Hey! wow, today was awesome fun.
We had class and talked about the importance of small groups. It was very encouraging! then we played on the ice (which is covered in an inch of snow). And then we played football and i took a kidney shot. it was painful, but envigorating. THEN! (drumroll) we spent a long time getting dressed up and went into the town of Sundre to the KickBack Cafe which we rented out for super cheap and got coffee and jet tea and pop and sung karaoke! It was a blast. the only bummer was that we had to leave by 9:45 and we coulda kept singing past midnight. but THEN we came back to Evergreen and ate gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, shortbread, chocolate dipped double chocolate cookies, candy, fudge, chips and salsa and pop. it was awesome. we have so much food left over still, which makes it even more awesome. and we did Secret Santas! AND I GOT YARN! WOHOO! seriously, over 1/2 the group knits and/or crochets and i am DETERMINED to learn BEFORE the first semester is done (er... that gives me about 7 days) and the yarn is a rosy pink... and Megan is giving me her extra pair of knitting needles! and she'll teach me tomorrow (she's reading this over my shoulder... there's literally NO privacy here--i love it! :) ) ahh! i'm picking up peoples anurisms! i mean MANNERISMS. it's hilarious. ooo, and i got a precious moments Christmas colouring book and crayons.. and the book came with sparkly stickers!!! i was so excited.
I'm reading though Zechariah right now, and beans, it's seriously SO cool. I recommend everyone to read it.
that was my inspirational thought for the day. no joke, i cannot be profound on my blog anymore. but i will! i promise! this will be once again transformed into Deep Thoughts By Janelle Kristine once I have a place of peace, quiet, and privacy again. But by that time i may shoot myself for lack of people. seriously, HOW am i supposed to sleep when I get home at Christmas with NO ONE else in my room? I have not slept anywhere by myself for ... ages. i love it. but i don't know what i'll do with myself when i get home. and i have 14 sisters here... with huge wardrobes! we all share clothes! it's brilliant! but i know i'll come home and be like, "where are all my freaking clothes? oh right, they all belong to Xena and Katie and Pan. right."
oh! tomorrow we're making GINGERBREAD HOUSES with our small groups. I am SO excited! I've been asking Jodie (my small group leader) since october if we could make gingerbread houses in December and tomorrow's december and we are! hurrah!
well. it's nearly 1:00 am. and it's Megan's turn on. see you in a week! loves to all.
PS. Paul: get better. get off crutches. hit that loser harder next time. i believe in you. will i make a bad hockey mom one day? hope not. love you.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Hey!
ok, so girl's week is over. we bought our men (all 7 of them) flowers and chocolate and sent them to Camp Evergreen with our female leader when we had the leader switch. The guys loved it, so us girls loved it.
oh my goodness, my friend Geoff is writing his speaker report right now and he asked me and Megan and Xena what we would do if we had one week where we could be a guy. I figure that I'd pee on trees and write my name in the snow, grow facial hair, and walk around without my shirt on. anyway...
ok, so yesterday a couple of us went to the gym in Sundre and then to the IGA to buy ingredients to bake stuff for the Christmas party. and then the people at camp told us that there's a cougar about! So today me and Jeffrey went and followed its tracks. but we couldn't find it. bummer. oh! and the river is (partially) frozen and Niki was running across it and fell through. but only got wet up to her thigh. it was hilarious though. and then tonight me and Laura made gingerbread cookie dough to bake tomorrow for our Christmas party on Tuesday! hurrah! i hope it'll be awesome. we're doing Secret Santa. all i want from my secret santa is crochet or knitting needles and yarn. EVERYONE here knits. and i want to too. i got my Secret Santa a elastic band wooden gun from Banff. His name is Kevin and he looks like one of the Sedin twins from the Canucks. and when he was a kid his dad gave him and his brothers guns, but his mom made them eat EVERYTHING they killed (as an incentive to not shoot random creatures). but he's had squirrel pot pie and stuff... gross.
Ok, so our speaker, Hugo Reimer (yay! another Menno :)) arrived tonight and we invited him to play Clue with us ("us" being Katie, Xena, Geoff, Niki, and meeee). So we explained the rules and passed out the cards and started. and it was great! Except that we realized at the end that we were only playing with 17 of the 21 cards. bahh! it was so funny though because we all were CERTAIN that we KNEW who done it, with what, and where, but we were all so so wrong.
what else? hmm.. i'm coming home on Wednesday December 8th at 12:13 pm at the Abbotsford airport. if you wanna come, i'd LOVE to have you! wohoo! anyway, it's Katherine Elizabeth Butz's time on the internet. so i should go. and go to bed too. later tater tots!
ok, so girl's week is over. we bought our men (all 7 of them) flowers and chocolate and sent them to Camp Evergreen with our female leader when we had the leader switch. The guys loved it, so us girls loved it.
