my friends go out without me. I don't blame them - it's cheap wings - but it's just so darn unfair that people's right to smoke in public interferes with my right to go out with my friends for cheap wings and be able to breathe while doing that. Grrrrr....
I mean really, if you want to abuse your body, totally go for it. Just don't do it somewhere where I can smell it! Why should I have to breath your smog and suffer through the resulting allergy symptoms? I hear smokers complain that they're being persecuted, and that they have the right to do what they want. One of my youth leaders used to say you have the right to swing your arms around, but when they infringe on someone else's personal space, your right ends. This is totally what he was talking about!
Ok, I think I'm done now! Only 4 and a half months to go - I can make it!

Friday, August 11, 2006

Vacation time is over... :(

I've been back for a few days now, and what with the gloomy weather and all the piled-up work, my vacation seems like a million years ago already.

The camping trip to the lake was...special. We hung out with friends of Heather's family, who are an interesting bunch. There was about, oh, I don't know, 50-ish people, I suppose, from tiny babies to grandparents and everything in between. It was an unforgettable experience!

I went tubing - in case you've never been, it's were you hang on to a huge tube and get hauled along behind a motor boat at upwards of 30 miles an hour. Lucky for me the driver was nice about it being my first tubing experience, and didn't try to make me fall off, which he did to everyone else. It was a lot of fun! Did you know that if the human body is traveling faster then 30 miles an hour, it will skim along the surface of the water like skipping a stone? Very entertaining to watch, but I'm glad it wasn't me!!!

The Sunday night there were fireworks down in Honeymoon Bay, so most of us loaded in to six boats and went down the lake. They roped all the boats together, and we listened to country music, which I found really amusing. I was getting a lot of heckling about being from Alberta, but I heard more country music that weekend then I've heard all year! The fireworks were really good, and the lake was in a valley, so the explosions reverberated all around. It was really neat.

Coming home was a little tiring - an hour layover in Vancouver, which has to be the most boring international airport in Canada. My pocket knife was confiscated at security it Victoria - I'd totally forgotten that I had it. It's a good thing I came home when I did though - it would have really sucked to get caught up in all these new security measures that have come down in the last couple of days.

Anyway, glad to be home - sort of. I missed my friends and my church and my youth (and Trevor!), but now I miss Heather and the ocean and the people I know in Victoria and the blackberry picking... It would be SO nice to have everything all in one place!

Speaking of friends, both Crew teams are coming through Calgary tomorrow night, and will actually be here for a bit of the same time, so that should be a lot of fun. Hooray for Crewbies!

Friday, August 04, 2006

Sunshine and Beaches

Hello from lovely Victoria! It's been two days since I last checked my email, and boy, do I feel it - I'm officially addicted! 28 emails, and only about 4 of them spam, which was nice.

I'm having a very relaxing time - a day trip up island to Rathtrevor beach, my FAVOURITE beach in the entire world. Lots of nice white sand, seashells, and fir trees. And when the tide is on its way back in, you can walk for forever in shin-deep water that's nice and warm from the sun. LOVE it! We also went to Coombs, which is most famous for the shop that has a grass roof with goats on it - very cute. Also went to see Pirates of the Caribbean again - what a good movie. I'm so excited for the sequel next summer

Today we slept late and went to Taylor beach, with is my third favourite beach. There's a lot of memories for me there! (My second favourite is a tie between Rainbow Haven in NS and the turtle beach in Hawaii...) Also today I did something appearance-altering, and a little bit different - maybe even somewhat out of character for the "normal" me. Look for it next time you see me! :)

Stay tuned for more adventures...off to Lake Cowichan camping tomorrow! I bought a bottle of rum
("There's no rum. Why is there always no rum?" or if you prefer: "Is this a dream? If it were a dream, there'd be rum...")
and a six pack of coke, and Heather made chocolate chip muffins, so it should be a good weekend! :)

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Victoria

Tomorrow I'm going to Victoria - I don't get back until Tuesday night next week, and I'm so excited! I haven't been back there since Thanksgiving of 2004 - way too long.

