whoa

I was talking to Mel earlier today and that's when it hit me...
I'm going to see Mel and Roz tomorrow!
and in 4 days Mel will be a married woman

if this is what it takes for us to see each other nowadays, then I agree with Roz...

We should get married more often!

Coming up Next...

"Meghan having a mental breakdown"

Stay tuned...

moving

We moved all our furniture today
Of course, we pick the day to move that it SNOWS ALL MORNING

I am really tired, but it's nice to have the majority of my stuff moved there
Now I'll be sleeping on a couch for a week or so until I move along with my stuff
awesome!

our new house and gilmore

We've taken Gilmore to our new house twice now so he can get used to it. He spent the majority of his first visit cowering in the basement, and a small portion of it crying at the door. He also peed in Merissa's car on the way there (but we have since brought a makeshift litter box over for him).
Last night we went over again to start cleaning. We got the top floor done, and most of the basement. All that's left is the kitchen, the walls on the main floor, and the stairwell down to the basement. Oh, and the shower in the basement and the pesky crayon on the walls which just wouldn't come off for us. So we feel like we accomplished a lot.
Anyways, they must have recently cleaned the vents, because they didn't put the covers back on. This is not good when a cat is over. At first it was ok, because Gilmore was either hiding under the couch or in a closet, but eventually he discovered a vent. We heard a thump and came running only to see his little head down in the hole. Obviously we were not excited about the possibility of a cat falling 2 storeys down a vent, so I reached down and grabbed him. Let me tell you, he did not want to move. His little heart was beating so fast, and yet he wouldn't let me pull him out. He dug his heels and squirmed (but thankfully my death grip was stronger) and eventually I got his head out, then one paw, then another, and then the rest of him followed. I have the scratches to prove it.
After this slightly terrifying experience we locked him out of the bedrooms and he hid in the hall closet again. We were cleaning the walls in the basement when all of a sudden we heard thumping. I ran upstairs and wouldn't you know it, the cat found another vent in the living room and knocked aside the cover to explore his new house more extensively that he should. This time he just jumped out of the vent, which was very nice, and we put the boom box in front of the vent so he would no longer be tempted.
I think it's going to be quite the adventure getting him used to his new abode...

squirrels

Yesterday it snowed.

There is a family of squirrels living in a tree on my front lawn, and the two little babies were shivering at the bottom of the tree, unable to climb up, and they looked like drowned rats (which I know is appropriate since they are members of the rodent family). They looked so sad, we just wanted to help them warm up...with blow dryers or something. Don't worry, we didn't do that (electric hair drying in rainy snow weather isn't the most brilliant of plans) and eventually they were able to climb the tree to their parents.
Not before hissing and eventally scratching Nicole.

Wet squirrels are not very soft. Or friendly. Mostly just scared and cold and miserable. In case you ever wanted to know.

homeless no more

So I kind of posted this on my photo blog yesterday, but hardly anyone reads that one, so it's better that I say it here too...

We have a house!!

It's a cute little townhouse (the end unit) with 4 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms and there's room for the piano and all the stuff that we plan on keeping, and it's in a really cute neighbourhood close to the c-train so praise God!

speculaas

I saw them in the Superstore and I actually teared up.
I know, I'm quite pathetic.
But I don't care.
I have a box of speculaas and while they're not exactly the same as the ones we ate at MTP, they're close enough. So happy!

random sidenote on Canada

I'm reading a book on heaven and hell by Bruce Milne for my heaven, hell, angels, and demons class, and as I was reading I discovered a paragraph on Canada! In reference to heaven, of course *wink wink*
So...I thought I'd share it with you, cuz it's actually interesting. And perhaps new information to a few of you. It stems from a discussion on Psalm 72:8.

