I have a guitar!

Yup, it's true. Thanks to my bearded bro, I am now a guitar owner. Well, as of December. I can't bring another carry-on to Calgary...I'm too jam packed as it is. But at Christmas I will be able to bring it back with me! My bro called it my "Merry Christmas/Happy Birthday/Congratulations on your engagement" present, haha. Funny kid.
Yesterday was the day I spoke at church...it went well. I said everything I wanted to say I think, and I got a lot of encouraging comments, so good enough. Glad it's over!
Then my mom did one of her "let's invite everyone over for lunch" things and it was fun, and delicious! Roz had 2 friends from school up, Yvonne and Julie (although I already knew Julie from camp) and Julie was like, "wait, your mom invited all these people over for lunch and she doesn't even know how many people are here?" which was amusing. Apparently there were 14 of us. Not bad considering they were all last minute invites. I think.
Anyways, then we went to the beach...I do love Sauble. The water was gorgeous! Steve and I found the remnants of a nerf football and tried to play with it for a while. It fell apart, but was still fun for a little bit. Then we went to Mr. Morley's house (high school english teacher...I never had him tho) but he wasn't there, but Mr. Weinger was walking by (high school history teacher) so we chatted with him for a bit. Always random with Steve. Then we went to Inglis Falls which was good because I hadn't been there in my time back yet. And we randomly decided to go in the falls. The bottom is not smooth and the current is very strong. But we weren't injured, so it's all good. haha, it was fun.
Hmm, what else? Oh yeah, the other day we went sailing on Roz's dad's boat. (we consisting of her dad, Roz, Yvonne, Julie, and me) Very fun! I enjoyed sitting on the front watching the storm clouds gather. Don't worry, we made it back just before it started to rain. Although, I had my handy Heineken poncho/towel from Harald with me just in case, haha.
Well, I think that's a good enough update...Roz and I are going shopping for bridesmaid dresses for Mel's wedding today. Should be fun (if we can find the store, haha). That's all!

soccer camp

A little ironic that I couldn't help out with AIA soccer camp in Amsterdam but I could here. I wish I could have been there more, but oh well. It was fun! I did the craft/snack for the junior soccer camp today...we made dirt. Heel lekker. And sticky, haha. And I helped give everyone prizes...I love how excited Roz was about them. You could see her face light up like a little kid to be giving things away.

It's so weird seeing kids who are no longer kids helping out coaching soccer camp. I'm really impressed with them all. Even shy ones, taking charge...very cool.

I got to see Miriam again! She informed me that I'm never allowed to leave again, so I had to break her little heart and inform her that I'd be leaving on Wednesday. She won't be at church on Sunday, so I'm so glad I got to see her today!
Well, my bro is home, so I'm gonna spend some time with him before the drive in tonight. Hopefully it has some good movies showing!

busy bee

So...I've been home for over a week already. It feels like I've been going nonstop, which has made the adjustment easier I think, because there's always something to do, somewhere to go, someone to see.
This weekend I went down to Rochester (via my grandma's) and hung out with Jay and Marie (and met Mya!) and on Saturday I went to Open Fest (woo woo) and got to see Orchard Drive play (I really liked you guys, even if it was the worst show you've played), along with a bunch of other people, some who were decent, some who really shouldn't have been there. And also Rala came to visit! So we spoke some Dutch together, and Peter tried to pronounce a few words which was amusing. Then at church I got to see some of my kids again (I tore skin off my knee on a pew hugging Lily, haha) and then I went to lunch with Holley! so that was heel leuk.
Then I stayed with my sister and Curtis the other night and then I went to dinner at my cousins' and it was good (Dallas, I got my steak) and fun to catch up with them again.
And now I'm back in Owen Sound again...spending time in Sauble. lekker! And then in a week I fly out to Calgary. I feel like the energizer bunny, haha.
Oh yeah, I'll post some pictures from this weekend on my other blog.

scrabble queen!

That's right folks.
Miss Meghan Thomson BEAT Mrs Leona Willoughby in a game of Scrabble. By 4 whole points!
This is a once in a lifetime event, and I would like to say thank you to Freek for all those games this past year, leading me up to the ultimate challenge.

Also, I plan on mailing a Scrabble dictionary to the Shelter one of these days. Help calm a few quarrels, I'm sure.

I'm home...and it's my birthday!

So I'm back in the motherland after only very few hassles at the airport.
I got to visit my grandma and aunt in Toronto already...I had such a lovely time with them. My grandma was really with it...and she is seeing a lot better (she recently had eye surgery). She could tell that my dad had fallen asleep in the chair, but normally she doesn't notice. haha. And she could see a picture on the wall and tell that it was a winter scene. Also she commented multiple times on my great smile and nice figure, haha. We had a nice chat, and I gave her some stroop wafel which she enjoyed. And I got my graduation/birthday/christmas presents from her, and one of them was a Bible and she'd given me a verse, so I read it to her. It was Number 6: 24-26. So that was really special. I think she looked better and sounded better than the last time I saw her, so it was really nice.
Now I am home and it's 8am and I'm wide awake. Even though I really haven't slept very long in the past couple days. But hey, I'd rather be awake than asleep cuz there's too much to do. I already ate one of my birthday presents...GOLDEN GRAHAMS!!! Don't worry, I only had one bowl, not the whole box, haha.
Oh, I'm about to put pictures of my beautiful toastie machine here so check it out if you didn't get to see it in the Netherlands...or if you want to lust over it in jealousy...haha. The guy at customs who was going through my bags was like, "Is this a blender?" and I said, "No, it's a toaster" and he just gave up looking through my stuff and let me go. Kinda funny.
Ok, I'm done with sitting in front of a computer for now...I have to enjoy being back and celebrating my birthday! I get to see my sister today!

my toastie machine

Yes, it's true. I got a toastie machine at the farewell staff meeting on Friday. So for everyone at home...that means you're not getting any presents, sorry. (no room in my bags) But I can make you some killer toasties! I just need a converter for the plug, which apparently I can find at home. Woohoo! Maybe I'll wear my toastie t-shirt home...

