Woo! Democrats rule!

Hello all!

Yes, I am coming from that land, PJ, and no, the hubs isn't with me.... it would be rude of me to complain about travelling alone if he were here!

It's been a long, long day. Conference all day long, then the opening reception where a rock band from the 70s played. It was pretty cool and also incredibly loud, so I left a little early. Before that band came on (I'll let you all guess who it was a little later) there were some speeches and some politicians who wanted to thank the organization for raising funds for the recent Congress elections. This organization is very strongly Democrat-oriented, and rightly so, since it sure ain't the Republicans who are gonna stand up for rights to the justice system.

This weekend has highlighted for me a lot of the differences between Canada and the US. For one thing, in the US, the jury selection process is much more complicated than in Canada. In a voir dire (the southern accent pronounces it "vor die-er") the lawyers get to ask the potential jury members extensive questions, and find out about their backgrounds, etc. Then they get several peremptory challenges (where you don't have to give any reason for deselecting someone) and several challenges without cause. In Canada, you find out the most basic of information (name, occupation) and I don't think you get to ask them anything - and then you get some challenges.

Some things are the same between countries though, like the tort reform movement (better named the tort deform movement.) Corporations push tort reform with catch phrases like "Litigation is too expensive!" and "Get rid of the frivolous lawsuits!" Tort reform movements in our own province include the campaigns for no-fault auto insurance. I can't emphasize enough how unfair no-fault insurance can be. In some provinces, if your injury was determined to be "minor", despite whatever consequences may have befallen you, you would be limited to recover $2000 or less. Without a true tort system like we have, you wouldn't be able to turn to the courts for justice.

Sometimes I wonder why I chose to be a lawyer and why God allows me to continue being a lawyer even when I feel like I know nothing at all. But other days, I realize that what I get to do is help people who, in a different province or country, would have no legal right whatsoever... and, if we are complacent, might not have legal rights in the future. It's worth standing up for.

Really should pay more attention

A week or two ago, I was telling some friends how I frequently get asked vague, legal questions by family, friends, and acquaintances and how it sometimes amuses me that I'm expected to know the answer to every legal question out there. The questions are all on different topics and on the odd occasion, I actually have an answer.... but often I'm left wondering whether I have totally let that person down by my lack of knowledge, or whether I have missed the real point of the question by focusing on one narrow legal issue rather than the big picture.

I recently found something out that made me realize sometimes people ask questions with long, complicated hypothetical scenarios, but the truth is somewhere buried within the abstract... possibly intentionally buried, for me to discover. It made me feel like an idiot not to have figured out the situation earlier on, having been so focused on the legal problem and having missed the person completely. I used to think I was a good listener, but I'm not so sure any more. It's so hard to interpret the feelings behind a statement, the personal problem behind the stated legal problem. Of course, law school trained me to think about the issue, the ratio, the analysis, the conclusion (gah!) - but what about the person ... the family ... the emotions?

I've got a lot to learn in life.

Seven hundred and thirty days

Guess what folks - it's anniversary time again. Another year, another cake to be enjoyed, another day in our life together. This last year has been a busy one for us. Let's see - I became a lawyer, participated in a couple of trials, hubby decided to try out a new career field, he also became an elder, we got to be sponsors together again, we went to California twice, we went to Chile on our first missions trip together ... and of course, we made it through a year without sweating the small stuff. I'd call that successful, but I'd give all the credit to our God, our most faithful Father, who comforts and who motivates us to stick it out.

Here's to another fantastic year!

To paraphrase a little song I may have helped compose... "We're married... open bar!"

His grace still amazes me

My mom just told me about a passing in our extended, extended family.... it was very sad because it was incredibly sudden and unpredictable. The older I get, the more I realize how life is short and how we can never really know when it is our time to go. Today, I drove a portion of highway where there are always several memorials set up, most recently one for a 17-year-old. The other day, I read about a girl whose wedding was 7 days after my own, but who didn't even make it to her second anniversary because her melanoma finally took her life. I'm also reminded that it has been just about 18 years since God took my dad to heaven, and a few years since He called one of the Whammies home too.

People often ask why God allows these things to happen, why things like illness and suffering exist. Age old questions, I suppose. I don't think I have the answer. I don't think any of us does. Can there be any explanation to satisfy someone who has lost a friend, a family member, the love of their life? I remember when people would sometimes tell me that God had a reason for taking my dad when he did ... and I remember thinking that whatever the reason was, it sure didn't seem like a good one.

I attended a wedding rehearsal today and found it (as always) a little bittersweet to see the bride walking down the aisle with her dad. I wondered for a moment why God hadn't allowed my dad to walk me down the aisle.

These are just all musing thoughts, and again, no real answers. I guess all I can say is that I still have hope and faith in my Savior. I still believe that he is faithful and that in the end, this life I've lived will make some sense. All of the suffering people now have will one day come to an end, to be replaced by joy and praise and eternal life. God's omniscience will always trump my own knowledge. It isn't so much why do we suffer, but where do we turn for strength when we do suffer, where do we go when we are broken, who can heal the pain.

This is the hymn we sang at our wedding - we don't sing it much in worship any more, but I find the lyrics to be a real comfort.

My faithful Father, enduring Friend
Your tender mercy’s like a river with no end
It overwhelms me, covers my sin
Each time I come into Your presence
I stand in wonder once again

CHORUS:
Your grace still amazes me
Your love is still a mystery
Each day I fall on my knees
Your grace still amazes me
‘Cause Your grace still amazes me

Oh, patient Saviour, You make me whole
You are the Author and the Healer of my soul
What can I give You, Lord, what can I say
I know there’s no way to repay You
Only to offer You my praise

Much better secrets

Have you ever been to Post Secret? Probably almost everyone has heard of this site, but for those who haven't, it's a project where people anonymously mail in postcards, usually handmade, on which they have written whatever secret they wish to share. Every Sunday, new secrets are posted. There are also books, but I'm too cheap to buy a whole book full of other people's secrets.

I do, however, visit the site every once in a while and I must admit that it's become a bit of a favourite for me. Maybe it's voyeuristic of me, but I find the secrets fascinating, and usually, a little upsetting as well. Some of the secrets are variations on events in my own life, or thoughts I have had before. I wonder about the person who has taken the time to send in a secret - does he feel relieved? does she check the site to see if the secret was posted? is he now going to tell a real person his secret? is she languishing out there, alone, with no hope? Do they struggle with these secrets, hoping that someone will figure out that the secret is theirs?

I wish I could share the hope that I have in Christ with some of those secret-holders.
I also wish I had the courage, the creativity, the eagerness to send in a secret.
And most of all I hope that posting a secret really does provide release and a renewed spirit. After all, Jesus came and gave his life not so that we could be alone and sad, but so that we could have life, and have it to the full.

Almost Paradise

It's funny how life has a tendency to run along without you even really noticing that time has gone by. I've had a busy few weeks and yet no matter how busy I am, there are always many more things to do and in my case, many things left undone. I'd love to tell you that I have a super clean house, an organized desk/office at work, and not a scrap of paper in my inbox. I think you'll all agree that these are goals worthy of aspiring to. Alas, my disorganized mind spreads itself into my surroundings, slowly but surely building up piles of undone work. It's not a good thing, people.

I'm currently trying to work on a factum. It's been a while since I've had to work on one of these.... I suppose it's been around 4 years, since first year law. My brain has turned to mush.

Hey, so have you been wondering how our new car is? Because it is fabulous! Oh, the little gas it uses. Every car should be a hybrid. Or better. I don't like to have to think that $1.14/L is cheap for gas. IT IS NOT.

