Purity

I've been reading a book on keeping kids sexually pure, and there were some things that stood out to me. First, the author talked about having a strong marriage as a model for children to look up to. I really liked the part when the author prayed that God would make her a wife. She was 40 and was a foster mother to her niece and she really felt a desire for a husband, so, not only did she pray for a husband, but she prayed that He would make her a wife. I love that because I always say that dating or courting or being in a relationship isn't about finding the right person; it's about becoming the right person.

The second thing that stood out to me was a story about a chastity necklace. Some parents get their children necklaces or promise rings and ask their children to remain sexually pure, explaining the reasons why. The ring is supposed to be a symbol of that promise. I thought that was kind of neat. I just wondered what it would be like if your child said, "No, I can't promise that." Scary thought.

Definitions of the day: Mercy - when God doesn't give us what we do deserve
Grace - when God does give us what we don't deserve.

The number of times I've said either "Matthew" or "Michael" today: one hundred BILLION times.
Annoyance level: one hundred BILLION.
Why can't they just be quiet and work, and why must they always complain???

Hoarding the Inukshuk

Hoarding: [English] A temporary wooden fence around a building or structure under construction or repair.
[Michelle's language] PAIN in the BUTT.

Our big project of the session is a series of five 8' x 4' boards that are around the Inukshuk that every class is in charge of painting. We started yesterday but can't seem to finish. THe kids all whine about it being too hot, they paint unevenly so we have to go over it anyway. It is indeed a pain. Today I was at work till 6pm painting, and I'm still not done. On a side note, it has been super windy and dusty which has aggravated the allergies that have weirdly appeared just this week. My nose is itchy, my eyes are itchy, my throat and ears are itchy. And then of course the mosquitos decided to attack me while I was busy painting, so random red spots on my body are also itchy. I'm a big combination of hating hoarding, paint and itchiness. It WILL be done tomorrow though, and really, it does look fantastic, so it doesn't matter anyway. I think the kids are super-proud of it, and it'll be in the art show on the 25th of September. Btw, if anyone is interested, I can get you in free the art show day to come to the gallery (or, well, I can get you in free anytime, really, but the kids' art show is super!) to look at the camp stuff. They did some Amaaaaazing stuff. You'll be impressed, I promise. I'm going, so I'd love company, either way. I'll try and post a picture of the hoarding, anyway, once I get my camera properly hooked up to my computer. Hint hint. Still hinting.

My new fave food: my mom's cinnamon buns.

P.S. Cary, thanks for encouraging me in blogging! Ahahahah.

Muscle-y aches and pains

I had a super-tiring weekend! It started off with 2 birthday parties on Friday night, where I got to hang out with my youth group, and then with my high school friends. This of course included excellent food, so I was quite content. I saw some of the girls I'll be counselling next week up at my church camp (at Fair Glen) and it was so fun to hang out and bond with them. I'm praying I'll have lots of energy for next week; I really want this to be a special camp, full of impact. This birthday party was really neat because there was a program to it, and there was a lot of stuff that other ppl did (singing, performances, speeches, etc.) for the birthday people. I was really encouraged because it was really centred around their faith, and all the speeches had a big emphasis on how the person had impacted others spiritually. Anyway, I also had good talks with some of my high school friends about various theological issues, and I discovered...oh, what is it called? Dyna-flex or something like that? It's weeeeird. It's sort of a ball you hold in your hand, and you get the inside spinning. The inside is weirdly weighted though, so once it gets going, the ball sort of moves in your hand. It's kind of a creepy feeling, but uber-fun. :) I don't know what it's for. My friend says it's to induce CTS (carpal tunnel syndrome). AHahahahah. What else? Oh, my friend has a beautiful backyard complete with working fountain and tent to sit under. Friday was tons of fun!

Saturday: 6 hour canoe trip on the Grand River. Paddling craziness! Ahahahaa. I went with Ava and Ian in one canoe on a trip with lots of ppl from Ava's parents' church. There were tons 'o cute kids, Darrell is still quite the same old Darrell and my arms were DYING afterwards. It was the internal bleeding kinda muscle pain and I was sooooo afraid of how I would feel on Sunday. Fortunately, actually, only my shoulders hurt, and it was a lot less than Saturday night. I love canoeing! If only I could d-l the pictures to my computer, but my computer seems to be ignoring the USB cable I keep plugging into it. I don't understaaaaaand!!!! It used to work fine, but nope, no more. Any volunteers to help a poor, technologically inept girl out? Hint hint, my engineer friends. AHahahah.

What else did I do this weekend? Oh, I saw some co-workers' apt and we watched "Taking Lives" with Angelina Jolie. Not the best movie. I think I'm in romantic comedy or spy mode lately, so I can't appreciate thriller/suspense films.

Moving onto other muscle aches and pains, yesterday, I played some intense Capture the Flag with my morning class. Today my leg muscles hurt. Who is out of shape? Oh, pick me, pick me! Anyway, I came home and decided to try out the new treadmill that's been around for almost a week but has seen no use by me. Now my legs are more sore. Ahahahaha. I'll be in shape at some point and this won't hurt as much anymore, right??

Camp news: The quiet game makes a comeback! Reverse psychology works great on these kids. "Oh, come ON, I don't think you can all be quiet until break. THere's noooooooooooo way." So of course they bend over backwards being super quiet until break. Mwahahahaha. Oh, and in more exciting news, we made Chia-pet-like grassheads today, only all in a row, so they're like caterpillars. The kids were SO excited about them!

Quote of the day: "I LOVE HISTORY! First something happens, and then something else happens. SO SEQUENTIAL!! I love history! Thank you first guy for writing history down!!!!" - Old Navy commercial (Kenji swears I act exactly like this girl)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. - Romans 8:28

Space Cadet Central

Two boys in my afternoon class are driving me INSANE. INSANE, I tell you. One of them I have dubbed the Space Cadet, and the other one is just mischievous. Yesterday, Space Cadet ate SOAP. They were carving soap, and Mischievous had said, "Hey, I ate soap before." (another brilliant comment from the short corner) Space Cadet then actually EATS some soap while I have my back turned. He ends up with a soap crumb by his lip, which I don't want to brush off for fear of getting too close to Space Cadet spit. I let him know that he had a soap crumb, and I totally expected him to brush it away with his hand, but nope, out came the tongue, and he just licked it off. Honestly. This kid is TEN YEARS OLD. WHO EATS SOAP?!?!?! Oh man. Then Mischievous finds a glue gun stick and proceeds to CHEW it. CHEWING A NASTY PIECE OF PLASTIC. I just shake my head now, whenever they do anything. It's just so hard. Space Cadet really just is really spacey. Today though, I actually convinced him to run around a tree 10 times. It was HILARIOUS. I was like, "I bet you can't make it to 10." Ahahahaa, then he ran around. It was so funny. Silly kid. Silly Silly Silly.

THey're funny, but they're still driving me nuts.

The worst part is that I have this habit of turning ppl's comments around on them. For example, if someone says, "This stinks," I would say, "YOU stink." I do this a lot, with anything. Even, "This looks like a alien," gets turned into, "YOU look like an alien." Space Cadet CONSTANTLY says stuff that can be turned around. He keeps mentioning throwing stuff out, actually. He always says, "I wanna throw this out," to which I always so badly instinctively almost reply, "I wanna throw YOU out." Ahahaha. Or they'll say, "This is BORING. This is DUMB." You get the idea. It's sooooooooooooooo bad. Good thing I always catch myself before I say anything though!

P.S. LaserQuest ranks: 2nd in the first game, NUMBER ONE IN THE second game. OOOooooooh yeaaaaaah.

Harvesting with a few labourers

I just got an e-mail update from my friend who is doing global aid stuff in a closed country in Asia. He may be pulled out come October if other people don't volunteer to go. As I was praying about it, I remembered this verse, one of my favorites and one I think we don't pray enough: "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." -Matthew 9:38. I remember praying for more workers in the harvest field every night at 9:38pm while I was on my missions trip in East Asia, and it was so inspiring to think about all the workers that were in the field at that point. Whenever I think about this though, I just start thinking, "When, Lord, when?" When will I see Revelations 7:9???

Baby Einstein

I saw another family friend's baby today, and discovered Baby Einstein. Disney puts out these DVDs, toys, etc that are all supposed to be educational to some degree. Anyway, apparently these DVDs mesmerize your child, and sure enough, the 8-month-old just stopped and watched so intently when they turned it on. The most hilarious part of the whole thing is that the DVD is just shots of random toys, puppets, food, etc. moving. It is HILARIOUS. There are spinning metal toys, balls, random fruits and bean sprouts, EVERYTHING! And the babies just STARE at the TV. The mothers love it because it gives them that needed 10 minutes to take a shower, pee, clean, whatever. Apparently the older baby watches this DVD for up to an hour! I don't know how I feel about extended TV watching, but man, seriously, when I have a baby, I'm totally getting baby Einstein Dvds.

"Maybe they can help you."

Last night, us art camp staffers went out for some Laser Quest-ing fun! We all get 2 for 1 deals at Laser Quest because of our work IDs, so we went. It was my first time ever, but it was so fun being covert and shooting other people. It was all the staff, plus 3 other little kids. One of them kept crouching down and covering his laser targets! Cheater! At one point, I went to shoot him, and he bent over, so I said, "Hey!" and he ran away. He kept shooting me; he was pretty good. Alac and alas, David came in first. That guy is so stinking competitive. But GUESS WHO CAME IN SECOND?!?! You'll never guess, so I'll just tell you. ME! Yep! Yaaaaaay for Michelle's covertness! I loved this one spot because I could hide there and hear ppl coming down the stairs, so I just ambushed them. Mwahahaha.

