Out of Place

I have now been home for over a week and am not planning on going back until Sunday. It has been a good week so far. I've had lots of fun opportunities to hang out at SCS and catch up with people, I paid a surprise visit to a former teacher who no longer works at SCS (so fun and so good to see her), and had supper at another former teacher's house. And from now until Sunday I have several other exciting things planned. 

But. I actually miss Briercrest. It's kind of an encouraging feeling because it makes me realize that I'm more settled in there than I think. And I have been realizing more and more this week why God brought me to Briercrest in the first place - one of the main reasons being because it is uncomfortable and unfamiliar, and therefore I will actually depend on God and grow more. I realize being home, where I'm completely in my comfort zone, that I tend not to spend as much intentional time with God...I guess I feel like I don't need to. 

It has been marvelous just relaxing and hanging out with people and watching lots of TV, but I'm actually starting to feel pretty restless at home. I don't know if that's a good things or a bad thing. Probably neither. Or both. Or it doesn't matter. But, it's just kind of interesting. I wake up every morning to an empty house; my dad is at work and my mom has dropped the sibs off at school and has also headed to work. So, I pretty much do nothing from waking up until when I have something planned, which for the past couple days has been around lunch time. And it's WEIRD. It's like a little glimpse into what life would have been if I chose to just take a year off from everything before University, which I don't think I would have EVER done, and now I realize even more why: I would go CRAZY! I think I need school to keep me sane - or at least a consistent routine of something. Not just this, 'do whatever I feel like doing' each day. If everyone was on vacation, it would be fantastic. But, I think my restlessness is because everyone around me is continuing on with their daily routine and, in turn, I am starting to crave mine. 

Three Cheers for a Break!

I arrived back at home by 4:00 on Thursday and don't have to leave until the following Sun...like in a week from tomorrow. I am so overjoyed about a whole week off from classes! In fact, yesterday I was home with my siblings all day and I was sooo bored that I actually did homework. On day TWO of break! I love this being bored, and especially when I'm at home bored. Because it's just good to be home no matter what I'm doing. But, I do definitely feel like I'm settling in even more than before. I'm enjoying the routine of classes and of whatever fun things we find to do to occupy our evenings. :)

Yesterday I took my brother to the Saskatoon Youth Quake unveiling. (Youth Quake is a huge youth conference Briercrest puts on every February.) On Wed. night they unveiled the theme, speakers, bands, etc. that are coming to YQ this Feb. to all of us in Caronport but they didn't do the full dance team show or worship.  Sp then Thurs night they did their full 'party' at a church in MJ, and last night they were at Lakeview church here. I was really impressed with the turn out, and the YQ team did SUCH a good job - so did the dance team! I am incredibly excited for YQ.  

And I'm very excited about my holiday.

Tidbits for the Day

I am in the foundations of youth ministry class and I am bored.

Profs like to talk about the same thing over and over again and say it in as many different ways as their vocabulary will allow them. 

I couldn't sleep last night, and I was so hot I was sweating.

I'm getting much better at typing out numerical references for verses in the Bible without even looking down at my keyboard. (Thank you Spiritual Formation class)

Last night I went to a restaurant that was yummy, but the grease smell was so bad my clothes still smell today. 

My spirit form. prof still looks like Buzz Saw Louis. I think that's what kept me awake in that class this morning. For some reason he felt the need to fully review the topic that has taken us the past 4 classes to get through. 

But I'm not complaining. 

Last night we had to take our hall picture for the yearbook. We were the scene of Jesus (and kind of Peter) walking on water. It was HILARIOUS.

Someone is drawing a godzilla robot on the chalkboard. Apparently it's his analogy for the elements of youth ministry. (see, I am listening)

I'm still in a very good, happy, and 'blessed-feeling' mood after yesterday in s'toon. 

I'm hungry

There are college students in my classes that do stuff that we were rebuked for/taught not to do in grade 2. Noisy hands. Mrs. Munk taught us that if we stuck our hand up in the middle of her talking or if we felt the need to wiggle it around that we had a noisy hand and she wouldn't answer us. And did you know that it is probably not a good idea to yell to the person across the room from you in the middle of class - especially during a quiz? 

Our brother dorm has planned an exciting way of asking us out on a 'dorm date'. So we're meeting them tonight. 

After our romantic 10 minutes of finding out what they have planned for us to do, I'm off to the chapel for a Youth Quake unveiling to find out what the theme is this year and what bands are coming. Details to follow! 

Class is now over, and it's supper time.

I'm coming home tomorrow!! :) :)

Home...for a few hours

Today was the day I got to go, along with our admissions advisor, a worship leader, and our student body president, to SCS for chapel. For some reason this time - even though I've been back to my high school for several visits - felt even more like home than it did on my other visits. Maybe because it was in the middle of the day and I was there for a specific purpose, as opposed to being there at the very beginning or very end of the day when everyone is everywhere. Either way, it was sooo much fun. 

