Family Christmas Letter

Since many of you readers know or know of my family I thought I'd post my family Christmas letter, this year written by my mom, enjoy!

December 15, 2007

Open your presents at Christmastime but be thankful year round for the gifts you receive.

~Lorinda Ruth Lowen

Another year disappears into the mists of time, and as I reflect on 2007, it is time that seems more precious and less available, given the demands of everyday life.

Ralph and I are beginning to explore roads we haven’t travelled for some time. We journeyed to Portland over spring break and meandered along the Oregon coast, watching the waves pound the coastline as the rain beat on the car windows. In the summer we spent several days in the Okanagan playing some golf on nine hole courses and discovering why tee times were amazingly easy to get in the afternoon (30+ degrees seems to keep some people inside). We also visited over two dozen wineries from Osoyoos to Vernon and stayed in 3 delightful bed and breakfast establishments. The van returned to the coast laden with several boxes of wine which we are enjoying over the winter months.

Ralph has entered the realm of the retired but is busy catching up on things that just didn’t get done when he was travelling for 70% of the time. He is continuing to expand his knowledge of photography which began over 44 years ago, thanks to Uncle Lee, and has joined the Vancouver Photo Club. He celebrated his 60^th birthday in July with family and friends and was genuinely surprised as his family managed to keep a secret.

While school still demands most of my time and makes balance between work and home life an elusive goal, the smiles and hugs of children do help to wash the worries away. Volunteer work at church, visits with friends, and the occasional golf game (still an evolving skill!) provide welcome outlets.

Kristen is now living in Pass Lake, ON, as an intern pastor in a Lutheran congregation. The community, Danish in origin, pop. 400, is about an hour and a half east of Thunder Bay and the congregation of Salem Lutheran Church is part of a 3 point parish of her supervisor who lives in Thunder Bay. You can view photos, follow her adventures and send her messages via her blog: http://canadianlutheranchick.blogspot.com/. She completes her year there in August and returns to seminary in Saskatoon to complete the last semester of her studies before seeking a parish to serve as a pastor. Writing sermons, working with children through Kids’ Club (an intrinsic part of community life), and exploring family genealogy are occupying her time. God and weather willing, she will be in

Richmond for Christmas this year since her little church in Pass Lake does not have a Christmas Day service as tradition and travel dictate that families are together on Christmas Day.

Jennifer (aka Dr. Steele) is now teaching economics and engaging in research as an assistant professor at Washington State University in Pullman, WA. She too is experiencing life in a smaller community, as Pullman is a university town in a farming community. Ralph and I drove down to help her set up her rented duplex and were fascinated to observe combines tracking along hillsides at a steep angle harvesting wheat and lentils. For those of us used to picturing seas of wheat waving on the prairie flats, it was a novel site to see wheat waving above the trees that grew along the roads below. Jennifer too will be here for Christmas, together with Tim who has returned from New Zealand. They spent American Thanksgiving in Montana with Tim’s parents and Jennifer has also travelled to Las Vegas for a bachelorette party for a rowing friend. She will be attending a conference in New Orleans in January so continues to find ways to combine travel with work commitments.

David is still working with a local construction firm building houses and has completed level 3 of the Red Seal program in carpentry at BCIT this year. He returns for the last six week component in February and then just has to complete his apprenticeship hours. His skills have been put to use installing hardwood flooring and moulding in bedrooms upstairs. He is looking forward to a snowboarding trip in January with friends and continues to spend time with Jessie who is completing her Bachelor’s degree.

Ryan is working for Aquiform, a pool and spa supply wholesale distributor. He is now faced with the prospect of driving to Langley to work since the company has just relocated there. He is always active, playing soccer and travelling with friends on weekends and in the summer and spending time with Jodi.

The grandmothers continue to live near us and we visit them as much as we are able. Evelyn enjoys all her friends and activities at Dogwood Lodge. Audrey continues to reside at Inglewood Lodge not far from her much loved apartment in West Vancouver.

We wish you time to treasure the most valuable gifts of Christmas-the presence of loved ones and the peace of the season.

Ralph, Marilyn, Kristen, Jennifer, David, and Ryan

More Pictures

Yesterday afternoon the Volunteer Fire Team put on a Christmas party for the kids in the community. This is an annual event that kids and adults alike look forward to. This year it was held in the church hall. I took a bunch of pictures. You can see them here.