What a terrible secret

The other day I was listening to the morning radio show that irks me so much, and they had a guest on who speaks at these seminars entitled "The Secret". Apparently it's a part of Tony Robbins' "The Power Within" series. (By the way - I always confuse Tony Robbins with that Tony Little (?) who does the exercise machine commercials.) Again, I am only commenting on the bit I heard, so if I've mischaracterized something, let it go. :)

The guest was talking about how everything in the world, from you, to your steering wheel, to the tree on the street, to the mug on my desk, is made up of the same stuff - energy. I'm not much of a scientist, so I won't comment on the oddness of this "fact". He said that there are laws of attraction such that if you focus on the negative, you will attract negative energies. For example, if on your report card you saw 7 A's and 1 D, and you lamented, "Why oh why hast thou bestowed upon me a D", you would only attract further bad marks on your next report card. Whereas, if you focused on the A's and thought about how you could get more A's, you would then attract more A's. He also said that this applies to people too, you will only attract negative people if you are filled with negative energy.

You probably won't be surprised when I tell you that many of the speakers for the upcoming seminar wrote such books as "Chicken Soup for the ___'s Soul" and have job titles like "Life Coach".

I can't think of a more ridiculous explanation for the bad things that happen in life than this. Negative energy? You must be kidding me. It's an odd world where we reach out to these "spiritual" explanations rather than reaching for the Creator of all things.

Weekend ramblings

Judging by my sitemeter stats, I'm not the only one who heard "under my arm Beretta" in Rihanna's new song. I feel slightly vindicated!

It's the long weekend and I'm kind of bored. Went for dim sum today with my mom and the hubby... yummy. Then we went shopping, but didn't buy anything... which is probably typical. It would be nice to have somewhere to go, but then again, we don't have money to be throwing away on vacations. Every once in a while, an unexpected house expense will turn up that probably has priority over vacation money.

You know, before I moved out, I had a vague idea of house expenses but having to actually pay them certainly made that idea more specific. For example, I didn't really realize that you have to pay the city for your water, your sewers, and your right to leave garbage on your curb. I mean in my mind, I just thought this was all wrapped up in property taxes. But it is not. And property taxes! The city does nothing to help increase the value of our house, yet they continue to charge us more every year. The city does seem happy to decrease the value of our house. Case in point - the builders needed access to some water main or whatever that is under our lawn, so the city dug up our lawn. Instead of laying sod, they just sprinkled grass seed willy-nilly and told us that it will all grow back. We now have an ugly, patchy green-brown lawn despite frequent watering. Plus, our gardener has to mow around it. I'm not sure that the city is permitted to just dig up your property without bringing it back to its pre-digging state. But I am too lazy to look into all of the by-laws and such. Stupid city :(

I'll hug an entire forest if I have to

On the weekend, we took a rather big step in our lives ... we became environmentalists. Nope, that's not accurate. Actually, we took a tiny step toward environmentalism. Hubs sold his beloved Jeep, the one he has had since before meeting me, his first new, not-a-beater car. Alas, the fuel prices these days are beyond ridiculous and it was time for a change. It was truly the end of an era, saying goodbye to the Jeep that has been in both our lives for so long (although - obviously it meant more to him than to me, I can't even drive standard) I mean - how will we get up a snowy hill in the winter? How will I dry my hair in the summer if I can't take the top down? How will we confuse gas station attendants without a key to the gas tank?

Well, as it turns out, another car is just around the corner for us. We're gonna be getting a hybrid! I'm soooooo excited. I'll probably drive it once or twice a week which will definitely reduce my visits to Petro-Canada, far too frequent these days.

This reminds me of a funny story. Recently we were at Petro-Canada at one of the full-serve stations. The gas jockey stuck the nozzle into the gas tank and pressed the ... trigger? He then let go and just as he was about to walk away, the nozzle spat out of the gas tank, and gas sprayed everywhere, including on the gas jockey. Luckily he caught it before it continued to spray and I wondered if we would get charged for that extra gas. (We did.) (It wasn't that much.) The best part is that the guy came up to the window and said to hubby, "Sorry...for... some gas." My gosh - we were killing ourselves laughing. Good response to spraying gas. Sorry for some gas!!

Working for the weekend ... I mean on the weekend

It's disheartening to be working on a day where I would normally be relaxing and yes, possibly even taking a nap. Alas, such is the fate of a lackey like me. I had to buy myself a coffee and some food to keep myself awake and alert... so I headed over to Starbucks for a chocolate croissant, only to find that they didn't have any. I chose a marble coffee cake instead, which advertises itself as Reduced-Fat. I do like the regular coffee cake at Starbucks but I have always found it a smidge on the large side. (By the way - it wasn't until I was out of high school that I realized "coffee cake" doesn't have coffee in it.) Anyway this reduced fat version is good and all, but as I peered at it through the case, I realized that it is half the size of the regular coffee cake. And fat content? You guessed it - about half. Is that what we are calling reduced fat now, just serving a smaller portion (and charging about the same as the full size cake)... Are we so easily deceived nowadays? (Please note - I would have bought the regular cake but they didn't have that either.) (My Starbucks lacks.)

Let's hope I can get out of here soon. So stressed!

Misheard song lyrics

There's a new song out by Jay-Z and Rihanna ... I have to admit that I really enjoy "Pon de Replay", Rihanna's first big hit, but since then I have quickly tired of her music and her fivehead. The new song is called Umbrella but when I first heard it, I thought she was saying:

"You can stand under my arm Beretta, etta, etta, eh, eh, eh" - as opposed to what she is really saying: "You can stand under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh" ...

I think my version is better. I'm not sure what an arm Beretta is, but when I misheard the song, I actually envisioned an underarm Beretta. Dangerous AND sweaty.

Short post, just wanted to thank everyone for caring for me and praying! No relief in sight yet. Must bear down and concentrate.

Me, myself, and I

Ever since getting back from Easter weekend, work has been quite sucky. There is much to be said about work, but a blog is probably not the best place. It doesn't bode well for me that I've had such a terrible temper lately, little things just get to me and I feel like exploding. I haven't yet, although I have expressed a ton of frustration. I'd appreciate some prayer.

I feel like I don't have much to say right now, and I think it's because work seems to suck the life out of me. One day I thought reading might cheer me up, so I borrowed a couple of books from the library. The first book, "Happiness Sold Separately" just depressed me further. It's about a couple who have infertility problems and turn away from each other - the husband has an affair, the wife withdraws into herself. There's much more to the book, but I dunno, it didn't stick with me as a great book and instead, made me feel sad. I have a second book to read, so I suppose I'll post when I've finished that.

Hmm.

I told you so

Yesterday during my daily Wii play, I achieved a gold medal in Bowling: Power Throws. You may think I'm a bit of a nerd for even mentioning my video game prowess, but I don't really care what you think right now because I GOT A GOLD MEDAL. Granted, I was aided by a little tip regarding the last stage of Power Throws, but anyway, yay me!

The Wii has been a great source of joy lately when I have been feeling super stressed ... it's nice to be able to smash punching bags to dust, and bowl over 200, and play a good game of tennis, even if all this is only virtual. I won't go into details, but work has been swamping me lately and I can't help but feel overwhelmed and more than a little stupid as well. I could really use a vacation, except that I just returned from one. Sure would be nice if life were a series of vacations interrupted by brief periods of work, rather than the opposite.

It's still my party

It's my birthday again and I am approaching the age at which I don't feel like telling people how old I am for fear that they will say "Wow, I thought you were MUCH older", which would be offensive, or "Wow, I thought you were younger than that", which would make me feel unaccomplished.

So far, an excellent birthday. Hubby sent me two dozen of my favourite roses (some things never change) and yesterday we went to the Canucks game, where in a game I thought would never end, we won. (I guess that is a little different from last year.) Ah, nothing beats Canuck playoff atmosphere. There was a tailgate party outside where free hot dogs were being given out as well as samples of some weird energy drink. We had already eaten so I didn't partake in the hot dog affair. I really regretted this in or around the second overtime, when the food stands were all closed and my hunger rushed back. By the third overtime, people near me with obviously superior energy levels and possibly fuller tummies were still chanting "M-V-P" at Luongo... while my chant was "I wanna go! I wanna eat!"

In any event, towels were waved, voices were lost, and we won the game just after it was officially my birthday. Both Trevor and I can celebrate our birthdays properly now.