oh my goodness, my friend Geoff is writing his speaker report right now and he asked me and Megan and Xena what we would do if we had one week where we could be a guy. I figure that I'd pee on trees and write my name in the snow, grow facial hair, and walk around without my shirt on. anyway...
ok, so yesterday a couple of us went to the gym in Sundre and then to the IGA to buy ingredients to bake stuff for the Christmas party. and then the people at camp told us that there's a cougar about! So today me and Jeffrey went and followed its tracks. but we couldn't find it. bummer. oh! and the river is (partially) frozen and Niki was running across it and fell through. but only got wet up to her thigh. it was hilarious though. and then tonight me and Laura made gingerbread cookie dough to bake tomorrow for our Christmas party on Tuesday! hurrah! i hope it'll be awesome. we're doing Secret Santa. all i want from my secret santa is crochet or knitting needles and yarn. EVERYONE here knits. and i want to too. i got my Secret Santa a elastic band wooden gun from Banff. His name is Kevin and he looks like one of the Sedin twins from the Canucks. and when he was a kid his dad gave him and his brothers guns, but his mom made them eat EVERYTHING they killed (as an incentive to not shoot random creatures). but he's had squirrel pot pie and stuff... gross.
Ok, so our speaker, Hugo Reimer (yay! another Menno :)) arrived tonight and we invited him to play Clue with us ("us" being Katie, Xena, Geoff, Niki, and meeee). So we explained the rules and passed out the cards and started. and it was great! Except that we realized at the end that we were only playing with 17 of the 21 cards. bahh! it was so funny though because we all were CERTAIN that we KNEW who done it, with what, and where, but we were all so so wrong.
what else? hmm.. i'm coming home on Wednesday December 8th at 12:13 pm at the Abbotsford airport. if you wanna come, i'd LOVE to have you! wohoo! anyway, it's Katherine Elizabeth Butz's time on the internet. so i should go. and go to bed too. later tater tots!
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Insanely Spaztic kittens and stomach uldulations...
Happy American thanksgiving (we've 4 Staters on our site) and... a month to Christmas!
yes, ok, so there are 5 wild kittens here (here as in at Sylvan Lake. we leave to go back to Evergreen tomorrow). and the kittens are ADORABLE! oh my goodness! some of them are so hairy they are just these little POOFs! i love them! well anyway, they hide under this porch thing. BUT there's this small hole in the porch! so 2 weeks ago Pan was like, "Janal, go under the porch and catch the kitties!" so i was all like, "ok!" and so i went under there TWICE in a day, but both times couldn't even see them because it was so dark. so i saw them suntanning today and ran to get Panny and a container of milk. there was no milk, so i broke some creamers into a plastic bowl and put it right by the porch and then lay on my belly so i could watch for when they came out and then yoink the kitties up when they came out. and it worked! but the first kitten scratched me and got away. then i waited 5 more minutes and 2 more came out! and i snatched one up. and HOLY FRUIT BAT, i have NEVER heard a cat, let alone a wee little kitten, screech SO bloody loud! it was insane! and she was VICIOUS! i wore 5 band-aids all day after that. it was freaking hilarious. i hope you can't catch rabies from feral kittens. i still think they are adorable tho.
guess what we did tonight? we had a lady come in and teach us belly dancing! it was AWESOME! i realized that i don't really have the hips to "shake it", but it was so much fun at the same time. so now i can salsa dance, belly dance, and gangsta dance! wohoo! apparently I have a "dance face" that i always put on, even when we're just goofing around inside dancing. i swear it's not true.
so girl's week was REALLY good. i played poker (texas hold'em) last night for a while with fruit loops as chips. and yesterday all the girls sat down and made a list of 40 questions that we wanted to ask our guys. then we emailed those Q's to the boys at Evergreen and they did the same thing and emailed us Q's! and then we answered them today and our leaders switched camps to go and present the answers. it was really cool and informative!
i'm not sure what i'm doing this weekend... hopefully we'll head into Calgary. I wouldn't be opposed to going to Canmore or Banff, but we've been there 4 times already and we'll be staying there next weekend (gah! our last weekend!), so it'd be nice to have a change. i might just stay at Evergreen, but that might not be fun.
oh my goodness. i just realized that i haven't yet had ONE SINGLE DAY where I haven't gone out or had class or something else planned. other people have opted out of weekend things and stayed at the camps, but i haven't. i bet i'd seriously go insane. it'd be a good time to work on my songs... but at the same time, i don't think i'd like it. hmm, and there's no point in starting now either. especially considering that we only have 13 days left together, so i want to DO things with people the whole time. yep. that's what i'll do then.
Wow, i was reading in Proverbs 30 today and there were 2 verses that really stuck out:
"Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give meonly my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, "Who is the Lord?" Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God."