The fun continued after Laser Quest when we went for food. Then we came back, hoping we could play a team game. Unfortunately, we couldn't. We walked out, hoping to go home, when Kate and David realize that BOTH their sets of keys are locked IN the car. David was soooooo mad at Kate. Anyway, so 4 of us girls went to go trek to the gas station to see if anyone could help us. The guy at the station said he couldn't, so we asked him if he knew where we could go to get help. He thought for a second, and then pointed out the window and said, "Maybe they can help you." We all turned to look, wondering who he could possibly be talking about, and pulling in was a bright red fire truck. Amaaaazing! Ahahaha, we walked over (they must get girls approaching them all the time, they all seemed apprehensive) and asked if they could help. The guy said he would (and on a random side note, I found out that Montreal has green fire engines, and we have some yellow ones because they thought they would be more visible that way. AHahaha!), and then we stood around, hoping they could give us a ride in the cool fire engine!!!!!! But no. So we walked back and he said he'd meet us there. We walked back and told everyone who was waiting for us that we had the fire department coming, and they were pretty amazed. Anyway, the fire guys were going but failing, when all of a sudden, they see a tow truck driving by. The fire guy yells, "Hey, Howie!" and the tow truck driver pulls in. Amazingly crazy. The fire guy knows the tow truck guy. Anyway, the tow truck guy proceeds to pull out the biggest case ever (it looked like a rifle case, no joke, and it probably was!) and extracts some long wire things. They go at it for another 5 minutes, and voila, the car was opened. Man, thaaaaaaank goodness for the fire guys, I tell ya! Yaaaaaay firemen!

So that was about the extent of my excitement for the summer, except for the free pancake breakfast they fed us this morning. And the moment this afternoon when Robert (the little brat!) whined and said, "I'm never coming back here again," to which I replied, "Okay." Ahahaha. He probably thought I was joking. But I wasn't. He's sooooooooo whiney and NEGATIVE! The kid draws death symbols all morning at art camp. Skull, "666", etc. etc. It was crazy. He was always okay in my class, but always negative. Anyway, it was the last day of this session today, so YAAAAAAY! Next 2 weeks will be assisting in the morning and instructing in the afternoon. Yay for pay!

Japan

I'm so excited, because my friend Kevin is coming back on Friday from his missions trip to Japan. He was there ministering to children and families with an outreach program at a local church. It sounds like it was so much fun. I totally have a heart for Japan, and it's so interesting to hear what they've been up to. The trip is actually now officially over and they're de-briefing, but you can check out the OMF website for their journal entries and pictures.

The latest news in camp stories: The quiet game is popular! Ahahaha, it's hilarious, because a couple of girls in my afternoon class (who are, incidentally, the loudest) decided it would be a great challenge to play the quiet game. It all started because Monica had been jinxed, and the girl beside her kept telling everyone to say her name so she could talk. My assistant and I conveniently decided to forget her name. After that though, they all decided to try not to say anything for the whole afternoon. It was SOOOOOO quiet. I even reverse psychologized them, because they signed that they were going to do it until snack-time, and of course, I said, "I don't think you'll be able to do it." Which made them try harder, of course. Mwahahaha. So once again, weirdly, the quiet game has prevailed. It is so funny that kids love this game sometimes.

Favorite chant of the moment: Beaver chant! "Beaver one, beaver all, let's all do the beaver call. Ch ch ch, ch ch ch! Beaver two, beaver three, let's all climb the beaver tree! Ch ch ch, ch ch ch! Beaver four, beaver five, let's all do the beaver jive! Ch ch ch, ch ch ch! Beaver six, beaver seven, let's all go to beaver heaven! Ch ch ch, ch ch ch! Beaver eight, beaver nine, STOP! It's beaver time!!!!! Ch ch ch, ch ch ch" And it keeps going over and over, but that's the gist of it. It's so fun! And you can replace "beaver" with ANYTHING! "Kenji one, Kenji all, let's all do the Kenji call!" Ahahahaha.

Family Resemblance

I was showing my family pictures from the 2 weddings I went to this summer, and they commented on the fact that the 2 siblings in one picture really looked alike. The thing is, some people think they look totally different. It got me to thinking about my sister and I. Some people swear we look VERY similar. For example, one guy in our anthropology class came up to us one day and asked us if we were twins! (I may have told this story before, now that I'm typing it...) Alright, so apparently there is some family resemblance. Later on in the month, I saw an old friend at York while walking with my sister. I introduce my sister, to which he says, "Adopted sister?" Ahahahahaha. Apparently we look reaaaaaally different. Who the heck can make up their mind!? I think there's a resemblance, but then, I have a bias because I know we're related. Ahahahaha.

Low moment of the day: Cat attack = slight bleeding = sore arm.

Another weekend update!

It's another fun weekend in the bag! Saturday morning was fun rollerblading times with Ava, Mike and my sister. Mike ran. Mike runs fast. See Mike run faster than Ava and Michelle rollerblading. See sister skating circles around me and Ava. Thank goodness for Ava. Ahahaha. So basically, Ava and I are the slowest rollerbladers in the world. Mike is the fastest runner. And my sister is the fastest blader. Mike and my sister did 12K, although they kept coming back for me and Ava, so it was probably a little longer. Ava and I did 10K. After, we all went to go play tennis. My arm hurts today. Haven't played tennis since grade 10!!!!!!

Today was also really hectic. Church, 2 softball games (YEAH, GO Judges, GO Judges! Judges 1, Judges All, let's all do the Judges call....ahahaha) where I saw a friend from school and talked with a guy who knows another friend from school (hahaha, Chinese Christian community is large, but separation is usually only a degree or two!) a big prayer/commissioning service for my friend Tim who's going to East Asia for TWO YEARS on missions. Oh man, it was so exciting to thing about all the lives he'll impact, the friends he'll make, and the things he'll learn. I am so excited for him! At the service, I saw my newly married friends who seem to be enjoying married life, and I saw Chuck. It was actually good times. The butter tart certainly helped, ahahahaha. Oh man. Food will cure any ailment.

So that's the weekend. Plans for the week? Work. Airport on Wednesday to see my friend who'll be coming back from a missions trip in Japan, Friday will probably be a youth thing, Saturday my friend from Guelph, oh, SORRY, my TWIN from Guelph will be visiting hopefully. Lots of fun stuff. And Happy early b-day Nelson, in case I don't blog that day!

Quote of the weekend: "Maybe guy's gums and girl's gums are different."

P.S. Tom Clancy novel finished; it was fan-diddly-astic

Practicing my ASL!

Happy day, yesterday, I actually got to practice my ASL (American Sign Language). One of the volunteers, who was also a camper, has a brother who is deaf and knows ASL. It was really fun to sign with him, although in the spur of the moment, I found I forgot a lot of my signs. I need to practice more. ANyway, today though, the volunteer comes in and tells me his brother liked meeting me because I was perky! Ahahaha, apparently perky even when signing! And another assistant commented on my perkiness today. Am I really that perky? I felt pretty cruddy today. Wow. Perky. That's me! (roll eyes)

Yesterday was also a staff hang-out day where we went to the Putting Edge and challenged each other to some mini-golf. It was okay, but I had been feeling sick since the afternoon, so I wasn't as into it. And, there's something about those psychedelic little paintings and swirls that makes you dizzy after being in there too long. Eighteen holes seemed REALLY long.

That's about it. Why can't I remember any funny kid stories? I laugh at them all day, and when I get home, I can't seem to remember anything!

Latest read: The Teeth of the Tiger by Tom Clancy. AHahaha, I can never get away from Clancy as much as I try.

P.S. I know you're reading this in Romania. Hope your trip is tons o' fun!

What's that smell?

I almost forgot to tell you my story from the Jays game day. I was at work and had sat on the ground and realized that I was probably sitting near something quite raunchy, judging from whiffs of gross odor I kept getting. Anyway, I actually attributed it to the wet ground (you know how sometimes the ground smells a little poo-ey after it's rained a lot). Later on, in the car on the way to the Jays game, I caught a whiff of something again. All I thought was, Oh oh. This has happened to me before, where I complained about a room smelling weird and then realizing that as I moved to another room, the smell was still following me. Anyway, I lifted my foot to my face and noticed there was some "mud" caked to the bottom of my foot. Ahahaha, then I took a huge sniff of my shoe. Well, it was a little close because it sure stunk a lot. I stepped in POO! I proceeded to step in many puddles and scrape my foot along the ground in the parking lot, but still kept catching whiffs at the Jays game. I can't believe how often I step in POO! I hate POO! I hate my neighbours dog that POOs on our lawn! BOOOOOO POOOOOO!

Weekend update with Michelle

No politics here, but I had a busy weekend! Sunday was my friend's sister's wedding! I showed up at their house early to help them prep, but after seeing such hecticness, I decided I should elope. Ahahaha, I bet every bride thinks she should have eloped at some point in the planning process. Anyway, I think something about seeing the behind the scenes process of a wedding sort of ruined the ceremony for me. The bride seemed SO stressed! I was supposed to do a reading during the ceremony, but the bride hadn't given me the paper with the reading on it, so last-minute, I realize this and go ask her where it is. I swear she looked like she was going to cry. I hope I never ever feel that way on my wedding day. If something goes wrong, I want to a) not know about it and b) not care about it.

Anyway, the reception was awesome though. They had it at St. George's country club (apparently it costs a hundred grand a year for membership!!!!!!!), so it was really nice. There's a guy from MCI that works there who was pretty funny. He was a good server. We had another guy, Mark, who we called grumpy Mark because Nancy dropped an hors d'oeuvre and he said, "BE careful," kind of menacingly. AHahahaha. On top of that, whenever we said thanks for filling our cups or what-not, he wouldn't even respond. Most of the other servers would nod, or say, "You're welcome" or whatever. But nooooo, not Mark. Because we felt shafted by Mark, we later made fun of his serving skills. The guy was trying to stack plates with the cutlery on it, so that his pile was all crooked. AHahaha. I think he was new. Anyway, funny server Jeff came along with wine every once in a while, and it was hilarious, because he offered the guy beside me wine, and he said, "Are you trying to get me drunk?" AHahahaha. I also want to share my wine experience. Everyone was drinking wine, so I thought to myself that maybe I had pegged wine all wrong and maybe it did taste good with dinner. So, I had some wine poured for me, and decided to drink it with dinner. AHahahahahaha. You know they came around so many times to re-fill wine glasses and never re-filled mine?! I took a sip, thinking it would taste good and almost spit it out. I just don't like it! Ahahaha, I love how I tricked myself into thinking that maybe it tasted good. It was the same thing with champagne. I figured because it was sweeter, that maybe I'd take it a little better, but after a billion toasts, I was just bringing the glass to my lips and then putting it down. Ahahahahah. I really just don't like how alcohol tastes!