Happy Birthday Goodbye Happy Birthday Goodbye Happy Birthday

Well folks, here is my official invitation.

Tomorrow night (that would be Tuesday July 11) we are having a party in celebration and devastation of Hannah's, Dallas's and my birthdays, and Dallas's and my departures.

All you have to do is dress up like a stereotype (if you live at the Willemsstraat there is a list of suggestions on the bulletin board) and it can not be yourself. Show up at Willemsstraat 33 at 8:00 (20:00) and join the fun.

I think that's all...see you there!

these last days

It's really starting to sink in that I'm leaving.
Last night Nynke and I went out for dinner to say goodbye. Only I teared up when we were saying goodbye, so we decided to find a time when we can see each other again.
This means that I will cry in staff meeting today. I really hate crying in front of people.

*very random sidenote: there were two asian girls down here and one just put lotion on the other girl's back and she felt compelled to inform me that "she's my friend. not my girlfriend"*

This is my last shift alone. My last two I'm training Arijaan for reception. Yesterday was my last CS shift. Sunday was my last cafe/sleeper shift.

The cool thing about this time right now is all the awesome conversations I've been a part of. It's always so exciting to see what God is doing in the lives of the guests, cleaners, and staff.
So when I don't think about the fact that I'm leaving in less than a week, life is great!

But the reality is that it's going to be hard...hard to leave all these people I know and love. Hard to leave all the late nights of phase 10...and silent football. (check out my other blog soon for a video of Hannah running past some cafes clucking like a chicken) No more big teddy bear adventures, no more tea parties, no more riding on the backs of bikes, no more plethora of languages...

oh, this sweet girl just said (in the cutest Japanese accent) "thank you for your kindness"

My blogs are always more random when I write them at reception.

These 4 guys just tried out their English on me. "Hi! *hehehe* How are you? *hehehe*" It was really funny.

Well, my shift is almost over and I need to help a lady with her locker. So I will post sometime later.

Wow, life has been so crazy busy lately! But in a good way, I think. It's really hard to realize that I'm only here for 10 more days (9 really) and then I'll be back in Canada. So I'm packing them very full and enjoying every single day I have. Helps that the weather has been gorgeous lately!

The other day for cleaner time we were reading about Jesus healing the man with the legion of demons. We've been going through the book of Luke, so the day before they read about Jesus calming the storm, and so when we were sitting there Michael said, "Today we read about the demon!" and Steven said, "Really? How did you know to talk about that? I was thinking about demons this morning!" so that was pretty cool. After we read the story Steven asked me if he was demon-possessed. He was very relieved when I told him that the bad things he does are because of his sinful nature, not because he has a demon. That man is so hungry and thirsty, and it's exciting to listen to his questions and help him find answers...Last night he gave his life to the Lord and wants to get baptized within a few days. I asked him why he thinks he needs to be baptized right away, and he said because he read that in the Bible and he's been hearing so much about it lately (2 staff members got baptized yesterday). All evening he kept coming up to me in the kitchen with his Dutch/English New Testament asking me, "What does this mean? What does it mean here when it says this?" so it's really neat to see him eating up the Word. But he still has a lot of issues from the past that are influencing him right now...things he needs to give over to Jesus. So pray for him, that he may be healed and set free, and that he will learn to recognize when it's God's voice speaking to him, and not some other voice.

That same day Steven asked me if he was demon possessed, Arijaan and I had a really interesting conversation with a girl named Claudia. She's a Christian Science believer, and I've never really encountered one before, so it was very interesting to learn what she believes. It's so sad, though, because she's so close...her beliefs are so close, BUT, and the but is a pretty key issue every time. I'm excited for what God's going to do in her life though, because her boyfriend is really searching (and thinks her religion is scary) and his best friend recently became a Christian which completely changed his life, so he has a good influence and someone who can show him who Jesus is and what he did and is doing for us. So keep Claudi and her boyfriend Justin in your prayers...I know God has great plans for them.

Also, yesterday Anne and Jonathan got baptized (along with 2 others from the Zolder) and it was heel mooi...perfect weather! And afterwards we (I use the term "we" very loosely) went bridge jumping. Ok, I didn't make it off the 20 meter bridge...I'm a chicken and I will freely admit it. Too much to think about...trying to maintain balance on the way down so as to land feet first while attempting to keep the skirt from flying up (hey, we were really planning on going swimming when we left that morning) and plugging the nose. Yeah, and the height scared me. I think if I could have worked up to that height from smaller ones first it would have been ok, but oh well. So Eric was scared too and we climbed back down and jumped off a little mini fence thing in the water. Not quite high enough, but the only thing between the ground and the huge bridge.
Anyways, I'll post some pictures of the baptism and bridge jumping here.