List of Awesome!

A number of weeks ago for staff devotions, J shared about the "Book of Awesome!" This book reminds people to look at those little things each day that brighten our lives. Some examples shared were finding money in your jacket pocket (awesome!), giving a baby a high 5 (awesome!), getting two candies from a vending machine when you only put in the coins for 1 (awesome!), and the list goes on and one. I decided to do this as a class and definitely enjoyed the responses I got from the students in my class.

This past week I took a little Spring Break Holiday. Although Saskatchewan and Manitoba aren't exactly your typical vacation destinations over Spring Break, I had been planning for and looking forward to this trip for quite some time because I was visiting some people who are dear to me. The first leg of my trip was in Saskatchewan, visiting the B family who I spent last year with in Tky. I love them to bits. Ruthie knows exactly what I love and thoughtfully planned out what we would do, where I would sleep, what we would eat, and where we would go. She is a lovely host! While I was there, I decided to keep a "list of awesome!" It's amazing to have that kind of approach to life. Keeping the list of awesome has caused me to pause and consider what the Father has put in my life.

Some of my list of awesome from my time in Saskatchewan:

- Finding cards made for me from the kids when I arrived... awesome!
- Finding Abbie and Caleb waiting for me outside of my bathroom the morning I woke up... awesome!
- Sledding in Saskatchewan... awesome!
- Walking into church and hearing one of my favourite songs being played... awesome!
- A king sized bed... awesome!
- Abbie losing a tooth while I was visiting... awesome!
- Lots of hugs and love from the kids... awesome!
- Ruth's cooking... always awesome!
- The familiar worship songs being played from Matt's ipod... awesome!
- Being there when Abbie got her ears pierced... awesome!
- Dessert... awesome!
- Not setting an alarm... awesome!
- Snow pants... awesome!
- Caleb telling me that I mean the world to him... awesome!

My life is blessed! I am rich because of the people God has brought my way!

On Wednesday I took the Greyhound (8.5 hours) from Regina to Winnipeg. I visited my friend Brenda, who I met back in 2004 when we sang together in the choir at church. Brenda and I had fun going in the hot tub, working at her shop, going to the symphony, and... Going to Kenny's farm!

I had never seen baby calves up close like that before.

After seeing the little calves I got to go snowmobiling for the first time. I love firsts!

 

So what was your "awesome moment" today?

Take a moment to consider it... and thank the Father!

Who's the student?

I'm here, at one of my frequent study spots from when I was in University. I feel like a student again. I feel like people are looking at me with my thick binder, computer and earphones and wondering what I'm studying. Truth be told, I'm the teacher! And I'm doing my lesson planning. I'm learning about the human body and currently learning about the "Skeletal System" so I can teach these 10 year olds who are full of energy and questions about the world! What am I learning in this whole process?

I'm learning that I'm the student. I will always be. I'm learning how much I have to learn! I'm learning that each day is a new day for growth and opportunities. I'm inspired by my students. They have this love for reading and it has got me wanting to catch that enthuisiam for it as well. I've intentionally decided that when the class has silent reading for 30 minutes, three times a week, I will read too! It's amazing how this class looks forward to silent reading and how they actually sit quietly for 30 minutes without disruption reading! I've decided that rather than doing assessments or sitting at the computer, I too will pull out a novel and join in the delight of reading. It's been a pleasure so far to sit on the floor and get into a book with the rest of the class.

From this I've come to better understand what it means to model for others what you wanto to see in them. If I want my students to read, what better thing for them to see than me reading as well? I'm not exempt from reading or from partcipating in what I'm asking of them. Secretly (well now not so secretly), this is one of my greatest leadership tactics. Effective practice= modeling. Effective leadership= modeling character, expectations, etc. Actions speak loudly. Repeated actions ought not be overlooked because they are done for a reason. So when someone continues doing something, we ought ask, "What are they trying to model?"

I've thought a lot about being proactive rather than reactive, realizing that an effective leader anticipates what could be as a result of given variables. The effective leader knows how others may respond to such variables and prepares for that. This person examines all angles and devises strategies (either verbally or internally) to deal with a given scenario. Isn't it helpful when someone approaches you with insight into something before it happens, with ideas you may have never considered before? I've learned that planning ahead means a lot to people and it frustrates me when people come after something happens that they didn't foresee to apologize for their oversight. I'm grateful that they recognize their oversight; however, I expect leaders to be able to have the foresight to devise a "strategy" rather than get caught off guard by something.

I feel like I've been quite strict these last 4 weeks in the classroom. This is not me; however, aren't we taught that it's better to be firm at the beginning to gain the class's respect and then we can ease off after they know the epectations?