Anyway, the funniest part of the night, and the most touching, was the father-of-the-bride speech. The best part was when he started telling a story about how when the bride was a baby, they were going through the airport and the lady at the ticket counter said, "Oh, what a beautiful girl you have! You're going to need a shot-gun to keep the boys away." Then he said, "Well, we didn't get a shot gun, but a machine gun." Ahahaha, if you've ever met Nancy's dad, you'll understand how absolutely hilarious this is. Anyway, apparently he had also told the groom this story about the shot gun when he was asking for Nori's hand in marriage. THe groom remembered thinking, "It's 10 minutes into our lunch, and he's just told me a story about a shot gun. Where is he going with this??" Yeah, good times. I cried a lot. It was really touching.

On Monday I had lunch with a good friend, and had a good hang-out time. I had a bacon and cheese omelette for lunch, and it was deeeelish. I love breakfast foods. Especially greasy breakfast food. I have to say, it was a very memorable day in more ways than the good lunch. :)

Then the instructing fun began for the week. My kids are fantastic in the morning, not-so-great in the afternoon. But it's been good. Lots of good stories that I can't seem to remember at the moment but will update as soon as I remember! Instructing is super-fun though! So much more control. So much more authority.

Annoyances and triumphs

I had a highly annoying annoying day yesterday.  It rained, so we took the kids in at lunch to see a video in the gallery theatre.  Now, there are gallery rules that we're all expected to adhere to.  For example, not carrying backpacks, not wearing hats.  We review the rules everytime, and the kids usually remember them all and are really good at sticking to them.  Unfortunately, one of the counsellors that was with our group at lunch decided she didn't want to take her hat off (I have SO many other issues with this...i.e. she's SO girly-girl), I think probably because she didn't want everyone to see her hat-head.  Anyway, the kids are all like, "Your HAT IS ON!!!"  And I agreed with them and informed her it was an actual gallery rule.  She made some excuses and didn't take it off.  WHAT KIND OF STINKING EXAMPLE IS THAT TO THE KIDS?!  Grrrrrrr.  She's been driving me insane.  Like, WHO bothers to ultra-match when working at a grubby art camp??  She comes in MacMaster or Roots outfits.  She will NEVER mix Roots sweats with a MacMaster T-shirt.  And she wears lots of pink.  MATCHING pink, matching pink hat, matching belt.  PUKE PUKE PUKE.  Okay, so really, I'm just annoyed at this girl in so many ways.  Ahhh, what kind of example is she setting if SHE doesn't even follow the RULES?!?!?  Drives me insane.

On a brighter note, I had some good bonding time with my dad.  We went to go see the Jays game against the Yankees today.  GASP, we EVEN WON!  It was kinda intimidating because the Skydome was pretty full, but there were SO many Yanks fans everywhere!  But we kicked butt!  It was tied going into the 10th inning, and then we hit a homer.  Yaaaaay Blue Jays.  There's something about really close games that gets everyone going.  :)  It was awesome.  Who knew baseball could be so exciting!  There were these teenage kids behind us too, who kept shouting, "De-rek, Je-ter, De-rek, Je-ter, YOU SUCK!"  Ahahahahah, it was SOOOOOOOO funny!!!!  And then someone started chanting, "Let's go Yankees, let's go!"  So everytime they went to say "Yankees", these kids would shout "BLUE JAYS" super loud over them.  It was pretty hilarious.  Good Skydome times!

Smorgasbord

I rollerbladed almost 18K today.  I am tired.  I took a great fall at the VERY start of the day, as I wheeled towards Ava.  My upper body stopped as I grabbed onto her, but my legs kept going out from right under me.  I expect a bruised bum tomorrow.  I was also kicked fairly hard by someone trying to demonstrate their vertical, and also banged in the mouth with a pop bottle.  I also failed to win even 10 times out of a billion rounds of Signal.  Sigh.  I need my Signal partner back!  :)

So, it was a fun fun fun day!  I'm so sleepy and slightly sore.  I'm hoping I don't have a billion bruises everywhere tmw.

On a side note, I saw Honey, but didn't think it was that impressive.  The kid Raymond is the cutest kid in the universe though.  I also saw Jet Lag with Juliette Binoche.  I was watching the outtakes, and what I appreciate most about actors is when they're willing to laugh at themselves.  It's also just so great when you can tell they're just in a giddy mood and can't keep a straight face.  I really like people that laugh, apparently!  Anyway, Juliette Binoche was laughing a lot, so I really enjoyed the outtakes.  The actual movie, not so much.  I almost think it's what Lost in Translation might be in France.  Only I haven't seen Lost in Translation, so what do I really know!  Ahahaha.  At least I'm admitting I don't know anything.  I also saw School of Rock with Jack Black.  It was an okay movie, but Jack Black/his character just bothers the heck outta me.  He really does seem like a lazy, obnoxious fellow.  What is neat though, is that he knows all these clapping games and played with the kids.  Awesome.  :) 

This week of camp was slightly rough.  I had the 8-10 year olds who are definitely slightly harder to deal with than the youngsters.  More attitude and whining.  More talking back.  Worst of all is how they ask every 5 minutes whether they're done their work or not.  Ahahahaha.  "Am I done yet?"  Our response is always, "No, keep working on it."  Without fail, every camper always thinks they're done/wants to be done before they actually are.  The other counsellors and instructors and I were joking that we should put "No, you are NOT done yet" on a T-shirt and make it our staff uniform.  That way we won't actually have to tell them.

Tomorrow, I'm teaching a Sunday school lesson on helping others.  The lesson outline is sooooooooooo boring for this lesson.  I decided that instead of colouring a boring picture, we should make those gift coupons where you put something you'll do for the person.  You know, like, "This coupon is good for one __________".  Yeah, I figured we can brainstorm ways to help people, and they'll actually end up doing it when people turn in their coupons.  Yay!  I hate teaching boring lessons, so I hope this will be fun!

Toeing the line clarification

Just to clarify, when I challenged people to strive for righteousness, it was in no way meant to imply that you can earn your salvation by doing good works or being a good person.  It wasn't because I think that you can only be a Christian if you're a good person.  I was just pointing out that there are higher standards that we are called to, and frankly, Christian or non-Christian, I see nothing wrong with striving to be better. 

And I also wanted to say that I agree with Keith.  Yeah, we all do have standards or "laws" that we live by.  Mine are probably just different from other people's.  And as for ever knowing the absolute truth, I agree that we're too small to ever understand God completely.  That's why it's called faith, right?  "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)  I believe in God because I've looked at the evidence for Him not existing and the evidence for Him existing, and the evidence for His existence seems more convincing.  It's not just head-knowledge though, I have a personal relationship with Him.  I think it's actually a good thing that we can't understand Him completely though.  Because if we could, wouldn't that make us God?

I want spicy!!

My junior assistant Mike is soooooo funny.  He told me this story from last session, where his group was making nametags.  Thinking he'd try to be funny, he made a nametag that said "Spicy".  The kids didn't really get it, but did end up calling him Spicy for a little.  Anyway, he finally gave it up because the kids really didn't think it was all that amusing for any reason, and he put the nametag in his pocket.  Later on, one of the little girls goes up to him and decides she wants him to wear his "Spicy" name tag.  She then proceeds to try and reach into his pocket, all the while yelling, "I want spicy!"  Not exactly a great picture, but hilarious.  Oh man.  Kids.
 
On another fun note, today I bonded with 2 kids in my group as we sang Abba songs over lunch.  One kid had seen Mamma Mia! and really liked the songs, and the other has a mother who's a big fan.  Who would think I'd be sitting around with 8-yr-olds singing Abba?!

Thought of the day:  God doesn't send people to Heaven or Hell.  He just makes the rules.  We get to choose where we go.

Missions

Today was a hectic day.  We had a youth-led service at church, and there was a lot of last-minute stuff that was done.  The theme was missions, and it went really well.  The kids wrote a skit and put together funny Lego pictures illustrating some popular missions myths.  I semi-led the worship and then did a 15 minute message/testimony near the end.  I thought I'd post the gist of my message here, because it's something I really feel strongly about.
 
Missions:  Spreading the Gospel, sometimes via educational, medical, or humanitarian means; a missionary duty or work; bringing others into a worship of God.
 
I think I started off thinking about missions primarily as a duty.  It was something I did out of obedience.  After all, all Christians have a ministry.  Matthew 28:19 says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..."  Jesus commands his disciples to GO.  Not maybe, if they feel like it.  They're to GO.  And it says further in verse 20, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." He's with them till the end of the age.  Well, seeing as it's still not the end of the age, you have to assume that this is still supposed to be going on.  All Christians are supposed to be GOing to the nations.  So, looking at this command and knowing how many other verses there are about GOing, I knew I should be doing it, so I did things like sharing the Gospel a lot out of duty.  I didn't quite enjoy it.  Granted, there were some good experiences, but it can be rough.  Doing things out of obedience soon gets quite tiring though, and I realized eventually that there were other aspects to missions.  I eventually realized that it had to be out of love for people.  This was fine, except that in this case, I was expected to love everyone.  That included strangers I had never met from the other side of the world.  THat included criminals and scummy people. 
 
Thus, I came to the further conclusion that I had to do missions out of love, but that this love had to be an overflow of my love for God.  If I loved God, I would love His creation, and the closer I got to God, the more passionate I would truly be about the things He is passionate about.  If I viewed Christianity as something that was a bunch of duties and didn't do things like missions out of worship for God, Christianity would eventually become a burden that I carry, instead of a faith that carries me. 
 