This is me and Heather when she was here in February - we walked to Krispy Kreme in a blizzard. Am I dedicated to my doughnuts or what? I'm stopping at Krispy Kreme on my way to the airport tomorrow for sure!

I found a new CD that I love - "Arriving" by Chris Tomlin. Totally amazing! I was listening to it last night while I was trying to pack, and I kept getting distracted by it. It made me want to sit down and really listen to it - it was almost as good as being at the Saddledome, even though my laptop doesn't compare to the sound system there! It's an awesome worship CD (my favourite kind!) - I highly recommend it.

My favourite Third Day CD, "Offering II" is missing. I'm so cheezed off - I have no idea where it is, or when I had it last. Actually, the last time I remember having it for sure was in NS at Christmas, and I know I brought it home, but I haven't seen it since. :(

Anyway, off to bed - talk to you all when I get back!

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Youth Ministries Institute

So Trevor's featured this month on the YMI "Salt of the Earth" section. Every month a different youth leader from around the Alberta-British Columbia District of the Lutheran Church-Canada has a profile posted there - kind of a way of networking the leaders.
http://www.ymideas.com/joomla/content/view/34/137/
That's my husband - special, hey? :)
If you're a youth worker, check out the rest of the site, even if you're not Lutheran! :) There's lots of cool stuff on it.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Light the Night

My work is having a team in the Light the Night walk in September, to fundraise for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It's 5km - maybe I should train!
If you're interested in sponsoring me, or just want more info, go here...0r you could always just talk to me... :)
http://www.active.com/donate/ltncal/1986_mheumann

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Sad Day for Third Day...

I heard some people I know talking about this, so I thought I'd check it out. It's one thing to have an opinion, but it's a totally different story when you get the facts wrong...sad day. :(

July 17, 2006
Live Review: Third Day in Calgary
By ROB HONZELL -- Calgary Sun
http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/2006/07/17/pf-1688368.html

Things About Me...

A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Office assistant to a Member of Parliament
2. Cook’s apprentice
3. Bagel baker
4. File clerk

B) Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. The original Star Wars (I guess that’s technically three…)
2. The Emperor’s New Groove
3. Lilo and Stitch
4. Gosford Park

C) Four places I have lived besides Calgary:
1. Comox, BC
2. Greenwood, NS
3. Waverley, NS
4. Victoria, BC

D) Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. Canadian Idol
2. Arrested Development
3. Stargate SG1 and Atlantis
4. Boston Legal

E ) Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Hawaii
2. Nova Scotia
3. PEI
4. Washington, Oregon and northern California (that was a special road trip – gotta love family vacations…)

F) Websites visited (almost) daily:
1. Friend’s blogs
2. MSN news
3. TEC forum
4. comics.com for the 9 Chickweed Lane comic

G ) Four of my favourite foods:
1. Spaghetti (but only the way I make it…)
2. Chocolate
3. Fruit (or chocolate-dipped fruit)
4. McDonald’s fries

H) Four places I would rather be right now:
(Not in any specific order – and if I could manage all of them at once, I’d be a very happy girl….)
1. Sleeping
2. Hanging out with friends
3. At a youth gathering
4. Reading in the sun

If you want to play this fun game too, copy and paste this to your blog, after putting in your own answers. Then post your blog address in my comments, so more people know to check it out.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Lots of Findings...

I found a few cool things this weekend - did you know there's mini golf at COP? It's only $9/person, and it's nice and green with little waterfalls. It was an enjoyable way to spend an hour, even if Trevor did win! Anne Marie and I did each get a hole-in-one though, which he didn't. :)

We also met "Arrested Development", this special TV show about a nutty family and how they deal with their father going to jail. It's pretty funny, but not what you'd call a family show! Not as bad as some of the stuff out there though, so I'm happy with it.

I found this awesome recipe for making BBQ ribs in the crock pot, and gave it a try - it was yummy, yummy!

And I found out that I'm on the Conference Team (like a small group leader) for TEC 44, which is really cool. I worked it once before, and I really enjoyed it. And most exciting, my youth that I sponsored to go on the last TEC is on Conference as well. Yay God! So cool...

