Remembering Jeff

As of 3pm today I started my two week vacation. It couldn't have come at a better time. I am exhausted and this Christmas week turned into a tragedy. A young adult connected to my former congregation was in a car accident and died, along with his best buddy. There car ended up in the river and drowning is suspected. They were both 26 years old. They died Christmas morning. I can't even imagine what their parents are going through. The memorial service will be on Thursday and by then I will be out of the country. I ask you all to hold the Ogden Family in your prayers.

In the today's Vancouver Sun newspaper there is a great photo and article.
You can find it here.

Christmas Day

I am just about to wrap up and head out for a morning walk in the beautiful sunshine this Christmas Day. My local coffee shop is open so I think I will treat myself and watch the dogs run wild in the dog park for awhile. Later today I plan on making my well known cranberry sauce to take to dinner tonight at a friend's house. Merry Christmas!

Quiet Christmas

Tomorrow night is the Quiet Christmas service at the church. It's my favourite service of the Christmas season because it is a time when people gather to sit, reflect, pray and listen to music in the candlelight. It's a gathering for those who are sad, sick, or who have had a significant life change in the past year. It is also a great place to go for those who want to escape the busy consumerism side of Christmas. It's a place for me!

Every year I get to the week before Christmas and my inner-scrooge arrives. This year isn't different so I will just trek on through it. I just see things differently I guess. For me, Christmas happens on Christmas Eve when I work 15 hours straight and experience hundreds of people visiting the church and attending one of three services. The story of Christ' birth is shared and that's the whole point of Christ-mas! The presents, family gatherings, feasts come second for me and since I don't have any family in town, Christmas Day consists of a quiet, restful day off with a great dinner shared with friends at night.

This year, like 12 out of the last 13, I didn't even get a tree.

"The simplest things are often the truest" - Richard Bach, American Author

Wishing you all a season of simplicity, love and deep meaning.

12 Days

I have six worship services in the next twelve days and then vacation begins!!

They are:
December 20:
1030am Fourth Sunday of Advent
7pm Quiet Christmas Service

Christmas Eve:
430pm
7pm
11pm

Christmas Sunday
1030am

I am leading Christmas Sunday all by myself which will be a first for me. I am kind of looking forward to it.

January looks to be great! A good low-key month where I will have something like 25 days off between vacation and study leave. It will be great to have some time for rest and renewal.

Mary

This Sunday will be the Third Sunday of Advent and the day that we focus on Joy. My Senior Youth Group will be leading the entire worship service and we have chosen the theme of Mary. Specifically Luke's Gospel with Mary's Song also known as Mary the Magnificat. The "sermon" time will be a combination of stories written and shared by teens about women who have positively supported them through difficult times.
In my planning for this service I came across a beautiful song called Mary and written by Patty Griffin. I also found a YouTube clip that someone else created. I've decided not to use it in worship for a few reasons; one being that some pictures may make men in particular uncomfortable. However I encourage you all to take five minutes of your day and watch it and listen to the words of the song. It really is beautiful.

Got to www.youtube.com and type in Advent 3 Meditation

December 1

It's December! Can you believe it? Fear not, faithful blog readers, I haven't forgotten you! Life has been a zoo over the last few weeks. Here are some of the things I've been up too....

*Moving! I moved into my wonderful and exciting new townhouse on November 21. The actual moving day went pretty well with only a couple of mini-adventures in the day. Since then I've worked full time and unpacked a little. Oh and I started removing the crazy wallpaper!!

* Dream Auction '09. I attended a poverty awareness and fundraising luncheon last weekend raising thousands of dollars for poverty initiatives in the city. All the proceeds go towards associations that work with children. One of the items I purchased was a basket of locally grown herbs and locally made vinegars from the Terra Nova Sharing Farm. What an amazing find!

* The Season of Advent arrived with a great feast on Sunday night and a celebration of "Hope". This included a congregational dinner and evening program. Today I started my Fair Trade Advent Calendar.

Now its time to switch gears and get ready for a four-day convention on youth ministry. It starts on Thursday.

Goodbye Mowat!

I will move away from Mowat Street on Saturday. It's been an interesting three years in a 920 square foot, corner condo in the city of New Westminster. As I reflect back I consider mowat time to be my healing years mixed in with an apartment community consisting of loud, crazy neighbours, the constant smell of pot in the air, a crazy strata (management) company, and a toddler constantly running upstairs above my head. It's amazing how healing comes out of that.

I've never grown to like this city. There just isn't a sense of community even after my many efforts to connect.

But it's true. I was burning mad-at-life three years ago and now I feel like a new person full of life giving work, life giving friendships and so much energy for the future!

