Warm Fuzzy Story

Today Russ and I went into Ipswich and poked around the shops there. I tell you, at the moment shopping hasn't been that fun for me do to lack of funds. I've been trying to save what I can spend on Christmas presents and that's as it should be I suppose. Anyway, as we were walking around I was pointing out the things that I thought were nice to Russ, particularly a cute black top. When we were finished shopping and ready to head back to the car Russ said that he'd like to go back to the store the black top was in and he would like to buy it for me. I was really touched and thought it was really sweet. He'd been waiting for me to point out something I liked so he could take me back to buy it. He does a wonderful job of making me feel special and loved in lots of ways. Maybe if I get a chance I'll post a pic for public ooooo-ing and awwww-ing :)

Suffuse with me

After my long stint of procrastination....here we go!

One word to sum up my life at the moment? Suffused. Sounds quite fancy doesn't it! Well...ok I will admit I was looking on dictionary.com for a term that was more fun than just busy. Suffused is a fancy way of saying my life is well spread at the moment. Shall I digress? It's what I'm good at.....

Suffusion #1: Work
December, although a wonderfully festive month of the year, somehow manages to become the most full and therefore chaotic month of the year. Although it is not quite December as the prequal, November is equally full in preparation for the fullness of December. This means that the fullness of the diary for November is equally as full as the month of December.

However, in light of my current situation, being that of perhaps 10,000 miles from home, I am able to cut the fullness of the month of December short in order to allow for apppropriate time to travel the distance home. Although in this day and age of technology it only takes 7 hours to travel such a distance I find that the mental preparation takes far longer and is crucial to ensure it is included in one's itenerary. Therefore exactly half way through December I shall depart and begin the mental and physical journey home for Christmas. I shall not be alone though, at least I shall be traveling with a companion which brings me to suffusion #2....

Suffusion #2:



He's there I'm here....need I say more?
( I suppose not after the waffling I did for suffusion #1)
I shall not bore you with the pinings my colleagues have to put up with!

Suffusion #3: The Future
I'm sure many are curious to know what the impending future holds for me, almost as curious as myself I presume. Although one does not like to be too presumptuous, or too curious for that matter, I shall indulge the information I have at hand regarding my circumstances so that we shall neither be presumptuous or curious! I trust we may all find much relief in such freedom.

After much thought, prayer and discussion with close compatriots and brethren I have decided to bring my time with The Mustard Tree Trust to an end. After certain events and challenges arose over this summer, regarding my return, I began to feel a change beginning to take place regarding my future with the trust which has been growing to a confirmation upon my arrival back in Great Britain. The plan at the moment, although not entirely set in stone, is to return to "my home and native land" (as mentioned in suffusion #1) and hopefully come back to England under other circumstances. I shall keep you posted through the formation of such plans!

Here endeth my suffusions.

On a serious note, it has been such a great opportunity to have been in England doing what I'm doing. In so many ways I'm sad to bring this portion of my life to an end but I feel it's the right time and I feel that God has exciting new opportunities coming my way. So as the English like to say :

watch this space!

Apologies

I promise I will blog again soon....!

I Want It To Be Sunday!

Argh to the phone and to door buzzers. Whoever invented those noises should have to sit in a room listening to them for 72 hours. That should've been the test as to whether they were appropriately suited or not. Or perhaps it should be the punishment. At the moment they are both annoying me profusely!

I want it to be Sunday! Nikki and I were both chanting this earlier while banging the desks. Sunday means this week, and all it's early mornings, will be over and it also means that Angie arrives. Hooray for Angie. I think everyone needs an Angie. Talking to her for 10 minutes is like being transported to a beach and sitting in the sun...it just makes you happy. Exercise makes you happy as well because of the endorphin release but I haven't been able to do any for the last 3 days because of work. Perhaps I'm going through withdrawal. The other reason I'm looking forward to Sunday is because it means it's half term which also means I get to see Russell :)

Until then, onward I plod through early morning assemblies and late nights.....never have I learned to appreciate my bed so much.

Very Post Thanksgiving Post

(That was a very "my Dad" title...)