Earlier in the week, we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean, and it was really good. The ick factor was a little higher (if you haven't seen it, and wonder how it can get any ickier then animated corpses, just you wait and see!) but the story was good, and I only screamed and jumped once. It totally left things hanging - I don't know how I'm going to be able to wait a whole year to find out what happens next...

Today I found out that Calgary is planning a new central library - for 2012! It's so strange to think of stuff actually happening then and being around for it - I read so much Science Fiction, I tend to forget that we're almost there, you know what I mean? In the early to mid-1900's, there was such a fascination with life after the millennium, and now that we're there, it's really not that exciting. But it's a little strange to see the dates as being in my lifetime - so surreal!

Monday, July 24, 2006

Bethel BBQ

Are you interested in helping start a new church in south Calgary? Join us for a BBQ on Wednesday night - follow the link for more info!
http://www.bethelmissionproject.ca/index-events.html

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Break Forth 2007

I found something cool - if you sign up to volunteer for 15 hours at Break Forth, you get free registration! So we're signing up - there's jobs for everything from security to registration to transportation to photographers to hospitality to first aid to sound. It's first come, first chosen, so we're filling out our forms tonight to get them in right away.

Casting Crowns is going to be there this time, and I'm really going just for that! But Brian Doerkson, Robin Mark and the Newsboys will all be there again too - they have been highlights for me in the past.

If you're interested in joining us, information is here:
http://www.new-creation.net/docs/Volunteer%20Newsletter%20June%2027.pdf
And the forms are here:
http://www.new-creation.net/docs/Volunteer%20Application%202007.pdf

Let me know if you want to carpool!

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

LINKED

So I really did mean to post more pictures from the Okanagan, but life kind of got in the way...

Our youth group went to the ABC District Youth Gathering and it was awesome. We left Thursday afternoon, and rode a really cushy bus for a TERRIBLY grueling hour and a half. That beats Greyhound any day! The theme was "LINKED", from Romans 8:28-29. Let's see if I can remember it... "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, neither height nor depth nor anything in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." I think that's right...but the point of it is that we are Linked with God.

For me, there were a couple highlights of the Gathering - other than seeing a ton of friends, some of whom I haven't seen in ages - the first was the Passion Play (www.canadianpassionplay.com) on Friday evening. It was the third time for me, but they had a new script this year, which was really cool. It was narrated, and had a bit more humour, and was way more tear-jerking. There was this awesome bit where the possessed "Man of the Tombs" was reunited with his family that really got me started - I've never given him much thought before, but when I went to Matthew and read the story, it does mention Jesus telling the man to go to his family. So cool, and the 400 some volunteers it takes to put on the play did an amazing job. So did the donkey and the sheep...all that was missing was a llama :)

On Saturday morning, while the kids were at Bible study, I snagged a bit of time alone with God, under a tree, with my Bible and some music on my laptop, which was so refreshing. I really need to do that more often. (I had some more time for that on Sunday too, and then my battery died when I was in the middle of saving something, which was a little stressfull!) The best part of Saturday though, was some totally groovy worship music in the evening. My kids really liked it, and it was a lot of fun. We had some debriefing time in the evening, just us girls, and there was some cool stuff going on. I love Foothills' youth - they are just fantastic. I've been very blessed!

If you're interested in pictures of the Gathering, follow the links on the side to Jason's and Scott's websites - I still have a film camera, so it'll be a week or so for my pictures.

It really sucked to leave on Sunday, but we headed back to Calgary, and Chris, Kevin, Scott, Sarah, Trevor and I were off to the Stampede to see Starfield, Chris Tomlin and Third Day. While we were wandering around before the concert, Sarah and I discovered the most exciting food I've ever tasted - even better then Crave cupcakes. We bought a big piece of cheesecake on a skewer, dipped in melted chocolate. I took a bite and thought I'd died and gone to heaven right there. All the stress just melted away, and I nearly had to sit down. It was the most amazing taste sensation ever! I couldn't stop smiling...so good...