There is an interesting historical incident relating to the specificity of the early part of verse 8, 'from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth'. In 1870, at the time of the confederation of the British North American colonies of Upper and Lower Canada into the united nation of Canada, the name 'Kingdom of Canada' was canvassed but rejected. Finally, the title 'Dominion' was chosen for the new nation because of the apparent relevance of this verse. Canada, then in prospect and later in reality, stretched from 'sea to sea' --from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 'from the River' (the great St. Lawrence, which in those days dominated the prospects, trade and external relations of the country) 'to the ends of the earth' (most applicable to the polar region to Canada's north). Thus it came to be called ''the Dominion of Canada'.

poor cat

Reg, our landlord, has been fixing our roof for the past 2 days. Unfortunately for Gilmore, it's quite loud. The poor guy is terrified. He was hiding under my bed or the couch for much of the morning. He wouldn't even eat his breakfast because it was upstairs and the noises were scaring him, so I brought it downstairs for him (yeah, I spoil him sometimes). Nicole and I dragged him from under the couch and the bed and wrapped him up in blankets and held him like a baby. The blankets are necessary because he has very sharp claws. He got pretty calmed down for a while, but the banging started up again and he got loose from the blanket within which I was holding him (he's a strong fighter). Now I have bloody scratches on my wrist/palm and he's hiding under the couch again where we can't reach him.

Reflections on Good Friday

When I was a child I wondered why today was called "Good" Friday. To me, Jesus' death was sad, unfair, and horrible. My mind couldn't comprehend why killing Jesus, whom I loved, was a good thing. I don't know if I ever cried while reading or being read the story, but I remember distinctly one time when I was thinking about His death and I began to sob uncontrollably. I think I was maybe 8, but that detail is a little blurry. I was in the kitchen, and I doubled over by the cupboards and let out all my grief and confusion through my tears. My brother and sister were at a loss: why was I crying when He rose 3 days later? It's not like I didn't know what happened. But my parents understood, and they let me cry. I think that's why I understood why it's called "Good" Friday. Something clicked, and I sobbed not just for what Jesus went through, but because He did it for me. I understood that even though Easter is a day of great rejoicing, thanksgiving, and praise, Good Friday is just as miraculous.

excerpt from my journal entry on March 25, 2005

house search

The search for a house continues...

A few possibilities...

One we're really hoping works out, but with a decent backup...

So now we wait and see where God would have us be...

hello, pimp

So, we had a pimp stop by our house today. Twice.
He did not get through the door or any information about the girl he was looking for, but it was still really creepy.
I hope he never comes back again. He is most definitely not welcome.

snowboarding!

One happy lesson of the day: I finally discovered a fun way to make my calves grow!
I went snowboarding for the first time
AND I have some lovely bruises to show for it!

First I learned how to stand up, obviously, and then I proceeded down the hill fairly successfully on my heel side. The second time down I started to do the zigzag thing and it worked quite well for me, until I was at the bottom where I caught my toe edge and crashed forward, instantly bruising my right wrist.
Not deterred in the least, I went back to the top where Hannah showed me how to ride toe side. Basically she held my hands and walked behind me the whole way down while I tried to get my balance, haha. The next time down I was better and I tried to zigzag but basically I'm not very good, but whatever.
Then I was going down toe side and I switched to heel side, and it was really fun and cool.
(Wow, I'm sorry if this is an extremely lame and boring post)
And so the next time Hannah showed me how to switch from heel side to toe side, and I fell many times as I attempted that one, but I did make it a few times! Mostly when I was near the bottom and it was less icy and wasn't very steep. at all.
So that's pretty much all I did the whole time, but it was fun, and I think next time I'll go on a real hill and learn more.

So! It was a good adventure with few injuries other than a sore butt and knees, which isn't a big deal at all. MUCH more successful than my attempt to skateboard on a Garlock tray, as Josh was kind enough to remind me.

Anyhow, I'm going to finish my worksheet on Song of Songs now, which is really a remarkable book. I feel like I've learned so much, and there's so much more in there than I ever realized before. Which is always a typical response when looking at literature in general and the Bible in particular, but anyways, I'm going to stop chattering nonsensically about it here and write about it for my prof.

