Liz Taylor:

This Girl...

2012-01-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

I can't get enough of her... I just want to hang out with her all day - no cooking or cleaning, just cuddling...

Does it make me OCD...

2011-10-03T16:02:00.000-07:00

that when I cut vegetables I put them in very specific bowls everytime??

If At First You Don't Succeed...

2011-09-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

Try, try again...

But, if you do succeed... do a little happy dance in your kitchen.

Summer in a Cup...

2011-09-07T14:55:00.000-07:00

Homemade Ice Cap... Deliiiiicious!

Raaaaandom...

2011-09-04T07:21:00.000-07:00

Does it make me OCD that when I see "rainbow colors", I have to put them in a certain order?

My chubbs wants to crawl so bad! She's desperate to get around.

2 Years Ago...

2011-08-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

I married the man of my dreams...

We've had some great adventures since then...

Hiking the Grand Canyon

Kayaking along the Oregon Coast

Ice Climbing at 39 weeks pregnant

Having a baby!

Happy Anniversary Babe! Here's to many more adventures. You are the love of my life.

Who Am I?

2011-08-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

It seems that I'm going through some sort of identity crisis right now...
Like I'm caught in-between a couple different "me"s and am not sure which one is real.
I don't even know what kind of music I like, or what my hobbies are, or if I like skinny jeans or not, or what I would do if I had 1 hour by myself.
It's a very strange place to be.

It's a good thing God loves me however I am...

In Christ I am: Accepted, Secure, Significant.

Sometimes It Takes a Hail Storm...

2011-06-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

to remind you just how blessed you are.
It's interesting how often I take my awesome life for granted, how often I forget how many blessings God gives me everyday... I have SO much more then I need.
I guess sometimes it takes a hail storm to remind me what a privilege it is to have a garden.
A sinus infection to remind me how healthy I am.

Today I'm Thankful For:

>My Garden

>Good Health

>A Beautiful Daughter

>Encouraging Friends

>A Strong and Loving Husband

>Our Cute House

>A Huge Yard (and a dog to play in it)

>Blue Skies

>A Heavenly Father who loves me regardless of how much time I spend with Him or how good I am

>A Welcoming and Friendly Church

PS. I realize my garden picture is not my real garden... it is however a picture of some flowers I made. :)

It's Pouring...

2011-06-11T13:49:00.000-07:00

Tim and I are in the Crowsnest Pass right now. Tim leading the climbing training for camp staff at Crowsnest Lake Bible Camp... I'm helping when I can. Right now, however, I am taking full advantage of being a mum and "protecting" Kiriah from the rain by being inside on the computar. Babes is sleeping. Seriously though, it's raining harder then I have seen in a long time. We made it inside just in time. Now I'm off to nap with my sweet baby.

The Greatest Source of Power

2011-06-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

I was reading "My Utmost for His Highest" this morning, and these paragraphs really stood out to me:

"Am I allowing my spiritual life to waste away, or am I focused, bringing everything to one central point - the atonement of my Lord? Is Jesus Christ more and more dominating every interest of my life? If the central point, or the most powerful influence, of my life is the atonement of the Lord, then every aspect of my life will bear fruit for Him.
Am I abiding? Am I taking the time to abide? What is the greatest source of power in my life? Is it my work, service, and sacrifice for others, or is it my striving to work for God? It should be none of these - what ought to exert the greatest power in my life is the atonement of the Lord. It is not on what we spend the greatest amount of time on that molds us the most, but whatever exerts the most power over us. We must make a determination to limit and concentrate our desires and interests on the atonement by the Cross of Christ."

For me, time with God is not the issue, I can make devotion time happen - the issue for me is how I spend that time. And it's not about the quantity of time, but the quality of it. Those paragraphs are a challenge for me right now.

In other news...
We're continuing to work on the house... and by "we" I really mean "Tim". The latest project is the bathroom. It's not quite done yet, but is already looking a million times better. My hubby is goooood.
Kiriah is teething I think... she's a giant drooly face and her schedule is all over the place. Also, she is quite clingy, which means I don't get a lot done around the house, but I do get LOTS of cuddle time - which is a very nice treat. I kind of like my babes. She's pretty awesome. And cute. And wiggly. And really cute.

Did I mention that my baby is the cutest ever?

Rocky Road...

2011-05-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are in Rocky Mountain House.
We're all moved in and slowly getting settled. It's a lot harder for my heart to settle in then I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I definitely think we made the right decision moving here... I'm just having a hard time convincing my heart that we'll be here for a while. I keep catching myself thinking things like "I'll just put this here for now." or "that's just there temporarily."
Anyways...

Some projects we have on the go are:
-laying tile in the kitchen and bathroom.
-cleaning up the yard (can you say 20 dump runs?).
-putting in a small garden.

There are many other projects on our "To Do" list, but most have to wait for more money and time. :)

I was telling a friend today that one thing I've really been struggling with is FEAR. This is the first time that I've actually been out in the "real world". Up until now I've either been living with my parents, or in a community bubble with a husband who totally takes care of me. Now, Tim is at work all day, so I have to step up to the plate and make appointments, meet people, fill out forms, make phone calls... all very much out of my comfort zone. I'm learning and growing, but have had to memorize and quote to myself daily 2 Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power and love and self discipline."

Baby Girl is calling my name, so I'm off to be a responsible mother... :)
More updates soon...

I am so Blessed:

2011-03-13T19:39:00.000-07:00

By a husband who takes our daughter to work in the morning so I can sleep a bit more.
By a daughter who only cries when she is hungry.
By a God who cares so much about me and desires a relationship with me.

My Dolly...

2011-03-03T12:38:00.000-08:00

... is just so perfect.
I really could just look at her all day.

She:
-makes the most ridiculous noises in her sleep
-often sleeps with her hands straight up in the air (we joke about how pentecostal she is)
-pees on her potty when we make a "pssss" noise
-has jowls that grow every day
-loves sleeping on her tummy, on my tummy
-poops so loud, everyone knows it
-is just so dang cute!

Kiriah Anne Taylor

2011-02-25T16:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess it all started later in the day on February 4th. Tim and I had... taken certain measures to try and get labour started. I had little contractions all night (like 15-30 seconds long, 2-4 minutes apart) but nothing that really caused us to panic. When they kept going the next day, we called our midwife but she said not to bother going in to Rocky until things got a bit more serious. I also called my mum and they decided to leave the next morning to come our way. We were feeling pretty antsy by the evening of the 5th and decided that we would rather drive to Rocky at a leisurely pace, pick up some groceries, and spend the night at The Guest House even if baby wasn't coming right away. We continued to "help labour along" and my contractions kept going, though at a rather random pace. We spent the evening, night, and next morning (the 6th) watching John Wayne movies, walking around, and trying to rest.

I don't really remember exact times, but at some point Tim called our midwives again and they agreed that Barb (head honcho midwife) should come over and check things out. At about the same time she got to The Guest House (4:30ish), my mum also arrived. My contractions had really started working in the hour or so before, so I was pretty hopeful that things would start happening. Barb checked me out and was quite surprised to find that I was already 6 centimeters dilated. She called our midwives (Jen and Jess) and told them to get their butts over to us. They had an hour drive ahead of them and Barb thought maybe things could happen fast. At that point I made the mistake of letting myself get comfortable instead of letting my contractions work for me, so everything slowed down quite a bit. A lot of the details have already slipped my mind, but I do remember Tim and my mum taking turns rubbing my back.
When Jen and Jess arrived they encouraged me to go for a walk and then switch things up by laboring in an uncomfortable position for a while. Well that kick started things. My contractions got serious and they started to fill up the birthing pool (aka: a fishy pool :). I guess it was somewhere around 10:30pm or 11:00pm when my water broke. Pretty soon after that my body just started pushing... it was like I didn't even have to consciously do anything, my body just took over. It was pretty cool. I got into the water then and after a couple of minutes Tim got in too. I was on my knees, leaning over the side of the pool and he was sitting behind me. My mum was at my head feeding me ice cubes :)
I pushed for 45 minutes and all of a sudden, at 11:59pm on February 6th, Tim was catching our baby and passing her to me. I sat back on Tim's lap and we just looked. She was so perfect.
We left the cord attached for a while, then Tim cut it and we got out of the pool.

The rest of the night/early morning is a blur...
We got into bed right away and I started nursing Kiriah while Jess gave me some stitches. (Kiriah came out with her fist at her head, so I had some tearing and artery damage) Then while everyone else cleaned up, Tim and I tried to digest the fact that we were parents... we just sat and cuddled and bonded with our baby. It was so awesome.

Side Notes:
Our midwives were AMAZING!
Having a home birth was AMAZING!
Having a water birth was AMAZING!

It was such a blessing to have Tim so involved and interested in everything that happened... also having my mum there was pretty sweet - very helpful!

When we got home from Rocky and had hardly unpacked, Tim looks at me and says "so when can we have number two?"

:)

Coming Soon...

2011-02-13T13:28:00.000-08:00

I have great intentions of getting on here in the next couple days and writing out Kiriah's birth story (along with post some pictures). But for now I'm quite happy to spend my time staring at my beautiful daughters face. :)

Sunshiny Goodness...

2011-01-30T13:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went ice climbing! It was pretty funny because I couldn't see my feet and you kind of need to see your feet to ice climb efficiently. But it was good fun anyways. Definitely pulling a lot more weight around these days. :)

Today is a BEAUTIFUL sunshiny day! Another restful day off for Tim and I together.

Roses are Red...

2011-01-25T17:39:00.000-08:00

And so is my HUGE Amaryllis.
It was taking it's sweet time and just getting taller and taller without opening up... until this morning, when it pretty much just burst open. Crazy.

Oh Mister Sun...

2011-01-23T17:55:00.000-08:00

Today was BEAUTIFUL. Sun has been a little bit rare these days around Nordegg, so when he decided to come out we took advantage of it. Tim gathered some other hockey fans and I gathered my wool blanket, camera, book, and chair and we headed down to the lake.

It was an awesome day for Tim and I to just hang out and rest. We are learning to cherish every moment we have left as just the two of us.

Money Can't Buy Me Love...

2011-01-19T10:42:00.000-08:00

I paid $2 for this adorable little plant. It was near death in the Ikea "As Is" section and as soon as I saw it, I knew I couldn't leave it behind. I have been tenderly nursing it back to health ever since.

(Apparently it's some kind of Succulent plant, but for the life of me, I can't find any info on this specific one.)

"Earn-Save-Give"

2011-01-16T15:17:00.000-08:00

I listened to a podcast this morning by Bruxy Cavey and really liked what it had to say... so here are some notes I took from it:

"God asks us to regularly give a portion of our income to God as acts of worship and thanksgiving. This practice will keep our hearts focused on God and lead to a life of contentment and generosity."
-Edwin Friesen

"Life is not measured by how much you own."
-Jesus, Luke 12:15

Why Should We Give?

1: Giving is at the heart of the Gospel.
-Ephesians 5:2 "He loved, therefore He gave"
-John 3:16
***When we are giving, we are living the gospel.

2: God wants our hearts (and we tend to attach our hearts to the things we own).
***Giving helps me experience the heart of Christ.

3: Giving helps free us from the myth that money can meet our psychological needs.
-1 Timothy 6:17 "Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment."
***Contentment is an intentional, conscious, mental state that we need to work at cultivating.

*Giving should be a joy and not a burden.
-Acts 20:35 "...it is more blessed to give then to receive"
-2 Corinthians 9:7 "For God loves a person who gives cheerfully"

21 days and counting...

2011-01-15T07:58:00.000-08:00

I know I'm a bit behind in my Picture-a-Day goal... but Tim and I were in Edmonton for a few days, and there is no rest for the weary there. Our time was packed with errands, car maintenance, and baby stuff.
We also had a midwife appointment, which went very well. They tell us that we're boring. Apparently, I am having an uncommonly almost perfect pregnancy. Baby is engaging - which means that it is dropping and settling for birth, and is in a good position. I am 37 weeks todays. That is considered "full term" and our midwives said I am allowed to have the baby any day. Woohoo! I'm just trying to not get my hopes up for an early birth. :) We still have a bit to do to get ready, but mostly I think we are just treasuring these last days of quiet evenings and "us time".

In other news... it got suddenly VERY cold here in the last couple of days. Here is yesterdays picture and the view we get out our windows:

In other OTHER news... we got a new couch and leather chair for VERY cheap from Ikea before Christmas and were able to finally bring them here. I know hardly any of you who read this have been to our house, so you'll just have to take my word for it: we rearranged and love it!! Way more open and baby friendly. Today's picture is of our shelving unit which used to divide the kitchen and the livingroom. We moved it up against the wall and tidied it up a bit.

I may or may not...

2011-01-10T11:40:00.000-08:00

... have an obsession with baby booties...
But really, can you blame me?

Happiness...

2011-01-09T21:22:00.000-08:00

...is a fridge full of memories.

This is what I see at eye level on my fridge.
Your fridge doors are something that you really have to make a conscious effort to notice everyday. They are easy to take for granted and just look past at the food within... I love it when people come over, stand in front of our fridge and ask me about the pictures. Telling the stories reminds me of the memories I've made, the places I've been, and the people I love.