It was a little strange - I kept expecting to see youth there, and I found I really missed them. The guys sat in a box, and Sarah and I had 6th row seats, right in the middle section. It was SO cool! I could take or leave Starfield, and I'd never been much of a Chris Tomlin fan, but I am now. He's an amazing worship leader - very humble. He called "We Fall Down" "just a little song", which I found really ironic. It was more like a worship service then a concert, which I really enjoyed. God and I talked about some stuff, and the next day I ended up doing something I didn't really want to do, but that he was definitely telling me to, so we'll see what comes of that. If I don't chicken out and run away again, anyway. :)

I went for Third Day, and they were good, but after the worship set with Chris Tomlin, it was a little jarring to be blasted with rock music. They did slip back in to the worship groove eventually, though. If you're interested, there's pictures of that up on the Third Day website at www.thirdday.com. Maybe you'll be able to pick me and Sarah out of the crowd! By the time the concert was over, I was so wired - it's been years and years since I've been on a God-high like that - it was pretty cool - I've missed the groove we used to have when life was a lot more of a struggle for me. I find it really ironic that it was when my life was at it's worst that I had the best relationship with God, and now that things are pretty hunky-dory I tend to forget about working at my relationship with him. It makes me sad! After the weekend, I crashed pretty hard this morning, what with Sarah going home and me having to go back to work. Blech...

I need to find a job that I'm more passionate about - any suggestions?

So to sum up this weekend, I've decided that heaven is going to be like a giant youth gathering with lots of good friends, awesome worship music...and chocolate-dipped cheesecake on a stick. What more could you ask for? :)

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Smoke-free Calgary

One of Calgary's aldermen, Diane Colley-Urquhart, is in support of a smoke-free Calgary, and she's running a web poll on her website.
http://www.aldermandiane.ca/index.htm
Vote for a smoke-free Calgary so I can go to pubs with my friends without having an allery attack!

Monday, July 10, 2006

In Memory

HAYES, Godfrey ( "Skinny ")
Harry Captain Godfrey Harry ( "Skinny ") Hayes, DSC OMM CD RCN, retired, born August 12, 1919, died peacefully July 6, 2006 with his family around him. A valiant and much-decorated Navy veteran and a man who lived his life with honour and integrity, he will be missed by the large Hayes clan and his many friends and colleagues.
Predeceased by Pam, his cherished wife of 56 years, he is missed by children Jinny, Michael (Maggie), Stephen (Maureen), David (Pat), and Liz (Richard), as well as grandchildren David, Paul Justus (Lisa), Sean (Audrey), Caitlin, Patrick, Jennifer, Matthew, Stephanie, Jillian, Heather, and Janet, and great-grandchildren Macy, Emmy and Alexander. He is also lovingly remembered by special extended family members, Julia, Janice and Jeff.
We know he cherished the long friendships of his life and took strength from the unconditional support of friends and family during his five-year struggle with cancer. He often said, "I've had a good run. " We are sure he would now add, "Damn the torpedoes! Full steam ahead! "
A memorial service will be at 2:00 p.m., on Wednesday July 12th, at St. Paul's Anglican Church, 1379 Esquimalt Rd., with reception to follow at the new Naden Wardroom, on Signal Hill, at the end of Esquimalt Road.In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the charity of your choice.
Published in the Victoria Times-Colonist from 7/9/2006 - 7/10/2006.


The Hayes family welcomed me at their family events when I was a teenager with a rough home life. They made a huge difference in those years, and I enjoyed every minute of my time with them. I remember Papa fondly – it is so painful to think of him not being there anymore.
Heather and your family - you are in my thoughts and prayers during this time of loss.

Friday, July 07, 2006

Pictures from the Okanagan Part 1

It's been a long time since I posted, but the size of this one is going to make up for it!
We had a fabulous vacation - lots of sunshine and not doing much. We saw a bunch of friends - Joel and Jodie, Kristin, Chauntille, Ian, Lisa, Dana (and Adrianna and Maria), Aunt Linda, Uncle Larry, Aunt Sharon and my cousin Laura! We visited a couple of cool churches - First Lutheran Kelowna and St. John Vernon. Trevor got to play with the sound board in Vernon, which made him very happy. :)

Here's my road tripping llama...

This is a baby alpaca...can I get an "awwww"?

Does this mean it's ok to hit them if you're only doing 50?