It's crazy because I've always SAID, "oh, i don't care about money, blah blah", but i think i really do have a selfish i-need-to-be-very-comfortable-when-i-grow-up mindset. i think i'm gonna challenge myself to pray these verses into my life. hmmm... i find it very hard to be insightful when i'm on a time schedule for the internet! haha! ask me questions when i get home, or email me, and i'll tell you more of what i'm learning. my hearts you.
Happy American thanksgiving (we've 4 Staters on our site) and... a month to Christmas!
yes, ok, so there are 5 wild kittens here (here as in at Sylvan Lake. we leave to go back to Evergreen tomorrow). and the kittens are ADORABLE! oh my goodness! some of them are so hairy they are just these little POOFs! i love them! well anyway, they hide under this porch thing. BUT there's this small hole in the porch! so 2 weeks ago Pan was like, "Janal, go under the porch and catch the kitties!" so i was all like, "ok!" and so i went under there TWICE in a day, but both times couldn't even see them because it was so dark. so i saw them suntanning today and ran to get Panny and a container of milk. there was no milk, so i broke some creamers into a plastic bowl and put it right by the porch and then lay on my belly so i could watch for when they came out and then yoink the kitties up when they came out. and it worked! but the first kitten scratched me and got away. then i waited 5 more minutes and 2 more came out! and i snatched one up. and HOLY FRUIT BAT, i have NEVER heard a cat, let alone a wee little kitten, screech SO bloody loud! it was insane! and she was VICIOUS! i wore 5 band-aids all day after that. it was freaking hilarious. i hope you can't catch rabies from feral kittens. i still think they are adorable tho.
guess what we did tonight? we had a lady come in and teach us belly dancing! it was AWESOME! i realized that i don't really have the hips to "shake it", but it was so much fun at the same time. so now i can salsa dance, belly dance, and gangsta dance! wohoo! apparently I have a "dance face" that i always put on, even when we're just goofing around inside dancing. i swear it's not true.
so girl's week was REALLY good. i played poker (texas hold'em) last night for a while with fruit loops as chips. and yesterday all the girls sat down and made a list of 40 questions that we wanted to ask our guys. then we emailed those Q's to the boys at Evergreen and they did the same thing and emailed us Q's! and then we answered them today and our leaders switched camps to go and present the answers. it was really cool and informative!
i'm not sure what i'm doing this weekend... hopefully we'll head into Calgary. I wouldn't be opposed to going to Canmore or Banff, but we've been there 4 times already and we'll be staying there next weekend (gah! our last weekend!), so it'd be nice to have a change. i might just stay at Evergreen, but that might not be fun.
oh my goodness. i just realized that i haven't yet had ONE SINGLE DAY where I haven't gone out or had class or something else planned. other people have opted out of weekend things and stayed at the camps, but i haven't. i bet i'd seriously go insane. it'd be a good time to work on my songs... but at the same time, i don't think i'd like it. hmm, and there's no point in starting now either. especially considering that we only have 13 days left together, so i want to DO things with people the whole time. yep. that's what i'll do then.
Wow, i was reading in Proverbs 30 today and there were 2 verses that really stuck out:
"Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give meonly my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, "Who is the Lord?" Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God."
It's crazy because I've always SAID, "oh, i don't care about money, blah blah", but i think i really do have a selfish i-need-to-be-very-comfortable-when-i-grow-up mindset. i think i'm gonna challenge myself to pray these verses into my life. hmmm... i find it very hard to be insightful when i'm on a time schedule for the internet! haha! ask me questions when i get home, or email me, and i'll tell you more of what i'm learning. my hearts you.
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
alrighty! so we're back at Sylvan Lake for Girl's Week with Site 2. The Site 2 guys met up with our guys at Evergreen in Sundre for this week too. It's been fun... the girls are super nice. there's about 40 females in one place, which would be insane if a spat were to break out, but things have been extremely sane. so that rocks :)
I went snowboarding on the weekend! it was awesome. except my board's bindings are bologna! sooooo crappy. BUT Xena says that she has bindings that i can HAVE! she never ever uses them and so she's giving them to me, which is doubly awesome because she used to have the exact same board boots as i do and they were specially fitted for them. hurrah! her bindings are in Saskatoon though, so i won't get them until after Christmas. unless... hm... maybe i could pay her to have them shipped. we'll see, we'll see :)
So tomorrow is the official "we only have 2 weeks left together" point and it's sad. I don't really feel like i've learned THAT much since i've been here. I mean, it's be awesome and i've made tons of friends and had some amazing fun times and God times. but at the same time (wow, i've overused that word! let's see how many more times I can use the word time in this blog) i don't feel like there was one speaker that really impacted me exponentially, or changed my life, like lots of the people here have said is so in their time here. But maybe i have learned lots, but just haven't had the time or motivation to sit down and process it. that's probably the case. I was talking to kristine (one of my leaders) today about it during our PMG and she was just saying that for most of the students, the huge growth happens in Guatemala because we're FORCED to grow up and be independent from the time we get there pretty much. so i'm nervous and excited at the same time.
during quiet time today i did this thing that Danica and Kjer told me about that the people at H2O (or whatever it's called now) have been doing: taking a 20 minute time block and sitting and just listening to the Lord. it was cool. nothing revolutionary, but it was cool to see the thoughts that i think about most often and what naturally comes to mind when i spend time alone and such. and God had some really great things to say also, so it was time well spent. i think i'll try to do that every day from now on too. But maybe not during quiet time because it's one of the times during the day where people really aren't as quiet as you'd expect them to be! haha!