Winter & Printer

Well, some have asked how I'm doing with the big storm that was heading to this part of Canada. Fortunately it's not hitting my part of Canada. It has hit Southern Ontario and is heading east. It's a beautiful day here (-11), the sun is shining and the snow is glistening. We had our big storm two weeks ago when we had to cancel the Sunday service. I'm glad the storm came through today as exactly one week from today I will be flying through Toronto to get home for the holidays.
This morning I had two more "rural ministry" experiences. I usually write my sermon at home and then come into the church early Sunday morning to print it off. This morning I came in and plugged in my computer and it printed the first two pages fine and the third page came out blank. I noticed that the second page had some sticky brownish stuff on it and I wasn't sure where that had come from. I checked the ink levels (fine) and tried again. This time another blank piece of paper came out along with a petrified fly! A few tries later (and doing some head cleaning on the printer) I got a semi-legible print out of the rest of my sermon. I guess I'll have to keep my printer covered from now on!

Advent

It's been a long time since I blogged. So today I have revamped my entire blog as you can see. I lost the links I had on my previous blog so if your blog was up there and now isn't please don't take it personally just send me an email or leave me a comment and I'll add it.
I have been busy since I blogged last. Winter has definitely set in in Pass Lake. We had our first big snowstorm the night before the first Sunday in Advent and so we had no church that Sunday. Since then life has been busy with Christmas events and parties.
Advent is my favourite season. I love the idea of waiting and preparing. This year I have had lots of experience of waiting. I waited with a friend who awaited cancer test results. I also waited for baby news. A dear friend of mine gave birth yesterday morning at 3AM. Welcome to the world dear Charlotte Rose!
I learned how to embed photo slideshows in my blog so you'll be seeing more of those. The one below is pictures from the church turkey potluck that took place last Sunday. We had almost 70 people in the church hall eating together, laughing together and after supper singing together. It was a wonderful event. Last weekend was full of Christmas parties, Saturday was a rice pudding party in town, Sunday was the potluck supper and Monday was the Pass Lake Women's Institute Christmas party. Tomorrow is the third Sunday in Advent (already!) and we have a memorial service as part of the Sunday service as we say good-bye to a pioneer from the community. We also had a funeral about 10 days ago for another long time member of the community, they will be missed. Tomorrow I also have the Community Christmas party for the kids and a Christmas supper and carol service in town.
8 days from now I will be home (as long as the weather cooperates). I am looking forward to time at home. Time with friends and family, time with my home congregation and especially looking forward to meeting a little one who was still in her mom's womb the last time I was in BC.
Before that I will celebrate Christmas with this community on next Saturday night at the candlelight service. They do not have services on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and so we gather next Saturday to celebrate Christmas as a community.
I hope that this time of preparation and waiting is a very blessed one.

Slideshow from Christmas Potluck

Blog Changes

I've made a few changes to my blog. I often find other friend's blogs by following links on other blogs and since I now read many, many blogs I thought I should post links to what I'm reading. I still have more blogs that I read but they have been moved to my second page of blogs because they're not being updated enough (IMHO). If you have a blog I would love to know about it! Please send me the link. If you don't want your blog listed please let me know.
I use igoogle.com to keep track of all the blogs I read. I have added all the blogs to my homepage and I can scroll and see the titles and links to all the blog postings. This is much easier (and less frustrating) than always going to people's blogs only to find out they haven't been updated!
Winter continues to threaten to arrive and then back off. It was below 0 most of last week but today is up to 7. I'm grateful for any days without snow! I'm sure winter will be long enough when it finally arrives for good.
Time is flying here. 4 weeks and 6 days from now I'll fly home for Christmas. I've almost been here for 3 months. I can't believe it. I'm really enjoying my time here. It's a beautiful place and a warm and friendly community.
I'm learning lots and having all kinds of wonderful experiences.

Winter is here!

We had our first snowfall a couple of days ago. This is what I woke up to in the morning. It has warmed up a bit and and the snow is slowly melting away but I think winter is here to stay!

Pictures of Salem Lutheran Church

I just realized how long it has been since I've blogged, my apologies! I'm enjoying my time here in Pass Lake. It's so beautiful here. I love looking out my window to the trees and the beaver pond. I have now preached three times the most recent being this morning. I always struggle with sermon writing and never end up very happy with what I preach but I have received a lot of positive feedback. This morning for all saints day I invited people to write the name of a loved one who died on an angel and hang their angel on a tree at the front of the church. I got lots of comments about how much they appreciated it. I'm amazed at how open this congregation is to trying something new! Last night was the turkey supper. It was lots of fun with about 70 people from the church and community.
I have posted some pictures of the church I'm doing my internship at you can check them out here.

Traveling Chickens - Life in a Rural Community

So I thought that it would be a good idea to have my internship committee over for dinner for our second meeting. I planned the menu, went grocery shopping in town on the weekend and got all set. The day of the meal came and I came home from the office at noon to get ready. I had mashed the sweet potatoes the day before so they were all set. When I got home I cleaned up my house, moved chairs up from downstairs and started to prepare the rest of the food.