Saturday couldn't come sooner.

EVOLVE

EVOLVE is a event happening this weekend over three full days for junior youth, senior youth, young adults and youth leaders from around BC. I've been on the planning team for the last year and a half and it is totally amazing to see all of our planning now in action. A brand new event for the church community.

200 people in attendance.
rEvolve band offering music
A group of incredible Elders
A guest speaker and author from Michigan.
A guest workshop presenter from Connecticut.

Opening day was today and it began with a worship based on the creation story, presented in one of the best ways I've ever heard the story before.

I am full of gratitude for being given the opportunity to be apart of this.

Christmas Goals

I was driving home tonight and noticed a house full of Christmas lights and candy canes all lit up. I am constantly blown away at the Christmas keeners out there especially as the Season of Advent is still three weeks away. Yesterday I overheard a conversation between two people talking about their Christmas lists and what they want this year. The thought of creating a list doesn't work for me anymore. I am happy to say that I don't want anything!!! Earlier this year I declared 2009 to be a present-free year for birthdays and Christmas. (I'm still cheering as I type this). The thought of no gifts makes me smile. Do you think I'm crazy??

With my goal of going present-free I didn't include the children in my life because let's face it, all kids should receive joyful presents on special days in the year. Also, weddings are an exception.

I do have a list of goals however that I've had for a number of years that I keep in mind as I indulge in gift-buying.

1. Be aware of consumerism - buy only what I need.

2. Big Box Stores - Don't shop at them! You'll never see me shop at places like Walmart, Nike, Disney, Superstore, Adidas and any other known company that has been written up for labour exploitation in the world. The prices are cheap for a reason and I can't support that. Now, I'm not perfect but if I can take off a few stores from my list each year, then I am doing well.

3. Buy Local - It's pretty self explanatory. Buy local. Support local small business. Support artists, Ma/Pa restaurants, and shop at farms and farmer's markets. Oh and buying things "made in Canada" instead of China, Taiwan, India and Mexico.

4. Be environmentally aware - Have you ever thought about how much packaging and plastic goes into all those presents?? Last year I began wrapping my gifts in fabric and cloth bags and when I eat out I ask the take-home packaging to be really simple. Oh and then there is Halloween... tons and tons of individually plastic-wrapped candies. Too bad we can't give out homemade treats anymore. There has to be an alternative.

6. Creativity - There is sooooo much room to be creative with gift-giving. Make/Bake and Sew. Buy a goat and support a family. Hold a food drive. Collect socks and jackets for the homeless. Let your mind go cRaZy!

7. Time is precious and I would much rather share a meal with friends and let that be the gift.

How will you shop this Christmas season?? It is my hope that you will be aware of what you are buying, where it comes from and what the environmental effects are.

Happy Shopping!

Happy Birthday to Me!

That's right! Today is my birthday. Yipppeeeee! Mom texted me from Alberta and Dad called from Hawaii and so far 41 friends have posted messages on my Facebook. I am SO blessed!

I spent half the day helping a friend at a craft fair and then tonight the celebrations begin.

Tonight will be Greek food with my old youth group.
Tomorrow I am going to an Irish Pub with friends.
Monday out for a Canadian-White Spot dinner with my Mom.
Monday is dinner with friends at the American Grill (a fancy fine-dine hotel restaurant).

My Mom reminded me today that my birthday usually continues over a two week period. What a lucky girl!

Yea for turning 32!

Worship Bags

My project this week has been to revamp and update the worship bags (a.k.a quiet bags) for children who come to worship each Sunday. We have 19 hooks (there were 20 but one hook went missing) with bags for each hook filled with "quiet" things to keep younger children occupied during the worship service. Generally children are only in the service for the first fifteen minutes before they head to their Sunday School class but sometimes services don't include Sunday School.

The previous staff person created bags with mini signs saying they were for 2-5 year olds so I am going to continue that plan. The bags had a mix of cars, animals, blocks and stuffed animals to play with. Recently I noticed some of the bags were in bad shape (torn, stains etc.) and with the H1N1 scare I think its time to give all the bags and toys a good cleaning.

After doing a ton of research on the internet I've decided the new bags will include:
pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks and fun Christian stickers
blocks (somebody donated a brand new box of blocks)
crayons and a notebook
a storybook
and possibly some new little toys (cars, dolls)

And....for the 5-7 year olds Iwill be assembling mini flannel boards with cutouts of biblical stories. How cool is that?? I can't take the credit however because I didn't come up with the idea.

I can't wait to see the smiles that they bring.

Psalm 100

"Make a Joyful Noise" is the famous Psalm 100 scripture passage.