I don't have much to reflect on or anything this year. It's been three years since we were engaged, so that means we are almost at our two year anniversary. Life is good. I can't complain. The hubby cooks for me and really, can one ask for more than that? I think not. Work is going well except that sometimes I hate my job. But I don't really. It's just that I hate having to think so hard ALL THE LIVE LONG DAY. Heh.

Praise God for the many blessings he has given me!

Booooo...

Well the whirlwind trip to SF is over and my brother seems to be settling in well. Lots of creature comforts at his place... too bad he can't cook at his computer desk, then he'd be set, wouldn't even have to move! Heh.

There were many lineups this weekend and my patience was sorely tested in each one. My mom and I waited at the post office for at least a half hour when it should have taken about 2 minutes. I mean, I know the USPS isn't known for fabulous customer service, but really, let's move things along. There was an angry jerk at the front of the line and another lady who apparently needed to make use of every single service that USPS offers. Very nice.

Today at the airport we had to use this "easy check in" process that United offers forces you to use. Basically you check yourself in and then the counter agent is supposed to give you the luggage tags. We had some trouble using the "easy" process, so we had to ask for help. The agent was of little to no use. I could have sat behind the counter and offered the same level of "assistance". (I'm reminded of the Friends episode where Joey couldn't use air quotes correctly.) (Yes I DID just watch that episode, thanks for asking!) Eventually she stopped yakking on the phone long enough to get up and give us our luggage tags. Hmm. Now that I think about it I don't think she got up. I think I have seen a snail move faster than her. It's kind of upsetting that United actually pays people to sit on their butts all day doing nothing. Oh, and the flight attendant snapped at someone who had to go to the bathroom on the plane. Should he just have peed on the floor then? Please.

In the "security" lineup (quotes again!) we got told off by one employee for not pushing our items through the conveyor before stepping through the metal detector.... meanwhile the other employee kept motioning us to come through the metal detector before we had pushed our stuff through. Grr. I would like to see some stats as to whether all these new security measures have really prevented terrorist activity. It's irritating that we have to go through a zillion lineups, but I would accept it if it was proven to help. I am not reassured though, knowing that airport security staff don't go through much security themselves.

Twice during the weekend, I said to the hubby, "Is that person a man or a woman?" It's unusual that I say that more than once in a short span of time. The second wo/man was the car rental agent. S/he was supremely unhelpful. Is it just an American thing or what? S/he sent us up two levels, where we were told by the second car rental agent that the first one had no idea what s/he was talking about and was totally wrong to send us back upstairs. Kind of funny, but an inefficient way to run the company, having employees talk about each other behind their backs.

When we got our luggage, we kept wondering what that odd smell was in the air. Had someone baked some sourdough bread? Spilled some soy sauce all over the city? It seemed to follow us too... we couldn't get away! Well, when we got home, we found out, that odd smell WAS us! And it was because some idiot must have brought home soy sauce and it spilled all over their luggage, and it got into ours (but luckily not in our clothing.) Who puts a bottle of soy sauce in their luggage anyway - that stuff is cheap, just buy it at home!!

Yay! I'm done ranting :D

It was a great trip. I just like to harp on the little things.

Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind...

Greetings beloved readers... I'm comin' at ya from waaay down in San Fran! We're here visiting my brother. It's only been one full day but a busy one it has been. We have helped my brother furnish his place, and let us hope he never has to move again! I hate lifting stuff!

The new GPS is faboo. We have been zipping around town like nobody's business alternating between Shrill, I mean Jill, the American voice, and Karen, the Australian voice. We gave Emily, the British voice, a roll, but she was just okay. You can't drive mindlessly though, sometimes it doesn't give you much warning to make a turn, depending on how wide the intersection is. Also, some words are a little garbled.... or mixed up. But overall, a very fun unit. I'm looking forward to not driving aimlessly looking for specific addresses in Maple Ridge, for example.

Today we ate at Ohana, a Hawaiian BBQ place. I believe it is a chain restaurant but really, it's quite good value and pretty good eats too. It's the epitome of fast food. Even when you eat in, you get a styrofoam container. No need to ask for a container to pack up your leftovers, since it comes in its own takeout container... and leftovers there will be since they feed you huge portions. I had BBQ pork - yum.

We also passed by the famous "Mr. Chau's" and the also-famous "Pho to Chau". We didn't stop at either one.... but we did laugh.

I must say, what is with the skanky dressing people seem to enjoy these days. This one girl wore short shorts to the BBQ place and then complained that she was cold. You're kidding! Shorts that don't cover your legs at all and you are cold? Ridiculous! Super tiny t-shirt not producing warmth? How odd!

Church doesn't start at 9 here.... it starts at 9:45. But my brother says everyone is always 15 minutes late. Kinda weird....ly familiar :D

Fashion Police

I'm watching House Hunters right now. There's a 30-something mom on the show... nice lady... but horrible fashion sense. Capris in an orange, lime green, and black print should be outlawed. I'm no fashionista, but whoever thought capris were a good idea for the general public must have lost his/her mind. Capris are hideous! On skinny people they are tolerable, although they maintain a bit of a "My pants are just a smidge too short" look. On people like me, not so skinny, capri pants are just awful. They're often tapered, and then they leave off at the fattest part of one's calf, as if to say "Look! The leg I do not fully cover is apparently HUGE and I bet you can't take your eyes off it."

Fashion trends just confuse me.

Bowling Alley Star

In real life, I am a terrible bowler. Terrible. I don't think I've ever bowled 100 .. usually I only bowl around a 60 or so. It's horribly embarrassing.

But in Wii life, I am an excellent bowler! Yesterday AND today I managed to bowl amazingly in the "bowl around these oddly placed barriers" challenge. Ahh, the Wii has revolutionized my bowling ability. I only wish I could showcase these skills for the real world.

By far my favourite part of the Wii is making Miis! Man, talk about good times. I wish everyone's Mii could be as awesome as Junior's, it looks EXACTLY like her. Kind of scary actually.

Not much other news, except that soon I will be slightly less directionally challenged, with the help of my new GPS! I got a great deal from Amazon and the super fast shipping means it's already waiting for me in California. Next weekend we'll be heading down to visit my brother. I was trying to find out whether one can visit the Googleplex for some kind of tour ... but ironically I cannot seem to find such information using Google. What am I doing wrong!?

LOL .. attempt #2

One of my teens sent this to me and I swear I laughed for an hour straight. It's awesome! You must watch.

Lost in Translation?

(Hubby says that was one of the worst movies he ever saw! Correction: he doesn't admit to having seen it at all.)

Two songs for y'all ... one is an English translation of a Spanish song, one is a Spanish translation of an English song. We'll be sharing these in Missions Hour this Sunday. Yay! Who wants to guess the name of the song that has been translated into Spanish? I'll be giving out e-props as a prize! (And you can't guess if you are from Chile!)

1. Siempre que me muevo es en Ti

Siempre que me muevo es en Ti
Junto a Ti Cristo
Siempre que respiro es en Ti
Siempre cada paso es en Ti
Tu eres mi camino
Siempre que respiro es en Ti

Oh Tu gracia y Tu bondad
Miro alrededor Tu estas alli
Tu amor me capturo
Oh gran Dios de amor
No entiendo aun

2. The YoYo Song

I don’t want to be a yo-yo
A yo-yo
A yo-yo
I don’t want to be a yo-yo
A yo-yo
A yo-yo

‘Cause it’s sometimes up
It’s sometimes down
It’s on its side
Or spinning around

I want to be like an arrow
Walking down God’s narrow path
I’ll keep my eyes on Jesus
And I will never look back

Yesterday I was watching Friends and I have a few choice phrases to share. If you don't watch Friends, what is the matter with you? It's sooo funny.

I LOVE JACQUES COUSTEAU! I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO PUT BEEF IN THE TRIFLE!
It tastes like feet!
Ross married Rachel in Vegas and got divorced! AGAIN!
What's not to like? Cream? Good. Custard? Good. Meat? Gooooood.
Hurricane Gloria didn't break the porch swing, Monica did!

Ok yes, those are all from the same show. But it was a good one.