I know, I know, I really should blog more...it's a great outlet and it's a great way to share with those interested what's happening in my life. I'm sorry this post is dated by a week but better late than never!

Last Thanksgiving Steve, Heather and I set out to prepare a Thanksgiving meal together. (mmmmmmmmmmmmm Turkey and stuffing!!!!!) Last Christmas Steve and Heather came to join us and so they know how much I love turkey. We were driving downtown Ottawa looking for an Indian spice market so we could make some decent curry when I half conciously began to think about turkey. My excitement spilled over a bit as I said "mmmmmmm turkey!" and repeated turkey about 3 times really fast!! I felt a pretty embarassed as Phil, Steve and Heather looked at me in silence and suddenly burst out laughing. Oops, but what can I say? A full turkey dinner with my Mom's stuffing.........

Anyway on Saturday we had gutted a pumpkin and were roasting it in the oven, (unfortunately England does not do canned pumpkin that I know about yet so we had to make a pumpkin pie from scratch), and Steve and I were in the middle of scraping the flesh into a bowl to put in the blender when all of a sudden there was this knocking on the window. I jumped a bit because I was pretty startled and saw this face looking in! It took me a few minutes to register what was going on but suddenly I recognised the face and it was Russell!! I was very surprised and shocked because he wasn't supposed to be coming to Morpeth for the weekend and I don't think I knew what to say for about 10 minutes. He'd conspired with Steve and Heather to surprise me by coming up for Thanksgiving. It was a great surprise!

Anyway we had our meal Sunday afternoon and Ben joined us as well. It was delecious and we all shared things we were thankful for. Here's a few pictures:









We really do have so much to be thanksful for. That's something that I feel God has been teaching me lately. I have this bad habbit sometimes of forgetting to say thank you for things. I'm thankful inside but sometimes I forget to actually let the people around me know and I think it's probably the same with God. I'm so thankful for all He's done in my life but sometimes I forget to tell Him. He deserves to hear it because He's done so much.

They say it takes 10 days to form a habbit. I'm going to try my best to make sure I thank God at least once each day for 10 days and see how it changes my perspective on things.

Back!

I finally made it back to Morpeth after a rather unsettling experience going through customs in Gatwick! After a rather thourough inquisition I was let through and Russell and I booked it as fast as we could out of the airport and back to his hometown. We made it just in time for his church's service which was really nice, although I was heavily jet-lagged by that point :)

I had a lovely time in Suffolk meeting Russell's family and seeing some of the villages in the area. We were also able to make it to London for a day and we saw The Phantom of the Opera which was AMAZING! It was such a fantastic experience and it was an incredible production!

I started work again today. It was nice to have a week to adjust to the time change before arriving back into the Mustard Tree Trust Office.

I'll try to blog more frequently but until then here are a few pictures from the last couple weeks of Russell's visit to Canada and my visit to Suffolk!

(Russell and in front of my house in Canada)

(In Merrickville with Mom and Dad)


(At the abbey ruins in Bury St. Edmunds)







(St. Paul's Cathedral in London)


(Trafalgur Square)

Her Majesty's Theatre in London

Summer Highlights

Despite this summer having it's challenges there have also been some really fun moments. Here's a few pictures highlighting the fun I've had being home:

(water sports at the Cottage)




(making pies with my Grandma)




(helping paint the kitchen!)

Technical Difficulties

Just to let everyone know, our computer is down -I'm currently using a friend's - so I'm sorry that I'm not able to keep everyone more up to date with my present situation.

On a very VERY happy note Dave and Tanys arrive tomorrow WOOOO HOOOOOO!! I haven't had a proper visit with them (proper = more than 2 days) in about 2 years. I'm very excited! I told Tanys she should ditch Dave one night so we can have a really girly/sisterly sleepover and catch up on EVERYTHING! It should be super fun.

In other good news I am hopefully going to be able to see Russell soon which is also extremely exciting!

Anyhow I'm off to finish some more emails quickly on this computer.