And that makes me Happy.

A Picture A Day:

2011-01-08T14:47:00.000-08:00

So I decided that one of my not-so-set-in-stone goals for the year is to take a picture a day. When I informed my mother of this she FORCED me into putting them up on my blog. :) I guess in a way that means I get to count this as two not-so-set-in-stone goals for the year... a picture a day and a post a day. Nice.

Well I started the picture a day yesterday, so here's yesterdays and todays.

It was frosty frickin' cold last night, but I'm such a supportive wife that I went out anyways to watch a game of pond hockey. :)

There's nothing like a homemade "fancy coffee" on a quiet, lazy afternoon. Love it.

Major on the Majors:

2010-11-10T17:25:00.000-08:00

(This is something that our Director talked about this summer as a kind of mission statement for Frontier. I really appreciated it and think it would make a good personal mission statement.)

>ministry before money
>the word before the world
>hope before humanism
>caring before counting
>character before competence
>peace before power
>prayer before pride
>joy before judgement
>service before self
>faith before fear

Do I really value these qualities? Do I display them? Do I direct others towards them?

Someone I Want To Be Like...

2010-11-08T18:47:00.000-08:00

Ok, Can I just say that this girl (pictured below) is amazing!!

Notice our AWESOME matching jackets?! Yeah, she made them. Mine is even "prego specific".
It's not just because of her mad sewing skills though, that I want to be just like her.
-Meghan has a totally "out loud" relationship with God. It just radiates out of her.
-She has a huge, generous heart for people that takes priority over most everything.
-When asked how she's doing, Meghan says it like it is. "This course I'm taking is draining everything out of me, but that's great because it means more room for God!"
-She's so hard-core.
-Just being around Meghan makes me want to pursue a deeper relationship with God. I don't know many people who can make it as easy and natural to incorporate God into normal conversations as Megan can.

It's so encouraging to be around people like Meghan. She's a great example of someone I want to be like.

Nothing like it...

2010-10-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

I've been learning (or re-learning) some things about myself lately...

-God is calling me to raise a big, adventurous family. I am SO excited (and nervous!!) to dive right in!

-I really like dancing to hip-hop and pop music when no one is around.

-I actually like being lazy.

-I love having people over and being their host. I've just been burned out of people for so long that I forgot that.

-Certain music inspires artistic urges in me. Yesterday I pulled out my sketch book and painted for the first time in years.

-I LOVE having a clean house.

I really like that even now I am learning new things about myself... it keeps things interesting.
:)

PS. An awesome family friend put together this website for Tim and I as a baby registry type thing. She's been keeping it updated and trying to encourage people to join and such. Here it is: http://babytaylorbump.webs.com/
(Thanks Sheila!)
Have I told you how excited I am to meet this baby??!! Babes is dancing in my belly right now! I love it.

...

2010-08-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

Summer is gone just in time for Tim and I to go on vacation.
We left Camp on Thursday and have had a couple minutes of sun since then.
We headed out to Kananaskis to camp with a couple of Tim's friends. It was really fun to spend the weekend with a bunch of babies and pregnant women. We did, however, threaten a few times to leave to go south to get away from cold rain and (get this) FLUFFY SNOW! Ugh.
I am now sitting in Starbucks in Canmore in the warmth, with a deliciously warm cinnamon dolche latte.
Today is Tim and my anniversary, and to celebrate Tim went paddling with Brad and Ken. Haha. I did give him permission to go, but it's still bitter sweet. :)
I love him so much!! This has been the best year of my life!!

I wish I had my camera cord here...
-There are red strawberries hanging in our window and I have eaten 2 so far!!
-We have 3 cherry tomatoes growing on our plants.
-I've been harvesting awesome little carrots for about a week now.
-My belly has like tripled in size since that last picture was up. (I'm 17 weeks now!!!)
I've felt baby move 4 times now. SO EXCITING!!! And, we decided on names.
Jaxon is going to be such a jealous pooch when babe comes along. He's been sleeping in our tent the last couple of nights. It makes it like 10 degrees warmer in there. Specially when he sleeps in the bottom of our sleeping bags. Spoiled boy.
:)

Well, it's time to go pick up the boys from the river...

14 Weeks and Counting...

2010-08-08T13:54:00.001-07:00

I'm 14 weeks now and babe is over 3 1/2 inches long. The First Trimester is over and I think that Tim and I can relax a little more now as the risk of miscarriage goes down drastically.
I'm getting so excited. I find it VERY hard to be patient and wait... I just want the stages to come faster.
:)

Well my parents and Lanny have been here for the past week and it has been quite nice to have the time off with them. I have to admit though, I've had to take a couple of breaks as I am not used to this much consistent interaction. Haha. I must be getting old or something.

U-13 Wilderness Camp starts today. (Dad is speaking at the campfires). Only 3 more summer camps left! Crazy. This summer has gone by so fast. Sometimes (like right now) I like to pretend I'm not working and slack off... and then sometimes (like right now) I feel bad about slacking off and head back to work... but then other times (like right now) I get hungry right before I head back to work so I let myself get distracted a little longer and go eat some food.

The End.

How Does Your Garden Grow...

2010-07-19T19:06:00.001-07:00

I was feeling quite discouraged about my little "garden". The tomato plants were very little and weak looking, my cucumbers don't look like cucumber plants, the carrots were tiny, and the strawberries looked maybe alright...
But then one day it was like Nordegg garden season opened, and everything started growing and looking green and such. I'm still feeling only slightly hopeful, but things are looking up.

My Tomato Buds:

Strawberry Buds:

Delicious looking Carrots:

Something else that is slowly growing:

(No weight gain yet, just a growing bump)
Babe is now between 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 inches long.
Apparently the size of a fig... which doesn't help me, because I have no idea how big a fig is.
I also read that my uterus is now bigger then a grapefruit... CRAZY.
:)

By the way:
A huge answer to prayer... we got a midwife! We are so excited and thankful that they picked us.
Basically, there is a huge interested in midwives, but not enough midwives to go around. So they do interviews and such and see which couple is the most compatible client. Tim and I had an interview with 2 very nice midwives and found out that we were 1 of 15 couples trying for 4 spots. Not that great of odds, considering this is our first (so usually harder clients). But we prayed about it lots and really felt at peace about whatever happened. A little over a week later I got an email that said that they are very excited to work with us. Tim and I did a little dance with joy. :)
Thanks God!

There's a Baby in my Belly.

2010-06-20T17:52:00.000-07:00

Right now Babe is as big as a blueberry.
I'm due somewhere around February 5th. (A birthday present for Andrew :)
This means that I am about 7 weeks preggers.
I feel sick when I'm hungry and when I eat to much.
Just great.
:)
We're SO excited to have a family.
Frontier Staff have already started making fat jokes.
I want ice cream all the time.
Mint Chocolate Chip to be exact.

Tim and I are moving into a bigger trailer within the next couple of weeks.
It has a baby room.
WOOHOO!!

I don't know what to say...

2010-05-15T18:14:00.000-07:00

I feel like I should have many things to update you on... but I just can't think of any of them... so, random facts:

-I finally got my first cell phone. (Actually it's Tim's and mine, but Tim says I can call it mine. :P ) (You should all email me with your phone/cell phone numbers so we can actually communicate once in a while now)

-Jaxon has gained 10 pounds since I got him.

-I got my first sunburn of the year.

-Groups are coming in full force now.

-All my tomato plants died. :(

-I will be buying more.

-I would really like to get some chickens.

-Tim and I are having a date night tonight.

-He just got home so I'm going to have my date him now.

-Goodnight.

Something to do with Love:

2010-04-07T21:09:00.000-07:00

My Birthday Present.
Isn't my husband the BEST?
I had actually even stopped pursuing getting a puppy, and then all of a sudden we were skipping a wedding and driving 3 hours to pick him up.
Jaxon's great. He sits on command already, eats like there's no tomorrow, beats up a dog 3 times his size, and follows me around everywhere I go.
I think it has something to do with Love.

Coffee Cake and Breakfast Shakes...

2010-03-31T20:16:00.000-07:00

...that kinda almost rhymed.
Haha.
But it is an amazing breakfast.

I'm super excited that spring is on it's way... I love spring because it means that summer is just around the corner. And I have a feeling that this summer will be a good one.

There are a lot of changes going on right now at camp.
We have a fairly new maintenance manager, who is doing fantastic things around camp. (like getting rid of that hideous trailer by the parking lot, for those of you who have been here before).
Two of our senior program staff, and our assistant program director are leaving in April. They will leave gaps that will be hard to fill. We trust that God will provide all the staff we need. But perhaps you could help God out a little... if you know anyone who would be interested in working at a wilderness adventure camp... or more specifically anyone who would want to be our kitchen manager, starting... now. You should tell them to get ahold of us.

Lately I've been working a lot on our backcountry food prep. That means that I cook meals and then dehydrate them and prep them for our backpacking overnights. I quite enjoy it. It gives me a little project to call my own and baby a bit.

But that's really all I have to say, because not much has been happening here except cabin fever.

Being married is awesome. Tim is awesome.

Does anyone know anyone giving away cheap/free puppies? Preferably a larger breed? Because I REALLY want a puppy. I think Tim is actually getting tired of me talking about it. Haha.

And I think things might get a little too random if I keep typing, so I'm going to stop before it gets out of hand.

Goodnight.

You know you're turning into "suzy homemaker" when:

2010-03-07T16:33:00.000-08:00

-you get really excited when you get a new used stove.

-you sit for an hour watching your tomato plants grow.

-you feel fulfilled when people like a new recipe you tried.

-you spend the whole day cleaning and it energizes you.

-you ask your husband if he has any mending he wants done just so you can sew something.

-you have two kinds of cookies cooling on the counter.

-you research dirt so you can start a garden in the spring.

-you read a cooking blog every day.

-you like being in your house more then anywhere else.

I'm turning into such a lame-o.
I love it.

:D

I made him into a Sudoku addict...

2010-02-25T21:09:00.000-08:00

Is anyone else just LOVING the weather we've been having?? Cause I sure do. It's a treat.

Tim and I actually went rock climbing on Monday. Yes, I said rock climbing. It got us pretty pumped and we promptly started planning our summer vacation. :D

The second Adventure Race was completed this last weekend. It went super well. I liked having two in a row, as it made everything go so much smoother. The two teams that Tim and I were cheering got first and second place, so that was cool. (am I allowed to say things like that?)

Now we're in Edmonton eagerly waiting for Donna's wedding to be done... I mean... we're here to join in their happiness. :P
We were helping out with decorating tonight and WOW, what a gong-show. I LOVE Tim's family, SO MUCH... but I pretty much hung out where the people were not. Heh heh.

Anywho...
Later Days...

One Foot of Snow.

2010-02-17T16:42:00.000-08:00

Well I kept meaning to update this silly blog, but life it seems had other plans.
Now I've got a bit of a breather, so how about I tell you what I've been up to?

Tim and I took a quick trip to Kamloops for Andrew's Birthday and for some good ol' quality family time. It was super fun, but we missed his surprise party.
Right away when we got back... and I mean within a few hours of our return, we jumped right into hosting the Prairie Aviation Survival week. Sunday was all training for them (and Tim, who helped teach part of it), and prepping their food (what little they got) for me. Then on Monday we headed out. We hiked them out for about 2 hours to an "unknown" location. Next we dropped them off in their 3 or 4 man teams at their "crash site". Then we (Tim, myself, and 2 leaders from Prairie) tromped over to the leaders camp and made ourselves at home. The funnest part of the first day was that we had hiked all our gear out the night before - all 70lbs of it... each. Let me back up a bit.
The location we had hiked out to was actually only about 15 minutes from camp. We just took them in in a round-about fashion. Also, we as leaders did not eat the same as the students. While they had barely enough food for 4 people for 1 day, let alone a whole 5 days, we had leftovers every meal. So we had decided that we wanted to hike our heavy packs in the short way. So we did. And then we convinced them that the little packs we carried in on Monday, containing pretty much only water, was all that we had to survive on.
Anyways. We spent the week eating, sitting by the fire, playing cards, eating, checking up on the students, sitting by the fire, eating. It was great.
It ended up being a fairly easy week for the students because it was fairly warm and sunny out. Each group built a lean-to with pine bows and ended up being warmer then we were in our tents.
But moving on.

Immediately following Prairie, the first of 2 Wycliffe Adventure Race's started. I've talked about the Adventure Race's before, in this blog and in my newsletter, so I won't say much about it this time. It was a super good weekend. The weather was amazing and the teams did fantastic. We've got the second Race this weekend.

After the Adventure Race Tim and I had 3 days off. We had worked for 9 days straight, so this was a welcome treat. Today is the third of those 3 days. They have been mostly restful days, though today was not as good, as Tim and I both have symptoms of Strep Throat. If you could be praying for us that would be awesome. This weekend would be a bad one for us to both be sick.

Well that's about as good an update as I can muster right now. My fingers are cramping up from typing so much. :P Hahah...

