Blast from the Past

So the past few weeks have sprung memories from back in the day.
I had an eye appointment, I always find those entertaining, yet nervewracking, because you hope that through-out all the little tests, your perscription comes out the same and not worse. But there's a test that puts little puffs of air in your eye to test for....I think glaucoma. Anyhoo, I always jump and it makes me start to laugh, I usually feel bad for the lady doing the test. And then when you sit in the cool chair, they have a mirror in front of you for different eye exams, but who can sit in front of a mirror - and not make funny faces? It's pretty entertaining, especially if you get caught by the doctor making a weird face. Mom reminded me that we had been doing these eye tests for 17 years...man - I hated eye appointments back when I was wee small. It only meant eye drops....oh how I dispised eyedrops. I remember hearing a child screaming, looking down a hallway, and seeing a whack of people holding down a kid in a chair while they put drops in his eyes - I was next. Horror filled every part of me, and I too, was dragged to the chair, and since I was freaking out I needed a group to hold me down. Not to mention I had to look like a pirate for a few years wearing an eyepatch, but hey thankfully no one made fun of me for it.

Memory number 2, I went to the butcher shop to grab some hamburger meat for my mom. I hadn't been in a butcher shop is such a long time, and found myself smiling as the familiar scent met my nose. When we used to live in Cold Lake, we always got our meat from a little butcher shop that had a big round window. The owners were super neat people, and would give us a bit of garlic sausage, and I would sit in the round window until we had what we needed and were off. I couldn't resist buying some pepperoni sticks, and they were great:) Hmm...maybe I'll work in a meat shop someday.

Mom's also repainting our upstairs bathroom, so we had to rip off all the wallpaper. When I was tiny, my Auntie Bonnie taught me how to rip off wallpaper when she was re-doing my grandparent's bathroom. So we took a picture for her.

Just a little look into the life of Jen for you all - kind of random, but just thought I'd share some thoughts.

Countdown Week

The summer sure has flown by, and I'm heading off to Trinity on Saturday. Should be good, I'm excited for something new, but definitely a bit nervous. I'm pretty psyched to be rooming with Hannah, it will be a gongshow.

Anyhoo, this weekend was fun. I finished work on Friday and then headed down to Capernwray to pick up Tara. It was nice to visit there one more time before summer ended, and to see everyone. Ty was out visiting, and Stuie was back from England, so it was cool to catch up with them even for a quick visit.
Tara and I had a blast just hanging out and catching up. We watched some sweet episodes of Saved by the Bell, and had a good ol' chick flick night and watched 'Cinderella Story', not the 'Cinderella Man'. Our favorite line was: "Waiting for you, is like waiting for the rain in this drought", haha oh man. Sunday we walked along the beach and we found a goldmine of sand dollars, pretty amazing. The weather was great, and we enjoyed exploring the beach. It's was swell:)

Faith...

Faith, believing in things without proof. Why is it so hard to believe that God will do what He says He will? Especially since He's already shown Himself to be true so many times in the past - not only in our own lives, but in the lives of others.

Some of my favorite verses from the bible are great examples of some intense faith.

Jumping into the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who were to be thrown into the fire for not worshiping the statue of King Nebuchadnezzar:
"Oh Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to seve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."
(Daniel 3:16-18). I love how they are so certain of the character of God, that even if the outcome (like saving their lives) isn't His plan - they are willing to be obedient to God.

The other bit of history that hits the heart is in Esther, when the Jews are going to be killed and Mordecai asks her to risk her life, to ask the King to save their people:
"Do not imagine that you in the King's palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?"
(Esther 4:13-14) How cool eh? That Mordecai has such a faith in who God is, that He will provide deliverance for the Jews.

Then there is so much encouragement in Hebrews 11, the 'Hall of Faith', yet "All these died in faith, without receving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth." (Hebrews 11:13). So many continued to walk in faith, believing in an Almighty God, that He will do what He says He will do, and provide for every aspect of their life.

I desire to have that kind of faith.

Adventures in Golfing!

So tonight, Scott, Dad and I headed off to Longlands for some golf. We went last year with Jeffy before he headed off for England, so we figured we give it another shot. It wasn't the same without Jeff, but we still had some good laughs.