It's weird, sitting here at my desk in Caronport, that I was in Saskatoon today. 

It was really great to travel with a few Briercrest people and get to know them...finally have some connections with Briercrest instead of just being a random face among 700. We had some really fun times traveling together, too; those people are FUNNY. 

Gooood day. :) And I'm home in two days for over a weeeeek! Horaaay!! 

Tonight I think I'm going to head into Moose Jaw for supper with some friends. 

And I should reaally start some homework. 

Day of Prayer

So, today was the Day of Prayer. Well, it ended at 4:00-ish...but close enough. We got up this morning and it started with a chapel service of worship (through song), silent praying, and a little bit of group praying, oh, and a tiny message too. After that we had a small break before joining with the high school for another chapel service. This time it was mostly worship, and a bit of praying/teaching time. We then had communion and were dismissed for lunch, but a lot of people, including myself, were fasting, so we just stayed in the sanctuary for a while. In the afternoon we met with our halls and then we went on a prayer walk throughout the campus in small groups. We then ended with another chapel service. It was such a good day, the atmosphere was so free and fresh, and God's presence was so evident. When we were ending the day with worship around 4:00, we were all just standing in silence after the worship team had stopped playing. Some girls started the doxology and everyone joined in. This set off a time of people just shouting out Bible verses declaring God's power and starting other songs like Amazing Grace and I Love You Lord. It was so beautiful. 

Other than that, this weekend was good. It was a nice and relaxing Sat/Sun after my long and challenging retreat on Friday. I watched a couple of movies, one being the Passion of the Christ; it was good to watch that again. Ooh. I also went to MJ for supper one night. Yay for restaurants. :)

And now, I have a little window to do some homework before small group. I need to do some memorizing, and I need to write what I'm going to say at SCS tomorrow. That's right, tomorrow! :) I have to be up pretty early to head out with the people, but I'm quite excited. Yaayy.

I'm freee!

Oh man. Yesterday was so hard. From when I woke up until I went to sleep I could not eat, talk to people, or do aannything expect pray, read the Bible, and just be. 

The first 3-ish hours went by the fastest. I journalled a ton and had a few revelations -- basically having to do with being reminded that it is more than okay to question. Because when we question, we grow. And it's good to be reminded that God is still God no matter where we are at or how we are feeling. I'm such a 'feeling' oriented person and it drives me crazy sometimes! 

But anyway. After that I went outside for a walk for like an hour and then came back in and read more of the Bible - journaling about each passage. After this is when I started to go stir crazy. It was about 4:00 and I realized I had to continue like this, completely secluded and not being allowed to do anything but pray, until I went to sleep. It was so challenging. But, somehow the time went by and I was climbing into bed. 

I woke up extremely happy that I was once again free to eat food and to socialize with people. But then I felt guilty for feeling like I needed to be free from spending time with God. But then I decided that being in seclusion yesterday was supposed to be challenging - there would be little point to the assignment if it wasn't. And I was in no way wanting to leave being in God's presence (even if that were possible) it was more wanting to get back to the world outside my dorm room while integrating His presence into every moment of my day.  I was just happy to not be restricted anymore to an assignment for a class. I would rather spend time in solitude with God on my own time and be free to do my own things...because I mean, I wasn't even allowed to listen to worship music yesterday. I was so thankful to wake up this morning and be done. 

However, I am verrrry excited for the day of prayer on Monday. Especially since it is school-wide. 

RIP Alvin

Alvin is my roommate's fish...was my roommate's fish. She left him in his bowl by our open window before she took off to Winnipeg for the weekend. I went to MJ tonight and didn't really think to close the window - I wanted to air out the room. When I got back, he was a dead -- and very frozen -- fish. It was quite traumatizing having to phone Carlee and pass on the news. (Yes, I know, it's a FISH. But there was a story behind the thing!) Poor guy. What a way to go. 

I hope I am not a fish murderer... 

Retreating

Tomorrow, for my spiritual formation class, I am 'going' on a 24 hour silent retreat. I say 'going' because I'm not actually going anywhere so much as just staying in my room alone (my roommate is gone this weekend). So from 9:00am - 9:00 Sat morning I get to just be silent and alone with God. Fasting, praying, and just chillin out. I'm really looking forward to it. 

And then on MONDAY is our day of prayer. So I get to spend another whole day in prayer with everyone else on campus. :) 

Tuesday I get to come to SCS! Some Bcrest people are going to do chapel and I am coming along. Yay!

And then Thursday early afternoon I'm coming home for just over a week!

Next week is going to be good!!

This week was too...nothing too exciting to report. It was very nice only having a three day week considering Monday was thanksgiving. I did a lot of fun things with people this week, though! A couple nights I stayed up watching movies with different people, and another night - since it was open dorms - we played cranium with a few boys. It's definitely been a very 'college-ish' week. And I like it. 