So, we get to the point in the present where as you may know, I am passionate about missions.  I think they can never be emphasized enough in a church.  It was so interesting then, to read this quote (This is one of my most favorite quotes ever!).  "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church.  Worship is.  Missions exist because worship doesn't.  Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.  When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more.  It is a temporary necessity.  But worship abides forever." (Let the Nations be Glad by John Piper) 
 
So anyway, we're all at different stages in how we think about missions, but the bare bones is this:  We are ALL commanded to GO and make disciples.  We are all given a ministry of reconciliation!  How will they hear if people are not sent?  I think if at all possible, everyone should go on a missions trip at least once in their lives.  I can think of a million different excuses not to go.  I don't have money.  I don't have time.  I'm not holy enough.  I don't know enough.  It's too dangerous, etc. etc.  Well let me ask you a question.  Exactly WHO is it that is going?  Is it just you?  Nope.  We're empowered through His Spirit.  He's the one that watches over us.  Don't limit what God can do through someone who is willing to be used.
 
And so, here are some practical applications.  Ahahaha. 
1)  Pray - about the possibility of being SENT, to GO on a missions trip/do ministry somewhere local, international, anywhere!
2)  GO.  Just do it.
3) Support a missionary financially.  Send them on their trip, support them through prayer.
 
To conclude, my friend once said there are 3 types of people in this world.  It was quite convicting:
1) Zealous GOers.
2)  Zealous SENDers.
3)  Disobedient.
 
"How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
'Your God reigns!'" - Isaiah 52:7

Toeing the line

This is another one of my pet peeves that I've been thinking about.  I get into discussions with Christians a lot about controversial Christian topics like baptism of the Holy Spirit, sarcasm, what movies are okay to watch...etc.  Even within the Christian community, within groups of people who all read the same Bible, there are differing beliefs.  Thankfully, most of these aren't anything serious that affect one's salvation, but they are interesting.  A lot of the topics we discuss are sort of gray-area topics.  What I mean by these topics is that there's kind of a gray area between Totally Right, and Totally Wrong.  For example, sex before marriage.  The Totally Right thing here is no sex before marriage.  The Totally Wrong thing is having sex before marriage.  Then comes all this gray area inbetween.  What about everything up to sex?  Is that still okay?  Or even watching movies.  How bad is too bad to watch?  How much nudity/swearing/violence makes it too bad? 
 
Well, these discussions and debates can be helpful in flushing out the issues, but I think it always comes down to this:  Yes there is a line.  No, we should not cross it.  Does that mean we should go as close as we possibly can to it?  Nope.  God calls us to live lives of RIGHTEOUSNESS.  Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."  It doesn't say, "Don't think about totally sleazy things."  That would leave too much open.  Instead, throughout the Bible, God calls us all to live righteous lives.  THAT is a high calling! 
 
So this is my hope.  Whenever you think about doing/thinking something and think to  yourself, 'I'm not completely sure this is a good thing to do', don't do it.  Why spend time debating?  Most of the time, we spend it debating how close to the line we can get without crossing it, when we should really be worrying about how far away from the line we can get.  Live righteous lives, and shine as lights!
 
"Be holy, because I am holy." - Leviticus 11:45

SSS = Super Soccer Skills

At lunch, we play games with our camp kids, and today was no different.  However, the kids decided they would play soccer in the pine tree grove today.  Good idea?  No, not at all.  Mike, one of the assistants, had a fantastic goal where he kicked the ball, it bounced off a kid's head, and then off a tree, and into the goal!  Yay Mike!  Ahahahaha.  The best play of the day was a kid that ran smack dab into a pine tree tho.  He was GUSHING blood from his nose.  Oh man.  We laugh and tease him, but it looked pretty rough.  Art camp has suddenly become a lot more hazardous!
 
So I realized that not everyone knows exactly what I'm doing this summer.  I'm working at the McMichael again at the art camp.  I'm doing 4 weeks of assisting classes, and then 4 weeks of instructing art!  Send your kids!  :)  I'm pretty excited.  We have access to some really neat and hardcore art materials, so these kids will be arting it up. 
 
Other than work, I'm really involved in my church at the moment.  I'm cheerleading our softball team on (YEAH, undefeated Judges!!!!!), working on the missions committee, and leading worship once in a while.  Yeah, I'm actually becoming okay with singing in front of a crowd, can you believe it?  Ahahaha.
 
I think that's about it.  There's my life for you in a nut shell.  I know, what an exciting summer!  Although, I have to tell you the most exciting news of the last week.  I started scrapbooking a little while ago, and lo and behold, 2 sweet ladies from my church bought me a whole fun scissors set!  There are 18 of them on a wooden stand that rotates!  How can I be this excited about scissors?  No idea.  I am in scrapbooking heaven though.  They have all these different edges!  Droooool.  I wish I could post a picture, but my digital camera is nowhere to be found.  But maybe it's better not to post it.  You might all get too jealous.  Yeah.

Annoyed

I really just wish that when people say they'll do something, that they would actually do it. There is a little situation that is now worse than it had to be, and it could have been prevented had someone just done what they said they would, right away. Sigh. I'm ticked off, and having trouble forgiving them. I know I should, because I am forgiven. Sigh. Forgiveness ain't the easiest thing in the world.

"You look like a hot dog!"

Funny story! There's a smart-aleck in my art camp class in the morning and one day, when we were sitting at the carpet he turned around and looked at the boy sitting behind him and said, "You look like a hot dog!" AHahahaha, okay, so name-calling is inappropriate, but it's so funny, because this kid DOES kind of look like a hot dog! His face is so skinny. Now everytime I look at him, I think about hot dogs. Oh dear.

Physical pain

So some of you know that I have a bruised bum and injured wrist. What from, you ask? From falling down my stairs. Is this a regular occurrence? Actually, yes. Unfortunately. Ahahaha. I was dead tired after camp one day and was napping when the phone rang. Of course no one answers it in this house except my sister and I if we're home, so I picked it up, and it was for my dad. So, I start making my way groggily down the stairs to give him the phone when, BAM. I just hit the deck. Hard. My bum is now slightly bruised, and I landed on my wrist so it hurts when I bend it. Sigh. The life of a klutz. I think it hurt so much that I couldn't even think about it for a second. On top of that, I was so groggy that I didn't really get what was happening. It's so funny that it's hard to feel pain if you don't know you're supposed to be IN pain. Ahahaha.

To add to this bum/wrist madness, I went for a long rollerblade yesterday. It was really really fun, but really, my first time rollerblading for longer than a block. I used to "rollerblade" (i.e. for maybe 5 minutes TOPS) but would give up from foot pain. I think my rollerblades were actually too small for me. Anyway, yesterday we did 8km, ahahaha, which is 8km more than I usually do, and I survived, surprisingly. It was a little touch-and-go at the beginning, I think, but by the end, it was fun! After sweating up a storm, we went to the pool (we WALKED there, craziness!) and cooled off. Then we walked home. This is pretty much more exercise than I've done in ...well, a long long time. Needless to say, I was utterly exhausted yesterday, but I'm feeling very few muscle pains today. I was expecting super-duper pain, considering I'm so out of shape. A friend of mine keeps trying to get me out to the gym, and I keep refusing. Ahahaha, thanks for trying though! ;)

So yes, the summer fitness begins...rollerblading, swimming, maybe a little tennis, and chasing after children. Which is most intense? The last one! :)

Let me be a woman, and will you JUST be a MAN??

Let me be perfectly honest from the beginning (as if I'm not honest on this blog!) and say that I think feminism is dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. I refer mostly to the equality issue. I definitely think men and women should have the same rights, but my issue is really with the fact that some women try to be men. We're just not men, and that's a biological fact. It's not about equality in some cases, it's about equity. The porblem is that in the workforce, for example, women are starting to compete with men at BEING men, and not just at the job. If a woman wants to be a pilot, awesome, but she should compete with men in being a pilot, not in being a male pilot! I think over the years, the gender roles have overlapped more and more, and I think it's hard for guys to be guys, and girls to be girls. Ahahaa, don't read anymore if you're going to be upset at my traditional gender role views. But I do welcome comments and feedback.

Anyway, I've been thinking about this lately because frankly, I've realized that I really appreciate gentlemen. I appreciate guys who initiate things, like plans, conversations, whatever. I appreciate it when guys hold open doors, when they do protective things like walking on the side of the street closer to the cars. I appreciate when guys are assured enough with themselves that they can do these things. Albeit, women haven't helped much to make gentlemen these days, as there's probably a fear about us biting men's heads off for treating us like helpless women. The truth is, I really don't think guys view us as really that helpless nowadays, and well, frankly, if you wanna carry my big heavy box for me, thanks! I have puny muscles. Maybe some guys do too, but probably not punier than me. Anyway, muscles are not my point. My point is that I think guys need to stop being afraid of being wimps. They need to initiate things.

Case in point: Relationships. I was reading a really ridiculous book on dating that we were thinking of lending to the HS kids at my church, and it got me thinking. Guys should initiate. Guys should initiate talking about boundaries in a relationship. Guys should initiate the relationship in the first place. I think what I've appreciated the past couple of years is men in my life who have initiated conversations with me about our relationship. Yes, the relationship-defining talk (the RDT, ahahah). We all know that tense point we all get to in friendships where suddenly, you're unsure whether you're just friends or not. The easy thing is to just let it go, for fear of causing weirdness. Sometimes, though, people will let it go because they're afraid of rejection, and frankly, it's easier to reap the benefits of a flirty friendship than to put your pride on the line to lay it all out. I'm so thankful that most of the men I know are willing to do it, willing to lay it on the line instead of stringing the girl along on some wild emotional ride (because that's what it becomes to girls...we're emotional!) where we debate whether he likes us or whether he doesn't, or how much he does, etc. Intimacy should match commitment, and I love it when a guy is willing not to be more intimate emotionally or physically with a girl until there is a definite commitment. Otherwise, you set yourself up for heartbreak. Flirting is bad bad bad! Anyway, I think nowadays, it's become the norm for guys to just sit back and let these women who have all this newly discovered power do the initiating, which is not such a good thing, in my opinion. I think the blame goes both ways though. The more manly the man, the easier it is for the woman to be a woman, and the more womanly a woman, the easier it is for men to be men.

