Monday, October 27, 2008

Stepping in new directions...

Life has a was of surprising me more often than I expect it to.
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I will not be at CBC past December. After my last exam I will walk away fully content to be walking away. There are a lot of things that have pulled me away from the school, but the most exciting one is my desire to live more outside of a circle. I live with Christians, go to school with them, church with them, and spend time-off with them.
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Starting in January, I will work full-time and spend more of my time loving everyone who I meet. Depending on how life pans out in the next little while, I'll either be starting school in April or in August. I'll be going to MTI and becoming an MLA (medical lab assistant). I am super excited to start off this new era, and I'm sure that I'll learn lots.
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There's not too much other than that to share. I haven't taken pictures since Lynette and the kids left, so there's nothing new. I didn't post a lot of those, but they're all on facebook anyways.
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I've been working at Old Spaghetti Factory for two months now. I love it a lot. It's so fun to go to work and have a role, and then to come home with money in my pocket. I've never had that before since I never worked in high school and every job has been volunteering (other than babysitting, but that just seems different).
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Tomorrow (well, technically today since it's after midnight) marks 35 years of marriage for my parents. I am thrilled beyond words for them. I love them so much and am so proud of them for their commitment to love one another through each and every day.
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138 days till Kirsten gets married! (yeah)
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47 days until I go to Florida! (tan...please!)
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59 day until Christmas! (eek)

Saturday, September 27, 2008

You are here (3 steps forward)

3 Steps forward
2 steps back
You grab my hand
I don't ask
For it back
~
You smile
I -- make that face
You love
You watch
Never letting me go
~
And I -- I -- I -- oh -- I stand amazed
I stand loved and cherished
I never wonder
Cause I know
Cause I know
Cause I know
I know that
You are here
~
7 days and
24 hours
If I spent them
All with you
I'd never tire
~
You are walking
Deep into my heart
I love you
I watch
Never letting you go
~
And I -- I --  I -- oh -- I stand amazed
I stand loved and cherished
I never wonder
Cause I know
Cause I know
Cause I know
I know that
You are here
~
Let's go back to the day before
It started
You were there
Even before
~
I'd never opened
My heart to love
But you took me in
You hold me in
You keep me close
You are here
~
1 step
2 step
3 step
4
~
With you
I'll never want
Anything more
~
Nadine Schroeder
26 September 2008

Monday, September 22, 2008

love love love





Can I just say that I absolutely love love love having them around!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Followers

Hey so I added the Followers gadget and so far I have zero followers, so yeah - not cool! If you read my blog I'd love to know. Since my blog isn't private I have no idea who reads it beyond my normal commenters. So add the gadget and then add you name to the list!! Let me know when you get it, and if your blog is one that I read then I'll add myself to your list!
Have a great end of your week, and weekend. I'm going to Playland and I am VERY excited!!!
Oooooh ... and then on Monday, Lynette and the kids are coming, and I am beyond thrilled!!!   Hopefully I'll be able to find time for school! Nah ...

Sunday, September 7, 2008



So this is my bathroom buddy Sabrina! We've had lots of fun getting to know each other over the past week.


Here's my bedding and stuff around it.

My closet
Our beautiful bathroom. We decided that we would not live in a boring bathroom since bathrooms should always be fun and exciting - if you've been to my bathroom at my house, you'll understand!!
This is the sign outside my room. I'm sorry it's backwards. I took the pictures with my mac so they go backwards for whatever reason!
Our RA made us all record cover door tags, and it's so fun to see it!
This week has been rather stressful and with a few tears, but it's starting to get better. Being back in school is rather overwhelming and I have a whole lot of homework, but yeah. I switched one of my courses to a different one, and I already feel a lot better after that decision.
I also am done all of my training at OSF which is great. I just have to find time to study for my server test, and then I will be a server! And you should come visit me and I'll serve you and you can give me a lovely tip since I'm a poor student!!
This week I decided that my room wasn't me enough, so I brought more pictures plus some of my African stuff, which has already made it more homey!
Some lovely pictures of friends. The only issue is that I haven't printed pictures since I got home, so I'll have to get some recent pictures, since all of mine are 1-3 years old!

I also had an opportunity in church this weekend to share about my trip to Liberia and some of the stuff that went on, so that was a cool experience. I was surprisingly not nervous, and rather enjoyed it! It made me miss Africa though!

Have a great day!
Come visit me sometime!

Friday, August 29, 2008

Moving On With Life

Camp is over.
I have had an amazing last few weeks.
I have a job.
I'm moving out on Sunday.
School starts soon after.

Camp. This summer was a great experience and I'm glad I went. There were a lot of issues that I had to deal with, and I probably worked harder this summer than any before, but I had a good time, and stretched myself to do new things. I had to rely on God in new ways as I dealt with new struggles, and a few of my campers became Christians -- which is awesome!

The past two-ish weeks since camp have been great. I have spent time almost every single day with friends, and it's been a great way to finally see people and catch up after being gone. It's amazing to me how some friendships just pick up exactly the same, which is just lovely!