Squeah - Place of Refuge

Just got back from our youth group retreat and it was excellent. But before I go into that, I wanted to tell you all that I'm currently watching CBC's Test the Nation (the first nationwide IQ test!) I took the test online already so I am only watching for entertainment. So far I have learned that CBC has some serious technical issues that one would hope they would have fixed.... I mean .. if you're going to show a video and ask questions, you should really make sure that the video doesn't pixellate and stall. Anyway, let's talk about the test later. (Edit: It's not Sunday any more.... so this post is a bit outdated.)

The theme of the retreat was "Got Purpose?" and our theme verse was 1 Corinthians 10:31.... "So whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." This weekend, I was also mulling over Tree's recent post where she referred to the blog about debunking Christianity.... I did go and visit the site, but didn't really study it for long - kind of found it a bit hard to navigate, actually, but that might just be me. I do think it's sad that someone who once preached about God could turn so against God.... and that he would feel that Christianity actually prevents one from living a full life, contrary to how Jesus said that he had come to give us life, that we could have it to the full.

I think this is a question many people, perhaps (to generalize) often teenagers, struggle with. Does Christianity impose limitations on the life we can lead, or does it instead offer a fuller life? The answer seems to depend on your perspective. Consider the worldly perspective - the me first, take care of number one attitude. From this viewpoint, any "lifestyle changes" would seem like limitations. But from the other perspective, where life is lived in community with others and with God, those lifestyle changes that we make are beneficial to ourselves and others. I think Tree touched on this in her post. The bottom line is that God does offer us an abundant life. Maybe sometimes we don't know how to receive it, or how to live it to the fullest. Maybe we fall back into the worldly view sometimes. Maybe we just don't really understand what Jesus meant about having life to the full.

Sometimes I think our problem is shortsightedness... and a little selfishness too. But in my view, God's promises include a joy that reaches deep into our hearts, and peace that lasts even through troubling times ... the "debunkers" seem not to have really experienced this. They talk about judgmental Christians, the "myth" of tithing equals more providence from God, one post I browsed through talked about how the author had come to faith through his own fear in the devil and relief that Christianity offered protection. But have these folks experienced the relational God?

I'm just musing through many thoughts right now, thinking of how to help our teens grow closer to Christ, fearing that some of them will one day turn into debunkers. May God help me to live a life that models after Christ. It's certainly not an easy path, but it is rewarding.

Sometimes, isn't a little punishment good for the soul?

Ah, morning radio. It's like the pesky friend you sometimes like, but more often find just slightly too annoying to pay full attention to. This morning, the topic (extended from Friday) was from a book written by a mother of five, regarding how to discipline your children without punishments. Please bear in mind that I haven't read this book, nor do I plan to, since the non-existent children I have are pretty well-behaved... usually. It won't stop me from commenting, though.

I didn't get to hear the whole segment, traffic being light today so that I arrived at work earlier than expected, but I gather the point she was making was that you don't need to punish your kids in order to resolve a problem. For example, if her teenager broke curfew by coming home at 3 AM, she would not do something like take away the cell phone for a week, or ground the kid. (What she WOULD do - I'm not sure - since she just said some vague nonsense about how there should be a positive solution.) (Here's where reading the book would make this post a bit more on point eh.) Someone asked, aren't there negative consequences in the real world when you do something wrong, and aren't you just teaching your kids that there are no negative consequences... her response was that yes, the real world has negative consequences, but as a parent you have a vested interest in how your kids turn out, and you should be the one to work positively with them.

I suppose her argument has some merit... after all, some forms of punishment are probably a bit harsh. I'm sure every parent out there has flown into a rage at some point in time. But try as I might, I could not envision what positive reaction I might be able to have to my kid doing something wrong. Let's say, for example, that I had a toddler who, despite my warnings not to throw that ball in the house, threw a ball into the TV. Clearly the answer isn't necessarily a spanking, but would it be wrong of me to remove the ball? Or to have the child apologize and sit in a time-out? I just can't think what "positive" thing I could do. Apparently one suggestion this author has is to have a "time-in" - you basically spend that few minutes teaching your child how to calm down, rub his or her back, give a hug, let him/her bang out frustrations on a toy drum, etc.

Frankly, I find this absurd. I can subscribe to the Nanny 911 or Supernanny form of time-out (the kid gets a few minutes to sit alone, and then the parent sits down to explain what said child did wrong), but it seems weird to immediately dole out the backrubs and hugs and positivity.... never mind the mixed message involved in banging on a toy drum to let out anger (if a drum is okay, why wouldn't younger sibling's head also suffice?) I understand how one must work on the root of the problem and teach problem-solving as opposed to fits of anger, but when a fit of anger occurs, is that really the time to dig into what the root of the problem is? Or is that the time to say "Go to your room NOW and don't you dare give me that look if you want to get out of your room before you're 30."

I'm clearly going to be a harsh parent one day. Have some pity for my future kids.

Another weekend goes by

I'm not sure why I haven't posted much lately... sometimes I have something I want to say, and then it slips out of my head before I get around to posting. Sometimes I just have nothing to say.

How was your weekend? Mine was pretty good. We went to a seminar on Saturday about how to help teens who are struggling and hurting ... it was fairly eye-opening. Too bad we had to give up sleeping in to go... I LOVE sleeping in on a Saturday, as it is the only day available to enjoy that luxury. (Don't bother reminding me that if I have kids, I won't ever get to sleep in ... I plan to develop a healthy sleeping-in habit in my kids.) Today, we had church, did some shopping with my mom, and then headed to the Canucks game-watching affair... let's just not discuss it.

I read a blog recently where the person was discussing married life. I think this person has been married for about the same amount of time as hubby and I. She mentioned how people frequently inquire as to how married life is, and she gives a standard response about how it's great on some days, and yet there are some days where you just bury yourself in your room, cry and cry and wonder why you married the person you did. I chuckled when I read this, but then I realized she wasn't joking.

Doesn't it seem a bit dramatic to you.... having days that are so bad, you actually sob about why you married that person? Obviously, married life (and life in general) has its ups and downs, but I can't say I've ever felt quite that sad or upset. Hubs and I are kind of opposite in terms of who we are, what we like, etc, and at the same time we are both rather stubborn, competitive, and unwilling to compromise or lose. You can see how conflicts may arise. Most of the time we resolve our conflicts pretty quickly. I can't imagine how awful it would be to feel so down in the dumps as to have to wonder why I married him.

But perhaps for some people, drama is just a normal thing.

Must go - the laundry is calling and it refuses to just leave a message on the answering machine. Demanding fool.

Pardon me, this street is blocked, we are moving

I've previously discussed my fondness for open houses... we're not exactly looking to move, but I'm always keeping an eye open for a good bargain. Such a deal does not really seem to exist these days, but it doesn't stop me from checking MLS every once in a while.

Anyway, the house I discussed in that post has now sold.... no one has moved in, but the new owners have been periodically stopping by the house to do some work. The hubs went over two weeks ago to chat and found out that they paid a rather astronomical amount for the house only to decide to tear it down and build a brand new (monster) house. When I heard this, I was shocked - I suppose it's just the reality of housing around here, it makes more sense for people to buy for land value only when the houses are old, even when they are renovated.

Hubby and I came up with an idea though... we thought hey, maybe we should ask them if they want to trade houses. After all, our house is also an older house, and it's only a little bit smaller than theirs, and our lot is almost the same size. The bonus to us would be living in a newly renovated, slightly larger house, meaning it would buy us some time before having to "move up" or rebuild... and if we decided to rebuild later, we'd still have that big lot in a good neighbourhood. I'm not sure what the bonus to them would be, but let's just call it even for them... they'd still have a good lot on which to build their monster house.

We laughed about the idea, but at the same time we thought it was an awesome idea. We would gain an extra family room and I think also an extra bathroom... we wouldn't have to worry about repainting the exterior or fixing the roof as I believe those were both new... we would have laminate flooring and wouldn't have to look at carpet where I spilled an entire pitcher of juice... AND moving costs would be super low. All we would need is a few friends to form an assembly line across the street, and a dolly on which to wheel our furniture out our old driveway and into our NEW driveway. (They even face each other!) Forget putting things in boxes, we'll just carry them across. I can't think of a better way to move.