I think it's important for us to figure out our roles as men and women, because I think there are Biblical roles for a man and woman in a marriage, and relationships before marriage are really like training grounds for it. In Ephesians 5, it talks about the roles of a husband and a wife. So many people take this verse out of context, and it drive me insane. I think it's the most romantic thing ever. It says, "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything." I used to hate this verse, and I used to think submission to a man was horrible. I truly did. But if you read on, things become clearer.

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself."

First, what I discovered was that submission is not a weak thing. This verse doesn't mean, "Women, do whatever your husband tells you to do." Have you ever tried to submit to someone? It's tough. You really have to respect the person you're submitting to. And that's the wonderful thing. My friend once said something along the lines of, "I don't think my wife will have any problems submitting to me, because I hope to be the kind of husband that she respects and who honours her above myself." I don't think I'll have any problems at all submitting, if my husband loves me as Christ loved the church! That's really a sacrificial, honouring type of love. I mean, Christ loved the church (us!) so much, that He gave up His life for it! That's love! And that's the type of love husbands are called to have for their wives. Really and truly, I once hated the thought of submission to my husband, but now, I'm looking forward to it with all my heart. (note: submission to husbands is based on their wisdom in leading as God wills)

So that was a long one, but I get going when something gets me. So really, women, will you just let the guys initiate, and men, will you just initiate!?

First Friend Wedding!

SO I just got home from my very first friend wedding. You know, those ones where you get the invitation addressed to YOU, and not your whole family. It was so much fun. Good food, good friends, and who knew Steve Hayhoe could dance up such a storm?! Ahahaha. It was a good time. But it makes me think...we're all getting older...this marriage pool will start heating up soon!

I was thinking about this dancing business tho. Guys are really shy about asking girls to dance for fear of appearing to like them! And man, it was brutal, the guys we knew at the wedding all went upstairs and TALKED (BOOOORING) for the whole thing. No fun dancing, no fun jokes. Ah well.

Anyhoo, I was teary through most of the wedding. Not bawling, but definitely wet-eyed. It's amazing to see two best friends get married to each other. The Pastor did an amazing job, too. The best thing he said was that no matter how busy and important ministry seemed, Jamie (the guy) should always put his family first. I think this totally spoke to me, because I tend to put THINGS I do in front of PEOPLE in my life. I really don't treasure relationships in my life enough.

Another thing. I'm seriously thinking of eliminating kissing games from my wedding. You know, that thing that the bride and groom get ppl to do to get them to kiss. It was just getting ridiculous, because ppl could pay $5 per second after answering a trivia question correctly to get them to kiss, and man, some were really long. I'm not sure I want to stand in front of everyone for that long, kissing my husband. Although, maybe I would enjoy it, seeing as I plan my first kiss to be at the altar. Gasp. I know, you're all shocked. How can one wait that long? I figure it will be all the more special, and I won't be making out with other women's husbands (which all other men except my husband will inevitably be). Maybe I'll just enjoy it so much and we'll be making out the entire wedding! Ahahahaa. Right. On second thought though, I think I will enjoy it. So kissing games are in! Ahahaha. Bring your money, ladies and gentlemen!

Grandmother insanity version 2.0

So I had typed up 3 paragraphs worth of amusing grandmother stories yesterday only to have my IE crash on me. BOOoooooooo computers. Anyway, so I'm going to type them again, but they really just may not be as amusing because I'm rather annoyed at this whole process.

She flew in on last Thursday. We picked her up at the new Terminal 1, which is beautiful! I LOVE the airport. First, the parking is utterly stupendous because there are electronic signs that tell you how many parking spots are available in each row. Each parking SPACE has a sensor above it to detect whether the spot is taken or not. We found a space SO fast, and SO close. I love love love this new technology. What got me the most though, was just a warm fuzzy feeling as I was standing in arrivals waiting for my grandmother. Everytime the doors opened and some more passengers stepped out to be met, their faces lit up. It was so great! It must be an amazing feeling to come off a long flight and know that you have someone that cares for you waiting to pick you up. It was so fantastic to see face after face light up, hug after hug exchanged, and just lots of relief and love. :)

I've also enjoyed my grandmother's love for the Lord. She walked into our house and said, "We should pray, because I got here safely!" She says grace before every meal, and although I didn't appreciate this as a child, I totally do now. I actually used to peek during grace to see what my dad was doing, and he was always making funny faces at me, so I just laughed. Now I appreciate so much more this giving thanks for the food that is before me. I really take a lot of things for granted, and I think my grandmother has helped me realize that. She is one strong-willed, energetic, stubborn woman!

SO that was the sentimental stuff. Now we get onto the craziness that has ensued from my grandmother's presence here. In fact, I'm actually even afraid that I may not finish this blog entry once again because my grandmother has a pea-sized bladder (even smaller than my best friend's!) and has to get up A LOT at night to go pee. Everytime she gets up to go pee, she comes downstairs to tell us to go to bed. Oh man. I mean, my parents don't even tell me to go to bed. They actually got chewed out by her! "Why don't you tell your children to go to bed earlier?" Oh dear. There are SO many amusing stories, but they can pretty much be summed up by this one sentence: My grandmother thinks in stereotypes. It is HORRIBLE! I'll give you some great examples later. But first the origami insanity story. You do the math: If little Johnny needs 20 boxes, and each box has a top and a bottom, and each top/bottom requires 8 sheets of origami, how many sheets of origami is that in total? I WILL TELL YOU. It is 320 finger-numbing sheets of origami insanity. If only I had a picture of one of these boxes to show you all. They're really nice and everything, but it was an origami factory. My poor sister folded all the sheets, and I assembled. What was even more annoying is that I would put together different colour combinations, and my grandmother would inspect. One I did was all cool colours, and when I showed it to her, she said, "Oh, that one's so DULL." Because it didn't have red. Or pink. Or anything like that. I rolled my eyes though, because I'm rather used to my grandmother needing things to be super-shockingly bright (even gaudy at times). What was the MOST MOST MOST annoying this was that when we were finished all 20 boxes, we laid them all out. And GUESS, yes, just GUESS which one she decided was her FAVORITE? GUESS. OHHHH my goodness. MINE. The so-called "DULL" one. The one she had previously almost convinced me to scrap because it was too dull. OOOOh man. So basically, life with my grandmother is this repeated, in different situations. OH MY. Here are two examples of my grandmother changing her mind:

Example 1: Church with my mom and my sister. They decide to get a sandwich and donuts. My grandmother picks a donut. They pay for the donut. She proceeds to accidentally drop the donut. They sit down to eat. My sister pushes my grandmother's donut towards her and says, "Here's your donut." Grandmother says, "No, I want that one," and points to my mom's. WHY did she CHOOSE HERS in the FIRST place if she wasn't gonna EAT IT? It wasn't even the dropping thing. She just CHANGED HER MIND. Between picking and sitting. GAAAAAH!

Example 2: Today, we were out for lunch. I asked my grandmother which fountain drink she wanted at the self-serve drink machine thing. I proceeded to read to her everything that was there. She proceeds to pick the Minute Maid Orange pop. I say, "Grandma, you know this is carbonated, right?" She says it's fine. SHE WATCHES ME AS I AM FILLING THIS LARGE CUP WITH FIZZY, BRIGHT ORANGE MINUTE MAID. AS I FINISH FILLING THE CUP, SHE MAKES THIS LITTLE SOUND, basically like "nah" in English. I stop filling the cup. "What's wrong Grandma?" "Oh, the pop is just so COLOURED." I say, "Grandma, everything is coloured over here." She wrinkles her nose. I am dumbfounded. Could she not have told me this AS I WAS FILLING HER CUP? Did she HAVE to wait until it was COMPLETELY full?!?!?! GAAAAAAAH. I had an epiphany at that point though. As you get older, you become more child-like. If my grandmother was 5 and had just changed her mind about her fountain drink, I would have made her take responsibility for her decision (BECAUSE I HAD EVEN EXPLAINED ALL THE DRINKS TO HER BEFOOOOOOOOREE!!!!!) and drink the drink. But, she is my grandmother, so I proceeded to dump out the drink and fill it with Iced Tea. She said, "Oh, that's much better, this one isn't coloured." I go, "No, grandma, this one is coloured too, just with a more natural looking colour." AHHHHHH!

Stereotype illustrations:
Example 1: We are making the origami boxes. My sister asks why we don't use the black origami. My grandmother proceeds to rant about how NO Japanese people like black, how it is ugly, how people only wear it to funerals, etc. etc. ALL Japanese people hate black. I almost wanted to raise my hand to say, "But grandma, I'm Japanese, and I wouldn't mind having black on MY box." GAAAAAAH.

Example 2: My sister, mother and grandmother waiting for the subway. My sister sees that the bench has one seat free, beside some Asian man with dark-coloured skin. She asks my grandmother if she wants to sit. The man is about to get up when my grandmother looks over at the bench, turns back and wrinkles her nose, saying, "No." She then proceeds to tell my sister about how (racism coming up here, don't read it if yo'ure going to be offended. And I really apologize for my grandmother's weirdness) black people in L.A. are dangerous. OH MY. WHAT a HUGE racist generalization! But it gets better. This is the clincher: She says, "When black people say, do you have change for ____ in L.A., they really mean 'Give me all your money.'" AHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA. WHERE DOES SHE GET THIS?!?!??! My sister proceeds to explain that they really just WANT CHANGE. My grandmother says, "Oh, maybe in Toronto, but in L.A. they're trying to rob you." OOOOOH my. OH MY OH MY OH MY. Are all old people this WEIRD?!?!?! My sister did attempt to dispell this stereotype by telling my grandmother that we were all individuals and that she shouldn't generalize, etc. My grandmother ended with, "Yes, we are all individuals, but...." AHHHHH!

Example 3: We're in Cullen Gardens. We're walking along the path. Sitting in some open grass are two girls eating their lunch. They don't look very happy. My grandmother says (oh man, so much of what my grandmother says is lost in the translation), "I don't like the look of those girls." I ask what the heck that means. She says they're not like Canadian girls. I ask what the heck she means by "Canadian girls". She says they're not as happy and bright and cheery as Canadian girls. I go, "Grandma, those ARE Canadian girls. Canadian girls come in all different types. We're not ALL cheery." She responds with an, "Oh." and still looks dissatisfied.