My friend Kat and I hung out a few weeks back and went to see Mama Mia which is a great movie. I feel like it's HSM for adults, so just perfect for me! The theater had life-size posters of the HSM cast, so we had some fun taking pictures with them and laughing a lot!

I have a job! On a whim last week I sent in my resume to Old Spaghetti Factory and ended up getting hired. I had my first bussing shift last night and it was good. I was pretty tired afterwards but I'm glad I'll be getting income. I have to take a servers test next week to be a server, so that is a litle daunting, since it's rather long. I don't have an extensive knowledge of alcohol, so I have a lot of learning to do! My Mom and I are going down to the States tonight though until tomorrow, so the border crossing will be study time. My Mom will be as ready as I will be for this test! So if you're ever in Abby and hungry, you should come to OSF. Just email me and I'll let you know when my shifts are as soon as I know them! I do know forsure that if you come for lunch on Monday - I'll be bussing!

Sunday comes moving day! I'm excited to be out on my own again, but it's different than the ship because it's school! I'm glad that we live so close to CBC so that I can come home whenever I want to and pick up things I've forgotten!

School starts soon after. Registration and meet-people things are Sunday to Tuesday, and then classes start on Wednesday, so that will be a whole new adventure.

One other thing that is super exciting is YC Abbotsford! Youth Church is a group of people who are around the ages 14-25 who have started a church movement in BC. South Abbotsford is joining in and we'll be having a youth-young adult service every Sunday in our sanctuary starting September 21st, so if you're in those ages, or interested in seeing what will be going on, stop in some Sunday at 7 pm!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Summer '08

I came home today for the start of my staff break and I realized I hadn't blogged in about a month. Though I think only three people read it nowadays since I'm home, I still want to keep it slightly updated, so here goes for the past few weeks.

Summer Camp 2008! I'm working at Stillwood which is a blast and hard and good and bad and every emotion every single day and yeah. Through every moment where I want to run away God is faithfully reminding me that He's using me. I had an incredible experience where at the lake I had a talk with a seemingly tough kid about God and he was asking me tons of questions, and he became a Christian that evening, which is so cool and just, yeah, God is so good! I was so blessed to be a part of eternal change in a life!




Last week was a really great week. My cabin was pretty fun - kinda crazy - and my co-counselor was just amazing. We didn't really know each other too well before getting in cabin together, but it was cool. I graded with her sisters and I'm pretty good friends with them, so it was cool to be with their 'little' sister! And I can't even begin to explain how much I laughed all week. I actually don't think I have ever laughed so much in a week. It was great, and my heart needed a week where I could just have fun.





I try for the most part to put pictures up with purpose and I put this next one up because I dressed up as a 'healer' - a Super Healer - on Super Hero night, and I had ferns in my hair, on my arm, and green eye shadow all over my face! Very fun!



Probably the major issue with last week was that on Monday I had a decent concussion which has slowed me down a lot, and hindered me quite a bit. I've tried hard to just truck on even when my head hurts like crazy crazy, and it's getting to the point now where I only have headaches maybe half of the day rather than all day.
We were playing a game-ish thing at camp where you run through a bus over and and over, and being the amazing hardcore counselor that I am - I joined my campers until I managed to run full speed into the frame of the door on the bus (the emergency exit --- definitely didn't duck low enough). I remember it yet I don't so that moment is a bit fuzzy. I got out of the bus and then just kind of stood in place for a few minutes. People were asking me how I was but I just didn't answer. Luckily one of my good friends just walked over and guided me to the nurses station where I stayed for a few hours. I layed down and then was woken every once in a while to make sure I wasn't, I don't' know - dead? I'm not sure. I don't quite know why you have to stay awake, but whatever, I didn't sleep much.
So last week was hard in that way for sure, but it's alright. The hardest was just trying to keep a smile on when my head hurt more than it ever has before, and trying not to be frustrated that I wasn't getting better. I try really hard to get into things 100% at camp and it was rather humbling to have to say no to a lot of things and to take it slow and let myself rest, since at camp I try to just go-go-go.
Again though, having my counselor with me was great. She's a lifeguard, and just really aware, so she's make sure I wasn't pushing myself too hard, and she would stop me from doing things that weren't wise!



Then this week was just a short week - peewee camp - and went from Sunday until Tuesday evening and it was fun. My girls were insane and just yeah - young and wild! We had four counselors for eight kids, so basically two of us just had fun all day long and the other two (who are counselor's in training in for their first week ever!!) got great experience! We were always around and available and quick to step in, but we let them just learn lots and just step up to the situations that arose!!!

Last weekend was great. Maria and I hung out for a few hours on Saturday and made grilled cheese and just chatted. It took us a few tries to get the grilled cheese right, but eventually it worked, and it was great. I'm always blessed after hanging out with Maria, so it was fun to see her again. It's hard to be home in Canada and yet never see people, so the two of us make a real effort to see one another as often as possible, which is great!




Please continue to pray for me this summer. It's a weird summer, and I constantly question my plan of being at camp and of going to CBC in fall, yet I know that God's called me to this place so I just keep trusting. Every time I open my Bible I get drawn to Isaiah 43. Check it out!