PS. Jill, we've been pounding your "miracle tea". We both actually like it quite a bit.

Finally an Update...

2010-02-01T09:03:00.002-08:00

Well, this might not be exactly the update you were looking for... but I need to do this for the sake of my grieving process.
Yesterday (Sunday the 31st) in Edmonton, I had a miscarriage. I was only 6 weeks pregnant, but we were already pretty attached to the "little fart", as we called it. (by "it" I mean he or she). Anyways. When it happened I felt a solid peace from God and knew that it wold be alright. Sometimes though, knowing that God is in control doesn't really make it hurt any less.
I took today off work so I wouldn't have to face the crowds just yet (the staff), and so I can have the chance to process what's going on inside of me.

I covet your prayers as I ride this emotional roller-coaster.

I promise I'll do a real update soon!

Finally an Update...

2010-02-01T09:03:00.001-08:00

5 more things:

2009-07-09T20:49:00.003-07:00

Well, today is another good day to ponder on some things to be joyful about. Felt like it took a lot longer this time to think of 5...

1. Rocks

2. Learning to crochet

3. Laughing so hard it hurts

4. A new pen

5. A warm, dark, sweet cup of coffee

Always be JOYFUL. Never stop praying.

5 Things:

2009-07-06T19:51:00.001-07:00

Even though I am totally not in the mood for this, I was told to do it, so here it goes...

5 Things to be joyful about:

1. An amazing man who loves me, challenges me, and makes me laugh.

2. 11 1/2 hour hikes in perfect weather.

3. Being in a relationship with a God who speaks to me through His word.

4. Wearing rubber boots to work.

5. Having an hour long break between rappelling groups all by myself.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-17
Always be joyful. Never stop praying.

God is my Favorite...

2009-06-04T05:22:00.000-07:00

I was reading outside last week while little 5 year old Jonathan Fairfield was out playing soccer on our basketball court. Every now and then he would come over and ask me if I wanted to "take a break from reading and go watch how good he was at soccer". One of the times he came over he looked very serious. He sat down on a rock and very slowly and thoughtfully he said, "I think that God is my favorite... because He made the sun. What else did God make?" I couldn't help but be filled with this overwhelming sense of Joy as we had an awesome conversation about what God had made and that He had made it all because He loves us.
It was such an awesome reminder to me about how awesome God is, and how richly He has blessed us. It also really reminded me to go back to that child-like faith and attitude of awe.

Our God is so excellent and awe-inspiring!

First, let me aid you...

2009-05-14T18:12:00.000-07:00

Well I'm beat.

Tim and I just finished our Wilderness First Aid Advanced course. It was a tough one let me tell you. Longest ten days of my life.
But, if you ever need someone to put back a dislocated knee, carry you out on a stretcher made of coats, or stabilize your neck after a long fall... I am trained.
:)
It was good. Our instructor left a bit to be desired, but putting aside all the crude and sexual jokes, the "i think you're stupid" voice, and the chaotic learning environment, he was a fantastic teacher. He really knew his stuff.

Now though, we rest.

Blah...

2009-04-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

Why is it that some days you just wake up OFF
Like, everything should be fine and dandy
And you recognize how good God is and awesome His love is...
Yet you still feel unloved, mopey, and ridiculous.
I dislike it.

God is Good.
His love is unconditional.
His embraces are strong and firm.
His Joy overwhelming.

I NEED Him.

Rock On...

2009-04-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

Hello my faithful friends!

Yesterday I got back from an awesome climbing trip in the States... Let me tell you a bit about it.

Tim, Nicole, Phil, and I left on March 28 at 9:30pm and drove straight to Red Rocks, Nevada, through a snow storm, for 26 hours. We set up a tent and hit the hay. When we woke up the next morning we discovered, great to our humor, a rather large layer of red sand covering everything in our tent (including our teeth). We laughed about it, but when it was repeated the next night, and the next, we stopped.
What followed was 2 weeks of awesome climbing, warm sunshine, cold nights, wind storms, time with Tim, cool learning experiences (with climbing, relationships, and with God), warm sunshine, sand, not much showering, camp cooking, chilling out, warm sunshine, and one campfire.
After a few days in Red Rocks we headed to Joshua Tree, California where the sand changed from red to gold and the climbing changed from face climbing to crack climbing (and I don't mean the body parts!). I was very out of my element there, but it was awesome to learn something new and grow to like it. I /love/ it when Tim teaches something he's passionate about. He puts everything into it and patiently helps you learn it and then somehow instills his passion for it into you. It's awesome.
We went back to Red Rocks for a few more days of climbing, but rain ended up sending us back to camp 2 days early... which was fine. I think we were all done by then.

Now we're working on getting back into the swing of normal life and preparing for our busy spring and summer season.

A few pics from our trip:

Ring those Bells...

2009-02-20T12:51:00.000-08:00

Yeah! I got my ring!... and it fits!

This conversation engages me...

2009-02-07T18:15:00.000-08:00

So I figured now of all times would be a good time to get off my lazy bum and give you guys an update.
I'm sure most of you already know my most exciting news...
I'M ENGAGED... and freaking out.
But let me back up a bit.

Since I last wrote (on the 16th of January) I went to Edmonton for the weekend to just get away, catch up with some friends, and spend time with God. It was really nice. I stayed with Tim's parents, which was really nice.
I went back to camp feeling a little more refreshed.

That next Thursday (the 22nd) our big adventure started. Well, it wasn't supposed to be that big of a deal... My climbing buddies (Tim, Phil and Nicole) and I headed out after work for Canmore. We had signed up for a night of free bouldering and decided to make a trip of it by reserving a hostel room and spending the night. So we went bouldering and it was awesome. Then we headed over to the hostel. The boys had said that they wanted to make us supper, so they started on that and Nicole and I just chilled... We were both pleasantly surprised when they brought out supper. They had prepared t-bone steaks, with potatoes, salad, and .....wi-er...water... After supper we just hung out and laughed alot. One thing I should say is that we had decided not to plug in Tim's car because it was supposed to be warm and would have been a hassle. So we went to bed planning on getting up a like 6:30 so we could make it back in time for work on Friday.
So we wake up early and none of us really want to leave for work, but we do anyway.... well we try. Tim and Phil went out to try and start the car. 10 minutes later Nicole and I went out to see what the deal was. Phil was standing there looking down the road, but Tim and his car were nowhere to be seen. Apparently they had tried to push start it down the hill. So we started walking down the hill, and walking... and finally we got to the car and Tim. No luck with the push start. We decided to push it to the highway in hopes of getting a jump start. (I should also mention that it was -25 plus windchill on this glorious morn)
Now, Alberta just isn't the same as most provinces, in that you have to watch as 100 cars go by before one will have mercy on poor freezing souls. Eventually someone stopped to give us a boost.
No can do.
The car just wouldn't start. (We did get to sit in a warm vehicle for a few minutes though) Finally we decided to call AMA to get some help. "For sure, we'll be there within the hour" says they.
Biggest lie I've ever been told.
We ended up waiting... in the cold... in the wind for over 2 hours.
Finally the tow truck got there and tried to give us a boost. Also a no-go. Fine. We'll just get a tow into Canmore, put the car in a garage, and hopefully in a few hours it will have warmed up enough that it would just start. (We had by this time called camp to say that we would not be there for work today) They started getting the car ready to be towed when Tim and Phil walked around back. They called Nicole and I over. What we saw made us want to laugh and cry all at the same time.
The back window had been smashed by a flying rock or something. We stood there in shocked silence, then Tim said what we were all thinking "So, what next?"
Don't worry though... this story ends nice.
We got towed into a garage, went for coffee, came back and the mechanics had been able to just start it no problem, we covered the back window with cardboard, got more coffee, and headed back to camp. Tim called his dad, who "just happened" to have three of those exact rear windows. It was a jolly adventure.
The End.

Last weekend Tim and I went to Breakforth in Edmonton. It was really spiritually refreshing. Not quite as pump me up as I was hoping, but still good.

As far as work stuff goes, I've been kind of all over the past the last little while. I've done some trail work, scouting, kitchen, preping for next years campfire times, we've had some groups in, gone ice climbing... It's been good. Life at camp is really blessed.

So then this week. Tim and I both had Friday off, and we had been wanting to climb this one waterfall for a while, so we decided to go then. We drive out to Jasper and start hiking, and like an hour and a half later still couldn't find the falls, so we decided to stop for lunch. Well I'm sitting there pulling lunch out of my bag and all of a sudden he's there in front of me... on one knee... asking me to marry him. I'm like "oh my goodness..... YES!!!"
Shocked out of my pants... well actually my pants stayed on, cause that's kind of inappropriate... but I was shocked. Totally not expecting it this soon, but secretly hoping it would be this soon.
The ring is beautiful, unfortunately I had to send it away to get it resized, so no picture yet.
Our wedding will be sometime around the end of August... location and exact date TBD... But yeah, I'm SO excited. Like seriously... WOW, I'm going to be Tim's wife in six months!!!

Thanks so much everyone for your notes on facebook and such! It's a blessing to know we're supported in this net stage of life.

Love you all!

It's "cooking" over here...

2009-01-16T15:02:00.000-08:00

Right oh.

I have something to announce.
It may shock your pants off.
Are you ready?
Here it goes...

I officially actually like cooking.

I know, I know,
This is something completely unheard of for Liz Geddert...
But something... just suddenly changed in me.
And all of a sudden I like cooking and am even kinda good at it.
Crazy.

Radioactive

2009-01-10T21:09:00.000-08:00

So here I am again, about to make some lame excuse for why I haven't blogged in so long...
Only this time I'll actually tell the truth.

I just don't want to blog.
I have nothing to say.

However... tonight, as tired as I am, I feel that I should give at least an overview of the past little while.

December:
We had no groups at all in December... A few potentials, but they canceled out last minute.
It was pretty hard to keep our focus... to remember that we are here to serve God, no matter what that means.

I started to really get into Ice climbing. Rock is still better by far, but ice is a good winter alternative. It uses completely different muscles then rock climbing does, so it creates a good, new challenge to push through. Josh and Andrew came out for a few days before Christmas and I got to teach them how to ice climb... it was a blast.

Over Christmas I took 2 weeks off to go home. It was a really, really nice time. Nothing too crazy (except for a hike Rebekah and I went on... but I'll tell about that later.), so for the most part it felt relaxing, or at least that I was away from camp. After Christmas we (the family) went to Kelowna for a day, for our annual Goossen/Geddert Christmas get together. It was a riot. Everyone just kinds of builds off each other until it's like a mass of practical jokes, laughing hysterically, and ridiculous games. After that energizing visit we headed out to Vernon, to Fairhaven. Fairhaven is basically a retreat center for burnt out pastors and such, but they let us stay for a few days as a family. The property has a real sense of peace over it, so it was refreshing to just be there. Tim surprised me by coming a day early... in fact I had already gone to bed (to make the time pass a little faster :P ) All of a sudden all the lights are on and people are pulling at my blankets... it was ridiculous. It was such a huge blessing to have Tim there with my whole family. We had some really good times.

To be continued...

A Note

2008-12-26T09:52:00.000-08:00

to say Hi...

I'm sorry to say it, but lately my priorities just haven't included updating this blog. And now that I'm home for Christmas, and have a bit more time, all I can motivate myself to do is update the face of the blog.
I just have no writing inspiration.

So for now (until January 1st that is), if you want to know what's going on in my life, call me or go for coffee with me... preferably, go with the coffee option. :)

It's been REALLY good to see a lot of you again. I miss you when I'm gone.

Liz

"Smooth" Talking

2008-11-27T21:06:00.000-08:00

Well...
We caved.

It was one of those times when the pain of the punishment was great enough that I almost would go back in time and just... let the hair grow forever.

No, we did not make it to our goal of December 1st.
It was just too much to handle.
We looked like little boys... no, not even little boys, like grown men.

We got Tim to buy us waxing stuff (he was in town already, relax) and braced ourselves. I was the only one who had ever waxed before so I prepared Laura and Jojo for the pain.
Their facial expressions as we started were /priceless/... I've never laughed (or whimpered) that much.

We were all pretty pathetic about the whole process... but it's over and done now...

My legs are officially VERY smooth and hairless.
It's a beautiful feeling.

Hairy Scary

2008-11-17T19:30:00.000-08:00

Laura and I are having a competition right now.
We started two weeks in to October.
And we end on December first.
We're tied right now...
For two different reasons:

She is darker and thicker.
But I am longer.

*shudders*

Leg hair is gross.

All I want for Christmas...

2008-11-14T22:30:00.000-08:00

...is my one not quite front tooth back.

Yup.
I lost my tooth.
Not like lost lost it... cause I still have it.
But like it fell out of my gums lost it.

It was my fake tooth (hurrah for hockey injuries!).
Gradually for a few weeks it had been getting more and more wiggly,
And like any good kid I helped it right along by wiggling it whenever I had the chance.
I was kinda hoping to pull it out,
But no...
It had to just fall out while I was eating.

Now I look slightly like a pirate.
It's pretty sweet.

There's No Time Like the Present...