The speaker this week, Susanna Muntz, is doing an extra, optional session tonight in an hour's time regarding some misunderstood passages in the Bible regarding the women of the Bible times. I am not sure if i am gonna go. a bunch of people are watching "Romeo and Juliet" but i honestly HATE Leo DiCaprio and i don't want to spend tons of time in front of the TV. oooh, side note: Alias is done. it ended HORRIBLY! i guess they make season finales completely whacked out so that we can't WAIT and by the time the next season starts, we're pretty much pulling down the wall paper to see it. but yes, so uncertain if i'll go to class tonight or not.
we have to present the city of Antigua, Guatemala in a week's time ("we" being Katie, Pan and I) in Spanish class and we can't find anything on the internet! which is what i'm supposed to be doing right now. it's technically not even my internet time, but the girl who's signed up isn't even here. but i should go anyway and pretend to be studious. until next time!
Janelle
Good music: Jack Johnson (On and On), anything Christmasey! wohoo!
Number of times I used the word "time" (including this time!) in this blog: 24
I went snowboarding on the weekend! it was awesome. except my board's bindings are bologna! sooooo crappy. BUT Xena says that she has bindings that i can HAVE! she never ever uses them and so she's giving them to me, which is doubly awesome because she used to have the exact same board boots as i do and they were specially fitted for them. hurrah! her bindings are in Saskatoon though, so i won't get them until after Christmas. unless... hm... maybe i could pay her to have them shipped. we'll see, we'll see :)
So tomorrow is the official "we only have 2 weeks left together" point and it's sad. I don't really feel like i've learned THAT much since i've been here. I mean, it's be awesome and i've made tons of friends and had some amazing fun times and God times. but at the same time (wow, i've overused that word! let's see how many more times I can use the word time in this blog) i don't feel like there was one speaker that really impacted me exponentially, or changed my life, like lots of the people here have said is so in their time here. But maybe i have learned lots, but just haven't had the time or motivation to sit down and process it. that's probably the case. I was talking to kristine (one of my leaders) today about it during our PMG and she was just saying that for most of the students, the huge growth happens in Guatemala because we're FORCED to grow up and be independent from the time we get there pretty much. so i'm nervous and excited at the same time.
during quiet time today i did this thing that Danica and Kjer told me about that the people at H2O (or whatever it's called now) have been doing: taking a 20 minute time block and sitting and just listening to the Lord. it was cool. nothing revolutionary, but it was cool to see the thoughts that i think about most often and what naturally comes to mind when i spend time alone and such. and God had some really great things to say also, so it was time well spent. i think i'll try to do that every day from now on too. But maybe not during quiet time because it's one of the times during the day where people really aren't as quiet as you'd expect them to be! haha!
The speaker this week, Susanna Muntz, is doing an extra, optional session tonight in an hour's time regarding some misunderstood passages in the Bible regarding the women of the Bible times. I am not sure if i am gonna go. a bunch of people are watching "Romeo and Juliet" but i honestly HATE Leo DiCaprio and i don't want to spend tons of time in front of the TV. oooh, side note: Alias is done. it ended HORRIBLY! i guess they make season finales completely whacked out so that we can't WAIT and by the time the next season starts, we're pretty much pulling down the wall paper to see it. but yes, so uncertain if i'll go to class tonight or not.
we have to present the city of Antigua, Guatemala in a week's time ("we" being Katie, Pan and I) in Spanish class and we can't find anything on the internet! which is what i'm supposed to be doing right now. it's technically not even my internet time, but the girl who's signed up isn't even here. but i should go anyway and pretend to be studious. until next time!
Janelle
Good music: Jack Johnson (On and On), anything Christmasey! wohoo!
Number of times I used the word "time" (including this time!) in this blog: 24
Friday, November 19, 2004
howdy from the snowy (yep, SNOWY!) Sundre! It snowed last night! wohoo! really only like... MAYBE an inch. but hey! snow is snow is snow!
today is our service day here. I'm building a fence! in the snow. oh jolly good fun times. actually, i'm sure it will be a blast. i'm just currently making a mental list of all the many clothes I should put on.
