Oh Summer!

I am finding myself feeling antsy these days for summer. I am done with the sloppy, damp, coldness of spring and ready for the days of flip flops and hot sunshine. With summer approaching there is so much to look forward to:

• weekends at the cabin
• GRADUATION
• flip flops
• skirts and dresses
• laying on the beach
• playing outside
• eating gelati on patios
• bike rides
• moving out
• afternoon and evening walks
• outside coffee dates
• picnics
• camping

This summer holds a lot of big changes for me. As of June 30th I will not be living with Dan, Bonnie and Cole. The time has come for me to move out. I am going to miss Cole like crazy, but I have a hunch that we will still see each other a fair bit (as long as I get an apartment with a pool - so says Cole). I am going to be moving back in with my parents for a few months while I save up money to get a place of my own while I look for work and get that all settled. I'm excited about being on my own again. I have almost forgotton what it's like. I am very much a people person, but I also crave my quiet time alone and that has been missed these past 2 years.

Probably the biggest change this summer will be graduation! I am so ready to be done doing homework and pulling all-nighters studying. I am ready to have somewhat of a disposable income, have evenings free to hang out with friends and not feel guilty for doing so. I am ready to start doing what I have worked hard to do and put my hands to work helping other people. July 3rd (my grad date) will definitely be a party day!

Summer is going to be full of exciting and great things and I can hardly wait. Now, if only this snow would melt for once and for all.

A Norah Fix

I thought my blog needed a little Norah fix. I am counting down the days until I can hold this little peanut in my arms. I think only then will I realize how small she is. She is doing well and has had a pretty good week, so here are some pictures to satisfy anyone's Norah cravings.

No Tubes!!

This is one of my favorite pictures. Such a funny little girl.

One eye open

Love you Norah - XOXO

Easter Weekend

This year Easter was not the same. My weekend did not consist of Easter egg hunts, nor did it consist of Good Friday services or sunday services at church.

Late yesterday afternoon I returned home from a very cold snowy Minneapolis with my parents. My dad had some business to do down there, so my mom, my aunt and I tagged along. Due to terrible roads on the way down and an extremely heavy trailer coming home, we spent a lot of time on the road. Coming home it took us almost 10 hours. Ridiculus. That being said, it was a nice little holiday with my parents. I think in my previous post I mentioned that I couldn't remember the last time I spent that much time alone with my parents. Usually I have my brothers along to take some of the attention away from me, but this time it was all focused on me and it felt kinda fun.

Friday late afternoon we arrived in Albertville to hit the outlet mall. I found a couple of good deals at Banana Republic, got a cookie press (which I am super pumped to use), a massive measuring cup which my mom said I had to get because everyone needs an 8 cup measure cup. Who knew? We got to our hotel across from the Mall of America close to 8:30pm. We were all very tired and super hungry and hit the bed fairly early to prepare ourselves for a full day of shopping on Saturday.

My dad had to keep driving to Des Moines for business early Saturday morning, so us 3 girls spent the day at the mall. It was wonderful. I love that place! I found some good buys at H&M, Abercrombie and Forever 21. My mom and I don't do a ton of shopping together - at least not over long periods of time, but we realized how well we shop together. My aunt on the other hand does not shop like us. We have a mission, we have somewhat similar taste and my aunt just doesn't fall into that category. We learned some lessons in patience as we waited outside many stores that did not interest us.


Growing up, my family spent a lot of time at the Mall of America - particularily in the amusment park. For the past 20 years or so, the amusement park was Camp Snoopy. However, when we arrived this weekend, Dora, Diego and the Backyardigans had taken over. Now, I honestly don't mind either of these shows and I admit I sit down with Cole and we watch them together. BUT... the rides were a little overwhelming. What happens when in 2-3 years down the road Dora and Backyardigans are not as popular anymore? Do they take away the rides and put in some other fad of the year? Seems like a waste of time to me, but I guess these characters is what attracts the kids, so you do what it takes to please them. Cole would have loved it though. I thought about him constantly as we walked through the park. Our favorite show to watch together is the Backyardigans, so I could not resist taking a picture for him.

HAPPY EASTER

This week is a very important week in the Christian calender and I must admit that I have not been as focused on the death and resurrection of Christ as I have in previous years. I don't want to cling to the excuse that life is busy, but the truth is that it is. It's been an eventful week for different reasons in my life and Christ unfortunately got put on the shelf. I know that deep in my heart that is not any reflection on how I feel or where my heart is it, it's just a reality of this year.