At about 3:45 I put the chickens in the oven. I finished vacuuming and as I was putting the vacuum back in the closet by the front door the power flickered and went out. The chickens had been cooking for about 15 minutes and so I needed to put them in another oven or throw them out. I called another committee member who had called earlier to let me know she couldn’t come because she was having to pump out her basement because of all the rain. I called her and she told me she still had power, so I packed up the chickens and drove the ten minutes to her house, put the chickens in, saw her basement (only half full of water now) and settled to make phone calls to the rest of the committee and watch some TV.

About 20 minutes after getting the chickens in the oven the power flickered and went out at her house. She had spoken to another friend, a couple that I also knew and knew that they still had power so I called them and asked if I could use their oven. So again I packed up the chickens and headed over to their home.

I hadn’t been able to get a hold of anyone else on the committee and wasn’t sure how many of them had power. At about 6PM (when the meeting was supposed to begin) I drove back to my house to get the rest of the food and to see if anyone was there. Sure enough two members of the committee were just leaving my house and turned around to meet me at my house. On the way to the house I saw that the beaver creek beside my house was so high that the water was now running over the road instead of under it.

When I got to my house I realized that I had left the vacuum blocking the front door and my front door key didn’t work on the side door lock. We had to push open the front door carefully so as not to damage the closet door between the front door and the vacuum.

One of the committee (the daughter of the couple who had my chickens in their oven) also had power (my power still wasn’t on) so we packed up all the food and headed to her house. I got all the other food (chipotle maple sweet potatoes, broccoli & cauliflower, salad and buns) all set up and cooking and drove back up the highway to pick up the chickens. Brought them back and we sat down for a lovely dinner and meeting.

After the meeting I packed up all the dishes and headed home with a borrowed pair of men’s size 12 rubber boots and a copper pole to test out the road by my house to make sure the road was still there under the water. I went to the home of the second oven my chickens had been in (the woman pumping out her basement) and gave her some dinner and then headed to my house where I could still see the road under the water and decided to try it out. It was fine and I got home in one piece. I still had no power so I put all the food away and went to bed to stay warm and called a friend to share my story! As I was talking to her about 10:45PM the power went back on and I went to sleep.

Quote

A few of my friends have posted favourite quotes and poems on their blogs recently and so I thought I would follow their lead when I found this while preparing for a sermon:

“Even when we try to run away from our troubles…God will find us, and bless us, even when we feel most alone, unsure if we’ll survive the night. God will find a way to let us know that he is with us in this place, wherever we are, however far we think we’ve run. And maybe that’s one reason we worship – to respond to grace. We praise God not to celebrate our own faith but to give thanks for the faith God has in us. To let ourselves look at God, and let God look back at us. And to laugh, and sing, and be delighted because God has called us his own.”

Kathleen Norris

Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith

In her essay on grace.

Day off

So I took most of today off as I hadn't had a day off since last Saturday. I am still getting used to the idea that this is my home for the year and to make it more my space I hauled out all my pictures and put up my photo wall. A little different than last year but most of the same pictures. Tomorrow when I'm in Thunder Bay I'll have a few recent ones printed and add them to the collection.
Posting the pictures brought mixed emotions as I was glad for the happy memories that they brought but also hard because everyone on the wall is so far away!







I also baked bread solo for the first time in my life. Following my friend Alison's recipe I made 7 loaves and 1 dozen buns of whole wheat bread. I loved doing it and look forward to doing it again sometime. If you have a bread recipe you love please send it on for me to try!

Tomorrow starts a busy week as I go into Thunder Bay for clergy cluster and supervision and then tomorrow evening I have kids' club and confirmation (first confirmation class!). Two of the youth want to meet with me before kids' club to pitch an idea they have so I am looking forward to hearing their big idea.

Thanksgiving is this weekend and I'm not sure what my plans are. I hope that I will be invited somewhere! This is the first Thanksgiving where I haven't had good friends or family around.

I know I haven't blogged in a while and I promise a real blog soon but in the mean time here are a few paintings of my church in Pass Lake. They were both done before the addition so you have to make it a little longer off one side of the building but same colours. It's a wonderful building filled with lots of love! I promise to blog more soon!

More pics from my new home

Here are a few more pictures of my home for the year. This one is my home from the road.

















This is the view beside my house. This stream wraps around behind my house.



















This is what you see looking down the side of my house. It's beautiful! I've been really enjoying the incredible beauty of this area. I'm getting used to living out in the country though really feel I'm a city girl at heart. I was officially installed today as intern at Salem Lutheran Church, Pass Lake. Tomorrow I head to Luther Village near Kenora for the church workers' study conference. Next week all the programs start and September comes to an end. It's pretty unbelievable how fast it's flying by!