Wow, ok, so we had probably the biggest breakthrough in worship last night! We wanted to focus on encouragement, so me and Joel just played a couple songs and then we all sat in a circle and we'd pick on one person, say all the cool stuff about them, and then pray for them. needless to say, after 2 hours of that, we weren't even quite halfway through the group. so we decided to finish it the next night (tonight). and then the group wanted to sing more songs, but Joel and I hadn't even really practised anything together this week because it was so busy, but they just started throwing songs out at us that they wanted to hear, and we just shrugged and started playing... and it went for over an hour like that! it was awesomely awesome.
and then we watched Alias.
Hmm... what else to say? We're going horseback riding after the service project today! yay! in the snow! wohoo! oh, but lots of people have been getting strangely sick. like where they feel totally fine and then all of the sudden their stomachs cramp up and they just... get sick. it's really odd because they have no other symptoms. and it's been going on for a few days. so hopefully/prayerfully it's nothing serious and they get better soon. well, i must be off!
PS. Thanks for my package, Nicole! you rock my socks.
today is our service day here. I'm building a fence! in the snow. oh jolly good fun times. actually, i'm sure it will be a blast. i'm just currently making a mental list of all the many clothes I should put on.
Wow, ok, so we had probably the biggest breakthrough in worship last night! We wanted to focus on encouragement, so me and Joel just played a couple songs and then we all sat in a circle and we'd pick on one person, say all the cool stuff about them, and then pray for them. needless to say, after 2 hours of that, we weren't even quite halfway through the group. so we decided to finish it the next night (tonight). and then the group wanted to sing more songs, but Joel and I hadn't even really practised anything together this week because it was so busy, but they just started throwing songs out at us that they wanted to hear, and we just shrugged and started playing... and it went for over an hour like that! it was awesomely awesome.
and then we watched Alias.
Hmm... what else to say? We're going horseback riding after the service project today! yay! in the snow! wohoo! oh, but lots of people have been getting strangely sick. like where they feel totally fine and then all of the sudden their stomachs cramp up and they just... get sick. it's really odd because they have no other symptoms. and it's been going on for a few days. so hopefully/prayerfully it's nothing serious and they get better soon. well, i must be off!
PS. Thanks for my package, Nicole! you rock my socks.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
you guys have no idea how many hair dyings and piercings and salon-style stuff has been going on these past couple months! 10 of us 21 have gotten new piercings (um... and 5 of them were self-done by.. us. but they turned out good! haha! and we've all got these new fimo-made earrings that are just a bit bigger than regular gauge holes so we've got these minorly stretched holes.) i've dyed 3 people's hair... hairs... whatever! :) it's quite fun. i'm worried that the whole group will become addicted to the smell of hair dye because we always choose to do it in the small, confined areas of the camp where we all hang out. whacked out.
OH! i gave you guys the wrong postal code for Evergreen! :S it's T0M 1X0. but i'm sure it'll still get here if you use the one i gave you.
out small group is going to Calgary tomorrow to go rock climbing! hurrah! i LOVE climbing! it's gonna rock! and this weekend we get to go to Lake Louise to snowboard and then i'll hang out in Banff/Canmore. and then we're moving back to Sunnyside for girl's week. then we come back here.
we played mafia tonight and then i introduced Psychiatrist. it was simply hilarious :) hmm.. what else? there are horses here! they're all so fuzzy. makes me miss Billie. i think we get to go trail riding on Friday. wohoo! we also have a service day on Friday. i'm not sure what we'll have to do. it's supposed to snow on Thursday! that'd rock, but service outside the next morning would be CHILLAGE! i'm always thinking about my temperature... i'm such a wuss when it comes to being cold! Dad's been telling me that for years... lol :)
OH! our website pictures are up! or at least a good handful of them are. here's the link right to our site: http://www.outtatown.com/04site1/ anyway, it's super late. i should go to bed. see you all later!
Nicole: i can't wait for the package! you're my hero! :)
Shannon, JessL, Christine... thanks for commenting on these things! can't wait to see you all in Dec. ciao for now.
OH! i gave you guys the wrong postal code for Evergreen! :S it's T0M 1X0. but i'm sure it'll still get here if you use the one i gave you.
out small group is going to Calgary tomorrow to go rock climbing! hurrah! i LOVE climbing! it's gonna rock! and this weekend we get to go to Lake Louise to snowboard and then i'll hang out in Banff/Canmore. and then we're moving back to Sunnyside for girl's week. then we come back here.
we played mafia tonight and then i introduced Psychiatrist. it was simply hilarious :) hmm.. what else? there are horses here! they're all so fuzzy. makes me miss Billie. i think we get to go trail riding on Friday. wohoo! we also have a service day on Friday. i'm not sure what we'll have to do. it's supposed to snow on Thursday! that'd rock, but service outside the next morning would be CHILLAGE! i'm always thinking about my temperature... i'm such a wuss when it comes to being cold! Dad's been telling me that for years... lol :)
OH! our website pictures are up! or at least a good handful of them are. here's the link right to our site: http://www.outtatown.com/04site1/ anyway, it's super late. i should go to bed. see you all later!