Gilmore

Karyn is back from Honduras, which is nice, not only for us, but also for her cat Gilmore who missed her for the past 6 months. You'd think he'd be so excited to have her back that he'd miraculously become well-behaved...but think again.
For the past 2 days he's peed on Nicole's bed. again.
But the story I'm about to tell isn't about his bad behaviour...it's simply a story that made me laugh out loud.

I just got home a little while ago...and the cat was being weird. He was only walking with his front legs, and dragging his butt on the ground, so I picked him up and saw this chunk of pooh stuck there which he was obviously having trouble losing. Unfortunately, he tried to drag his butt on my bed and my carpet, which I would not allow, but I didn't want him to suffer any more (or for the pooh to end up in some random place in the house) so I grabbed a kleenex to help the guy out, and he took off. Seriously, he is amazing at hide and seek; it took me like 10 minutes to find him, and my house isn't that big, especially with most of the doors closed.
Anyways, eventually I found him and tried to grab him to help him get it off, but he ran away, so I caught him again and I grabed it with the kleenex. I think i took a bit of fur with me (it was seriously stuck!). He had swallowed a sequin or something, cuz that was definitely a sequiny shiny blob of poop, haha.
Anyway, after I removed the defication, he started licking his crotch clean, and he totally farted right into his mouth! it was so funny!!

The End

quote

I've been reading a book called "The Practice of Spiritual Direction" by Wms Barry & Connolly.
There are a number of good quotes to be found in it, but I thought I'd just share this one.

The Old and New Testaments demonstrate the aptness of the comparison [of prayer being no more difficult than the formation of any deep, enduring, trustworthy relationship, and no easier]. They are a record of God's expression of his attitudes toward us. We see how he lives out his love, his concern, his willingness to be involved with us. These attempts to communicate with us are not the efforts of an academician to make himself clear. Yahweh speaks with tenderness, dismay, anger, concern. Jesus addresses people invitingly, angrily, sadly, ardently, compassionately. God's desire to enter a mutual relationship with us leads to direct confrontations with people that call for a response from them. He calls people by name. He helps them in times of trouble, rescues them from oppression, forgives them their obtuseness and recalcitrance, shows them a mother's love. Jesus weeps for people, struggles to help them understand him, patiently tells them about the Father, warns them, urges them, takes them to task.

breakfast at tiffany's

Sometimes I am caught off-guard by myself. All day I was trying to figure out why I was in a bad mood, as well as trying to fight it, until Merissa commented on how stressed I am. *lightbulb*

We went to our first "Breaking Free" Bible study today...part of me felt frustrated with the way the Bible was interpreted to make it fit the purposes of the study...but part of me liked it because it challenged my thinking, even though it was not necessarily interpreted "correctly".

Last week we were talking about the dangers of Seminary and how there's a risk of losing respect for the Word...I'm scared that that will happen to me. I don't think it will...but part of me is a little more reserved, or simply digs in a different way than before. Which I think is a good thing, because I understand more the circumstances around which it was written and the original audience, etc. So while I may have a more accurate interpretation, that should not eliminate what the Spirit shows me personally through the Scripture. Which means I also cannot discount what others learn through the Scripture. Obviously it is good to test it for truth and not accept everything people find in Scripture because there are a lot of wacky interpretations, but I need to remain open and humble and not closed off to the Word.

This evening we went to The House and Nicole got to play a song...zo mooi! She is so talented. I also took a bunch of good pictures. I'll post some on my photo blog sometime soon probably. (Ben, I missed you and your camera very much tonight. You would have enjoyed it...)