It wasn't until this weekend that we spotted them again though, and I asked the hubby to go over and canvass the idea with them. He was gone for some time and I started to get myself worked up over our move. Heh. Turns out, the owner would have been interested, but unfortunately they've already disconnected everything in the house and begun their teardown process. He said it was too bad we hadn't asked him a few weeks earlier. He told the hubby that he didn't even care what the house looked like when he bought it, since he was only interested in tearing it down. He also mentioned that if we were thinking of selling or renovating, he had friends who would be willing to buy, and renovating would be useless. Later we saw him in the window staring at our house. I'd like to think he was looking with some regret that he didn't just come up with the trading idea on his own (since he probably would have paid less for our house) ... but probably he was just thinking to himself, what kind of weirdo offers to trade houses!

Alas, there is no need to change your address books for the moment. Nor will you be confused by having to turn left into the driveway rather than right. I can't pretend I'm not a little disappointed though. Cordoning off our street for our one hour move would have been fun.

Surreal life

This week, I used up approximately 1 minute and 45 seconds of my allotted 15 minutes of fame, and since I previously appeared in a 3 minute (?) video broadcast to whoever wanted to see it, I am concerned about the other 10 minutes and 15 seconds and what will transpire to use up more of the time. Hopefully nothing that involves any blood or gore, I am squeamish by nature. Perhaps I shall pen a movie script or play ... doubtful though, since I've never really been a writer. Speaking of plays, apparently this year's Bard on the Beach includes Taming of the Shrew and Romeo and Juliet. I could be convinced to go to the first one, but not to the second... I've always liked Shakespearian comedies better anyway.

My brother is moving to California soon. Sigh.

It snowed on my way to work today. I KNOW! Ridiculous! It is almost March, after all, which means it's almost April, and I'm almost another year older. Recently we celebrated the birthdays of some friends who were born a few months before me, and us high school buds reflected on some good times together.... until we realized that those good times were had more than 10 years ago. There's nothing like facing your age to bring you back to reality. I know I'm not "old" per se but there aren't many years left for me to say I'm in my twenties. By the by, does it bug anyone else when people use "per say" as the phrase? No? Just me, then.

Comfort

Avalon sings this song... it's such a welcome reminder that even in our darkest days, even when we are burdened by our own sin, grace exists, God exists, and His love covers us.

Who here among us has not been broken

Who here among us is without guilt or pain

So oft’ abandoned by our transgressions

If such a thing as grace exists

Then grace was made for lives like this

There are no strangers

There are no outcasts

There are no orphans of God

So many fallen, but hallelujah

There are no orphans of God

Come ye unwanted and find affection

Come all ye weary, come and lay down your head

Come ye unworthy, you are my brother

If such a thing as grace exists

Then grace was made for lives like this

O blessed Father, look down upon us

We are Your children, we need Your love

We run before Your throne of mercy

And seek Your face to rise above

If I could cook...

Technically I am not incapable of cooking. I just kind of hate it. I'm not that creative, and am not the type to dream up dishes using only what I have in my fridge. I cook on the rarest of occasions, and mostly for survival purposes, ie, when the hubby isn't here and I must fend for myself. You'll be shocked to learn, I'm sure, that I don't even make anything cool. Mostly noodles. So let's assume, for the purposes of this post, that I cannot cook.

But if I could.... I'd consider making these:



Those are crab cakes with panko crumbs. I first heard the word "panko" on Bobblehead's show, but let's not hold that against me. She sometimes has good ideas. Anyway. I was just thinking about crab cakes the other day, I don't know why.

I intended this to be a much longer post, but alas! it is not. Terrible, terrible.

Stuck in the middle with you

If you're wondering where I have been for the last few days, it's a well-known place called Illness. All last week I had a cold, but nothing too severe. Then on Monday night, I developed the cold's nasty relative, the flu (I don't really care if they aren't really related. I only got a degree in Microbiology, it doesn't mean I remember anything). Meanwhile, the cold hasn't exactly gone away. I've been doing everything possible to improve but it's been an ugly couple of days. Since Tuesday I have only eaten half a bowl of noodles, one bowl of congee, and a few cookies. Thanks to everyone for all the good wishes. I'll be back to my sarcastic self in no time.

I miss Chile and not only because the weather there was steaming hot... I miss the friends we met and the happy kids we saw. One kid I met didn't want to open his box... he opened it to show me, we both looked inside, he pulled out one item, put it back, and quickly shut the box again. Maybe he wanted to savour the moment... not overwhelming himself with all of the toys at once, but just looking at one thing at a time. Or maybe he thought I'd take it all away if I looked too much :) I gave him a lollipop (should we debate whether it makes sense to give kids so much candy?) and he gave me the biggest smile. I met another kid who received a hat that said "Canada" in his box and he promptly took off his own hat and put the new one on. I met one family who asked me what the note in their daughter's box meant. Given that my Spanish is pretty limited, it was a bit of a challenge ... but I think I managed to eke out that it was a box from an 8 year old girl in Canada who said Merry Christmas to her new friend... and they were thrilled.

I think as adults we can often become jaded and cynical... we sometimes receive gifts with more attitude than gratitude (shockingly... I didn't even intend that to rhyme).. we forget to be thankful for God's blessings in our lives, choosing instead to think about the challenges we face instead.. we might not even really believe that a shoebox from Canada can change a child's life in another country far away... but if there is one thing I learned from Chile, it's that God is so much bigger than we give him credit for, that he is amazing and all-knowing and has the perfect timing for everything. I almost can't wait until November when we get to pack boxes again!

Rolling my eyes

Am I the only one who thinks Valentine's is kind of a trumped up occasion... the hubby bought me some beautiful flowers (not roses) (and not delivered to my workplace) (and not on Valentine's Day itself) but other than that we didn't make much of the day. I hate sappiness and I really hate contrived sappiness. Perhaps I am just becoming a bitter, cynical person in my old age... it just seems like so many people out there, friends of mine included, equate romance with a big celebration of Valentine's Day.... I don't really understand why it is such a big deal.... well anyway. Enough ranting. To each his own, right.

Yesterday on the morning radio show, the hosts were talking about wedding invitations, a subject near and dear to my heart ever since hubby and I painstakingly and, I'll admit, somewhat stupidly created by hand our simple, yet extremely complicated, wedding invites two years ago. The topic of the hour was that someone had received an invitation that, at the bottom, said "No boxed gifts please." Although it'd be nice if this meant "Put all gifts in bags, please", clearly the real meaning is "We want money. Just money. Step away from that toaster, that coffee maker, that knicknack that will have no place to sit, that picture frame, and give us money." [I did say cynical, didn't I.]

I once attended a wedding where the couple put "Monetary gifts preferred" and despite my utter disgust, I gave them a cash gift (not a big one) (I was poor!) Frankly, in our culture, almost everyone gives money anyway so it's perceived strangely when someone dares to write such things on a wedding invite. But maybe the traditional rules of etiquette have fallen by the wayside, and hey, maybe it is time for things to change. I tend to think that while I'll bring a gift to the wedding, I'm not obligated to do so, so unless I ask by inquiring about a registry or what gift is preferred, please don't tell me what to bring. Maybe others out there have different opinions. Emily Post is, I'm sure, turning in her grave at this new wave of wediquette (that is, if she is indeed no longer alive.) I admit, I am amused by the wording of "No boxed gifts"... it certainly makes one stop and think for a moment. ("Does that mean I should take the toaster out of the box?")

More ranting... many of you know that we won a case recently.... Well, surprise! It's moving on up the levels of court. You know, since I have nothing better to do than to keep working on it. Sob!

Please pray for my big brother as he looks for a place to live for next month. Changes are always hard to deal with. And for us too as we adjust!

It's Valentine's Day

...so I won't post about Chile ... at least not in this post...