Oh man. It's still okay because I have my sense of humour about everything. I couldn't stop laughing when my sister told me the asking for change thing being robbing thing. She's just extremely set in her ways, and although that doesn't excuse her horrible stereotyping, it helps me stay sane. Pray I don't lose my patience!

Watching colours...

So the latest thing that has got my attention besides Piko Piko Hammer (I'm on level 13...can't get past it!) is reading my friends' blogs. Only there's this one that changes colour, and I'm always logging on, trying to get it to stop on a pretty colour. I've decided I'm impartial to the blues. It's so funny, because I absolutely won't start reading the entries until I'm satisfied with the aesthetics! Ahahaha. I know, I'm rolling my eyes too! This is why girls classify cars by colour!!!

Countdown

It's now less than 24 hours till I'm released from the shackles of summer school. Only one 10-page essay and 2 exams to go. If school were a desert, I would be crawling very very slowly to the oasis about now. My sister would actually be dragging me through the pits of sand. ETA at the oasis...8:30pm on Wednesday, June 16. Just in time for Grandma's visit starting Thursday. What does her visit mean? I will have no social life, I will wear extremely modest clothing, I will have layers of sunscreen on when I go out, not to mention the large hat, sunglasses and umbrella I will probably also have to carry to protect my precious skin from the sun's evil UV rays, I will not be able to leave the house after 5pm, I will pick a lot of flowers, fold a lot of origami, have a lot of Japanese snacks, and hopefully, if I'm lucky, have lots of bags sewn for me. Yay for Grandma! :)

Can you tell me if you want a gmail?

That's it, tell me if you want a gmail address.

My weekend

So yesterday, I went into my gr. 2 class to help my teacher out. It's so weird not to have been there in so long and to go back to see them. The attitude kid still has lots of attitude, and is actually quite the smart-aleck. We had a sharing circle where everyone gets to share 3 things they did on the weekend, and well, all the kids tell us about all the fun things they did, like watching Shrek 2 and playing with their friends. This smart-aleck kid says, "Three things I did on the weekend were sitting, sleeping and eating." I almost rolled my eyes! AHahahaha. I actually laughed at his originality, but then when it came to writing about his weekend in his journal, that's really all he put!!! Only I had encouraged them to give lots of details, so he wrote, "This weekend I sat with my bum, slept with my body and ate with my mouth." Oh maaaaan. Kids. AHahahaha.

My weekend was actually quite hectic. On Friday, the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre had a big opening for the brand new hall. Holly Cole performed along with the Kiyoshi-Nagata taiko drum group, and tickets were apparently $250 a seat. They had a fancy shmancy dinner, before which I had to serve hors d'oeuvres. Not knowing what exactly I had volunteered for, however, Nancy and I dressed up in heels (we really thought we'd just be taking tickets and greeting). By the end of the night, we could BARELY hobble around. It was pretty brutal, and I will never wear heels when volunteering again. The food we served was pretty posh, all from Edo, this japanese restaurant on Eglington. We got to sample the leftovers, and they were FANTASTIC. In addition, they had a raw oyster bar set up, and I traded the oyster guy some of my food for some raw oysters. I LOVE raw oysters. Love love LOVE. So yeah, by the end of the night, my arms were also killing because I apparently have absolutely NO arm strength whatsoever. It's rather sad. It's aaaalmost motivating me to work out. Almost.

I knew some of the people that were attending the gala, and lo and behold, also bumped into Eddie Kishibe who was part of the drumming group. We also got two job offers to serve, one of which we got even after Nancy was a klutz. Ahahaha. Anyway, after this hectic killer volunteer night, I helped Nancy bake cupcakes and brownies till midnight. We're quite the icing queens. Think Martha Stewart, only without gold or silver leaf.

Weekend 'o fun

Wow, the longer the weekend, the more stuff ya cram into it! I was at my church retreat this weekend, and now I'm home, totally exhausted. I had and exam today and another one tmw, both of which I didn't study for at all over the weekend of course!

Anyway, the weekend was about faith and works and really living out your faith. I think the most interesting thing I got out of it was that even demons believe that there is a God (James 2:19). Just believing that there is a God isn't enough; you have to act on your faith.

It was an awesome weekend, and I think it made me realize how much I enjoy working with youth. I totally remember what I was like back in high school with all my friend problems, boy problems and everything else that those things involved. I feel like an older sister to most of the kids that were there, and I'm so proud of the people they are growing up to become. I got to have such good, in-depth talks with a lot of the kids there, and it's amazing what great conversation you get when there's trust in the relationship. Trust is so stinking important!

Anyhoo, I had an awesome time, and quite a lot of blonde moments. I can't remember them all exactly right now, but here's the first one.

Michelle is a blonde story #1: We're in the car discussing my fear of geese, when someone draws a comparison between geese and vampires (who have no reflections), and someone proceeds to say, "Hey, I wonder if geese have reflections?" I respond by saying, "Oh, I know geese have reflections! Wanna know how I know?" and I proceed to tell a story about a goose I saw staring at it's reflection. Did I really need to see that to know? Duh.

P.S. East Side Mario's food is FANTASTIC. Hellooooooooooo home bread!!!!

Disappointing math

1 + 1 = 2.
2 - 1 = 1.

Single again.

Randomness-ity

Blogger has a new format, and if you know me, you know I don't like change. I don't like this new-ness. Albeit, it does LOOK prettier, but frankly, I don't want to sit around trying to figure out how everything works. Sigh.

So, this Piko Piko Hammer game is the most useless (as are most internet games) thing ever, but it is so stinking FUN! I'm so addicted. Hit the red guy two times, get the coins and hearts, don't hit the spikey balls, hit the eyeballs with the right number, don't hit man swinging weird weapon....ahahahah. So fun and SO useless. AND the best thing is that it requires no technique whatsoever.

My heart hurts. Not physically, just emotionally. It's been a weird 24 hours. God is trying to tell me something, and I don't think I'm listening hard enough. Sigh.

Next weekend is my church retreat. It'll be crazy sleepless nights full of fun youth games (like Sardines, the best game EVER) and good times with God. It'll also be stressful as I have two exams right after I get back. So here I go, back to studying so that maybe, just maybe, I won't have to study next weekend. Raiiiight.

PIKOPIKO HAMMER

Piko Piko Hammer game

Displacement

So I've been thinking about this whole blog thing. I blog because I guess I assume it's a good way to keep everyone updated with what's going on in my life. I mean, I read blogs for the same reason. I almost wonder, thought, whether it gives me an excuse not to have direct contact with ppl. It's not that I have billions of minutes to spend on the phone, which makes me sad, but I really would like to actually talk to ppl and not just e-mail or chat online. That being said, if you're reading this and I haven't talked to you in a while, gimme a call. Or I'll try and give you a call. But I miss my bananas, especially. Anyhoo, that being said, lemme know if anyone wants to go to a United (the Hillsongs youth band) Live concert at Queensway Cathedral on May 20th! It's free, apparently, and the last one rocked! :)

Oh, and the e-mail is now mishelle@gmail.com. I get ONE WHOLE GIGABYTE OF SPACE! How great is THAT for someone who never deletes e-mails?!?! :)

Note-taking

I'm less than a week away from officially finishing my 4th year at York. I got my Honours Thesis back and did fantastically WAY better than anticipated (considering I finished it exactly an hour late), my teaching block is going fantastically now, and there's a P.A. Day coming up on Friday, oh, as well as Jump Rope for Heart on Thursday. Unfortunately, summer school also started this week, so I'm scrambling to keep up with everything. I was thinking as I was taking notes in class today that really, ahahahaa, all this past year, I took...literally, probably 5 pages of notes, TOTAL. No, this wasn't because I was lazy, or had powerpoint or something. I really just had all these classes that required no note-taking. American Sign Language (does anyone know any deaf ppl?) bans taking notes in classes, my ed classes require no note-taking, and well, my honours thesis required lots of note-taking but not from lectures. So basically, I've been spoiled (I'm wondering if I'll start getting hate mail from you ppl reading this blog) and am now SO unused to taking notes. It's such foreign thing to me to be taking notes in class. Ahahahaha. Yep, so that's it. Didn't note-take ALL last year. I know you hate me.

Third one of the month

Is it even possible that I have yet another infection?!?!? This one isn't contagious because it's a viral infection. My doctor told me that usually only chilren get it. I rolled my eyes in exasperation. When will this madness end? I just don't want to be infected with anything anymore!!!! Leave me alone! It's been a battle all April...me against bacteria and viruses, and I've lost every time. Craziness.

Mind soaked in marker

I knew I had a good story to tell, but I forgot it till now. Anyway, this kid Alex comes in from lunch recess with a big "X" on his hand drawn in marker. He comes over to me while everyone is silently reading and says, "Can I ask you a question?" I tell him he can, and he asks, "Will this marker on my hand soak into my mind?" AHAHAHAHAHAHahahahaha. I wanted to laugh so badly, but I gave him a big smile and reassured him it would not. He seemed really relieved and said, "Oh, good, because I was really worried it would." AHAHahahaha. ANd he really genuinely was, I think. I love how he asked if it would soak into his MIND as opposed to skin, or blood, or hand. Or even brain. It was his mind. Ahahahaha. Oh man, this is what is so great about teaching! Anyway, this also reminded me about the time my mother told me that food colouring from the sprinkles on donuts goes into your blood. I really pictured my blood turning different colours, and it worried me, too. So, I know what Alex was feeling today. Ahahaha. THat kid is HILARIOUS though.

Fifths Disease

After school today, the vice principal came on the PA system and requested all female teachers of child-bearing age to go to the staff room for a meeting. We all looked at each other and said, "What?" It was the most cryptic announcement ever, and I basically thought she was going to chew us all out and tell us not to get pregnant or something. Ahahaha. It ended up that we have a small outbreak of fifths disease (called fifths because it's the fifth of about six common childhood diseases). Basically, in adults, it's not that harmful because it's a viral infection and you basically have to wait till it goes away. Unfortunately, if you're pregnant, it can cause a miscarriage. Thus, the announcement and meeting. I don't think any of the teacher's at the moment are a) married, b) pregnant, so, we're all clear.

