Louisiana Tour

Is this how you spell "chaos"? It doesn't look right. Anyway, I know now that I am a grown up because I asked for a new car seat for my daughter for Christmas! Now we're in the middle of actually FINDING one, after Consumer Reports research and all that, and the one we want is not in any store in Alexandria and we will have to order it online and ship it and blah blah.........AHHH!

Yesterday commenced the beginning of our "Louisiana Tour". That's what John and decided to call these few days of our lives. Yesterday we went to Hammond, LA and tomorrow we go to Ruston, LA, so down yesterday, up tomorrow! Man, we're covering some ground.

We went to Hammond to look at the town and SLU because we're probably applying for the BCM director position (John of course). We met with John Moore yesterday for lunch and then took a whirlwind tour of South Louisiana. It was actually kind of fun because I haven't been south in a long time, we even took a ferry!

So, we need prayers from all of you because we really feel open to applying for this. It's hard for us to come to this conclusion because we have to be open to "Did God call us to Canada for "a time" or "forever"??????" Anyway, prayers please.

The REAL Amy

Although, I must say I like the fake one. Even when she exposes old wounds about dead dogs.

Sooo, you guys are hysterical. I read all the new stuff and it made me laugh so hard! I logged on to see if anyone has said anything lately, and WOW! So, yeah. Sorry that I dropped off the face of the earth for a while.

We are in Arkansas! It took us FOREVER to get here it seemed, but we are finally home for a bit, taking a deep breath and semi-relaxing. It's just so fun to let everyone else get to see how much Sadie has "grown like a weed". We're here until Christmas Day when we go to Louisiana with my parents who are coming here for Juana's (JOhn's sis's) wedding on Christmas Eve. Wow, that was a confusing sentence.

SOOOOOOO, I actually have nothing to say. I can't think of anything else to catch you up on. The church stuff is doing better, we did resign and we will be done with pastoring the church the end of January, done with school (John atleast) in May, then we're mooching. Watch out, the moochers come.....

Lorri, there are SOOO many things you can do with Vinager, maybe I should write an entire Vinager blog! And yes, I have come a long way (happy to say) since the moldy bowls and not leaving the room until my "messy look" was perfect.

Anyway, I promise to blog again in the next few days when I am thinking straight and don't have to go to bathroom! (Okay Lorri, maybe a little too far).
blog on

the new amy

since amy hasn't posted a darn thing in like ten days, her waiting public is about to revolt. so, i'm going to post for her, since she inadvertently gave lorri and i blogging rights to her site.

so, as the new amy, here's what's going on in her life (not that i truly know or anything, just what i assume is happening):

sadie's growing like a weed. she's so curious about everything. christmas is here, and i've done some shopping, but i need to do a little more. still, it's hard to do a whole lot at one time when you are a mother. children require constant supervision, you know.

we're going to louisiana/arkansas for a few weeks, but it always goes by in a whirlwind because we're constantly on the move and seeing people. however, it will be great to just be able to spend time with the families and my old,decrepit, blind (but saved) dog precious.

canada's cold. a little snow here and there. i'll be getting back with you on the household tips. and, lorri, well, what can i say? the molded bean and ham soup bowls will always be an issue with me.

happy holidays, eh!

Narnia

Oh My.... I just got home and right now that is all I can say. Take tissue, take friends. See it hundreds of times. Wow.

Silent Majesty of a Winter's Morn

This is where I live. I can see the mountains from Calgary, and THIS is within 45 minutes of me. Why do I bring this up? Because I NEVER MAKE TIME TO GO THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with me, why would I rather stay home and make sure the kitchen is clean than go hike in the "silent majesty of a Winter's morn" (name that movie!). I know that one day I will be VERY sad that I didn't take more advantage of the mountains. I say this because I was just thinking about how sad it is that I've decided to skip class today and spend it elsewhere, but where you ask???? Ikea.

I did, however, turn in my monstrous paper! I think I may have even done well on it, but I know that it sure felt good to give that COMPLETED folder to John to hand in for me (because I'm skipping, remember?). So, now I am playing with my webcamera, blogging and generally doing nothing. I should be brushing my teeth, but what's a little fuzz on the teeth when no one sees me for a while???? Is that a new mom thing? Okay, gotta go!
blog on

Sadie finds it hysterical when I cough?!?!

God's Turn in the game of Boggle

It's officially Christmas time. I wish I were more excited, really. Doesn't that sound awful? I love Christmas, but this year the "going home" episode is just really long and drawn out. Actually our entire lives can be compared to a game of "Boggle". We had all the words spelled out correctly, and then God just took it, said "My turn", and shook it all up! I have to remind myself minute-by-minute that the Spirit blows where HE wills.

We resigned from the church last Sunday. We are officially leaving as of the last Sunday in January. It's been coming a while for SO many reasons, mostly because the church REALLY needs a Filipino pastor. But because of our own personal Spiritual condition right now (very poor), we decided to make it January instead of May because we need time to get things straight and it's not right to stay at the church for a paycheck.

So.... of course this causes problems. We are on a student visa which means we cannot get work outside of the pastoring or something on campus. They won't hire us for anything on campus when they know we're gone in a few months, soooooo we're up a creek! There have been MANY times on this missionary journey that we have learned the "living by faith" lesson, and this is going to be another one of those times. We are going to have to raise funds for the last few months we are here, and that is going to be hard on us because in the world's eyes it seems we are raising money so that we don't have to work! So, pray for us!

I also ask for prayer for my husband. I've never seen him this down. I see in him symptoms of depression that I have seen in the mirror often in my life. For a man to not feel like he is doing well in any aspect of his life can crush his spirit. We are struggling in church, struggling to finish school, struggling in marriage, struggling with wanting to help out family far from home, just STRUGGLING! Calgary has been a learning experience for us. Louisiana was wonderful, we made some "family" friends, Winnipeg was even better, we miss those guys terribly, Calgary on the other hand..... our one real friend is the one we brought with us from Winnipeg!

So, as of now here are our future plans, for those family and friends who ask REPEATEDLY "What are you going to do next?". We don't know. We know that our "state" right now is not one that we can make big life decisions out of, so we're waiting. Waiting on God. We have given up what we call "future talk" and actually have told several churches and ministries "not right now, we're not even going there". We plan to have ties completely cut in Calgary when John graduates in May (PLEASE GOD LET HIM GRADUATE!), and have our belongings packed and ready to go so that we can caravan with the parents RV after grad in May. We will be homeless for a while, living off the fam while we discern the will of God in our lives (not that we're not open to it before that...).

So, last Sunday we gave our resignation to the council, tomorrow is to the entire church. It will be a hard day, so say a prayer for us.

Anyway, I didn't mean for this blog to be so melancholy.
Blog On Bloggers.
Amy

sadie talking

loved listening to sadie "talk". thanks for that. i thought it was cute when she started babbling while you were talking.

lorri