This week I went for a walk in a local park. It was a beautiful autumn day with the wind blowing and the sun shining. As I walked this scripture popped into my mind and I came home and wrote my own version. Here it is.

Walking through the forest, a joyful noise.
wind blowing, leaves crunching, children laughing in the distance.
Sun peeking through the trees.
I look up. Waaaay up....two squirrels, cracking nuts, shells dropping to the floor.
Thump.

Rose Garden with buds shining red, orange and yellow colours. Is it really nearly November?

Petting zoo empty. No sign of life. A place of story from weeks gone past. I wonder where the animals are? I listen for birds....none. I hear trees blowing in the wind.

A man appears from another path. All wrapped up in warm clothing and a toque.I wonder where he is going. What is his story? I look at him to offer a smile, he walks by, no eye contact, humming a song.

I think to myself, God is good. God is sooooo good!
Then... I look down.
Shining in the light....chestnuts!! Like a child, I begin a treasure hunt. Gathering, collecting, feeling their smooth skin. I imagine cooking them on a fire.

I stand up, bright sun on my face. I give thanks for silent moments. God's sheer beauty.

Adoption Update

I don't think I've posted an update on my adoption recently. Yesterday marked 27 months, waiting for a child. It's ridiculous really, being that thousands of children in this province are waiting for homes and this process is taking as long as an international adoption would. However I won't complain because I really believe my time is coming.

Last year I was praying for CHANGE in my life and God has answered my prayers in many ways. I have a wonderful new job with more hours and more pay. I have a new mortgage and on November 21 I will have a new home and in December I will be assigned a new adoption worker. This can only mean that a child (or children) must be coming my way.

I am getting a new worker because I am moving from one region to another and it is a requirement to change but I think it will be a blessing in itself. My current worker really hasn't done much and I am not convinced that she supports single parent adoption. Hopefully my new one will be great. It will give the opportunity to start fresh and from a new beginning.

Ice Skating

I took the senior youth group ice skating last night. There were eight of us which was small in comparison to events in the past but it was a great night to build relationship with the youth in my congregation. Taking on this new job and returning to weekly leadership at youth group, has been a good reminder that it takes a lot of time, trust and honesty to build a healthy youth community. This particular group has had quite the year full of many transitions (leaders coming and leaving) along with some internal drama and conflict.

Who knew that ice skating would turn into a teaching moment.

To make a long story short we ran into a bit of challenging time with a group of teens who showed up at the ice rink, drunk. They were so drunk that they could barely skate straight nearly banging and crashing into people as they made there way around the ice. One of them threw up all over the ice. The language they were using was very foul and there were no adults around. Only three young staff. When we arrived I found out that it was a teen-only skate but I managed to convince the cashier that I needed to skate with my group. This drunk group of teens became quite the problem and we ended up leaving early and sneaking out a back door in order to stay safe.

It made me sad that young teenagers were that drunk. What is going (or not going) on in their lives to lead them to this point? Are they just bored? Is there home life so tough that they turn to alcohol? Is it just a stage?

The evening ended up providing us with an opportunity to discuss alcohol, bullying, youth violence and drugs. The evening took our group to a new level.

New House Photos

Homelessness

Today was a great Sunday! I co-led my first sermon with my new colleague, Will. Our focus was on the theme of homelessness and meeting our neighbours. This last week has been Homelessness Action Week (worldwide) and there have been numerous events around the world. Our church is located in an area where the need for food, shelter, clothing and care is extremely high. We have people dropping in for food daily and today was no different. Immediately following the worship service a man dropped in to get some food for himself and his two children.

If you have a few minutes...read our sermon. It can be found here:
http://www.northwood-united.org/sermon.html

If you have more than a few minutes then be sure to buy some extra groceries for the food bank or donate some blankets or socks to a local shelter. The need is so great, everywhere we live.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well its Thanksgiving and I am sitting at my computer thinking about the many things I am thankful for. Mom and I will find a restaurant tomorrow and enjoy a turkey dinner. I am usually alone during the biggest celebrations of the year (Thanksgiving, my Birthday, Christmas, Easter) so its nice to have Mom in town.

Today during the Children's lesson I reminded them about being thankful and saying grace every time we sit down to enjoy huge meals. It was a good lesson and I think many adults resonated with it.

I am so blessed with a good, rich life. I have a warm home, lots of food, many friends, clothes, opportunities, choices and excitement in my life. I am aware that all the shelters in Metro Vancouver are full tonight with people waiting and hoping to get a bed. I spent two hours on Friday calling around trying to help a young man out. It is so heartbreaking at times and good a reminder to be thankful for all that I have.

