Wow, today was a beautiful day and it was so good to be out enjoying God's amazing creation. I often marvel and wonder why God gave us so many beautiful things to look at. And the thought crossed my mind, too, as to WHY we think big chunks of rock covered in white fluffy stuff are so beautiful in the first place?! But I'm not real big on getting deep and analytical about my thoughts, so I just pushed that thought aside and enjoyed the scenery :)

Dad and I went on a little cross-country ski today. It was the most perfect day we could have asked for - bright blue sky, warm sun, hardly a cloud in the sky! The snow was soft and fluffy. The trees were fragrant. There wasn't another soul around. There was only a tiny breath of wind.

We did some bush-wacking, some tobagganing (since there were a few steep hills!), and some gliding on the groomed trail. All in all, it was really quite a perfect day out in the mountains. I even had a nice ham sandwich with cheese and mustard for lunch! What more could a girl ask for?! It was also great to spend the day with my daddy. I've inherited a lot of his traits, including his penchant for gushing about how lovely the mountains are. Neither one of us is the type to chit chat the whole way up and down and mountain, but we do make one or two comments about how much fun we're having and how pretty everything is. Here's a picture of my dad looking happy as a clam.

How blessed am I to live in a place where I can be out in such beauty? And to have a job that's flexible enough that I can go skiing on a Tuesday?!

Amazing Calendars...

I just got the most amazing calendar at a shop in the mall... but I don't want to give away what the subject of the calendar is, since it's also a surprise for someone who reads this blog once in a while... I hope to post some sample photos of the calendar in a few weeks, after the surprise has been shared with that particular person :) Needless to say, the woman in the calendar shop thought I was nuts for buying this particular calendar. And 4 months ago, I would have thought I was nuts to buy this calendar! But it's so classic... mom and I were giggling for quite some few minutes over it. I can't wait to hang it in my little room in Juba! And you'll all have to come and visit me to see how it looks on the wall... and to see just how appropriate it is in my new home!

I'm going to book a plane ticket tomorrow, too, so I'll know exactly what day I'm aiming for to leave...

100%!!

I just got an email from the administration at the organization that I work for, and she said that I'm at 100% support... which means I'm good to go back to Africa whenever my little heart so desires :) So, things are going to switch into high gear for take-off time! Now I just have to decide on a good day to go...

Broken Glass

For the last several years, my little Honda Civic has been on Canada's "Top 10 Stolen Cars" list. Up 'till now, I've never had any troubel with it!

But the other night, as my cute little car sat in front of my house, someone tried to break in :( But instead of stealing the car, they ended up breaking the driver's side window! Honda Civics are normally laughable easy to break into... all you need is another Honda key, and voila, you're in. Somehow, though, mine is incredibly hard to get into (something I learned by locking my own keys inside once!). I'm so thankful that the car didn't actually get stolen...

I was able to get the window fixed today, after a bit of a comedy of errors surrounding that, too! After driving to the wrong auto-glass shop, I finally made it to the right one across town (through a blizzard no less!), where the guy proceeded to smash the new window that he was installing!

But now it's all fixed up, and I got a free oil change and 20 bucks off the price because of all the inconvenience :) So if anyone in Calgary is looking for a good, cheap way to get their auto glass fixed, I can hook you up...

On Time!

Despite arctic temperatures and blizzardy conditions here, I was actually early to BOTH of my appointments yesterday afternoon! I completely surprised M by showing up at his door EARLY to take him to the airport! I know he doesn't like flying and travelling all that much, so I didn't want to cause him even more anxiety by showing up late to give him a ride. We made it safely to the airport, despite my frosty windows and slippery roads. Then, I had a bit of time to kill before my next appointment, since it didn't take me as long as I thought it would to get to the airport. So I just went tot he mall, and splurged on new lime green gloves and a greatmatching polka-dotted pink scarf for $0.97! Wow, what a deal. The colors made me so happy, and it was so cold and blah outside, so I thought it to be worth the investment to bring a little smile to my face in the midst of the bleakest mid-winter!

So finally, it was about time to go to my friend's place for dinner, and lo and behold, I pulled up in front of her house about 5 minutes early, as well! I tell you, it's the turning over of a new leaf... maybe. We'll see how long it lasts...

Asian Adventures in food

As I was waiting for a program to load onto my computer this afternoon, I turned on the TV... and as I was flipping through the channels, I found 3, yes, THREE, different episodes of Seinfeld on three different channels at exactly the same time. Really, why are there three different episodes of the same show on at the exact same time!? Crazy, I tell you, just crazy.