2008-11-10T19:36:00.000-08:00

Wow...
I guess it's been awhile, eh?

As we fade into winter here at Frontier Lodge our schedule slows down quite a bit. We've only had a few groups in the past 4 months. It's a nice change though, and it gives us time to catch up on other things that need to get done. For example:
-Digging up our lines to check for leaks and to bury them deeper for the winter chill
-Renovating/cleaning the garage so it's actually usable again
-Scouting for out-trips for upcoming groups
-Finishing the office renos
-Refinishing the dining room floor
-Planning and organizing all the music/worship binders (my project)

As for free time... we've started changing our focus to fall/winter activities. The rock is getting a little too cold to be climbing (though Tim and I have gone out a few times), so 6 of us starting practicing for some glacier travel. We hung ourselves off the deck, pulled each other up, ascended the ropes, and built anchors. After a few nights of practicing, Brad, Jess, Migges, Nicole, Tim and I headed out for a day of glacier play. We went to the Columbia Icefields and promptly found a crevasse to throw each other into. It was great. It was so awesome to be on a glacier for the first time ever.

I really am coming up blank with things to say... I waited too long to post. Now everything feels like old news, or I forgot the whole story.
Sorry.

With everything slowing down a bit, I get more time to invest in relationships; with my girls, with Tim, and most importantly, with God. It's been really nice.
God is so good. Every day He blesses me somehow. Every time I'm down, He's there.

Well, I'm signing off for now...
I'll try and get on here a little sooner next time.
Thanks for all your support and prayers, you all mean SO much to me. Seriously.

Grace and Peace.

A Call Out...

2008-10-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

Hey guys...

Would you all pray for me the next couple of days?
I know alot of you already pray for me, and for that I am SO thankful...
But I need an extra dose of prayer these days.

There is a load on my mind and a weight on my shoulders.
God is really teaching me alot about selflessness and about how selfish and immature I am.
It's a long and painful lesson.

I tend to base my emotions on how people treat me, what they say to me (or what they don't say), or on how full my "love cup" is.
(I think I kind of talked about this a bit before...)

The other thing I need prayer for, and maybe this is what is spurring on all the other things, is my relationship with God. I feel like I've come to a wall... not necessarily a brick wall, but a paper wall... one that is letting just a little bit of Light through, maybe a little bit of Sound.... but a wall none the less. It's preventing me from getting anything out of my devotions. Anytime I sit down to pray or read my Bible, the wall comes up.

Would you guys join with me in prayer that my walls would be broken and that my weights of selfishness would be lifted?
We serve a Great and Powerful God and He has promised that He will always be listening and answering prayers.
That being said, would you guys email me and tell me some things I can be praying for for you? I may be struggling a bit, but that doesn't mean I can't be praying on others behalf.

Grace and Peace to you all.

Liz

A Speedy Lesson

2008-10-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

Over the six months that I've been here at Frontier God has really taught me a lot of lessons.
Some I learn right away.
Some I have to surrender every day.
Some hurt.
Some are really beautiful.
Some take a few nudges to get my attention.
This one took a really long drive to learn.

Some of you may know this, some of you maybe not... but...
I like to drive fast.
Like I really, really like it.
It gives me a sense of freedom, power, and control...
And plus it's just stinkin' fun.

I know that speeding is wrong.
God has really been convicting me of this.
I obey the other rules the government has put in place...
Like, I don't steal,
I don't graffiti things,
I don't assault people,
I don't drive on the wrong side of the road.
I believe those are wrong.
So what gives me the right to think that speeding is ok?

I was really struggling with this whole issue.

But once you get into a habit of sin,
It becomes a habit hard to break.

So anyways.
I'm driving back to Frontier on Tuesday...
I'm doing really well,
You know,
Watching my speed and all...
Well, slowing I start to creep faster and faster.
I know inside that this is wrong,
But it feels so freeing.

Next thing I know:
I'm getting my very first speeding ticket.
Actually, it was my first time even being pulled over.
I always thought that the first time I got pulled over I would be really upset...
Well...
I started laughing.
God has such powerful ways of getting our attention.
I know I deserved the ticket.
I had been stupid.
The police officer was really nice.
Because I was so pleasant to him and recognized what I had done wrong,
He bumped it down to the lowest possible ticket he could.

While I was sitting there,
God brought some verses to mind.
It was a set of verses that I had been reading repeatedly for the past few days.
The verses are from Romans 6 (The Message) and are as follows:

When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did.

That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you've been raised from the dead!—into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God.

What Is True Freedom?

So, since we're out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we're free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!
I'm using this freedom language because it's easy to picture. You can readily recall, can't you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God's freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?

As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn't have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you're proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.

But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God's gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.

I was giving in to sin,
Thinking that it was giving me freedom...
When really,
All along, God was waiting with His Life giving Freedom.

The rest of the ride back to camp was pretty sweet.
I definitely drove the speed limit,
And God really blessed that.
The sunset was spectacular,
The moon was huge and full,
I had an awesome time of worship,
And when I got back I had awesome friends waiting impatiently for me.

Sometimes learning lessons costs more then we want,
But in the end,
The new Freedom and Life we get is FAR better, and worth so much more then money...

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

Here are the flowers I had waiting in my room from my amazing man.

There is no Try

2008-10-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

This week Nicole and I were scheduled to go scouting for an over night hike. It's good 3-4 day hike, that we were going to attempt to do in 2 days. We were a little wary of pushing for 2 days as the guide book says that "if you are very strong and very fast you can make this a 2 day hike, otherwise plan on at least 3 days". Well we left with skeptical minds and backpacks packed for up to three days. We got to the trailhead and it welcomed us with a light snow falling.
....... I just totally lost my train of thought.. So I'll just tell you the story with no frills.
We did the 3-4 day, 27 km hike in..... one freaking day!!!! Nicole and I hiked for 11 hours straight. We did that yesterday... today I hurt.

Nicole and I are machines, what can I say.

I may be Alive and Kicking,

2008-10-04T06:18:00.000-07:00

But the Deer sure isn't.

I have a long list of things to say and I'm gonna try and power through them so I don't get distracted. Here goes.

Hunger Pains
The last time I wrote I had just got back from hearing the discouraging news of all the things I couldn't/shouldn't eat right now...I figure I should let you know that I haven't died of starvation yet. According to the scale here, I have lost over 5 pounds, but I'm doing alright. God is really teaching me a lot through this. So since I've been back from the Chiropractor I've had a lot of salads and stir-frys. It's been pretty hard at times... not being able to eat what everyone else is eating. It takes a lot of time and energy (and money) to cook my own meals; none of which I have a lot of. I spend a lot of time being hungry, which is fine, it doesn't hurt to be hungry as lots of people are more hungry than I am for longer than I am. It's just been really draining for me. All I wanted was someone to take the time to care for me. You know how when you're sick, all you want is to be at home with mum and some chicken noodle soup? Yeah. I just wanted someone to baby me a bit. Of course no one here has the time to do that, and they've got their own hard times. I got pretty low. My energy level when way down. It just drained everything I had. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually I was shot. I ended up withdrawing a lot. Then one morning, after a particularly hard night, I was just starting my morning devotion with some prayer and BAM! God met me where I was. He reminded me through His Word, and through a book I've been trying to read, that I've been missing the whole point of everything. I was so wrapped up in my own "problems" that I pushed everyone away and put myself before them. My self-centeredness was what was draining me so bad. Bill Hybels writes a book about living beyond ourselves. In it he talks about how the way to peace, joy, and fulfillment is through following Jesus' example of servanthood. I had been so busy throwing myself a pity party that I was missing out on life. I had been putting my want of attention before the people that I really care about.
As soon as I understood what God was trying to say to me, it just clicked. Something in me changed... it's not going to be smooth sailing all the time though. This is something I'm going to have to surrender to God everyday...
Having a serving attitude is hard for me... but the Bible clearing states that to be a leader you have to be a servant. It's something God's been trying to teach me for a long time. It kinda stinks that I wouldn't listen until He took all my food away...

Ok, so I already got distracted... I keep thinking of things that need to be done.
Ag.

Taking a Fall
We're in full swing of the Fall season here at Frontier Lodge - our groups are becoming a little more spaced out, I had the privilege of programming for our last canoe trip of the year, and the sun is calling it quits by 19:30. (Sorry, I've taken a fancy to military time.) We've had some really nice days this week. It was like 25 out for a few of them. As much as I love the summer weather, every nice day we have reminds me how much closer we are to Winter. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to winter and to all the new sports I'll be able to learn... it's just that I'll always be a summer girl.

Since the end of the summer season we've had 5 or 6 groups in. They've all been a bit older (like grade 12 classes), and have come as pretty tight groups. This makes it hard to be able to hang out with them, or connect with them, unless you really put in a lot of effort. This is something that I'm working on. God has been revealing to me that I don't really have a heart for people anymore... it got lost somewhere along the way of Frontier becoming a "job", not a "ministry". (If you could be praying for me in this regard, that would be awesome!) God is good though. There was one day, while I was hosting a group, that I was just not feeling the love. All the students were really annoying, and the teachers were even worse... I started praying about it, and BAM! God filled me with His Love. For the rest of the day I was able to really love them and care for them. It was a huge lesson for me.

Of course, now that the groups are a little more sparse, we have time for the "fun stuff"... like camp work, scouting, preparing for next summer, cleaning... All stuff that has to be done, some stuff more fun then others. We've been working on redoing the Office for quite a while, and it's almost done. There's a Work Bee this weekend (starting today) and hopefully the Office, along with a list of other things , will get finished up.

Because I'm not the most skilled construction worker out there ( :P ), I'm not always on camp work. This week I got to go scouting with Darcy on some old quad trails. We were on bikes making sure the trails were still ridable, as they haven't been used for bikes in a few years. It was pretty darn amazing. It was a downhill ride that Darcy said was actually harder then our normal "hard" downhill trail. There was a few times where you're scared for your life... where the hill is so steep that you're leaning back so far that you're basically sitting on the rear tire, where you have to duck so low to miss a tree your teeth hit the handlebars, where the drop in front of you is so big you can't decide if you should bail before it or just try and survive it, where your adrenaline rush is so intense you shake for like 20 minutes after the ride is done. The whole ride wasn't like that though... there was two rather large hills we had to climb, and we had to climb them both twice. Ridiculous. They were hills I wouldn't want to hike up, let alone hike a downhill bike up. Every muscle in my body was raging... is still raging. I took one really nice fall when a tree totally took me out. It was across the trail, but looked small enough that it would just bend when I rode through it. It was a lot stronger then I anticipated. The result was a bruised funny bone (with numb fingers), a sore rear cheek, some blood on the arm, a goose egg of many colors on the knee, and a hurt pride.

You're such a deer... er... dear
I went hunting with Tim last night. It was the first time I've gone sitting. (As apposed to walking around the forest shooting squirr-er-targets...) We sat for about an hour and a half and saw only the rear ends of two White Tails. Just as the weather started getting a bit sketchy I saw something off in the distance. Tim couldn't see it, even through the scope, so he crept up to the top of the hill to look down. Where I was, I could only see him, not down the hill... which was fine. ( :P I wish I could have taken a picture... he was the epitome of all that is man. ) He stood there for a minute or two, just looking through the scope... then there was a shot... then silence... then four White Tails scattered. Tim called me over. He had dropped a good sized doe. His goal had been for at least a 4x4 buck, but the doe just kept coming closer and closer. When he shot it, it was only like 60 meters away.
So now there's this dead deer... The next step is pretty obvious. It has to be cleaned... and I don't mean it needs a bath.
I'll spare you the gory details, but I must say how proud I am of me. I didn't get squeamish at all. I even helped hold it while Tim pulled the guts out. It was actually really interesting to see all all the insides... cause you see lots of pictures for biology and stuff, but seeing it live is a different story.
Chuck had been hunting too, so by this time he had walked over to us. He and Tim tied it to a big stick and they carried it down to the road, while I was in charge of the backpacks and guns. We took it back to camp, hung it up in the quad shed, and they started skinning it. It's a long, but interesting process. The only time I got a bit grossed out was when they started sawing through the ribs with a hack saw. It sounds pretty nasty. After the skin, along with the head, was off, the boys started cutting the meat off and Jojo and I had a bit of fun with the head. The tongue was sticking out, so we pierced it was a nail... and then we were investigating it's mouth and eyes... both of which are really weird.
Haha, you should have seen us though... we looked about as redneck as you can get. Tim, Chuck, and I were sitting in the back of the truck, all geared up in camo, with guns between our legs, and the prize behind us...

This is the End
Well, this is officially the longest blog I've ever written... You're probably all asleep.
I have to run though... I'm picking up Laura from Red Deer today.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
Praying for you guys.

Grace and Peace,

Liz

Who Cut the Cheese?

2008-09-25T14:35:00.000-07:00

... It certainly wasn't me, that's for sure.
Why, you ask?

BECAUSE I CAN'T STINKING EAT CHEESE!!
...or any dairy for that matter...
...or wheat
...or beef
...or pork
...or chocolate
...or caffeine
...or any citrus fruits

*sign*
I'm gonna starve to death.

