6 days...

okay so it has been a while. this past friday was my last day at the job I worked at for 2.5 years. they made it really nice for me. we had a 4 day long celebration. sushi & cake tuesday, cake for breakfast and OPI nail polish on wednesday, Starbucks and Starbucks card on thursday and amazing cheese plater and ice wine on friday! i thought i would cry, but i didn't. i guess it was anticipated for a month and a half so i was mentally prepared. i thank God for that job, he used it to provide for us for a long time while Matt was unable to work. i spend many days at work then after work driving directly to the hospital. it was such a blessing to have a boss who is praying for you!

so now the packing starts! i thought it would be easier to get motivated once i was finished work... nope! i still don't feel like packing at all. i would like to blame the weather. it had be 35 plus, and what do you expect i live at the beach.

anyway i am having a myriad of emotions. to be expected i guess. leaving the city i grew up in, indefinitely. leaving family. but on the other hand there is the excitement of change, an nice new place with a dish washer and bath tub. having our very own place. the adventure of discovering a new city. and of course what trumps it all, following where we feel Gods call!

well that is it for now, i hope to get better at blogging on a bit more regular basis once we move to keep everyone up to date.

Some exciting news.....

... sorry for the delay.

We have some thing exciting to share, we had to wait till key people were informed, but if you see my boss please don't mention it yet, she will find out on Tuesday, when she gets back from her 2 week long motorcycle tour in Ontario.
As of September 1st 2010 my dearest husband will be starting a pastoral internship at Willingdon Church, Burnaby BC (www.willingdon.org, if you are interested) Meaning that we will be moving to Burnaby August 1st 2010. We will still be on board with Church Planting BC, but Matt will be spending a year in rigours study as well as learning the ropes of running a church hands on. We are so excited, we have been praying about this for a while, it is an amazing opportunity on top of it he will get paid a small salary to learn! Most people have to pay to learn this stuff. We have seen God open the doors all along our path and in the right moment He makes the way clear to us. There was no hesitation accepting the position. All though it means leaving our home, family and my job behind, we are confident that God will provide for all of our needs, as he always has.

We are now trying to plan ahead as much as possible, all though is is pretty hard at this point, we are mostly praying a lot! We will need a place in Burnaby because we would love to both be able to walk to work. There is the issue of me finding a new job down there. It will have to be full time and hopefully I will make at least what I do now. We are extremely bless to be getting paid by Willingdon, but Vancouver is a very expensive place to live. I am praying that God will provide a job for me that I enjoy, not just one I do because I need to make money. I would really love to be able to spend my days doing something that comes naturally to me and not something thing I have to constantly fight to do well at. It is much easy to enjoy your job when you feel like you can do a really good job at it, without going crazy or having your brain burnout due to over use (round peg square hole kind of thing).

I feel a mixture of excitement and nervousness. It is an adventure. I have never been too worried about change, in fact I usually like it. The thought of moving to a new city, getting a new place and meeting new people really excites me. Leaving family, and not knowing where I will work makes me nervous. It also makes me question how soon children will be on the agenda? Thhey will probably be postponed a little longer.

I really want to praise God for this opportunity! They made it pretty clear that they had never hired any intern with as little experience and schooling as Matt. Most interns they bring on have already completed seminary. Matt is an exception (again) he is also the first church planter they have brought on. Most of the other interns have just fed into the pastoral staff of their ever growing church. It is clearly and act of God that they offered him the position at all. We are very grateful to God.

I know the road ahead will not be easy, my prayer is that I will be able to fix my eyes on Him, His face, His purposes, His glory, above everything else in the whole world. Once again I have to lay down my desires at his feet and say "Your Kingdom come, your will be done, in my life, and on this earth as it is in heaven." That is hard to say sometimes! But I know that when I delight myself in Him He will give me the desires of my heart.
I would love your prayers as we make this transition.

Coming Soon...

I have a very exciting announcement to make soon, but I can't post in on the internet just yet. Please stay tuned for the breaking news, hopefully in the next week or so I will be able let you know all the details.

The New Doo

As per Dom's request. Sorry for the multiple shots.

Because my hair is all one color it is hard to see the shaggy layers in the photos, it is better in real life! Anyway I like it and think I'll keep it for a while.

10 in 2010

So here are 10 things that I have either just discovered or re-discovered in 2010, that I really like or love. These are not in any specific order either.