Today I was listening to the morning radio station that I always have on during my trek to work, and they decided to replay what they called the on-air proposal that went wrong. I didn't get to hear the entire thing, just the replay, but essentially, a guy phoned up and wanted to propose to his girlfriend on the air. They got her on the phone, told her they were live, and off he went. He started to say some nice stuff but then he said, "Remember when I gave you a yellow rose, a white rose, and a red rose? Well the yellow rose symbolized our friendship and the white rose symbolizes your purity... " and that's where I pinpointed the problem. [There's a chance I misheard what he said about the roses... if so.. it doesn't affect my opinion.. so shush.] Long story short, they had been dating two months, and the girl was shocked and felt she had to say no, it was too early, she was having fun but didn't know if it was a long term relationship,. etc. I kinda felt bad for the guy, but more because the humiliation, oh the humiliation of having that aired... [and subsequently blogged about]

The radio hosts then embarked on a discussion of whether people should date for a certain time before getting engaged. One said, there is no time, I've seen arranged marriages where the people have never met, and the marriage lasts 30, 40, 50 years. The other said, you've gotta date for at least a year or more.. or at least move in together.. and the third said, sometimes you JUST KNOW. Then the first one said, yes, it's fate, it's destiny sometimes.

Obviously, I don't subscribe to the belief that if you don't live together first, you won't have a successful marriage - although I was a tiny bit shocked to find out that MANY people out there hold this belief - and I clearly don't believe in "fate" or "destiny" either (sorry, Lionel Richie, Xtina, whoever else sang a song about destiny...) Other than that, I saw valid points in what everyone was saying, not that I would tell someone they hadn't been dating long enough to get engaged, of course.

I used to be so frustrated when people would tell me, "You will just know when you meet the right person.. you always just know." I mean, what an unsatisfactory explanation. I've been asked if I "just knew" that the hubby and I were meant to be... and I never really know what to say. We dated a long time before getting engaged/married, so clearly I didn't just jump into things.

I guess one's perception of these romantic things has to do with whether one is a romantic person or not. I always just think that by God's grace and in his time, the hubby and I met, and by his continued mercy, we made it through what was not always an easy dating relationship... and through daily efforts on our part and reliance on God... we work on building our marriage. I certainly couldn't have agreed to marry him after only two months of dating, but then again, I was only 18 or so at the time.

This post doesn't have as much of a point as it did when I started to compose it in my head, but alas, pointless posts are still bound to appear on my blog once in a while (or all the time.) Anyway, to those of you out there still looking for "the one", have you seen that Jet Li movie? Just kidding. I offer what encouragement I can. Just remember, don't ask someone to marry you until you know he or she will say yes. It's just all sorts of awkward otherwise.

Final note: yesterday the hubby and I went grocery shopping at one of the Asian supermarkets... I wanted to get some cute red envelopes for the "real" New Year... there was some loud Chinese opera music playing and I distinctly heard the woman sing, in a high screech, "Faaaa... kewww.." It took me at least five minutes to recover from the laughter.

Apparently I'm the only one amused by my last post

Far be it that I should blog for my own amusement!

As demanded by someone who doesn't even live here any more, please find below a post about Chile. Some of you who do live here will already have heard this story, so bear with me.

At one of the distributions, possibly our third distribution of the week, we were in this gym-like building. We got to the site and immediately, some of the local church folks began helping us unload the cartons of shoeboxes. As an aside, I felt kind of useless as I couldn't really lift these cartons by myself.... must try to develop more core strength :) We had packed the bus pretty full of boxes, anticipating there would be around 700 kids at the distribution. Well, we got inside the gym and found maybe... 400 kids. See below.


See the floor space? Because eventually you could not see it at all! It was standing room only...



and so our team leader told us to pray and pray and pray.... as we did not think we had brought enough boxes. So, we put our faith in God, gathered in groups around the cartons, and prayed that God would somehow multiply the shoeboxes, that there would be a box for every kid. Well, we prayed, and more kids kept coming, and we kept praying....

Eventually, we had to arrange the distribution outdoors as there were way too many kids to give out boxes inside the building... so the NLT helped us to usher kids out the doors according to gender and age group. Such chaos! I handed out lollipops to keep the noisy kids quiet (nothing like a little sugar to quiet a child down, eh parents?) and then the box-handing-out process began....

Well, in the end, we gave out slightly over 900 boxes. Some kids had to put their names down to get boxes the following Monday (as part of OCC procedure, every kid gets a box if they come to the distribution - the pastors will arrange a day to get more boxes for the kids... no one gets left out.) but even though we had thought we only had 700-800 boxes, we gave out over 900. I believe God did multiply those shoeboxes, but the amazing part is that he kept bringing more and more kids to the distribution program. Over 1000 kids heard God's word that day, probably some for the first time ever. One of our team members shared the gospel message, through a translator, using the "wordless book" idea... some of you probably know... it's the book of colours, Black = our sin, White = forgiveness, etc. She pointed to each colour on the box she had brought. Many kids raised their hands when asked if they wanted to accept Christ.

Sometimes people believe that OCC doesn't really provide a solution to the world's poverty - they think, how can a shoebox change anything? Well, to some degree they are right - a shoebox doesn't help to lift a kid out of the circumstances they are in. But the shoebox comes with a message of hope - that the same God who created the child who sent the box also created the child who is receiving the box... that God offers salvation through his son Jesus Christ... and that our lives can be changed by accepting Christ. The best part for me, even more so than watching kids open their boxes, was seeing them come forward to make a decision for Christ. OCC's local teams follow up with all of the kids who have accepted Christ, they are invited to come for Sunday School-type lessons which they can complete and get a certificate for. By reaching kids, we can also reach their parents.

Next time I'll talk more about seeing the kids open their boxes! That was definitely exciting.

Heard by the world

The other day, we were watching the Sportsnet broadcast and I believe it was the 1st intermission or somewhere around that time ... the screen went black, the broadcasters' voices seemed to disappear, and instead, the viewers were treated to a conversation of which all I can remember is...

- "Oh really?"
- "This f--ing thing won't work"
- (silence)

and I gasped at the profanity! And then I laughed.

Then yesterday, I was listening to Praise on my way home and it was the Martha Hadley show. She often starts taking a call by saying "Hi there, I'm Martha Hadley" ... but I guess the show cut off weirdly because what happened was...

- "Thanks for listening... Hi there, I'm Martha Hadley"
- "Wanna know a way to get rid of your acne? Well, I'm here to tell you about a new product..."

Obviously just the untimely insertion of an ad, but my gosh did I laugh. I even tried to phone the hubs to tell him this amusing story but he was already on the phone. Something more important than getting rid of a radio broadcaster's zits, I guess.

Note: I don't actually think she has zits. I'm just kidding. Don't sue me!

Dios te bendiga

I wish I could understand prayers in Spanish - they sound so melodic and full of praise.

"Dios te bendiga" means "God bless you", by the way.

I really must share a story with you that serves to remind me of how God moves and changes people's hearts. While we were in Chile, we took a charter bus everywhere. Chile is divided into 12 regions and we were in the ninth region, but had to travel around the region to get to the various distributions. Most of the places were around 1-3 hours away, so that meant a lot of time on the bus with the same people and the same driver. We prayed on the bus at least four times a day, for safety, in thanksgiving, for the shoeboxes, for the kids, for each other, etc. After the first distribution, our leader asked us to pray for the bus driver, who he assumed was not a believer, since one of the NLT pastors spent the entire bus ride speaking to the driver about God. So of course, we prayed.

We actually had two bus drivers, one for the main bus and one for the smaller bus that held a portion of our group. Let me say, these were fantastic bus drivers. Every time we needed to haul stuff out, they were right there helping to load and unload stuff. They even joined in our fun times, like at the ocean or swimming in the river or playing soccer - just all around nice guys.

Anyway, on the second to last day (or so) we received good news - our bus driver accepted Christ into his heart! I was AMAZED. This wasn't even a fellow we had really concentrated our focus on, but through observing us and speaking to the NLT leaders, he came to see that he needed God and so he prayed for salvation. I mean, get out! The bus driver!