Thankful

This weekend was great. It was so good to be home for three full days, see not only my family but my Auntie, Uncle, and Gpa as well, and just relax. I definitely didn't do too much homework. I got the 'needed' stuff done, but I guess I will just have to dedicate tomorrow (as I have one class and then the full day) to get all my more futuristic work done. Because I do not feel like starting anything tonight. I just feel like relaxing, catching up with people, and getting an early sleep. :)

It is actually nice to be back, though I didn't really want to leave home...even though I am going to be back home in 9 days for modular week. Everything with my car worked out -- the alternator that they replaced it with before was defective and sucked the life out of my battery. So, all is well and we didn't even have to pay any money. All is well for now at least...I hope it stays just fine for the rest of the year as well. It was nice to drive back by myself with no company. I had a whole two hours to myself! It was a little sketchy on the half an hour on the highway from Chamberlain to Moose Jaw as it is a narrow 2 lane highway with snow in the ditches. But it was fine. 

And, yes, SNOW! I missed Caronport/Moose Jaw's first snowfall of the year! :( So when everyone is bummed about the second snowfall -- I will still be celebrating my first. Oh well. That's just the way it's going to be! Ooooh. I love snow. And my Christmas music (I sorted the playlist today) gets its official kick off on November 1st. 

So, yay for a fantastic weekend, great food, good family/relaxing time, and only two weeks of classes before coming home for a whole week!

Always be Prepared...I guess

Because of the dead state of my car, I needed booster cables to make it home today for thanksgiving. I could've just found someone here with them, but my dad decided that I needed some anyway so he sent some in the mail. Apparently he decided that I needed a lot more than just booster cables, because when I opened the package there was a briefcase sized safety kit with anything you could possibly imagine needing. It was pretty much its own hardware store. Besides the booster cables, its contents included:

- slim line air compressor

- tire gauge

- duct tape roll (I guess they say you can use duct tape for everything...)

- 8-in-1 multi tool

- metal collapsible shovel

- window mount reflective red triangle

- super-bright LED flashlight (emphasis on the super?)

- 3 AAA batteries (to make the super bright flashlight be super bright)

- disposable camera with flash (to cherish the moments)

- accident report form

- 1.5m measuring tape

- chalk and ball pen

- emergency poncho 

- emergency blanket

- pair of PVC knitted gloves (PVC?)

- pad of paper and pencil

- 10 cable ties

- tie down strap (for the hostages!)

- and a first aid kit complete with an instruction card, gauze roll, adhesive tape, alcohol cleaning pads, adherent sterile pads, 14 adhesive strips, and 20 cotton swabs.

So either it was on sale and was cheaper to buy than the booster cables alone (which my dad claims was the case), or he really has no faith in my car and wants me to be prepared. 

I thought it was quite humourous. And within 4 hours I will be heading home for a nice, long, thanksgiving weekend! So pumped.

I thought I recognized him...

So! I figured out who my Spiritual Formation prof, Cal Macfarlane, reminds me of!!

...drum roll please...

BUZZ SAW LOUIE!

And now, looking at the picture, I can see it even more. Laughing out loud. Seriously. (For those of you who have grown up being Veggie Tale deprived, this is the toy that saved Christmas on the Veggie Tale Christmas movie. Watch it. It's fantastic.) The face not so much, because Cal's eyes are pretty tiny and he is not animated. But, the body -- absolutely! Their bodies are exactly the same, bigger upper body with square, broad shoulders, and smaller legs. They even walk the same!! 

If only I knew Cal well enough to enlighten him as to his look alike.

Life is Rich

It is absolutely freezing out today. But I love it. I love the day. Life is rich, and I love it.

It seems my light and joyful mood from yesterday has carried over. :)

Nothing specific has really happened, I just love life. Yesterday with the rain and Christmas music, and today with the ... I don't know ... existence of the day? It's just great. 

It probably helps that I had an exciting meet with my admissions advisor, Ken Pike, this morning. He emailed (kind of a '1 month in follow-up') and wanted to meet for coffee. So, I went to the little coffee shop on campus to meet him this morning and he definitely had forgotten and was meeting with another girl along with the other admissions advisor. But, it worked out okay that he met more with me and left the other two to themselves. When he asked me what school I graduated from and I told him that it was SCS, he told me that they were going there for a chapel on the 22 as guest speakers. So I lit up and said, "Can I COME?!?" and his reply was equally enthusiastic, "SURE!" So we went up to us office and talked about the logistics of it. He was grateful for my input into what our chapels are like and what I think would be best. And I also had the opportunity to tell him that our theme verse for Briercrest this year is the same as our theme verse for SCS. (Micah 6:8). So yea, everything was so perfect and I'm like 99% going -- and even giving like a 5-10 min. testimony type thing...just talking to the students about my year here so far. :) :) :) Aww, I miss my home school. In a good way.