Online again

I am now back online at home and so I don't have to drive into Thunder Bay to blog. I am on dial up in Pass Lake at both the church and home. I met with other Thunder Bay ELCIC clergy this morning for their weekly ministerial and then picked up odds and ends in TB before beginning to set up the office at the church this afternoon. I also met with my supervisor and got some of the scoop on how this year will look. Things will definitely be busy, but great! I am slowly adjusting to a very different way of life here in Pass Lake but so far so good! I will post pictures of my area soon.

Made it!

I have made it to Pass Lake. I arrived last night about 8:30 and have unpacked my car. Today I attended Salem Lutheran Church (my internship site) and headed into Thunder Bay to pick up groceries and various other household items. I've posted pictures of my drive and my new place here . I don't have my dial up working yet but will blog more when it's working. Right now I'm in a coffee shop in Thunder Bay but I'm getting very tired and I still need to finish grocery shopping so I will sign off now and blog again soon!

On the Road Again!

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since I have blogged. I have had a wonderful month (pictures to come!) off and on Monday I packed up my little civic and hit the road for the big move to Pass Lake. I drove Monday and Tuesday and visited friends in Saskatoon Wednesday and yesterday. Today I hit the road again for the last two days of driving. I had a nice visit with a few friends here and just relaxed. Today I'll drive the 8-9 hours to Winnipeg stay at my friend Jen's house as she and her husband set her up in Saskatoon and then do the last leg tomorrow and move into my new home! I'm excited, nervous and just wanting the driving to be over. I'll be on dial up in my new place so pictures will have to wait until I go to Thunder Bay and can access high speed but I will try to post text on a more regular basis.
I can't believe internship is here and yet I'm ready to do it. Talking to other sem students here about classes they're taking and the like I'm really ready not to be in class and to be on the ground doing ministry. So Pass Lake here I come!

Done CPE

Well I made it through CPE in one piece. After all the horror stories I have heard it wasn't as bad as I had feared. It was definitely challenging and exhausting but I would say over all it was a positive experience.
CPE is clinical pastoral education and I did the 11 week intensive. Three days a week I was on hospital wards at Mount Saint Joseph Hospital doing pastoral care and two days a week I was at St. Paul's Hospital for class time. One of the purposes of CPE is for students to become more aware of who they are and how the affect others. So we have group time where we discuss all of these things and our experiences on the wards. I have learned a lot but am ready for it to be over as I'm exhausted and need a break.
So I have about a month before I leave again. I want to spend time with friends and family and relax. I have plans to go camping with a friend and then to Victoria with other friends. I'm also hoping to do one or two more trips with other friends but we'll see what happens.
Now that I'm done CPE I can look ahead to the next adventure. In one month I will again pack up my little car and start driving. This time I'm driving twice as far. I'll be starting an internship in Pass Lake Ontario. I can't wait but I will be sad to leave Vancouver again.
I have been learning more and more about Pass Lake and the surrounding area and it's a beautiful place and it sounds like a wonderful community. I am looking forward to my time there. I will post lots of pictures. For now here is a picture of the church I'll be at.

Birthday Bash

I know I haven't blogged much recently. I will blog more soon. I just wanted to post this picture from my birthday celebration dinner tonight at Shabusen. We had a wonderful dinner and then some of us went back to Kat's for some birthday s'mores. I'm blessed with wonderful friends!

back in BC

Well I survived the drive. The first day was brutal. The drive from Saskatoon to Lake Louise is the most boring drive ever and it began pouring rain as I left Saskatoon and followed me all the way across the prairies. I got in in time on Saturday night to unpack my car, change my clothes and head out to see a friend's concert Musica Intima is the ensemble she sings with and they are amazing. Saturday night was incredible as usual. I went with a friend and we went for all you can eat Japanese afterwards - such a Vancouver thing to do! Sunday was church in the morning, baptism in the afternoon and back to church for a concert in the evening.
I went to VST convocation last night and saw all kinds of people. A group of us went to Sutton Place Hotel lounge afterwards and it was so nice to be back with my VST friends again.
This week is about relaxing and catching up with friends before I start an intense 13 week program on Monday. It has been strange to be back. So good and yet there are still the not so good parts of life here in BC that haven't disappeared just because I was gone for 8 months. Life is always so complicated! I'm looking forward to starting CPE next week and being back in a normal pattern with some purpose to my day!