Much love and blessings,

Jenny*

Faith

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

I do not think that Faith is always getting what we want, that if we believe enough in things we don't have they will magically appear in front of us. I think Faith is trusting God even when the desires of our heart seem so far away.

In the book Heinds' Feet On High Places, Much afraid follows the promise of the Good Shepherd that when she reaches the high places she will have Heinds' Feet instead of the cripled ones she has when she starts her journey. Before she leaves on the journey she must have the seed of love planted in her heart. At first she is scared because she's heard love hurts but The Shepherd tells her how happy it is to love. When she is almost at the end of her journey and seems the farthest away from what she's been promised she is told that she must allow that seed and the plant that's grown to be taken out of her heart. She is devestated but she had said to The Shepherd even if He were to take away the very thing He promised her she would allow Him to do this.

I don't know if the situation I am in now is the same or not. I recently received news today that was very hard to hear and my plans to return to the UK have suddenly been frozen. What I had been trusting God to happen suddenly seems very far away. Does this mean I didn't have faith? Does this mean I've done something wrong? And I think it would be very easy to analyse the situation trying to work out the whys and hows...but I don't think it would do any good.

I've been reading through Job this summer with Russell and the timing has been very special. Job went through so much, more than I can even imagine or that's even comparable to any situation I've ever been in or
that I'm in now...yet in the midst of Job and his friends trying to understand what he did wrong and trying to justify the suffering, Job comes out with this amazing statement:

"Though he slay me, yet will I hope in Him" 13:15

I do not think I can compare my circumstances to Job's by any measurement. What I have learned though, is that God is God and though we don't understand why or how in life, He is there, He is faithful, He has a plan and He will see it through. It might not look like what we would choose for ourselves, it might not look appealing in the slightest but I do know that if I trust God I will be more blessed than I can even imagine.

"The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first" 42:12

Best Let Sleeping Stephens Lie or The Night of Shrieking

Everything seemed rather normal Saturday evening as everyone was slowly retiring to bed. My parents were the first as usual and since I was the only one left in the house it was my turn next although significantly later. I turned the light of about 11:15 since I knew I had a meeting the next morning with my Church Elders and managed to fall into a sort of half sleep that was constantly disturbed by cats or small noises outside. About 2:30 I woke up realizing that I'd actually fallen asleep and had to get up to use the washroom. I was just leaving my bedroom when I heard some strange noises coming from Stephen's room. I later tried to imitate what I heard but failed miserably. The only comparison I can make is to that of a monkey or perhaps a hyena! These strange grunting/small howling noises were coming from his bedroom. I opened the door ever so slightly and whispered his name just to make sure he was ok. I was met with the most surprising reaction I've had in the night in a long time as Stephen sat up and backed against his headboard and let out a blood curdling scream. I said his name louder realizing he must be having a bad dream but he only screamed again. This happened about three times.

"Steve!"
"AHHHHHHH"
"Steve!"
"AHHHHHHH"
"STEVE!!"
"AHHHHHHH"

Finally Dad got up and went right into the room causing Steve to scream some more. Eventually he woke up and settled down. We learned later he'd been having a pretty vivid dream which we became part of. Instead of our lovely selves he saw grim faced figures entering the room whispering at him ominously.

I finished using the washroom and went back to bed somewhat disturbed at the whole incident and feeling a lot less like falling asleep. I was just settling back into bed when I heard strange noises again this time seeming to come from inside my room. Tired and half scared myself I bolted upright and let out a piercing screech of my own! I clamped my hand over my mouth realizing it was foolishness but not before I heard thumping from my parents room and my Mother coming to find out what the heck was going on. She was thinking that there had to be an intruder in the house and was starting to contemplate how much it might hurt if she had to jump out her bedroom window!!

Needless to say it took us all a bit of time to fall back asleep as we were all fairly alert after that.

The moral of the story? When hearing fellow family members talk or make noises in their sleep, it's best to simply let them lie.

Furry Friend

My cat, Robin, and I

Readjustments

Oh Canada, my home and native land...it's nice to be home but at the same time very strange. I had a few side knocks today from things I had forgotten about in good ol'
Canada.

