Canada's Really Big, Eh?

I have a job interview at a pet supply store (not the same one I applied at before) on Monday morning at 10:00. That's Tuesday at 2 am for you Kiwis.

I'm really excited because it seems to fit perfectly into my schedule and I don't think there have been any other applicants!

Sooo that's a good praise item!

Another praise item is that God has been really blessing me, not only financially but spiritually. I have been seeking a mentor for a while now (even when I was in NZ) but didn't feel particularly connected with any one person. Well lately God has been giving confirmation all over the place that the choices are now down to two people, and He is swaying it ever so clearly even towards one of them.

Please pray for God to make it so clear who He has chosen to help me with accountability and spiritual growth.

I miss you all a TON and hope to start putting together a care package with candy and whatnot for the youth (and chocolate for the Rentouls of course).


Also, my cousin Harry is leaving the hospital today, I think. His blood sugar count was at 46 when he came in (apparently it's supposed to be at 6), and as of yesterday when his sister and I left, it was down to 14. He is feeling pretty yucky I think, being stuck there and knowing that he has to make a lifelong commitment to his health now even though he's only 19 and wants to just live a normal life.

But the good news is that they caught it before he could get any really serious problems from it. Hopefully he can get back to normal and "eat a cheeseburger" as he really wants. hehe

Hope to hear from ya! What happened to emails and comments and whatnot? You're all already slacking pretty bad!

Please pray for my cousin, Harry. He's 19 and found out last night that he has type 1 diabetes. He's in a pretty stable condition but has been pretty sick the past few days which is why he went to the hospital in the first place.

His mother lives at the other side of the country and he's not had the easiest life. Right now I'm feeling a little angry...wondering why him when he and his sister have been through a lot already.

Pray for peace and health and whatever else. He's a Christian so hopefully he can cling to God during the next few lonely nights in the hospital.

So no job yet.

However, the McLeods Daughters discs have been tracked down and are on their way to Canada - so I didn't lose any money there.

AND tonight while I was at young adults group, I asked for prayer for a job and financial provision because of rent and sponsor payments coming out within the next week or so. And all of a sudden about 45 minutes later, one of the guys I hardly know (but is super nice so far - I approve very much of him dating one of my close friends, Stacey)pulls me aside into the lounge and said that he knows a place that is probably hiring and he gave me the contact information and said he'd refer me to them to get me a full time job.

AND THEN he said "And this is from God. I will tell you the story later but for now if anyone asks, it is from God." and he hands me an envelope with cash inside. I of course didn't open it up in front of him or in the house because it's not polite so I waited til I got in the car. $300! Like that's only $75 shy of my rent! And I'm getting money back from having quit that animal care class. So with this cash and that cheque combined, I will have JUST enough to cover rent and the sponsorship, with enough left over for a tank of petrol for the car.

God is so faithful. Like I have been really feeling his presence lately and remembering to spend time with Him (this has always been one of my weaknesses, as Bethany, Richard, Jocelyn and I discussed in small group once) and things are just really great. Even though I've been flat broke and now have TWO broken cars (so no reliable mode of transportation), I haven't really been feeling "down", so to speak.

I am just having a really great night. A great life. I'm going to church tomorrow and announcing to my friends that God has shown me which programs to take part in.

I just feel peaceful. Yay!

Oh yes and let me just say that the picture of me and Hannah was taken very shortly after she spilled most of that glass of water into a VERY uncomfortable and embarassing place (especially when I had to go out to buy cheesecake shortly afterwards).

That explains the tea towel in my hand...

Hi again everyone, I trust that all is well with you!

I just wanted to post a picture on here that Bethany sent me last night because it's my very favourite due to the sheer nature of the situation. Yes indeed, Hannah is ONCE again giving ME cuddles and not mum!

Now that Bethany has her daughter back, though, I need to gloat once in a while about how life once was and remember that for a short time I prettymuch had my own kid. I mean come on, when all Bethany does is pawn off her kid on me every day, what do you expect? teehee JUUUUUST kidding!



So there isn't much else that's new right now. My brother is at school and I'm vowing to actually get this apartment sorted out today - once and for all! That means finishing the unpacking and getting rid of the boxes and bags laying around and taking up space.

I am also waiting to hear back from a guy at church who is an independent contracting painter or something. He's waiting to hear back from a potential job in a city nearby and said that if he gets it, he'll hire me to help and it'll be a BIG job so I'd get paid BIG bucks. I'm giving until Sunday to hear back otherwise I'll just start telling people at other places that I can start working immediately.

Sooo that's life right now. I don't have a DVD player so I can't watch McLeods Daughters yet. But this Thursday is the season premier of Grey's Anatomy and THEN on SUUUUUNDAY it's...

*drumroll please*

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES!

I'm excited to be able to tell Bethany ALL about what's going on with those crazy women of Wisteria Lane.