Done, Packing, Internship, Moving

Well the last two weeks have been a wild ride. I finished classes and most of my assignments about a week and a half ago and then took off to BC for a study conference for 4 days, came home and began packing and moving stuff around. Sunday I met my internship supervisor and we clicked so well, internship retreat went until last night. I'm really excited about my internship now. I got all kinds of information about Pass Lake, the congregation and where I'll be living (a house by a pond). I will move in September 1 and start work on September 4.
I am in Saskatoon for two more days before I will start the trek back to Vancouver. This will be the longest drive I've ever done solo. Two solid days of driving. I will stay over night in the hostel in Lake Louise which is about half way.
I can't believe my year here in Saskatoon is coming to an end. It's been hard to say good-bye to a few people and I know that moving out of this place permanently will be hard. Sarah, my housemate, and I have become close friends.
I'm excited about what the next part of my journey will bring me but will never forget my time here in Saskatoon.
Even though there are a lot of reasons why I'm glad it's over there were some good times and good friends in the midst of the chaos.

What a week!

Well it's been over a week since I have posted about anything that has been going on in my life. What a week it has been! Easter weekend was full of church services, one on Thursday, Friday & Saturday and two on Sunday. I was a server at Easter vigil on Saturday night which meant I also had to be at a 2 hour rehearsal for it on Friday afternoon. We had two Easter dinners. Sarah and I had decided we weren't going to cook a big dinner but rather go out to a nice Japanese restaurant with another friend of hers so we made reservations for Friday night but then her brother came for a visit so we did a big Easter dinner anyways on Saturday night. It was lots of fun, a nice group of people enjoying a meal together before I had to head off to the seminary for the 3 hour Easter vigil and party following. Sunday night the tension that has been existing upstairs for months exploded and on Monday evening Sarah evicted the couple who was sharing the upstairs with her. So the tension level went even higher!
In the midst of all of this I am finishing up papers, presentations and other assignments and beginning to think about moving back to Vancouver and then to Ontario and how I will get all my stuff to all these places!
I head to BC for 4 days a week from tomorrow for a conference so I have to have all papers done before that. Then I'm back in Saskatoon for about a week before I pack up my little civic and hit the road. SO much to do, so little time!

Christ is risen, Alleluia

For us, the faithful, Christ has begun a bright new day, eternal and extinguishable. God is the author of this wonder. From impossible beginnings God has produced wonderful results.
Anonymous hymn - Second Century

Holy Saturday

For this is the time of Holy Saturday
Christ comes to inhabit our tombs
And when the hour has come
He will roll away the stone for us.
Taize Prayer

Good Friday

The Church is the cross on which Christ was crucified. One could not separate Christ from his cross, and one must live in a permanent dissatisfaction with the church.
Romano Guardini

Reflecting

Well I'm starting to reflect on my time here in Saskatoon. I can't say it's been a wonderful year but it has been a good experience. I have many pictures and special words on my wall. The one above my computer means a lot to me and is a daily reminder for me. So I decided (with permission) to share these words with you. They were written by my friend Jason the day after I left Vancouver in August.

this road

like dorthys

goes to emerald palaces

that lose their luster

that are ruled by little

men behind their collars.

do not pay attention to

the emerald palace

shun its false luster.

life is not in the journey,

that is a lie,

life is in the companions.

keep one eye on the road,

an ear open for God

and the rest of your sense

looking for your own

straw man and tin man.

why else travel?

~ Jason Derr

I'm going to.......Pass Lake Ontario!

Well I can now finally tell people where I'm going on internship. I will be in Pass Lake Ontario for my internship this fall. I'm really excited about this site. I have heard many wonderful things about it and it's in part of a country I've never even been to never mind lived in!
Where is Pass Lake Kristen?
As you can see it's just outside of Thunder Bay, about 40 minutes in fact in Northwestern Ontario. It is about 8 hours east of Winnipeg.
Click here to see where it is in the province and in relation to other cities in the country.









I believe this will be a 12 month internship so I will be there until August 2008 when I will return to Saskatoon for one more semester to finish up my MDiv and God willing be ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
I'm really excited about this site. I've heard amazing things about the landscape as well as the supervisor and the congregation.
It's hard to stay focused on the last two weeks of classes and the 8 assignments I have left but I will get there somehow!

Internship News

Well I know where I'll be on internship next year. Unfortunatley you'll have to wait until Monday or Tuesday. The internship director wants us to wait until he has had a chance to let supervisors know who their intern will be so I can only tell my spouse, grrrr! Let's just say I'm very happy and excited and I can't wait to tell people.

Readng Week trip pics

This is the view from the place we stayed at on the Sunshine Coast.

















Kat & Jason checking out the view from the pier by Molly's Reach (think Beachcombers).











The three of us.

LTS Winter Retreat

The centre of our worship circle












Out for a walk - or a snowball fight!
