When Ann came to pick us up from the airport I immedietly went to the left hand side of the car to get in but over here that's the drivers side. Ann just laughed and said "you're not in England anymore Jenny"

Crossing the road is throwing me off. I've gotten so used to having to look right first because the oncomming traffic comes from that direction in England. Also I walked to the local corner store to rent a film - oh by the way, Steve and Heather you can rest assured that your debt for Hoodwinked has now been payed off! Thanks for thinking of me and leaving me a wondeful welcome home present in advance!! ;) lol - and I counted out the change I needed for the film and some water and got to the counter only to find my total wasn't correct. I'd forgotten about tax!! Grrrr.

Lastly I didn't know which mail box was ours. We have to collect the mail from a collection of post boxes at the end of the street. Each person has a key for their box and I went to collect the mail and had no idea which one was ours. I started randomly sticking the key in trying to guess at which one it would be but decided I should stop when people nearby started giving me strange looks.

It's great to be home but still very weird. I was saying to someone today that it's very surreal because everything immedietly comes back to you as the natural (aside from crossing the road and tax) but driving on the right side and the way houses look and which direction lights switch and stuff. But at the same time it feels like a bit of a jolt to the system. I've had two years of learning to undo these natural tendancies and when they just re-emerge like nothing's happened it makes me feel slightly disjointed.

I had an interesting night last night. I tried to stay awake as long as I could and made it until about 9. I decided that I couldn't stay up any longer as I wasn't fully aware of what I was doing anymore. I ended up passing out on my bed and was jolted awake about midnight by my cats crawling around on my bed. Then I heard the loudest sound I'd heard in a long time...thunder! There was so much of it and lightening too! Because I was so tired I had myself convinced there was a tornado coming! I then decided that if there was one there was nothing I could do about it so I crawled back into bed and figured that God would take care of it if there was one!

I woke up this morning about 6 and couldn't fall back asleep because I was paranoid that Stephen would sleep in and be late for his day camp. All the clocks had reset during the night because of the storm so I lied in bed trying to work out the time difference with my phone from England and then set the alarm to wake me up at what I had worked out to be 7 our time. Jet-lag does strange things to you!

After I dropped Stephen off I went for a run, I hadn't gone for almost 2 weeks so was starting to feel a bit lethargic. I then showered and got ready for the day and cleaned the kitchen. I had this all accomplished by about 11 and wasn't sure what to do with myself!! I'm never up early enough to accomplish that much in a morning and if I am I usually just lie around being lazy. I think I'll have to make sure I do more of that tomorrow.

I got roped into speaking at the day camp at Trinity Bible Church next week. The age group is 10 -14 year olds and the ladies asking me said they figured I was the expert in youth and thought they'd ask me to share about England. I'm doing that next Thursday so I'll have to prepare something for that.

Hmmm what else can I talk about...OH! How about wasabi ice cream. Just a little story for you from last week.

My last night in England Tim and Anna took me, Steve and Heather, Stephen, Lisa and Francesca to this amazing Japanese restaurant in Newcastle. It was fantastic! You ordered what you wanted to eat before you sat at the table and then when you sat down it was around this massive hot plate where the chef brought your uncooked food and prepared it for you right before your eyes. It was great! I had the fillet steak and Anna had a duck breast and we shared the two. YUMMY!

For dessert they had a selection of rather interesting ice creams. Black sesame seed ice cream, green tea ice cream and wasabi ice cream. I'd had green tea ice cream before so I thought that I'd try something new being the adventurous person that I am. I asked what wasabi was and our server said she couldn't describe it for us in English but that it was nice and not too sweet. I decided to give it a go. This massive dish of yellowish ice cream came out and I took a good size spoonful and tasted it. It was DISGUSTING! It tasted like horseradish. Not too sweet was an understatement. It burned up my nose!! Everyone else gave it a try and the combination we came up with was English mustard and horseradish. I ended up having the green tea ice cream instead.