When it came time for all the goodbye speeches, he stood up on the bus and expressed to us how our group had impacted him. He said that in his work, he meets tourists every day but that he was so glad to have met us in particular, and to have come to know God... and he wanted our prayers so that he could share God with his family.

Our God is so amazing, so much bigger than we sometimes give him credit for.

Hope for the broken-hearted

We're back from the OCC trip to Chile!

There's so much to say, I doubt one blog will suffice. Let me first say that Chile is a beautiful country. As most people know, it is long and thin - it's got the Andes mountains on one side, and the Pacific Ocean on the other side. Throughout the week, it struck most of us that Chile is sort of like Canada. Chile is a wealthy country by Latin American standards, although there is much poverty still, a lot of hidden poverty. But the amazing part was the hospitality of the people throughout the country.

We were hosted by Operation Christmas Child's National Leadership Team in Chile. There is an NLT for each country in which shoeboxes are distributed. This team was composed of four fabulous people whose smiles and hugs I miss already. Their passion for the work of Operation Christmas Child is so strong... they work tirelessly to make sure that local churches are trained for the distributions, and they arrange for all the boxes to arrive and be transported within Chile. These are pastors who aren't even paid for the work they do, in many circumstances. Yet they gave of their hearts and of their time to serve us. They hosted us, gave us a place to stay, people to cook for us... they smiled all day long, prayed for us, and put up with our (really weak) Spanish. We couldn't have asked for a better "family" to meet.

I want to share a story with you all. Three or four weeks ago, the three-year-old daughter of one of the pastors on the NLT was in a car accident. Actually, she was run over by a car while her parents were preparing to start the church service that day... it was her third birthday. Her family found her on the road with some rather awful injuries to her head. Her forehead was completely torn, her nose was crushed... but by the grace of God, miraculously she survived and recovered incredibly well. She had surgeries to repair the damage and she has some (barely noticeable) scars ... but for the most part she is a happy, cute little girl who you wouldn't know was in an accident at all. She has some mood issues and suffers from some nightmares where she remembers the accident - but wow - I can't believe how God has healed her. It's truly amazing.

I'll share more soon... when I get my thoughts together! Hasta luego...

High on the hill with the lonely goatherd

I like Gwen Stefani. Don't judge.

Yesterday the hubs and I enjoyed a night out for the first time in a long time. Or at least that is how it feels. We went to this delicious restaurant as part of the whole Dine Out Vancouver tourism event. (Be a tourist in your own city, as they say.) We rarely eat at fancy restaurants and really, it is because, as previously mentioned, we are not fancy people. Dine Out is therefore perfect, it allows for a cheapskate like me to enjoy a pretty chichi kind of meal for an affordable price.

We both enjoyed the atmosphere and food last night. It's pretty unpretentious, as fancy restaurants go, and the food wasn't your standard fare. Since I forgot to take pictures, you'll have to settle for my descriptions of the food.

My appetizer was a watercress salad with pecans, endives, and a gorgonzola dressing. (I think.) Hubby had a skewer of spicy grilled shrimp with a watercress and soba noodle "side". (Okay - I'm actually kinda guessing rather than just going back to the menu to see what we really had.) (Also - I'm not sure why watercress appeared in several dishes. Perhaps it is in abundance at this time of year.) We also shared a "poutine a la belge", which appears to modify poutine by replacing the cheese curds with blue cheese and green onions. Quebecers everywhere are having fits. Anyway the appies went over quite well although I'm not always a big fan of blue cheese and its relatives. I am smell-sensitive, after all.

For entrees, I chose the trout and hubby had the beef short rib. Mine was a fillet of trout covered in some kind of almond/herb butter. On the side was a small portion of "sweet black rice" - which tasted like the red bean soup my brother never liked after a Chinese dinner - and one sprig (?) of gai lan with a neat sauce. The trout was awesome. Actually, I haven't had trout in so long that I didn't even realize it isn't white when cooked. The beef short rib was similarly delicious, although I think hubs felt it was a little too tender. It was stacked (I don't know why food is always stacked these days - such a trend) on top of some mashed potatoes, which were good, but then, I am a starch queen.

Finally, for dessert, I had the Belgian waffle with a scoop of ice cream and chocolate sauce drizzled over it. It was petite, and good thing as I was super full by this point... anyway, it was faboo, I love Belgian chocolate. The hubby had a pineapple and lemon sorbet with "citrus scented chips" that resembled deep fried wonton wrappers. I liked both desserts, but preferred mine because of the chocolate. On the other hand, hubs liked his more because it wasn't too rich or chocolatey. We're terribly opposite in nature sometimes.

Even more than the food, I enjoyed the conversation and time alone with my husband. Lately we have both been quite busy and so it was very relaxing just to sit and enjoy dinner together (without him having to cook and me having to clean) and to have actual things to say to one another. One day we'll probably become slave drivers supreme lords parents and likely we'll have even less alone time and I'll look back fondly on last night's dinner and wonder where the days went.

Prayer changes things

Most of my days are spent in my fabulous little office, staring at a pile of papers or at my computer screen. But every once in a while I get to leave the office and meet real people - sometimes clients, sometimes friends or family of clients, you know. I like to think I can be a people person most of the time - I'm kind of mean, but I'm also kind of nice. It's a dichotomy.

Yesterday and today I met some really awesome people. They work (actually, they are full-time volunteers) at a particular missions organization (which I won't name until the case is over... although they will be at Missionsfest... ) I had to do some interviewing and afterward, I shared with them that I too attend church and that in a few days, the hubs and I are headed off to Chile with Samaritan's Purse. On both days everyone was so excited and happy for us, and then spontaneously they all wanted to pray for us. I must say that the prayers were incredibly encouraging. These are folks who have given up careers in order to enter into full-time ministry to the very poor people in a very poor country.... and here I am in my cushy life (or so it feels sometimes) and they wanted to pray for me.... someone they don't even know. They wanted to know about our trip and what we'll be doing, how long we'll be there, all of that. Turns out, their churches have also participated in Operation Christmas Child and like us, they've always wondered exactly how the process of distributing the shoeboxes goes. Pretty neat stuff.

It's always such a warming feeling to know that someone is praying for you. I was moved that people who don't have to care about me really do care, and that God binds us all together in his family. I can only hope to be as much of a blessing to others as these folks clearly are to everyone around them. May God richly bless their ministry.

Thoughts

Recently we had a guest speaker at church and I meant to post about her sermon that day, but I promptly forgot. I have at least 15 thoughts in my head at all times, so that one fell by the wayside, I guess. I still remember some of her sermon, which was on the power of God. The part that stuck out to me was on how we should rely on the Provider and not on the provisions.

It's so easy, almost natural, to forget about God after he has answered our prayers and provided us with what we wanted. It's definitely easy to overlook God when he keeps us safe, gives us food, shelter, etc. Her words reminded me to give thanks to God for being the provider, not just to dwell in the good things he's given me.

Life has a tendency to slip through my fingers without me really noticing. I hope in the days leading up to Chile, I'll be able to take time to reflect on God's infinite love and grace.

So much to do, so little time

First off, I wanted to announce that we won our trial (which ended in December - we had to wait a month for the verdict - not too long...) and if you want the nitty-gritty details you'll just have to ask me. It was a thrilling victory, in my opinion. Thrilling! It made those long days at the office almost seem worth it!

Anyway. We're off to Chile in less than a week. Crazy. Lots to do in preparation.

We managed to clean the house today. Pretty amazing how a house can turn into one giant mess when there are only two of us living there. Well to be fair, it wasn't really THAT messy - but we just had a bunch of untidy areas that finally got tidied up. Neat freak I am not, but I am at least aware of the need for cleanliness. (Isn't it next to godliness!?) I try not to be a pack rat, although the hubs is a bit of one sometimes. It can be hard to throw things out though.... I still remember when my brother used to collect Saturday morning comics and he REFUSED to throw the piles of old comics out even though he never really read them. Heh. I still haven't really decided what to do with my wedding dress. I considered turning it into pillows or something, but there's really not much use for white throw pillows with our black leather couches. I don't have dreams of saving the dress for my future daughter or anything, but at the same time it's hard to think of giving it away.

