The most beautiful gift I have ever received

This is the quilt that my congregation presented to me as part of my good-bye present today at worship. It is the most beautiful gift I have ever received. On the other side everyone in the congregation has signed it and written a message for me. The children created quilt squares that are also incorporated on the other side that have either their handprint or a picture they drew. Four women in the congregation made this quilt and a similar one for Vida the other seminary student who is also going away. I am so blown away by this incredible gift. The thought, time and energy that went into this amazes me. These four women were at the church so much over the past few months. I knew they were up to something but I had no idea it was something this incredible. It was very hard to say good-bye to my home church today. I have been there for almost 27 years. They have been an incredible family to me and I will miss them a great deal. This is just the beginning of many difficult good-byes. I'm excited about Saskatoon but the reality of saying good-bye is starting to sink in.  

Now comes the chaos!

Well I have had lots of fun enjoying summer in Vancouver getting ready for events that are upcoming and now the events have arrived. On Monday Vacation Bible School starts and the week after that I have to go to confirmation camp for two days then I have a week of packing and stuff before I leave for Winnipeg on the 13th, coming home on the 21st to pack up vehicle(s?) and head to Saskatoon a few days later. I have had so much fun these last few weeks spending lots of time with friends and doing fun Vancouver stuff. I hope to fit a little more in but I know the next few weeks are going to fly by! I'm getting really excited about Saskatoon. I'm trying to figure out what house stuff I have to buy and tomorrow I get boxes from my friend and can start packing. I've been having lots of fun emailing back and forth with a friend from Smithers who will also be starting in Saskatoon in the fall. We've been sharing moving tips and ideas for where to live. She goes soon to find a place. I'm glad she'll be there when I get there and we can figure out this living in Saskatoon thing together!
This week I spent lots of time at VST. It has been nice to feel comfortable at the school again after a few times of going in to the school and having a really negative reaction to being in the space (reasons why aren't public yet but will be made public in the fall, nothing happened to me but just other crappy stuff happening at the school). I saw lots of friends who were taking classes and spent lots of time with Kat.
I'm trying to be more intentional of getting together with friends before I leave because I know the next month will just fly by and then I will be in Saskatoon. So if you want to hang out send me an email or give me a call. I may have a big BBQ at some point just so I can say goodbye to more people. The goodbyes are slowly starting to happen, I had my last spiritual direction session on Tuesday and said goodbye to Jamie there. Next Sunday (July 30) is my big goodbye party at the church which will be very hard. And the goodbyes will be coming all the time after that.
Well I should go to work and keep working on getting ready for VBS. I have to go to a congregation member's home to look at his train memorabilia that he will lend us for decorating for the "Gospel Express" which is the theme of this year's VBS. I'm really hoping the heat will die down for Monday otherwise it will be a very long week!

What to write, what to write

I always get frustrated when I go to read people's blogs and they haven't updated them. I have many friends who don't update for weeks (and even months) at a time(you know who you are!). So I have vowed to keep my blog updated on a regular basis. Unfortunately this week I don't have much to write. It has been a pretty "normal" week. I guess I'm getting more comfortable with the living in limbo aspect of my life. I'm really excited about moving but right now it seems sooo far off and I have so much to do before that.
I'm really struggling with general grumpiness this week. I have had three different friends treat me poorly all in different ways and it frustrates me to no end. I'm hoping the weekend will pull me out of the funk I seem to be in. I'm also wondering if the weather has been affecting me more than I realised (cool and wet).
I'm heading down to the folk fest at some point this weekend to chill and listen to some music (outside the gates, ticket prices are too rich for me!). Next week is my last quiet week until things get really busy and stay busy until I move. I need some motivation to get stuff done next week otherwise the rest of the summer will be chaos! I think next week is a good week to start packing stuff. I can pile boxes in my sister's room. I also still need to get my car fixed, book flights to Winnipeg (for me) and to Saskatoon (for my mom) and figure out what I still need to send to the LTS registrar to transfer my remaining courses from VST. So I have lots to do, just not the motivation to do it!

Roadtrip!

Jessica and I went up to Barkerville this past weekend to visit our friends Andrew & David (all VST people for those of you who were wondering). We had a great time. We left on Thursday right after Jessica got out of class and made it to Williams Lake where her sister lived. We crashed there for the night and I got to meet her sister and three nieces in the morning. We then headed the rest of the way up to Barkerville and had a great day and a half visiting with Andrew & David before we began the drive home on Sunday.
It has been so nice to spend time with VST people this summer outside of the craziness of the school year. I was really glad to get to see Andrew & David again before I moved. I didn't think that was going to be able to happen.
One thing that really shocked me on the trip was the impact that the pine beetle has been having on forests in BC. I know it's been on the news for the last few years but until you see the hillsides covered in brown and red trees for yourself you don't actually realise the full impact of this pest.
Today I went to VST and was overwhelmed by people and so Clara and I took off and had lunch off campus. Tonight was apartment church and now I'm about to hit the sack, I'm zonked.
Tomorrow I am seeing Sarah who just got back from a semester in Ghana, I can't wait to see her. I also have to wash the van we took to Barkerville and unpack the last little bit of stuff. Oh and I guess I should go to work for a bit.
I will post pictures from the Barkerville trip when I find my card reader for my digital camera.

Saskatoon pad take 2!

4 more pictures. First one is my bathroom (in case you couldn't tell). The second is my living room. The only thing left in it now is the futon that is on the right hand side of the picture. You can see one of the full sized windows on the left hand side. That is the back wall of the house. The third picture is my kitchen. There will be more cupboards added before I move in and the small fridge and the cat (thank goodness) are no longer there. Fourth picture is rest of the kitchen and the other full sized window. The kitchen is open plan and so is open to the living room. I'm so excited about this place! It's beautiful and bright.





 

Well, for those of you who were waiting (Kortney ;) ). Here are some pictures of my new place in Saskatoon. For some reason blogger will only upload 4 of the 8 so I will have to upload the rest in my next post. The first picture is the front of the house. It is a duplex so I am in the basement of the right hand unit (from about the motorcycle over to the right. My entrance is around the right hand side of the house. The cement pad that the motorcycle is on is my parking space (complete with plug in! Ahhh, I have to plug in my car, yikes!). The second picture is just my entrance to the house. You can see my bedroom window along the bottom of the house past the door. The third is a picture of the upstairs (not my place) that I can use if I want. The fourth picture is a picture of my bedroom. The bed that is in it in the picture is a queen sized bed, just to give you an idea of size.