One of the highlights of my day is when we begin the day with prayer. I open it up for the students to share their prayer requests/ praise items and then pray together as a class. I love when C prays for the mom of the boy who sits beside him, who has major health concerns. She is not overlooked. She is not forgotten and has become part of our class. I love when they pray as they know how. I love when they thank God for things like Birthdays, hockey games and PE. So often their prayers are that "God would help [insert name here]. I've oftened wondered what that really means, but then I've come to realize that it's not a little prayer. God is our help. Our help comes from the Lord, strong and mighty.

I've learned how important space is. When I first got to the class it didn't feel like mine. It felt like I was visiting someone else's house, but it wasn't mine. Since then I've done some re-arranging, added some new decorations and made it feel like my space. A space can impact how we feel. A space can make us feel comfortable or uncomfortable; at home and at ease, or anxious and uncomfortable to name the polars. How can we make the space we're in most condusive to learning? to relationships?

And the ongoing one? Patience. I'm learning patience. Often I can give a snappy answer, but I'd rather give a gentle re-direction with a pleasant tone.

I'll keep you posted as I continue to learn. So who's the student? Do we have a teachable heart?

White Flag

Ugh, blogger isn't letting me add pictures. I don't know how to fix it! Chris Tomlin's Song, "White Flag" has been ringing in my head for a while now and especially over the past two weeks. You see, at New Years when I was at the Re:Turn conference, the Spirit of God was there and together we worshipped in freedom. We joined together as a generation saying, "We raise our white flag, we surrender all to you Jesus!" And I stood there with my flag waving as a way to declare this is what I was doing. Even now, I am saying those words. I am anticipating the start of a new job in less than a week. I start teaching grade 5 on Monday January 21st at Abby Christian and this is a new endeavour for me. All I can say is "I surrender all to You." There has been much anticipation because I accepted the position back in November. That makes for 2 months of waiting for me. It has been a good couple of months, but honestly, I'm not a fan of having something that you look forward to being planned so far in advance. For me it just creates too much anticipation and I'm kind of a girl who would rather have shorter notice and just take things as they come!  I remember when I was traveling with the girls and they would always be planning our next destination. When they'd run their ideas by me, I'd say, "Sure, sounds great!" Then, I'd leave it at that. I wouldn't really research beforehand, I'd just take it all in when I got there! I think it's more fun that way. If I had researched beforehand, it would have taken away any sense of newness. So here I am in a similar situation, where I could be doing lots of research for what is to come, but that's not my style. My style is to embrace it when it comes. I admit though, that again, sometimes in this regard I compare myself to others and think, "oh no, I need to plan more. I need to do stuff now" but that freaks me out. That creates more stress inside of me. In order to minimize stress, I wait and figure it out as I need to. Now for some that is opposite to their approach. They would rather figure things out way in advance, to reduce stress. For whatever reason that just makes me restless, anxious, and more stressed out. Please pray for me as I begin teaching this awesome group of grade 5s. Pray that as a class we would transition well. Pray that I would embrace it. Pray that we would laugh together, learn together, celebrate milestones together, encourage one another and dream together. Pray that I would model for them integrity and that I would lift Jesus up.

~this freedom song is marching on. ~ your love has come. ~ your love has won. ~ all for You. ~

Snowshoeing Sunday!

Last Sunday I went showshoeing at Manning Park. It was the perfect day. The temperature was -9 and there was not a cloud in the sky. Blue sky and Beatuiful British Columbia= perfect. What a spectacular way to worship. We had a good group of people and thanks to Cheryl, I had a pair of snowshoes to use. It was fun to meet new people and enjoy the great outdoors. The entire day was worship. I speak on behalf of the group and say that we delighted in God's creation. I really enjoyed getting out there with a group of people that I didn't really know before either. We even got to share some of our lunch with the birds. We held out our hands, full of trail mix and the birdies swooped down to grab some munchies. That was cool! After coming home, we ate dinner and then were invited to Ryan's to go in the hot tub and then enjoy some cinnamon buns. Again, perfect! We had a great discussion about work, rest, delighting in God and being fully alive- some of my favourite topics! One thought was about how God spent day 7 resting. We talked about how he didn't have to do that, afterall he is God and could probably just keep going. We talked about how God always reflected on His creation when he said that it was good. This reinforced my stance on just how vital and enriching it is for us to pause and consider where we've been and to process and reflect on the journey. Reflection encourages growth. Reflection allows us to gain perspective and see things more accurately. It reminded me of why I blog!

 

We talked about how good it is to take the time to delight in beautiful things.