Nicole: i can't wait for the package! you're my hero! :)
Shannon, JessL, Christine... thanks for commenting on these things! can't wait to see you all in Dec. ciao for now.
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Soooo... we went to Banff today! It was completely unproductive. We walked around... tried to get free fudge samples but they were out at the places that usually have them. boo for that. my friend, Pan, was going to dye her hair from DARK brown to white-blonde in Banff and I was all excited to live vicariously through her, but... it woulda taken almost 3 hours and they couldn't fit her into their schedule where it worked out with our schedule. So she'll do it next weekend. OH! we're not in Sylvan Lake anymore. we're at Camp Evergreen, in Sundre, AB. So if you want to write to me here (*wink wink*) I'll be located at:
Janelle Robinson
c/o Outtatown
Box 492
Sundre, AB
T0X 1X0
yes. so next weekend we've the option to go to Lake Louise and Canmore and Banff. i think i'll go and stay overnight. pray for snow! Cuz i'd like to snowboard at least one of the days :) we only have 3 more weeks here! But there's SO much more stuff that we want to do here! Next week we're back at Sunnyside for girl's week with the Site 2 girls. and then the next week we're back here. and then we're in Canmore for our ski days. wow, that's nuts. so soon! i miss you all so much tho, but things rock here. anyways, i wrote a song today on the way back from banff and then put chords to it. :) here goes!
Writer's Block
Is it lack of inspiration
Or half-hearted motivation?
The room is too cold
I'm sick of playing in this key
My lyrics are blank
Have I lost the creativity?
Or is it just me?
It couldn't be that I've nothing
To sing about
Hope it's just a temporary drought
My guitar is glaring
And I'm still staring
At this blank page
I've an overwhelming feeling
Of frustration, sends me reeling
It's not fair
That my artistic outlet
Takes sickdays and holidays
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
So I've been praying for a couple weeks that God would challenge me at school. The speakers have rocked, but so much of what they've said I've previously wrestled with or have heard before. and our group is SO QUIET when it comes to classroom studies, so we never have discussions, ever.
So i had an inspiration: Maybe God IS challenging me, just not in the ways I expected. There's a time when we can only take in so much intellectual facts and spiritual insights, and then it becomes time to LIVE what we've sponged up.
And that time is now. Gah, i can't believe how long it takes me to figure these things out sometimes. for the love...
But anyway, now that the Lord's said this to me, I can look at this week and see that He's TOTALLY doing just that--challenging me to lead worship by myself (which i'm doing tomorrow and am totally nervous), challenging me to pray for and with people, to improve my piano skills, to exercise my spiritual giftings, to go and do stuff with the people i don't usually hang with, and to really live interdependently in this community. He's challenging me to take His words and then bloody go and DO THEM.
[*sorry, Dad, but there's a time and place for a little stronger language :) ]
It's ridiculously obvious after examining what i just said that i've been satisfied with the fact that "growing in my faith" has been little more than gaining more biblical knowledge, scientific evidence of Jesus's lifre, and cute one-liners that deserve to be printed on bumper stickers. Boo!
So the huge Q for me has been: do I really KNOW God? Or do I just know the Bible stories and the answers to questions?
The first and greatest command is what? To love the Lord your God with all your HEART, and with all you SOUL and with all your MIND. How can i Love GOd with all my emotions? That's the easy one for me... I'm emotional, I believe God is emotional, so it's easy for me to joyfully, anguishly, passionately, and intensely live out my love for God. but how do I go about loving Him with my intellect and knowledge and wisdom? And then my soul: my personality, my character, the essence of my being? Does ALL that's within me praise the Lord? All aspects of who I am, whether logical or physical or emotional or rational or whatever?
There's alot that's been going on that's taught me the importance of really NEEDING others in community and to live for them. It's no longer about me! My friend, Megan, politely warned me this morning that my roomie in "Real University" as she put it will NOT put up with my alarm clock going off as much as mine does before i actually wake up and turn the snooze button right to "Off". Ok, sure, my alarm does go off every 4 minutes (which is more than any other i've owned),... so i'll work on that one :)
But seriously, it's no longer about me. It's biblical to be dependent on one another! Not post-modern, that's for sure, but it's Jesus. I gotta go to small group. love you all so much!
Isaiah 66:2
Good music: Pedro the Lion, "Beautiful" CD by Brian Doerksen.
So i had an inspiration: Maybe God IS challenging me, just not in the ways I expected. There's a time when we can only take in so much intellectual facts and spiritual insights, and then it becomes time to LIVE what we've sponged up.
And that time is now. Gah, i can't believe how long it takes me to figure these things out sometimes. for the love...