New House!

In the last six days I listed, sold and purchased property! I will be moving from New Westminster to Cloverdale most likely over the the US Thanksgiving weekend (end of November) just in time for Advent to begin.

I am really excited and at the same time really calm. I've been through this process twice before so it is now a piece of cake!

My new home will be a townhome, 1300 square feet, 2 bedrooms and a den, a huge kitchen island which is super exciting and a garage. The complex itself has a community garden! Could there even be a better match out there?

WOW!

Ready, Set, GO!!!

I signed the papers last night and my house was officially listed on the market today. The realtor has already had four phone calls and there are showings tonight and tomorrow. WOW! Could this be a luck-filled weekend or am I just the new-house-on-the-block??

In any doubt, it's exciting and stressful all at once. There is nothing like living in a home that was yours, is still yours but now you are surrounded by a staged look; fake plants, fake photos, books, clocks....its a little strange I must say.

It's pretty hard to be passionate about cooking and baking when all of your equipment is in storage and all that remains are fake fruits in a basket on the counter.

I look at more houses on Monday. Ready, Set, GO!!!

Excitement!

I am so many exciting things happening these days that sometimes it is hard to sleep! Firstly, I am three months into my new job and I love it!! I feel right at home and I am enjoying all the new energy, ideas, meeting many new people and working in team ministry. It's great!

Tomorrow I am listing my house on the market. The last week has been spent staging/de-cluttering and cleaning. The photographer comes tomorrow and then the first open houses will be this weekend. Here's hoping for some wonderful person to come along and put an offer out there!!

Sunday will be my covenanting service which for those you not familiar is like an installation worship service between the new congregation, the new presbytery (region) and I. There will be three choirs singing, a great reflection by a good friend and colleague and following worship there will be a potluck dinner. I love community dinners! Adding to the excitement, three cousins from Washington will be driving up for the day which is a big deal because my parents aren't able to attend.

Today I look forward to hanging out with a couple of friends. We are going to check out Main Street in Vancouver.

Guatemala Photos #1

Finally some photos from Guatemala!! I was there in July and spent two weeks on an education tour. Guatemala is a country that is squished between Mexico, Belize and Honduras.Population of about 13 million.

Photo 1:

is of one of the many active volcanoes in the country. I think there around seven in all. Mother nature gave us a great day for a great photo.

Photo 2: is a great photo if I do say so myself! Taken in Antiqua at one of the ruins we visited. I believe this was a church or cathedral that collapsed during the last major earthquake in the 9o's?

Photo 3: was taken in San Lucus Toliman, a pretty little town. I forget the name of this flower but it had an incredible smell. So beautiful!

Photo 4: Eggs! We visited an amazing chicken project which supports an addiction centre. This project was started by a Vancouver man. Unlike North America, fridges are not used.

Photo 5: This was in Guatemala City at the first hotel we stayed at. The corn tortillas were incredible!!!

Condo Staging

The wedding was incredible and I will post photos soon but for now I must update you all on this week's project. Tonight is the night that my realtor comes to "stage" my condo in preparation for the photographer. My realtor hires a professional photographer to take photos of my house so that it can be officially listed on the market. I can hardly wait. I've been working sooooo hard on making my house look pretty and presentable. It was always presentable but there is something about creating space in order for it to engage others. I keep thinking of the displays in department stores and IKEA. Last week I bought new bedding and pillows and yesterday I spent the entire day changing my house around. I must say it looks really good. Tonight should be fun!

First Wedding, here we go!

I leave tomorrow morning on a road trip up to a valley about three hours from my home. Saturday I will officiate my very first wedding for a beautiful and amazing family. The ceremony will happen in a small little barn on the "Schoolhouse Farm". I can hardly wait! I've been preparing for weeks, practicing every night and last weekend spent an entire day sewing a stole (like a sash) to wear over my alb (like a gown). The service will be short, probably a half hour followed by dinner and a dance. Sunday morning I will wake up as the sun rises and drive home just in time for worship. It's our big fall kick-off Sunday so I can't miss it. What a great weekend it will be.

Friday Ferry Adventure

Today is the final day of Kid's Camp and then I am off for a three hour ferry adventure but I will be home tonight. I'm not going anywhere to stay. How does that work you think? Well my friend's child needs to get home from Victoria and can't be on the ferry without an adult so I volunteered to take the ferry over at 4pm today, meet up with the child at 545pm and take the 6pm ferry back. Sounds like a pretty great opportunity to have a couple of hours to find a sunny spot on the boat and dig into a new book. We'll have dinner on the way back and my friend will meet us on the other side with treats in hand. A Friday Ferry Adventure to kick off the Labour Day long weekend.

