Sick...Ugh

It's been a very rough 2 1/2 days of flu. Thankfully this particular flu has not included any throwing up or anything, but has been a case of the chills and fever. I'm just starting to get my appetite back and my fever finally broke last night. My head is still out of control with a throbbing headache, but I am used to that by now. Looking in the mirror this morning I was taken aback by my awful appearance. If anyone wants to know what 2 1/2 days of laying down and sweating looks like, it's quite frightning. My neck is quite swollen, but I guess that's a good thing because that means my lymph system is working at getting all the sickness out of my body.
Dan, Bonnie and Cole left for Minneapolis last night, so I headed over to my parents so that I wouldn't be alone. I forgot how good it feels to have someone take care of you when your sick. So far my family has been wonderful by constantly refilling my cup of tea, bringing me chicken noodle soup and letting me pick the tv shows. They are good to me. I have to give my dad the thumbs up because I think last night he endured more TLC shows than he ever cared to.

This morning I am feeling a lot better, but I am still pretty weak. Every muscle in my body aches and requires 10 times more effort to do things than it normally does. I am hoping that I am able to recruit enough muscle strength to get through the massive amounts of homework that I need to get through before tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Weddings and all that Jazz

It was another pretty good weekend, however it flew right by once again. My weekend was full of hanging out with AMAZING friends and family. Friday night I was able to spend the evening chilling out with Aimee. It was so low key. I love that. We watched the movie "In the Land of Women". Strange. I'm not sure what to say about it exactly. When it ended our reaction was "hmm". That was it.

Saturday I got together with Toni. We enjoyed homemade buns and chicken rice soup, both of which Toni made herself. I'm not sure who this new person is, but I like her. Toni is not one to be known for her culinary abilities, but she pulled it out on Saturday and it was delightful. I enjoy her so much. There is no one else that can bring the things she brings out in me that she does. It would seem that all we ever do together is laugh. Of course we do have our deeper conversations as well, but we bring out so much joy in each other and I love that! After a wonderful lunch, we went for a walk to enjoy the warmth of the sun and the fresh spring smelling air. Eventually we ended up at Cornelia Bean (no, we didn't walk - we weren't feeling that ambitious) and bought the most amazing teas. I was inspired by Heidi to pick up some more of the yummy Pina Colada Roobois tea and also discovered a new tea...African Summer Roobois. Both are incredible and I would highly recommend both of them.

Sunday was wedding day. Unfortunately, not mine, but my cousins. The wedding was beautiful. The ceremony was only 25 min long - short and sweet and the food at the reception was extremely tasty. That particular side of the family has its differences among each other, but it was nice to see that for 1 day everyone could put their differences aside and enjoy the celebration in front of us.

The Ceremony

Waiting for Nikki

A prayer of blessing for the couple

The Reception

The reception was held in this beautiful building in Niverville called the Heritage Center. It was so pretty. My favorite part was the giant staircase in the middle of the room that parted ways at the top. The room was all very simple but yet very elegant.

My cousins Loreena & Lorissa

Kevin & Derek

Me and my brothers

Speeches

We very quckly discovered that speeches are not a strength of our family. The bride's family gave such wonderful speeches and ours were interesting. Funny at times, but perhaps only to the family. Thankfully they weren't very long :)

An Update

Despite the cold weather Winnipeg has been experiencing this past month, it still seems to have flown right by. I can't believe that next week is already the beginning of March. Crazy! Before I know it, it will be June and I will be graduating. That's even more crazy to think about. This past week I applied for another job. This brings the total to 2. A part of me is super excited about getting back to work and actually having somewhat of a disposable income, however it's also kind of scary and nerve wracking. Right now I am just praying that I find a clinic and a place that is right for me, believes in the same approach of healing and massage and that I would be confident in my skills and abilities and that I would not feel anxious about heading into this new stage of life. I know God has great things planned for me and I am excited to see where they will lead me.