Ok, let me back up a bit.
My hives/rash/thing still hasn't really gone away. I started on a rice diet awhile ago (meaning I eat nothing but rice) and that seemed to be helping, leading to me strongly believing this is a food allergy.
But seriously... it is so itchy, I can't stand it. I have been getting like 2 hours of sleep a night, and none of the "stop itch" things have been working.
So Cindy (our mother figure here at camp) got concerned for me and did some calling around. She found this Chiropractor in Rocky that does natural allergy testing. So I called him up and got an appointment for this morning. I went in kind of skeptical cause I didn't know a lot about what he was going to do.
He ended up doing these like muscle test things... and it was weird, but he could tell things about me just by feeling certain muscles and stuff. In the end he told me I had an intolerance to the things above... so basically I get to eat rice and chicken.
Apparently, I can get rid of the intolerances by going in for regular chiropractic care. I looked it up on the internet and it seemed legit... we'll see though I guess...

For now, though....
It's the slim pickings for me.

Scratch.

2008-09-20T21:11:00.000-07:00

Ok,
I'm here because I need prayer again.
I'm having a bad reaction to something...
What, I don't yet know...
And I have hives all over me.
They get worse every day.
I went in to the emergency the other day,
Cause my throat was swelling up.
The doctor said it was probably something I ate.
Like either:
-Dairy
-Grains
-Fruit
-Food Dye
-Nuts
Well thanks.
That eliminates like sugar.

So I guess what I'm asking prayer for is:
-Perseverance to get through this without ripping my skin off
-Wisdom to know what to do (go in for allergy testing, try and test it out myself...)

Oh,
And neither Benadryl or Reactin work.

I feel like one big ball of itch.

I just want to say:

2008-09-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much for all your prayers and support!
It's people like you that help keep ministries like Frontier going.

I love you all!!!

Prayer Request:

2008-09-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

Please pray for the staff here at Frontier tomorrow (Sunday).
We are hosting the annual Wycliffe Adventure Race to 2025 again this year.
The days are LONG and busy, and after only one day we're all ready to call it quits.
Tomorrow we all have to get up at 5:30am to meet and then prepare breakfast and then go all day.
So yeah, prayer for energy, endurance, good attitudes, and Christ's Spirit would be SO amazing.

This is a huge opportunity for us to help further the Gospel across the earth, so maybe just prayer for that would be awesome too. That God would really bless this, and that the money raised would be wisely used and deeply effective.

To find out more about the Adventure Race I think www.wycliffe.ca might have some more info about it.

Thanks everyone!! You are all huge blessings in my life!

Not in a Hole Anymore...

2008-09-09T09:59:00.000-07:00

I suppose I should let you all know that I'm not still stuck in that hole that I dug...
It's now filled in and forgotten about.
Thank heavens.
...Of course my days of digging are far from over...

I'm very unmotivated to write these days...
So much has happened.

I'm at home right now.
Yup, I surprised my family and friends by just showing up at midnight on Saturday.
It was great.
Then on Sunday... everyones faces when they saw me.... priceless.

It was SO amazing to see everyone.
I went to church and to C&C, and we played soccer, and went for coffee...
It really made me miss being here.
At the same time though, it was really reaffirmed to me that Frontier is where God wants me.

But I need to go pack up and get ready to head back...
Hopefully I'll have time for more of an update later.

Love you all.

Liz

Ps. Please email me with stuff that I can be praying for you!!

Digging myself into a hole...

2008-08-16T18:17:00.000-07:00

I dug myself into a hole for 7 hours on Thursday.
Actually, it was a ditch.
3 feet deep.
2 feet wide.
It was 28 degrees out by lunch.
I think I lost like 10 pounds in sweat.

They've been working on this ditch for quite some time now, trying to get it ready to lay some power lines. It's pretty much done now... I was pretty determined to get the stinking thing done. They were making fun of me the whole time I was working cause I had to use a pick axe and a sledge hammer for parts of it. I said that by the time I was done I would be a man...
They agreed.

The ditch is almost done...
Thankfully, I am still a woman.

For He is my Rock...

2008-08-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

"I love you, Lord; you are my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety." Psalm 18:1-2

On Monday, after Fat Tire (Which went great by the way. Thanks for all your prayers!), 7 friends and I left for Lake Louis. We got there around 19:00 I think, set up camp at Mosquito Creek Campground, and spent the night singing worship songs and praying. It was so nice!
Tuesday morning came a little too early, but we were all up and ready to go by 9:00. We left for the "Back of the Lake" and an hour later were standing beneath beautiful quartzite rock, flipping through the guide book, trying to decide what to climb first. After some debate and backtracking we settled in for some awesome climbing and spent the next 10 hours in harness and helmet.
That night we lost 2 of our group members. They headed back for work the next day.
Wednesday we took a little more chill. We cleaned up camp, sorted out gear, and headed back to the "Back of the Lake" for another 8 hours of climbing. After a good, solid, challenging day 4 of us headed home. (Tim and Phil went in the opposite direction, towards the Bugaboos for a few more days of climbing and hiking.)

God is so Good.
He gives us strength and energy.
He lets us use and be in His amazing creation.
He blesses us daily with little blessings that often we miss.
He teaches us, stretches us, and molds us.
His Word is Good News.
His love is eternal.
His arm is strong.
God is so Good.

Fat Tire...

2008-08-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

So, I got a little distracted on that last post... I tried writing it in between work duties and that didn't really work all that well.

Last night started our yearly Fat Tire Festival. It's a biking festival with competitions, guided rides, games, and prizes. People stay here or at the campsite beside us, and join us for meals, activities and a church service tomorrow.
I was assigned to help out with the night ride last night. It started at 10pm and went for about an hour. Most people were pretty silly and didn't bring a headlamp, so it was quite amusing to be behind them, listened to all the noises. :P

Prayer:
-Energy for all the staff. These are long days with lots of people interaction.
-That all the little details would be worked out and that nothing would be forgotten.
-Church tomorrow. That people would be open to hearing about God, and that the message would be totally God-inspired. Also for Flo and I as we lead worship... for confidence and a spirit of worship.

Praise:
-That we get this awesome opportunity to witness to people with our lives.
-For the beautiful creation I am surrounded by, and that God lets us play in it and be a part of it.

Riding the Road...

2008-07-31T18:38:00.000-07:00

Greetings Ya’ll! (I get to say that, cause I’m in Redneck country :)

It’s crazy how fast time flies when you stop wearing a watch. I’ve been here at Frontier Lodge for 3 months already.
For those of you who don't know a lot about what I'm doing or where I am, here's a quick overview:

Frontier Lodge is located 5 minutes West of Nordegg, Alberta; two hours West of Red Deer, Alberta. It is a Wilderness Adventure Camp that “uses God’s Wilderness to Reach, Teach, and Train Youth and Adults for Jesus Christ”. We use God’s amazing creation to spiritually and physically challenge people out of their normal comfort zones, and into God’s life-long adventure. Some of the ways we do this include: rock climbing, rappelling, caving, mountain biking, canyoneering, and hiking. It is so encouraging to see how God can use these activities to move His people closer to Him. I am so honored and blessed to be a part of this.

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

Right now we've got our Mountain Bike Level 2 camp going on. They're some pretty awesome guys. I haven't really been involved with them at all, but it sounds like it's going pretty well. Today is their last day, so they head off in a few minutes to get their last rides in.

The part that I have been involved with is the campfires. When I first came into the week I was a bit hesitant about what the campfires would look like - specially the music... Cause you know, teenage guys, trying to look cool... but I was blown away. They were more active and into the songs and skits and stuff then any other group. It was AWESOME.
Migges has been talking about the "longest but best story ever"... basically going through the entire Bible in 5 nights, ending with Christ's death on the cross/resurrection and what that means for us. This week a few of guys realized their need for God and gave their lives to Him. Please pray with me that God would be real in these guys lives, and that this would not just be a "spiritual high", but an on-going relationship with God.

A New Day...

2008-07-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

As you can probably tell, my blog has had a bit of a change of face. I'd like to change its focus a bit too. Now that I'm here at Frontier Lodge for another year, I want this to be specifically for camp related stuff. I have a goal of keeping in better touch with you all personally this fall, so I'd like to save the "fun stuff" for letters/emails and such.

So yeah.
Welcome to the new day.

They are...

2008-07-26T12:52:00.000-07:00

...finally here!!!

Wahoo!
My family got here yesterday an hour and a half early, so they surprised me down by the beach... It was awesome.
I am SO happy to see them.

Last night Tim and I took them rappelling. Josh and Dad both really enjoyed it, so they went twice. Then we hooked Lanny and I up together and he gave it a valiant try. He got to the edge of the cliff with his butt hanging over and decided it was too much. I'm so glad he gave it a try though... it's a big challenge for most teenagers, let alone a 6 year old. So he did good.

Today we spent some time on our downhill bike course. Hit some wicked jumps. Heh. Lanny is a maniac and Josh is a man.
Then we went down to the beach, had a picnic and picked up some rays.

My family is such a blessing to me and I am so thankful for them.

Once Upon a Time...

2008-07-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

There was a girl named Liz.

Yes, that would be me.

I'm really hyper right now.

Being in the kitchen all day makes me crazy.

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

I owe you guys a bit of an update... like an actual update.
There are 2 big things that need to be updated.

The First:
I've been praying really hard about this, and challenging God to give me some clear guidance (I know, I shouldn't do that...); And He made it super clear to me by meeting all my challenges. So yeah, I just made a commitment to stay here at Frontier for a year. So I'll be here until the end of next August. I feel that God is really blessing this decision and is totally at the head of it.
My two big challenges now are to gain that next level of confidence in myself, and to start raising financial support. Please be in prayer with me for both of these.

The second thing that needs to be updated is actually a secret... so you don't get to know... But I will tell you that it's crazy exciting (at least for me) and I'm sure you'll find out soon enough... so HA.
:)

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

This picture is of Laura and I about to start our game of pure genius. Heh...
We were on wide game one night, and were both really tired of the regular games, so we decided to put a little twist on Capture the Flag. It's called Rescue the Princess and it still has a few details that need to be worked out... but the kids loved it... and it's pretty fun for the leaders too. :P
What happened is this:
Laura and I were the princesses (Obviously!) and our teams had to rescue us from the other side. It's basically all the same rules as Capture the Flag. The twist we added, though, was that Laura and I would be hiding somewhere visible in a wheelbarrow (With some head protection on - Safety first!). The kids had to find us and wheel us across to the other side. It was one of the funniest things ever. I just about died. The kids would be pushing me along, see an "enemy" and just drop me and run. It was great.
But like I said, we need to work out some details. When we played it, we ended up with me having to give a pep talk/lecture about respecting people physically and emotionally... But all in all, the game was a hit, and the kids wanted more!

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

Grace and Peace.

Liz

It's all "character building"...

2008-07-16T14:33:00.000-07:00

Romans 5:3-4
"We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation."

God has really been challenging me lately about my comfort zones. He's really been showing me just how caught up in them I get. It's so easy to just stay where I am and not want to step out into one of God's crazy adventures...
But God wants so much more for us. He calls us into an adventure with Him and it always requires us to step out of our comfort zones and follow Him.
It's been a hard and tiring lesson, and I know it's not over yet... but God is totally moving, and is so strong and powerful, I trust that His way is best....

...

2008-07-10T22:23:00.000-07:00

.............IT FREAKIN' SNOWED TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dancing the Days Away...

2008-07-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

I just want to say that God is so Good and that He is Powerful, Creative, and Merciful... and I am SO thankful that He desires a relationship with pitiful me.

Starting at a Run...

2008-06-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well, summer staff training is over and done with. I didn't have to be there for much of it, cause I'm already a pro. :P
Not much to say about it... When I wasn't in training (which was a lot of the time), I was on camp work. Great fun. We finally finished building the basement that has been a year long project. Everyone was very excited. It meant that Brad and Jess could move out of their mobile home into the basement, which meant that Migges could move out of the girls basement into the mobile home, which meant that the 2 extra girls upstairs could finally move downstairs. Heh.

This weekend was a good'er. We finally got some sweet weather... like 30 degrees yesterday. Leah and I spent from 10:30am-2:00pm outside, sitting on the dock. It was great. I got a pretty sweet burn on my legs, but that's it. Then Leah, Steve, and I went into Rocky to get Slurpees and some groceries.
Today I decided not to go to Church, cause it was already 25 degrees out by 10:45am... Steve and I hung out at the beach for a bit. Did my devotions, and helped Steve out with some homework he has that's long overdue.

And now I have to go prepare myself physically, mentally, and spiritually for the upcoming week. I am cabin leading right away today for the Senior High Wilderness camp. I'm super excited, but also really nervous as well. A lot of the girls coming are regulars here, so I am a bit intimidated by their high expectations. But God is really exciting and energizing me so I have faith that He will work everything out.

Praise:
-The Beautiful weather.
-A God who fills me with Love, Joy, and Passion.
-That God cares so much about us that He gives us the desires of our hearts.