Any suggestions?

Talk radio

I spend a lot of time in the car and often force myself to listen to the radio - it helps keep me alert. The other day, I turned on Praise 106.5 and it was one of the morning talk radio shows - maybe Focus on the Family (kinda sounded like James Dobson.) The topic (although I can't be certain) seemed to be around decisions made by judges in Canada and in the U.S. There was much criticism about a recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal, which* apparently says that a child can have three parents, and acknowledges that parents can be of the same gender.

*I haven't actually read the decision - so I am paraphrasing a paraphrased version.

The hosts of the show and a caller went on and on about how judges get it all wrong, and judges should listen to the electorate, and that judges shouldn't be making the law. Lying beneath their discussion was clearly the position that same-sex marriage is wrong, and that Canada has made a huge mistake by allowing it. They made much about appointments to the US Supreme Court, and how various presidents should have appointed X, a staunch conservative man, rather than Y, a"radical-left" liberal woman. They talked about how certain judges have done nothing but support decisions such as Roe v. Wade since their appointment, and how the judiciary was really out of control in both countries.

I really try not to enter into debates with people over issues like same-sex marriage and I definitely wouldn't criticize a member of the judiciary publicly. I must say that shows like these often make me a little bit sad. I don't consider myself a very right-wing, conservative person, in that I believe all persons were created equally. Where my beliefs do waver is in "grey" areas such as same-sex marriage. I believe that marriage was intended by God to be a covenant type relationship between a man and a woman... but I don't really know what my stance is on same-sex marriage. On one hand I can see how those in a same-sex relationship want the same benefits and rights as those who are not in a same-sex relationship. On the other hand, it doesn't really jive with what I believe.

Therefore, I sometimes take the (middle?) road ... I don't think this is a perfect world and certainly our government is not perfect. I believe in the separation of church and state and so to that degree, I don't really feel right in speaking out against same-sex marriage. I feel like Christians cannot expect this world to revere the word of God - we all await the day when there will be a new heaven and earth, but for now, I think our efforts should be toward being light in the form of loving our neighbours, instead of spreading darkness in the form of intolerance bordering on hate.

At the same time, I see the world around me as growing more and more accepting of the secular views, and less and less accepting of "traditional", Christian values. Political correctness has taken over the world ...

I anxiously await heaven.

Mondays are the pits

Seriously, who likes Mondays? They never turn out as well as say, a Friday. I think I'm still in holiday mode so I'm not used to waking up early on a Monday morning. It isn't fun for someone who isn't a morning person. Morning people are far too chipper.

January is shaping up to be a busy month. It's Dine Out Vancouver time again and the hubs and I are going to at least two restaurants this year. So far on the list are Aqua Riva and The Cannery. We also have a reservation booked for Chambar, which the sister-in-law tells me was awesome last year - but I'm not sure if we're going to keep it or not. On top of that, we are also preparing to leave for Chile on the 27th. I can't believe it's coming so soon. Christmas Shoeboxes, I hope you're ready to be distributed!

In my next post, I'll share about the Canucks game that my godsister and I went to the other day. It was fabulous, and not only because we won..... but also because we got to meet a real celebrity (to us, at least) and only looked slightly foolish in doing so. Okay, we probably looked a bit more than slightly foolish, but we soothe our egos by looking at the picture.... which I have yet to upload. I promise to do it soon.

Life certainly moves quickly when you aren't paying attention. Why just the other day I discovered that apparently I look pregnant! Sadly (not really sadly at all), it isn't true - I'm just pudgy. But having it pointed out to me? CERTAINLY WAS GOOD FOR MY SELF-ESTEEM. I know I shouldn't take it personally, and that people who assume you're pregnant when you're just carrying a little extra weight should be embarrassed, but honestly, you can't help but take it a little personally. My co-workers all assured me, upon hearing this story, that I don't look at all pregnant. But then, one of them really is pregnant, almost full-term, so maybe they were just comparing me to her.

Anyway. Just a minor issue, not really worth complaining about, right!

Just had to share

This picture is only meant to illustrate a typical campfire pit at camping. Observe the grill on top - that is a grill that comes with the pit.

I mention this because today I was visiting a food-related blog that I sometimes read, and the girl was talking about her plans for a vegan week. She had made a video that showed various pics of meat, I suppose from previous meals she'd eaten. It all looked great until she said "No more steak on the fire" and a picture of steak being cooked directly on the campfire pit's grill appeared.

I was immediately disgusted.... we've been camping a zillion times and not once have we put food directly on that grill. Here are some reasons why you should always bring your own grill, and NEVER cook on that grill:

1. Someone might have thrown their garbage onto the grill to watch it burn.
2. Someone might have thrown a slug onto that grill to watch it ... melt.
3. Someone might have thrown a cardboard version of The Rock into the firepit.
4. Someone might have used the grill as a stool to stand on.
5. Someone might have peed on the grill.

Of course, I disavow knowledge of any of these things happening, but theoretically it all could, and that is why cooking on the campfire grill is horrible. Ugh! I can never read that food blog again. I've lost all respect!

Spare some change?

As previously posted, I don't make New Year's resolutions, and I am not about to start now. However, I *just* (as in two minutes ago) decided on a goal for the year. I'm going to save all my loonies and toonies (instead of spending them on Starbucks drinks) and MAYBE by the end of the year, or in 10 months or so, I'll have enough for a trip. Or at least, spending money during my (hopefully sometime this year?) trip to Disney World. (I like it there - don't judge.)

I always thought one of the benefits of marriage would be that we'd get to travel together and go on trips and vacations whenever we wanted. Pre-marriage, the only "travel" we did together was camping with friends, or day trips to Seattle/the outlets (hey! we still do that!)... so I had in mind that after we got married, we would travel the four corners of the world, or at least, one corner. Anyway I'm sure you can see where this is going... the harsh realities of working full time and NEEDING to work to sustain ourselves has definitely put a damper on my plans. Call me an optimist or just naive, but I didn't think working for a living would be such a hassle. :)

Alas we have only take one trip together, which was, of course, our honeymoon. Well... I guess that isn't exactly true, since we did go to Mexico. But we didn't even go alone! In about three weeks, we'll be heading to Chile - which isn't really a vacation, but will be the furthest I have ever travelled. Prior to going to Mexico, I had never even left North America. (Shocking, isn't it?) I think the travel alone will be a test of endurance for me. The flight time is somewhere between 16 and 20 hours in total - I can't recall exactly what flights we are on. I thought flying to Mexico was exhausting! (Although.. that might be because at least an hour was spent on a tiny plane with less than 30 seats, and the guy across the tiny aisle from me insisted on having his socked foot SUPER close to me. Disgusting.)

All this to say, growing up is very difficult and definitely not as carefree as it should be! But with some diligent saving, I may yet make it to Disney World, or a cruise, or an all-inclusive, for another fun-filled trip. Poor hubby - he doesn't much care for Disney World... I almost think he'd rather go to China again. (No thanks!)

Sniffle sniffle

Winter always brings with it commercials for various cold remedies, and I usually don't pay much attention. Unfortunately this year I actually have a cold ... and the only "remedy" I can remember is the new antiviral Kleenex, which promises to kill 99.9% of cold and flu viruses. I have to admit, as a former microbiology student, I'm a little curious as to what is in the Kleenex that will kill the viruses. Not curious enough to buy the box, or even to go to a store and pick it up for a look ... just a little curious. I hadn't realized such a tissue was necessary. Is the concern that ordinary tissues were spreading the germs? That once you sneezed into a tissue, it immediately became a viral disaster waiting to happen?

It's a little strange to me, because I would have thought that throwing your used tissue away immediately would be sufficient. Where do we stop with all the antiviral, antibacterial stuff anyway? Maybe, if these tissues are so efficient at killing viruses, persons with colds should just stuff tissues up their noses. You know, prevent those viruses from coming out at all. It'd be unattractive, but all in the name of good health eh.

Anyway. Hard to believe it is already January. My goal for this year is to... um... um... I don't even have a goal!? Oh well. I'll come up with one later.