Life is good. I wish I had more exciting things to share. Other then going to school, studying and occassionally hanging out with wonderful friends, my life doesn't really consist of much else. I desperately wish that I had more time to spend with God. The time we do spend together seems distracted or gets interrupted by To Do lists, phone calls, a 5 year old and sleep. That being said, I can't say that there is anything better then falling asleep in the arms of Jesus when you are just exhuasted and talking seems like way too much work. Isn't that what he longs for us to do? He wants to be a part of every aspect of our lives, even our sleep. But I must admit that I very much miss the daily devotions and the reading of my bible. I need to do these things more often.

Headaches are the worst. I don't know how many people deal with chronic headaches, but in my opinion, there is nothing worse then a headache that does not go away. You go to sleep with one and wake up with one. I have an appointment to see my doctor but the soonest I could get in was at the end of March. Apparently I am not "sick" enough to get in sooner. Go figure. The medication I have been given for my head has lost its affect. I think it will be interesting to see what happens with my head after I am done school and don't have the added stress of studying in my life. Very curious.
Speaking of headaches, I think I need to go and lay down for a bit to try and take the edge off so that I can have an evening of productive studying tonight.

Low Key Weekend

It's been a great long weekend (never have I been so thankful for Louis Riel) and I am sad to see it come to an end. Dan & Bonnie went away for the weekend with Cole, so I had the house to myself. However, as I began to anticipate the upcoming weekend on Thursday night, I really wasn't looking forward to spending the entire weekend all by myself and stuck without a car. So, I called up my parents and asked to spend the weekend at their house. I have to say it was a great weekend spent with my family. If you would have asked me 2 years ago if I would be spending the weekend voluntarily at my parent's place, I would have thought you were crazy. It's funny how things change and how by extending grace can change the dynamics of the family so much. I guess I have grown up. Who ever thought? It's cool to see how God works in our lives.

Friday night my mom and I spent the evening watching numerous episodes of What Not To Wear and drank yummy Raspberry Iced Tea Lemonades with Passion Tea from Starbucks. What more could possibly make the night any better.

Saturday I had the most perfect day. I have a family wedding next weekend and I needed some shoes to wear with my dress, so my mom and I headed out to the mall on a mission. I found an awesome pair of shoes that were on sale for 50% off the original price and then if I used a Sears credit card I got to take an extra 30% off the already discounted price. Thankfully my mom has a Sears credit card so in the end I only had to pay $20. I am never that lucky with deals. I got to spend the remainder of the day my girls (Aimee & Kristy). We enjoyed a very yummy poutine for supper and did some puzzling and catching up before heading out to church. I have to be honest, I really did not feel like going to church, being social and all that, but I went and got to spend the service holding Gavin and getting some awesome cuddles and smiles in. I think I got to see God in Gavin far more than I would have gotten out of the service that day. After church a few of us went to see the movie "P.s. I Love You". What an incredibly sad movie. I think I must have cried enough tears to fill a margerine container. No joke! I can't remember the last time I spent so much time crying. I definitely won't be watching that movie again only because it was so sad. It was a good movie overall though.

The rest of the weekend was fairly low key. This afternoon Dominika and I made breakfas together and played games like Boggle and Scattegories. I miss days like today. I spent very little time doing homework this weekend and I have to say, I feel great. My head needed a break. I am just hoping that I don't end up paying for this in my classes this week. Oh well. I had talked a couple weeks ago about the importance and understated days of taking a sabbath. Well, this weekend was a wonderful sabbath. I am hoping that I can now head into the week ahead with a fresh mind and renewed energy. The short week of school will be nice too :)

Happy Valentines Day

Cole and I spent the evening together tonight as Bonnie had to work late and Dan is out of town, so we decided to make a "special" supper seeing as it is Valentine's Day tomorrow. We made yummy quesadilla's and ate our dinner by candlelight. Very cute.

I decided that who needs a man/boyfriend when you have a 5 year old who thinks you are almost faultless and can do pretty much anything. We exchanged valentines cards and everything. It was so much fun!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

I hope you find someone to show your love to tomorrow.