When we got back home Heather and I looked up wasabi on google and found that it is one of the hardest plants to grow. It is a plant used to spice asian foods and has a very distinct flavour. Because it is so hard to grow, many people have started substituting horseradish and mustard because they are very similar in flavour. We hit the nail on the head with our descriptions of it! Not something I'll be ordering again!

A Tale of Technical Difficulties

So after a very long delay, about 42 hours to be exact, I have finally made it home to Canada. What an incredible crazy last two days! I had no idea that a simple flight home was going to turn into the longest delay I have ever experienced flying. I thought I had a bad job of it when I flew home in December with Air France. This one is definitely the new champion.

Stephen and I had no idea what we were in for when we once again started the trek to Glasgow with Steve and Heather. After they dropped us off we made our way through security and proceeded to our gate. We settled down and waited for our flight. Soon enough we were boarded onto the plane belted up and ready to go. The engines were running and it looked like everything was going to proceed as normal when suddenly the engines were turned off and our ears were greeted with an announcement from the Captain:

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your flight captain speaking, I’m afraid that there will be a slight delay in taking off but we hope to be with you shortly and up and running within 10 minutes or so”

Well 10 minutes turned into half an hour. Then we heard the next announcement:

“Ladies and gentlemen this is your captain once again. I’m afraid that we are experience a slight technical difficulty with the aircraft. It seems that one of the ignition systems isn’t running properly. We are bringing some technicians out to troubleshoot the problem and hopefully we’ll be in the air as soon as we can.”

Another hour later!

“Ladies and gentlemen we appreciate your patience in this matter. We are all in the same boat and want to get in the air just as much as you. It’s taking a lot longer to assess the problem than we anticipated so for the time being we are going to ask you deplane and you will be issued food vouchers and we will let you know what’s happening as soon as we can”

Our flight was supposed to leave at 3:00 but at 8:00 Stephen and I were standing in a line trying to redeem our food vouchers.




(Waiting in the restaurant for news of our flight)

It wasn’t until about 8:30 we were told that the flight would be cancelled completely and that we were to reclaim our luggage and they would sort hotels out for us at the desk in the check in area. So somewhat tired and a bit disgruntled about 272 passengers trooped downstairs as directed.

After receiving our luggage we joined a queue that ended up winding like a snake to the doors to have our accommodation for the evening sorted out. The only problem is that there were about 5 different airport staff floating around saying 5 different things. What was even more disturbing was the news that the search to provide hotel rooms for us all was proving very difficult as there didn’t seem to be any available! There was a medical convention going on that weekend in the city, as well as some sort of festival and a golf tournament. By the time 10:00 rolled around we decided that we would just camp at the airport. I’ve done it before, four times to be exact, and I knew that I would survive. We managed to group with another girl named Anna from Montreal. She was quite upset while we were claiming our bags so I said she could stick with me and my brother if she wanted. The three of us were given some more food vouchers and then took our things upstairs to camp for the night. We ended up parking in a small café area in the food court upstairs and slept in these padded bucket type chairs that we pushed together. It wasn’t very comfortable at all but finally I discovered that I could sleep if I lied on my back and let my feet hang out over the edge of the chair. I think I managed about 3-4 hours sleep. I woke up at 4ish completely starving and set out to use some of my voucher money.








(Sleeping in the chairs)

We had been told that our flight would be leaving at 1:00 and that we should check in our bags at 11. We went down at 10 since we were tired of sitting in these chairs, checked in and found our gate.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly and the plane showed up as well as the cabin crew. We were sitting there talking about how we were so relieved to finally be able to get home and sleep in a real bed and laughing about how ridiculous it would be if once again we got on and we heard the captain come on and announce the same thing!

Well…..sure enough, we hadn’t been boarded and ready to go for 10 minutes when the engines shut off again and once again we heard:

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain, unfortunately we are having another technical problem….”

Again, we had to deplane and wait in the lounge until we knew what was happening. We were told we would have an update at 4 and were handed some more food vouchers. I managed to find a phone charger so I was able to call people to let them know what was happening. At 4 we were told we would know in about half an hour. Finally at about 5 we were once again told our flight was cancelled but this time they would be bussing us to Edinburgh to stay in hotels there. We were to reclaim our luggage and head to the transit desk again.