This is our campsite, facing away from the lake. It was pretty quiet and shady during the week, but it got pretty crowded for the long weekend.

This is the Summerhill winery. It's all organic, and they age the wine in a pyriamid that apparently has some mystical earth connection because of its shape that makes the wine taste better. I don't know about that, but the free samples tasted pretty good! :)

These are the cute ducks that visited our campsite. I love ducks - they look so funny when the waddle.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Vacation!

Today is our 4th anniversary, and tomorrow we're leaving to go camping in Kelowna. We don't have to go back to work until July 4 - hooray!!! Look out llama farm, here we come!

Fun Pictures






Monday, June 12, 2006

It's been a while...

...so I thought I would post something so you know I haven't fallen of the edge of the planet.

I found this link on Christine's blog, and since I'm procrastinating about working on the gathering booklet, I thought I would try this...
http://abi-station.com/


Hurrah for a wasted 15 minutes! It looks more like me than the alpaca icon does, anyway! :)

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Busy, Busy, Dreadfully Busy...

So many crazy things happening! Where to begin...

Two weekends ago, I went out with a few friends. They were all guys, as is often the case, and they thought the waitress was cute. To make a long story short, Chris ended up snorting chocolate milk up his nose through a straw - and he'd only had one beer!


That same weekend, Pastor Mike and Kara got married - very exciting!

I'm not sure if Mike is really happy, or if Kara just stepped on his foot...

I think my favourite part was the Scottish guy from Sweden who came in a kilt, wore it for slowpitch, and got kissed by Amie. How much more excitement could you ask for?

About three weeks ago, we had a youth event at the church that involved Anne Marie, our illustrious Director of Parish Services, licking out her ice cream bowl...

Then this past weekend, qSarah came to visit, which is always exciting. There was a concert by her duckieness, late night drinks at Maddison's, a trip to see X-Men 3, a meeting about the mission church, Trevor becoming Anglican by joining Holy Trinity, three boxes of Kraft dinner, a trip to Ikea and shopping for clothes...fun fun! And then she left to go do a concert in Stony Plain and I got back to work.

My dad is visiting my brother in Nova Scotia, and Dad's cat is visiting me. The first couple of days were interesting, as my two adjusted to have a brother, but they've settled in pretty well. There's still some funny moments - like when Face went to jump on the counter, and scared Stitch. Stitch being scared startled Face, and he missed the counter all together. Crazy cats...

The season finale of NCIS was terrible - what is going to happen? How could Gibbs just leave? If I poke around the CBS website, I could probably find out if Mark Harmon is renewed for next season, but I want to wait and see...

The ending of that 70's Show was really disappointing. I was expecting something a little more final, but it really just felt like another episode. Are Donna and Eric going to ever live happliy ever after? We'll never know now...

Friday, May 26, 2006

Trekkies 2

Trekkies 2 premiered on the Space channel a few weeks ago, and I'm just finally getting around to watching it. It's pretty entertaining, but the best part was this 40-something woman from Australia who sang a song about Conner Trinneer, who plays Trip Tucker on Enterprise, to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

"Twinkle, twinkle darling Trip,
How I love it when you strip
Starfleet blues, off they go,
Not so fast, I like it slow,
gorgeous body, face divine
How I wish that you were mine."

Words fail me...

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

New Church!

So there's a new Lutheran church starting in Calgary this year. It's being "planted" in the far south end by Bethel Lutheran in Vulcan, and from what I've heard, the vision of it is to be a pretty contemporary congregation.
(The Vulcans are coming, the Vulcans are coming!!!!)
There's an info meeting on Sunday at 3:30 at the Mckenzie Towne hall - this is an exciting opportunity to get involved in the planning of a church from the ground up - I'm really interested to see how it will develop!
Check out www.bethelmissionproject.ca for more info, and I hope to see you there!

Monday, May 22, 2006

Jesus Christ, Superstar

(Note - I wrote this Sunday night, but didn't actually post it until Monday night...)