Prayer:
-For the campers who come this week: that God would really work in their lives.
-For energy, wisdom, and patience for me for the campers.
-That God would work in my life and that I would fall more and more in love with Him everyday.

Chasing Daylight

2008-06-25T21:45:00.000-07:00

"You were born to live a great adventure;
You were created with a divine destiny;
You are called to fulfill a great mission.
You were designed for a unique purpose.
Now you are called to live it out."

"Jesus Christ has come to free us from a meaningless existence and liberate us to a life filled with adventure.
He has come to lead us out of the mundane and into the extraordinary."

"His promise it that in Him we will find the life our hearts have always longed for."

-Chasing Daylight by Erwin McManus

These quotes stand out to me every time I read this book. They are right at the beginning, so every time, I start back at the beginning just so I can read them.

I think they stand out so much because, my heart really does long for adventure. It longs for a life so deep in God that a radical, liberated, energized adventure is the only possible road to take.

But yeah.

I guess this is more of a spiritual update than anything.

Adventure may be what I long for, but the devil sure has fun telling me how hard, discouraging, and lonely it will be. I've been feeling really attack lately. Like Satan is trying to pull me back under.
It's hard finding balance here. We're always feeding others, giving our time, energy, and love. And then when it comes time to feed myself, I feel too tired or discouraged to get into the Word, or too distracted to pray.

I've really been struggling with what my faith looks like for me. You know, you can see other peoples faith and how they act, communicate with God, grow and stuff... but when it comes to me... I have such a hard time personalizing it, or even defining it.

God is everything to me. Without Him I would be a piece of poo.

I can say that. And mean it. But how does that change how I act, communicate with God, or grow?

We are reading through Romans right now as a Bible Study group and today we read Romans 4. Up to now the topic that has obviously been surfacing is Faith. But I've always had the same questions and doubts about my own faith. Until today. Here's the verses that really hit me:

"Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.

Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous."

And it was like - this is what my faith should look like. Not some blind optimism, but a realistic, practical faith. Abraham knew that physically it wasn't possible for them to have a child, but he had such a deep faith in God, that the only possible road was to trust that God is able to do whatever He promises.

I have no idea if any of this is even making sense...

But it's way past my bedtime so some quick prayer requests and praise items.

Praise:
-That we serve a God who will never leave or forsake us, no matter how much our faith wavers or how many doubts we have.
-That we are invited to live in God's great adventure.
-For the camps we've already had (safety, great times, God's Word spread).
-For my housemates here. The encouragement they are, and how we're growing together towards Christ.
-Summer!!

Prayer:
-Energy, wisdom, and love for campers.
-That my faith would really become real to me.
-For my future as I decide what to do... that God would be at the head of me decisions.
-For the campers who are going to come to camp. That God would be working in their hearts even now.

I love you all!!!!!!!!

Grace and Peace.

Liz

Whaddya 'Merican?

2008-06-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

Hey Ya'll.

(Try to imagine me telling you this with an American accent)

It only takes a week of Americans to go from saying "God" to saying "Gad".
Heh.

I just got off from hosting a youth group of 50 from Colorado. They were here for a week. Most groups only stay for like 2-3 days, so it was nice to actually be able to get to know the kids. I am SO tired though. Hosting a group is pretty hard, cause you have to get up when they get up, and go to bed when they go to bed, plus hang out with them during the day. It drains ya pretty good.... but is so much fun.
This group was such an encouragement to me. They were all so open and honest about their faith. Every night they would have a "fireside" where 4-5 people would share testimonies, we would sing worhsip, and do a devo... it was intense. God was present and really moved in our lives. The kids had such a heart for Him... their passion and longing to know God better was a challenge to me to get my act together.

This week taught me a bit about flexability as well. We had to play every day by ear. It rained just about everyday... it was ridiculous. The first day we had some regular activities (biking, rockclimbing, rappeling, traversing). The next day the weather sucked so we had a work day. (to save money, every year this group does a day of camp work... it's a cool idea.) I was in charge of "brushing" - forest clean up basically. It was a pretty boring job, but I found out that with a bit of competition and a prize, you can get anything done. It turned out really fun. Day three was rainy again, so we went on a hike with the whole group. It was cold, foggy, and wet... but I think everyone had fun. The weather was a bit nicer on day four so we did our regular activities. I was on moutain biking. Because of the rain, the trail we were on was almost half in the water. It was great. There was a few of us in the back of the group that fell off our bikes more then we stayed on. At one point I just about peed my pants I was laughing so hard. :) Yesturday was their last day of programming and I was on canoeing. The day started out beautiful, so our hopes were high.... then one of the canoes tipped before we even left the put in spot, then we had to get out of the water 2 extra times because of lightening, then it started hailing (!! the second time I've gone canoeing and it has hailed. Stupid.), so we were like an hour late. But whatever, we had some good laughs. Then today they had to leave early, so on my day off I had to get up at 5 to help make breakfast. Last night we (Phil, Leah, and I) had the brilliant idea to do a polar bear swim to wake ourselves up... well, this morning when we woke up I'm pretty sure there was frost and when I looked at the temp later it wasn't even 0c . So, we met down at the lake. It was beautiful... there was a thin layer of fog and the sky was starting to turn a purpleish blue. But all we were thinking at the time was that this was the worst decision we had ever made. I was perfectly awake, and had no need to do this. But we had come this far... so we just went for it. It was cold. Period. After that we made breakfast and said our goodbyes. And now I have 2 days off. (!!)

Last weekend 4 of the guys and I went in to town (that was supposed to sound really exciting... but somehow I don't think you will think it does...) Anyways, we don't get into town much. Got some serious stuff done, got some silly stuff done, acted like kids, and just had a good time... then one of the guys (Tim) told us about this long cable across the North Sask River he had seen and we decided to traverse across it. So we grabbed our climbing harnesses and some other gear and headed over. [For those of you who don't know much about traversing, there's a few different ways of doing it: Traversing is basically getting from one side of something to the other. Traversing with a rope involves either hanging hand over hand (like monkey bars) across, "crawling" upside down across (Holding on with your hands and feet), or else trying to slack line across (which is basically tightroping it) ] We did a combo of slack lining and "crawling". It was so much fun.... but SO tiring. My fear of heights was a bit hard to get over, but when 4 guys are there pressuring and watching you... you just pretend everythings great. :P Actually, I was a big baby in front of them... whatever...

Well, the sun is actually out today, so I'm gonna go get some rays.

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Grace and Peace,

Liz

Not Looking Back...

2008-05-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

Wow,
I can't believe I've been here for over 3 weeks.
Time has gone by SO quickly.

Thought I'd give you all a quick update since it's been awhile...

So far the camp groups have been awesome! We've only had school groups so far, so it's been neat to be able to "get into the schools" around Alberta.
I've been doing a lot of programming - though mostly climbing/rappeling, and canoeing. My muscles ache every night. I love being so tired that I just fall into bed.
I've got a sunglasses tan that could rival any... speaking of sun: last week we had a full 9 hours of snow!!! Like I'm talking over a foot of snow. We had a pretty sweet snowball fight, but I was tired of it after hour number 2. Heh. Now, the snow is all gone and we've been having +25 days, with not a cloud in sight. It's beautiful!!

In other news:
-One of the guys here just got a gun (a 12 gauge), so he took another guy and me out to shoot it. So cool!! We used skeets (sp?), which are clay disks that you through in the air to practice for duck hunting. Out of 8 rounds I shot, I hit 2... so I still have some practicing to do, but considering they were moving targets with a gun that weighs as much as I do, I was pretty proud.
-Also!! I got my hands on motorbike!!! It felt SOOOO good to ride again. I still remembered how to ride too, so I didn't make a fool of myself. :P
-The mud around here is amazing as well, and Rhonda (my house mate) and I had a huge! mud fight... we were covered head to toe... including up the nose, in the ears, and in the teeth. We had a blast.

Everyday God challenges me in a new way. He strengthens me, guides me, and teaches me...
I love it here.

Gotta go to Church though....
Loves you all!

One Life...

2008-05-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

Well, no matter how much patience I have, I just can't seem to get any pictures up...
I'm pretty mad.

Oh well.

So, training is officially done.
In fact, today was my first day of "programming".
But let me back up a bit.
On Wednesday we had our Rockclimbing training,
Thursday was Biking. It was a blast. We did a bit of downhill - definitely some adrenaline there.

Then Friday was our Canoeing training. One of the important things we had to learn was how to "self rescue". That means that when/if you tip you need to be able to get yourself, two paddles, your canoeing partner, and the canoe safely to the side of the river. Learning how to do this requires you to actual tip. So we were forewarned that the training would involve tipping... well what you need to understand about tipping in the North Saskatchewan River this time of the year is that there are still 2 meter high ice/snow walls on the river sides. I couldn't breathe.
But it was actually a pretty good day. There were some nice little rapids that we made it through fine, and in the end had to tip on purpose.

Saturday was kinda a day off, except that I got asked if I wanted to go on a half for fun half for work canoe trip. They had to scout out a lower part of the North Sask River for an upcoming group. Of course I said yes. (If any of the Goossens are reading this these names are for you: "Sonders" "Devil's Elbow" "Briarlys" - do you recognize any of them? And did you go over any of them?) This time I was forewarned that the rapids were quite a lot bigger and harder and that there was a chance I would tip again (though this time at least by accident)... Not gonna lie, it was an intense day. We were on the river for like 5 1/2 hours, the rapids were huge, and my arms hurt so bad. But! We made it all the way without tipping and! My canoeing partner (Migges) and I surfed on a wave!! Oh boy... it was a rush.

Today, as I said before, was my first day of programming. We've got a group of 16 in right now. Pretty small group, but good for our first of the season. I was on Climbing today, which meant that I spent almost 5 hours belaying kids up and down the cliff. It was fun though... it's a good group.

The next two days I'm on canoeing...

I'm so beat though.... I gotta hit the hay.

loves you all.

Where Mountain Peaks are Tall, and the Sky is Blue...

2008-04-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

Here I am.
Frontier Lodge.
A Wilderness Adventure.
Christ Centered Outdoor Education.

So far so good.
The weather has been amazing.
The training has been long and tiring.
I love it.

I don't really have a lot of time but to give you some quick highlights:
-Snow.
-First outdoor rockclimb!!!
-Lots of hiking.
-Knot tieing (love it).
-Only one other girl.
-Spiritual growth already.

Some prayer requests:
-Courage and Boldness to share my faith.
-An unconditional Love for everyone.
-ENERGY.
-(This one I'm cautious to mention because I don't want it to seem like I'm asking for it... cause I'm not... but ..yeah) Pray that I would trust God for finances for equipment that I need. (again, I am NOT asking for money... I want God to provide in His own way)

I love you all so much and miss you already!!!

Please, Please, Please email me.
I know I won't always reply back, but yeah.

Loves you.

The Adventure Begins...

2008-04-24T07:04:00.000-07:00

My AMAZING friends and family:

My journey has begun.

We drove to Canmore last night (got here at like 12:30).

There's snow.

Stupid.

The closer I get, the more excited I get.

And yet...

A part of me is torn apart at the thought of not being with you guys for another 5 months.

You guys are the most amazing friends EVER.

I LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU ALREADY!

Well,

I gotta run,

The other half of our journey is before us.

Funny story though:

My parents are taking $100 off my loan for every month that I don't talk about boys.

It came and went...

2008-04-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

K wow.

I have the most AMAZING friends/family EVER.

Seriously.

The 15th was my birthday.

I had a pretty busy week so I just planned a small "party" with 4 other girls, on the 14th.

It was a blast!

We basically played dress-up the whole time:

-went to Value Village

-bought our dinner clothes (a farmer, a "punk", an 80's mom, a "prom queen", and a leathermen)

-went out for dessert

-wents to Behns

-scared them all speachless

-took tons of pictures

(Here's a few of my favs from the night)

Then, on the 15th my mum told me not to plan anything because it was going to be our family party. Fair enough. So we went to Eastside Marios and had a nice little family dinner. After I got my free dessert we decided to head home. As we were driving up the hill I noticed a lot of cars and was like "wow, someone must be having a party". I walked in the house and right away noticed something out of place, Rebekah's camera sitting on the ledge. I barely had time to think about it though, cause right at that moment like 100 people jumped out and yelled suprise! Haha, was I ever suprised. I had no idea! Wow. Well, after peeing my pants and trying to run away, the party started. We played games and stuff... it was really fun.

THANK YOU to everyone who came! THANK YOU to everyone for the money and gifts! You guys are AMAZING and I LOVE YOU!!!!

...Or so they say...

2008-04-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

The phone rang today.

I didn't answer it.

My mum did.

It was for me.

It was a man.

I was scared.

Haha.

It was Frontier Lodge.

They "would love to have me come." (!) So yeah, I guess I'm pretty happy about it. Kinda nervous though.

New experiences, new trials, new growth...

I leave on the weekend of the 25th (April) and get back in either August or September. They were pretty pumped that I was willing to stay longer then just the normal "summer season". So for now I've commited to the end of August with a "play it by ear" for September and an invite to stay forever. Heh. We'll see. Actually I'm starting to get really excited... it'll be hard to leave here and maybe hard to be there, but I really feel God blessing this whole experience. So yeah...