But anyway, now that the Lord's said this to me, I can look at this week and see that He's TOTALLY doing just that--challenging me to lead worship by myself (which i'm doing tomorrow and am totally nervous), challenging me to pray for and with people, to improve my piano skills, to exercise my spiritual giftings, to go and do stuff with the people i don't usually hang with, and to really live interdependently in this community. He's challenging me to take His words and then bloody go and DO THEM.
[*sorry, Dad, but there's a time and place for a little stronger language :) ]
It's ridiculously obvious after examining what i just said that i've been satisfied with the fact that "growing in my faith" has been little more than gaining more biblical knowledge, scientific evidence of Jesus's lifre, and cute one-liners that deserve to be printed on bumper stickers. Boo!
So the huge Q for me has been: do I really KNOW God? Or do I just know the Bible stories and the answers to questions?
The first and greatest command is what? To love the Lord your God with all your HEART, and with all you SOUL and with all your MIND. How can i Love GOd with all my emotions? That's the easy one for me... I'm emotional, I believe God is emotional, so it's easy for me to joyfully, anguishly, passionately, and intensely live out my love for God. but how do I go about loving Him with my intellect and knowledge and wisdom? And then my soul: my personality, my character, the essence of my being? Does ALL that's within me praise the Lord? All aspects of who I am, whether logical or physical or emotional or rational or whatever?
There's alot that's been going on that's taught me the importance of really NEEDING others in community and to live for them. It's no longer about me! My friend, Megan, politely warned me this morning that my roomie in "Real University" as she put it will NOT put up with my alarm clock going off as much as mine does before i actually wake up and turn the snooze button right to "Off". Ok, sure, my alarm does go off every 4 minutes (which is more than any other i've owned),... so i'll work on that one :)
But seriously, it's no longer about me. It's biblical to be dependent on one another! Not post-modern, that's for sure, but it's Jesus. I gotta go to small group. love you all so much!
Isaiah 66:2
Good music: Pedro the Lion, "Beautiful" CD by Brian Doerksen.
Monday, November 08, 2004
"A voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
And all mankind will see God's
salvation.'"
There's this river of words of God's wonders and His glory and His hope inside me, yet I can't seem to ever know the words to express it. Recently whenever I've opened my mouth nothing comes out right. It's not that it has to be eloquent and perfect, but what I say doesn't even come close to capturing the passion and the torrentual flood of emotion that's inside. perhaps it's time i learned to speak with my actions... the attention i give someone who's sharing with me probably means so much more than if i have something wise to say after they're finished. and i'd way rather speak sloppily and unprofessionally, but with love than to be this profound speaker that uses creative sentence structure and all.
The idea of speaking has been on my mind alot today, mostly because the teacher we have this week (Melinda ) is making us share not only our life story, but Who Jesus is to us, why we chose Him, why we have hope, and what it means to live for Him in front of the whole group. In my head i'm all like, "Oh, not a problem, we've been trained to do this at camp and in youth group," but when it REALLY comes down to it, i make Jesus sound so cheesy. I just want to hand the group a box that's full of autenticity and passion and examples of Christ and what He does and how He's this undescribable God and Creator and Father and Friend and Teacher and etc. But i have to use words. I haven't even been able to write songs and poems recently either. This is the place I need to be at so that the Lord can teach me how to speak His words and truth continually, using words only if neccessary. wow, can you imagine how important that will be for me in Guatemala? being around millions who don't speak the same language as me? Lord have mercy on me...
"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
Romans 10:15
"Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done--by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit."
Romans 15:17-19
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
And all mankind will see God's
salvation.'"
There's this river of words of God's wonders and His glory and His hope inside me, yet I can't seem to ever know the words to express it. Recently whenever I've opened my mouth nothing comes out right. It's not that it has to be eloquent and perfect, but what I say doesn't even come close to capturing the passion and the torrentual flood of emotion that's inside. perhaps it's time i learned to speak with my actions... the attention i give someone who's sharing with me probably means so much more than if i have something wise to say after they're finished. and i'd way rather speak sloppily and unprofessionally, but with love than to be this profound speaker that uses creative sentence structure and all.
The idea of speaking has been on my mind alot today, mostly because the teacher we have this week (Melinda ) is making us share not only our life story, but Who Jesus is to us, why we chose Him, why we have hope, and what it means to live for Him in front of the whole group. In my head i'm all like, "Oh, not a problem, we've been trained to do this at camp and in youth group," but when it REALLY comes down to it, i make Jesus sound so cheesy. I just want to hand the group a box that's full of autenticity and passion and examples of Christ and what He does and how He's this undescribable God and Creator and Father and Friend and Teacher and etc. But i have to use words. I haven't even been able to write songs and poems recently either. This is the place I need to be at so that the Lord can teach me how to speak His words and truth continually, using words only if neccessary. wow, can you imagine how important that will be for me in Guatemala? being around millions who don't speak the same language as me? Lord have mercy on me...
"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
Romans 10:15
"Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done--by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit."