Salsa Dancing

Normally on Friday nights I like to lay low, relax and do some studying. After a long week at school I am usually exhuasted and need a night to stay home and just veg. This past Friday I went against my normal routine and went salsa dancing with Steph and Jess. It was AWESOME! There were moments when I felt a little bit out of my league, but for the most part it was great. This place Steph knows of teaches 2 classes from 8-10 and then from 10-1 there is just free dancing. There is no alcohol that is served, so it's just people getting together who love to dance. We learned 2 dances on Friday - the tango (not my favorite) and salsa. I think I either had 2 expressions on my face:

1) a very concentrated look trying my very hardest to follow the teacher's footsteps. I think by the last song I was finally starting to get the foot work.

2) complete hysteria from laughing so hard at my very mennonite body sometimes -haha.

This dance place was located at Augustine United Church in Osborne Village. I had never been in this church before, but it had always intrigued me. It's an old church with beautiful woodwork and wouldn't you know it, a dance studio on the 2nd floor. Who knew? It clearly wasn't a mennonite church! It's too bad they just don't make churches like they used to.

I mean of course when one is building a church one would think you must need a dance studio with mirrors on all 3 walls, a stage and a bar for ballet.

For those people who have not seen Steph dance, you are missing out because she is incredible. One day I hope I can dance even remotely as good as her. I think once I am done school I am going to sign up for regular salsa lessons because afterwards you just feel so good. You'd be amazed at how much you sweat. It's an awesome workout.

The place we were at on Friday night does this every Friday night, so I'm going to try and go as often as I can because it sure beats sitting at home studying, although I was extremely exhausted by the end of the night. I could hardly keep my eyes open as Jess and I shared a piece of peanut butter chocolate chip cheesecake at Baked Expectations (I guess that took care of any calories I may have lost dancing).

Last week my parents picked up Cole and I and we spent the day hanging out with my parents and my grandma. Cole loves my family and I think that's so neat. I think my favorite part is being able to see my parents play a "grandparent" type role and they turn into completely different people. I love it! Whenever I go shopping with my parents, especially when my dad is along, we tend to find some very strange stores to go into. Normally they are stores no one else has ever even heard of. We were on our way home, driving down Logan when my dad spotted a sign that says sportswear sale. He is intrigued, so we pull over and go in to check out the deals. When I think of sportswear I usually think of shorts, t-shirts, various sports equipment, shoes, sweatpants, etc.

Well, we walked in and this is the kind of sportswear that they were selling. Not really my taste and I am not too sure what kind of sports you would play in clothes like these. We had some good laughs over the place. Never a dull moment with my family.

Every once in awhile Cole likes to take my camera and take random pictures of people and things. Here are some of the pictures he had taken - he wanted me to post them on here so I am. Enjoy!




Grandma
















Kevin

And Me

The Secret

How many of you have heard of The Secret? This thought process has only become known to me in the past couple of months and it just so happened to be featured on Oprah yesterday, so it's fairly fresh in my mind. For those of you who do not know what the secret is, here is what it essentially is:

"People around the world have been talking about a movie so powerful that it can change the course of your life. This movie, The Secret, was created by Australian Rhonda Byrne, and she says that if you follow its philosophy, you can create the life you want—whether that means getting out of debt, finding a more fulfilling job or even falling in love... Rhonda defines The Secret as the law of attraction, which is the principle that "like attracts like." Rhonda calls it "the most powerful law in the universe," and says it is working all the time. "What we do is we attract into our lives the things we want, and that is based on what we're thinking and feeling," Rhonda says. The principle explains that we create our own circumstances by the choices we make in life. And the choices we make are fueled by our thoughts—which means our thoughts are the most powerful things we have here on earth."