This time we had a group plan! Stephen and I got the bags while Anna stood in line with our boarding passes to get us all a room. We managed to get near the front and had our rooms sorted out for us to stay at the Mariot hotel in Edinburgh. We then put our bags onto a bus and traveled to Edinburgh.


(Stephen and I on the bus to Edinburgh)

I was so glad to see a bed! We received a free meal in the hotel restaurant and Stephen went for a swim. I forgot to bring a bathing suit so I couldn’t swim but I was able to relax in the room. It was a very nice hotel and the beds were comparable to the one I stayed in at the Hilton in Boston.
The next set of information we received regarding our flight was that it was leaving at 9:10 the next morning and that we would be picked up from the hotel at 6. I was so excited. By this time I just wanted to get home as soon as I could! Not wanting to be late Stephen and I arranged for a wake up call at 5. We got down to the lobby by 5:45 and were ready and waiting. Just when you’re thinking it couldn’t get any worse….at about 7 one of the hotel staff came outside and said:

“Ladies and gentlemen I’m afraid there has been a delay..!!!!”

We didn’t end up leaving the hotel until about 8!! Insane isn’t it! We got to the airport for 9 and all pretty much ran off the bus to collect our luggage and run to the check in desk. There was only one staff member running it so it was moving very slowly. Apparently the airport staff had received word that we had been picked up on time, just a slight miscommunication!! In fact we even made the paper!


(Outside the hotel, waiting for the buses)



Despite the madness we did end up leaving that morning, though not at 9:10. We did get away for 10:20. Because of the way the schedule worked out and because they’d flown a new aircraft out for us to fly on we ended up flying directly to Ottawa first!! We were meant to stop in Halifax first and then Ottawa.

And the goodness from this madness you ask! Well because the delay was like 42 hours long, a rep from Zoom came on the airplane when we landed in Ottawa explaining we would be given letters of apology and a bit of compensation. When I got my letter I was so excited because everyone was given a free return trip with Zoom to be used within the next two years! This means that I don’t have to worry about how to pay for my plane ticket back to England in September and that I have a flight home for Christmas!! What a blessing out of crazy circumstances. I know a lot of people were muttering and laughing about the fact that they gave out a free trip when they’d never be flying with them again. Really though, I’m glad that I didn’t fly on an airplane that had problems and they staff really did do the best they could to accommodate us in such crazy circumstances. I really think God’s hand was very much in the entire situation.

Anyway, I’m home, safe and sound! I hopefully never have a tale to top that one. I don’t know what else could really and I’m scared to ask or think about it.

Tonight Stephen is taking me out for a meal since we haven’t had a decent one in almost three days!! He’s such a sweet brother. He brought me flowers into work one day while he was in England with me. What a cutie!

The end but only the beginning

This is it. My last day in England before returning once again to Canada for the summer. I thought I'd take a few minutes out of packing to write a few words. Only a few, though, I REALLY need to finish packing.

I can't believe this year has gone by so fast. So much has happened. A lot of which I think I need to sit down and process. This summer will be good for that because I'm hoping to have a lot of time to just be still. I really think I need it so I'm going to try really really hard NOT to get busy during my time at home.

I really have been blessed in so many ways through being in England and by so many people. It's been hard at times and I've been up and down a lot but God has been so faithful. He's been with me every step of the way and He's been stretching me and teaching me new things as I step into new experiences.

As I'm packing this morning I'm finding myself in a state of many different emotions. I'm sad to be leaving, relieved to have a break from the chaos that life can become, anxious to see how everything works out but trying to keep my anxiety in check while trusting God. I'm nervous but excited to see what's going to happen. Please keep me in prayer if you think about me at all.

I will see some of you soon and I will see some of you guys in September.

