We're going to AMERICA!

Chicago here we come!!! Danny and I, along with 3 other couples from our church, are heading off to Chicago tomorrow. HOLLA! We are going for a Student Ministries Leadership Conference held at Willow Creek Church for a couple days. One of our all time favorite authors- Donald Miller is a guest speaker so I am super pumped for that. Willow Creek is one of the world's largest churches- they even have their own man-made lake for baptisms, so I can imagine it will be a sight to see. The conference is supposed to be really good too, so I am looking forward to some good teaching!!! We are also looking forward to seeing the city itself, as we both have never been. I've heard they have some great architecture, and of course we will be hitting up the malls to do some wonderful American shopping. Can hardly wait! We will definitely post some pictures for ya'll once we're back. Pray for safe travels!

Oh what a Fabulously Hectic Weekend

WOW! What an exhausting and long, but WONDERFUL weekend. Friday night I was able to go spend a few hours with Danielle at Starbucks on Whyte Avenue, while Danny stayed home to watch the hockey game, and prep for the rest of the weekend.

Very nice to relax while we had the chance. Oh man. We had our final and largest fundraisers this past weekend, and they all went AMAZING. God truly blessed us! On Saturday Danny and I headed over to the church at 11 am to start setting up for our silent auction later in the evening, and to start prepping some food for our Saturday night dinner. At the beginning of the day I was a bit skeptical, because we only had about 30 items for our silent auction at the church...but once more people started to arrive, more things were brought and we ended up with over 75 items! Anything from paintings, to Oilers paraphernalia, beauty and bath products, cell phones, tons of gift certificates, weekend getaways, hockey tickets, luggage, jewellery, and a pocket bike, and heaps of other things!!!! Majority of my day however, was spent in the kitchen. I was assigned to be "Kitchen Coordinator", keeping things under control, delegating tasks...pretty much going crazy. There was tons of prepping to be done so I started with the lettuce along with Danny and Carrie, one of our youth. Washing, Drip Drying, Salad spinning, cutting. Over and over. And as I was cutting...I chopped my thumb! Here is a picture of me saddened by this occurrence. Like a poor wounded duckling. haha










But then Carrie patched me up
& I was a happy camper. Thumbs up!





As the day went on, more of our team showed up, and we worked SO HARD to make sure everything was ready in time. When people started showing up we starting serving pasta with meat sauce, salad, buns and sundaes for dessert. Fun times were had!

After dinner the silent auction was under way.

And overall the silent auction was a HUGE success, and answer to prayer. Although we didnt make it home until 11 at night, the hard work was worth the lack of sleep.

This morning we woke up bright and early, hopped over to Starbucks, and headed to the church. Day two our our weekend fundraisers! We had a HUGE pancake breakfast and a EVEN BIGGER pasta lunch. Overall we probably fed over 400 people this weekend. And today we had face painting and balloon animals for the kids too! Let's just say that it was out of control awesome. Crazy stressful and fast paced, but we were working with such a big team of helpers today. So many people came to help us it was such a blessing. AND the best news of it all was that we made over $10 000 in two days!
















Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. We could have never done it without you. And right now, I think I'll head to bed!!!!!!!!

Dinner Extravanganza!

Well last night was nice. Danny and I were able to host the world's smallest dinner party. Table for 3 please? I guess it would have been bigger had we invited more people, but we were content just inviting our little sister Darla. "Our" parents are out of town right now in Peru at some Compassion Canada headquarters to see how things are run, and what needs to be done, and how we can help. For those who don't know, Compassion Canada is very similar to the World Vision Organization. We have a brand new sponsor child from them, and he is seriously the cutest little button you will ever see. I love him to bits. I will post a pic of him eventually. Anyways...so Darla is running the ship at her house right now, so we thought we'd treat her to some dinner at the condo...Spaghettini pasta with vegetable-meat sauce, home-made bruschetta, and mandarin orange spinach salad with a vinaigrette dressing. Delish! We had many laughs and enjoyed our time together. Darla is leaving for YWAM in Kona Hawaii on April 3rd-we will miss her a ton. She is doing a Photography DTS and will be travelling to some really cool places to minister through photography. What a cool experience!!!!! If you're interested in photography, you should check out this website http://www.photogenx.net. They actually have a school coming up where you travel the entire world, every continent excluding Antarctica, and do photography for 2 years straight....building your portfolio and learning about the bible, among other things, getting into culture, etc. Such an amazing concept.