So, what do you think? Do our thoughts and attitudes affect and influence what happens in our lives? As I was watching the show I found myself teetering from side to side. I believe that our attitudes and thoughts can change our outlook on life and can influence how we deal with situations and events that occur in our lives. I believe there are energies that move through us and around us because we are chemical beings and that when we behave in a negative or positive manner, those feelings and energies radiate from us and can affect those around us. That being said, I do have a problem with some of the new age thinking in that because we want or desire something in our lives we get it because we have thought positively about it. That doesn't sit right with me. Can we really control falling in love? If that was the case, then I would have a husband or boyfriend already (haha). I wish "getting the life you want" was as simple as thinking positively about reaching that goal.

I recently spoke with a friend of mine who is at a crossroads in her life. She's not quite sure where her path will take her and what her career is going to be for the next however many years. The idea of thinking positively about situations and and decisions have come up numerous times in our conversations. I think because we were both imagining the good that can come out of whatever she chooses to do with her life has made a difference in the way she has looked at her situation and has allowed her to be more receptive and open to the windows and doors God has and will continue to open in her life. It's going to be neat to watch where her tunnel takes her. So in that way, I believe that this positive thinking philosophy can play a huge role in our lives. If we continually choose to be negative and pessimistic about situations, then our choices and our lives will reflect our attitudes and we will not be happy.

There was a time in my life where I was at rock bottom. It was the lowest of all lows. I was at that rock bottom for probably 4 -5 years and I was severly depressed. There were days when I would not come out of my room and there were times where the only place I could be taken care of was in a hospital. I didn't have too many good things to say about me, about my life and the people in it at that time, however, since then I have made numerous choices in my life where I have needed to shake off the shit that was poured on me and step up and think about the positive things in my life, even if there were only a few of them (that one's for you Sandra).
God has continually poured out his love and grace to me as I have walked away from that time in my life and has allowed me to now extend grace to those people in my life who need it and to myself. Being able to not only dwell on the negative experiences in my life has allowed me to look beyond myself and in the end has allowed me to become a better person. I think that if we only look at ourselves we will never be satisified because we are human and we are sinful beings. It is only when we look beyond ourselves that we can see the glimpses of God in our surroundings and the people we interact with. Only then I think will we see the image of God revealed in us.

So yes, I believe that thinking positively and constantly making choices to not only look for the bad can influence how our lives turn out. Does that mean we will have everything we always wanted? Nope. Far from it, but I believe that it allows us to be more content with where we are in life and I believe God will bless that.
So what are your thoughts on this? I would be curious to hear people's opinions.

Pray

I just got a phone call from my mom. Many people have probably heard over the radio and tv today about a car that lost control on the perimeter highway and lost control and went into the river. Well, it turns out the girl driving was a very good friend of mine from high school. We have lost touch over the years, but we used to be quite the pair. Currently she is in critical condition at HSC and it's touch and go. Her name is Lisa Klassen. She is 23 years old and studying to be a pilot. Please pray for her and her family as they just wait in the next few hours.

You can check out the story here.

Back with a Vengence

It's only noon and my headache is already a killer and I had to leave school. This semester is already off to a good start (note my sarcasm in that last statement). Since Friday of last week my headaches have been back with a vengence so it seems. The medication has not been working its normal magic and its a little frustrating. Perhaps it might be time to make another appointment with my doctor or naturalpath to figure out what the next step could be because I don't really want to be on this medication long term anyway. It's too expensive for it to be a long term treatment plan.


As of yesterday I began my last and final semester of school. I am a senior now and it feels great. The light at the end of the tunnel seems to be shining a little brighter than it has been. It's crazy to think that in the next couple of months I will be needing to find a job and not just a temporary "high school" sort of job but my career. It's a little scary and overwhelming at times as the student life does have its perks, but there is also a ton of excitement welling up inside of me. It will be wonderful to have a disposable income again, live in my own place, finally own a car and all of the other great stuff that goes along with becoming a "full fledged adult" like paying bills.