Much, much love and blessings
Jenny*

...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil 1:6

Could I

Kim McMechan

Could I just sit here a while
Knowing that there's nothing I need to say
Safe in the knowledge that You know my ways
Love me completely, no need to hide a thing

Could I just sit here a while
Letting You melt away all of my fears
I feel Your comfort when You are so near
I'll hide myself in this shelter You've made for me

Could I

Could I just kneel here a while
Doing what I was created to do
Bowing in reverence, I long to adore You
Willingly giving all that I can surrender

Could I just rest here a while
Letting You whisper my burdens away
In all of my journeys
There's no other place where I find refuge
Strength for my weary heart

Could I

Free

Free:
Not imprisoned or enslaved; being at liberty.
Not controlled by obligation or the will of another: felt free to go.
Not affected or restricted by a given condition or circumstance: free from need.
Not subject to a given condition; exempt
Not subject to external restraint
Not literal or exact: a free translation.
Costing nothing; gratuitous
Not occupied or used
Not taken up by scheduled activities
Unobstructed; clear
Unguarded in expression or manner; open; frank.
Taking undue liberties; forward or overfamiliar.
Liberal or lavish
Given, made, or done of one's own accord; voluntary or spontaneous: a free act of the will; free choices.
Not bound, fastened, or attached: the free end of a chain.

Foundation - The Basis on which a thing stands, is founded, or is supported

For who is God besides the LORD ?
And who is the Rock except our God?
Psalm 18 v 31

"Whether we admit it or not, there comes for everyone the moment when personal existence must be anchored to a truth recognized as final, a truth that confers a certidude no longer open to doubt." ~John Paul II

Countdown

So, the countdown is officially on. In two weeks I will be heading back to Canada. HAPPY CANADA DAY by the way. I did wear red and white today in order to be patriotic. It's unfortunate, though, that since there was an England match on so was everyone else. Oh well, I knew who I was dressing for..."my home and native land!" Probably even more unfortunate is the fact that England lost their game today and so now everyone here is very down and depressed about it. Perhaps I should try to spread some of my patriotic Canadian joy. Or maybe not lol.

This past week has actually been one I enjoyed very much. It's strange because Lisa was away on holiday so it was just Mike and I, but I still enjoyed everything we did. We had our youth club on Friday night and it was my turn to do the talk. I was telling the parable Jesus told about the man who hired people to work in His vineyard and the man hired different people at different times throughout the day and paid them all the same amount. I didn't tell them it was from the bible but just told the story and asked how many of them thought it was fair. They shouted out their answers and started debating in an unorderly and chaotic fashion, as usual, but at least I knew they were listening a bit. I then talked about how that was a story Jesus told and at the end of it He said "the first shall be last and the last shall be first" and I talked about how today people think that those who are "first" are those who have achieved money and status, those who are famous, those who are successful. We think at the end of life it's those people who've had it the best and will go out with an applause. But I then said that none of that was what mattered. What matters is whether or not we have a relationship with Christ, and that it doesn't matter if we're the coolest or best looking or have the most money etc. Jesus came to hang out with the scum of the earth not the important people. What matters is whether or not we've met with him in our lives, no matter our status. I'm not sure how much of that got through to them as I was interrupted about 5 gazillion times in-between what I was trying to say. But I pray that despite the brokenness of my words and probably the tone of frustration that started to rise as a pencil was thrown near my head that somehow God spoke to them through it all. It was the last club for the summer.

As well, I guess I felt I was able to have some really good conversations with Mike. Nothing deeply profound and that I can remember specifically, but just open honesty about everything. It was good.

I'm feeling very content and peaceful at the moment regarding this summer. I know there are still a million things that I need to do, a lot of things still uncertain and yet to unfold, and it will be hard to be away from certain people while I'm back in Canada. I will miss Steve and Heather who I will only really see in transit as they're coming back and I'm leaving, I will miss the Hatch's and Sophie and Francesca, I've loved living with them this year. I've really become such good friends with them. I'll miss Sophie coming into my room and plonking herself on my bed to have a chat and I will miss straightening her hair for her. I'll miss Francesca's eccentric ideas and creative conversations. I'm also going to miss Russell, for who those who don't know and since apparently my reference to him in my last blog was very ***vague*** is a very good friend I met while at Capernwray who I am now going out with. (Was that forward enough ??) lol) It will be good to be home though, to see my family, go to the lake and lie in the sun -mmmmmmm-, to eat Moxie's white chocolate brownie and catch up with everyone back in Ottawa.