At the service at Foothills Lutheran this morning, Pastor Laverne talked about the Da Vinci Code, and how its mistruths are a subtle persecution of Christianity. (It was an excellent sermon, and if you’re interested, I can try and get you the text of it.) But it really made me think about the other hoaxes that are floating around out there – false religions, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, the recently “discovered” Gospel of Judas, the James Ossuary, the Shroud of Turin, the Black Madonna, and so on and so on.

And then tonight I discovered another thing to add to the list – I went to Stage West and saw Jesus Christ, Superstar. I had no idea what I was getting into, and I’m just reeling. What a blatant mockery of what our Saviour suffered! So many misquotations and outright lies – I’m just stunned.

The entry into Jerusalem and then a song just after that were full of “hallelujahs” and “you get the power and the glory” were hard to listen to, because unless those words are sung to Jesus with your heart behind them, it’s blasphemy, really. They were sung as empty words that to me are full of meaning.

I think the worst part was, when after a wrenching scene with a flogged Jesus dragging his cross off stage, a bunch of half-dressed dancers in go-go boots came strutting out to sing about how Jesus’ timing was off in coming when he did – “if you’d come much later/you’d have picked up a nation/Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication”. Then after that, the lights slowly came back on to light jazz music – to reveal Jesus hanging on the cross. I couldn’t help it – I just cried. It cut me to the heart to see such a thing. Then the actor playing Jesus said “forgive them, for they know not what they do”, and I thought of all the people around me, watching this terrible scene, and not understanding – not knowing – just there for entertainment.

There were a couple things I notice the play had in common with a few of the “conspiracy theories” floating around out there – it alluded to a relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus, and it made it look like Jesus told Judas to betray him. They had a scene where Mary was rubbing Jesus’ shoulders, and he was saying “Oh, Mary, that’s so good” – it was just so wrong!

Speaking of just so wrong – when they take Jesus to Herod, he was surrounded by cast in bikinis – guys and girls. It was raunchy, and while Herod was supposed to mock Jesus, I really don’t need to see that much of the actors to get the point across!

Caiaphas was singing about how Jesus was drawing unwanted attention to the Jews from the Romans, and how “for the sake of the nation, Jesus must die”. I found that so ironic! It was so much bigger than just the nation, and so different from the way he meant it, you know what I mean?

A pretty common refrain thought the show was “he’s just a man”, and there was no mention of Jesus’ divinity as fact at all. There wasn’t any resurrection scene, just a glimpse of him through the stage curtain. Even the movie the Passion down played the resurrection when really; I think that’s the most important part of the story!

There were a lot of subtle comments taken just enough out of context to not quite sound the way Christians commonly believe, but there were some things that Jesus supposedly said that I’ve never seen the in the Bible!
Like, supposedly Jesus said the following things:
- I look for truth and find that I get damned (to Pilate during the trial)
- Stick with fishing from now on (to Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane)
- There may be a kingdom for me somewhere (to Pilate during the trial)
And they portrayed him as being in the Garden of Gethsemane praying to God to show him his “omnipresent brain”, because Jesus’ death was all God’s idea, and Jesus had no idea what was going on, which is complete hogwash – Jesus and God are one in the Trinity – of course Jesus knew the big picture! Why else would He have gone through all the crap he did if not out of love for everyone who’s ever lived and ever will live?

Grrrrrrr! When I was watching the play, all I could do was cry, and then when we left I was too emotionally stunned to know what to do, but now after writing this all out, I’m just plain mad! This show is a big Broadway thing that millions of people have seen, from Broadway right down to school plays, and this terrible, mocking display might be the only exposure they have to the Name of Jesus, and it’s twisted almost beyond recognition – it doesn’t bear much resemblance to the Jesus I know and love.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

CĂ©ilidh in Calgary!

Last Tuesday, Dad and I went to the Jack Singer Concert Hall to see Natalie McMaster and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. She's touring with her husband Donnell Leahy and his sister Erin Leahy, of the group Leahy, and for one night only, Cape Breton piano player Mac Morin.