1. Maybelline mineral foundation. Makes my skin look naturally flawless and radiant! So easy to use and lets my skin breathe during the day. I think using it has actually given me a better complexion with out make up as well!

2. Aveeno products. I have used the lavender hand lotion for a long time, I keep it by my bed so I can use it at night, very relaxing! But now I use their moisturizer, facial scrub and conditioner. I love it all so much that I plan on gradually switching all my body products over to Aveeno ones. Plus if you buy them at Wal-mart they are affordable too.

3. I really, really like my new 70's glam rock hair cut!

4. The new TV show on NBC Marriage Ref.

5. Knitting. All though technically I started at Christmas 2009, I think that I have grown to enjoy it more and more in 2010, and have mastered more than just the basic stitch in 2010. I have always had at least 2 projects on the go until now because I just finished my first dress (which is sweet!) and we are leaving for Vancouver tomorrow so I haven't started anything new. But it will probably be something for a baby because everyone I know is pregnant. (Total exaggeration I know.)

6. Actually using my day timer for my personal life. I've had them before and use them usually for no longer than 2 weeks to a month and then stop. But to stay organized at work my boss got me one to keep on my desk which I have learned to use for my own survival. So I thought maybe now I would be able to use one for my personal life as well. I have set a new record for how long I have actually used one for.

7. The sharpie pen. I use it in my day timer and for everything else (but not at work). It is so nice. If you are like me and you like a nice pen try one.

8. Metro, I have always loved Metro, so this would be a re-discover. We used to go every once and a while. But now that my husband is a intern there, and preaches there sometimes, so we go every other week. I love it, I even crave it. It just feels so right. I think that is how church should be. If you have never been and you live in Kelowna go!

9. Seeing John Piper preach in real life. Okay so this had not actually happened yet, but later in the week it will and I know that it will be great. So I am adding this to my list in anticipation. John Piper is an inspiring preacher and a great writer, I respect him very much, probably more than any other well known preacher.

10. I love my new niece born March 30 @ 12:24, 7 lbs 3 oz. She is gorgeous and I look forward to cuddling her all the time and seeing her grow.

The Tree

Yesterday in my devotion time I was drawing a picture of the cross and reflecting on it and Jesus' sacrifice. I began to draw branches coming from the cross, but I didn't know why.

This morning I was looking at it and I had a thought. I can't ever remember hearing a sermon on this before, but all of the sudden a few things I never put together before just clicked.

"And the Lord commanded the man saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but if the tree if the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die." Genesis 2:16 As the rest of the story goes, satan tempted Eve and Adam and they ate the fruit and though they did not physically die, their sin cause separation from God and a spiritual death. "Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-" Romans 5:12 With Adam sin entered the world through the fruit of the tree, because of mans pride and desire to be like God, sin entered the world. You could say it was on the tree that sin entered and all born of Adam were born into sin.

1 Peter 2:24 says about Jesus, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed." Are you seeing what I saw? Just as we know that sin and death entered the word through one man, Adam. We know that through one man, Jesus, all sin was paid for in full and all people can receive eternal life. In the same way that it was through the fruit that hung on a tree sin entered, it was through Jesus being hung on a tree sin was atoned for. I don't believe this was a mistake or a coincidence.

Furthermore we see that sin entered through a man's act of pride, Adam decided that he wanted to be like God as the serpent said to entice them, "You will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:5. But we see that Jesus who was God acted in the most perfect picture of humility, "who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even on a cross" (tree!) Philippians 2:6-8. What a painful and beautiful contrast. Adam was man but wanted to be like God, was disobedient, sinned by taking fruit from the tree which brought separation from God.

Jesus was God but chose to be come man, was obedient though it meant excruciating pain, embarrassment and separation from God, took on the sin of the world on the tree, which brought reconciliation with God and man.

It was through the fruit of a tree that sin entered the world and as Jesus Christ was hung on the tree all the sin of mankind was placed upon him.

"For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God." Romans 6:10

Maybe you had thought of this already or have had someone point it out to you in a sermon or bible study, but I had never put the two together before. For me it was a fresh look at the cross this Easter and inspired awe at how God works. He is amazing! Everything he does is perfect and has a purpose, His glory. I love that.

He has Risen!

Coming soon...

I know it has been forever since I blogged last...
I feel like I am not sure why I blog in the first place.
I don't know if anyone reads it, or if anyone finds encouragment from it, but I will keep thinking about it and I will either take it up again or I will close my blog down again.