Survival of the Fittest....
Well...the last few weeks of school were full of work, people, craziness and everything else in between. Lack of sleep and eating right definitely got the better of me at a few points, but thankfully I've survived the insanity, and hopefully I've learned a few lessons along the way.

It was nice to finally take my load of books back to the library after finishing up my papers. The rows of books in the library can be enough to make someone grow sleepy, and staring at the computer screen can make one loopy on occasion. Overall, it's good to be free of homework for a few weeks over the holiday.

However, even though I sometimes think my life disappeared for a while into the pages of textbooks and clicking of laptop keys...I'm thankful for a few snapshots that remind me of some of the wonderful moments throughout the last month. And here they are...

We caught up with our school mascot Sparty dressed as Santa:)

Han, Kari, Rika and I went tree hunting for our dorm and had a Christmas decorating party.Baked some tastey Christmas cookies with my Bible Study core group.

Our rowing crew had a fun Christmas gathering where we played Twister and had a barrel full of laughs.

The majority of our dorm 4W from last year was able to get together for a mini Christmas fun night.

Our dorm building put on another Surprise Christmas party for all the girls. Thus, we finally were able to take a full dorm shot of all the girls in 3Y this year.

Trinity puts on a community event for Langley called the Spirit of Christmas. It has a live Nativity, music, craft fair and a whack of other stuff. So a few of us from the dorm enjoyed the festivites...and were greeted with our first snow that night - quite magical.A cute snowman.Before we all headed off our different directions for the holidays, are dorm got all dolled up for a lunch on the last Sunday.So amidst the studying, there were some good moments that saved me from completely going over the edge. Amidst what I percieve as intenseness with school, it's always so wonderful to experience that faithfulness of God and His peace. I would not have been able to make it through the last few weeks without Him. When I find myself at my wits end, the Lord is always there, it's a beautiful place to find myself.

And now! I'm free to enjoy some fantastic holidays. Currently I'm hanging out with my brother Scott in Vancouver for a few days before heading back to the island, and having a blast:)

Blessings on the holidays!

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."
Matthew 1:21

It's officially the CHRISTMAS SEASON!!

The songs of Christmas started in our room at the end of October with the purchase of the new Josh Groban Christmas CD. Every since then, I've been eagerly anticipating the 'official' season. Since there are so many Americans at school, they insist Christmas season doesn't start until this weekend, with their American Thanksgiving. But I claim Canada can begin to celebrate whenever we like, and I choose at least November.
Mom and dad were here last weekend, and they so kindly brought Hannah and I a little Christmas tree. It now proudly stands in the corner of our room, it's great.
Outside is definitely getting chillier as well, reaching to our lowest so far at -5*c in the middle of the night. It sure is cold waking up to go rowing when there is white frost covering the ground looking like a light dusting of snow. I'm just dreaming of waking up soon to a snow covered ground. And they've begun decorating the campus with Christmas gear, trees covered with lights, Christmas decor in the caf...it's amazing how much of a pick-me-up the season gives me in the midst of the doom of finals and papers at the end of the semester.

Regardless, I cannot wait to go home and go tree-hunting with my dad, start Christmas baking, and just enjoying the returning of people home at Christmas. And most importantly, may we not forget why we celebrate such a fantastic season. One of my highlights of the holiday is our Christmas eve service at the church, such a good reminder of how the best things can come in small packages as Christ came as a baby...but He was the most precious gift of all.

Enjoy getting into the Christmas spirit:)

*Since I haven't updated in a while, I'm dividing the 'news' into two updates so that you don't have to read it all in once big splurge. The newest one is up to date as in what's new right now, and the second one below is mainly pictures of the last few weeks. Enjoy and thanks for reading*

Tea Time...

Getting into the chillier season...I am reminded of my love for tea. It's been such a wonderful thing in my life that triggers so many memories... memories of special people, good moments, and wonderful chats. And it seems to always bring people together, what's better than a pot of tea, sipping on a warm drink, sitting on a couch and talking, I love tea parties :)
At my bible studies on Thursday nights, it has become 'the drink' of choice, mainly because it's the only one I offer. But it seems to always be a hit. And a cup in the morning just starts the day off right.

On another note...school is going well for the most part. There are the stressful moments, and the less stressful moments - so just trying to find a balance between homework, people, the Lord and some quiet time can be a stretch. I have a whack of papers coming up in the future as well, so I have to start getting my nose in the books for all that research.

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of snowy weather and 'random storms' season. My heart is already in the mood for Christmas, snow, friends, Christmas-ness, and home - just make me smile:)

The Lord has also been continually teaching me just to trust in Him, and learning to desire Him above all things. How amazing to think that the Creator of the Universe desires to have a deep personal relationship with me? I love that!
As I was reading in my bible last night through the Psalms, I came across these verses that just opened my eyes to what God desires for us in relationship to Him.
So in closing, I hope you find this as much of an encouragment as I did, to seek to know Him more.

"Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works."
Psalm 73:25-28

Fabulous Fall
So now for the pictures of the past...everything (for the most part) that's been happening since September...