Natalie and Mac

Donnell and Erin

It was amazing! Fiddling, piano, step-dancing - four of the best in the Celtic music business, backed up by the CPO - a little bit of Nova Scotia, right here in Cow-town! None of them read music, they all play by ear. Erin's specialty is the piano, and she plays so fast you can't really see her touch the keys. It's obvious that Natalie and Donnell really enjoy playing together - they spent a lot of the evening smiling at each other. Natalie plays with so much passion - I would love to find something that I'm that passionate about! She just PLAYS, holding nothing back, and it seems like she'd play faster and dance faster if it were humanly possible. I'm totally in awe of the skill the four of them have!

Natalie and Donnell mentioned a website they're involved in, www.capebretonlive.com, where you can listen to music that's recorded live all around Cape Breton. Pretty cool!

(By the way - Ceilidh is the word for a Celtic party, with music and dancing.)

Monday, May 15, 2006

Interviewed by Christine

It's the interview game! Here are the rules:

Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me." I will respond by asking you five questions of a very intimate and creepily personal nature. Or not so creepy/personal. You WILL update your LJ (or other blog) with the answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Christine asked me...

1) If you could change the colour of the sky, what colour would it be, how it would become this colour and why is it this colour?

I think I would like it to be sunset colours all the time, only not caused by pollution!


2) What is the most drastic change you have ever made to your physical appearance?

It would be a toss up between the time I had an interesting dye job that ended in a skunk stripe of blonde across my bangs and when I got my ears pierced...


3) What does being a Christian mean to you?

That is a very good question I'm not sure if I can answer! I guess it's more about a lifestyle than anything else. It bothers me when people just say "Oh, you're religious" like it's some kind of label, you know? It's so much more than that. I don't think I can really articulate it very well.


4) What is the thing you are most uncomfortable/awkward about? (can be a one word reply to prevent too much uncomfortable-ness)

Humm...I think it depends on the situation. Like having a total blonde moment and saying something stupid in front of my boss vs. saying something stupid in front of a friend, who's just going to laugh at me. And I would watch Men in Tights or the Full Monty with friends, but watching that kind of movie with my parents would be very awkward!


5) If you lived in an alternate universe/time/etc., who would you be and why?

I really have to think about this one...it would be cool to live in Narnia during the golden age of the High King, or to live at Hogwarts when Voldemort isn't running amuck. Or living in an Enid Blyton boarding school would be cool for a while. When I was a kid I read this book called the "Trolly Car Family" that sounded like the ideal lifestyle then - it still sounds pretty good, actually. Or living in a Beatrix Potter book would be cool. Hum, have you noticed they're all books? I wonder what a psychologist would make of that?

Busy, busy, busy!

What a crazy couple of weeks!
TEC is this weekend, and we have 14 participants lined up - I'm very excited! Hopefully I remember everything and survive registration with the remainder of my sanity intact...
We've started planning meetings for the Survivor youth retreat we put on every December. Our theme is coming together really well, and I'm looking forward to it.
I'm working on putting together a sort of guide book for the District youth gathering I'm going to in July. I'm having a hard time getting everything together, so I hope things start to fall in to place soon.
I'm also helping with website content for the National gathering next summer - it's in Ottawa, and should be pretty cool. One of the things I really like about Lutheran Church-Canada is the bunch of great people who are really dedicated to quality youth events. It's pretty cool.
I'm going to see Third Day this summer - we got tickets in a box, so it should a great time. We're supposed to get back from the District gathering that afternoon, so hopefully all goes well - no car trouble or anything like that!
My friend Sarah is touring to promote her first cd and she's coming to Calgary on May 27. You can check out her website at... http://www.qsarah.com/
The season finale of Gilmore Girls was last week...what a way to end a season! WHY did Luke have to reject Lorelai so harshly? And WHY did she have to go to Christipher of all people? And is Rory going to go after Logan? How am I going to wait for September? Grrrr...
But on the up side, Canadian Idol is starting soon, so that should give me something else to think about...as if I wasn't busy enough already! :)

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Nerf Herding

So I'm sitting here watching the empire strike back, and I just have to share my absolute favourite bit of dialog from the whole series with you...

HAN: That's a good story. I think you just can't bear to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight.
LEIA: I don't know where you get you delusions, laser brain.
(Chewie laughs)
HAN: Laugh it up, fuzz ball. But you didn't see us alone in the south passage. She expressed her true feelings for me.
LEIA: My...! Why, you stuck up,...half-witted,...scruffy-looking...nerf-herder!
HAN: Who's scruffy-looking?