Looong weekend in Edmo

This past long weekend has been a crazy one. You would think that because it was long, that would give us more time to rest. However, for Danny and I that was not really the case. We did however enjoy ourselves for the most part. Friday we went and saw the movie "Music and Lyrics" with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. I thought it was cute and definitely had some funny bits! On Saturday Danny and I went to Whyte Avenue because the weather was beautiful, so we walked around the shops and outside and enjoyed a Starbucks. At night we went to our friend, Ian Sheh's Birthday/Chinese New Year Party at a Chinese Restaurant here in the West End with about 20 other people. The cuisine was extremely authentic ranging from nice cups of green tea along with some good ol' sweet and sour pork, to pig hooves, and white slimy sea creatures. It was an experience to say the least. But I did pretty good, but I would have to say my favorite part of the meal was the cake! For the rest of the weekend we cleaned our condo for what seemed like forever, went shopping, ran errands, and visited with our families. Monday morning we had brunch with our fellow Africa team leaders at our condo. Everything was so delicious...I should have taken pictures!!!! But afterward we had pretty much a 7 hour meeting with our entire Africa youth team. A very good time, yet very long. For those who don't know, we leave for Niger, 3 weeks from tomorrow on a humanitarian mission. We have so many exciting things planned I can hardly wait. Niger is at the moment the world's poorest country, so there is great need. Some of the things we'll be doing include: teaching ESL courses, weighing babies suffering from malnutrition with Samaritan's Purse and distributing food, AIDS education and prevention, and Kids programs and orphan care along with a few other things. Please keep us in your prayers as we are gearing up for this trip. A lot of energy is going into this and we really want to see God move!

Last night I had the privilege of getting together with one of my best friends Danielle Kreeft for our weekly coffee at Starbucks. Not all of you know her, but she has been one of my absolute closest friends for the last 7 years. Last year she spent half a year at YWAM working with children with AIDS in Africa, and at the moment she is in Journalism at Grant Mac here in Edmo-and is an aspiring photographer! One can only be so lucky to know her! AS always, it was a good chat.

Well that is all for now, time for me to get back to work!

All from a cookie

And now it's Monday. Danny and I both had a wonderful weekend. Except, on Saturday we woke up bright and early, to get our travel vaccinations. I only had to get 3 needles, Danny got 4. We are a bit wimpy to say the least. It's quite pathetic actually. But it hurt! I have survived though, which is all that really matters. We tried to do some shopping downtown, but that didn't go over so well. So we rested at home for the day. However, while Danny was out with the boys later Saturday night, I was able to do some scrapbooking, which is really good because I am so behind! And last night we were lucky enough to be invited to an Oilers game with some new friends of ours from the church. It was a lot of fun. To make the night even better, the Oilers won! Go Oilers. Overall a good weekend.
Today Danny brought me lunch to work. Along with that, came a fortune cookie. I wasn't going to open it because I didn't really feel like eating the cookie. But as much as I think those fortunes are a joke, I cant help but always want to know what mine is. So I decided to check. Today I was surprised. I actually enjoyed what it had to say, but it left me thinking...could this actually be true? In a non-sac religious way of course, listening to a fortune and all. Could I be fortunate enough to enjoy this? Is this God's subtle way of telling me to hang in there-is he going to reward me? Why is it, that one little cookie can make me ask so many questions? And why do I find myself telling the little piece of paper "I wish it were true"?? Maybe you'll understand better if you know what it is:

I think maybe the Edmonton cold has just gotten to me this year. I was telling Danny I actually feel angry at the cold. Like I wish I could yell at it, and tell it that I don't like it. But I cant even do that! It is a waste of anger. I guess for now I'll just keep talking to my little piece of paper. But maybe one day soon I can relax in sunshine? And no, I am not crazy.

A Book I Can't Put Down

I am reading this book right now. Thought you might like to know. Only because it is a truly inspiring and eye-opening book and you can buy it on sale at Chapters right now!! I can't put it down. It is a non-fiction book-so it is very real. This guy William Powers writes about his journey into instable and poverty-stricken Liberia, in West Africa as an aid worker. He went there to "fight poverty and save the rainforest", so he writes about all his adventures, and struggles, and of course the corrupt government, and issues that go along with that. The Liberian people themselves seem wonderful... but their world seems to be a different story. Besides the fact that there is often swearing in this book, and some things make me a little uncomfortable, I would recommend it if you would like a dose of reality. As I am reading it I find myself in shock of the reality that is the world we live in today. It makes you want to find out more so that you can do something about it. We are so fortunate here. It makes me really confused why sometimes I find myself wanting more. Danny and I have been SO blessed these first 6 months of our marriage. I wish I could cut off my desire for material possessions. We have more than enough. I am sure this will always be something I will be growing through. Maybe our trip to Africa in March will encourage a slap in the face (for me). Speaking of Africa...our team is getting a bunch of vaccines tomorrow! I am super scared, because I sometimes pass out. However, I would rather one needle than any of the diseases so I guess I'll have to go through the agony. One day I'll learn to like needles. Maybe...

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is coming up, but seeing as Danny and I both have chaotic schedules at times...the closest to Feb.14th that we could do something in light of this holiday of love was yesterday. Feb.8!!!! Can you believe it?! Almost a week in advance! But it was a wonderful night. We went to a cute little candle-lit bistro restaurant called "The Dish" in downtown Edmonton where we enjoyed some nice food and conversation, while listening to classics such as Frank Sinatra playing in the background. Then we came back to West Edmonton Mall walked around, got some candy and of course some booth pictures, and then headed off to the movies. All in all a really good night. Despite the fact that we are FREEZING in the Edmonton cold. Well I am at least. My teeth even chattered on the way home. Now that is some serious coldness. It makes me question how I have actually survived living here the last 22 years. I just don't understand the weather. Maybe that is why it bothers me so much? Here are those much awaited booth pictures. You'll notice that there are only 3. We weren't exactly "ready" for the first one, so I cut it out. haha