Tomorrow morning bright and early, I am heading down to Minneapolis with my parents. My dad has some business to do down there (Americans don't have a long weekend) so my mom and I are tagging along. Originally it was only going to be my dad and me going, but he convinced my mom she needed to shop too. I can't remember the last time that I spent an entire weekend alone with my parents. I have no doubts that it will be a good weekend and it might be fun to be an "only child". So, this year I will be spending Easter and Good Friday in outlet stores and at the Mall of America. It's not your typical Easter weekend, but perhaps that is where I need to be this year.



So for everyone else, I wish you a very happy Easter and may the death and resurrection of Christ speak through your hearts.

HAPPY EASTER!!

The Brag Post

This past weekend I became another auntie to a beautiful Norah. Perhaps I am a little biased, but I think she is one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen. I haven't yet met Norah but I am counting down the days until I do. This little girl continues to melt my heart. I have a feeling that I am not the only auntie that feels this way. She was born a fighter and it's going to be neat to see that personality reveal itself in the months and years ahead. I am so glad and privileged that I get to watch!

Last night Aimee and I headed over to Graham and Kristy's to help out with some of the cleaning and stuff that G & K just don't need to consume their time with. We were happy to be there and were hoping they let us come back again :)

Kristy's lower back was giving her some pain so she asked if I could possibly give her a massage. Well, she had to do a lot of twisting of my arm - just joking. I was more then happy to do it. At one point during the massage she asked,
"I don't know what I could have done to make my back so sore?"





Aimee and I both looked at each other and then laughed. We told her that perhaps it was the whole process of pushing a baby out of you. Kristy, you are so cute. Kristy has to be one of the most amazing people that I know. Her strength and positive outlook is incredible to watch and has become an encouragement and lesson for me to learn from. I love hearing both Graham and Kristy talk about Norah. Pride radiates from them. They are such amazing parents.







Anyway, back to the massage. I loved having the opportunity to massage Kristy so soon after the birth of Norah. Partly because I just love Kristy and want to make her feel good, but also because this is what I want to do with my career. I want to work with mothers both pre- pregnancy and post pregnancy and also their babies whether they be preemie or not. Massage has such a powerful touch and is an incredible tool for healing. In speaking with babies primarily it does some of the following things:

• stimulates digestion - this can be a great aid for preemies as they need all the help they can get in this.
• it helps strengthen their little muscles
• relieves gas (Sabrina can attest to this one)
• relaxes the baby if feeling overstimulated - massage releases chemicals such as oxytosin and endorphins which essentially makes us all happy and allows us to relax.
• skin stimulation speeds up the myelination of the brain and nervous system which improves brain-body functioning and enhances neural cell firing - essentially it helps the baby react faster and better to the stimuli placed on them.
• strengthens the immune system
• increases oxygen and nutrient flow
• and most importantly it creates a bond between parent and child.

I had no intentions on trying to "sell" infant massage when writing this post, so excuse the tangent, but I just find it all so interesting. I whole-heatedly believe that God has blessed me with a gift with children and I hope that I can one day honor that gift with the work that I do. Who knows, maybe one day I can work on little Norah.

In the picture above, Norah is under the tanning lamps to get rid of some of her jaundice. She just melts my heart!

*note - the pictures of Norah I stole off of G & K's blog. I didn't think that they would mind :)

Crucial Conversations

This past weekend, our church had a "In the city Women's Retreat". Normally we head out to Camp Arnes for a weekend away, but unfortunately that didn't work out this year, so we had it in the city instead. The topic of the retreat was entitled "Getting Unstuck". The focus was spent discussing how to have those tough conversations with people in our lives, whether it be at work or at school.

In my life, I have a few relationships that require some tough conversations. Now, normally my personality is one that avoids confrontation at all costs. I don't like arguing or fighting with people. I desire to please people, often at a cost to myself because I rarely say no. This weekend was a really great tool to be able to consider having those tough, yet crucial conversations in order to be freed from the restraints of those relationships. I will be completely honest and say that I don't know if I necessarily feel more confident in myself to have those conversations right now, but my heart has definitely been opened to the consideration of having those conversations and how I might possibly go about doing that. My hope is that in the next few weeks and even months ahead, I will be able to approach these people I need to talk to with confidence and that I may act with grace and with compassion. I hope that these hurting relationships in my life might be ones that are pleasing and honouring to the Father one day.

"Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person."

~Colossions 4:6

Friday night at our first session we decided to have a chocolate fountain. At first, it wasn't really working as expected. Lavonne and I had never set one of these things up. Apparently the chocolate needs to be quite thin in order to flow nicely. We learned this one the hard way.

The instructions state that you are to not move or pick up the machine while it is going and has chocolate in it. I can definitely see the reasoning in that. However, we chose to disregard that instruction and pick it up to balance it out a bit in order to allow better flowage (I know that's not really a word, but it works).

The chocolate looks better already!

Kristen, Jess & Laurie hanging out after lunch.

At the end of the retreat, we got these awesome bottles of lotion from Tiber River Naturals with our theme verse printed on the tags which were made at Botanical PaperWorks. I have been wearing the lotion ever since.

Introducing...

NORAH MARIE FRIESEN

Last night at 7:06 pm my very dear friend Kristy gave birth to a very small, but beautiful little girl. Norah made her entrance into this world a little earlier then planned, which had a number of aunties and other family members quite scared and worried at times, but she has arrived safe and sound. She weighed in at 3 lbs 13 oz and 16 inches long. Norah will be remaining in the NICU at St. Boniface for a few more weeks yet until her breathing improves, can feed well without being tired and grows a little. I am looking forward to the moment when I can finally hold this little one in my arms. Unfortunately I was not able to physically see her due to NICU rules, but the very proud parents showed me pictures of her and she is beautiful.

Norah had quite the birth story, but I will let Graham and Kristy share the details about that on their blog. Many prayers were sent up on their behalf yesterday and God has been faithful and has answered every one. Mom and baby are doing well although it will be a month of adjusting to new routine and hospital life.

God has been so good these last few days as he has surrounded Graham, Kristy and Norah along with all of the others involved and has kept them safe. Throughout the the whole birth story, the fingerprints of God were very evident as he provided a safe entrance to this world.

Little Norah I am so excited to finally meet you and hold you. I am incredibly thankful for your safe arrival and I am so excited to be your auntie. I hope that as you grow that you would continue to do things in your own time when you are ready. I think that is a pretty incredible strength. I know we are going to have many fun times together and I can't wait!

Love Auntie Kara

XOXO

* Note: the feet in the pictures are not Norah's feet, but just an image I found online. Her feet are much much tinier.

It's That Time...

Well, it's that time again...Exam time! I am counting down the days until school is over and I will never have to worry about another exam again! What a freeing thought. The exams are a little more spaced out from each other then usual, but that almost makes it worse as the studying seems to last longer. I suppose it should help on the marks end of things though.

The week has seem to have flown right by yet again. Not sure where the time went, but somehow it has run away on me. My "To Do" list that is forever long has not had a strike through any of the items in a couple days. The few days of beautiful warm weather had me itching to be outside rather then sitting in my room surrounded by a pile of books.

On Wednesday, Cole and I had the opportunity to walk home from school together - it had been awhile since we were able to do that due to the frigid weather we have been having.
To make the walk home a little more fun, we had a snowball fight!

The "Cheese" Face

Life has been filled with tons of busy-ness lately. It seems as though I have forgotten to take time for myself. To renew, to refresh and to feel at peace with things in my life. I find it hard to stop and take the time to just be. Yesterday Kristy reminded me to do just that. She came and kidnapped me after work to just hang out and be. We did nothing that was super exciting, but we were able to enjoy each other's presence and talk. I love that. We drank most of a pitcher of lemon lime kool-aid and ate Kraft Dinner for supper (I can't remember the last time I had that combo together. It's probably been a good 15 years) and played a shameful 1 1/2 hours of scramble on facebook. Apparently it's what we needed, plus we had fun in the process. Thanks for the kidnapping Kristy.

The weekend will be busy as well unfortunately. It is filled with all things that are good, but just an overall busy. One day at a time. Off to do some work!

Birthday Wishes

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN!!!

It has been so great getting to know you over the past year and a bit. I want to wish you a very happy birthday and I hope and pray that your year is filled with wonderful adventures (as I am sure it will be, starting in a few weeks) and that it is a year that is spent growing in God and discovering all the great things He has planned for you.

I am extremely blessed to call you my friend!