Makes me laugh every time! It's been too long since I watched it last, especially considering that I own the special edition set!

And in my search to copy and paste the quote, to avoid typing it out, I found the following exciting links. I haven't read them all through yet, but at first glance they seem pretty funny...

http://www.favorites.com/~bailey/pants.html

http://scifi.about.com/bltrekwars.htm

http://www.starwarscutscenes.com/main.html

May the force be with you!

(And for my fellow Anglicans....and also with you! :)

Thursday, May 04, 2006

"Your Overconfidence is Your Weakness"

Guess what I just found out? Today, May 4th, is International Star Wars day! Who knew? It makes me happy - there's a day for just about everything in galaxy now! :)

Maybe I'll watch the Empire Strikes Back while I work on my youth projects tonight...

Friday, April 28, 2006

Much Drama

One of my favourite tv shows, and the one that undoubtedly makes me cry the most, is McLeod's Daughters. It's imported from Australia, and it's set on a ranch. There's much family drama, good-looking, half-dressed farm hands, strong women, scenery, sheep, and alpacas. What more could you want in a tv show? :)
It's on VISION TV (channel 83, on Friday nights a 7 in Calgary) and I just watched the episode "12 and a half hours behind". Talk about a tear-jerker! Tess finds out she's pregnant, and then gets the news that her husband, Nick, has crashed somewhere in remote Argentina on his way back from a business trip. Meanwhile, her possible half-sister is frantically trying to find DNA from Tess's deceased dad to find out if they're sisters. There's two more episodes left in season 5, but Down Under they're already into season 6. So I know how it ends from reading about it on the 'net, but it's still intense.
This is the link to the official website... http://mcleodsdaughters.ninemsn.com.au/default.aspx
This is the best fan site I've found... http://mcleods-daughters.net/
When I describe McLeod's Daughters to people, I sometimes compare it to Gilmore Girls, but really, it's way more gripping. It's got such an awesome cast and great writers. I highly recommend checking it out! In fact, PLEASE check it out...I'd love to have someone in Calgary to watch it with...for some reason Trevor doesn't like watching it that much. I can't imagine why... :)

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Star Trekking

http://gprime.net/flash.php/startrekkin

Any Stark Trek fans out there? I must confess...I am a Trekkie. I wouldn't ever go out in public in a uniform (except maybe on halloween...) but I really enjoy the stories.

I was so sad when the fan club discontinued the Star Trek Communicator magazine after they cancelled Enterprise. BUT there's news of a new movie...HOORAY!

I've been meaning to head south to Vulcan, Alberta for a while now, but just haven't been able to make it. Then I discovered that they have a conference (www.town.vulcan.ab.ca/events/galaxyfest.html) on June 9-11, 2006. Gul Damar and Admiral Forrest are going to be there...road trip anyone? :)

Monday, April 24, 2006

Happy Shopping

So the past few days have been great shopping for me - on Saturday my friend Anne and I went to the Calgary Farmers' Market. (www.calgaryfarmersmarket.ca) I got tons of cool stuff - like amazing tomatoes, maple fudge covered walnuts, and free samples. I highly recomend it!
Then tonight, I went shopping for some new work clothes. I got lots of stuff, but the best find was buying a suit jacket and getting the pants free. Yay! My feet hurt, but it was pretty productive. I found a warm sweater too, which was nothing sort of amazing. The style right now seems to be short, 3/4 sleeve, loose knit sweaters that are purely decorative. So when this nice lady at Tabi (a store I wouldn't normally go into, but I figured, what the heck) helped me find a sweater that was warm and that I liked, I just couldn't pass it up. And it was on sale, too! Hooray!
I love shopping! :)

Saturday, April 22, 2006

First Post!

So this is it...my first post!
What brought this on, you may ask?
Well, I was driving today, and I thought "I wish I could tell people about that - I wish I had a blog."
Then I thought "Hey, they're free, why not?"
So here I am! Hopefully I'll update on a regular basis, but I guess we'll see!
Thanks for coming by!