The biggest highlight was flying out for one of my best friends' wedding. Cassie and Cam finally were married in October, and it was so wonderful to not only be there to support their marriage, but also for the huge Capernwray Bible School reunion we had with so many friend.

Our trio was reunited! (Terri, Cassie and moi)

The Bridesmaids (minus Rachelle), Cassie and the flowergirl.
The wedding party.

Mr. and Mrs. Tollin walking through a haze of bubbles.

Pals from bible school

Then Mike drove Terri and I back to Saskatoon where I flew back to school. So it was sweet having a mini roadtrip through the Prairies too.

Rob from school last year, drove out from Calgary a few weekends ago. So we decided to have a dorm reunion with some of our girls and some of the guys we all used to hang out with.

We piled in a few cars and took off to Agassiz for some Turkey dinner, pumpkin carving and games.

Where we met the giant pumpkin man....AKA Chris.

Thus...we entered into the Halloween season! So I spent Halloween with the Macaulay crew and went trick or treatin' with the boys.

Ben (a king), Graham (hockey player) and Kade (chicken) did a good job and brought back quite a loot... which they kindly shared with me:)

I returned back to school just in time to check out the Halloween dance. Kari and I weren't too stoked on getting dressed up, so we went as 'misfits' and just work a crown and baseball caps. We were not kindly recieved for a lame attempts at costumes. But regardless, it was fun and full of laughs.

So that's the update. As for the present present stuff, that's in the entry above:)
Rowing Regatta #1 down in Seattle this weekend, sadly I'm not going home for a Fall break and I have to wait 'til Christmas. Sad news. But I am getting quite excited for Christmas....

Sweet September

Well I've been at school just over a month now, and overall it has been pretty awesome. A much better transition than last year. When I remember to where my heart and emotions were at this time a year ago, I was pretty frazzled and shaken being here. But the Lord has been so wonderful in helping to make Trinity 'homelike'.

Classes were a tad overwhelming at the start, but thanks to a lot of motivation and advice from others, I dropped Philosophy, which suprisingly has eased my load quite a bit. I can breathe a little easier now.

Our dorm gals are fantastic! Hannah and I prayed for a really rad group, and we have indeed been blessed with answered prayer. I have the privaledge of leading a bible study within our dorm this year too - so I'm excited for that. About 7 girls come on Thursday nights and we'll be working our way through James.

So a few pictures will hopefully fill in the blanks...

Some of our dorm gals before our dorm skit at orientation week

Trip to Walmart with the gals

We hung out with a guys dorm and headed to Han's Gramma's farm. I was able to milk my first cow:)

Pranks are also key in dorms. I toilet papered Kristin's dorm...

... and she retaliated by doing an amazing job saran-wrapping my bed...

...so I made her saran-wrap duckies to be her roommates.

I'm also back rowing this year - and we have a spectacularly fun team.

I don't have pictures of our varsity team in the water, so here's our novices in the eight.
(You can just pretend I'm one of the people to get an idea...) :P

And our novice boys in the quad.

For one Novice Practice, I got to ride in the coach boat with our fantastic coach Erin:)

I may give coaching a shot...

Bryan, Janelle, Han, Kris and I saying our farewell to Janelle as she took off to the Philipines.

Bubbletea with the ladies!
Hannah, Janelle, Sarah, Pia and me:)

At the Bomber's Hockey game with crazy ladies Kari and Rika:) We were trying the 'Big Red' game, who can handle the burning sensation of cinnamon wrappers on their forehead?

And the whole student leadership crew (about 300 students) went to a retreat two weekends ago to Camp Qwanoes on the island. Han and I tested our fear on some extremely high rides. It was awesome!

Hope you made it through the massive post...sorry for taking so long to update. And I head home for thanksgiving this weekend!!! I am soo excited.
Thanks for all your prayers and smiles.
Fall is almost here, and the trees are turning amazing colors...perhaps some photos will make it on eventually.

"I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken."
Psalm 16:8

Back at the good ol' school...

Hello family and friends. I am reporting to you live and well from my new room at Trinity. And it's wondrously large:) Han and I are pretty stoked to have the extra space. So here's how it looks so far!

This is our little corner nook and Hannah's desk.

My bed and desk

Hannah's bed and the door to the hall.

The hall way and bathroom door...

Our nice bathroom

All of our wonderful floor space!!

So that's our new home for the year. We may try to change the looks of it a little bit later, but we're happy with it so far.

Trinity has been good thus far, quite busy though with the leadership and orientation stuff for the year ahead. It's been awesome having the time to catch up with friends and do random activites without the stress of homework and reading. Our new dorm gals moved in on Saturday and they seem pretty rad, so we're getting excited to get to know them better. My schedule of classes looks to be a busy one, thus I need to get the hang of discipline in my life. Overall though, I'm stoked for the year ahead and what it shall bring.

"He will keep in perfect peace, him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You.
Trust in the Lord forver, for the Lord, the Lord is the rock eternal!"
Isaiah 26:3-4