Christopher Lake












Gathered for communion and dinner

11 Days!

I can't believe it's been 11 days since I blogged. Nothing much new has happened since I last blogged. I still don't know where I'm going on internship. I should find out today when I'll find out. Last weekend we had a school retreat that was great. We went up to north of Prince Albert, did you know that there are actually "forests" in Saskatchewan? We've hit the time of the year when spring is trying to poke through but winter keeps coming back for short bursts. The weekend was beautiful and a lot of the snow melted but then yesterday it snowed again and this mornign I woke up to snowfall again.
Preaching went well last week and I got lots of good feedback. Today I'm preaching again on the Palm Sunday text. School is flying by, so many papers, so little time! I will post some pictures from the retreat. Blessings to you all on your lenten journey!

March in Saskatoon

Well I haven't posted a real post since I was in Vancouver and so I thought I should post something. I had a fantastic time in Vancouver. Visited with lots of friends and had a wonderful time on the Sunshine Coast with Jason and Kat. Headed back to Saskatoon late Friday night, arriving at about 1AM Saturday morning. One of my suitcases arrived while my other one followed about 10 hours later, grrr. Saturday morning I unpacked, did laundry and repacked and headed out Saturday afternoon for Moose Jaw. The weather had warmed up and was actually above 0 and sunny. I drove down to Moose Jaw for a couple of day's to see my friend Elaine's covenanting service at the church where she is doing her internship. We had a lovely visit and I drove back Monday. Came back with a cold I've been fighting all week.
Back to school, 5 more weeks of classes. I really keep trying to have a positive attitude about this place and every time I do something else crappy happens, oh well, 5 weeks and I'm done with this place for a while. SO tired of the complaining, the cliquishness and the attitude of people at school. I have a ton to do in the next 5 weeks so I know they'll fly by. I'm preaching on Wednesday at Sherbrooke Community Centre ( a residential facility like no other!). Next weekend is our school retreat and so we head up to northern Saskatchewan which I'm looking forward to I haven't been north of Saskatoon and apparently it's totally different (still flat but different).
Enjoying spending time with the few friends I do have here and getting to know them better and having fun with them. I should know about internship placement in the next two weeks, so excited! The adventure continues!

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Good News!

Well I'm back in Vancouver, enoying a very rainy reading week. It's been wonderful to be here and I'm enjoying visiting with family and friends. I head off in a few minutes for a overnight getaway to the Sunshine Coast with my friend Kat. Where we'll celebrate my getting into CPE in Vancouver for the summer, wahoo! I went to a meeting with the Vancouver supervisor this morning after having a phone interview last week. While waiting for the supervisor the secretary said "so you'll be joining us this summer" and I said "well I hope to" and she pulled my file and showed me a copy of the letter she had sent late last week offering me a place in the program. It must have arrived in Saskatoon the day I left or today. So I will be doing my CPE (clinical pastoral education) at St. Paul's hospital in Vancouver this summer. I'm so excited. So nice to know I'll be in Vancouver for one more summer, I love Vancouver in the summer. Also so nice to know that I where I'll be after May 1. I'll take some pictures while I'm away and post when I get back. Right now I'm sitting in downtown Vancouver at a Blenz (coffee shop) drinking a roiboos chai and using free wireless, watching the rain fall. I'm such a west coast girl!

What a day!

Well it has been quite a day. I met this morning with my faculty advisor for our annual check in and he is also the internship director. He said that as long as I'm willing to go anywhere for CPE there is always a spot available somewhere in Western Canada if I don't get into Calgary or Vancouver. Then this afternoon I had my teleconference with Vancouver. I was told then that they had received 34 applications for the six, maybe seven spots they have available this summer. I had a really good interview and at the end the supervisor asked me to send him my availability for meeting with him next week and so we have arranged a meeting for Monday morning - good sign! Then just after finalizing that meeting by email I received an email from the CPE site in Calgary asking for a teleconference interview on Thursday. I'm really excited now! I am anxious to know where I'll be this summer but I am feeling more confident that I will get into CPE somewhere and that is a huge relief. It's been quite the roller coaster of a day!

The Waiting Game

I'm in this point in my program where it's all about waiting. I have submitted my CPE applications to both Vancouver and Calgary, have contacted them to ensure they received all the pieces (they did) and now am waiting. I have an interview with Vancouver tomorrow over a teleconference. Calgary is still accepting applications apparently even though their deadline was February 15. That works well for me because I'll hopefully hear back from Vancouver before Calgary and Vancouver is my first choice. I have to get into a summer CPE program in order to be able to do internship next year. I have another internship meeting on Thursday to find out the final list of sites and submit my first, second and third choices which the internship director will look at, consult with the sites and the faculty and make the big match which will be announced the third week of March. So right now I have no idea what my life will look like after May 1 when I finish the internship retreat (if I get into CPE that is, here's hoping!). If for some reason I don't get into CPE in Calgary or Vancouver then my life has to take a completely different turn and I have to try to get into a year long CPE program somewhere, find a part time job and do internship the year after next. I really really really don't want that to happen!
School continues to motor along. This semester is flying by. I fly home for reading week on Friday for a week away from snow, yay! I'm looking forward to spending time with family and friends, sharing stories and pictures from my Peru trip and catching up on their lives. And of course I'm going on the traditional reading week trip. Monday and Tuesday of next week Kat and I will head up the sunshine coast for two days and one night of relaxation. I can't wait!
I'm starting to wonder if the snow will ever leave Saskatoon. I'm not sure I remember what it looks like without snow. We got about another 10-15 centimetres on Friday just to reassure everyone that winter was still around. Of course the 3 feet of snow we already had was doing a good enough job of that!
Oh well, two months from now I'll be packing up my suite and heading off to wherever I go next on this wild adventure!