Well I think right now I am going to go and take advantage of the "student life" by going to lay down and take a nap. I'm guessing that once I start working full time I won't have the opportunity to come home in the midde of the day to take a nap. That's just a hunch though :)

Tea Parties

I think I had mentioned in a previous post about having a tea party last week with my wonderful friends Heidi, Ella & Sophie. It was a wonderful afternoon. Here are some of the pictures from the afternoon.

Heidi and the girls set the table so elequently and beautiful. It was picture perfect and much fancier than I had ever imagined.

Ella and myself. Check out my awesome crown and lei. This is what true tea party goers are wearing these days.

Heidi had made such yummy food. Who would not want to eat something so delightful as scones with whipped cream and raspberries. They were soooo good.

Sophie

Me and the girls (minus Heidi).

Baby Bliss

Tonight was a wonderful night. It was long overdue, but the girls from our young adults group finally got the opportunity to celebrate the arrivals of 2 very special people - Gavin Grey Friesen and Ayla Jae Dueck along with their mommies. It was a wonderful party, very low key, which was absolutely perfect!
















Ayla Jae

Gavin Grey

We started the evening off playing a couple of classic baby shower games. The first game involved tasting a variety of unknown baby foods and then guessing what they were. Some favorite flavors included Broccoli Potatoe & Cheese Casserole and Vegetable Beef & Spaghetti. All the girls were really good sports and most of them tried all of the 6 flavors.









Do people actually feed their kids some of these crazy flavors because apparently they taste terrible? (I didn't play because I knew which ones were which, although I probably should have tasted a couple, but oh well. haha :)
Apparently Aimee wasn't too keen on the flavor she was trying.








The second game we played wasn't really a game, but more of a trivia questionnaire to see how much you know about pregnancy and children in general. It was actually quite interesting. Did you know that a baby is not born with knee caps, but develops them in the later half of their first year? I thought that was quite interesting. Both moms each won one game, so I guess it's a good thing that they are the moms and the rest of us aren't :)



The food we had was awesome. It was so much fun putting together baby themed food and decorating cookies and cupcakes all baby-like. I can't wait until the next shower, which will be Kristy.

The whole spread

The rubber duckies appear to be floating in soapy water, but in fact it is actually a delicious punch that Lauren made. She's so clever and creative with stuff like this.






















I made the cupcakes and the cookies. I was extremely pleased with how they turned out. They were some of my finer work. The cookies were shaped as bottles, onezies, strollers and storks. I got the cookie cutters off of ebay and I am extremely happy with them. I have a feeling a I will have plenty of opportunity to use them in the months and years ahead. I had so much fun decorating, although when all was said and done, both my kitchen and myself were covered in icing. It was well worth the time and the effort.










We used the cookies as party favors. Each guest got a onezie that said Ayla Jae or It's a boy (cuz Gavin's name didn't fit across the shirt), a bottle and either a stork or a stroller.










After both babies were fed and happy, we tried to have a little photo shoot with them together. Easier said than done. It is a lot harder than it appears to get 2 babies to both be looking and smiling at the same time at the camera. There were 5 of us trying to get them to smile. We probably looked ridiculous, but it was well worth it. I'm not sure who was more entertaining, the cute faces of Gavin and Ayla or 5 grown women trying to get them to smile with clicking, clapping and high pitched voices. Whatever works I guess and we got a couple good shots of both kids. It's going to be so neat watching them grow up together and hopefully become good friends.






The rest of the evening was filled with good conversation among great friends, eating yummy food and holding babies. There were a lot of lucky aunties tonight who got our share of baby holding in. There is nothing quite as sweet or wonderful than holding a sleeping baby in your arms.







For those of you who do not know Bre, she is quite an incredible woman and a great friend. She has this thing where she does not eat red food. Why you ask? We aren't quite sure. She says she just doesn't like the taste of anything red. Well, tonight a couple of us happened to glance over at her plate and noticed that she had a couple of red items on her plate. We were shocked! Bre ate red food! We were very proud of her. See Bre, not all red food is bad.

Not quite sure what to make of each other.