Not again!!

So much for all my weekend plans! It had been almost an entire year since I've thrown my back out but here I am again, lying on the floor in agony. Blasted heavy "Real Life Kit" boxes!! Anyone want to come over and keep me company - saving me from a weekend of lying on the floor, stretches, and Robaxacet?

Spring is here, I can't sit still!

I may have ADHD. I couldn't sit still all weekend, nothing held my attention for longer than an hour. Went for a run this morning and a long bike ride this afternoon - what a great day outside! Being outside with the sun in your face will always change my mood. But in the middle, I was trying to read but just couldn't get into it. I looked up from my book and saw how dirty my apartment windows were and figured, I'm going to fix that! So, I got my windex and papertowels out. On the first side of the window, I slid the screen out, sat on the window sill, hanging out the window and cleaned the outside. But when I went to do the other side, I found out that the window doesn't open. Now half my window is spotless and the other side, is still filthy and looks even worse next to the clean! It looks ridiculous and is going to drive me nuts for the last month of living here! I laugh when I think of all the people in the buildings surrounding mine watching me hang out my window trying to reach far enough to clean it - what a sight! For those of you who were with me in Asia, it reminds me of the ladies standing on the 10th floor window sill. Actually, that's where I got the idea. At least I didn't stand, my legs were still hanging on the inside. Very safe. Ok, so I might be a little bit of a clean freak.
On another note, by recommendation of a friend, bought the Curious George soundtrack which is all Jack Johnston and now I can't get enough - it's been on repeat all day.

One song, so many memories

Okay, so this post will show my age....
I was in a little cafe at U of T in deep conversation with a girl and over the speaker, "Night Swimming" by REM starts playing. It's been about 10 years since I heard that song and it brought me back. I stopped mid-sentence and told the girl I needed a minute. I tried to start again I think 3 times but couldn't focus on the conversation!
So the memories that belong to that song....
Driving with my sister and probably a car full of friends and teammates in the "gummi-mobile" (a rust brown '87 oldsmobile - our car in high school) to and from practices and games, listening to one of the many mix tapes that my sister and I had made. Ah, high school - good times! One very random song brings a flood of memories so clearly.

Props to Kelley

I stole this from one of my good friend's blogs - thanks Kelley and hope you don't mind! :)

Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. a snobby retail sales girl at Esprit
2. secretary at a electrical construction company
3. the beer babe at a golf course :)
4. health care aide at seniors home
and many, many other menial part time jobs that I'd rather forget

Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Meet the Parents (especially the airplane scene)
2. Hitch
3. Legally Blonde
4. Lord of the Rings

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Amazing Race (not the family edition)
2. Cosby Show
3. March Madness - I know, technically not a TV show, but it's on TV!
4. Sunday afternoon football (hmm, notice a theme?)

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Grand Canyon and Rocky Mountain National Park
2. Phi Phi Island, Thailand
3. Florida (a few times)
4. BC (many times)

Four websites I visit daily (or often):
1. good friends' blogs who keep it interesting - you know who you are!
2. google
3. internet banking
4. ??? I don't spend a lot of time online i guess.

Four of your favorite foods:
1. steak
2. pad thai
3. pineapple
4. home made chocolate chip cookies

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. me too to "the cabin" Vancouver island... because then we'd be on vacation and it would be July!!
2. Georgia with family
3. Thailand again
4. anywhere hot and sunny

One of my favourite places in the world

I was only there for four days and it was a year ago but I was thinking about this today. Aren't these pictures incredible! Mount Robson on the BC - Alberta border. What a great trip!

Partial victories

I spoke last night at an outreach in a residence at York. We had a massage therapist come in and do a little workshop and then I talked about how I dealt with stress, one of my points being the need to have peace that extends beyond our circumstances. It was cool to be able to share with a small group how my relationship with Christ impacts such a day-to-day, common experience. I think the best part was that people stayed for about an hour after just chatting. I heard around the room the girls in my Bible study having great spiritual conversations with people who had come! I was so proud of my girls!

I just finished reading a revolutionary book called "Questioning Evangelism" by Randy Newman. Highly recommended. He talks a lot about "partial victories" - situations where we settle (?) for sharing one aspect of the gospel or helping a person see the fault in their logic. For whatever reason, we don't / can't share the entire gospel but may be part of moving them one step closer to even having a hook to hang the gospel on, so to speak.

I think last night was a partial victory in terms of what I said. I had 10 minutes to talk about different ways to deal with stress (both spiritual and non-spiritual ways). I didn't share the full truth. Was it out of fear? Maybe. I hope not. But had I spent more time, talked more in depth, would people have stayed to have the conversations they had in a one-on-one situation where their personal questions were better addressed? I'll never know. Does a conversation that tweaks someone's interest leaving them wanting to know more serve them better than one that goes just a little too long, leaving them itching to find a way out?

Now all of you who are concerned with my theology and thinking I'm going to skirt the issues in evangelism and never challenge someone to accept Christ, relax. I just wonder if I've been trained to sort of steam roll ahead and make sure I get to share the whole gospel, regardless of their questions or the paradigms by which they process. I'm still working out how this looks on a daily basis....

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Ryan Peter was born on March 8th at 4:30pm!! He is absolutely the cutest little thing, at least since my first nephew was born for sure! His older brother, Bennett was having a blast, asking every 3 minutes or so if it was his turn again to hold him. What a great day! I love being an aunt! Bring it on Rob & Lynette - jokes, jokes. :)

Let's take a vote

The March blahs are rearing their ugly head in my life. How about yours? Let's take a vote - do you have them? If so, what do you do to combat them?

In my vast medical library, I have yet to find this to be a recognized medical condition and yet it's just completely a true condition of the human race. Weather? The perverbial "they" say Christmas to far gone and the next holiday to far in the future? In campus ministry, looking forward to the future while somehow managing to stay mentally and emotionally engaged. What is it about this month?

Someone give me insight!!

My 4 year old nephew, Bennett, came to visit me this weekend! It was totally fun! It took us 2 hours to get from Burlington, where I picked him up, to my place because we took every form of transportation possible, but he loved it! He was actually shaking and squealing when the train pulled in and blew its whistle!

This morning (Sunday) he woke me up at 7am saying, "Auntie J, it's seven zero zero and that means I'm allowed to get up now." In my groggy state, I told him to go play but then I heard about it when it was seven zero four, seven zero seven, and at seven one one I finally gave in. He's just learning to read numbers. Anyways, we had a great time together. I love being an aunt! Another niece or nephew to spoil in about 2 weeks time!