Back in 'toon town

Well life continues here in Saskatoon. It's so cold here! Friday I woke up to a windchill warning, -42 with the windchill, lovely! School continues to happen. I've submitted my CPE application to Calgary and Vancouver and have submitted my internship application to the director of internship. Now it's just a waiting game. CPE (clinical pastoral education) is a chaplaincy program that is full time May - July this summer. Internship will start sometime between August 1 and September 1 and go for 9-12 months. I'm hoping to get into CPE in Vancouver but I have to get in somewhere because I have to have it before I can go on internship. So right now it's a big waiting game, a bit stressful for a control freak like me! Time is starting to fly by. Three weeks from this weekend I'll be back in Vancouver for reading week, I can't wait to see green again. The winter is really starting to get to me here.
Last night I went to the Barenaked Ladies concert, it was awesome. They have so much fun on stage you can't help but to enjoy the concert. Their music is so awesome as well.
I'm really getting frustrated with the atmosphere at school. The first couple of weeks it seemed to have improved from the end of last semester but the dark cloud over the seminary has returned and everyone is sucked into being angry and nasty to each other. I'm just tired of dealing with those kind of attitudes. I also don't appreciate being the brunt of people's grumpiness because I happen to be there. Oh well, I have lots of fun with my friends and have found a few friends outside of the seminary community that help me keep my sanity.

More pictures - not Peru this time though

Thought you might like to see a picture of me at the seminary. This is Sebastian and I at his first birthday party last weekend. We hang out every Wednesday morning while his parents are in class. It was taken by one of the other seminary kids at the party which would be why it's a little low! Happy Monday everyone!

More Peru Pics

I've posted a few more Peru pics here. The first one is my all time favourite. Enjoy and leave comments here!

Peru Pictures 2

This is a shot taken by another person on the trip of the group below looking at themselves in the screen of my camera.

Peru Pictures

Ok this is the third try posting pictures. Here are three more pictures from my trip. The people of Peru are beautiful especially the children so you'll see that I have lots of pictures of children. The pictures here are the three female students on the trip on our girls night out, the little sister of the boys in the three below holding a ducking she had chased around the yard to catch and some friends Dawn made outside of a restaurant in a small town.

These are those older brothers of the little girl holding the duckling. They are about 30 feet away from where we're standing and up about 10 feet in a tree.
This is our group. We are on the roof and soon to be 4th floor of the Teclides institute, an English institute run by our CLWR host in Lima; Cesar (the Peruvian in the picture).

I'm Still Here!

I just looked at my blog and was shocked to find I haven't posted in two weeks, oops! I'm back from Peru and trying to get back into the swing of things here in Saskatoon. I returned last Saturday (Jan 20) in the afternoon and came home and slept most of the weekend. Sunday afternoon my friend Shalisha arrived for a visit from Vancouver. I picked her up from the airport and we came back to my house and had a nap, yay! We had a lovely dinner Sunday evening and then came back to my house where I quickly crashed. I don't make a great host when I've just returned from a 3 week trip, sorry! Monday classes started. Fortunately Mondays are pretty relaxed for me as I don't have class until 1:30. I had also wisely got my evening library shift covered, I wouldn't have made it through the shift, too tired! Shalisha rented a car Monday morning to drive out to Carrot River and visit family and the former family farm. Monday night as I was waiting for her to come home I got a phone call from her, she had rolled her car an hour outside of Saskatoon. Fortunately she was ok and was waiting for an ambulance because she had some back pain. I met her at the hospital ER and stayed with her until 3AM when they put her in a quiet corner so she could get some sleep. The next morning I returned to take her home. All X-rays and scans were clear, yay! The snow cushioned her roll according to the paramedics who brought her in. She flew home Tuesday evening. The rest of my week has been fairly uneventful, going to classes, buying books, sleeping, sleeping, sleeping. The trip was exhausting and I'm still trying to recover. I'm also frantically trying to get CPE applications in so I have a place to do CPE this summer. It never ends. This year I just go from one thing to another with very few breaks in between! Now I need to get back to the homework I've been avoiding.