In further news, I am ULTRA-SUPER proud of my grade two class. They can now explain to you how we get electricity from wind energy. They can tell you the important components in the wind turbine system and trace the path of electricity!!! Ahahaha, yes, ho hum, you may say. But come ON, they're in GRADE TWO and they learned it today. I'm so proud of them. :)

Kite champion of the hill

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to announce the champion of the flying-kite contest. Me. Yep. AHahahah, only the best part is, now that I've boasted about flying my kite the highest today, I should tell you I competed against a class of grade twos. Ahahahah. So really, there's nothing to boast about here. I'm dead tired though. You people out there who are thinking of volunteering for your child's field trips...it's great and we always need more parent-volunteers, but it is STINKING TIRING. After I post this, I'm going to bed. Not joking at ALL. Alright, I'm recovering from strep throat. But really, I'm going to bed because I'm THAT tired.

Anything else interesting? Hmm...I'd like to report that geese have officially taken over the York campus today. I saw a nest today, and had to brake suddenly for a goose that decided to take it's sweet time crossing the road. When I start summer school, I must remember to avoid them at ALL costs. No more geese attacking Michelle this year. Hopefully. AHahaha, at least my phobia helped my sister remember all these other psychiatric disorders she has to know for her exam. She kept asking me questions about my phobia, and I told her it developed into agoraphobia. And it generalized to ALL birds for a couple of weeks. I just realized I'm actually talking about a story that not all of your may have heard about. Gory details on the goose attack will follow shortly.

Sick with Strep

Pounding headache. Check. Swollen lymph nodes. Check. Sore throat. Check. Fever. Check. Aches and pains. Check check check check. Guess who has Strep throat again. Guess who's best friend will be penicillin for the next little while. Guess guess guess.

And guess who has g-mail?! mishelle@gmail.oh shoot I forget my e-mail already. Sigh. Sick and delusional. Perfect.

Story corner

Oh, ahaha, so I just remembered this hilarious incident on Friday. All the grade 2 students have reading groups based on their reading level, and I get the 2nd highest bunch. Anyway, we were reading a book with a recipe in it, so I decided to let the students make cookies. Needless to say, the other students who are in my regular class who aren't in my reading group were quite jealous. On Friday, one of the kids in the highest group comes up to me and asks me this hypothetical question: "Miss Osakabe, if I changed reading groups into yours, could I make cookies, too?" I answered, "Well, Nikhil, you can't go DOWN reading groups. If you know how to read already, you can't unlearn it." Nikhil: "But say I could move down. If I switched into your group, could I make cookies, too?" AHAhahahahaha. It's not even like he COULD switch reading groups, but he really just wanted to know that it was a possibility, I guess. Ahahaha. It was just so FUNNY. You had to be there. Kids are stupendously funny, which is why teaching is so fun. Must remember this when I'm freaking out this week. AHahaha. Nikhil. Ha!

Eyeball blogging

If I could only express how much I do NOT want to go into school tomorrow....

I went to get my eyes checked out on Saturday and my prescription hasn't changed (as if it could get any worse!), but I'm at risk for neovascularization. Basically, because I wear contacts and abuse my eyes, my cornea isn't getting enough oxygen, so the blood vessels in my eyes are growing towards my cornea. I'm still okay, but if they get into my cornea, I have to stop wearing contacts and it basically leaves scarring that leaves me at risk for infections. Other than that, and my retina thinning (but I'm still okay, no treatment necessary), my eyes are great. I abuse them, I know, and I have to start realizing it. Sigh. SO it's glasses for me for the next little while, and hopefully switching to higher permeability lenses. I'm really quite blind you know. Sigh.

Anyway, actually, so my point with the whole eyeball thing was that I had a million drops in my eyes, stared at a million letters, and basically my eyeballs are tired. All I want to do is shut them. For a very long time. Like, during tomorrow. Ahahaha. And the next day. And then maybe I'll go teach again on Wednesday.

P.S. I love garlic

Basically, that's it. I love garlic. And I had a lot of it. You're lucky this is a virtual post and not me, live, spurting out aromatic garlic fumes.

Another day spent sick in bed. Thank goodness for the world's nicest host teacher! I went into school today and told her I'd probably only be there half the day because I was sick, and she just told me to go home and get some rest. I spent the entire day sleeping. My question now is, how much sleep can one person get? I don't believe in catching up on sleep, because if you've lost it, you've lost it. That's it. But honestly, I've slept probably 80% of this weekend. The other 20% was spent eating. ;)

In further news, my sister has an obsession with all things Australian. She loves wombats, and is constantly practicing her Australian accent. When she talks to me in her accent, I automatically respond in British one. We're the weirdest family ever. In addition, everyone has suddenly decided that they need to improve their whistling skills, so there are moments of spontaneous whistling in our house. I wonder HOW I managed to get so much sleep this weekend!

I love how you can ramble on about completely useless things in a blog.

Hey, and contratumalations to Ava and Mattie2hattie on Teacher's College and MISt!

Easter memories

My last horrible sickness occurred Christmas Eve/Christmas morning. Here I am, Easter weekend, with another comparable illness. This is the fruit of too many all-nighters trying to finish my thesis and plan my teaching block, combined with the ultimate germiness of grade two students. I distinctly remember one coughing right in my face last week. :(

As I was lying in bed, I occasionally thought about all the work that awaits me when I'm better. I have 3 more weeks of teaching...planning, 2 scrapbooks, a Bible study to plan, letters to write...so many THINGS to do. I realize I've been so task-oriented lately that I've forgotten about ME. How can I possibly get all these things done if I'm not taking care of the person who'll be doing them??

And thus, I come back to this: I am a Martha. "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42 Mary chose to sit at the feet of the wisest man on earth, to sit with Him, listen to Him and to be in His presence. And I know I need to take some time to relax, to stop doing, and to simply be in His presence. Sigh.

I also needed to pause to consider the real meaning of Easter. The real meaning of Easter...it's not eggs, and it's not chocolate. It's not getting dressed up for the special Easter service at church. What is it about? It's about an empty tomb. It's about the one figure in all the major world religions who did not succumb to death.

It's interesting, I woke up this morning and watched some TV, and I saw a man named Tony Costa on some show. I know Tony Costa because he's come to speak at many of our Campus Crusade events at York, and this man is BRILLIANT. He has done so much research on cults, world religions, and the historical person of Jesus. He was talking about Jesus' resurrection, and about some of the theories that surround this empty tomb. After Jesus was crucified, he was put in a tomb under heavy Roman guard. 3 days later, the tomb was empty. Some people think that Jesus wasn't dead in the first place. Now, if anyone has seen the scourging and crucifixion Jesus went through, I think we'd all understand how ridiculous that is. I think it would be higly impossible that Jesus would "faint" and then come back to consciousness three days later with enough strength to roll aside a tombstone. Another theory is that the disciples lied about everything: about Jesus' death, and about his subsequent resurrection. Now, Tony noted that people do not die martyr's deaths for things they do not believe, and every one of the disciples died a martyr's death. If they had really made the whole thing up, and didn't really believe that Jesus was really the Son of God, then they would not have died for the cause. Tony also noted that from the disciples' perspectives, Jesus' death on the cross would have been a huge letdown. They were expecting the Messiah, a God. Would they have started to spread the message of Christianity with such vigour after an event that seemed to disprove everything Jesus had taught? And yet, history records the rapid and widespread travels of this new faith. I don't think the disciples would have been so eager to spread the news of something, or someone they didn't believe in. ANd yet they did. Which leads me to believe they believed in Jesus with all their hearts.

Tony summed it up by saying that we don't like to look at the empty tomb because it forces us to think, to consider. If a man who claimed to be the Son of God really rose from the dead...what does that mean? And then subsequently, how are we to take the teachings of one who transcended death? It's such a heavy subject, and one that I shouldn't have started to tackle while I was sick. I'll have more to say when I have more energy!

Utterly exhausted

If I ever hear anyone say that teaching is easy, I will drag them into my class and make them teach a whole day. It is UTTERLY EXHAUSTING. Utterly. I have never met so many grade 2 students who have so much energy and who like TALKING and INTERRUPTING SOOO much. Give an inch, and they take a mile. Needless to say, there was a lot of raising my voice, waiting for them to be quiet, and then rewarding good behaviour. It's kinda rough. Sigh. Teaching. Sigh.

It's okay, Michelle, it's okay...persevere...perseverance leads to character, and character, to hope.

Do you Believe in Easter?

Edith Burns was a wonderful Christian who lived in San Antonio, Texas. She was the patient of a doctor named Will Phillips, a gentle physician who saw patients as people. His favorite patient was Edith Burns.

One morning Dr. Phillips went to his office with a heavy heart, however, and it was because of Edith Burns. When he walked into the waiting room, there sat Edith with her big black Bible in her lap, earnestly talking to a young mother sitting beside her.

Edith Burns had a habit of introducing herself in this way: "Hello, my name is Edith Burns. DO you believe in Easter?" Then she would explain the meaning of Easter, and many times people would be saved.

Dr. Phillips walked into this office area and said good morning to his office nurse, Beverly. Beverly had first met Edith when she was taking her blood pressure.

Edith said to her, "Hello, my name is Edith Burns. Do you believe in Easter?"

Beverly said, "Why, yes I do."

"Well, what do you believe about Easter?"

"Well," said Beverly, "it's all about egg hunts, going to church, and dressing up."

Edith kept pressing Beverly about the real meaning of Easter, and finally led the nurse to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

That morning, Dr. Phillips said, "Beverly, don't call Edith into the office quite yet. I believe there's another delivery taking place in the waiting room."

After being called to the doctor's office, Edith sat down, and when she took a look at the doctor, she said, "Dr. Will, why are you so sad? Are you reading your Bible? Are you praying?"