Some people say Scott and I look a lot a like.

This was my worst hole all night, my club and ball just wouldn't connect. Mini golfing is more my thing.

Dad and Scotty kept pretty close to each other, we were pretty impressed with Dad's putting skills.

Scott did pretty good, except he often hit a lot of trees. We also tried to get him to catch some deer but they run to fast.

All in all, it was pretty sweet. I wish highest point won in this game, I'd be victorious. It gives me more of an appreciation of golfers, it really does take skill. I realized how tough it is to actually keep your eye on the ball, and keep my arms straight, practice makes perfect:)

The Lord's Compassion

"But they became disobedient and rebelled against You, and cast Your law behind their backs and killed Your prophets who had admonished them so that they might return to You, and they committed great blasphemies.

Therefore, You delivered them into the hand of their oppressors who oppressed them, but when they cried to You in the time of their distress, You heard from heaven and according to Your great compassion, You gave them deliverers who delivered them from the hand of their oppressors.

But as soon as they had rest, they did evil again before You.

Therefore, You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them. When they cried again to You, You heard from heaven, and many times You rescued them according to Your compassion, and admonished them in order to turn them back to your law.

Yet they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances, by which if a man observes them he shall live. And they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.

However, You bore with them for many years, and admonished them by Your Spirit through Your prophets, yet they would not give ear.

Therefore, You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

Nevertheless, in Your great compassion You did not make an end of them or forsake them, for You are a gracious and compassionate God!"
Nehemiah 9:26-31

My past week...
It has been a good last couple of days, lots of fun and lots of pictures:) Hope you enjoy!

So, last Saturday, Julia, Karen, TJ, Jade, Linds and I set off all the way to Stamp Falls in Port Alberni to go cliff jumping. I just did a bit of swimming, but Linds' dream has been to jump of a cliff in her ugly dress-up dress, and it came true - and yes, it was a hideous dress. But it was a blast! and the swimming and mini-road trip was swell. We did a lot of singing to some good ol' tunes.

Lindsay getting ready....... the jump
a little creepy.

I finally got to catch up with my great friend Amy, it has been since the beginnging of summer since we saw each other, so that was rad just hanging out again.

Jade-o came over Monday night so we could swap some pictures from Capernwray. So that was super fun, looking at old pictures, lots of laughs.

Tuesday was good and busy. I finally got rid of my N so I am a free driver:) I also had an eye appointment, I'll have to write another entry just of my thoughts on that sometime. Chey came over and we had another good catch up time. And yes, I've included some photos:)




Day dreaming...

So thats a taste of the week, lots of good memories:) Wedding Invitation Marathon with Keltie this weekend, it's gonna be intense.

Jen's Random Thought of the Day...

So at work, as I was leaning on my desk, my thoughts drifted to the wonders of elbows. It's kind of like elephant skin, rough and wrinkled, yet ridiculously tough. Most often they don't get hurt, and I sure lean on my a lot. And sometimes the elbow skin is pretty stretchy, so that's fun - I wonder if I'll have super stretchy elbow skin when I'm older...

But a nicer thought, is I was reading 2 Timothy 2:22, and I quite like this verse. "Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart."
It's encouraging to know God wants us to pursue these things along side of others who long for God with a pure heart. To encourage one another and spur each other on in the 'race' of life. Keep on walking....

La dee da...

So the past week and a bit has been pretty dang fun. My roommate (and bunkmate) Cassie was able to come out for a few days and we had a blast just bumming around and catching up. We went down to the Filberg Park and checked out the petting farm and found some very lazy animals, and a pony that didn't like us very much. It kept running away every time we showed up to try and take pictures. After we headed to the beach for a while, shell hunting and crab shell crunching.

We met up with Jade-o and Mike after they got home from camp, the only person we were missing was Terri...so we used oompa loompa to stand in her place of honor.

So things have been swell lately. It's almost been a year since Jeff headed over to England, it's crazy that time has flown by. I definitely miss the guy. Scotty is coming home soon from treeplanting too, so that will be rad to see him. I miss having brothers around. But God has been good with the little blessings here and there this summer, a month away until Trinity....