Love you!

Things I Love

In the past few days I have been doing a lot of reflecting on my life - the journey I have embarked on and the places I desire to go and where my relationship with God fits into all of that. It's been a really neat experience as I have learned to see God in the day to day rather than just in the thunderstorm moments. I desire to be more appreciative and thankful for all that is in my life and how I can bring glory to God through those things. Here are a couple of things that I have been incredibly aware of these past few days and I thought I would share them.

INCREDIBLE FRIENDS. Last night I was reminded at how incredible my friends are. Sabrina and I had a much overdue coffee/tea date in the warmth of her living room. Gavin went to sleep wonderfully (with only a little wake up) so we had a wonderful, mostly uninterrupted time to talk. A couple weeks back we decided we were going to tell our stories to each other, where we've been and how God has been present in our lives. Last night was my turn. There is something incredibly freeing about sharing your story, being vulnerable and letting someone know that much about you. It was also a really neat experience for me because it allowed me to reflect on where I have been in the past 10 years or so and how God has continued to follow me and pick up the broken pieces that I have left behind and slowly put them back together. He's like the parent who constantly is picking up the toys on the floor by the kid who never stops pulling the toys off of the shelves. I am so blessed by amazing friends who will hear my story, love me despite my many flaws and then spend some time in prayer together praying for each other. Sabrina is not my only friend with whom I have a deep connection with, but one of many. I am so grateful for the amazing women God has placed within my life who have encouraged me, kept me accountable, walked with me and who have shared many great moments with. Kristy, Aimee and Jess, I thank you for the amazing women that you are and I anticipate many more great memories spent with you girls. Love you!

SPRING. There have been a few days recently where the smell of spring has been in the air. Those days made me excited as I anticipate the new life that comes with spring. I am looking forward to looking outside and seeing more than just a white blanket of snow. I'm looking forward to evening walks, sitting outside patios along Corydon, walking to go and get Gelati and of course, going to the cabin. At the end of May I am also anxiously anticipating the arrival of Graham & Kristy's little schnerps. New life really does come with spring!

RASPBERRY ICED TEA LEMONADE. Lately I have been indulging far more than I probably should be on Starbucks. I still thoroughly enjoy my selected coffees and lattes, but lately it has been the Raspberry Iced Tea Lemonades with passion tea that I have come to crave. They have definitely become a favorite. Usually when I am at my parents, my mom, Courtney, Dominika and myself pile in a car and head over to Starbucks to pick us up some of these delicious drinks. I love the way it has become somewhat of a tradition every weekend. If you have not tried one of these drinks, I highly suggest that you do. You won't be disappointed.

TONI. I am loving that my dear friend Toni is home for good from Vancouver. She had been living there for the past year and now is back in Winnipeg. I missed her terribly over the course of the past year. Since being back at the end of January, we have gone on many outings and have enjoyed each other's company whether it be lounging around the house and watching a movie or heading out to Cornelia Bean to pick up some yummy teas. I love her dearly and I am so glad that she is back!

Family. In the past year I have come to love and accept my family in new ways that I never thought I could ever do. Grace has overcome our relationship (at least on my end) and I have been able to love them unconditionally. I am constantly amazed at the hand of God in my family as it sometimes seems as though they are the hardest people to love sometimes. He is continually showing me how to love them and he is softening all of our hearts so that we may be gracious to one another and allow real, healthy relationships to form. God is a transforming God and my family definitely attests to that. I have come to the point where I desire and enjoy the presence of my family. I will go out of my way to do things for them and to spend extra time with them when it is not necessary. Observing the transformations in some family member's lives makes me excited and hopeful for what is to come in the future. God is definitely a good God!

It's becoming official

So, it would appear that the end of my schooling is becoming official. This past week I accepted a practicum at an awesome clinic that will most likely lead to a job in the end. How exciting! I am super pumped about this and at the same time quite nervous. I am going to be working at Hamilton Healing, which is located on the corner of Osborne and Rathgar (1 block north of Jubilee) with an amazing group of therapists. 2 of the therapists there are supervisors at my school, so that's how I got the job. I have so much to learn from them and having very skilled therapists to work alongside makes the whole experience seem a lot less nerve wracking.
The start date of my practicum is not yet finalized, but I'm guessing that in the next week or 2 all will be good and I will get to start getting paid for my massages. Very cool!