I didn't want to sit around and watch Seinfeld, so I went out and had some adventures in dining with a dear friend. We had Vietnamese food. Yummy and cheap! We shared a HUGE bowl of rice noodles with port and spring rolls. Then we also had beef salad rolls (or something like that) all washed down with a steaming pot of jasmine tea. Mmmmmm.... It was lovely.

And then afterwards, I went to her house and had some fun with her and her roomie, also a good friend of mine. It was so nice to just be together with them. Good friends are so refreshing and so wonderful, even when you're just searching the Internet for cute short hair cuts and talking about crazy men...

Epiphany!

So today is/was Epiphany, or Orthodox Christmas, which I'm sure there's a more technical name for than "Orthodox Christmas", but I can't think of it just now. I celebrated the holiday with my Homegroup, which is just an amazing bunch of folks. Rachel and her family put on a huge spread - wow, amazing food, with contributions from other assorted folks. I've never been with a group of people who talk so animatedly before - whether we're doing Bible study or just sitting around the dinner table together, there's always much animated conversation. Normally, I can't get a word in edgewise, but it's just so much fun to listen and laugh and be a part of it all anyways!

We had a great $5 gift exchange, as well. I was also quite amazed by the quality of gifts that came out. Some were much more creative than mine - Matt made sure he got exactly to $5 by including a separately wrapped postage stamp as well as the $0.30 change. Good times, good times.

But I had too many other options for fun this evening - I honestly had 5 invitations for parties/gatherings this evening! When it rains, it pours, I tell 'ya. Now I'll go for the rest of my time here without a single invitation to anything... just you wait.

So I left my Epiphany party early to join my friend who is leaving to go on a DTS in Switzerland! I love her family and we had a great time telling stories and laughing. I'm sure gonna miss that girl, but I think I'll have to pop in on her parents once in a while, since they're so much fun, too!

I had to run home after the second party to let the poor little doggie that I'm dog-sitting out of her kennel. Boy, I've never seen the little fluffball run to the door so fast when I let her out of the kennel! She really had to pee, I guess... It's been really nice to spend a few days at my aunt's house to dog-sit while they're away for the weekend. I feel so at home in this house,a nd I realized that it's the first time in quite a few months that I've been in my own house! While I really don't like living on my own and I love living with my family when I come back home, it's nice to have a few days of my own space for a day or two now and again.

I even had a tiny party last night - a few of my friends came over and we played a rousing game of Scrabble... followed by a few episodes of Scrubbs. Scrabble and Scrubbs. What more could a girl ask for on a Friday night?!

I'm still hoping to have an Epiphany or two on this Epiphanous Day, but so far... no epiphanies, and it's now time to go to bed... maybe tomorrow will be more conducive to epiphanies.

But on a completely different note, Epiphany has something to do with the 12 days of Christmas, so here's a link to the lyrics of my favorite version of "The 12 Days of Christmas"

Only 354 more days until Christmas happens all over again!

Phew, Christmas is over... Mom is upstairs cleaning with a vengence. I guess that means I should finish unpacking from coming home from Africa! There's just been so much Christmas fun that I haven't gotten around to it yet!

On the Friday between Christmas and New Year's, my dad and I took my two older nephews to COP to ski/board. They were boarding, me and dad went old-school style skiiing. We were definitely the minority on the hill! I think they need to make a little "holding pen" at the top of the lifts to keep all the boarders in while they stick their foot in their bindings. It was actually hard to find a way through the wall of boarders sitting on the snow to actually start going down the hill. Skiing at COP definitely isn't quite like skiing in the "real" mountains, but there's something kinda cool about skiing and enjoying the view over the city, and then having a 5 minute drive back home at the end of the day!

For New Year's, we celebrated a "Newfie New Year", since we're getting too old to stay up too late, and the kids are too young to stay up too late. So we found a radio station from Newfoundland online, and joined in the countdown at 8:30pm our time! Then the kids went to bed, the adults cleaned up a bit, and then sat around, watched some episodes of Smallville, and went to bed just after our own midnight! I think I'm going to do Newfie New Year every year - afterall, I really should celebrate my Newfie roots more often...

Over New Year's, we spent a lot of time just sitting around and being together and watching Smallville on my computer! There always seems to be dishes to wash, too, My sister does an amazing job at cooking and providing amazing food for us to eat all the time when we're hanging out at her place, so the least mom and I can do is try to keep the dishes clean... not an easy feat when there are 10 people living together in the house!
I also had a great opportunity to share in a small church service about my work in Africa. It was a real encouragement to have the opportunity to talk with people and tell them a little more about why I work in Africa and what God is doing there in me and through me.

And now that the holidays are over... it's back to work! But I'm not sure exactly what that looks like for the next few weeks... I think it's just about time to start making lists of everything that needs to be done and procured before heading back to Africa!