Dr. Phillips said gently, "Edith, I'm the doctor and you're the patient." And then with a heavy heart he said, "Your lab report came back, and it reveals you have cancer, and, Edith, you're not going to live very much longer."

"Why, Dr. Phillips," said Edith, "shame on you! Why are you so sad? Do you think God makes mistakes? You have just told me I'm going to see my precious Lord Jesus, my husband, and many of my friends. You have just told me that I am going to celebrate Easter forever. And here you are having difficulty giving me my ticket!"

Dr. Phillips thought to himself, What a magnificent woman this Edith Burns is.

Within a few weeks, Edith had reached a point in her illness where she needed to be hospitalized. "Dr. Will, I'm very near home now," she said, "so would you make sure that they put women in the room with me who need to know about Easter?"

Well, they did just that, and one patient after another shared the room with Edith. Many of them gave their hearts to Christ. Everybody on that floor, from staff to patients, were so excited about Edith that they started calling her Edith Easter - that is, everybody except Phyllis Cross, the head nurse on the floor.

Phyllis made it plain that she wanted nothing to do with Edith because, "She is a religious nut." Phyllis had been a nurse in an army hospital; she'd seen and heard it all. She was the original G.I. Jane. She had been married three times. She was hard, cold, and did everything by the book.

One morning the two nurses who were to attend to Edith were sick. Edith had gotten the flu, so Phyllis Cross had to go in and give her a shot. When she walked in, Edith had a big smile on her face as she said, "Phyllis, God loves you, and I love you, too. I've been praying for you."

The head nurse frowned. "Well, you can quit praying for me. It won't work. I'm not interested."
"Well, I will pray," responded Edith, "and I have asked God not to let me go home until you come into the family."

"Then you will never die," snapped Phyllis, "Because that will never happen," and she curtly marched out of the room.

Every day when Phyllis Cross walked into the room, Edith would smile and say, "God loves you, Phyllis, and I love you too...and I'm still praying for you." Finally, one day, Nurse Cross found herself being literally drawn into Edith's room like a magnet would draw iron. She sat down on the side of the bed and Edith said, "I'm so glad you have come, because God told me that today is your special day."

"Edith, you have asked everybody here the question, 'Do you believe in Easter?' but you've never asked me," said Phyllis.

"I wanted to many times, but God told me to wait until you asked, and now that you have asked...." And then Edith took her Bible and shared with Phyllis Cross the Easter story of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Then Edith said, "Phyllis, do you believe in Easter? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is alive and that He wants to live in your heart?"

"Oh, I want to believe that with all of my heart," said Phyllis. "And I do want Jesus in my life." And right then and there Phyllis prayed and invited Jesus Christ into her heart.

For the first time Head Nurse Phyllis Cross did not march out of the hospital room, she was carried out as if on the wings of angels.

Two days later Edith said to Phyllis, "Do you know what day it is?"

"Why, yes, it's Good Friday."

"Oh, no," said Edith. "For you every day is Easter. Happy Easter, Phyllis!"

Two days later, on Easter Sunday morning, Phyllis stopped at the hospital flower shop before she went to her desk. She wanted to take a bouquet of Easter lilies up to Edith and wish her a Happy Easter.

When Phyllis walked into Edith's room, Edith was lying still in her bed. Her big black Bible was open on her lap and her hands were on her Bible. She had a sweet smile on her face.

When Phyllis reached over to pick up Edith's hand, she realized Edith was gone.

Her left hand rested on John 14:2-3: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

Her right hand was on Revelation 21:4: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eye; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

Phyllis Cross took one look at that dead body, then lifted her face toward heaven, and, with tears streaming down her cheeks, said, "Happy Easter, Edith. Happy Easter!"

Then Phyllis left Edith's body, walked quietly out of the room and over to a table where two student nurses were sitting. She smiled and said, "Hello, my name is Phyllis Cross. Do you believe in Easter?"

- Author unknown, cited in Swindoll, Charles. (2001). The Darkness and the Dawn. Nashville: Word Publishing.

Parenting 101

Lately I’ve been thinking about all these random controversial issues, because I’ve decided that it’s SO key to know where you stand on some things, and even more important, to have researched it or at least looked at both sides of the argument so you can come up with an educated opinion. But that’s not what I was going to talk about today. I want your thoughts on parenting. “Parenting?!” you say? Yes, that’s right. I know some of us are quite there yet, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about, especially with what’s happening in the world today. I think about how this world will be when my child is in it, and I think it’s definitely something to be thinking about.

Specifically, I wanted to talk about decisions. Your child’s decisions. Looking at my own life, I think I’ve always been a fairly good kid, but once I hit high school, I think I got kind of manipulative. It was no longer that I had to have a good reason to do what I wanted, but that my parents had to have a good reason why I SHOULDN’T do what I wanted (not that what I wanted to do was extremely damaging or rebellious). They pretty much never had any good reasons, in my opinion, at the time. I’ve come to realize that this is the way I’d become, so I’m really working at showing them respect by not questioning their decisions, because I totally believe that our parents, whether we choose to believe it or not, are wise. Basically, I’ve come to the realization that the decisions I make really need to be made with respect to my parent’s rules and standards, as long as they’re reasonable.

For example, I REALLY wanted to go on another missions trip to the Orient last summer; however, it couldn't happen. I know I’m 22, and I can make my own decisions and sign my own waiver forms, but my dad laid down the law this year. In fact, it seems I won’t be going on any missions trips during university, as my dad is in full opposition to Christianity and missions. Now, I think this is fairly unreasonable, seeing as I am 22 and the reason he doesn’t want me to go has nothing to do with my personal safety or well-being but has more to do with contradicting ideologies and beliefs, but I do currently reside under the roof he paid for, and I know that I have been quite manipulative in the past with getting what I wanted, so I made the, hopefully, mature decision to not only obey my parents, but keep my mouth shut about any arguments that I think could persuade them to let me go.

Now, applying all this to when we’re parents, I keep wondering what I’m going to do when it comes time to start granting permission for certain things. Now, I think we all have to admit that being the domineering, super-controlling, “no-room-for-your-own-decisions” sort of parent is really not loving. I mean, if I’m going to show my child I love them, I do have to let them be free to make their own decisions and learn from their mistakes. Control in every aspect of their lives does not equal love. However, I think we all have to agree again that we do have to have some ground rules, as a good parent. But my big question is, “Is it the parents’ fault if the children make mistakes?” I don’t think it is. Albeit, as parents, we will set the bar in terms of appropriate behaviour, setting down ground rules etc., but in today’s world, as my Personality psych prof was saying, there are so many other factors that are a part of who one becomes. And it eventually does become the child’s decision whether or not they follow these rules. And as they grow physically, they grow in responsibility. We give our children freedom, but that freedom includes the responsibility for taking ownership for their own actions. So I think that although I worry and think, at this point, that all I’d really like to do is protect my child and keep him or her in his/her own little protective bubble by making all the “right” decisions for them, that’s really not the thing to do. I have to let them be free to learn. However, giving them freedom doesn’t mean I’m going to have to take responsibility for their actions. I don’t think you can blame the parents of any child totally for the child’s actions, except perhaps in cases of abuse and emotional trauma.

Anyway, I guess my point is though, that through it all, the absolute truth is that I love my child, or will, I guess, and I would totally be willing to take them back. I may not like their actions, but I think I’d totally love my child through all their decision-making, good and bad. And as much as my child may push me away and not include me in their lives and totally reject and ignore me, I will love them to the end. And I know my parents do love me. In fact, I think my dad is a good example of someone who shows love through letting children make their own decisions, although there is a lot of stuff to be said in that particular situation. He has trouble showing his kids he loves us, so I think he ends up feeling that he has to let us do whatever we want. He never bothered to really set a lot of ground rules, but the ones he does set are fairly reasonable. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that parents love their children. Because they love their children, they let them make their own decisions and eventually learn from them. But I truly believe that the rules and guidelines that parents set for us are good ones, and I think when the children follow these guidelines, they’re a lot safer and happier in the end. Anyway, and through all the child’s decisions, parents continue to love their children, even if they’re pushed away. And I think at some point, if the child keeps rejecting and ignoring, parents will respect that decision and not intervene. But we’ll always take them back if they come back...

And it's just so with the Father. We can say all we want that there can be no God because of all the terrible things that go on in this world, but I think we need to take a long hard look at some human actions and the role of free will, and most importantly, the characteristics of God, before anything like that can even begin to be justified.

Epitaphs

I stumbled on some funny grave markers from a book I was reading:

Here lies Les Moore, shot four times with a forty-four
No Les, No Moore.

Anna Wallace
The children of Israel wanted bread;
The Lord sent them manna.
Old Clerk Wallace wanted a wife;
The devil sent him Anna.

Sacred to the memory of my husband,
John Barnes, who died Jan. 3, 1803.
His comely young widow, aged 23, has
Many qualifications of a good wife
And yearns to be comforted.

Here lies Butch - we planted him raw -
He was quick on the trigger
But slow on the draw.

Beneath this sod, a lump of clay,
Lies Arabella Young,
Who, on the twenty-fourth of May
Began to hold her tongue.

Something tells me that they had more of asense of humour about death back in the day!

2002 Ways to Show Your Kids you LOVE Them

Chapters is one of my very favourite stores. First, I love books. Second, I love reading books. Third, I love that I can read books for free. So, a couple days ago, I was perusing the discount section at Chapters for a cookbook, and I stumbled upon this handy dandy little book called "2002 Ways to Show Your Kids You Love Them". I glanced fairly quickly through the book and noticed #1912. It said, "Teach your child that she has God as her Heavenly Father." Now, apparently I'm quite cynical because while I thought that was an excellent way to show your kids you love them, in my mind I was a little snide about thinking that it was buried all the way in the back of the book at #1912. Nevertheless, I was hooked and I made the purchase. When I got home and actually took a look through it, I realized it was a really great book that I agreed with in terms of what I value. A perfect example of this is #1: Host a regular family worship service in your home. AMEN! I couldn't agree more. I'm now perusing it occasionally and I keep finding some really really good points. I'll keep posting them as I find them, but in general, I think this book is gold!