Some pictographs to express our/my feelings:

Us waiting and waiting for the phone call ----^

Sad to hear that I'm leaving ----^

Us being us, because that's all we'll ever be, whether I'm here or not----^

I LOVE YOU ALL HEAPS AND HEAPS!!

He will find me...

2008-04-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

So, my little stocker boy has resurfaced... He sent me the postcard (pictured above) telling me about the cruise he just went on, and how he wished I was there. *shiver*

To quote Starwars - "I just can't shake 'im!"

Lanny Day

2008-04-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

Yesturday we celebrated Lanny Day - The day that Lanny became part of our family 4 years ago. (If you happen to read Josh's blog, he got a few details mixed up... but that's alright... we only figured everything out after he had written it.)

We started doing foster care for Lanny a week after he turned one. We were doing full time care, so he was with us 24/7. Of course we fell in love with him right away. And of course his first words were "Scores!" and "Shoots".

But yeah, without getting all sappy and stuff... Lanny has added a lot of Joy and Laughter to our family as well as Noise and Energy. I don't know what we would do without him.

We love him to pieces!!

Petals, Eggs, and Sunshine Rays

2008-03-25T14:32:00.000-07:00

I can't even explain how much these few days of bright blue skies mean to me... Seriously, as Winter fades in to Spring, it's like something inside me changes with it.

Hmm... I got distracted there for a minute, and now I don't remember anything I was going to say. Oh well.

The Phone That Never Rang.

2008-03-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

So basically, the title and picture have nothing to do with anything.

I finally finished my application for Frontier Lodge. Yes, I know, it took long enough. Now all I can do is hope that my references filled out their forms, hope they said nice things about me, and wait. I was kinda nervous before... but now I'm not really... cause you know, I could go either way. Stay here, or go there. Both would present challenges and both would reap rewards. The interesting thing is... for the first time in many moons I am not feeling restless to get out of Kamloops. Like I would actually be ok if God called me to stay here a bit longer. Hmm... I guess it's up to Him though.

I don't really have all that much to say... feels like besides applying for camp, nothing has really been going on. Well... there's lots going on in my head, but nothing that I could describe (or that you would even want to hear about anyway).

Um. Wow. K, as I was typing I got an email from an unknown sender, so I checked it out and.... well you can read it yourself:

"Hey Liz,

thanks for faxing your application to us. We are really excited that you are applying for spring/summer program staff. My name is Migges (oficially Michael) and I am in charge of hiring staff. I am German and came over two years ago. Just that you know who you are dealing with.

How have you heard about us? I don't want to brag about this ministry but God is doing some really cool things here at the moment. Right now we are building three new cabins, our camps are growing, we get more staff (my goal is to make it really international!) and we are excited for what God is going to do in the future. And your application is a real answer to prayer because we are usually a litlle short on female staff :-) It is looking much better for this year. We just hired a girl for the summer just half an hour ago.

We would liek to have an interview with you a.s.a.p. so it would be great if we could get the references in quickly. Maybe you can remind the people doing it for you not to wait for too long. They can also fax their references. Your criminal reference check.

By the way, I grew up with the Torchbearer movement. My parents were on the board of Bodenseehof in Germany, and I went to Bibleschool there. They are having an awesome ministry an have impacted the entire world over the last decades.

Hope to hear from you soon. In Christ,

Migges

Michael Koenig
Assisant Director/Discipleship Pastor

Frontier Lodge
Box 1
Nordegg, AB
Canada

phone: +1 (403) 721-2202 ext.125
fax: +1 (403) 721-2204
mail: miggesk@frontierlodge.ca

"Using God's Wilderness to Reach, Teach and Train Youth and Adults for Jesus Christ."

I just officially got really nervous.

Ag.

But I do have to head off to work now so... later days I guess.

2008-03-03T10:55:00.000-08:00

So I was reading my mothers blog and she was saying that she would be giving an update on me next... and I was like... what the heck, shouldn't I be the one giving the updates? And what could she possibly have to update that most people wouldn't know yet? Heh. But then I realized that I haven't really written a post in a while about what I'm doing and how I'm doing and stuff like that... so yeah. This will be it. I think.

.............................................................................................

Yesterday we ("young people" from VV Church) went on a hike up at Red Bluff (is it actually called that, or do we just call it that?). The beginning was pretty hard I have to admit... but then again, apparently I'm a pretty big wimp. I had a lot of fun though, and I think we have plans for an over-night trip up there (maybe involving paintballs and war tactics!!) The weather was perfect for a hike, though we weren't really expecting there to be as much snow as there was.

We looked like a little army invasion or something.

The View

Josh being his normal self

Kelsey, Beautiful as always

The Group

The Beautiful Day

.................................................................................................

But as for updates guys... er, pardon me... ladies and gentlemen (*), I don't have much to offer except for a bit of not so happy stuff that only a few people know.

Basically, the short story is:

I've been pretty low for the last month or so- unmotivated, unenergetic, unhappy, dissatisfied, confused, hypocritical... and all that "good stuff". Of course getting rejected from CBC didn't help and then on Saturday I got another blow to the already low self image. My boss at Coast Mountain pulled me aside and basically said that I sucked at selling (which I already knew) and that when I came to work next week I needed to come with a "different attitude"... which I really didn't understand, cause I go to work everyday with a cheerful and open attitude. So maybe I'm supposed to go with an aggressive and competitive attitude. And then he sent me home early. So basically now I feel like an academic failure as well as a occupational failure.

In other news... an opportunity has come up for me. Actually it has resurfaced. My dad had sent me a link for a camp a few years ago when they needed some help and though I looked into it, it wasn't really the thing for me at the time. Well randomly a few days ago I started thinking about this camp again... but I couldn't even remember what it was called. I searched for like 2 hours on the internet trying to find out about it, but couldn't find it anywhere. Finally I had little nudge in the back of my mind to check my mums email. I did, and I found a folder she had been saving for me. In the folder was the email from my dad with the link in it! I checked it out and they are looking for spring/summer program staff. It's a pretty sweet camp from the looks of it, and is totally up my ally. (Check it out: http://www.frontierlodge.ca/index.html ) I've printed off the application form and am slowing working through it. It's hard though, cause part of me wants to stay in Kamloops and settle down... but the other half is screaming for adventure, new things, and new places. I don't really feel a particular call to Kamloops though. I will, however, keep looking into all my options and if that involves staying here for a bit longer, so be it.

Well, now I think you've had a bit of an update... but if you want to know more definatly/obviously let me know...

(*) Apparently (according to a "Dear Abby" article) I'm not supposed to call a mixed group of people "guys", I'm sposed to say "ladies and gentlemen" or "guys and gals". I looked it up though, and dictionary.com says that "guys" used informally is "persons of either sex; people."

Just one of those Days

2008-02-29T22:14:00.000-08:00

I'm in a bad mood today.
I just wanted to let you all know that.
Not that you knowing changes anything.
I just feel like screaming
and crying
and punching something
or someone.

mndckm rjm8 y5893 4894gbqw38 9345y21# @%^&7yRGWR#$gtu7 y564h#$^yud gaedg

Ag.

I'm leaving.

Personally Made...

2008-02-27T22:17:00.000-08:00

This is kind of inspired by one Jill did a while back... but I liked it... so here it is.

Liz Geddert
ESTJ, Overseer, Protector, Kinesthetic, Musical
Primary Funstion: Extraverted Thinking
Population: 11% (13.5% Male, 8.5% Female)

ESTJ - The "Overseer"
ESTJs are responsible, logical, norm-following hard workers. Their efforts are carried out in a practical, structured manner. ESTJs trust facts and experiences more than theories. They are decisive, loyal, tradition observing individuals. They enjoy being the person in charge and often make good supervisors.

Extraverted Thinking Function
Thinking people make decisions based on logic, so the Extraverted thinking function allows a person to organize and categorize things, thoughts or arguments. It is the ability to see the logical consequences of actions. It follows sequence and organization.

SJ Temperament - The "Protectors"
SJs are observant, stable and motivated by a need to maintain security. They are realistic, routinized administrators requiring tasks be completed correctly and that people behave appropriately. SJs make thorough examinations to ensure everything is done according to plan. They make sure no more and no less credit is given than due. When a need arises, they are quick to provide a solution, provided that the need is justified. SJs are not driven by impulse, but rather by concrete fact. By virtue of their reliable, diligent, industrious, persevering nature, they make excellent leaders.

Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence
People with Kinesthetic intelligence love movement. They enjoy sports and/or dance. They are good at building things and like to stay active. They have good motor skills and are very aware of their bodies. They learn best through movement and experimentation.
Common Characteristics:
-Learns by "doing"
-Would rather touch than just look
-Well-coordinated withgood motor skills
-Likes figuring out how things work
-Enjoys the outdoors
-Likes to work with hands
-Can't sit still for too long
-Enjoys sports and exhilarating experiences
-Likes to be active
-Has a lot of physical energy
-Athletic

Musical Intelligence
People with musical intelligence love music. They appreciate rhythm and composition. They are gifted with the ability to compose, sing and/or play instrument(s). Able to recognize sounds, tones and rhythm, they have a "good ear" for music. They learn best through lectures and often use rhythm and music as a way to memorize things.
Common Characteristics:
-Have good rythm
-Can easily memorize songs
-Notice and enjoy different sounds
-Often singing, whisling or tapping a song
-Talented with an instrument or singing
-Can tell when a note is off-key
-Often have a song running through their head
-Have an unquenchable passion for music

Interpersonal Intelligence
People with Interpersonal intelligence are good with people and thrive in social interactions. They are good at reading, empathize and understanding others. They are good at working with others and have many friends. They learn best through interaction and dialogue.
Common Characteristics:
-Empathetic
-Extraverted
-Enjoy social events
-Love groups and crowds
-Enjoying teaching others
-Have many friends
-Enjoy team sports
-Like to counsel others
-Love meeting new people
-Cooperative in groups
-Sensitive to others' moods

The Two Things I Love the Most...

2008-02-22T16:06:00.000-08:00

My two biggest loves this Friday are:

1. Chinese Noodle Soup of course!!

2. A new Journal!

I wish I could understand my love for new journals and blank pages... there's something inspiring about the potential they have I guess...

Haha... I just realized that in that picture you can actually read a bit of what I wrote... oops. Just don't try too hard to figure out what it says...

Tears and a Rant...

2008-02-19T18:33:00.000-08:00

Quest: a year long "Adventure Discipleship" course at Columbia Bible College.
I've been wanting to do this course since forever. A course that lets me learn where I love to be - outside. I started the application process like 2 months ago, finally got it finished about 8 days ago, and got told I would be contacted in 1 - 2 weeks about acceptance. Basically, from what I've heard, it's pretty hard to NOT get accepted...

I got the phone call today.

I'm not accepted.

Want to know why?
Actually I don't care if you want to know why or not, I'm going to tell you, because I am PISSED. (Yes mum, if you read this, I said a bad word. :P) I didn't get accepted because I AM A HOMESCHOOLER!!!! Basically because I don't have "English 11 or 12" and only did 6 months at Capernwray. She told me to take a course or 2 at TRU and try again next year. I hung up the phone and spent the next 10 minutes bawling in my room... another dream down the drain.

I told my parents and they weren't very impressed either. They said they would try and get ahold of some people and see what was going on. I guess technically CBC can't reject me because I'm a homeschooler... they need to at least do an English proficancy test.

But yeah, I'm in a bad mood now so I'm leaving and not thinking about it for awhile......

Climbing the 2020 Summit...

2008-02-18T15:09:00.000-08:00

Hmm... so I started this with a good plan for what I would write... but I just totally forgot everything I was going to say.
Maybe it's cause I'm watching Bones right now. (Probably the best show EVER).

Ok. So.
I just got back from 4 days in Canmore. No, I did not get to go skiing... quite the opposite in fact. I spent all 4 days indoors, sitting through seminars and group sessions. I was there for the 2020 Summit, a conference put on by the Baptist Conference of Canada for "emerging leaders in the church". I didn't really think it was very leader specific, but still an awesome chance for young adults to grow and learn together.

I was there for 4 group devotional and/or worship times, and got to pick 3 seminars to go to. The 3 I picked were: The Big Career and Calling-Discerning God's Will, Talking the Jesus Story, and Earth Crammed with Heaven-God, Culture, and You. The 2 group sessions were on "Personal Style Inventory" (personality types) and Spiritual Gifts.

So:

Devo #1 - Mark 4:35-41
*When we follow Christ, He will lead us into storms.
*God shows up in the storms.
*Our tendancy is to doubt the goodness of God when storms come.
*We find peace not in the absence of storms, but in the presence of Christ.