Well I guess that's all for now and I just remembered that the pictures I try to upload just don't seem to work for me so let's hope I can still get the Hannah picture to work.

So as I was roaming through the supermarket tonight (yes, tonight - at the 24 hour shop), I happened to come across the little section with the alcohol flavouring syrup thingies (not any alcohol, just the syrups) and decided to keep my eyes open for a little bottle of bitters. Well lo and behold, I found one! So I rushed to the other end of the store to trade in my bottle of Coke for Sprite and grab a bottle of fresh lime juice.

And now I am enjoying my very first home made Lemon, Lime & Bitters. So beautiful. However, it's not quite as tangy or as bittery as Bundaberg makes it but I'm kinda scared to put any more bitters in it coz I remember someone telling me once that too much of it is actually a poison. So I'm afraid to put more than like 4 dashes in the glass!

I think the secret is that I need way more lime juice next time. Yup, I just took another sip and that's definitely the problem.

Next thing on the agenda is to tackle the art of Pavlova making.

And another prayer request:
The guy that was supposed to send me my 5th series of McLeods says that he sent it like almost two weeks ago but last I checked with Rae it hasn't shown up at the house. I have a feeling he's ripped me off because I made the mistake of telling him that I was leaving the country. That's $125 of much needed money gone. I'm not impressed. I asked him to send it courier and he said he sent it by regular post instead because of the price. I don't know if I believe him.

I have his name and address where he told me to first pick up the stuff if anyone is willing to take a trip to break his legs.

It would be really nice for at least that series to show up so I haven't lost any money.

Back to the drink! Goodnight!

This is a very special post just for my EDGE youth. I recommend you watch it when you have enough internet space to do so, because video files take up a lot.

You can probably guess what it is - but I thought you might want a copy of it for yourselves to watch once in a while without me!

It's 12:40 am and I can't sleep. I am now sitting in my living room attempting to sleep on the couch while watching tv...and on the TV Guide channel it shows that at 1:00, MCLEOD'S DAUGHTERS is on TV!!! On a channet I GET!!!

How YAY is that?

*dances*

And I don't care what you say, Mr. Campbell. It will never be nicknamed "Lesbian Farmers".

So I'm having a few real issues lately, both to do with work and school.

As you all know, I'm currently enrolled in an Animal Care Worker program with Georgian College in Newmarket, Ontario. Now for those of you in another country and have no clue where Newmarket is in respect to Hamilton (where I live), it takes roughly an hour and a half to drive one way on highways, going speeds upwards of 110 km/h.

That's far. But I thought I could handle it because my friend Jen lives there.

Well after doing some calculations because I'm worried about my finances, it has come to my attention that the $20 left in my bank account isn't going to get me anywhere, especially when I don't get my first paycheque from the bank for another 3-4 weeks, and it will only be a measley $75 or so.

Not only do I have no money for food or rent, but at $50 a week for gas on going to Newmarket for school ALONE, it will end up costing me upwards of $2000 by the time I finish this program, and I found out that I am not even guaranteed a spot in the specialization field that I want, unless I drive another HOUR out of NEWMARKET to get to the class I want.

This poses a very big problem, since I don't have any money at ALL right now. PLUS with my Saturdays (bank) and Sundays (church) already taken up, I would have to approach any employment potential with the request that I don't work Mondays or Tuesdays EITHER. And working 3 days a week at a supermarket or something isn't going to pay my bills. It really makes me frustrated because I felt like everything was going to work out perfectly and it all seems to be going to crap now.

I am still going to pursue some form of animal care education somehow - I just need to take a different avenue at this point. I just have come to the conclusion that I can no longer continue to pursue it at this particular school. At least this way I know that I will have a better chance of getting a job by saying I'm available every weekday.

So I'm feeling pretty discouraged.

Also, it is both flattering and overwhelming that everytime I return to my home church, I get approached by half a dozen different ministry leaders to ask me about getting involved in their program. Here's the breakdown:

Junior High Programs (ages 10-13): 'BLAST' (outreach) and 'BLAST OFF' (discipleship)
Senior High Programs (14-17): 'AXIS' (outreach), 'FUEL' (co-ed discipleship), and 'BECOMING' (girls discipleship, created by myself and one other friend)

Now, I have already been asked by the Blast, Blast-Off, and Axis leaders to get involved in helping to lead those programs. I was also casually approached about Fuel and since the girl that created Becoming with me is no longer living in town, the senior high girls are begging me to start up that program again because they miss their Girls Nights.

I also have been asked about joining the worship team. Blaaargh.

One of my weaknesses is the fact that I spread myself too thin and burn out quickly. I need to seriously pray about what God wants me to do in this situation, because I know that (as much as I want to) I can't do it all. There is no way I'll be able to handle that while hopefully working full time and volunteering at the animal shelter.

So as I said...it's flattering that so many people are excited to ask me to help lead their ministries (plus it'll get me some good practical experience), but it's overwhelming when it's too much.