Romans 15:17-19
Monday, November 01, 2004
hey all! I'm currently watching "Alias" and so this might be... a little jittery :)
Ok, so our guys left for Vernon at lunch on Friday. so it was a totally kickin' girl's weekend! Friday night we watched movies and ate junk food. Saturday we slept in and then went to Red Deer to Chapters and Value Village. I found this SWEET black, nice top at VV and I bought it for.. SALSA DANCING! it was the best! it took us a while to get ready, but then we were off to Calgary (1.5 hr drive) to Don Quijote's Salsa Club. It was AWESOME! There were these professionals on the dance floor that would just sorta grab you and teach you the moves. I didn't sit out for any of the songs the whole time we were there! it.. wow... we HAVE to go back!
Then on Sunday (yesterday, halloween), we drove 3 hours to Banff. 17 girls in a 15 passenger van. I sat on the floor... but it was completely safe. A few of us wanted to climb the 8,040 ft Mount Sulfer and then take the gondola back down, so we did. and there were a few inches of snow on the ground and continual flurries. Carma and I got up there before the rest so we spend about 10 mins with our hands under the hot air dryer in the bathroom at the top. it was great fun! Then we all went to the Hot Springs in Banff and chilled (or steamed? lol). Ok, then we drove to Canmore and hung out there for a bit... but 4 of us brought costumes and went Trick-Or-Treating... and it was SNOWING! gah! insanely cool! I was talking to one of my friends all like, "How am I supposed to wear something for Halloween when it's freaking -124 degrees outside???" and Desirae (from Manitoba) pipes up, "You never learned how to fit a Halloween costume over a snowsuit as a child, did you?" and we laughed :)
We got so much candy, esp for only be out for 45 mins. I seriously only saw like 5 kids out there! it was almost 7pm, which really isn't late at all. So that was odd. alot of the people were older and thought we were still in school. one of the girls, Tamara, is from a TINY town in Minnesota and has never T-or-T'ed before, so that was our excuse when some were like, "wow, BIG kids!". :) Don't worry, Mom, this is my last year... I promise!
Our speaker this week is Craig Ginn and he's talking on the Evolution of Historic Christianity and it's actually REALLY interesting. I need to get off now tho... there's a line. Thanks for the emails I've gotten and comments! Miss you all and love you tons.
Greatest need: hand lotion.
Fave tunes: jazz (Louie Armstrong) and Sarah MacLaughlin and Heather Clark's "Dark Yet Lovely"
Pray for a snowstorm here!
Psalm 17:7-8
Ok, so our guys left for Vernon at lunch on Friday. so it was a totally kickin' girl's weekend! Friday night we watched movies and ate junk food. Saturday we slept in and then went to Red Deer to Chapters and Value Village. I found this SWEET black, nice top at VV and I bought it for.. SALSA DANCING! it was the best! it took us a while to get ready, but then we were off to Calgary (1.5 hr drive) to Don Quijote's Salsa Club. It was AWESOME! There were these professionals on the dance floor that would just sorta grab you and teach you the moves. I didn't sit out for any of the songs the whole time we were there! it.. wow... we HAVE to go back!
Then on Sunday (yesterday, halloween), we drove 3 hours to Banff. 17 girls in a 15 passenger van. I sat on the floor... but it was completely safe. A few of us wanted to climb the 8,040 ft Mount Sulfer and then take the gondola back down, so we did. and there were a few inches of snow on the ground and continual flurries. Carma and I got up there before the rest so we spend about 10 mins with our hands under the hot air dryer in the bathroom at the top. it was great fun! Then we all went to the Hot Springs in Banff and chilled (or steamed? lol). Ok, then we drove to Canmore and hung out there for a bit... but 4 of us brought costumes and went Trick-Or-Treating... and it was SNOWING! gah! insanely cool! I was talking to one of my friends all like, "How am I supposed to wear something for Halloween when it's freaking -124 degrees outside???" and Desirae (from Manitoba) pipes up, "You never learned how to fit a Halloween costume over a snowsuit as a child, did you?" and we laughed :)
We got so much candy, esp for only be out for 45 mins. I seriously only saw like 5 kids out there! it was almost 7pm, which really isn't late at all. So that was odd. alot of the people were older and thought we were still in school. one of the girls, Tamara, is from a TINY town in Minnesota and has never T-or-T'ed before, so that was our excuse when some were like, "wow, BIG kids!". :) Don't worry, Mom, this is my last year... I promise!
Our speaker this week is Craig Ginn and he's talking on the Evolution of Historic Christianity and it's actually REALLY interesting. I need to get off now tho... there's a line. Thanks for the emails I've gotten and comments! Miss you all and love you tons.
Greatest need: hand lotion.
Fave tunes: jazz (Louie Armstrong) and Sarah MacLaughlin and Heather Clark's "Dark Yet Lovely"
Pray for a snowstorm here!
Psalm 17:7-8
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