Devo #2 - Matthew 5:1-16
*Side notes: some writers/theologians think that the Beattitudes were written more as "congratulations" then a list of "rules". As in "Congratulations to you people before me with pure hearts, you will see God".
*God is offering us a life of impact.
*We are to live a life radically different then the world we live in - the tamer we become, the less influence we have.
*How?
*"We are the salt of the earth" - we are to bring the flavor out of life, to make it better, preserve it. We are to be rubbed in the wounds of our broken society, to heal it.
"We are the light of the world" - we are to help lead the way, to live a life that when people look at us, they will know where to go. We can't shine our light in their eyes though, we must go along side them so they can see the way.
*Emphasis on showing, not telling.
*Am I ready to trade my ordinary life for the "extreme" life God offers?

Discerning God's Will -
1. God's will is not so much about the unknown future as it is about the present tense.
*God's will for us is in the present and:
-it will probably be vague
-it will probably not reveal the ending
**The best way to ensure that I am where God wants me to be tomorrow or years from now is to follow God today and focus on the present.
*Have I been obedient to following God TODAY?
2. God's will is not so much about me as it is about God.
*"Not what I will, but what you will"
**Sometimes God takes away our dreams because He has something bigger and better.
3. God's will is not so much a target to hit or a closed container to fit into as it is a personal, life-long, adventurous relationship.
*"Life is like a journey":
-the final destination is fixed and determined (though we might not know what it is)
-the route getting there is as different as each person
-each journey has its share of hardships and adventures
-any journey requires a day to day commitment
-any adventure worth its while requires an experienced travel guide
4. God's will is not something that is fixed and inflexible; rather it is flexible and fluid and encompasses our failures.

That one was definatly the best of the ones I went to.

Personal Style Indicator -
Though this was a test that I'd never seen before, I still "scored" a description like what I normally get. I scored high in "Behavioral" (Action) and "Affective" (Expression) which leads to the following description:
Behavioral action and expressive tendencies are both high in this personal style pattern. These types of people are energetic, confident, and willing to explore new ways of improving things. There is often a mixed reaction to these individuals. On one hand, their energy, optimistic attitude, wordiness, and fortitude impress others, but their drive to get results might interfere with others' feeling comfortable with them. There is often a need for people with this pattern to work on balancing their result orientation with more consideration for human relations. Others are attracted to them and fascinated by them, but can feel intimidated by their high energy and unusual creativity. People with this pattern can exhaust themselves with their own energy.
(Give me some feed-back on this guys... does it sound like me? How am I different/the same?)

Spiritual Gifts -
This one was interesting for me cause, though I kind of had an idea what mine might be, I had never taken a spiritual giftings "test". It was interesting as well that, as you will see, my "gifts" really go along with my personality... all except for one. A quote that the speaker said really encouraged me - "Sometimes our gifts are meant only to be used within the bounds of the Church/Ministry". And I'll come back to that in a sec.
The following are my 5 gifts in order of highest to lowest scoring (the highest you can get is a 12):
1. Leadership (12) (confidence to step forward, give direction, and provide motivation)
2. Administration (11) (formulate, direct, and carry out plans)
3. Musical - vocal/instrument (11) (express faith, provide inspiration and comfort)
4. Pastoring (9) (the confidence, capability, and compassion to provide spiritual leadership and direction)
5. Wisdom (9) (sort through opinions, facts and thoughts in order to determine a solution)
The 2 places I'm definatly not gifted in are writing (3) and service (3).
But back to that quote. I have always felt like my musical skills were different/"lacking" somehow... cause no matter how long I would practice for, the only things that ever made sense were chords and worship songs. I would think to myself "well I guess the only thing I'm good for is playing accustic on the church music team"... but now it's more like yeah! That's how God has gifted me. My music is not meant to go past the Church, it was meant for the Church.

So yeah...
That's all I can really think of right now... I think this is the longest post I've ever done......
Let me know what you think.

And so my heart feels...

2008-02-07T20:30:00.000-08:00

doubt.
loneliness.
fear.
love.
anticipation.
anger.
remorse.

at loss for words.
fearing the future.
feeling lost.
laughing at myself.
confused why.

so many decisions.
so many doors.
everyone but me knowing how my life should be.

Papa God is present.
he's not talking.
waiting.

humbled i come.
surrendered i fall.
before Him.

He is present in this mess of my life.
i'm stuck.
unmoving in my stupidity.
He stands by.
and waits.

through all the questions,
mistakes,
dead-ends,
and lies,
He has been there for me.
sometimes i ignore Him.
sometimes i run to Him.
but always He waits.

tears.
a heart that's breaking.
a passion that's growing.
a love that's pulsing.

so long with no feelings.
so long with no emotions.
invasion.
He enters in.
He loves me into His arms.
and so my heart feels...

A lesson failed, a lesson learned.

2008-01-28T22:11:00.000-08:00

[written in my journal as it happened]

I'm sitting here in Tim Hortons, all alone.
I came here to think, to get away from the crowds.

As I sit, a tall handsome guy stands in line. Beside him slouches what looks to be a homeless man- overgrown beard, unclean smell, ragged clothes. Instantly my mind begins to prejudge.
"What's he doing in here?" "Probably one of those guys who comes in here 20 times a day to get a cup of water" "I wonder how many times he's been kicked out of here" I see him look longingly at the donuts and I wonder for a second when he last had a treat like that.

I turn my attention to the "handsome guy". He stands tall, like he's sure of himself. Blonde hair pokes out from some name brand hat. He's adorned in other name brand clothing and his blue eyes sparkle with a mischievous and flirtatious glow. "One of those guys eh" "He probably has some hot girlfriend, who he lives with, and - "

My thoughts and judgements are interrupted by the cashiers firm voice.
"Um excuse me," She's looking directly at the scruffy man. You can tell what's coming. He's definatly not supposed to be here. He looks unsure for a moment, but then the young man breaks in.
"Actually, he's with me."

I can't help but staring now. I watch as my lesson of the day (or maybe year?) unfolds. The young man buys the homeless man a hot drink and his choice of donut - a boston creme.

The scene only lasted a couple of minutes, but that's all that was needed.

The two strangers parted ways with a "cheers" and a nod. The young man walked by me on his way out, and as he did, it was like Jesus was walking by me, I could see God's Love, God's Heart, and God's Hands right there in front of me. And it was like He reached out, grapped my heart, and whispered,

"Here's to your judging, uncompassionate, and closed heart... I forgive you, love you, and want to give you more chances - now, go and serve my people."

Just like that.
Lesson failed. Lesson learned.

The Delirious Consequence

2008-01-23T22:14:00.000-08:00

Messy Spirituality - Michael Yaconelli

*What landed Jesus on the cross was the preposterous idea that common, ordinary, broken, screwed up people could be godly!

*What drove Jesus' enemies crazy were His criticisms of the "perfect" religious people and His acceptance of the imperfect nonreligious people. The shocking implication of Jesus' ministry is that anyone can be spiritual.

*Spirituality is not a formula, it's a relationship. It's not about competency, it's about intimacy. Not about perfection, but about connection.

*Spirituality is not about being fixed; it is about God's being present in the mess of our unfixedness.

*Messy Spirituality is the delirious consequence of a life "ruined" by a Jesus who will love us right into His arms.

Cloverfield and The Bathroom Floor

2008-01-19T18:54:00.000-08:00

I've heard it said that there is always a first for everything.
For instance, recently in my life I've had some first:
First time hiking Peterson Creek in the winter.
First time being sent flowers from a stalker.
First time...
Well...
Here's my short story of the night.
Today a small group of us decided to go see the mysterious film,
Whose trailer left us all with questions,
Wanting more.

Cloverfield.
The next Godzilla bred with the filming style of The Blair Witch Project.
Now the trailer was filmed to look like someone had filmed it with just a regular camcorder kinda thing...
So I thought,
"Hey, that's kinda cool... they'll show parts of it like it's real"
Little did I know,
But the whole entire movie was like that.
I got 10 minutes into it,
And I had to start closing my eyes
And just depending on my hearing to get me through.
But movies just aren't the same with only the sound...
I tried opening my eyes again...
Now, I should just say,
That the only thing my mumma ever gave me,
Besides my curly hair,
Was the hereditary Hogard motion sickness...
I then proceeded to spend the next 15 minutes in the theater bathroom,
With my head between my knees,
Staring at the bathroom floor.
(And I must say,
It's not a very attractive floor)

I never did go back to finish watching.
I just couldn't...
I have a sick stomach to this moment.

Which brings me to my firsts for the week...
First time walking out on a movie
First time being sick in a public bathroom

So there you have it...
Another embarassing moment in the life of Liz...

"And God saw that it was Good..."

2008-01-15T15:38:00.000-08:00

I love the story of Creation. Our God is so creative, so thoughtful, so powerful... It blows my mind how people can look at the life cycle of trees, the position of the earth and sun, the natural instincts of animals and still think that it all just spontaneously came to be.

Maybe that's why I have such a passion and love of the outdoors... it's like walking through God own personal art gallery... I'm reminded of that Bible verse... if God puts that much thought and love into the "lives" of flowers, how much more will He love and care for us? Walking through the forests, hills, and wilderness, it feels like I'm surrounded by God's Glory and Love.

We Valleyviewers went on an amazing hike on Sunday. First time we've done Peterson Creek in the winter. It was great fun. ("good times") I think there was more slipping and sliding then there was hiking. I succeeded in ripping my brand new pants right at the bum (naturally... I was able to return them though), Rebekah partly fell in the creek, and Andrew "had a terrible time". This time though we had some new comers - We initiated Ryan Unger, Ryak, Andrew K, and little Curtis into our "Peterson Creek Club". They handled it pretty well, although Curtis had quite the shock when he realized I was really serious about bringing waterproof gear and hiking shoes. He seemed to have a different idea then we do about "hikes". :P
All in all, I had a blast and was quite happy to be surrounded by God's beauty and God's people...

I'm Sorry...

2008-01-07T21:36:00.000-08:00

This is the hardest thing in the world for me to do, but I can feel a cry in my heart that's telling me to get it out and leave it be, so here goes...

I'm sorry for not being the friend that you deserve
I'm sorry for not telling the truth when you asked for it
I'm sorry for holding grudges
I'm sorry for saying the things that I know will hurt you
I'm sorry for not saying the things that will help
I'm sorry for only having questions when you wanted answers
I'm sorry for not being someone you can look up to
I'm sorry for leading you on
I'm sorry for letting you go
I'm sorry for talking behind your back
I'm sorry for still being mad
I'm sorry for ignoring you
I'm sorry for not always being sorry

I'm sorry.

I wish I could say sorry to each individual person that I've wronged and even as I type one wrong has been made right and it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off instantly.

I love you all.

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Those Daily Bites below are devotionals that I get sent to me everyday. Sometimes I read them, sometimes I don't. These two I read together after not reading them for a while. They really stuck out. God's faithfullness is something I'll never understand. It never ceases to amaze me that day after day, mistake after mistake, sin after sin, He still loves me and will carry me through hard times or when I fall.

Daily Bite

2008-01-07T21:29:00.000-08:00

Here's your Daily Bite from http://eattheword.net.

This months theme is: Soul Songs - Worshipping when it's tough

Today's bible reading is from: Psalm 34:17
The LORD hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the broken-hearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. (NLT)

Recently I have come to know the truth in this verse and many other verses like it. The bible is full of truth about the faithfulness of God. In a world where there are so many challenges and when every thing around us seems to be against us, illness and poverty and money problems, there is a constant battle between our ideas about God and the truth of the Word of God.

Our response can often be to reshape our view of God by the things that happen to us, in a positive way or a negative way. But our experiences can often tell us that God maybe doesn't care for us as much as we think, or that God doesn't hear our prayers. The truth of the bible tells us otherwise. This passage from Psalms reconfirms that God is compassionate and he is close to those who need him, even though sometimes we don't see or feel that. We need to have faith in the truth of God regardless of what the world says: The truth of God will always win through.

Contributed by: Ant L

Here's your Daily Bite from http://eattheword.net.

This months theme is: Soul Songs - Worshipping when it's tough

Today's bible reading is from: Psalm 68:19
Praise the Lord; praise God our saviour! For each day he carries us in his arms. (NLT)

Our God is such an awesome God. You can't ever get your head around how amazing he is. He is just so loving and caring. This verse is such a comfort to us whether we are going through a difficult time, need some reassurance or just something to remember - that he carries us in his arms. He is closer to us than the air that we breathe and closer than the skin on our body.

When we are going through hard times we can sometimes be upset with God and wonder why he isn't answering our prayers or sorting our problems out. It's like the foot prints poem - we say to him 'where were you when we needed you most?' But then we see, and need to remember that during these times God carries us in his loving arms every single day. Remember what you have already been through in your life. You've been through circumstances you never thought you would get through. But God brought you through. Sometimes God answers prayer by taking things away, sometimes by adding things to us, but we should always remember that he knows best and he deserves all the praise. Praise him today for everything he's brought you through, caring for you as he carries you in his loving arms.

People often say they haven't got anything to be thankful for, but when we know Christ as our Lord and Saviour we have everything to be thankful for. He died for us that we might live and when we die we will live in heaven forever with our Lord. Thank and praise God our Saviour for this today.

Contributed by: Katie R

Snow Camp

2008-01-07T18:24:00.000-08:00

..................................................................
read Andrew's blog.