Kid's Camp

This entire week I have been really busy at work with Northwood's annual Kid's Camp week. It's kind of a mix between camp and vacation bible school. The theme this year is "Going on a Safari" through story, song, crafts, food, games and fun! Other than one first aid incident involving lots of blood and eventually stitches, everything has been going well. Outside of camp in the wee hours of Tuesday morning somebody lit the church dumpster on fire so that made for an exciting story yesterday. This Sunday worship will be led by the children and it will be a celebration of Kid's Camp. It's going to be great!

Mini Golf & Milk

I love being "Aunty Kerry". Obviously I have no siblings but being an aunt to my friend's children is the most amazing thing to be! I have been blessed to be involved in the lives of three boys since the day they were born. Back in June we set aside August 29th as a big outing day with the 11, 6 and 4 year olds. We spent a good part of the day at Castle Fun Park (a great big arcade/game place with everything from mini golf to baseball, boat racing and bowling). It was a great place especially as there was something for everyone. I had fun practicing my swing in the baseball area and I fulfilled my aunty duties, partnering up twice for go-kart runs. I think I had the brightest helmet on in the entire place and the bumpiest car on the track but it was fun!

After lunch, we went on an entirely different adventure. Another friend of mine is apart of a farming family and I made arrangements for us to visit her dairy farm during milking time. The boys had never been to a farm before so this was an exciting experience! We saw baby cows including the newest ones just three months old. We fed "teenager" cows some dry food consisting of corn and oats. We watched the first set of 90 cows get milked including one that was 123 days into her pregnancy. I think the milking was the coolest part of our visit and the boys talked about it all the way home. It was fascinating to see how quickly one cow can be milked; roughly four minutes producing 20 liters. This was my second visit to the farm and I can't wait to go again!

Materialistic Stuff

Yesterday was Tuesday and it was a really great day! I spent many hours with my realtor checking out properties, neighbourhoods and show homes. I find it really interesting checking out other homes which obviously involve a variety of styles, rooms and decorating ideas. I found one place that I could easily see myself living in. The kitchen was beautiful and the backyard had lots of potential which are the two places in a home that are most important to me. (Cooking and Gardening anyone?) At this point I am just looking with no plans to bid until mid-September.
In my home I continue to purge. I've been purging for months now. It feels like it never ends but I always seem to create a pile of stuff that I don't need anymore. I am constantly trying to become a simplistic, only own what you will use, type of person. I am not a hoarder but there are always things to give away. Just tonight I went through my cookbooks and books and have yet another pile to take to the Thrift Store. After all "one persons junque is another persons treasure".

Excitement in the air!

I met with the bank in June and now I've met with a realtor. Exciting things are in the works and Tuesday will be a day of house hunting. I can hardly wait! I will spend the day with my realtor checking out current listings in neighbourhoods that I am interested in. Today I found out that I can list my property for sale, a lot higher than I originally thought. Yippee! After three years, its time to move again!

I'm Official!

My wedding license arrived in the mail today and now I am officially allowed to officiate weddings for the next year and beyond. The process was relatively short considering I applied in June and it had to go through three votes in the church (over the summer months) and then be filed with the Province of BC through Vital Statistics. I think it helps to know key folks and have good connections because I was requesting a speedy process. My first wedding will be in three weeks time on September 12. A big country wedding in a barn, on a beautiful farm in rural BC. What a great memory it will be! Yea!!

Monday Morning

There is nothing like starting the week off with adventure involving a warrant, an arrest and a number of police officers. It all began mid-morning when I left my office and walked to the other side of the church to the kitchen. While waiting for the kettle to boil I was looking out the window when all of a sudden a police car arrived, parked and waited there. I mentioned it to our secretary and she said that they must be after someone and they usually notify us if that is the case. I guess this goes with working on the edge of a rough part of town. Minutes later more police arrived; about four cars in all. They came into the church, asked for directions to the parenting class that was going on and seconds later returned with a man in handcuffs. An easy job with no resistance or profanity for that matter. The parenting classes are put on by the courts and are required for all those going through divorce proceedings. This poor man didn't even know that he was wanted. Needless to say his truck may be parked in our lot for a number of days. I guess of all places to be arrested the church is one of the more peaceful sites.

Welcome!

A brand new blog for me! In the past I've had an adoption blog and a food blog and now I think it's time to move on to a blog about my daily life. There is soooo much adventure in each day and I always have stories to share. Some of them may well be about adoption or food however this blog will also include a variety of other stories. Here we go!