You know what everyone? God is good. And can be trusted.

random slice of a conversation tonight:
"I don't like my profile"
"I don't like it either"

dave

So I was just chatting with Dave and he asked me to edit his paper on abortion, so I figured, why not put my homework aside and help him for a few minutes, since it's going to be a long night anyways.
As I was editing it and giving him a few suggestions, he asked for my advice on a relationship issue (incidentally with a girl named Meghan).
I was indicating a sentence that needed some attention and he interrupted with "fix my problem in life first"
which I did
and then finished fixing up his paper.
I don't know if you find that line amusing or not, but I thought it was kind of funny.
Also amusing is that he always refers to me as a male...like dude or bro.
And the effects of mexican oven dish on his system...which he just brought up. Nothing like a good pooh story to lighten one's mood.
And on that note...I'm going to finish my worksheet on Proverbs!

ski trip

A little late...but I thought I'd share a bit about my ski trip.
The last time I went skiing was in gr 9 or 10 with BethL...basically, it was an interesting day because she knows how to ski, and I spent the majority of my time on my butt in the snow. But I was determined to try again, and have a good time.
Jen invited me to go skiing with her on Monday, and since I could borrow her mom's skiis and didn't have to rent them, I figured why on earth not? So I invited Hannah, and she invited her friend Anita and these guys from Edmonton came as well, and we went up to Lake Louise.
For the morning Jen and I skiied (how on earth do you spell that past tense?) together and basically she laughed at me the whole time, which was fine, because I like to laugh at myself as well. My first few runs were mishap free, but then...I had one amazing wipe out. Jen would be skiing parallel, which traditionally is much faster than snowplow, so she would occasionally slow down and wait for me to catch up. However, I can go very quickly while doing my snowplow, and one such time she slowed unnecessarily. I was dodging ski school students and was right behind her when she began to slow down to look back for me, so I had no choice but to swoop past her in order not to crash, and in so doing I gained even more speed. Ahead of me was either a person or a little jump, and I chose the jump, with full knowledge that I was fairly out of control and would undoubtedly CRASH. Let's just say I was flat on my stomach with my skiis every whichway right on the edge of a cliffish type part of the mountain and was laughing so hard I couldn't move. Thankfully I was out of the way, haha. A beautiful flight. Basically at lunch the guys were all upset to have been missing out on the extreme joy of watching me attempt to ski, so after lunch we all went to the other side of the mountain together. They were surprised at how good I actually was because Jen was describing me as so...unique...which I am. But yeah. It was definitely a fun time, except for the fact that we accidentally lost Hannah and Anita at the beginning of the day and didn't see them again til the end. Next time we'll communicate better first...
On Sunday Hannah is going to teach me how to snowboard! So that will be exciting. Yay!

gelukkig valentijnsdag!

Today Josh asked me if I would be his valentine.

breaking and entering...my own house

Yesterday I finally got to meet Josh's girlfriend, Sarah, and I showed her these old pictures of him when he still had a baby face :) He was a little embarrassed, but such is life, and I warned him ahead of time. We went to the Devonian Gardens, which for some reason I'd never been to. They're nice, especially when you want to escape winter.
I saw Darcy at the school and he wanted to come home with me to jam with Nicole since she's back, so once he finally found his coat, we took off, with his amp and guitar in tow. Only I had forgotten my keys, so we had to break into my house (because Nicole was sleeping and the doorbell didn't wake her) which was unfortunately very easy, which probably I shouldn't be announcing. However, I fixed the window so now if we're locked out, we're really locked out. We didn't realize right away that Nicole was home, so Darcy kind of woke her up with the piano, but it was all good. We watched a movie and Nicole and I both fell asleep I think (sorry Darcy) because he woke me up quite a while after it was over, and she was still kind of out of it. But then we jammed together for a bit and it was nice.
Nicole and I went grocery shopping because she hadn't been since October! so we filled the cart with so much food and realized we had to walk it all home somehow...So we just brought the cart home (why not make this place look even more ghetto? it'll match the cart that's been sitting on the other side of the duplex for months) to bring it back later. A full cart on very snowy roads and sidewalks isn't the smoothest experience, but it was a good workout!
After putting away the groceries we watched Footloose with Julie which somehow Nicole and I had never seen before. So that was fun.
Today Julie gets to wear a black velvet dress and $3000 diamonds at work (advertising for V-Day I'm guessing) and Nicole's friend Rachel is coming. I'm just finishing up homework because that's what I do.