Home Christmas

Hi Friends,

I was so excited about spending time with my family this Christmas. After being away last Christmas, it was pretty special for me to gather with loved ones once again. We hosted a Christmas Eve dinner at our house. Unfortunately my mom had a terrible stomach flu on Christmas eve. She wasn't able to join us for the Christmas Eve service or dinner, but she did make her way downstairs in her pajamas to capture a few pictures of our dinner. Although it was rather small this year and didn't include any of our cousins, I was happy for those who could be there. Thanks to Grandma, Grandpa and Mekayla for putting a lot into the dinner and making it happen.

 

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve.

 

We had some pretty exciting news. My brother Brayden and his girlfriend Nichelle got engaged on Christmas Day! They are planning a summer 2014 wedding. Us kids had fun making Christmas Morning brunch. Here are some pictures from Christmas morning. Mekayla and I had to go to Rempel's Meat shop on Christmas eve, right when they opened to pick up some farmer sausage because they had sold out a couple days prior. Everyone got spoiled for Christmas, that's for sure!

 

 

 

 

 

I had a delightful Christmas!

Something sweet for Sinterklaas

A few weeks ago I was invited for "Sinterklaas"- Dutch Christmas. After thinking about what treat to bring to the event I finally settled on Caramel Popcorn! I must say that caramel corn is the

*perfect treat.* Why? It's just so easy to make. It's great to snack on. It satisfies my sweet tooth.

And I had the the perfect bowl to put it in. An easy hit for a group event.

 

peace, a decision and a little humour

At the beginning of November I was asked by the youth pastor at my church if I would be the female leader for the Spring Break Youth Missions trip to Thailand. It was a total suprise to be asked primarily because I have not been involved with youth at the church and also I did not foresee any oversees trips this year. I told Jon I would think about it. And think and pray is what I did. Everyday it was on my mind, yet I did not have peace about a decison for a month. It was a long time of wondering if I would ever have peace about making a decision. To add to the mix I accepted a full time teaching position at Abby Christian beginning in mid- January. I'll be teaching grade 5! With the new position I wondered if I would need a break or if the trip would be a life-giving way to spend my Spring Break. I wondered so many things. I know it will be a different pace of life once January hits because having your own classroom involves a lot more prep work and time. Currently with Teaching on Call I usually leave school at 3:30 and I have no further planning to do in the evenings. It's been easy! Getting back to the story. Finally two Wednesdays ago,  I woke up with this peace about saying no to it.  At the end of the day, the Spirit of God wasn't leading me to do it. That's an interesting thought. It says a couple of times in Galatians to let the Spirit guide our lives and that has been why I've "had to go" in the past and yet this time it's the same but different. Three big things I was wrestling with were:

a. what others may expect of me,
b. what I expect of myself,
c. the thought that my "Missions DNA" would be stripped of me if I said no.

But the amazing part is that once we give Him those things and he exchanges them for himself, His peace comes and those things fall to the side. It was definitely an honour to be asked to lead in this way. I was thrilled at the opportunity to bring my own experiences and love for people and the world to the team (if I were to go). I'm so supportive of the trip, but this wasn't what He was leading me into at this time. One of the big things I learned is that the Spirit of God holds the trump card. I made my pros and cons list using my human rationale; however, it when the Spirit of God prompts you either to do/ or not do soemthing His voice is what ought to hold the most weight. I remember when I went to China and my parents wanted a reason for "WHY" I had to go and the reason I gave is that the Spirit of God is leading me to go. At the end, that answer satisfied. That answer outweighed any other.

Now back up to point "C" above. I have to laugh because although I have been on the on-call list at the Dasmesh Punjabi School here in Abbotsford, I hadn't received a phone call until Thursday morning (the day after saying no to Thailand). To me this correlates because it was the Father giving me that little reminder that he knows my heart and that he knows my love for the nations. It was a reminder that he does not take that away from me because I said no to Thailand. I ended up teaching there four days these past 2 weeks. On Friday it was Guru Nanak's bday, so the whole day was a religious ceremony all in Punjabi. I had to take off my shoes and wear a head covering. I jus stood there beside my class and prayed to Jesus the whole time. What an honour to get to stand in that place. I've had the privilege of being invited into that school. I've had the privilege of standing as an embassador of the High King, Jesus, and praying that individuals at that school would encounter His grace, love and peace.


So perhaps the "Big 3" I take from this experience is:
1. God does give us peace when we seek Him.
2. The Spirit of God sometimes leads us to go and other times leads us otherwise. The Spirit of God holds the trump card.
3. God knows our hearts. He made us who were are and he does not forget how he has made us.



~ One of my favourites! ~