Peruvian Adventures

Well I´m in my last week of my time here in Peru. It has been quite the adventure. We´ve seen lots and done lots. We have been back in Lima for a few days and tonight we head out again for another overnight bus trip (my least favourite part of the trip) to Casma where we see the work of Diaconia in some of the river basins. We met with the director of Diaconia at the beginning of our trip on one of the first days in Lima (seems like a really long time ago!). Today we met with the president of ILEP (Iglesia Luterana Evangelica Peruana, Evangelical Lutheran church of Peru) and attended worship in a Lutheran congregation, followed by a lunch with the congregation. This afternoon we had some free time and so I napped, had ice cream and bought water. I have to head back soon and pack yet again. I´ll be glad to be home to unpack once and for all for at least a month or two!). Last night we went to a dinner theatre show where we saw examples of at least 6-7 different traditional Peruvian dances and had traditional Peruvian food. The food has be been great. We have been fed really well. They have 600 different kinds of potatoes here in Peru and so potatoes come with everything. I have fallen in love with the people of Peru, they are so gracious and warm and know how to do hospitality in the most amazing ways. Being together all the time as a group of 12 has begun to get trying as we get more tired and more comfortable with each other and our true colours begin to show. It´s nice to know we´re in the home stretch. Tomorrow we check into the hotel in the morning and visit a river basin, Tuesday is another river basin. Wednesday is day off (we haven´t had a whole day off the whole trip!). Wednesday night we travel back to Lima and then Thursday we have a visit to an institute in the evening, free time for shopping in the afternoon and possibly another meeting in the morning. Friday is our debriefing morning, farewell lunch and then free afternoon. The Peruvian handicrafts are beautiful, I look forward to visiting the markets this week and picking up some items. Friday night we are at the airport at 12 for our 2 35AM flight home, arriving in Saskatoon at 2 35PM on Saturday afternoon. And then I plan to sleep for a long time! Time to go pack!

Peru!

Well we have been here for 6 days now, 1/3 or of our trip. Each day has been completely packed with stuff to do, see and learn. Last night was a major highlight for me. We stayed in a small village with local families. Jann (prof), the two other female students and I stayed together with one family. The guys left in the afternoon and we were toured around the crops by the campesino (farmer) who farmed it and was our host for the evening. Then we went to the second floor of the home which had half walls and a roof and watched the rain storm. We then chatted with the couple who owned the house over tea and bread and went to bed. Illness is starting to hit people here but seems to be passing in a few hours to a day. Tomorrow we travel out to some of the oldest ruins in South America Chavin de Huantar and then board a bus tomorrow night for an overnight bus ride back to Lima. We stay in Lima for a good chunk of time which will be nice as we get a chance to sleep in the same bed for more than one night. Well it´s time for me to get to bed. I´m exhausted. I can´t wait to get home to be able to post pictures and hopefully more coherent blots!

I´m in Peru

I made it to Peru. We arrived at about 3AM this morning at our hotel after two flights and running through the Toronto airport. We had breakfast this morning, some time off and then off to a welcome lunch at a very fancy Peruvian restaurant. After lunch we met with people from a few different NGO´s and heard about their work that we will be visiting over the next few weeks. Tomorrow we have a tour of Lima before embarking on our first of four overnight bus trips. Tomorrow night we head to Huaraz for a few days and then back to Lima. While in Huaraz we travel out of the city to spend a night in a village in families homes which should be an adventure for sure. I´m shocked by how inexpensive things are here. Internet is about .66 canadian for an hour. A bottle of water is .30. I´ll try to blog again soon. Keep the prayers coming, the taxi drivers are crazy and rumour is the buses aren´t much better.

I'm off on an adventure!

I'm off to Peru in about 4 hours our flight leaves Saskatoon and we do a bit of flying around the country (Saskatoon - Calgary - Toronto) before boarding a flight to Lima, Peru. I didn't get much sleep last night, too excited I guess so I'm hoping to sleep on the planes. I will post if I get a chance when I'm down there but will for sure post lots when I get back. Please hold my group and I in your prayers as I hold all of you in my prayers.

Happy New Year!

I wish a very happy new year to all of you who read my blog. I had a great time at home and left Vancouver earlier today and arrived in Saskatoon this evening. Unfortunately my luggage didn't make it so I'm hoping it will arrive tomorrow morning so I can get unpacked and repacked again, yikes! I head to Peru on Wednesday morning so the next day and a bit will be busy getting ready for my trip. I can't wait to go, I think it will be great fun! Please remember our group in your prayers that we may be safe and healthy throughout the trip. I will post blogs and pictures either from Peru if I get time and internet access or right away when I get back on January 20th.
Have a very blessed New Year!