Sorry that this is a significantly longer entry than usual - I just had to get that off my chest. Please continue to pray for a job and for clarity about the future - as it seems that it was an illusion that it was all sorted out before I left NZ.

Goodnight.

Dude none of the pictures I'm uploading are showing.

So depressing...

Oh well I'll make em into a photo album at some point.

Well as most of you know already, I have moved into my new apartment with my brother. It is a basement apartment in a student housing situation, only 3 small blocks from the college that Mike is going to.

We do not have a third room mate, but that doesn't affect our rent prices. It is a little smaller than I had hoped for the price that we ARE paying, but I guess you gotta pay for location (since it's really close to the school).

I don't have a computer desk or my comfy chair in my bedroom yet, but I have a lot of my clothes unpacked and thrown in the wardrobe. I have stuff on the floor and no sheets on my bed - just a comforter and pillow. We don't have a dishwasher (ack I HATE doing dishes) but we have the internet (on wireless! yay!) and cable (Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy next week! Yay!).

But the funnest news for me is that on Tuesday night, I decided it was time to pick up my new kitty, Tess. No, I did not give her that name because I'm obsessed with McLeod's Daughters - she already came with it. She is a 4-5 year old grey and white tabby. She is actually pretty small framed so she feels a bit like a kitten to me still (especially after living with giant monster Archie for 5 months or so!). She HATES other cats and was living with a housefull of 6 other cats in her foster home and since she was badly abusing the other cats - scratching them in the face and eyes, etc - they were going to put her down unless she could go to a "only-pet home". So I thought it would be the perfect situation for her to come live with me and Mike.

I had a fear that she would be kind of vicious with humans if she can be vicious with other cats, and was a little hesitant at first about approaching her too quickly or anything...but she is completely adorable. She's a cuddle bug and a lap cat and she is always getting under your feet wanting attention while you're walking from room to room. She follows me and Mike EVERYwhere in the apartment and sits right beside us when we're watching tv or just chilling out. In fact, as I type this sitting on my bed, she is laying RIGHT beside me having a bit of a relax.

As you can see, I've put up a few pictures of her so you can see just how adorable she is.

So that's my biggest news - I have my own kitty after 4 years of having to live more or less without pets. It's nice to have her here, even if she wants 24/7 attention.

I still don't have a job yet, and I don't have a phone so I will keep you updated on what's happening. In the meantime, take care and I'll talk to ya soon!

So if you could all please pray that I could get a job?

I was offered 2 actual employment positions a few weeks ago, one at the bank and one at a pet store. The bank could only offer me one day a week for now but the pet store was going to fill up the rest of those hours. However I just rang them and they decided that they had retracted the job offer without telling me and now I'm sort of left hanging with no income for quite some time now. I rang the bank begging them for more hours wherever they could so hopefully I'll get some income, since we just signed a least agreement on the apartment and I can't afford to live there if I'm only working a day a week! Yikes.

Well I'm a little discouraged now but tonight's my first animal care course! I gotta be happy about that one!

Okay so I was informed today that my comments section didn't allow for just "anyone" to post comments on my entries and for that I apologize.

Feel free to now leave comments and messages about how much you miss me, and about how many legs you have (hehe - if you don't get it, don't ask).

So here's the lowdown about the coming week: I start school tomorrow night (Animal Care Program), I move into my new apartment on Tuesday and I probably pick up "Tess", my new cat on Thursday or so - though I might even just go with Tuesday when we move in.

My church also didn't have a building until just recently, and today was my first day in it. Very big and flash! I quite enjoy it; especially the fact that we don't have to have worship practices in the leader's basement anymore and always lug around the sound equipment with us to and from church on Sundays. It's nice to have a permanent place to meet.

Well that's all for me today! I'm going to start researching internet and cable connections for the apartment.

Miss you all!!!

I'm home. It's been a long haul but I have plenty of interesting stories to tell!!!

It's 3:30 in the morning, though so I'm not going into details.


All I will say for now is that it was very difficult for me to leave. I had a good crying spree on the bus after Rae walked me out and I drove away from Te Anau one last time.


To all of my youth: I miss you soooo much and even though things will be a little different, I hope you will even see them as BETTER and that you'll always be more excited to go to the Edge and to the youth centre. I hope that we can keep in touch and that you'll send me lots of letters and pictures and updates on your life. Don't get too cool for me!

To the "adults" who have been there for me: thanks for all your encouragement and support. I couldn't have done it without you (you know who you all are!)

And specifically to Bethany: I got your email. No need to cry, hon. I know I'm your best friend and you won't know what to do without me there. It's okay, I'll be back someday. Try not to get too emotional on me next time, Mrs. Saptastic.


Ok it's about bedtime. Yay for 20 degree nights! Yay for sleeping with no covers and with windows open and fans blowing! w00t!

Yay for home!