2010 Travel

My friends know me too well! I've had three people ask me this week where I am off to this year. This is usually the time that I start to plan another trip to some wonderful place in the world however I don't have any big plans yet....

Hawaii, Australia and Nova Scotia are all on my radar and are all places I've been too before. I will probably end up going to one of them.

Europe, India, New Zealand, Philippians, Turkey and mainland Japan are on the dream list for future travel.

I am also thinking more locally and about parts of British Columbia that I haven't seen yet so I may plan a roadtrip to the East or to the North. If I go to Nova Scotia then I'll probably take the ferry to the US and explore Maine.

Stay tuned!

Friends

I am BEYOND excited tonight with the news that my good friends and their two little ones have sold their home in Richmond (where I use to live) and purchased a new home in Walnut Grove (15 minutes from where I live now). I am SO excited!! I can't wait to have them close by and for them to possibly even check out my church. They attend the church I just left so they are already connected, looking for a new church home. Great news all around!

Street Youth

In my Addictions Class on Monday nights we are working on a group project which we are organizing into a 45 minute class presentation for March 22nd. Our topic is street youth (ages 15-18), their use of alcohol and the positive intervention techniques of holistic approaches and asset building. I love working on huge projects like this because it gets people out into the community to find what resources are out there and available to us. My specific research pieces for this project are focused on asset building and youth-alcohol use as I have community connections in both areas.

Dondi Project

I am heading to work early this morning because there is a special pancake breakfast event before worship. There is a group of men in the church who are joining many men across the country, raising awareness and money for Angola. The United Church of Canada has pledged to raise $1 million dollars to rebuild a school, which was destroyed during civil conflict and war, in Lutamo, Angola. 500,000 people died in that war. The United Church of Canada is working in partnership with the Evangelical Church in Angola. Much more information can be found at www.dondiproject.com. Check it out.

Spring is Arriving

Spring is arriving. The days are beginning in the light and ending in the light. Clocks change next week.

Signs of spring this week:
10 eagles in trees alongside the highway
Tulips, daffodils, forsythia and cherry blossoms everywhere
birds chirping in the mornings, frogs croaking at night
unexpected sunny days....

This Saturday my Strata is holding a community garden sign up time. I have a meeting but plan on leaving early so that I can claim a spot. I can't wait to start digging in the dirt and planting seeds.

Summer will be here before we know it.

GOLD!

This afternoon was an
Amazing
Incredible
Exciting
Intense
Patriotic
Experience.....

We shorten worship so that people could get home for the 1215 game start.
Canada versus USA in Men's Hockey.
Canada won Gold!!!!!

Now the country is celebrating from East to West. Downtown Toronto and Vancouver have been shut down with thousands of people on the streets celebrating and wearing red and white.

I think Canada has always been patriotic in a quiet, shy type of way and this olympics may have just cracked that shell. It's amazing!

I just drove home and all down the highway people are out flying their flags and honking their horns. I've never seen anything like it!

Go Canada!

Editor

I got a fantastically surprising call today from a friend in Toronto. He has been writing blogs for the church for a long time and he has asked me to be a blog selector for a book he is writing. Basically I will be paid (a small fee) to read through 400 blog posts and choose just a few the I feel best represent the church and the Emerging Spirit Campaign (a campaign reaching out to those 30-45 year olds in our churches and communities). I will be one of three reader/selector people from across the country and I will have my name included in the credits of the book. What an amazing opportunity! Maybe this will be the push I need to write my own book; a personal goal that's been on my life list for quite some time.