Despite the people I'm going to miss and the things I have to look forward and the anxiety that seems to take me up and down emotionally, I know that God has it in control and I can trust Him. I will try my best to keep giving everything to Him and letting His peace, which transcends all understanding, fill my heart and mind. (Phil 4:6)

Nice Distraction

Two and a half more weeks until I'm back in Canada. I can almost feel the storm cell humidity of the Ottawa Valley and feel the open space of wide roads again. I wonder if I'm going to have reverse culture shock after being away for so long??

I had a wonderful distraction from work the past couple days. Emily, one of my very good friends that I made while at Capernwray, came to visit with her brother. They arrived Sunday evening and left yesterday. I had a great time. We managed to get into Newcastle and see the Haymarket and the Quayside. We had coffee at a trendy bar with huge purple chairs and we went to see the exhibitions at the Baltic. There were some really cool ones. One by Sam Taylor-Wood which was titled "Still Lives" and another one which was a space time tunnel that you walked through. There were T.V. screens all throughout it blasting live broadcasts from around the world at you. We also made it out to Druridge Bay in the evening which is always such a nice place to go.

Yesterday we walked around Morpeth. We saw the Bagpipe Museum which although it may sound boring can always be made more fun when you try on the clothes which are on display! We bought a loaf of bread and walked down to the river to feed the ducks. I've taken a bit of a liking to ducks recently and I really like sitting by the river to eat my lunch and watch them. Yesterday though, we discovered that ducks have an alternative nature other than their sweet quacking cuteness. They also have a vicious, spiteful, biting side! They were going crazy on one another in order to get the bread. At one point this one duck climbed on the back of another and started biting it's neck! Emily started scolding and ran over to scare him off but my goodness. I prefer to think of ducks as cute docile creatures who like rain...that's how Raffi portrayed them! (Give me a shout if you actually know who Raffi is!)

I felt pretty melancholy after they left yesterday. I had to walk home from the train station so I ended up calling Russell so I wouldn't get too down. He's a nice encouraging person :) It was just so much fun to have a friend around. I have friends here, don't think I'm a loner or anything, but someone who understood the past couple months with me, who was able to laugh at the stories we remembered with me, someone who had gotten to know me quite well as one does in a short confined time, and someone who above all understood my frustration when English people corrected the way I say "about." I DO NOT SAY ABOOT!!! :)
Anyway the fact that I was pretty sad when she left did bring me some joy because it meant that I'm getting better at cherishing the people around me! (See my post called "Happy to Love")

The other good thing I have to look forward to is my brother and Steve and Heather arriving! WOO HOO! I'm so excited to see them. It's been far far too long! I mean what if they've developed and matured into an elite society beyond my social status?? It's a good thing they have a few days with the Mosher clan before returning to England just in case they need to be reminded what silliness and immaturity are. Russell is going to hopefully get a chance to come up and meet the three of them as well which would be super cool and great!

Hmmmm what else. In other news I found my missing bank card. It was perfect timing as usual. I'd gone to the bank last Friday to report it missing and request a new one. They were wonderful and assured me my new one would arrive within 5-7 days. I was excited when after just 3 there was an envelope on my bed containing my new card. I went upstairs to put it in my room and Aaron was just hanging his and Emily's towels over my door when he swiped the top of my wardrobe and something whizzed off. Low and behold, my old bankcard landed at my feet! Typical! lol

Ok well, I'd best get back to work. I was writing out letters before this and I should get back to that! Bye for now!

Jenny*

23rd Birthday

Midsummer Garden Party

This past Saturday we had a charity fundraiser to raise money for the team of youth going to Canada this summer. It was a Midsummer Garden Party, with a champagne reception, traditional hog roast and fire works. It was a lovely evening and evening and everyone looked great. Here's a few pics of the night:

pics