Choir was also really great today. Learned some random worship songs, and then kept trucking along with our Christmas musical stuff. Soo good! My Pauline Epistles class was kind of frustrating, mostly because of the prof. He goes on so many bunny trails and it just seems like we're listening on to the goings on of his inner brain that consists of a bunch of unfinished thoughts. And he teaches in a way that makes us do the thinking. Which, I know, I know, is the sign of a good prof...it's just frustrating. 

But I'm not going to let that get my spirits down!!!! 

:D

Oh Happy Days

Today is a perfect day. It makes my heart happy. It is raining. Church was a great start to the day. And I am just in a fantastic mood. 

I was going to go out and play in the rain, but some friends wanted to walk to the Point (the gas station/starbucks/subway/only civilization in Caronport) and play Settlers of Catan. I wanted to come too, so I just played and danced in the rain on the way. :)

The weekend was good. There was a missions conference here and so I went to the main sessions of that. But on Friday when there was breakout sessions, I did homework instead. I'm trying to get a little bit ahead so that when I am home next weekend (which I am UNBELIEVABLY excited about!) I don't have to do too much work. I have an OT paper that isn't due until middle of Nov., but I wanted to at least pick a topic and get some books together. I think I'm just going to write about how Gen 1-11 sets the foundation for the whole Pentateuch (at whole OT for that matter). But, does anyone have any better ideas? We can also choose to pick our own topic -- so really, anything that has to do with the OT would work...

Last night was really fun, too. I watched about 3.5 hours of TV shows online with Aneca (the girl across the hall) and just had a really relaxing evening. And to top it all off, a friend's brother was here with a rap group that was putting on a concert (that I had absolutely NO desire to go to) and she sent me a package of goodies with him! It was such a marvelous surprise!

Even though I am really loving life, especially today, I still have been thinking lots about the past. I know it's not good to dwell on the past -- and I really am embracing the future -- I just miss the way things were sometimes. I miss SCS high school, I miss the youth groups I was involved in and the amazing people I got to know, and I miss my friends...my high school friends. I've just been really nostalgic lately. 

But at the same time I am still waiting anxiously and passionately for what is in store for me this year -- and for my future. 

BUT. To make my day even better and my heart even happier:

I'M LISTENING TO CHRISTMAS MUSIC!

I think I am honestly glowing right now.

Exactly One Month

I am honestly sitting here making a list of what I did this week before I start to update. And then I realized that was a whole other level past nerd, so I'm just going to start. 

Speaking of nerd. That stuff I was talking about a few entries earlier -- the emerging church -- I have still been thinking about a lot. And I definitely am in support of the postmodern ways, but I found a book in the Bcrest bookstore (which is like my favourite place in all of campus. It's like a mini Parables...like 2 mintues away!) that was arguing against it. And I bought it. Just because I like learning. And thinking.

Anyway. It's been a month. A great month, really. I know that it's only going to get better and more exciting. I feel so passionate about life and ready for whatever. I'm getting a little restless though, as I am not used to be involved with...well...pretty much nothing. But, I discovered, after some searching, that vball inter-murals are after Christmas so I'm going to be on a team for that! It's so weird being at school during the fall and not playing vball, directly followed by bball. 

Oh well, it's also nice to have a break. It's been very relaxing, and I have had pretty much no homework all week. Each day the only things I've had to work on have been something due in like 2 weeks or more. I was going to continue to work ahead this weekend so that I won't have to do as much over thanksgiving or for mod. week when I will be at home and wanting to hang out with people and relax. But, there is a missions conference this weekend with a bunch of sessions running all day tomorrow and saturday that we are strongly urged to attend. And I want to anyway; I think it will be good.

I recited Eph 1-3 to my RA this week for the real thing. So, for 35% of my grade. It went well - I only made 3 small mistakes. But at the same time, I knew the right words and so I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't do it perfectly. 

Last night I went on my first venture since I've gotten my car back. Me and a few other girls from my hall went to BP's for supper -- a nice, real, hot meal. And tonight me and Jireh (the girl I knew from s'toon prier to school) and her roommate are going to a different restaurant for supper and then maybe to a nice park to take pictures. It is so pretty right now will all the leaves on the ground and cool colours. Maybe we'll even make a pile and jump in! :)

Here are some of the pictures we took on our picture venture from last week:

Choir today was really great...as usual. We got together with the other college choir and put our songs together for the Christmas musical. It sounded so big and so beautiful! We have one song that is a cappella, and so we went outside and sang it for people. :) 

That's pretty much all I have to say about this week. I'm pumped for a weekend. But I'm even more pumped for next Thurs. when I get to come home and eat turkey!! Hip, hip, Hooray!!